The Survival Guide to Kabul©
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internationally in July 2003 as Kabul: The Bradt Mini Guide.
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November 29 2003 Shah Muhammad Rais, owner of the
bookshop at the Intercontinental Hotel and another near the Mustafa Hotel, is
taking legal action against Norwegian journalist and author Asne Seierstad for her best selling book “The Bookseller
of Kabul.”
ARTICLES: January 18 2004 Letter to the New York Times: The Bookseller’s Life by Vanni Cappelli. November 3 2003 The Guardian: Nightmare sequel to bestseller on Kabul family life. October 29 2003 New York Times: Bookseller of Kabul v Journalist of Oslo.
In his own words September 2 2003 Dear friends please read my article if
possible publish it A MATTER OF HONOR AND TRUTH By Shah
Muhammad Rais
The legal actions that I have undertaken and will undertake in Norway
as well as in other countries and international forums against Asne Seierstad
for the defamations of myself, my family and my country contained in her book
"The Bookseller of Kabul" involve questions of honour and truth
that extend far beyond the lies and distortions committed in this particular
case. What is at stake are basic issues of decency and trust on a world scale
at a time when mankind is engaged in a great struggle against extremism, and
the debt that must be paid to those who bear the brunt of this struggle.
Far from providing any profound insight into Afghan society, the
tragedy of Afghanistan's modern history and its crucial role in world
affairs, this is a low and salacious book, one that focuses almost
exclusively on dirty aspects of life to the neglect of the challenges at
hand. It is not the product of any deep study, experience or thought about
the country. The author has taken advantage of a crisis in world history to
pander to sensationalism, depicting things in as negative a light as possible
in order to sell books and abusing the goodwill of the Scandinavian people in
the process.
It is not the first time that Ms Asne Seierstad has taken advantage of the generosity of others. When she first
came to Kabul in the wake of the September 11th terrorist attacks and the
fall of the Taliban she was wholly ignorant of Afghanistan and its particular
traditions and historical experience, and entirely without contacts or
guides. I extended to her the hospitality of my home, the benefits of my
lifetime's worth of knowledge about my country, and my precious time at a
moment when all responsible individuals were preoccupied by the great drama
unfolding around us.
She has repaid this kindness by concocting a worthless collection of
invented incidents, twisted truths and personal details which were told to
her in confidence, whose decimation in many countries will harm many innocent
people.
Among the most egregious of these are:
----- Depicting me as a fundamentalist, when I have been against
fundamentalism all of my life and have suffered personally from it.
----- Attributing perverse sexual practices to members of my family
and friends which are completely untrue, up to and including the invention of
incidents.
-----Claiming that I denied educational opportunities to my children,
male and female, when the truth is that their formal education was disrupted
by war and oppression. In fact their knowledge, particularly of languages, is
considerable, and I have always been a champion of women's rights, starting
with that to an education.
----- Mischaracterizing the traditional Afghan practices of arranging
marriage expenses, including provisions for the wedding feast and setting up
the new household, as the buying and selling of human beings.
----- Mischaracterizing the role of people in general, depicting such
things as household chores undertaken by relatives who have been given
shelter because of the disruptions of war as servitude.
----- Broadcasting nonessential personal details such as where I keep
my cash, a vital secret for all Afghans in a land devoid of either a banking
system or personal security.
----- Not hiding the identities of people in the book, all of which
are easily recognizable in terms of personal attributes, locations, etc.,
which she had promised to do.
All of these personal attacks are secondary to the crime she has
committed against the culture and people of Afghanistan. She has depicted as
ingrained national traits incidences of violence and extremism, which are the
by-product of prolonged and devastating war, and by no means represent the
majority of Afghans or their essential spirit. There can be no greater
disservice to a nation, which has contributed so much to and sacrificed so
much in the world's common struggle against communism and terrorism.
The degree to which her book represents the aberration of a
disreputable person can be seen in its contrast to the great classics on Afghanistan and its Central Asian region
written by truly talented and virtuous foreigners. Works such as Peter
Hopkirk's "The Great Game", Jason Eliot's "An Unexpected
Light" Christina Lamb's "The Sewing Circles of Herat" and
Ahmed Rashid's "Taliban" are the product of years or even decades
of profound experience of and reflection on the subject, and depict a different
land than the one that Ms. Seierstad does not even know. Ahmed Rashid's noble
commitment of a large portion of the proceeds from his best-selling book to
supporting the growth of a free press in Afghanistan also stands in stark
contrast to her opportunistic greed.
Many journalists have asked me since the enormity of the slanders and
defamations committed in her book became apparent whether I regretted
inviting her into my home. I always answer "No", for my actions
were in keeping with deep Afghan spiritual traditions of hospitality, which
are summed up by the proverb, " If your enemy comes to your house, do
your best to protect them and give them hospitality -- Especially if the
guest is a woman ".
My life has been full of countless positive and meaningful encounters
with journalists, scholars and other foreigners, and I will continue to
extend the hospitality of my home and share my knowledge of Afghanistan with
them, because I passionately believe in the honour of the intentions of most
of them, and their commitment to the truth.
And that is also why for their sake, who write well without being paid
much, for the sake of my family, which has been terribly injured, and for the
sake of Afghanistan, which has been defamed, I must pursue legal actions on
all fronts against Ms. Asne Seierstad. That the many people of all lands whom
she has needlessly hurt will not suffer more than is necessary in this time
of general sacrifice for a better world. Sincerely Shah M Rais September 10 2003 LET THERE BE LIGHT By: Shah M Rais It was my heartfelt desire to come to Norway
and say hello to newfound Norwegian friends who had read a book, which was
supposed to accurately depict my lifelong struggle against fundamentalism,
tyranny and illiteracy in Afghanistan from the window of Asne's home. I never
dreamed that the opposite circumstances would have arisen, circumstances that
I never could have imagined when I extended to her my hospitality, precious
time, and the benefits of my experience during a moment of tragedy and crisis
for my country and the world. Instead of writing a true portrait of my
family, my country, and myself she has closed the window on truth, defaming
all of us in her cold desire for money, believing that the low and the
salacious would sell better than the high and the honest. In this she has
proved temporarily correct, but there is too much light flowing through the
many windows opened by honest people during the global ordeal that terrorism
has caused for such a hollow victory to last. She has told the press that she has written
or said nothing to put me in danger. ----- Is it nothing to call me a
fundamentalist at a time when all the civilized world is struggling against
this dark force, which I have fought all of my life against? ----- Is it nothing to depict me as a
domestic tyrant when I have preserved my family through a quarter century of
war only through sacrifice, sweat, and tears? ----- Is it nothing to say that I have denied
my children an education when all the world acknowledges that the knowledge I
have passionately tried to spread through the books that I sell is the force
that can save Afghanistan? ----- Is it nothing to portray the venerable
culture of an ancient land as nothing more than an organized system for
buying and selling human beings? ----- Is it nothing to write that an innocent
and noble woman, my wife's aunt, engages in perverse sexual acts? ----- Is it nothing to tell where I hide my
money in a country without a banking system and no personal security? (there or more nothings which I will say to
the courts) She is contradicting herself in her
desperation to escape from the consequences of her dangerous actions. I have met, interviewed with and befriended
many journalists, writers and academicians in my life, and none of them have
portrayed me in such a light. They will be with me in my battle. The
righteous anger of the Afghan community in Norway and the world shows that my
objection to this heinous book is not the isolated opinion of one man. Among the things she has written about me is
the lie that I am poor. My parents were middle class, (she has written a very
shameful story of my mother starvation and poverty, which caused her for
eating too much, this is a very big lie and defamation of a family) and
against the odds in a land ravaged by war I have prospered in business. It is
my philosophy that living in a middle class apartment gained through honest
work and sacrifice is more honourable than living in a mansion earned through
defaming and hurting others. I will continue to live in this way even if I
win substantial damages against her, and as a lifelong witness to suffering
and deprivation, I for one know how to put money to noble uses. She has said
to the media that if I take this case to the courts and the press it will
only draw more attention to her allegations against me. As someone who has
spent his whole life opening windows on truth, I have nothing to fear from
someone who only knows how to shut them. Let there be light |
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The Survival Guide to Kabul©
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