I write this with apologies to those whom it might offend. We founded this country as 'Land of the Pure'. But over the years, this land has become so rancid that the stench that arises from it is more awful than the decomposed body of a beggar who dies on the streets while, unbeknownst, passersby throw money at his corpse thinking he is just acting to get alms. Remember the American lawyer in the Aimal Kansi case who had said "Pakistanis would sell their mothers for 20 dollars". We did. At a couple of thousand dollars per person, we handed over thousands of our citizens to earn millions of dollars for the government of 'enlightened' General Musharraf. Included were our sisters, daughters and mothers, given away to infidels so that they can satiate their barbarity. One such daughter of Pakistan was Dr Afia Siddiqui or Prisoner No. 650 in Bagram jail, Afghanistan, for over five years. Now she is a prisoner in America. She has gone through every form of torture and cruelty that a sick, sadist mind can invent. To our utter disgust, no Pakistani leader " secular, liberal or religious " has taken up her issue as yet. This, while people in the British parliament can feel Dr Siddiqui's pain from thousands of miles away. That is the humanity that they have and we lack. We, as a nation have failed utterly surpassing everything in the meaning of the word. What is the use of a country when it cannot protect the dignity of its citizens? -ABDUL AZIZ KHATTAK, Bahrain, via e-mail, August 2.