Chillin' with the mirwaiz, and pondering Kashmir

On Saturday I went to a luncheon at the Pakistani consul general's house in Beverly Hills held in honor of the visiting Mirwaiz Omar Farooq. The mirwaiz (meer-wise) is the hereditary spiritual leader of the Kashmir Valley's 5.3 million or so Muslims; he took the post in 1990 at age 17, after his father was assassinated. In a snappy suit jacket, no tie, closely trimmed beard and no hat, he was barely recognizable at the backyard buffet. (Translation: He looked very L.A.!) He was also very eloquent, speaking at length about the need for the region to have a voice in his nonviolent quest for a solution to the Kashmir problem. Read what the mirwaiz said here at the Daily News, or at NYT clients such as the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.

A sample:

"'Whatever is happening in Pakistan has a direct reflection on Kashmir and we believe that this peace process needs to be strengthened,' he replied. '...So it's very important that we have a government in Pakistan who is committed to the peace process with India, but at the same time who are ready to think out of the box, not just concentrate on whatever the policy has been in the past. They need to be more flexible in their approach.'

The mirwaiz said he believes the peace process 'will gain some momentum once there's a stable government in Pakistan.'

...'People don't want violence, they want peace,' Farooq stressed. 'But peace with honor, peace with dignity. We don't want peace at the graveyard. And you cannot have peace in a vacuum.'"

The mirwaiz is constantly under threat from extremists for advocating dialogue; when his All Parties Hurriyat Conference began talks with India in 2006, Farooq's uncle was killed and Farooq's house was attacked. At this sunny Bev Hills event, I confess I kept thinking how pragmatic men like him need to stick around in this world, and it's worth saying a novena for the guy's safety.

And not to nosedive into trivial talk, but the Pakistani food was awesome at the lunch -- particularly flour patties with yogurt sauce, spinach and feta with naan (soft flatbread), korma, chicken tikka, and a shredded beef that was super-spicy. Today I found a Pakistani restaurant, Shahnawaz Halal Restaurant, and the shredded beef was included on the tandoori mix plate (but it was mintier than the buffet variety), plus the garlic naan was divine. Now where are the damn Rolaids??