WHY should we be afraid of calling a spade a spade? What stops us from telling Narendra Modi, the Indian Prime that he is a hate-monger. He is responsible for inducing a highly bigoted and prejudiced frame of mind among the Indian electorate which is destroying their analytical faculties. He is dis-educating his electorate with lightning rapidity. He is banishinglight and dispensing darkness.

Is there any country in the world where a member of parliament is threatened with a sedition charge merely for saying that her neighboring country is not hell and that people living there have a good sense of hospitality.

Ramy the popular Indian actress was commenting on the Indian defence minister`s pronouncement, `Pakistan is helf after she visited Islamabad. She said emphatically, `Pakistan is not helP She is not the only one who has said that Pakistan is a good country to be in.

Scores of Indian celebrities and members of Indian delegations said that Pakistan took them by surprise. They never thought it was this good. An Indian actor Farooq Shaikh said, `The hospitality (of Pakistanis)is so effusive and so overwhelming that at times it becomes embarrassing.` Yet another writer said that when she landed at Lahore airport her legs were shaking, her heart was beating. She was sure that she would be attacked by people when they discovered that she was an Indian but what happened was that during her stay (perhaps of two weeks) every day she took her lunch and dinner with Pakistani hosts who were glad to treat her. The love and affection she was shown was amazing.

Another female Indian writer said, `Lahore is amazing. It is beautiful. I prefer it to Paris.` The Indian prime minister and the defence minister need to be educated.

You can`t hold a public office with tons of ignorance on yourshoulders Let me give them two amazing factsabout Pakistan that might malce them reassess their perception ofthe potential of the people and the country. Pakistan is a God-blessed country. More flowering trees and shrubs grow in Pakistan than in the Alps. In charity and philanthropy Pakistan is among the topmost countries of the world. At one time it held the second place.

Look at the per capita income and look at the generosity of its people. It is flattering to think thatin charity and philanthropy Pakistan is ahead of many European countries. No, sir, Pakistan is not hell.

Azmat Ansari Karachi