La Maison - A restaurant in Pakistan which does not allow Pakistanis

what next? a separate water fountain for Pakistanis in Pakistan? How dare they??? I remember growing up in Islamabad I always had issues with foreign diplomats live like kings in our country and then look down upon our country and its people. As I once told an angry European woman in traffic screaming about how much she hated the country "Then fuck off back to your own country?"

I am sorry but this is unacceptable.

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I didn’t hear about journalist Cyril Almeida’s investigation and subsequent tweets against the restaurant ‘La Maison’ through the news or any blogs he might have written. I heard about it from my friends on Facebook, people who are otherwise active in liberal circles and rightfully vocal against the many injustices of Pakistani society.

But the injustice that they were complaining about was Almeida’s outrage that a restaurant in Islamabad bans Pakistanis unless they hold a dual nationality.

Read that again.

They were complaining about his actions, not the restaurant’s policies.

The restaurant, for its part, insists this policy is out of respect for ‘Muslim sensibilities’ since its menu consists entirely of non-halal food.

Interestingly enough, those ‘Muslim sensibilities’ don’t matter when it comes to hiring someone to assist in cooking, serving and cleaning up after this non-halal food, nor is it something worth mentioning when looking for a bartender.

So what they’re saying is that it’s acceptable to hire Muslim/Pakistani waiters who will handle non-halal food but Muslim/Pakistani customers aren’t allowed, and this is their way of respecting us?

The owner, Philippe Lafforgue, even went through the trouble of emailing Almeida, ending with words,

“By the way this weekend I was reading the ads in the newspaper and all the ads for renting houses in Islamabad were for foreigners and multinational companies only. Swedish villas in Lahore are only rented to foreigners. They refuse Pakistani people. The International club in Lahore and Sindh Club in Karachi do not accept Pakistani people, even as a guest. If I go to the Diplomatic Enclave, all I’ll have to do is show my passport. Whereas you will have to get a ticket, pay the fees and go by bus. The guest house right close to mine is reserved for Chinese people only. I will stop here because I don’t want to waste your time. But yes, there is a lot of discrimination in this country. But I don’t…”

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I am sorry but we all need to join this social media rally! Alright readers, how can we get involved to help Cyrus Almeida!

The article