Why Hotels When You Have Belaire, Mr. President ??

President Zarari owns one of the choicest properties in the heart of Manhattan, lying empty. And yet he spent thousands of dollars of Pakistani public’s money staying at hotels during his official visits to the United States. An opposition politician, Makhdoom Faisal Saleh Hayat, waved this story during a heated debate in the Parliament today.

by A. GILL & LAURA WELLS

Earlier this year, during his visit to New York, President Asif Ali Zardari stayed in a $6,000 per night Presidential Suite of the Roosevelt Hotel.

[Left: President Zardari's luxury apartment is on Floor 37 of this Manhattan building.  The Nation has copies of 60 documents that prove Mr. Zardari's ownership of this multimillion-dollar piece of real estate.]

The 3,900 square feet suite has 4 bedrooms, a kitchen, formal living and dining areas, and a wrap-around terrace. In addition, he stayed at a $5,000 per night Willard Intercontinental Hotel in Washington DC. Even more money was wasted on the army of ministers and his son who accompanied him.

The question that is raised is why did a President of a country on war, with hundreds of thousands internally displaced refugees, and a country on the verge of defaulting, stay in a $6,000 per night suite? Why couldn’t he stay in a $600 per night luxury suite available at the same hotel; or even better, why couldn’t he stay in his vacant luxury apartment?

To this day, nobody knows the exact nature of Asif Zardari’s assets. The Nation is in possession of over 60 copies of at least one such property’s documents. The authentic copies of the legal property documents have Mr. Zardari’s signature, bank information and other pertinent information available on them.

The property is situated in the posh Upper East Manhattan, New York. The 72nd street to be precise. It’s a luxury apartment on the 37th floor with a stunning view of the river and the city. It is a part of the Belaire Condominiums. These luxury full service condominiums include amenities like a fabulous health club and glass enclosed heated lap pool.

Fit for a king or the President of Pakistan!

Courtesy: This news item was first published in the daily Nation, Lahore, & was cross posted also at AhmedQuraishi.com & PakNationalists

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Pakistan: Of Terrorism & Tipplers

The vintage photo above shows the brewery at the Murree hill station.

After 150 years, business is booming at Pakistan’s only beer and whisky firm. Andrew Buncombe finds out why

Note for WoP Readers: Though quite unfortunate, of late Pakistan, has earned a bad name as a country that has a number of nurseries to breed terrorism. It may not be the whole truth to brand Pakistan as country exporting terrorism, yet we cannot put all the blame on US, India or for that matter on any other country. Some splinter groups indeed are active in our land that have developed this as a creed, but by and large the spirit of Pakistani nation has always been and still is tolerance. The testimony to this spirit are some landmarks and symbols which still stand today—as much—alive, as much—dominating our urban canvas as they were before the birth of our Islamic Republic.

One such symbol is a statue that stands on the Mall, alongside the old Punjab University campus in Lahore. This statue stands as proudly as it used to during my student days and much beyond. I member whenever we crossed over the Mall to visit Tollinton Market where there was a small & cozy Milk Bar (which was famous for its milk shakes and if am not forgetting, was named Capri Milk Bar). On our way to the bar and back an impressive landmark of Lahore stood there as majestically as it stands today.

This landmark is the statue of Dr. Alfred Woolner, perhaps the only one at a public place in Lahore now.

[Alfred Cooper Woolner May 1878 - January 7, 1936, was a noted Sanskrit scholar and professor as well as the Vice Chancellor of Punjab University, Lahore. He died in Lahore].

Interestingly, here in Lahore, the DHA [Defence Housing Authority] had erected a statue in that posh colony to venerate the soldiers of Pakistan. Since the fundamentalists took it as something of idolatry [“Butt prarasti”, as they call it], one night they vandalized that statue and now one does not find any semblance of this memorial. Yet despite the wave of extremism that has gripped this country like an evil storm (a manifest of which have been burning of schools and closing down the barber shops in the paradise like valley of Swat), the statue of Alfred stands there and nobody has even thought of desecrating this landmark.

Another landmark which stands testimony to our spirit of accommodation is the famous Murree Brewery in Rawalpindi. The enterprise is doing regular business, we are told by Andrew Buncombe, even though in Pakistan [being a Muslim country] liquors are completely banned.

And as columnist Swaaraj Chauhan notes, right or wrong, Pakistan is generally described as an “exporter” of terrorism but now it is trying to export something different – its famous Murree beer produced at the nearly 150-year-old Murree brewery. So beer not terrorism from Pakistan. We say Amen, Swaraaj Sahib…. [Nayyar]

by Andrew Buncombe

Pakistan, rightly or wrongly, is generally described as an “exporter” of terrorism. Now it is trying to export something different – its famous Murree beer produced at the nearly 150-year-old Murree brewery, Pakistan’s sole producer of beer.

“Understandably, making beer and whiskey in a Muslim country, where 97 per cent of the population is officially banned from enjoying your products, has never been an easy business,” reports The Independent.

“And amid the upsurge of militant violence of the last two years that has seen the Taliban attacking targets across the country, setting fire to girls’ schools and even banning the sale of videos and DVDs, common sense might suggest that the fortunes of this establishment, which celebrates its 150th anniversary next year, might be on the wane. Yet the opposite is happening: sales are booming – embarrassingly so.

” ‘Sales are good,’ said Isphanyar Bhandara, the brewery’s 36-year-old chief executive, ‘but we don’t want to shout about it because that also brings negative publicity and criticism, because this is a Muslim country – and yet sales are growing.’

“Pervaded by a rich smell of fermenting yeast and equipped with Victorian maturing cellars, the brewery is located in the heart of the military cantonment area of Rawalpindi, the garrison city where 30 people died in a suicide bomb attack earlier this week.

“The scenes within the thick stone walls are reminiscent of a British brewery of the remote past. Located opposite the residence of the Chief of the Army Staff, the brewery says it has never received a direct threat from the militants.”

On the walls of the historic Murree brewery, Pakistan’s sole producer of beer, hangs a slogan that its owners would wish upon the entire country. “Eat, drink and be Murree,” puns the poster, seemingly produced in the 1970s.

Understandably, making beer and whiskey in a Muslim country, where 97 per cent of the population is officially banned from enjoying your products, has never been an easy business. Non-Muslims are exempt from the ban, but even for them obtaining a drink can be complicated: some five-star hotels require foreigners to affirm in writing that they are non-Muslims and will be responsible for anything that happens when they are under the influence before they can order a drink.

(Right) An employee of the Murree brewery, which has ambitions to export its beer to Britain

And amid the upsurge of militant violence of the last two years that has seen the Taliban attacking targets across the country, setting fire to girls’ schools and even banning the sale of videos and DVDs, common sense might suggest that the fortunes of this establishment, which celebrates its 150th anniversary next year, might be on the wane. Yet the opposite is happening: sales are booming – embarrassingly so.

“Sales are good,” said Isphanyar Bhandara, the brewery’s 36-year-old chief executive, “but we don’t want to shout about it because that also brings negative publicity and criticism, because this is a Muslim country – and yet sales are growing.”

Pervaded by a rich smell of fermenting yeast and equipped with Victorian maturing cellars, the brewery is located in the heart of the military cantonment area of Rawalpindi, the garrison city where 30 people died in a suicide bomb attack earlier this week. The scenes within the thick stone walls are reminiscent of a British brewery of the remote past. Located opposite the residence of the Chief of the Army Staff, the brewery says it has never received a direct threat from the militants.

Metaphorically speaking , the Murree brewery sits on one of the major fault lines of Pakistan’s often contradictory society. While Muslims have been banned from buying or drinking alcohol since 1977, few private social gatherings among the country’s political or business élite take place without the lubrication of liquor. A well-established network of bootleggers dealing in both locally produced and smuggled alcohol ensures that, while bars do not exist except for a couple of gloomy premises in five-star hotels, a drink in a private home is never far away.

For an institution such as the brewery, this two-faced attitude towards alcohol has meant several things. Firstly, while Christians, Hindus, Zoroastrians and other non-Muslims officially constitute its customers, there is a private acknowledgement that the overwhelming majority of drinkers are Muslims who work their way through the easily exploited permit system. Non-Muslims and foreigners can acquire an official permit that allows them to buy 30 bottles of beer or a quart of spirits every month. Reports suggest that such permits are easy both to copy and to obtain fraudulently.

At the same time, the brewery and distillery have to operate within a set of cramping rules. They are not allowed to advertise their products, for instance, and they have yet to be given permission to export them. The Islamic Ideology Council of Pakistan, which advises the government on policy issues, has made clear that it believes the export of alcohol abroad would damage the country’s international image. The council’s secretary Riaz-ur-Rehman confirmed: “We cannot allow anyone in the country to be engaged in the trade or production of alcohol.”

Meanwhile, the company, which earlier this year produced the Muslim world’s first 20-year-old malt, provides the state and federal authorities with around $1m (£604,000) a month in taxes and duty.

“Absurd as it sounds, it’s true,” said Mr Bhandara, who is a member of Pakistan’s tiny population of Zoroastrians or Parsis and is also, ironically, a teetotaller, even though he is permitted to drink because of his religion. “It’s totally hypocritical. I’m talking to the government at the moment about permission to export our beer to Britain [where it would be marketed with the catchphrase 'Have a Murree with your curry'], as many Asians in Britain are familiar with our products. Carlsberg were going to brew and sell it in the UK but then they said the beer market was shrinking. I am saying to them we have a 20 per cent increase in beer sales year-on-year in a Muslim country.”

The Murree Brewery, shares of which are publicly traded on the Pakistan stock exchange in Karachi, was initially established in 1860 among the woods and cooling breezes of the Murree Hills, 20 miles north of Islamabad, where the elevation of 6,000ft was perfect for producing light beer for British colonial troops. Growing demand for its award-winning products saw the company establish additional breweries in Quetta in 1886 and in Rawalpindi in 1889, the site of the current operation.

On a recent morning, bright with early winter sunshine, Jamshed Iqbal, the company’s enthusiastic quality control manager, led The Independent on a tour of the facilities. “Making liquor is easy, but brewing beer is an art,” he said, describing the challenges of temperature control in a region where the summer mercury can top 45C.

Part of his duties include checking the taste of the finished products to ensure consistency. He said he believed the company’s “classic” lager had the best taste. But as a Muslim, was he allowed to taste it? “Just a mouthful,” he replied.

Source: This post was originally published in the Independent Newspaper and cross posted at the ‘Moderate Voice’ Website by Swaraaj Chauhan. Courtesy the Newspaper & the site; it’s being reproduced here on the pages of WoP. [Photo: Courtesy: The daily  Nation.

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Who’s Been Held Accountable for the Crimes of Bush’s “War on Terror”? Four Italians … Sort of

by Joshua Holland

Certanly not those wo ran our shadowy network of secret prisons, nor their superiors who created it.

I may be wrong, but setting aside a handful of low-level prison guards convicted for brutalizing or killing detainees, I think that despite many well documented violations of both international and various countries’ domestic laws committed in the “war on terror”, the total number of people who have been prosecuted — not counting those tried in absentia — is now 4 (correct me in the comments if I’m overlooking something!).

All were Italians. Two were convicted yesterday in an Italian court and sentenced to three-year terms for kidnapping a man named Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr off the streets of a liberal democracy, depriving him of any semblance of due process despite its fully functional judiciary and sending  him to a country that would torture him for information they believed he was holding.

His wife, Ghali Nabila, at trial: Continue reading

(Left) Joshua Holland is an editor and senior writer with AlterNet.

“I found him wasted, skinny — so skinny — his hair had turned white, he had a hearing aid,” Ms. Nabila said, recounting her husband’s condition between prison stays in 2004.

Wearing a veil that revealed only her eyes, Ms. Nabila at first said she “didn’t want to talk about” any abuse against her husband in prison. But advised by prosecutors that she had no choice, she told the court in tears: “He was tied up like he was being crucified. He was beat up, especially around his ears. He was subjected to electroshocks to many body parts.”

“To his genitals?” the prosecutors asked.

“Yes,” she replied.

This was by no means an isolated incident. The CIA, with its shadowy network of secret prisons, was somewhat routinely flying suspected terrorists to allied countries that would torture them on its behalf. And while some may have been captured on the battlefield others were kidnapped off the ground of a number of countries.

Presumably, the two Italians will serve at least part of those sentences, but one never knows. Two others pled guilty to related offenses in 2007; one received a sentence of one-year-plus, which was later suspended; the other was fined.

23 American intelligence agents were also convicted in absentia. In the future, they won’t be able to take European holidays for fear of arrest, but they don’t have to worry about being expedited to Italy. They won’t actually face any punishment for their crimes.

And who knows? Maybe that’s just given that their superiors seem to have complete impunity. One of those convicted admitted that the agents had “broken the law,” but insisted they were being hung out to dry by superiors who weren’t touched by the investigation and who can still go skiing in Val d’Isère if they choose to:

… we are paying for the mistakes right now, whoever authorized and approved this,” said former CIA officer Sabrina deSousa in an interview to be broadcast tonight on ABC’s World News with Charles Gibson.

DeSousa says the U.S. “abandoned and betrayed” her and the others who were put on trial for the kidnapping. She was sentenced in absentia to five years in prison.

Whatever the case, there’s another, historical aspect to this story that I think is worth noting. 70 years ago, the United States, victorious in World War II, was instrumental in rebuilding its erstwhile European foes, including Italy, as liberal democracies.

During the postwar era of the “liberal consensus” in Washington, the U.S. was also the driving force in creating a set of institutions — notably the UN, but others as well — dedicated to the idea that some rights are universal and that all states should conform to a set of international laws that enshrine that principle.

The effort was driven in part by the horrors of the two World Wars, but also by geo-politics; advancing the human rights regime offered a bounty of opportunities to shame the “communist bloc” (especially when applied as selectively as possible, which it generally was).

While Americans pretty much take it for granted that our government would never turn over U.S. citizens for prosecution, the principle of universal jurisdiction means that individual can’t hide behind national borders for serious violations of human rights law. And while the Italian court prosecuted the agents under domestic law, the principle is the key thing — the whole point is to prevent people from violating basic human rights with impunity.

So while 70 years ago, Italy was under a fascist dictatorship that had no regard for ideas like human rights, and 60 years ago the U.S. government — packed with liberal FDR vets and anti-Communist crusaders — was advancing the idea that nobody was above punishment, the tables have now turned. It’s our intelligence agents kidnapping people off the streets without trial and getting away with it.

All of which brings to mind some of the theory about how super-powers behave as their influence waxes and wanes. Here’s a few graphs from something I wrote a few years back, when Bush was laughing at the idea of being constrained by the rule of law:

A hegemonic state is one with enough relative power to shape the international system. Scholars have identified a pattern — a story arc — common to hegemonic powers and the U.S. fits the theory to a tee.

According to Hegemonic Stability Theory, as a great state rises to prominence, it is a “generous” or “benevolent” power — a rising hegemon. It uses its power to create a system that is conducive to its own interests, but that also benefits lesser states. Think about the Romans building roads and aqueducts throughout the empire, or the Brits clearing the shipping channels of pirates, or the U.S. creating the Bretton-Woods system after World War II. All of those efforts were inspired by self-interest, but also created benefits for others.

Then there’s the “selfish” hegemon — a hegemon in decline. A falling power spends too much on security, its leaders become obsessed with preserving its position and it stops focusing on mutually beneficial goals and starts looking out for itself. Inevitably, this leads other states to combine forces to check its power, and the country is replaced by a new, rising hegemon that is more attractive to other states to follow than the “me-first” policies of the falling star.

The irony I noted then is that we hold ourselves above the international legal regime we helped create from a position of power, but ultimately the fact that we do so undermines that very power …

The key to America’s six-decade run [as the world’s leading super-power] was that we disguised our relentless pursuit of our “national interests” with great skill. We kept our iron fist covered in a velvet glove. As an old professor of mine used to say, the definition of real power is the ability to make people do what you want them to do while believing it was their idea in the first place. We’ve lost that power.

Source: AlterNet

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of the ‘Wonders of Pakistan’. The contents of this article too are the sole responsibility of the author(s). WoP will not be responsible or liable for any inaccurate or incorrect statements contained in this post.

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Islamabad: The contours of a changed, unwritten script Situation

Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari: Observers believe his erstwhile patrons in Washington, as well as the stakeholders in the Pakistani establishment have started distancing themselves from the beleaguered president.

Shaheen Sehbai Discusses the “Script Writers” in Pakistan, As If They Were Not In Washington

In a week of intense behind the scenes political and diplomatic activity in the federal capital, key new lines have been added to the so called ‘script’, the unofficial, unwritten roadmap drawn up and preserved in the minds of the concerned people, to get rid of the despicable grip on the country of a few powerful highly placed individuals and their friends.

After my meetings with most of the main stakeholders in the present system during the last few days, including top people sitting in the Presidency, the PM House, Senate, National Assembly, Raiwind, the highly charged drawing rooms of Islamabad and the excited corridors ruled by career bureaucrats, the broad contours of the script have become identifiable. This assessment will purely be an analysis and conclusions drawn up by a journalist, but it will have many elements which have either come directly from the people I have met or from circles associated intimately with the real wielders of powers, political and non-political. Even before I started writing these lines, some elements of the new script had started becoming visible publicly.

The key indicators now out in the open include the shocking debacle for PPP on the NRO; the somersault of the MQM to oppose the NRO; a direct demand by Mr. Altaf Hussain asking President Zardari to resign; the extra confidence in Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani to practically take over matters in his own hands; the emergence of Nawaz Sharif from his friendly opposition bunker; the significant stand taken by Fata MPs; the calm and cool but ever persuasive demeanour of the army chief to discuss “matters of national security” with the prime minister (not the president); the nervousness in some camps over the “messages and ideas” Lady Hillary Clinton has taken back to Washington; and the unusual multi-country tour of our ISI chief, starting with Saudi Arabia, which some government spokespersons hilariously described as a visit in which he had taken a message to the Saudi King from President Zardari.

In the previous script the role of the judiciary and the superior courts was well defined but before that stage could arrive the presidential edifice crumbled under the weight of just a couple of smart political moves by pro-establishment forces. So a calculated fine-tuning had to be done.

What has already happened is known but what is likely to come is more important. All stakeholders agree, and this I can claim after meeting almost all of them in the last few days in Islamabad and Lahore, that President Asif Ali Zardari will have to either step down with dignity, hand over his presidential powers to the PM through a fast-track constitutional amendments process, or become a figure head and stay within his bunker for as long as he does not create any nuisance.

Some apologists for the presidency have already publicly indicated that Mr. Zardari is seriously thinking about this course because that would keep him in the top most position, immune to the unpleasant hardships of defending himself in civil courts, a process he has endured for years, and wait for his time to strike back as a relevant PPP leader, with the active aid and presence of son Bilawal and daughters Bakhtawar and Assefa.

This could be the easier way out for him but it involves humiliation and embarrassment on a daily basis as his cronies and confidants, those who do not get away from the country in time, will be dragged in cases and in the media, presenting before the entertained nation a spectacle which Mr. Zardari would not like. They will be paying for their sins, of course.

So my analysis is that he will fight back. Some who still have access to him claim that he has expressed these defiant views many a time saying he would never resign and if someone wanted to remove him, he should send an ambulance because he would not walk out on his own two feet.

But this fighting spirit and belligerent posture, although part of his psyche and state of mind, will not be beneficial politically. It is almost certain, and a senior Sindhi politician who knows the PPP and Sindh like the back of his own right hand, openly admits, that for Zardari there would be no “Sindh Card”, as it was available to Benazir Bhutto.

In fact when I asked the Sindhi politician what may happen in Sindh, and the heart of PPP country, if Zardari and his 12 friends were removed from their offices, the answer was: “Only these 13 people will protest, no one else will.” He explained that there are no PPP cadres with fires in their belly left in the interior of Sindh who would rise for Zardari. There is a growing sense of hatred because the Zardari clan has taken over all what was loved by the Bhutto jiyalas. “If today Nawaz Sharif stages a public meeting in Larkana, the country will be surprised at the turnout,” the mainstream Sindhi politician belonging to the PPP told me.

So chances for Mr Zardari to rekindle his political fortunes, once he gives up his powers or if he resigns, are genuinely limited. The PPP would split into factions with the bulk going to a collective committee of PPP stalwarts, seniors and juniors who have remained, or have been kept, on the sidelines by the Zardari coterie. This will also bring the much-needed democracy and openness in the party, breaking the shackles of feudal hold.

This PPP committee, contours of which are already shaping up, have strong arguments to describe the Zardari-led PPP era, which started with the 2008 elections. These arguments start with the failures of Mr. Zardari ever since he presented the will of Benazir Bhutto to the PPP CEC. All that the CEC members have done ever since is to take his decisions and policies with a pinch of bitter salt but have gone along because the party had won seats in the name of Benazir Bhutto and they had got a chance to rule after years of wilderness. The corrupt among the party made a mad rush to make money because they realized that this set up will not last long, hence the stigma of corruption not only stuck but intensified.

The Zardari era, the argument goes, consists of broken promises, colossal mistakes in assessing the mood of the people, taking decisions with arrogance, taking on the establishment and institutions which were needed to survive, taking gigantic U-turns when under pressure and smiling about them, claiming unabashedly as if it was a considered policy (like the restoration of judges, sacking and restoration of the Punjab government of PML-N, surrender on the Kerry Lugar Bill and eventually running away from the NRO).

Conversely, if it has been any sign for anyone to read, the PM has always been making politically correct statements, never making a commitment which he knew he would not be able to deliver and most importantly, he has received the “asheerbaad” (blessings) of those who matter on all critical junctures. This is no longer true for Mr. Zardari.

So when the judges were to be restored, the Army Chief called on the PM to deliver the quiet message. When the March 15 decision was taken General Kayani called Aitzaz Ahsan to inform Nawaz Sharif. When the Supreme Court was about to give the initial short order on the PCO judges case, the meeting between General Kayani and Aitzaz Ahsan was considered necessary. When things were getting out of hand on the Kerry Lugar Bill, a similar meeting between Shahbaz Sharif and Chaudhry Nisar was held. The army chief also met the chief ministers of NWFP and Balochistan. When NRO erupted on the face of Mr. Zardari, another meeting between the Army Chief and the PM was essential on Monday night so that the right message was conveyed. And it was. Then we saw the surrender.

These were domestic developments but the most important external factor which has now been added to the miseries of the presidency is the conclusion Hillary Clinton is believed to have drawn after her eye-opening three-day visit to Pakistan. She was actually on a fact-finding mission as the diplomatic channels in Pakistan and Washington had never informed her about the real situation. When the KLB exploded, State Department was taken aback and when Hillary saw with her own eyes and heard the people, her entire perceptions changed. Her almost three-hour meeting with General Kayani may have sealed many fates.

A shift in Washington’s policy, statements and emphasis would now be expected. She already took pains to ensure that none of her public and private utterances gave the impression that she was supporting any particular individual or any particular coalition government. She talked about the process of democracy and the people of Pakistan and that means faces can change but the Pak-US ties will stay.

The scriptwriters interpret this as a signal that Washington is no longer interested in protecting or prolonging Mr. Zardari’s rule, if the people of Pakistan do not so wish. An official in the presidency quietly whispered in my ear that Mr. Zardari has reached the point in just one year which General Musharraf took eight years to reach, vis-a-vis the American support. “It is now for him to survive, the Americans have pulled the rug.”

((Left) Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani of Pakistan: Will he be able to deliver where his party boss and the president miserably failed??

On the domestic front again, the focus and all eyes would soon shift to the PM House where an hitherto out-shadowed PM was trying to cope and survive. Now the responsibility of making and owning all decisions would be his. Delivering results people expect from a sovereign parliament and a powerful PM under the amended constitution will be an onerous burden on Mr. Yusuf Raza Gilani.

My interactions with a broad spectrum of important people reveal that Mr. Gilani has not yet prepared himself to shoulder this responsibility. His administrative team is pretty weak and there is a growing sense of disconnect between the people around Mr. Gilani and the rest of the top echelons of bureaucracy.

A senior bureaucrat told me the recent mass scale reshuffle in the officialdom by PM Gilani has made many officials nervous. They do not have direct and free access to the PM and a coterie of sorts is also beginning to surround the PM, like the one around the president. But this group is of professionals and civil servants who want to keep the PM under their thumb. It would be a big challenge for Mr. Gilani to get a competent and effective team if he were to take charge and show the difference to the nation between a powerful PM and a one-man show which went wrong. He would have to sack high profile ministers, change cronies controlling the state organizations like the Pakistan Steel Mills, PSO, PIA, KESC and many others tainted with corruption.

Text Source: There are no sunglasses Photo Source: on top: http://blogs.stripes.com/blogs/stripes

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of the ‘Wonders of Pakistan’. The contents of this article too are the sole responsibility of the author(s). WoP will not be responsible or liable for any inaccurate or incorrect statements contained in this post.

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Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari: Observers believe his erstwhile patrons in Washington, as well as the stakeholders in the Pakistani establishment have started distancing themselves from the beleaguered president.Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari: Observers believe his erstwhile patrons in Washington, as well as the stakeholders in the Pakistani establishment have started distancing themselves from the beleaguered president.Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari: Observers believe his erstwhile patrons in Washington, as well as the stakeholders in the Pakistani establishment have started distancing themselves from the beleaguered president.Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari: Observers believe his erstwhile patrons in Washington, as well as the stakeholders in the Pakistani establishment have started distancing themselves from the beleaguered president.Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari: Observers believe his erstwhile patrons in Washington, as well as the stakeholders in the Pakistani establishment have started distancing themselves from the beleaguered president.Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari: Observers believe his erstwhile patrons in Washington, as well as the stakeholders in the Pakistani establishment have started distancing themselves from the beleaguered president.Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari: Observers believe his erstwhile patrons in Washington, as well as the stakeholders in the Pakistani establishment have started distancing themselves from the beleaguered president.

WITHOUT ANY LET OR HINDRANCE

202 Blackwater Personnel Arrive In Islamabad?

More US military personnel arrive in Islamabad.  Is the PPP government seeking US support against a possible Pakistani military action against the unpopular pro-US government in Pakistan? There is a serious concern that the principals in the Pakistani government might be colluding with the US government to create a strong but discreet private US security cordon in the Pakistani capital capable of thwarting a possible collapse of the Zardari government.

by Nisar Mehdi

Foreigners affiliated with the notorious private military contractor Blackwater, later renamed as Xe Services LLC, arrived in Islamabad on Tuesday through a PIA flight, sources told TheNation.

“Of the 274 passengers, who boarded Pakistan’s national flag carrier-PIA, flight PK-786 from Heathrow Airport UK, 202 were foreigners but they were fluently speaking Urdu language,” disclosed the sources.

The officials on duty at Shaheed Benazir International Airport Islamabad said, “We had instructions to allow the foreigners entry without custom procedure.”

The sources said that the plane reached Islamabad airport at 4:08am PST, and they had received official instructions from the authorities not to inspect any of them and clear them immediately from the airport.

An official of PIA confirmed that the PIA flight PK-786 from Heathrow reached Islamabad at its destination at 04:08 am and said that the plane had the capacity of 358 passengers but total 274 passengers travelled on the flight.

He declined to comment the presence of large number of foreigners in the flight saying that they had no information in this regard.

Former Chief of Army Staff Mirza Aslam Baig has accused former President Pervez Musharraf of giving Blackwater a green signal to carry out its terrorist operations in the cities of Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Peshawar and Quetta.

According to a August 20, 2009 report in the New York Times by Mark Mazzetti, the Central Intelligence Agency in 2004 hired contractors from the private security contractor Blackwater USA as part of a secret programme to locate and assassinate top operatives of Al-Qaeda.

“Blackwater employees hired to guard American diplomats in Iraq were accused of using excessive force on several occasions, including shootings in Baghdad in 2007 in which 17 civilians were killed. Iraqi officials have since refused to give the company an operating licence,” wrote Mazzetti.

“Several current and former government officials interviewed for this article spoke only on the condition of anonymity because they were discussing details of a still classified programme,” the NYT reported.

The newspaper report said that despite publicly breaking with it, the State Department continued to award the company, formerly known as Blackwater, more than $400 million in contracts to fly its diplomats around Iraq, guard them in Afghanistan, and train security forces in anti-terrorism tactics at its remote camp in North Carolina.

Every indication suggests that the US Embassy in Islamabad, which is being expanded into the world’s largest US embassy, has brought in Blackwater without clearance from Pakistani security authorities and with direct help from the unpopular pro-US government in Islamabad.

Originally published in the Nation, Wednesday, 4 November 2009.Cross posted at AhmedQuraishi.com & PakNationalists

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Will Pakistan be fragmented? VIEW POINT FROM SRI LANKA

Indian Design To Destabilize And, Perhaps, Further Divide Pakistan

by Latheef Farook

Will Pakistan, the only Muslim nuclear country, be fragmented as it was done in case of Iraq?

It is common knowledge that India wanted to destabilize and partition Pakistan from the day it came into being in 1947. India played a crucial role in breaking up Pakistan and creating Bangladesh in its eastern wing facilitated by the blunders of the Pakistani’s ruling elite.

India, hand in glove with American installed Hamid Karzai’s puppet regime, has 14 consulates in Afghanistan from which RAW operates and the US has turned a blind eye. Pakistan has stockpiles of evidence against Indian consulates in Afghanistan used to fund terrorism in Pakistan through Baitullah Mehsud’s TTP as well as Brahamdagh Bugti and his Baloch Liberation Army-BLA.

According to DAWN, a dossier containing proof of India’s involvement in “subversive activities” in Pakistan was handed over by Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani to his Indian counterpart Manmohan Singh during their meeting at Sharm el-Sheikh in July 2009.The dossier, broadly covering the Indian connection in terror financing in Pakistan, is also said to list the safe houses being run by RAW in Afghanistan where terrorists are trained and launched for missions in Pakistan.

The dossier also mentions an India-funded training camp in Kandahar where Baloch insurgents, particularly those from Bugti clan, were being trained and provided arms and ammunition for sabotage activities in the Pakistani province. Although the information given to India is being kept highly secret, broad outlines of the dossier available with Dawn reveal details of Indian contacts with those involved in attacks on the Sri Lankan cricket team and the Manawan police station,” the newspaper said.

“Operatives of RAW who remained in touch with the perpetrators of the attacks have been identified and proof of their interaction has been attached,” it added.

A description of Indian arms and explosives used in the attack on the Sri Lankan team has been made part of the dossier, besides which the names and particulars of the perpetrators, who illegally entered Pakistan from India and joined their accomplices who had reached Lahore from Waziristan, have been mentioned, the report said.

Here is what Christine Fair of RAND Corporation had to say about what the Indian consulates are up to in Afghanistan and Iran:

“I think it would be a mistake to completely disregard Pakistan’s regional perceptions due to doubts about Indian competence in executing covert operations. That misses the point entirely. In addition, I think it is unfair to dismiss the notion that Pakistan’s apprehensions about Afghanistan stem in part from its security competition with India. Having visited the Indian mission in Zahedan, Iran, I can assure you they are not issuing visas as the main activity! Moreover, India has run operations from its mission in Mazar (through which it supported the Northern Alliance) and is likely doing so from the other consulates it has reopened in Jalalabad and Qandahar along the border. Indian officials have told me privately that they are pumping money into Balochistan. Kabul has encouraged India to engage in provocative activities such as using the Border Roads Organization to build sensitive parts of the Ring Road and use the Indo-Tibetan police force for security. It is also building schools on a sensitive part of the border in Kunar–across from Bajaur. Kabul’s motivations for encouraging these activities are as obvious as India’s interest in engaging in them. Even if by some act of miraculous diplomacy the territorial issues were to be resolved, Pakistan would remain an insecure state. Given the realities of the subcontinent (e.g., India’s rise and its more effective foreign relations with all of Pakistan’s near and far neighbors), these fears are bound to grow, not lessen. This suggests that without some means of compelling Pakistan to abandon its reliance upon militancy, it will become ever more interested in using it — and the militants will likely continue to proliferate beyond Pakistan’s control.”

Confirming the Indian support to TTP in Pakistan The Foreign Policy magazine said: “The Indians are up to their necks in supporting the Taliban against the Pakistani government in Afghanistan and Pakistan,” a former intelligence official who served in both countries said.

“The same anti-Pakistani forces in Afghanistan also shooting at American soldiers are getting support from India. India should close its diplomatic establishments in Afghanistan and get the Christ out of there.”

Afghan officials have also confirmed that India is using Afghanistan to stir trouble in Pakistan. “India is using Afghan soil to destabilize Pakistan and Afghan security agencies are unable to stop Indian intervention due to absence of centralized government mechanism”, said Afghan Government’s Advisor, Ehsanullah Aryanzai on sidelines of Pak-Afgan Parliamentary Jirga at a local hotel on April 2, 2009.

Pakistani Taliban Using American, NATO, Indian and German Weapons

An Islamabad datelined report by Akhtar Jamal Wednesday, 21 October 2009 stated that: Reports reaching here confirm that hundreds of militants from Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), and other associated groups are equipped with most sophisticated American, Indian and German weapons.

According to a survey the weapons in the possession of these militants included U.S. made M249 automatic machine guns, U.S.-made Glock pistols, Indian hand guns, FN Browning GP35 9mmx19mm, Indian automatic machine pistols GLOCK 17 9mmx19mm, Indian machine guns Heckler & Koch MP5A3 9mmx19mm, Indian made Sterling L2A1 sub machine guns, Israeli licensed Indian made UZI 9mmx19mm sub machine guns and German Walther-P1 pistols.

During Swat operation, a number of the Indian army used Vickers-Berthier (VB) light machine guns were also recovered. The recoveries of Indian designed weapons were not astonishing for Pakistan. However, what was more surprising is that the U.S. and German weapons were recently introduced in the Waziristan area.

Ruling Elite

Pakistan’s ruling elite comprising the armed forces, bureaucracy, feudal landlords and capitalists never learnt any lesson. In fact, within a quarter century after Pakistan was created they created the conditions, exploited by India and other hostile forces, to create Bangladesh.

Columnist Ahmed Quraishi pointed out that “ fake democrats produce a fake democracy. This is what our westernized Pakistani elite and some of the self-styled ‘liberals’ in our media don’t understand. A Parliament filled with feudal lords who rape the women of the peasants on their lands and operate secret prisons, and then come to the Parliament in expensive shiny cars and jewelry thanks to political parties where another set of feudal run them as family grocery shops – this is no democracy.

Accusing main political parties and their leaderships of undermining the existence of Pakistan Dr. Mubashar Hasan, co-founder of the Pakistan People’s Party with Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto in 1967 said:” over the years, they have failed to understand that the state of Pakistan is unraveling. The administrative structure of the state is no longer capable of ensuring the performance of the basic duties of the state, mainly the protection of life, property and dignity of the people, dispensation of justice to all citizens as equals, semblance of equitability in the distribution of wealth and assuring a sense of belonging to the Balochis, Pashtuns, Sindhis and Punjabis that the Government at Islamabad is their Government.

The gulf between the rich and the poor has widened enormously. Ninety-eight per cent of the population is in a state of despair and frustration and has lost hope. The wealthy 2 per cent, armed with foreign passports and visas with huge wealth stashed abroad, are ready to leave the country any time.

The old grievances among the provinces of Sindh, Punjab, Balochistan and NWFP have reached all time high. Cooperation at the federal level has disappeared; complaints and prejudices have taken the place of patriotic fervor.

What had begun in the early years of Pakistan as grievances and complaints between East and West Pakistan, between the Bengalis and Punjabis, has now been replaced by tensions between Punjabis, Sindhis and Mohajirs and between independence-seeking Balochis and Pashtuns. The absence of cooperation between the provinces has snowballed, making Pakistan a fragile state.

It was under this unfortunate circumstance Asif Zardari was elected as President showing the depth to which the state assemblies had descended. Zardari is neither a politician nor a professional. He was known as the husband of assassinated prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, twice elected as prime minister and dismissed on both times on corruption charges. Zardari, better known as Mr. 10 Percent, has been accused of corruption, fraud, underworld links and even murder. Even after elected president, he was implicated in several scandals including an alleged submarine deal for Pakistan navy.

Eric S. Margolis, a contributing editor to the Toronto Sun chain of newspapers, said in an article that;

“Zardari has been dogged for decades by corruption charges. Washington seems unaware of the fury its crude, counter-productive policies have whipped up in Pakistan. The Obama administration listens to Washington-based pro-Israel neo-conservatives, military hawks, and “experts” who tell it what it wants to hear, not the facts. Pakistan’s military, the nation’s premier institution, is being pushed to the point of revolt. Against the backdrop of bombings and shootings, come rumors that the heads of Pakistan’s armed forces and intelligence may be replaced. Pakistanis are calling for the removal of the Zardari regime’s strongman, Interior Minister Rehman Malik. The possibility of a military coup against the Zardari regime grows. However, Pakistan is dependent on US money, and fears India. Can its generals afford to break with patron Washington?

It was in this context one should view Zardari’s military onslaught on his own people to please President Obama who began drone attacks, almost immediately after he assumed office, violating Pakistan’s sovereignty, killing hundreds of innocent civilians in the footsteps of his predecessor George Bush.

In fact in a report presented to the UN General Assembly on Tuesday 26 October 2009, UN Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial Executions Philip Alston described US drone strikes against suspected terrorists in Afghanistan and Pakistan may well violate international humanitarian law and international human rights law.

” My concern is that these attacks in Afghanistan and northwestern Pakistan have often resulted in civilian deaths and drawn bitter criticism from local populations. Since August 2008, around 70 strikes by unmanned aircraft have killed close to 600 people in northwestern Pakistan,” said Philip Alston.

Meanwhile after Pakistan launched its military strike there were several deadly bomb explosions including the one on the International Islamic University in Islamabad and the market place in Peshawar.

Taliban denied responsibility. However, analysts were quick to accuse the notorious US security firm Blackwater, known for its heinous crimes – rape, torture and bombings - in Iraq and Afghanistan, perhaps aimed at putting the government and the so-called Taliban against each other.

Erik Prince, the founder and the boss of Blackwater ,world’s most powerful mercenary army, accused in court papers of seeking to wipe out Muslims, views himself as a Christian crusader tasked with eliminating Muslims and the Islamic faith from the planet, according to a former employee. These Blackwater mercenaries are in Pakistan and the question is why did the Pakistani government allow them into the country?

In the midst, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton arrived in Pakistan on a stormy three days visit on Wednesday 28 October 2009 to convey the Obama administration’s support, praise the Pakistani government for its military offensive, and tackle rising anti-US feelings among the Pakistani people.

She was greeted with a sophisticated bomb in busy Meena Bazar market in Peshawar killing more than 107 people - most of them innocent women and children. Taliban denied. So the question is who planted such a sophisticated bomb?

She faced sharp rebukes from Pakistani citizens and journalist on the third day of her visit when a woman who chastised the US stating, “Using aerial drones to target terrorists amounted to “executions without trial.” while another journalist said “we’ve been fighting your war”.

US appeared to be trying to push the government go beyond South Waziristan when she warned, ”after South Waziristan, the Pakistanis will have to go on to root out other terrorist groups”. She never spoke a word about the devastating impact on the entire civilian population in South Waziristan forced to flee for their lives as villages and towns were literally being bombed into rubble.

The question is what next? Will Pakistan be next Iraq? How far the Pakistani government could go in killing its own people to please US?

It appears a poem by Khalil Gibran written in 1934, and now in circulation in e-mails, well suits Pakistan’s current dilemma?

Pity the nation that raises not its voice
save when it walks in a funeral,
boasts not except among its ruins,
and will rebel not save when its neck is laid
between the sword and the block.

Pity the nation whose statesman is a fox,
whose philosopher is a juggler,
and whose art is the art of patching and mimicking.

Pity the nation that welcomes its new ruler with trumpeting,
and farewells him with hooting,
only to welcome another with trumpeting again.

Pity the nation whose sages are dumb with years
and whose strong men are yet in the cradle.
Pity the nation divided into fragments,
each fragment deeming itself a nation.

Concluded.

Published by Sri Lanka Guardian, © 2007-2009. Cross posted at AhmedQuraishi.com & PakNationalists

Images on top: Part-I: top: leondsouza.blogspot.com, middle: nation.com.pk Part-II: http://despardes.com/

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of the ‘Wonders of Pakistan’. The contents of this article too are the sole responsibility of the author(s). WoP will not be responsible or liable for any inaccurate or incorrect statements contained in this post.

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Will Pakistan be fragmented? VIEW POINT FROM SRI LANKA

A Country Sandwiched Between the American-European-Israeli- Indian Designs and Pakistani Quislings. Many Pakistanis fear, these forces might together endeavor to fragment their country, the only Muslim nuclear state in the world.

Will Pakistan, the only Muslim nuclear country, be fragmented as it was done in case of Iraq?

by Latheef Farook

Will Pakistan, the only Muslim nuclear country, be fragmented as it was done in case of Iraq?

This is the common fear among Pakistanis, not quite unfounded, in view of the forces -United States, Europe and Israel, which turned Iraq and Afghanistan into slaughterhouses, and are responsible for the deepening quagmire unfolding in Pakistan.

Pakistanis fear that the US led war on Islam and Muslims, under the guise of fighting war on terrorism, Al-Qaeda and Taliban, is extended to Pakistan .They are putting the Pakistani government of quislings against Pakistanis threatening the very survival of Pakistan. India remains an active partner in this US led conspiracy to destabilize yet another Muslim country.

President Barack Obama signed the 7.5 billion dollar aid package in mid October 2009 demanding Pakistan to launch military strike against its Pashtun tribes in wild South Waziristan. Pakistanis consider the numerous conditions linked to the aid package as insult to their country and many described the aid package as a Big Bribe that will go into the usual pockets.

Within days President Asif Zardari obediently unleashed a ferocious ground and air attack, using American-upgraded F-16s and helicopter gunships, indiscriminately killing, among others, the innocent civilians and destroying their shelters in the South Waziristan region irrespective of the public outrage accusing the government of betraying Pakistan’s national interests at home, in Afghanistan and in Kashmir.

Hundreds of thousands of innocent men, women, children and the aged were made refugees overnight with no food, water or any other essential as it happened in Swat Valley in April this year.

Under this mercenary military offensive on Washington’s orders, the Pakistani government also permitted US to secretly create a mercenary army inside Pakistan pushing the military to the point of revolt.

American, European and Israeli Designs on Pakistan

It appears that the American strategy in Pakistan is to use Pakistani government against the Pakistanis, provoking a civil war and plunge the country into chaos to neutralize its nuclear arsenal that has been US neocons’ urgent priority. The Americans are not interested in Pakistan or its people. They only want collaborators and quislings and they found a willing partner in the person of Asif Ali Zardari.

Many observers accuse US of playing double game by financing the Taliban and demanding the government to fight the Taliban. Justifying this fear Pakistani daily “NEWS” stated that the US-led NATO forces vacated more than half a dozen security check posts, together with some posts close to North Waziristan, on the Afghan side of the border, just five days before the Pakistani military offensive began.

This facilitated Afghan Taliban to cross over to Pakistan and support fighters in striking back at the Pakistani security forces in the troubled tribal area, raising many eyebrows in the government and military circles. Shocked and intrigued by its timing the NWFP government and civilian and military officials alerted Islamabad.

Pakistanis consider America as the greatest threat, worse than the arch rival India, to their sovereignty and independence. They are aware that already a map showing a truncated Pakistan has been in circulation and the ever growing collaborations among India, Afghanistan US, Europe and Israel.

Exacerbating this fear, are the US plans to build its second largest embassy in the world in Islamabad, after its embassy in Baghdad. According to reports, it’s also demanding indirect veto over promotions in Pakistan’s armed forces and her intelligence agency, the ISI. This crude attempt to exert more US influence over Pakistan’s 617,000-man military has enraged the armed forces and set off alarm bells.

Dealing with the US-European, Israeli and Indian conspiracy to destabilize Pakistan columnist Atif F Qureshi stated that;

* The ’surge’ in American troops in Afghanistan accompanied a ’surge’ in terrorism in Pakistan. While the Afghan Taliban never threatened Pakistani sovereignty, since 2001 thousands of innocents have been killed in a wave of suicide bombings in Pakistan that ‘coincidently’, began only after the US invasion and occupation of Afghanistan in 2001.

* The Afghan occupation is deliberately extended into Pakistan and both countries are treated as a single ‘battlefield’ called AfPak. This is laughable because one is war-torn and primitive while the other has a sophisticated civic society .The purpose is to enable American forces to strike into Pakistan.

* Wave after wave of callous and imprecise drone attacks murdering innocent civilians and riling up the Pakistani public who despair at their feckless government for being complicit in continual violations of the nation’s sovereignty and dignity. * The never-ending American pressure for Pakistan to “DO MORE!” Though no nation has done or sacrificed more to combat terrorism in its own self-interest. The number of soldiers martyred, wealth spent and tears of widows and orphans shed remain testimony to the truth that those who claim that Pakistan is half-hearted in this effort are liars.

* The CIA shield, protect and nurture anti-Pakistan insurgent groups on Pakistani soil. The so-called ‘Baluchistan Liberation Army and ‘Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan’ are only a few of many of these groups base their insidious operations from inside US occupied Afghanistan.

* Even though our ‘popularly elected’ politicians are in the pocket of the Americans, they remain frustrated that certain institutions in Pakistan remain out of their reach. The black propaganda targeting Pakistan’s patriotic armed forces, intelligence services and nuclear weapons arsenal reveals their obvious intent. Well aware that these are the only institutions that truly have Pakistan’s interests at heart, the public do not appreciate the Am-Brit campaign to malign them.

* The exposure of blatant double-standards is evident as America turns on the weapons tap for India, whom it wishes to turn into its 21st century ’slave soldier’ in order to counter China, while Pakistani officials are left dangling and must debase and humiliate themselves in order to ensure the delivery of a trifling number of F-16’s and helicopters to fight the same enemies that America is sponsoring.

* The recent polling is cause for great hope. It proves what was never in doubt – the Pakistani population will not stand for these US violations of Pakistan’s sovereignty and national interest for much longer.

We know that we fear Allah more than we fear America, but the nation must now realize another profound truth – salvation does not lie in continued cooperation and debasement in front of America, but only in faith in Allah and His Messenger (SAW). It is time for this nation to throw off its shackles and re-declare its independence.

Balochistan Gold Reserves – Exclusive Report

The Biggest Conspiracy Against Pakistan

by Naveed Taj Ghouri

Reko Diq has world’s largest copper reserves. It is also one of the biggest Gold reserves in the world. Its estimated value is around US$100 billion and it’s just a surface estimate. The international conspiracy roots behind US invasion in Balochistan through drone attacks and Jewish Mining Company Barrick Gold!

In wake of the current turmoil in Pakistan, thousands of journalists, attorneys, opposition leaders, human rights activists and NGO members, have thus far not been able to put a hand on the Antofagasta / Barrick Reko Diq joint venture advanced exploration project, a conspiracy to gain 75% of all the reserves, gold, copper and whatever they find….

Question arises why US is so much after Balochistan and why is she now talking about drone attacks on Quetta and other areas of Balochistan. The answer is: its all business and game for reserves of Balochistan. Read the exclusive Urdu Report which has been already published in BTC IBITIANS.com (Urdu)

America is After Reko Diq Balochistan Gold Reserves – Exclusive Report

Reko Diq is a small town in Chagai District, Balochistan, Pakistan, in a desert area 70 kilometres north west of Naukundi, near to the Iran-Afghan border.

Reko Diq, also the name of an ancient volcano, literally means sandy peak, but this is something of a misnomer. It could be called Tangav Diq, or gold peak, says Syed Fazl-e-Haider, a development expert on such projects.

‘Below the sands lie some 12.3 million tons of copper and 20.9 million ounces of gold. The copper-gold deposits at Reko Diq are believed to be even bigger than those of Sarcheshmeh in Iran and Escondida in Chile’.

What is Reko Diq Project?

The Reko Diq project is a large copper-gold porphyry resource on the Tethyan belt, located in the dry desert conditions of southwest Pakistan within the remote and sparsely populated province of Balochistan . The Tethyan belt is a prospective region for large gold-copper porphyries.

Reko Diq is a giant copper and gold project in Chaghi. The main license (EL5) is held jointly by the Government of Balochistan (25%), Antofagasta Minerals (37.5%) and Barrick Gold (37.5%)

Actually Barrick has a 50% interest in Tethyan Copper Company (the other 50% is owned by Antofagasta plc), which has a 75% interest in the Reko Diq project and associated mineral interests (for a resulting 37.5% interest in Reko Diq).

As of December 31, 2008, Barrick’s share of measured and indicated and inferred gold resources is 8.5 and 8.4 million ounces respectively. Barrick’s share of measured and indicated and inferred copper resources is 11.5 and 8.5 billion pounds respectively.

A further 14 mineralized porphyry bodies are known to exist, with the potential to place the Reko Diq Project among the largest undeveloped copper resources on the globe.

The TCC has estimated annual production 200 to 500 million copper tones from the project. The Company started the Reko-Diq copper project in 2003 with an investment of US $130 million. The project is faced with acute shortage of water for having no surface flow. The expected mining operations in Reko Diq will depend on sub-surface water with the exploration of underground water potential in the region being a pre-requisite for any mining project.

The Real Face of Barrick Gold:

In a reader poll conducted by the Censored News blog; Readers, primarily Indigenous Peoples, voted Monsanto as the second Worst Company in the World. Peabody Energy Corp., recently granted a life of mine permit to expand coal mining on Navajo and Hopi lands, was voted the third Worst Company in the World.

Barrick Gold Corp., which began the destruction of the Western Shoshone’s Mount Tenabo region during Thanksgiving, was voted the fourth Worst Company in the World. Blackwater Worldwide, responsible for murders and brutality worldwide, was voted the fifth Worst Company in the World

Barrick Gold, responsible for the deaths of Indigenous Peoples around the world, began its onslaught on the sacred lands of the Western Shoshone at Mount Tenabo during the Thanksgiving holidays. Before leaving office, President Bush Sr. made it possible for Barrick to lease lands for gold mining in Nevada . Once out of office, Bush Sr. went to work for Barrick as a senior consultant.

Protestors gathered outside of Barrick Gold’s annual general meeting last year to show their solidarity with the affected indigenous community representatives who were inside the meeting voicing their complaints to the company shareholders.

In Australia, DR Congo, Ghana , Tanzania and New Guinea , Indigenous Peoples are fighting Barrick’s destruction in solidarity with the Western Shoshone. They are fighting the coring out of mountains for minute particles of gold and the poisoning of water with cyanide leaching.

Carrie Dann and other Western Shoshone grandmothers said the United States is trespassing on Western Shoshone treaty land, destroying mountains, trees, food and medicine, while leaving dirty polluted water ponds for birds and animals.

“Why doesn’t the mining company go and dig the Vatican or the Mormon Tabernacle instead of Western Shoshone lands, I’m sure they will find gold there,” said Mary McCloud, Western Shoshone grandmother, mourning the bulldozing of the pines near the ceremonial grounds on Mount Tenabo in November.

Near the Porgera mine in New Guinea, Jethro Tulin of the Akali Tange Association, told Barrick Gold, “Your security guards have been shooting and killing our people and raping, even gang-raping our women with impunity for years now.”

Sydney residents also raised concerns about cyanide.

In 2007, concerned citizens gathered at Chullora in western Sydney to protest against the multinational mining company Barrick Gold.The protest was part of an International Day of Action against the company.

Barrick Gold has mines across the globe, including North and South America, Africa and Australia.

Rise of Barrick Gold in Pakistan

The Jewish Company working there states that the pre-feasibility study is expected to be finalized in the third quarter of 2009. Work on the feasibility study has commenced and is expected to be completed in early 2010.

Barrick bought a stake in the Reko Dig copper-gold project in Pakistan for $100 million in February from Antofagasta PLC, a Chilean mining group.

In 2007, When CEO Greg Wilkins went to Islamabad in connection with that project, Munk said, he was received by both Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz and President Pervez Musharraf.

Although the company’s assessment of opportunities in that country is still in the early days, Wilkins said Barrick would be “very interested” in more projects there, despite challenges posed by the presence of al-Qaida in some of its regions.

According to Mineweb.com…. What is believed to be one of the world’s largest reserves of gold and copper were discovered last year in the Chaghi area in Pakistan’s southwest Balochistan Province. The Balochistan government has a 25% share while Barrick Gold has obtained 50% of the Reko Diq project. Reko Diq is believed to contain 12.3 million tons of copper and 20.9 million ounces of gold in inferred and indicated resources. Some surveys have suggested that Reko Diq may contain as much as 11 billion pounds of copper and nine million ounces of gold.

BHP Billiton, which was involved in the project at an earlier date, also believed Reko Diq may have the potential to yield copper resources that may eventually make it a multi-billion project. Antofagasta is now a 50-50 partner with Barrick. If the project is successful, it may have the potential to generate a mining industry in Pakistan.

An estimated US$46 million project budget includes a scoping study and initial pre-feasibility costs. The scoping study has been completed for the Western Porphyries with an updated resource anticipated at year end, Barrick Executive Vice President, Exploration and Project Development, Alex Davidson told analysts last week.

While Riko was initially envisioned as a 72,000 tpd operation, Davidson said the joint ventures partners are now examining “significantly greater outputs.”

In an e-mail to Mineweb, Barrick Senior Vice President Vince Borg said, “Our project staff in Islamabad are safe, which is the paramount concern wherever we operate, and we are in regular contact with them.” He noted that Reko Diq is in a very remote location, Balochistan , “and work on the site is continuing.”

The Conspiracy

BHP Billiton, the world’s largest mining company, started this project with the Australian firm Tethyan, entering into a joint venture with the Balochistan government and estimating an annual production of 200 to 500 million pounds of copper. A large number of porphyry rocks are also known to exist.

The interests of the Australian company in Reko Diq and its neighbourhood were taken over by the Toronto-based Barrick Gold Corporation and the Chilean Antofagasta Minerals. These companies were handed a very lucrative deal. The terms agreed upon show that there is more to the issue than meets the eye. Royalties were reduced from the initial four to two per cent. Terms for the provision of cost-free land for an airport and a 400 km Reko Diq-Gwadar road were accepted. An unjust clause is that a 25 per cent share will be paid to the Balochistan government, but only after it invests 25 per cent in the project.

Antofagasta’s net assets at the end of 2007 grew to almost $5bn. In December 2005 it said: “Tethyan’s principal assets are a 75 per cent interest in the highly prospective Chagai Hills region of North West Pakistan known as Reko Diq, including the Tanjeel Mineral Resource. This mining district hosts significant copper-gold porphyry deposits as part of an extended copper-gold belt. Total indicated and inferred mineral resource estimates at these properties are 1,213 million tonnes with a copper grade of 0.58% and a gold grade of 0.28 grams per tonne. Estimates include probable reserves at the Tanjeel of 128.8 million tonnes with a copper grade of 0.7%.”

According to Rob Maguire of the Dominion paper, Barrick is the foremost gold mining corporation in the world, with sales exceeding $2.6bn in 2005 and the largest reserves in the industry, at nearly 90 million ounces. Proponents of this project state that the mines will create thousands of high paying jobs and give a massive boost to the local economy. However the main fear many have is that revenues generated by this project will be squandered by corrupt officials. Therefore it is imperative that a mechanism be evolved to ensure that revenues generated actually lead to better infrastructure, education and health.

These corporations have outsourced services to Pakistani contractors such as ROCKMORE PVT LIMITED, Security 2000, Zia ul Haq & Company, and foreign companies like Capital Drilling & Zain Drilling Company. In April 2008, Zain Drilling Company terminated the services of forty drilling assistants and recruited novices and non-locals. The AZAT Foundation has tried to protect their rights, and on June 14, 2008 a well-attended demonstration was held outside the Quetta Press Club.

There are many advocates of such mega projects who claim that the Baloch have benefited from their trickle-down effect. However, mining uses sodium cyanide, arsenic and other chemicals which produce toxic by-products. According to Marcel Claude, vice-president of the international environmental group Oceana, gold mining dumps 79 tonnes of waste for every 28 grams of gold and produces 96 per cent of the world’s arsenic emissions.

Community representatives of affected indigenous communities in Papua New Guinea, Chile and Australia traveled great distances to come to Toronto last year to speak out against the world’s largest gold mining corporation, Barrick Gold, regarding their gold mining operations where they live.

Note: The report is based on the information gleaned from Internet and oher sources, so are the pictures. This post sent by Jibran M. Hashmey

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Noam Chomsky: no change in US ‘Mafia principle’

Top American intellectual sees no significant change of US foreign policy under Obama.

by Mamoon Alabbasi

As civilised people across the world breathed a sigh of relief to see the back of former US president George W. Bush, top American intellectual Noam Chomsky warned against assuming or expecting significant changes in the basis of Washington’s foreign policy under President Barack Obama.

During two lectures organised by the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) in London, Chomsky cited numerous examples of the driving doctrines behind US foreign policy since the end of World War II.

“As Obama came into office, Condoleezza Rice predicted that he would follow the policies of Bush’s second term, and that is pretty much what happened, apart from a different rhetorical style,” he said.

“But it is wise to attend to deeds, not rhetoric. Deeds commonly tell a different story,” he added.

“There is basically no significant change in the fundamental traditional conception that we if can control Middle East energy resources, then we can control the world,” explained Chomsky.

Chomsky said that a leading doctrine of US foreign policy during the period of its global dominance is what he termed as “the Mafia principle.”

“The Godfather does not tolerate ’successful defiance’. It is too dangerous. It must therefore be stamped out so that others understand that disobedience is not an option,” said Chomsky.

Because the US sees “successful defiance” of Washington as a “virus” that will “spread contagion,” he explained.

Iran

The US had feared this “virus” of independent thought from Washington by Tehran and therefore acted to overthrow the Iranian parliamentary democracy in 1953.

“The goal in 1953 was to retain control of Iranian resources,” said Chomsky.

However, “in 1979 the (Iranian) virus emerged again. The US at first sought to sponsor a military coup; when that failed, it turned to support Saddam Hussein’s merciless invasion (of Iran).”

“The torture of Iran continued without a break and still does, with sanctions and other means,” said Chomsky.

“The US continued, without a break, its torture of Iranians,” he stressed.

Nuclear attack

Chomsky mocked the idea presented by mainstream media that a future-nuclear-armed Iran may attack already-nuclear-armed Israel.

“The chance of Iran launching a missile attack, nuclear or not, is about at the level of an asteroid hitting the earth — unless, of course, the ruling clerics have a fanatic death wish and want to see Iran instantly incinerated along with them,” said Chomsky, stressing that this is not the case.

Chomsky further explained that the presence of US anti-missile weapons in Israel are really meant for preparing a possible attack on Iran, and not for self-defence, as it is often presented.

“The systems are advertised as defense against an Iranian attack. But …the purpose of the US interception systems, if they ever work, is to prevent any retaliation to a US or Israeli attack on Iran — that is, to eliminate any Iranian deterrent,” said Chomsky.

Iraq

Chomsky reminded the audience of America’s backing of former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein during and even after Iraq’s war with Iran.

“The Reaganite love affair with Saddam did not end after the (Iran-Iraq) war. In 1989, Iraqi nuclear engineers were invited to the United States, then under Gorge Bush I, to receive advanced weapons’ training,” said Chomsky.

This support continued while Saddam was committing atrocities against his own people, until he fell out of US favour when in 1990 he invaded Kuwait, an even closer alley of Washington.

“In 1990, Saddam defied, or more likely misunderstood orders, and he quickly shifted from favourite friend to the reincarnation of Hitler,” Chomsky added.

Then the people of Iraq were subjected to “genocidal” US-backed sanctions.

Chomsky explained that although the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, which was launched under many false pretexts and lies, was a ” major crime”, many critics of the invasion – including Obama – viewed it as merely as “a mistake” or a “strategic blunder”.

“It’s probably what the German general staff was telling Hitler after Stalingrad,” he said

“There’s nothing principled about it. It wasn’t a strategic blunder: it was a major crime,” he added.

Chomsky credited the holding of elections in Iraq in 2005 to popular Iraqi demand, despite initial US objection.

The US military, he argued, could kill as many Iraqi insurgents as it wished, but it was more difficult to shoot at non-violent protesters in the streets out on the open, which meant Washington at times had to give in to public Iraqi pressure.

But despite being pressured to announce a withdrawal from Iraq, the US continues to seek a long term presence in the country.

The US mega-embassy in Baghdad is to be expanded under Obama, noted Chomsky.

Optimism

Chomsky stressed that public pressure in the ‘West’ can make a positive difference for people suffering from the aggression of ‘Western’ governments.

“There is a lot of comparison between opposition to the Iraq war with opposition to the Vietnam war, but people tend to forget that at first there was almost no opposition to the Vietnam war,” said Chomsky.

“In the Iraq war, there were massive international protests before it officially stated… and it had an effect. The United Sates could not use the tactics used in Vietnam: there was no saturation bombing by B52s, so there was no chemical warfare – (the Iraq war was) horrible enough, but it could have been a lot worse,” he said.

“And furthermore, the Bush administration had to back down on its war aims, step by step,” he added.

“It had to allow elections, which it did not want to do: mainly a victory for non-Iraqi protests. They could kill insurgents; they couldn’t deal hundreds of thousands of people in the streets. Their hands were tied by the domestic constraints. They finally had to abandon – officially at least – virtually all the war aims,” said Chomsky.

“As late as November 2007, the US was still insisting that the ‘Status of Forces Agreement’ allow for an indefinite US military presence and privileged access to Iraq’s resources by US investors – well they didn’t get that on paper at least. They had to back down. OK, Iraq is a horror story but it could have been a lot worse,” he said

“So yes, protests can do something. When there is no protest and no attention, a power just goes wild, just like in Cambodia and northern Louse,” he added.

Turkey

Chomsky said that Turkey could become a “significant independent actor” in the region, if it chooses to.

“Turkey has to make some internal decisions: is it going to face west and try to get accepted by the European Union or is it going to face reality and recognise that Europeans are so racist that they are never going to allow it in?,” said Chomsky.

The Europeans “keep raising the barrier on Turkish entry to the EU,” he explained.

But Chomsky said Turkey did become an independent actor in March 2003 when it followed its public opinion and did not take part in the US-led invasion of Iraq.

Turkey took notice of the wishes of the overwhelming majority of its population, which opposed the invasion.

But ‘New Europe’ was led by Berlusconi of Italy and Aznar of Spain, who rejected the views of their populations – which strongly objected to the Iraq war – and preferred to follow Bush, noted Chomsky.

So, in that sense Turkey was more democratic than states that took part in the war, which in turn infuriated the US.

Today, Chomsky added, Turkey is also acting independently by refusing to take part in the US-Israeli military exercises.

Fear factor

Chomsky explained that although ‘Western’ government use “the maxim of Thucydides” (‘the strong do as they wish, and the weak suffer as they must’), their peoples are hurled via the “fear factor”.

Via cooperate media and complicit intellectuals, the public is led to believe that all the crimes and atrocities committed by their governments is either “self defence” or “humanitarian intervention”.

NATO

Chomsky noted that Obama has escalated Bush’s war in Afghanistan, using NATO.

NATO is also seen as reinforcing US control over energy supplies.

But the US also used NATO to keep Europe under control.

“From the earliest post-World War days, it was understood that Western Europe might choose to follow an independent course,” said Chomsky.”NATO was partially intended to counter this serious threat,” he added.

Middle East oil

Chomsky explained that Middle East oil reserves were understood to be “a stupendous source of strategic power” and “one of the greatest material prizes in world history,” the most “strategically important area in the world,” in Eisenhower’s words.

Control of Middle East oil would provide the United States with “substantial control of the world.”

This meant that the US “must support harsh and brutal regimes and block democracy and development” in the Middle East.”

Somalia

Chomsky tackled the origins of the Somali piracy issue.

“Piracy is not nice, but where did it come from?”

Chomsky explained that one of the immediate reasons for piracy is European counties and others are simply “destroying Somalia’s territorial waters by dumping toxic waste – probably nuclear waste – and also by overfishing.”

“What happens to the fishermen in Somalia? They become pirates. And then we’re all upset about the piracy, not about having created the situation,” said Chomsky.

Chomsky went on to cite another example of harming Somalia.

“One of the great achievements of the war on terror, which was greatly hailed in the press when it was announced, was closing down an Islamic charity – Barakat – which was identified as supporting terrorists.

“A couple of months later… the (US) government quietly recognised that they were wrong, and the press may have had a couple of lines about it – but meanwhile, it was a major blow against Somalia. Somalia doesn’t have much of an economy but a lot of it was supported by this charity: not just giving money but running banks and businesses, and so on.

“It was a significant part of the economy of Somalia…closing it down… was another contributing factor to the breaking down of a very weak society…and there are other examples.”

Darfur

Chomsky also touched on Sudan’s Darfur region.

“There are terrible things going on in Darfur, but in comparison with the region they don’t amount to a lot unfortunately – like what’s going on in eastern Congo is incomparably worse than in Darfur.

“But Darfur is a very popular topic for Western humanists because you can blame it on an enemy – you have to distort a lot but you can blame it on ‘Arabs’, ‘bad guys’,” he explained.

“What about saving eastern Cong where maybe 20 times as many people have been killed? Well, that gets kind of tricky … for people who… are using minerals from eastern Congo that obtained by multinationals sponsoring militias which slaughter and kill and get the minerals,” he said.

Or the fact that Rwanda is simply the worst of the many agents and it is a US alley, he added.

Goldstone’s Gaza report

Chomsky appeared to have agreed with Israel that the Goldstone report on the Gaza war was bias, only he saw it as biased in favour of Israel.

The Goldstone report had acknowledged Israel’s right to self-defence, although it denounced the method this was conducted.

Chomsky stressed that the right to self-defence does not mean resorting to military force before “exhausting peaceful means”, something Israel did not even contemplate doing.

In fact, Chomsky points out, it was Israel who broke the ceasefire with Hamas and refused to extend it, as continuing the siege of Gaza itself is an act of war.

As for the current stalled Mideast peace process, Chomsky said that despite adopting a tougher tone towards Israel than that of Bush, Obama made no real effort to pressure Israel to live up to its obligations.

In the absence of the threat of cutting US aid for Israel, there is no compelling reason why Tel Aviv should listen to Washington.

What can be done?

Chomsky stressed that despite all the obstacles, public pressure can and does make a difference for the better, urging people to continue activism and spreading knowledge.

“There is no reason to be pessimistic, just realistic.”

Chomsky noted that public opinion in the US and Britain is increasingly becoming more aware of the crimes committed by Israel.

“Public opinion is shifting substantially.”

And this is where a difference can be made, because Israel will not change its policies without pressure from the ‘West’.

“There is a lot to do in Western countries…primarily in the US.”

Chomsky also stressed the importance of taking legal action in ‘Western’ countries against companies breaking international law via illegitimate dealings with Israel, citing the possible involvement of British Gas in Israeli theft of natural gas off the coast of Gaza, as one example that should be investigated.

In conclusion of one of the lectures, Chomsky quoted Antonio Gramsci who famously called for “pessimism of the intellect, optimism of the will.”

Mamoon Alabbasi can be reached via: alabbasi@middle-east-online.com

source: Middle East Online Cross potted at: Nasir Khan Blog

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The Boston Brahmin

Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, advocating the KLB – promoting ZHQ – via the KLB

by Anjum Niaz

Note for WoP Readers: My nephew Jibran, off and on sends me some very interesting pieces. This one he says was received by him from Dr. Badr Dhanani.

Written by a freelance journalist with over twenty years of experience in national and international reporting, Anjum tells us how the games of politics are being played in this country, particularly at a time the whole country is burning, bomb attacks, suicide bombings, explosions and what not. A situation perhaps  similar to the times when Rome was burning and an autocrat king was playing his flute.

I was once in Rome, but I did not do what the Romans do, yet I did at least have a VISIT to the roof top, I was told was the place from where Nero looked at burning Rome but went on playing his flute. Well, Nero was a king but in this 21 century we have democratic rulers who are worse than the Neros of ancient Rome. What these kings, and their loved ones, the princes of today are doing, can be gauged from following story Anjum has sent us courtesy Jibran courtesy his friend Dr. Badr Dhanani… [Nayyar]

The Boston Brahmin

Since all the worthy columnists have exhausted the KLB, the new name for the Kerry-Lugar Bill, I have nothing remarkable to add to their sound and fury. Let’s instead turn to a small housekeeping matter like: is Foreign Minister Qureshi’s son working for Senator Kerry? Zain H Qureshi’s (ZHQ) business card is circulating the cyberspace these days. It says that he is a legislative fellow in Kerry’s Washington DC office. When I called up Kerry’s office and asked for Qureshi, the voice at the other end immediately said, “He does not work for us”. The woman appeared primed for such a question. She said she had received a similar query earlier that day.

Incidentally the cell number on ZHQ’s call card has been disconnected; while the mail box belonging to “Zain Qureshi” was “full!” So, I couldn’t get to him.

After a number of phone calls to Senator Kerry’s office, I finally found out from one of Kerry’s male staffers that ZHQ did indeed work for Kerry but had now left. Why has ZHQ gone into hiding? Did he do something wrong? Yes. And the Foreign Office finds itself between a rock and a hard place. How can it condone its boss’s act of getting his son a job with Kerry when the KLB talks were at a critical stage? Even if fate smiles upon ZHQ because he’s the favoured son of our foreign minister and the doors of the high and mighty in Washington open up for him, we have the right to know whenever the son’s job compromises his dad’s position. More importantly if it is in direct conflict with Pakistan’s interests.

Would you not call this a conflict of interest? Should the foreign minister resign? And if Zardari cannot afford to let him go, then the FM must seek a public apology. The Boston Brahmin, Senator Kerry is complicit in this act. Boston Brahmins are New England’s aristocracy like the Makhdooms of Multan, i.e. Shah Mahmood Qureshi and his tribe. These guys claim to fame is blue-blooded ancestry, wealth, influence and the right to rule. He said the following during his 2004 presidential campaign: “There’s a great passage in the Bible that says, ‘What does it mean, my brother, to say you have faith if there are no deeds? Faith without works is dead.’ And I think everything you do in public life has to be guided by your faith, affected by your faith. That’s why I fight for equality and justice. All of those things come out of that fundamental teaching and belief of faith.”

Senator Kerry must practice what he preaches. Would he have given ZHQ the time of the day had the young man not been the son of Pakistan’s foreign minister?Why do the good folks fighting Pakistan’s case in Washington DC become the usual suspects? In Musharraf’s time it was Dr Nasim Ashraf. One wondered whether the Maryland-based millionaire doctor’s heart bled for Pakistan or for Musharraf or for himself. Today, Ambassador Husain Haqqani is under fire from certain Pakistani quarters who accuse him of working for Washington and not Islamabad. Haqqani is hitting back via email messages to anyone wondering what’s cooking in Washington. Yours truly is one of the unlucky recipients. Surely our ambassador must have known that his boss’s son was working for Kerry. Good counselling from Haqqani to Qureshi would perhaps have saved the latter the embarrassment he is facing today?

Another glaring example of how the Democrats are enticing the Pakistani leaders is the recent banner headline: “Zardari far ahead in popularity.” According to Democracy International, an affiliate of the Democratic Party of America, Zardari is ahead of Nawaz Sharif in the popularity contest. To anyone with an iota of intelligence, the timing of this screamer is suspect. What has Zardari achieved in recent days for “51 per cent” of Pakistanis to suddenly fall in love with him? His jiyalas, one fears, would declare October 1, the day the survey was announced, as the President’s Day – the day of the great revelation. Declaring it a public holiday perhaps?And when the polls go against the sitting president, these foreign busybodies are kicked out of Pakistan. Gen Musharraf asked IRI (the International Republican Institute), an affiliate of the Republican Party to wind up their office in Pakistan and leave when he got bad ratings from them. Not sure if indeed it was IRI that offended Musharraf, I called up their office in Washington. “What is your column about?” asked Lisa (I couldn’t catch her last name) from the press section. I told her politely that it was not possible for me to provide her details of my column. “If you can’t tell me what your column is about then I can’t help you,” she replied sternly. This is just a small example of how Masonic these polling outfits are. They think they have the writ to go around Pakistan poking their noses into our affairs, but when it comes to asking a simple question like if Musharraf asked them to wind up their office in 2008, they get so cagey.

Sadly, the epicentre of our knowledge is the received wisdom from such dodgy polls conducted by Democracy International and the International Republican Institute (IRI). Hey, where’s Gallup Pakistan? Have we become so incompetent or doped that we can’t even conduct popularity polls in our own country and must therefore rely on America?

We are the opium-eaters. We swallow whatever comes from Washington. While the Democrats tell us that Pakistanis love Zardari because of KLB, the Republicans via their polling affiliate the IRI sing a different tune. Their August polls conclude that “Pakistanis continue to hold onto the opinion that conditions in the country are problematic and President Zardari is perceived as being responsible.” If this does not sound confusing enough to an ordinary Pakistani trying to work out the popularity ratings of Zardari and Nawaz Sharif, have another go. According to September 9 report in the Christian Science Monitor, “Zardari’s popularity sags – will it undermine Pakistan’s fight with Taliban?”

 

Here’s another twister from the Los Angeles Times. The headline reads: “Zardari at fault for low rating?” This gem was published on August 31. “Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari is aware that his popularity has sunk to new lows at a time when his arch rival Nawaz Sharif — who heads the Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) — is boasting high popularity, a media report said. He is widely viewed in Pakistani society not as a helmsman, but a bystander. It’s an image that is largely of Zardari’s own making, say analysts who contend that he has failed to forge any kind of connection with the Pakistani public. Last but not the least is the recent poll by the Pew Research Centre, a Washington-based institute, which says that “less than a third of Pakistanis have a favourable opinion of Mr Zardari. The president was widely reviled after being accused of demanding kickbacks while he served in Benazir Bhutto’s Cabinet in the late 1980s and again starting in 1993.”

Give us a break! If by now we don’t get it that the US is using these polls as a weapon for manipulation of third world dictators (Gen Musharraf) and corrupt rulers then Pakistan, I’m afraid to say, is going down the tube fast.

Conflict of interest, eh? Here’s yet one more example. Do you know how many Pakistani parliamentarians and cabinet ministers hold foreign nationalities, including our president?

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Heritage – Our Identity – Our Pride

 

Historic Badshahi Mosque in Lahore

 

 

WOP Editor Nayyar Hashmey explains the phenomenon that beckons peoples to seek their roots in heritage, the pride in their glorious past and a means to their identity in the contemporary world.

Archaeology enables us view our distant past at the time our life is happening before us. Monuments as long as they exist, give ever new meanings to our lives and acquire an ever new cultural significance; for they are a visible link between our present and the distant past.

The Shalimar Gardens, Lahore

As monuments pass through ages, they are appreciated according to their age value and hence are also referred to as timemarks or as Germans would call them the Denk-Mals. Denk-Mal is generally an expression of a mysterious monument which inspires people to think deep about philosophical questions associated with the beginning of humanity in prehistoric periods.

Perceiving monuments as timemarks with a distinct aura around them; while recognizing that they are older than we can imagine, stimulates us also to philosophize not only about the past and its relationship with the present but also about the eternity, about the age of humanity, the speed of history, the transience of individuals, the achievement of whole cultures and what the monuments may see in future – us for instance.

Often the melancholic appreciations of ancient monuments can easily acquire a political significance, when ruins are taken as evidence of former glory or as fetishes for a social nostalgia.

The Bust of Priest King, Indus Valley

Seeing ancient objects as timemarks explains not only why people spend time at ancient monuments but also why they are interested in; and keep ancient objects as relics which they find elsewhere. Things which are perceived as ancient and foreign must, first and foremost, make people think. In this thinking process, archaeological researchers become attached to their works and for them archaeological study forms a significant part of their individual identity, a phenomenon which is followed by common men also.

The ability to symbolize national identity can explain the interest in prehistoric monuments, for they are the treasure of our country of which its people must feel proud of.

The Dome of Gurdwara Guru Arjan Dev Ji

While defining ourselves (seeking our identities) whatever our profession or goal in life may be, we mostly draw ourselves on the recent past of one or two generations when we define ourselves as sons or daughters, or as members of a particular generation. When we remember our past it becomes very significant in our socialization as individuals and contributes decisively to the formation of identities. Collective identities often refer to the heritage of a distant past .The past can also form an important part of our identities within the society. The histories and traditions of different strata of the society, the royal families, the working classes or of a common man have become a key part of their modern identities. The underlying reasoning is usually that “long memories can make great people”.
It has been argued that our past has become more important as a source of reassurance and identity as our everyday world changes at ever faster rates, causing alienation. So a search for compensating factors and collective identities are important, as it contains already before our modern age references to time-marks in the ancient landscapes like Harappa, Moenjo-Daro, Mesopotamia, Greece etc.

“Attachment to one’s motherland is a common human emotion. Its strength varies among different cultures and historical periods. … A homeland (the motherland) has its landmarks, which may be features of high visibility and public significance, such as monuments, graves, mausoleums, shrines, a hallowed battlefield or cemetery. These visible signs serve to enhance a people’s sense of identity; they encourage awareness of and loyalty to place.”

A Column filled Hall inside Royal Fort, Lahore

Ancient burial monuments, beyond being landmarks, can also acquire a meaning closely associated with people’s psyche. The collective vision of a shared origin and identical forefathers and foremothers, linked to ancient traditions, monuments and graves, can be the most important thing which all members of a community share, and about which they are collectively proud in their social memories Ancient burial monuments can therefore be crucial for the unity of a group of people. They seem to stand outside the flow of daily events and are symbols of stability in an ever changing world. One could therefore say: “He who controls the past controls who we are “This is why monuments, prehistoric as well as post historic, do not only link the present with the distant past, but also with the distant future”.

The Kargah Buddha near Gilgit, Northern Areas

It is one explanation for drilling of sites for certain artifacts, discovered in Harappa and Moenjo-Daro. These excavations leave their marks as a well visible symbol for the shared identity of our community, our nation. Individuals may make a public statement about who we are and who our ancestors had been. Furthermore like modern graffiti, such marks have been the result of a private, even secret act of connecting oneself forever with a public monument. Some individuals may have carried the stone dust produced constantly with them, reminding them of the heritage and origin of the community to which they belonged: their roots.

Group identities and a perhaps slightly nostalgic attachment to a homeland or a familiar cosmology may also have been expressed by putting secondary burials into ancient mounds, imitating them for their own burials, or continuing certain traditions. Later finds made at archaeological sites or in their neighborhood as well as ancient objects being re-used can similarly be taken as evidence for activities through which the identity of either individuals or whole groups were connected with the distant past.

In later ages, ancient monuments were chosen as meeting places, e.g. for court sessions or political bodies, probably because they were linked so closely with the identity of the community. The ability to symbolize national identity can explain the importance of prehistoric monuments e.g. the Indus Valley craftsmen – identified through the artifacts’ excavated in Harappa and Moenjo-Daro and the obviously deliberate visual and material references to monuments in different places of Pakistan. Similar references to the national past in relation to ancient monuments are frequently found in the journals and works of early travelers and antiquarians.

Rock Inscriptions near Manthal

Summing up, I reproduce here what a German Archaeologist wrote in 1923 about prehistoric relics; (translation mine):

“Heritage is a treasure of our country, and we must be proud of it. It’s quiet and impressive language of the distant past talks so powerfully to us.”
The archaeological sites and monuments form a part not only of history, culture and cultural memories, but also of many generations’ (past, present and the coming ones) understanding of our time marks which means the very understandings of ourselves, our identity, our life.

Photo Credits: top to bottom:
1 & 2 Ayaz Asif 3. “http://www.Imagesofasia.com/” 4 & 5. Ayaz Asif 6, 7 & 8. Nadeem Khawar.

Reach to the Top and Beyond

Abbotabad, Jinnah Garden in Early Spring

                              By Nayyar Hashmey  

     Located at a distance of 116 km from Rawalpindi and 217 km from Peshawar, Abbotabad is a popular summer resort in the midst of spacious valleys surrounded by green hills on all sides. The city is noted for its verdant parks, gardens, a beautiful golf course and pine covered hills. Besides, it boasts some prestigious educational institutions of the country and serves as an important gateway to almost all-beautiful places in Pakistan.

     The formidable Karakorams and the enchanting Himalayas are approached from Abbottabad. It is a junction from where one goes to places like Hunza, Gilgit, Skardu and Kohistan of the Karakoram Range. One can easily reach Swat, Swati Kohistan, Dir and Chitral of the Hindukush Range along with Naran, Saif-ul-Muluk, Shogran and Babusar Pass of the Himalayan Range. Neelum, Lipa and Jhelum Valley of beautiful Azad Kashmir are also connected through Abbottabad.

      While other hill stations are deserted during winter, Abbotabad is blessed with visitors due to its bracing winter season. The place has a beautiful park, the Jinnah Garden, maintained by the local Cantonment Board. The splendid stretch of turf in the city promises plenty of room for sports like polo, football, hockey and golf. The Cantonment area of is still very British. The European bungalows, the club, the church and cemetery are still there.

      This is how the city looks nowadays but long time back, when I was doing my HSSC course; it had a different, even more beautiful and natural look than it has today. I was invited then by my elder brother to spend summer vacations in Abbotabad. (My brother in those days, was posted there as a tax officer of the Govt. of Pakistan).

     Abbotabad

     as every one knows, was then and still is the second most important hill station in Pakistan. It was in those days, a clean, fragrant and beautiful town. There was absolutely no stink of diesel fumes, population was small and a rain shower even though a slight one, would dry clean the whole town, giving the small, beautiful Abbotabad a totally new look.

A View of Ilyasi Mosque, Abbotabad

The city had on its brinks green blue hills dotted with poplar forests. Crisscrossing the hills were small streams and rivulets. Up on the hills and their slopes were fruit orchards laden with apples, pomegranates and wild berries of every kind. The place we were living was also on the edge of the city and was called Malikpura. (It exists even today but is a much congested and overcrowded locality now).

Now we had a Gujjar lady who used to bring milk and poultry for us. We called her ‘Masi’. This milk lady or our Masi had a son who sometimes accompanied his mother. One day this son (I would call him a Masizad because I have forgotten his name) told me that up on the peak of the mountain and beyond, down hill there is a cave where Raja Rasaloo, the one time king of the area used to keep his gold and other treasures there. Now the fascination of a place which used to be laden with gold in time unknown coupled with the fact that I had never seen a cave yet, my fascination turned double fold and a strong urge arose to reach the summit of the mountain, descend the other side and sneak into the cave of a Raja who used to rule the valley in ancient days. My younger brother asked this ‘Masizad’ how high is the mountain and how much time will it take to reach there. Came the terse reply “Oh, not much, it’s just a two hours ascent and there you go”.

      My bother and I were so impressed with an idea to scale a peak even though a not very high but then peak is a peak. Our enthusiasm also grew much as a few years back, late Edmund Hillary of New Zealand for the first time had conquered the world’s highest peak on Himalayas, the Mount Everest. If not the highest, yet we would be scaling a peak and that would be great adventure and fun.

Another View of Ilyasi Mosque, Abbotbad

      Now having listened to the very tempting and luring adventure, we decided to go for the expedition next morning. With the feeling of a would be conqueror, from verandah of my house, I just looked at the great mountain in the west, which carries the city like a mother does its child in the lap, I visualized a wonderful, pleasant and comfortable journey upwards. And let it be known dear reader, neither myself nor my younger brother had the least idea of trekking, climbing or mountaineering, yet irrespective of the hazards on the way, we decided to scale the peak of mountain.

      Next day, we left at about 7.30 in the morning. While trekking upwards, we felt very pleasant. There was lush green vegetation everywhere; small rivulets came on our way. We happily waded through.. Water was cold and flow was rapid, yet we easily crossed over.

In the beginning

     our stamina was high so we did not feel the stress and exhaustion of moving upwards. However, at 8.30 am we asked our Masizad, how far it was to the top, to which he calmly replied, “Bhai, just near the top we are”. With these words, we again plucked our spirits and started moving upwards, although both me and my brother were gasping all the time and did not feel like going up any more. But with his words we started going and again gasping, moving upwards, gasping, moving with short breaks for rest and again moving. We asked the Masizad how far was it now to the top and he with his usual calm says” Bhai ab thora sa fasila reh gya hae” (brother, its just few steps now). With these morale boosting words, we again collected our spirits and started moving through but this time it was real hard task because not only was the height a big challenge to our stamina but also the lush green vegetation had turned into thorny bushes. To this malady came another misery in waiting. The grass on the mountain had every now and then shrubs which had a slimy juice in the leaves.

      There were many leaves of this type lying on the ground like a creeper. This made us many a time to slip and fall down but we managed it some how. It was almost 9.30 now but the top was nowhere in the sight. We were almost nearing exhaustion both in spirits and physique. Again the morale boosting dosage from our Masizad  “Bhai ab tau aap top per pohnch gayay ho”. (Brothers, you have reached the top almost). These words acted like a tonic but as the poet says “abhi ishq ke imtihan aur bhi haen” we had yet many tests, feats and miracle to perform. That was the price we had to pay for our love, adventure, and persistence to reach the top. Again we collected ourselves and started trekking upwards. We were very much exhausted and now the sun had brightened too much, we could not open our eyes and were terribly thirsty. Fortunately our masizad had with him water in the chhagal. Those of you, who do not know what a chhagal is, well! Chhagal is a canvas container for carrying water. Mostly soldiers used this in their exercises and actual battles. I do not know whether our army jawans still use it but in those days, it was a part of an armor by a soldier, a traveller or a climber in remote areas – whether desert or the mountain. As is the case and this we starkly observed near the top of Abbotabad mountain, that in such places, thirst is another reason to loose one’s life.  But fortunately, we had water so we quenched the thirst to our heart.

      After having refreshed ourselves, we started ascending once more. While taking water, we had taken a 15 minutes break and thus had revamped our energies. Our ascent began once again but now we were not so tired as before. Fluid intake had done an elixir’s job. And then we had also the excitement to reach the top. We trekked and we trekked almost for an hour or so and vow! we were on the top. It was an immense joy for me and my brother. We were on the top of a local mountain and yet our excitement was not less than a mountaineer who had reached Mount Everest.

      Mountain top was a very fresh and plain ground, lush green shrubbery and pine trees. There was wild fragrance in the air and it was a paradise like atmosphere. All our fatigue had gone in a nu.

      Having stayed on top for a while, we started descending now and in about an hour’s time, we reached the cave of famed Raja Rasaloo. The cave was not a big one, it was quite muddy inside but in we went. It was as cool as an air-conditioned room. We selected a dry place, plain enough to squat easily. The feel of being inside a Raja’s cave’ even though there was absolutely nothing romantic about the cave, nor anything special, no wealth of the Raja, no gold and nothing else except a hollowed space in the mountain, yet it was a great feel, great fascination and fun for us. At that moment our Masizad asked us whether we had some hunger and both me and my younger brother said we were indeed. To this, he opened his “poatlee” and vow; he had parathas and potatoes made into bhujia done in mountain style by our good masi. There was a special type of achaar made of wild apples, berries and a special fruit which had the look of small black pepper seeds. It was a wonderful recipe, the most sumptuous treat I had ever had in my life especially after such a hectic hike to the mountain and then to the cave of a mythical Raja who used to hide his wealth in the cave. Well dinner with such a relishing food and off we go. We came out of the cave, started ascending once again. The journey back home was quite smooth as we had acquainted ourselves with the whole trek now and were now much experienced hikers.

      Later I trekked to many places, the Saiful Malook lake in Kaghan, Parachinar in Kurram Valley, the Alps in Upper Austria and Salzburg, the Czech & Slovak highlands in Eastern Europe and it was a normal way of life with me but the one to mountain in Abbotabad was a tough, yet a very good learning experience to embark on mountain treks, no matter low or the high mountains.

Can’t Win in Afghanistan, Blame Pakistan

by Eric Margolis

Soon after the US invaded Afghanistan and overthrew the Taliban government in 2001, I predicted that Taliban resistance would resume in four years.

My fellow pundits, who were cock-a-hoop over the US military victory over a bunch of lightly-armed medieval tribesmen, became drunk on old-fashioned imperial triumphalism, and denounced me as “crazy,” or worse. But most of them had never been to Afghanistan and knew nothing about the Pashtun tribal people. I had covered the struggle against the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan during the 1980’s and was well aware of the leisurely pace of warfare favored by Pashtun warriors.

“Do not stay in Afghanistan,” I warned in a 2001 article in the Los Angeles Times. The longer foreign forces remained in Afghanistan, the more the tribes would fight against their continued presence. Taliban resumed fighting in 2005.

Now, as resistance to the US-led occupation of Afghanistan has intensified, the increasingly frustrated Bush administration is venting its anger against Pakistan and its military intelligence agency, Inter-Service Intelligence, better known as ISI.

The White House just leaked claims ISI is in cahoots with pro-Taliban groups in Pakistan’s tribal agency along the Afghan border and warns them of impending US attacks. The New York Times, which allowed the Bush administration to use it as a mouthpiece for Iraq War propaganda, dutifully featured the leaks about ISI on front page. Other administration officials have been claiming that ISI may even be hiding Osama bin Laden and other senior al-Qaida leaders.

The Bush administration claims that CIA had electronic intercepts proving ISI was behind the bombing of India’s embassy in Kabul. India and Afghanistan echoed this charge. No hard evidence though was ever produced, but the US media has been lustily condemning Pakistan for pretending to be an ally of the US while acting like an enemy.

During a visit to the US by Pakistan’s newly elected  Prime Minister, President George Bush angrily asked, Yousuf Gilani, “who’s in charge of ISI?” An interesting question, since all recent ISI director generals have been vetted and pre-approved by Washington.

I was one of the first western journalists invited into ISI HQ in 1986. ISI’s then director general, the fierce Lt. General Akhtar Abdul Rahman, personally briefed me on Pakistan’s secret role in fighting Soviet occupation of Afghanistan. ISI’s “boys” provided communications, logistics, training, heavy weapons, and direction in the Afghan War. I kept ISI’s role in Afghanistan a secret until the war ended in 1989.

ISI was primarily responsible for the victory over the Soviets, which hastened the collapse of the USSR. At war’s end, Gen. Akhtar and Pakistan’s leader, Zia ul Haq, both died in a sabotaged C-130 transport aircraft. Unfortunately, most Pakistanis blame the United States for this assassination, though the real malefactors have never been identified and the investigation long ago shelved.

On my subsequent trips to Pakistan I was routinely briefed by succeeding ISI chiefs, and joined ISI officers in the field, sometimes under fire.

ISI, which reports to Pakistan’s military and the prime minister, is accused of meddling in Pakistani politics. The late Benazir Bhutto, who often was thwarted and vexed by Pakistan’s spooks, always playfully scolded me, “you and your beloved generals at ISI.”

But before Gen. Pervez Musharraf took over as military dictator, ISI was the third world’s most efficient, professional intelligence agency. It still defends Pakistan against internal and external subversion by India’s powerful spy agency, RAW, and by Iran. ISI works closely with CIA and the Pentagon and was primarily responsible for the rapid ouster of Taliban from power in 2001. But ISI also must serve Pakistan’s interests which are often not identical to Washington’s, and sometimes in conflict.

ISI was long and deeply involved in supporting the uprising by Kashmiri Muslims against Indian rule, and has been accused by India of abetting groups that have committed bombings and aircraft hijackings inside India, including a wave of terrorist bombings against civilians in Bangalore and Gujarat over recently weeks. For its part, India’s powerful intelligence service, RAW, has mounted bombing and shooting attacks inside Pakistan.

The reason it is often difficult to tell whether Pakistan is friend or foe is because Washington has been forcing Pakistan’s government, military and intelligence services into supporting the US-led war in Afghanistan and in the past, in rounding up and torturing opponents of Pakistan’s military dictatorship. Pakistan was forced to bend to Washington’s will through a combination of over $11 billion in payments and threats of war if Pakistan did not comply. The ongoing prosecution of the US-led war in Afghanistan depends entirely on Pakistan’s provision of bases and troops.

While Pakistan’s government, military and intelligence services were forced to follow Washington’s strategic plans, 90% of Pakistan’s people bitterly oppose these policies. President-dictator Musharraf was caught between the anger of Washington and his own angry people who branded him an American stooge.

Small wonder Pakistan’s leadership is so often accused of playing a double game.

The last ISI Director General I knew was the tough, highly capable Lt. Gen. Mahmood Ahmad. He was purged by Musharraf because Washington felt Mahmood was insufficiently responsive to US interests. Ever since 2001, ensuing ISI directors were all pre-approved by Washington. All senior ISI veterans deemed “Islamist” or too nationalistic by Washington were purged at Washington’s demand, leaving ISI’s upper ranks top-heavy with too many yes-men and paper-passers.

Even so, there is strong opposition inside ISI and the military to Washington’s bribing and arm-twisting the subservient Musharraf dictatorship into waging war against fellow Pakistanis and gravely damaging Pakistan’s national interests. After coming of the new civilian set up under Mr. Zardari as the new President, and Mr. Gilani, the prime minister, for most of the Pakistanis Pakistani people, there seems to be hardly any change in this policy.

ISI’s primary duty is defending Pakistan, not promote US interests. Pashtun tribesmen on the border sympathizing with their fellow Taliban Pashtun in Afghanistan are Pakistanis. Many, like the legendary Jalaluddin Haqqani, are old US allies and “freedom fighters” from the 1980’s. When the US and its western allies finally abandon Afghanistan, as they will inevitably do one day, Pakistan must go on living with its rambunctious tribals.

Violence and uprisings in these tribal areas are not caused by “terrorism,” as Washington and Musharraf falsely claimed. They directly result from the US-led occupation of Afghanistan and Washington’s forcing the regimes to attack theirown people.

ISI is trying to restrain pro-Taliban Pashtun tribesmen while dealing with growing US attacks into Pakistan that threaten a wider war. India, Pakistan’s bitter foe, has an army of agents in Afghanistan and is arming, backing and financing the Karzai puppet regime in Kabul in hopes of turning Afghanistan into a protectorate. Pakistan’s historic strategic interests in Afghanistan have been undermined by the US occupation. Now, the US and India are trying to eliminate Pakistani influence in Afghanistan.

ISI, many of whose officers are Pashtun, has every right to warn Pakistani citizens of impending US air attacks that kill large numbers of civilians. But ISI also has another vital mission. Preventing Pakistan’s Pashtun, 15-20% of the population of 165 million, from rekindling the old “Greater Pashtunistan” movement calling for union of the Pashtun tribes of Pakistan and Afghanistan into a new Pashtun nation. The Pashtun have never recognized the Durand Line (today’s Pakistan-Afghan border) drawn by British imperialists to sunder the world’s largest tribal people. Greater Pashtunistan would tear apart Pakistan and invite Indian military intervention.

Washington’s bull-in-a-china shop behavior pays no heeds to these realities. Instead, Washington demonizes faithful old allies ISI and Pakistan while supporting Afghanistan’s Communists and drug dealers, and allowing India to stir the Afghan pot – all for the sake of new energy pipelines.

As Henry Kissinger cynically noted, being America’s ally is more dangerous than being its enemy.

Eric Margolis, contributing foreign editor for Sun National Media Canada, is the author of War at the Top of the World..

Copyright © 2008 Eric Margolis

Loey Loey Bhar Lae Kurhriyay…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q4pLOohSIg0

By  Nayyar Hashmey

The magic, the charm of Punjab’s folk songs lies in their heart rendering composition, the poetry which involves a completely synchronized rhythm, emotional import and the melody; the reason this music is untranslatable; can’t be imprisoned in print.

The real spirit of Punjab’s music emanates from this simple and a down to earth poetry blended into text and the tune, a blend which turns into a highly popular genre, a genre of songs that throb the hearts of simple unsophisticated village folk in Punjab.

A folk song is essentially a subjective expression of emotions walling up from the depths. It borrows its metamorphous and imagery from very simple things in life. Punjabi folk is varied and colorful. Laughter, happiness, pain, sorrow, all form ingredients of our folk. It’s simple, charming, and full of the sincerity of emotion, and a purity of the feeling. The entire Punjab culture, so to speak, is reflected in them.

The folk / mystic music of Punjab is part of its people’s body and mind. There is hardly an event or occasion in the countryside which does not find resonance in the soul of Punjabi people. Just as the villagers grow their own food and produce their own raiment’s, they frame folk songs to articulate the wordless passions seething in their hearts. These songs are chastened and polished from generation to generation, and like everything of slow growth, they develop an individuality, which does not lend itself to imitation.

Mazar of Hz Mian Muhammad Bakhsh

Historically in Punjab, it is the saints and Sufi poets who not only mastered in religious faculty but had a deep and perfect understanding of the poetry, a poetry which springs from the soil of Punjab. This poetry is as much a literary classic as it is an embodiment of peoples’ feelings, their culture and their whole concept of life. No wonder the music in Punjab is not only a solace to the soul but also a part of the devotion, of love and of a duty to the mystic and divine realm of one’s Guru or Master.

Seen in this context, there is a long list of mystics, the Sufis, the Gurus and the saints who themselves were a practical embodiment of the teachings of Islam and who did not preach like an orthodox Mullah. We find here the saintly stalwarts like Baba Farid Ganj Shakar, Bulley Shah, Shah Hussain, Syed Waris Shah. In this long list of “Men of God” there are many others including Hindu and Sikh mystics as well, most of whom believed in unity of God and preached something which was a blend of Islam, and local beliefs. One of these pious men was also Mian Muhammad Bakhsh of Khari Sharif.

Mian Mohammad was the last Sufi poet of the Arabic-Persian tradition in Punjab. Born in 1824 at Khari Sharif in Mirpur district of Azad Kashmir, he got his education at the famous religious institution of Samar Sharif. After completing his education he travelled all over the province to quench his thirst for knowledge. Later he returned to his native land and became a disciple of Sain Ghulam Mohammad.

His period was a period of turmoil for the sub-continent for the British colonialists had coloured the land red with the native blood,

Mian Mohammad’s thoughts were a blend of Semetic and Arayan tradition with a significant texture of Islam. He believed in the unity of being. The rich tradition of Punjabi poetry mixed with the under currents of Maulana Roomi and Ibn-e-Arabi made his poetry eternal. His famous epic poem Safar-e-Ishaq popularly known as Saif-ul-Muluk is written in the same atmosphere. The poem Saif-ul-Muluk holds a unique place. In this poem Mian Mohammad explains the spiritual secrets of the Real love through a worldly love story. Mian Mohammad had an ample grasp over music which makes his diction highly mellifluous. Mian Muhammad died in 1907.

*

Far away from the city of oneness , logic is wandering aimlessly,

Whosoever knows the secret, He cares for nothing

Devoid of logic and reason, he dances fanaticically,

Inquiring “who am I ?” “from where am I?”

As with other masters he chose poetry as a medium to convey his teachings on the spiritual path and the higher realities in his native tongue thereby allowing access to the illiterate who could hear the verses and memorize them directly. This has been the way of the Sufis throughout history and especially in the non-Arab areas.

Literature for them is just a means of conveying the message and it has to reach out to the greatest number possible in a way that appeals to them. It is in this context that the Saif ul-Malook should be placed. To remove any doubt about the intention one has only to look at the title page of the original book: It is described there as “an epistle on tasawwuf and sulook called Safar ul-Ishq (The Journey of Love) i.e. the tale of Saif ul-Malook and Badi’ ul-Jamal”. Today most people only remember it by the name of its main character: Saif ul-Malook.

The Saif ul-Malook is outwardly a tale of the love of a prince named Saif ul-Malook for the fairy Badi’ ul-Jamal. All the trials and tribulations that had to be undergone before the two lovers would achieve union are described in detail. In reality though, it is an in depth description of the spiritual path, its way stations and its pitfalls and obstacles. Along the way Mian sahib offers jewels of gnosis for those that can recognize them as such. It is a truly amazing tale!

Mer mer ik banawan shisha maar wata ik bhanday

Dunya utay thoray rehnday qadar shanas sukhan day

Awwal tay kujh shauq na kassay kaun sukhan ajj sunn da

Jay sun si tan qissa utla koi na ramzam pun da

Na gayay oh yar piyaray sukhan shanas o’saaray

Sukhan saraf Muhammag Bakhsha lalan day wanjaray

(On top of this title, there is a video of Mian Muhammad’s poetry beautifully rendered by Ata-ullah Eesakhailwi. As always all videos require a high speed internet, otherwise try a replay & you will enjoy this old melody clip without breaks).

President Asif Ali Zardari, A 10% Scammer or a 100% Pakistani?

The Pakistani President Mr. Asif Ali Zardari

As I write these lines, words echo in my mind, words she uttered in her last speech. So said Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto, “My dear brothers and my dear sisters, this is the time when our country is in turmoil. My country, your country” said B. Bhutto “is in serious travails and turpitudes; I have come to you to help me save this land. Help me my brothers, my sisters, to save our motherland”. Shortly after she had uttered these words, she was shot at by an unknown assailant. She could not even leave the public park she had chosen to address.

After she was out of scene, situation moved at an electric speed. Erstwhile dictator, who had orchestrated all machinations, fair or foul and turned this country into a marionette, had to resign. In the aftermath, Mohtarma‘s hubby got catapulted to the seat of presidency.

But the irony continues to haunt this nation. The inheritor of Mohtarma’s legacy, her vision and her struggle occupies the place where an erstwhile dictator, with the sheer use of force got himself seated for 8 years.

Now when I ponder over BB’s last words, the whole scene seems like an action replay. The words she uttered were as true then as they are now. This country, this most beloved land of ours is still in turmoil, even though the man who was the life partner of that graceful lady, who ruled and still rules over the hearts of millions of have-nots in Pakistan, is sitting on the throne of Pakistan. Yet this country is back to square one. Things have gone from bad to worse. Terrorists whosoever, are bombing the nerve centre of the country. Just day before yesterday at some minutes walk from the National Assembly; they bombed the Marriot Hotel in Islamabad, 60 people, almost all civilians died in the blast.

In last 8 years the ex dictator was telling us, like a worn out recorded tape that he saved Pakistan from wrath of the US when the later threatened him to send Pakistan into stone age. [it later transpired that this threat did not come from the US President, as our the then President Gen.(R) Pervaiz Musharraf maintained but from an Assistant Secretary of State and the language too was not the same that the ex General told this nation].

Although many Pakistanis did not believe then and I myself had strong reservations on this so called Stone Age statement and the way it was played by ex dictator to dread his own people, yet we believed then and we believe it today that had there been a democratic polity, a truly democratic culture in Pakistan, the matter would never have been settled or decided the way, it was [when this country was unconditionally thrown to the mercy of the United States of America and mind it, it was not the US of Thomas Jefferson or of George Washington, it was the US of Neocons like George Walker Bush, Dick Cheney, Donny Rumsfield and Condy Rice who think they have a divine right, destined to annihilate the governments, the people, the armies in the name of democracy, free world and liberty, so on and so forth].

Whether it were the threats, the persuasions or fear of these Pentagon and White House guys, is immaterial. Fact remains that ex dictator succumbed to those threats and accepted whatever the neocons told him. What the then President did on their askance, he said, was to save Pakistan, a position which he later cleverly tried to camouflage under the slogan “Sab Se Pehle Pakistan (SSPP), but the price this country paid for this SSPP policy was the sale of innocent Pakistanis to unknown agents within and outside Pakistan and till today one does not know what was their sin, their doing and where they are now.

In Punjabi there is a story where under similar circumstances this country has been brought to by the ex dictator and the incumbent President, in which a man belonging to the rural singing clan in our villages (who are usually the butts of humour in our countryside) was asked by the village head to opt out of the two options only… Either eat 100 onions at a time, or get 100 shoe beatings (littars). The poor man using all his wits opts to take 100 onions. Thinks he, ‘100 shoe beatings are too hard to bear’, hence take onions. But after having eaten some dozens of onions, he cries “No Sir am going to accept 100 shoe beatings instead”. In this dilemma he eats 100 onions and gets 100 shoe beatings too. So dear readers, this is how the ex General made this country to suffer…either way.

The ex General President allied this country to the US and Pakistan became a frontline state, however, with that status we, Pakistanis, the most allied ally of the US, are being bombed by US forces in Fata where poor, innocent civilians are dying after every chopper attack or through drone raids in our territory. So both ways, we are facing the punishment as it happened with the mirasi boy in a Punjabi village. Perhaps this is the first and the only instance in the history where a major power is attacking its own ally.

Unfortunately there doesn’t seem to be any change from the stance taken by the ex-General. We are still America’s ally and our poor innocent civilians are being bombed by the US and its coalition partners.

Gen de Gaulle, one time President of France once said, 70 million French can’t be wrong, so on an analogy 160 millions Pakistanis can’t be wrong either-to push Mr. Zardari to the coveted seat of the country’s presidency. It’s very much for Mr. Zardari to prove whether 160 million Pakistanis were indeed not wrong to elect him?

Attacking Pakistan? Don’t Do It.

Gen. Ashfaq Pervaiz Kiyani, COAS, Pakistan

By Aijaz Zaka Syed

Back home in the sub-continent, they say you should always stay away from the cops; their friendship as well as adversity is bad for your health. I am reminded of the advice as the world’s chief cop, the United States, bombs its allies and friends in Pakistan. With friends like these, do you really need enemies?

When former Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf promptly and so enthusiastically recruited Pakistan in America’s war after that call from Colin Powell, he had assured his people that this was the only option available to Pakistan. Else, the reasonable General reasoned later, the U.S. would have bombed Pakistan back to the Stone Age. Fortunately or unfortunately for Pakistan, Musharraf is not around. Otherwise we could have asked the good general why the Coalition of the Willing has turned on its own ally.

Or is Pakistan no longer part of Bush’s divine mission to promote Democracy and Freedom in the Muslim world now that Musharraf is not in power? Or have the new, democratic leaders of Pakistan happily relinquished the total control of the Islamic republic to Uncle Sam?

Last week as new President Asif Zardari joined ‘brother Hamid Karzai’ in a duet celebrating democracy and the glorious War on Terror after his inauguration, the U.S. special forces were going about taking out ‘the terrorists’ in the Northwest – terrorists who looked like women and children.

By hosting the mayor of Kabul - oops, the Afghan president – as the chief guest at his inauguration, Musharraf’s successor left no one in doubt where his priorities lay. But what was rather too much to take even for Zardari’s minders was his endless mollycoddling of ‘brother Karzai.’

Don’t take me wrong. I have nothing against the elegantly dressed Karzai and his ever-ready pearls of wisdom that he proffers from time to time for the benefit of his Western audiences. But he is not exactly the poster boy of democracy in the Muslim world, regardless of what his American friends might think of him. Most Pakistanis love to hate him. General Musharraf might have made a thousand policy blunders but the guy certainly knew how to deal with the likes of Karzai.

But how do Pakistan’s new leaders propose to deal with the increasingly demanding friends and allies like the Americans? Pakistan’s Army Chief General Ashfaq Kayani won the instant gratitude and admiration of his worried people and surprised the world by standing up to the Coalition of the Willing. The reticent General was lustily cheered by the Americans as ‘our man’ when he took over from Musharraf as the army chief. There was much talk of his ‘Enlightened Moderation’ and his positive outlook on the West.

Which was why the Pakistanis were elated to see the general lash out at the Americans promising ‘retaliation’ if they continued to violate Pakistan’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. Whether the Pak Army will really take on America, the leading member of the fabled trinity – the other two being Allah and Army of course – is still a hypothetical question.

However, by asserting himself General Kayani articulated the sentiments and aspirations of the nation of 170 million people that has been at the receiving end for some time. More importantly, Kayani has offered the much-needed leadership and sense of direction to his people at one of the most difficult points in the nation’s history.

But where are those who are supposed to lead the nation at all times? Where are the champions of democracy and freedom when they are under threat by the friends who are not so friendly?

While the rejuvenated Pakistani media is constantly debating the growing U.S. attacks inside Pakistani territory protesting against the mounting civilian casualties, the silence of the country’s leaders on the issue is deafening.

Zardari clumsily evaded all questions about the U.S. incursions at his first press conference that appeared more like the unveiling of Hamid Karzai. It’s been more than half a month since he took over as the president. But he has offered no clue as to how the government proposed to deal with the issue. When the same question was raised in London after his meeting with British PM Gordon Brown, he quipped ‘there will be no more (attacks).’

It’s understandable if Benazir Bhutto’s widower finds himself inexorably indebted to Uncle Sam. After all, the U.S. did not play an insignificant role in the turnaround of his fortune. It was the U.S. pressure that persuaded Musharraf to bring in the National Reconciliation Ordinance paving the way for the return of Benazir and Zardari. It was the Bush administration again that pushed Musharraf to shed his uniform and hold elections.

So even though it was the pro-democracy movement pioneered by the lawyers and the media that eventually brought Musharraf down, the man who spent 11 years in the prison on his way to the presidency, views Washington as his real benefactor.

Which is why it’s doubtful when and if the neocons in their last desperate bid to make the most out of the Bush presidency hit Pakistan, they’ll face much resistance from the political leadership.

Having totally wrecked Iraq and Afghanistan over the past seven years, the neocons are looking for fresh targets, new enemies and new territory to sustain the interest of the bored American voters. After the disastrous eight years of the Bush presidency, you would think the Republican would be too embarrassed to ask the voters for another shot at power.

But if you can get Bush re-elected after what he unleashed on the Americans and the world in his first term, you can surely get another disaster elected all over again. Even if he is too old to run and doesn’t know how to check his e-mail. Even if he is threatening to persist with the mess in Iraq and Afghanistan and open new fronts in Pakistan and Iran.

Right now, the Republicans and neocons are dangerously desperate. They could do anything to keep Barack Hussein Obama out of the White House. And for them, attacking Pakistan is the surest and only way to laugh all the way to the vote bank. Besides, that’s where Bin Laden is supposed to be holed up, right?

But who will tell the Bushies that if they hit Pakistan, the proverbial stuff will really hit the fan. The world’s first Muslim nuclear state might have been much abused by the men in khaki and the civvies over the past half a century.

However, it’s not the defanged and neutered Iraq of Saddam Hussein. This is a country that has fought three major wars with the giant called India. The U.S. may be the world’s greatest military power. But if it attacks Pakistan, all hell will break loose. It will end up turning the whole of Muslim world, from Morocco to Malaysia, into a large battlefield. So much so Saddam’s Iraq would look like a long picnic.

Aijaz Zaka Syed is a senior editor of the daily Khaleej Times. Dubai, UAE.

*Viewers who frequently use Google, can view this post also at wondersofpakistan.blogspot.com

Folk Tales of Pakistan – Heer Ranjha

 

By Mast Qalandar 

          Dear readers, here is another post on that great folk tale of Punjab. It already appeared in Adil Najam’s blog. Even then I reproduce this for you, as I think Mast Qalandar is a guy who has done full justice to the leading Sufi poet of Punjab when he details this ever living legend in a very lucid, very absorbing style, especially as a writer who is not a native of Punjab. I myself would never have cast an iota of a doubt over his being not a native had he not divulged it himself in this very write up. 

I personally am an avid fan of his writings and this reproduction is a testimony of my feeling for his forceful pen in general and this story on Waris Shah in particular. Once you complete the read, I am sure you too will agree with me.                               

Of all the folk tales of Punjab, Waris Shah’s Heer is the most widely read, recited (actually, sung), commented upon and quoted love story. People have even done Ph.Ds on it. It is a very long poem, written in the Punjabi baint meter, comprising of 630 odd stanzas of 6 to 12 or more lines each. Waris Shah wrote it sometime in the 1760s. 

Rural folks in Punjab routinely gather, as they always did, at the end of a hard day’s work, under a tree or a chappar (thatched canopy) to smoke hukka and discuss and share the daily news, views and common problems. It is not uncommon at such gatherings for someone to sing a few passages from Heer. Folks listen to it, mesmerized both by the melody and its contents. Older people would often quote a line or two from Waris Shah’s Heer as a piece of wisdom in their conversations. In fact, Heer is quoted by the rural folks more often than any other traditional book of wisdom. 

The story of Heer and Ranjha, like all such stories, is partly true and partly fiction. But it continues to have such a powerful hold on the imagination of rural folk that they want to believe it to be true. 

Numerous people have written the story of Heer before and after Waris Shah, the earliest being Damodar and probably the latest being Ustad Daman. But it is only Waris Shah’s Heer that the world knows about – or cares to know about. By writing Heer, Waris Shah not only told a fascinating story but also raised the status of Punjabi from that of a rustic language, which was mostly a spoken language, to that of a language of literature. Many believe Waris Shah is to Punjabi what Chaucer and Shakespeare were to English or Sa’di was to Persian. 

Waris Shah was born in a village in district Sheikhupura but studied at Kasur. He was a contemporary of Bulleh Shah and they are supposed to have studied at the same madrassah (not necessarily in the same class) under the tutorship of one Hafiz Ghulam Murtaza Makhdumi Kasuri. 

Waris Shah by all accounts was a spiritual man, well versed in Islamic theology, but he was more of a mystic than a “maulvi”. In fact, going through his Heer one cannot help but wonder if Waris Shah were alive today would he be able to, or allowed to, write a daring epic like Heer? 

He wrote the story while staying at the hujra (quarters) attached to a little mosque in village Malka Hans, which falls in district Pak-Pattan (old district Sahiwal). 

It is said when Waris Shah completed Heer he showed it to his teacher. The latter was rather disappointed to see his talented student, instead of writing something on fiqh or shariah, had chosen to write a love story. He is reported to have said:

“Warsa (deflection of the name, often used in Punjabi to address juniors in age or rank), I am saddened to see that my efforts have gone waste. I taught both you and Bulleh Shah. He ended up playing the sarangi (a string instrument) and you have come up with this.” 

 Waris Shah then opened the book and started reciting Heer. As the teacher listened, the words slowly started sinking in. He wasso touched by the language, the poetry, the powerful imagery, the intensity of emotions, and the melody that he is famously reported to have said, 

“Wah! Waris Shah, you have strung together precious pearls in a twine of “munj” (a coarse string of hemp or jute).” 

Some commentators interpret the “pearls” in the teacher’s comment as the deeper spiritual meanings and the “twine of munj” as the coarse theme of physical love. In other words, they say, you would, if you care to, find profound meanings beneath the superficial words of the story. However, others interpret the comment to mean that such beautiful thoughts and powerful images are expressed in a language (Punjabi) that was considered coarse or not quite as sophisticated at the time. Having myself sped through the book I tend to agree with both the views. (I must confess, however, that, Punjabi not being my native tongue, it was not easy for me to fully understand the text. I had to rely mostly on the Urdu translation provided alongside the Punjabi text.) 

Shorn of all the embellishments and detail – the devil, in this case, though, literally lies in the embellishments and the detail – here is the story for those who may not have read it or heard it before. 

The events of the story are supposed to have occurred sometime in the middle of the 15th century. Ranjha (his given name was Deedho. Ranjha was his clan) was born in Takht Hazara, a town in district Sargodha, to a local landlord. He was the youngest of eight sons, and his father’s favorite. While others went about their daily chores Ranjha whiled away his time playing the flute that he loved so much. He grew long hair – longer than men usually wore those days – and was a very handsome young lad. 

When their father died, a dispute arose between Ranjha and his brothers over the distribution of land. The brothers had apportioned the best land to themselves and gave Ranjha only the barren land. Ranjha, after a heated argument with his brothers, left home in protest. He headed aimlessly southward along the River Chenab until he reached somewhere near the present day Jhang where the Sayyal tribe ruled. 

An incident that stands out during this part of the story, which has been described in great detail by Waris Shah, is when Ranjha stays in a village mosque for the night. In the quiet of the night, tired and distressed that he was, Ranjha starts playing the flute. The village folks, when they hear the poignant notes are attracted to the mosque. The maulvi of the village also turns up, not to listen to the flute, though, but to scold Ranjha for desecrating the mosque. The maulvi denounces Ranjha for playing the flute in the mosque and also for his long-haired looks, and tells him to leave the mosque. Ranjha is not intimidated and replies: 

“You and your kind, with your beards, try to pretend to be saints, but your actions are that of the devil. You do evil deeds inside the mosques and then mount the mimbar (rostrum) and quote scriptures to others …” 

(In fact, Ranjha is more explicit than what I have been able to paraphrase.) 

The back and forth denunciations between the maulvi and Ranjha continue for some time. Interestingly, the village folks don’t seem to share the maulvi’s enthusiasm in denouncing Ranjha. They simply watch the scene as silent spectators. (Fortunately for Ranjha the blasphemy law was not in vogue then.) Anyway, Ranjha spends the night in the mosque and leaves early next morning. After a few days he ends up in Jhang. 

The chief of Jhang at the time was one Chuchak Sayyal who had an extraordinarily beautiful and a headstrong daughter named Heer. Waris Shah describes her beauty and physical attributes, literally from head to toe, with the usual poetical exaggeration. Some of the analogies and metaphors he uses may sound a bit unfamiliar and even strange to the present day readers. For example, Waris Shah says:

“Can any poet sufficiently praise Heer’s beauty? Her face shines like the full moon. Her eyes are like the narcissus flower. Her eyebrows are like a Lahori bow (I didn’t know that Lahore was ever known for making bows). The kohl (kajal) in the corner of her eyes suggests as if the armies of Punjab have invaded Hind (India). Her lips are like red rubies. Her chin is like a selected apple from the King’s orchard. Her nose is like the pointed end of the sword of Hussain (!). Her teeth are like the white petals of champa flower and sparkle like pearls. She is tall and straight like a cypress in the garden of Paradise. Her neck is like that of a koonj (a species of cranes). Her hands are smooth and soft like a chinar leaf (similar to maple leaf) and her fingers like lobiay ki phallian (pods of beans, which are longer than most other pods). In short, her features are like a beautifully calligraphed book.”

Heer, when she meets Ranjha, is instantly taken by his wild and romantic looks and the soulful tunes of his flute. She persuades her parents to hire Ranjha as a cowherd for their cattle. Ranjha is hired, and thus kindles a blazing romance between Heer and Ranjha that lasts for several years, and has since been recounted and sung for almost 250 years. The two lovers often meet in the forestland along the river (known as bela in Punjabi) where Ranjha takes the cattle to graze. While the cattles graze Ranjha plays his flute. And Heer listens by his side. The days and months pass in total bliss – and very fast. 

Heer’s uncle, Kaido, becomes suspicious and starts spying on her. He gathers sufficient evidence to report the matter to her parents. The parents admonish Heer on her conduct and warn her of terrible consequences. When Heer is not deterred they call in the village Qazi (a Muslim judge who decides disputes between people in the light of Sharia and also solemnizes marriages) to counsel her. 

The Qazi tells her mildly that good girls, when they come out of their home, keep their gaze lowered; that they always keep their families’ honor uppermost; that they better spend their time in tiranjans (places where village women gather to spin yarn on spinning wheels and chat). He also reminds her that, being from a higher caste and a renowned family, it is unbecoming of her to mingle with family servants like Ranjha. Heer is not convinced and tells the Qazi: 

“You cannot wean away an addict from the drug. It is not possible for me to walk away from Ranjha. If it is our destiny to be together then who, other than God, can change it?” And then she adds rather philosophically: “True love is like a mark that a hot iron burns on to the skin or like a spot on a mango fruit. They never go away.” 

Seeing that Heer is admant the Qazi threatens her with a fatwa of death. But Heer remains unshakeable. Exasperated, Heer’s parents decide to marry her to a man named Saida Khairra from village Rangpur (Muzaffargarrh district). Nikah ceremony is arranged and the Qazi is invited to perform the ceremony. As is customary, the Qazi first asks the bridegroom if he would accept Heer as his wife, which, of course, the bridegroom readily does. Then the Qazi asks Heer and her answer is a loud No. When the Qazi insists for an affirmative answer, Heer says forcefully: 

“My nikah was already made with Ranjha in heavens by no less a person than the Prophet himself, and was blessed by God and witnessed by the four angels, Jibraeel, Mikael, Izarael and Israfeel . How can you dissolve my first nikah and marry me a second time to a stranger? How is that permissible? “. 

The Qazi is dumbfounded and angry, and tells Heer to shut up or “he will have her lashed with the whip of Sharia”, and goes ahead and solemnizes the marriage, anyway. After the ceremony Heer, in tears, is bundled off to Rangpur amidst great pomp and celebrations. 

Ranjha, alone and heartbroken, takes to the jungle and joins a group of jogis (yogis). Dressed like a jogi, with ash rubbed on his body, wearing large earrings and carrying a begging bowl, he goes from house to house and village to village seeking alms – and also trying to find the whereabouts of Heer. Meanwhile, Heer languishes in Rangpur, pinning for Ranjha. 

Waris Shah uses a lot of ink and a lot of pages in describing the heartache and anguish that both Heer and Ranjha suffer during this period. Amrita Pritam (died 2005), a great Punjabi poet and novelist refers to this pain and anguish, in a different context, though, in her memorable poem, when she addresses Waris Shah in these words:

 Ik roi si dhee Punjab di,
Toon likh likh maare vaen
Aj lakkhan dheeyan rondiyan,
Tainu Waris Shah noon kehn

When one daughter of the Punjab wept
You penned a thousand dirges of lament
Today a hundred thousand cry out to you
To make another statement

 Eventually, Ranjha finds Heer’s village and Heer also comes to know through her friends that the young handsome jogi in town was no one else but Ranjha. The two meet and, with the help of Heer’s friends and her sister-in-law, Sehti, manage to elope one night. 

The Khairras follow them and capture them in the territory of one Raja Adli (a raja, not to be confused with Ranjha of the story, is a ruler of a territory or state). The lovers are brought before the raja. He asks the local Qazi to decide the case according to the Muslim law. The Qazi, without much ado, declares that Heer belongs to Saida Khairra, her “lawful” husband.

Heer and Ranjha are both devastated, but helpless.

When Heer is being forcibly taken back by the Khairras to Rangpur a forlorn Ranjha, still dressed as a jogi, raises his hands skywards and begs loudly: 

“Oh, Lord, you are also Qahar and Jabbar. Destroy this town and these cruel people so that justice may be done.”

Coincidentally, a huge fire erupts in a part of the town. The village folks as well as the raja, being superstitious, are convinced that the fire was the result of the jogi’s prayer and might consume the whole town. The raja immediately proceeds to undo the “wrong” administered by the Qazi, stops the Khairras from taking Heer away and holds court to hear the case anew. After listening to all the sides he decides to allow Heer to go with Ranjha. 

Joyful, Heer and Ranjha leave for Jhang Sayal expecting to live happily thereafter. However, the Sayyals, believing their honor was soiled by the unconventional behavior of Heer, conspire to “cleanse” their name of this ugly stain. While appearing to welcome the couple they suggest that Ranjha go home and bring a barat to take Heer as a wife in a proper conventional manner. Ranjha happily agrees and goes back to his brothers in Takht Hazara, who by now have forgotten their old quarrel and are also remorseful. He informs them of his planned marriage. Preparations begin for taking a colorful barat to Jhang and bring Heer home. 

Meanwhile the Sayals quietly poison Heer. She dies. A messenger is sent to Takht Hazara to inform Ranjha of the unexpected and sudden death of Heer. On hearing the news Ranjha collapses and dies there and then. Thus ended the lives of Heer and Ranjha. But they continue to live in the hearts and hearths of the people across Punjab and elsewhere – and so does Warish Shah.

 

Mast Qalandar is a Pakistani writer based in Dubai, UAE.

Photographs: Waris Shah, courtesy: Punjab Arts Council, Paintings:Abdul Rehman Chughtai, all other photographs by Umair Ghani. Text: Courtesy All Things Pakistan

The Changing Colours of Kashmir, Autumn Scene in Leepa

Leepa - A Valley of Changing Colours

by Syed Zafar Abas Naqvi

 The picturesque Leepa valley comprises of several villages, the principal being Reshian Gali, which at a height of 3600 M above sea level is also the gateway to the vale of Leepa. In addition to Reshian, there are other villages in Leepa like:-

• Nokot
• Chennian
• Kappa Gali
• Bigil Dher
• Lubgran &
• Ghaipura

Like Reshian, all these villages, the tiny small hamlets, equally contribute to a wonderful mosaic of patterns mother nature has so ornately and intricately woven here in this part of Kashmir.

Leepa is famous also for its typical Kashmiri style of architecture, mostly in the form of 3 storied wooden houses. A look at the houses here makes one believe, Leepa as a true extension of Indian occupied Kashmir into Pakistan.

The people in Leepa, as in other parts of Azad Kashmir, demonstrate robust character and a steadfast, a resilient way of living. Inspite of 18 years of Indian shelling and continuous fire almost every day (which takes its own tolls in terms of human life and collateral damage), and all this exacerbated by the deadly earthquake of Oct. 2005, life has gradually started turning to normalcy.

The paradise like mini Kashmir in Leepa has numerous water driven flour mills, the only kind of industry in the valley.

The valley has a population of about 75000 inhabitants who generally indulge in farming, cattle rearing and tourism related services. Nearly 400 jeeps ply daily from Reshian to Leepa and back. Jeeps are the only mode of transport in the valley though motor bikes are now also seen in ever increasing numbers on the bumpy jumpy road.

The red Kashmiri rice is grown in October by the farmers in Leepa. This is also the staple food for the people of the area. Husking of rice is done in traditional way, by first beating the rice stack with long sticks, thereafter, threshed along temporarily constructed ditches.

The highest peak is Shmasa Bari, which remains snowbound throughout the year.

Down hills, every year with coming of winter in the valley, when previous year’s snow melted on top of the mountains, soon fresh snow will be falling to interlace them all. It’s the time also when residents of this far flung vale have to brace the chilling winter  which brings heavy snow and thus brings increased hardships  for its 75000 residents. Due to lack of infrastructure, the valley is disconnected from the rest of Pakistan and Azad Kashmir.

Apple is grown in the valley in its different varieties, most popular being Golden, Delicious and Kala Kullo King. These varieties have a unique, highly tempting flavor and taste comparable to none. Walnut is another fruit grown in the valley. It too ripens in early autumn when it is collected, deseeded and then sent to down country markets where they fetch price as high as Rs 450/- per Kg. In Leepa the cost per Kg is Rs. 300/- per Kg.Though poor in infrastructure and no industry worth its name, excepting the water mills, nature has provided spectacular beauty to this valley that can surpass even developed areas of the plains if only its tourism potentials were exploited to the full.

Water in its streams is crystal clear and there is absolutely no pollution. One can breathe, clean fresh air, full of fragrance from virgin forests and wonderful scenery all around to watch.

Allover the valley, high walnut trees likewise put on attire in yellow, red and orange, which adds extra sparkle to our stay in Leepa. We also come across yellow herbs and shrubs tucked nicely into green vegetation comprising of large conifer trees, adding variety to this miracle of changing colors during autumn in the valley.

 Walkways amidst jungle are filled with compost leaves signaling a momentous magnitude of autumn in the valley. The foliage from deciduous trees stays on the ground leaving a damp and decayed trail. The skyline in the whole vale transcends from ardent green to russet red, gold, orange, dark yellow and brown. Strong winds and mild storms also wreack further havoc with the delicate branches, turning them yellow and this too adds to the already damp compost like soil. A walk on these fallen decayed leaves reminds of the harsh winter ahead. Birds are also going nomadic ready to move on an arduous and long journey bracing the chilling winds on the way, to safe havens in down country areas where they can feed and breed.

Kazi Nag Nullah basin also hosts hundreds of poplar trees with ready to fall yellow foliage. Yellow chinar trees acquire a crimson hue as if on a fire, a unique view along the mountains, tracks and the valleys in Leepa.

The fiery scene all around Leepa in early winters is so typical in the main valley of Occupied Kashmir that the famous Kashmiri leader Sh. Muhammad Abdullah named his autobiography after this fire in Kashmir as “Atish-e-Chinar” (The fire in the Chinar trees).

Soon we reach Burthwar Gali and encounter nearly 300 chinar trees again with their yellow, orange and red mix of colous, shades and hues adding further fire to the panorama of winter in the valley. Local elders said, these trees were planted during the period of emperor Shah Jahan, the builder king of the famed Mughal empire – to provide shade and protection to travelers who used to journey between Srinagar and Punjab either on horses or even on foot. We couldn’t help but admire this wonder of nature which had laid down a carpet of innumerable crimson colored trees, when viewed while passing through Burthwar Gali Pass.

Appreciating the allure of autumn trees in narrow alleys is the best pastime in this vale of wonders – wonders that this picturesque valley showcases to the outside world.

Tailpiece: Daily strolls along the fabulous terraced fields devoid of any crop at this time of the year offers you chance of a life time to enjoy nature’s beauty at its best. No words are able to describe the true beauty and incomparable sight of this touristic paradise in Kashmir.

Each year, on start of autumn in Kashmir, Leepa, which lies at a distance of about 90 KM from capital Muzaffarabad, starts to dress up in a new and richly colored attire-a mix of red, orange and yellow shades. It’s the time when apple picking season in the valley comes to an end.

*Readers who frequently use Google, can view this post also at wondersofpakistan.blogspot.com

Vien Voir – Africa Thinks Africa Blinks

http://www.ziddu.com/download/2467932/09ViensVoir.wma.html

09ViensVoir.wma.html

Vien Voir, A Song from Africa

By Umair Ghani

WOP Contributing Editor and Photographer Umair Ghani is nowadays in Africa. On a special photographic assignment to capture the soul of Africa through his lens, he met many African artists, painters and poets there.
In his first report which he filed for our readers, Umair sends me a poem written by African poet, Tiken Jah Fakoly. As I read this poem, I was stunned to observe the feelings, the pain, the anguish Jah feels for his land. Its same story every where. You just put Pakistan in place of Africa and every thing what Jah says, seems to portray a perfect picture – of us – of our country – our own sufferings at the hands of unscrupulous rulers. A fact that betells, common people all over the world think the same way.

Its now time for more people to people contacts. Interaction between different civilizations, people and countries. This will definitely help usher an era of understanding between different cultures. It’s incumbent for our generation to act now, when things like North South, East West Polarization, War on Terror, Uni-polar World have turned this beautiful earth into nightmares, not only for us but also for our coming generations.

Umair Ghani reports…

Tiken Jah Fakoly (1968–)a reggae singer from Côte d’Ivoire, was born into a family of griots and christened Doumbia Moussa Fakoly on June 23, 1968 in Odiené, north-western Côte d’Ivoire. He discovered reggae at an early age, assembling his first group, Djelys, in 1987. He became well-known at a regional level, but would soon ascend to national recognition. Since the rise in political instability and xenophobia in Côte d’Ivoire in recent years, Tiken Jah has been living in exile, particularly in Bamako (capital of the neighboring country of Mali) where his concerts are well-attended. In December 2007, Fakoly was declared persona non grata in Senegal after criticizing President Abdoulaye Wade.

Viens Voir is a moving song by Tiken Jah Fakoly, a symbol of unity and strength for African people. Here in Africa, almost everyone is playing or singing his REVOLUTIONARY songs everyday. All taxi cars consistently blare out his voice, all cafes and bars and everyone on the streets is humming… Jah Fakoly is living in exile in Paris, after his severe criticism of Senegalese, South African, Ivory Coast and Congolesean puppet rulers in his previous albums. One of his songs goes like this….”give me arms Ohhhh people, so I can kill these criminals who are ruling over us for nothing.”

Come See [Viens voir]

Come see, come see

Come see, come see

You who speak without knowing

Bamako, Abidjan ou Dakar Bamako, Dakar or Abidjan

Sierra leone, Namibie, ? come see

My Africa is not what makes you think

It is believed still faces the same

It is believed the same comments

It is believed the same stories

Listening to my Africa would be drought and famine

When we listen, my Africa would be fighting and minefields

Come see

Chorus

My Africa is not doing what you believe

Not a word about the history of this continent

On civilizations and wealth of yesteryear

No word on the meaning of values

People who t’accueillent hand on heart

Chorus

My Africa is not what makes you think

Africa is not doing what you believe

Come in our families

Come to our villages

You know what hospitality

The heat, smile, generosity

Come see those who have nothing

Look how they can give

And leave you richer

And you will not forget

Come see

You can listen to this song by clicking on the title which provides the link to audio player. The website would demand for a code to be filled in (to avoid spammers), therefore, go on putting in the codes provided therein and the song will be played acc.

`Want to offer Comments on this post? Click on the CommentsTab following this line.

Empower Yourself with the Power of Your History – Taste the Real Essence of Historical Places

Main Enterance to Dai Anga's Tomb

Have you ever been to Dai Anga’s mausoleum, in case of Yes or No, here we reveal the essence of this historic place, which we call the “History” should be our present, for those whose answer is “No”, have the chance to visit this marvelous piece of architecture and art of our forefathers, its beauty of art is about to end.

This is a monument which gives us a spur to build an incredible future like our marvelous and glorious past. When the sun unveils the day, the horizontal directional rays expose the real texture and art work of this square brick structure built on a raised platform with a large dome and four square pavilion like kiosks carrying projecting eaves and cupolas. 

This is the perfect season to enjoy and understand the real ornamental and symmetrical beauty of the tomb; the fresh morning cool air gives you a rhythmic pleasant breath, which will allow you to properly concentrate on the nature of tomb and its art work. After few moments you’ll understand the splendid, magnificent and regality living of our subcontinent’s Muslim emperors.

As the sun rises gradually this worthy tomb, it’s top borders of the walls (parapet) having “Kashi Kari” (the mosaic) on it, which points towards the quality and kind of tile mosaic that in all likelihood once covered the entire façade and all this show you the love, respect and care for our loved ones. As being the Dai (Wet Nurse) of Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan, she deserves this honor. You can easily understand her importance as a Dai, as our Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) respects his Dai Haleema R.A.

At noon when the sun is at its full glory and its peak, this fully lighted worthy memorial mausoleum describes our generation the real height and boom of our powerful Muslim rulers in this continent. This is the perfect time when the warmth of sun rays increasing the temperature of the surrounding to give us the grandeur feeling of the respect and dignity that we had. Now is the time to let you imagine and float with the feelings that you are in the past and part of that era.

Now it’s the evening after illuminating the whole day of more than 400 years of Mughals’ the sun started setting, and the tomb shows the damages by the Singh and the Englishman.

Sun is setting now, you can hear the sound of birds chirping, birds, those who lived the whole day out from their nests in search of food, just came back their homes awaited by their children, this calm and peaceful atmosphere is available on the roof of the tomb which make you realize that you also have someone who needs your care and love. At this time looking through the arc one of the kiosks towards the red sun it will knock on our minds that we are missing something, we are losing something, where is our glory?

Kanjwani Mela – The Spirit Lives On…

 

Faisalabad: The Clock Tower

by Nayyar Hashmey

Festivals are a part of human psyche; men in Punjab are no exception to this spirit in the people of all regions, all countries. A change in weather, some saint’s birthday, a harvest or just a show of composure, the folk’s will to rejoice, the people in Punjab find a way to celebrate.

Such festivals popularly called mela’s in Punjab are a common sight especially in our rural areas. As the summer ends, the hot and sultry months of June and July are over, a wave of celebrations hits almost every rural district which demonstrates expression of peoples’ enjoyment in an ambience of festivities all over Punjab. 

A mela is an enchantingly picturesque event. A bustling market springs up where articles of food and products of local handicrafts, toys, glass bangles, and an assortment of all kinds of items for domestic use are on display. There are circuses, beating of drums; people in catatonic trances, bagpiping, dancing, fun and frolic, all add further color to such celebrations.  

I had heard a lot about one such mela from my photographer friend Nadeem Khawar who said this mela at Kanjwani encapsulated complete exuberance to capture the soul of Punjab at a single event.  

To attend the event, I left Lahore on 27^th August this year. After a 2 hours drive, I was in Faisalabad, the city of textiles. While driving on my way to cousin’s house, I glanced at the colonial style of the city landscape. Even after 61 years of independence, Faisalabad still has the same British pattern of colonial architecture. 

It was quite a warm day, yet the arrival in Faisalabad where I had spent some beautiful years of my life, was quite a happy home coming – after so many years. The time I reached Peoples Colony, a fresh breeze started blowing and a cool sensation could be felt all over. After an hour’s stay at my cousin’s, we together drove in a jeep to Chak # 479 GB, my cousin’s native village from where Kanjwani is about 6 minutes drive. 

Next morning we were there – at the mela – where at the edge of the town in Chak # 456 the celebrations were in full swing. 

From what I saw at the mela, people here love to rear horses. I met a young tent pegger Pir Imran Shah who loves to be called by his nick Shala. When asked what purpose of these horses he had other than putting them into tent pegging, he said, all the horses (he owns 5 in total), two are the dancing horses and three run solely in tent pegging races. All the five horses he has are meant only for equestrian sports and that he has no other use for them.  I asked Shala wasn’t this rather extravagant to rear and feed these horses all the year and then test their strength only at few occasions. “Shounq da mull koi naeen Sir Ji” said Shala, meaning thereby you can’t attach price tags to one’s passion and so is the case with his leisurely pursuits (horsely pursuits I thought).

I was talking to Shala when a call for competitors of tent pegging started coming out of a loud speaker. A galloper started running at a speed of 25-30 KM an hour to hit the striking line; each one had to aim at the peg and pierce his lance into the peg (made of date wood). The standard measurement of the peg is still set on the thumb rule or to say it more aptly on finger rule. i.e. the first tier of competition involves piercing and pulling the peg of a breadth of four manly fingers (approx. 3.75”) After the winners in the first round have been decided, the peg size is reduced to about 2” width. For those who qualify the second round, the peg is finally reduced to about 1” size. 

Aiming The Peg: A Tent Pegger In Action

While tent peggers were aiming at the pegs at a very fast pace, there were others who were just trotting on their horses, each team had its own color. Some had yellow turbans, yellow cushions under the saddle. There were others with blue turbans and blue cushioned horses. This show of pageantry at the ground was marvelous. A striking feature of the tent peggers were their dresses. Each team member was attired in fully starched shalwar qameez. Some had a bosky shirt, and white latha shalwar. I asked a young tent pegger in his twens, Qaiser Pervaiz on this typical gear of the tent peggers of Kanjwani and he said the area is mostly inhabited by the Baloch farmers and landowners and these colors for shalwar qameez of white starched latha or a bosky shirt, were a dress in which Baloch feel more pride, more composure and honor.  

Here amidst the vast expanse of cane fields and fruit orchards, while I was busy talking to Qaiser, under a gentle August sun the spirit of Punjab is soaring. It finds an exemplary illustration in the will of the rustic village dwellers of Punjab as they indulge in all sorts of sporting activities at Kanjwani, a small mandi town; about 13 km form Samundari in Faisalabad District. Starting with different bouts for testing of individual strength, skill and will to win against one another, often only for a kilogram of desi ghee, they also partake in different team events as well. 

World over young sportsmen are already lost in thought of that distant day when a secret dream will be realized, when in London, England, in 2012, they will become that most cherished of things, an Olympian. In Kanjwani, they don’t dream about an international event very much. They have a simpler more pragmatic solution: they just stage one every year. 

Right here in Kanjwani, games are at their peak turning up some likely and some unlikely heroes. Out here David Beckham does not count. He is welcome of course, but can he race a bullock cart, or pierce the peg with his lance? That’s what makes this mela, which is held each year, unforgettable. The festival comprising 20 – 25 events is a wonderful mix of accepted sporting disciplines and other uncommon pursuits. Quite simply, it is a carnival. Alongside a kabaddi match, a snake and mongoose play a more serious sort of catch. In one corner are the grunting heavies testing their strength and stamina in a wrestling bout; adjacent to them is a horse dance and if you don’t like that, there are the folk dancers, the monkey man, the cock fights and all of it, of course, to the accompaniment of some typically rip-roaring commentary in Punjabi.   

                            

Whereas generally rural sports add galore to mela’s in Punjab, here in Chak # 456 urban games are as much a part of this village festival as are the traditional bouts like wrestling, kabaddi, horse dancing, tent pegging and a very special feature is “Kanjwani at night”. Here at this night show, the young eunuchs dressed in dandy girlish attire dance in different rhythms.

 

A very special feature of Kanjwani are its unique bull races, and the people in Samundari – Tandlian wala Tehsils of Faisalabad Distt., have chalked out a variety in this rustic sporting event. One is the simple and straight racing where all bulls run to hit the finishing line. The other is the bullock cart race where the jockey’s job is to race the bullock and a small chariot shaped cart across 300 metres in the field. Then a special race called “Kirla Patti” where all participating bulls with their jockeys compete running in a circle.

 

Yet another feature is the trading market for horses and bulls. Not surprisingly, sometimes this becomes a serious matter. Honor aside, a bullock with an impressive track record can fetch as much as Rs. 1 lakh. Anyhow, the Sahiwal breed of bullocks is singled out as having the best racing stock. Reared on a diet of grams, desi ghee and mustard oil seeds, they are treated, explains one farmer “as our sons”. Yet these games are not restricted in outlook and are not merely a mela of traditional pursuits. They are, as they always have been, a breeding ground for Pakistan’s sporting sons of tomorrow.  An endeavor goes on to find contestants where specific skill is mandatory, but where an ordinary farmer from any village can contest on equal terms.

 

 

Through the years,  mela has always struck a responsive chord, there have been, however, some moments of despair as well for in last three years, the shadow of petty politics was inescapable, as the organizer Pir Abdul Rahman Shah of Kanjwani happens to be a sympathizer of the party that is currently in power, but before elections, under the previous quasi military set up, the party in power did not allow the organizer to hold these events as they thought it would boost the image of their political opponents in the public.

 

A very sad aspect of our politics as holding of a rural mela also becomes a political tool to pattern the local politics in favor of one party or the other.  But the spirit of these games is hard to kill. The Baloch, Syed and Jat clans inhabiting these villages still ensure that event is held according to a regular schedule as it has always been. And somewhere along some dusty village road in Punjab, a young man is trying to run his horse or the bull to be a winner. The urban tournament or competition is not his dream. He is thinking of Kanjwani 2009, of people screaming encouragement to him, of the time when he will become a local hero, a “Kanjwani Champion”.

 

Photographs: All photographs except the one on forehead of this post, have been shot on location by Nadeem Khawar, an eminent photographer of Lahore.

Life in a Pakistani Village

          A Way of Life…But More Natural  

by Hira N. Hashmey

Pakistan is the cradle of Indus Valley Civilization, civilisation that is spread over more than 4000 years of history. Archaeological excavations here have revealed evidence of the meticulously planned cities of Harappa and Mohenjodaro that lived and died along the banks of the mighty Indus and its tributaries. The ancient Hindu epics narrate life between the 7th and 5th century BC which carry rich descriptions of the land and people of Indus at that time. These relics throw light on the culture and changing architectural styles of Punjab since the Harappan age. At Taxila near Islamabad, sites associated with great Gandhara Civilization yielded remarkable relics that showcase the magnificient age of Buddhism in the region.

But along with its magnificent past, the rural life in present day Pakistan is as rich even today as it used to be before. The lush green crops which ripen in summer to yield golden harvests, fruit laden orchards which bear delicious fruits similar to those of the paradise and above all a mouth watering food that makes many a chefs to envy. The luscious fruits are so dominant in Punjab’s rural culture that a special variety of mangoes is called Samr-e-Bahisht, literally meaning the fruit of the paradise.

The Punjabi folk in Pakistani rural scene are extrovert; sociable guys who like to eat well and dress well. Even in a tight spot, a Punjabi youth would like to twirl his moustache and say “Khair ae” (am quite well”) to those who ask how he’s getting on. He learns quickly and assimilates new cultures without difficulty; family honour is sacrosanct to Punjabi’s, but in other matters they tend to be liberal. It is a matter of pride to be “up to date”. Their enterprise and capacity to work hard are legendary and it’s a deep ambition of Punjabi guys to “be one’s own boss”: many an émigré Punjabi have started life in a strange land driving a cab or working in a café and gone on to buy out the owner within a couple of years.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 A few generations ago, turban  was  the “crowning glory” of all  Punjabis, but  it has now  gradually disappeared from  the  scene. It was once a symbol of  Punjab’s honour and status. At  the same  time it offered a  protection against the  simmering  heat in the Punjab plains.  The  kurta, a long straight-cut, loose  shirt teamed with pyjamas, the  loose  baggy shalwar, or a kind of  sarong  called a dhoti or tehmad  makes up the  traditional dress  for men. Winter sees  the rustic  Punjabi in colorful sweaters  that wives and mothers are so skilled in making. A shawl in winter and a chador in summer finish this ensemble. When the urban, educated Punjabi steps out to work he will be in shirt and pant or a suit-sartorially indistinguishable from his counterparts in Tokyo or Toronto. Back home in the evening, he is likely to be found in more traditional dress.

The traditional Punjabi shoes, called juttis or khussas retain their popularity with rural folk; they are both elegant and comfortable. Bahawalpur, Sargodha and Hazro in Attock district are famous for khussas. The women in Punjabi villages dress in shalwar topped by a kameez (a garment that can be fitted like a dress loose like the kurta) and accented by a rectangular scarf about 2.5 metres long called the duppatta . She’s fond of her sweaters, but passionately proud of her collection of woolen shawls. Gold is the weakness of Punjabi women – brides are loaded with it. The jewelers of Punjab, stock an enormous range of designs in bangles, necklaces, rings and earrings, nose-pins, ornaments to pin in the hair, anklets and toe-rings.

Culturally, Pakistan’s rural folk enjoy a seemingly happy and contented life. Not that they tend to be passive and lack initiative. On the other hand our rural folk are more energetic and struggle minded than their city dwelling counterparts.

Life in a typical Punjabi village in Pakistan, starts early in the morning. The senior village dwellers along with not so insignificant number of village youth turn to the village mosque for offering their early morning Fajr prayers. After prayer, a delicious rich breakfast awaits the village men. The breakfast itself comprises of either fresh milk (cow or buffalo’s) or a hot brew of tea with a good amount of milk and sugar.

After breakfast, the men folk move to the fields where they start performing different chores of cultivation like plowing, sowing, and harvesting depending upon the season. 

Most villages in Pakistan are situated away from the noise of the city life. They are peaceful and silent places. A typical Pakistani village consists of unpaved paths and streets. Its houses are made of mud. However, with lot of young members from rural families which moved to the gulf as part of the “Dubai Chalo” syndrome, have benefitted from the petro dollars. So the villagers now build their houses from bricks and concrete though most of the village people have simple habits and limited needs.

There are green trees, vast meadows, and flowery bushes in every village. The blossoming flowers, fragrant air, the rising and setting sun all leave a healthy influence on the health of villagers. In the summer they rest under shady trees, and take bath in cool water. Women also help their men in their work along with their household. They also take care of their domestic animals such as cows, goats, hens etc. As many small villages are still void of the facilities like safe drinking water and electricity; even hospitals and schools are at long distances, life in the village requires more struggle than the relatively modern lifestyles in the cities.
Village life in Pakistan depicts a true picture of our culture. Villagers are very traditional people who are hard workers. They wake up early in the morning with the Fajar prayers and start working in the fields. They work all day long in the field under the sun without caring about the harsh weather. This is the only way for them to earn their livelihood.

They live in a serene and clean environment surrounded by green orchids and lush crop fields. There are beautiful flowing streams and ponds. People live in a very well knit community; they help and solve each other’s problems. The elders have great respect and in the evening they gather together in village “chopal” (a community meeting held every day) and discuss their village problems, which mainly surround the water distribution from a mohga (water outlet from a main stream), good or bad crop during the season and some petty matters of biradris. The discussions in a chopal though full of opposite views and dissensions too, yet at the end there is a more amicable end as in every matter the izzat of the village is and should remain supreme in every village dweller’s eyes. Then there will be discussion about lack of basic amenities, they don’t have proper drinking water, no schools and colleges and somewhere even no sewerage system at all. Some villages really need attention so that they can move on the road to progress.

 

*Writer is a Management Associate at the Aik Hunar Aik Nagar Project of the Govt. of the Punjab, Lahore
Photographs: Abdul Razaq Vance

Birds of Lahore – Sustainers of City’s Biodiversity

                                           by Saman Ehsan

Lahore the city of gardens is heart of Pakistan. The city has seen the heydays of the Mughals, Sikhs and the British; all left their footprints on the history and cultural mosaic of the city. Resultantly Lahore is a treasure-trove of monuments, historical relics and remains which these nations have left in this historical metropolis of Punjab.

According to a survey done in the year 2006 the population of this city is counted as 10 million inhabitants thus in terms of population it ranks as the second largest city of Pakistan and 15^th largest in South Asia.

Though an ancient city; over the years Lahore has considerably expanded. However, along these modern additions, the ancient monuments, old gardens, trees, graveyards and traditional bungalows having attached gardens, large expanses of lawn and old roadside trees some of them can still be seen, are gradually disappearing. These green areas and old endemic trees of Lahore are home to many resident bird species as well as many summer, winter and transit migrants. Thus Lahore is a hub of a variety of bird species.

In urban Lahore, there are areas which can truly be classified as places of breeding, nesting and roosting for several bird species. The grounds of different habitats such as Lahore Zoo and the Lawrence Garden, Mayo and Jinnah Gardens, GOR, Jallo Park, Kinnaird College, Aitchison College and many others are home to various bird species.

Ornithologists of preceding times  documented  the number of bird species in  Lahore. According  to one study conducted  in 1965 there were 240  bird species in  Lahore. In another study (1992)  only 101  bird species from the parks of Lahore  were  recorded. However, with an increase in the  rate of urbanization, the ecology of Lahore  has  been considerably affected and  population of  birds in Lahore has reduced  to just 85 including  the resident and  migratory ones. The resident  species of  Lahore are Grey Hornbill, Yellow-footed Green Pigeon, Parakeet, Bulbuls, Doves, Spotted Owlet, Babblers, Flycatchers, Mynas,  Woodpeckers, Crows, Kites, Ashy Prynia, Red Start, Warblers, Red Wattled Lapwing, Kingfishers, and the Oriental White Eye.

Three types of migratory birds are regular visitors of Punjab’s provincial metropolis. These are winter visitors, summer visitors and transit migrants. The winter visitors come in September and stay till May. They come from northern latitude and higher altitudes e.g. Yellow Browed Warbler, Common Starling, White Wagtail, Yellow Wagtail and Large pied Wagtail come here in search of food. Wagtails eat small insects, spiders, mollusks and soft seeds from moist soil. They roost in tall typha and reed growth on the banks of ponds and lakes.

Summer visitors arrive in summer from southern parts of the country. These include Koel, Purple Sunbird, Golden Oriole and Cuckoo species. They also come here in search of food and for breeding. They stay in urban Lahore from March till September.

Passage migrants stop in Lahore for short period of time and go to their breeding areas further south. Rosy Pastor is a Palaearctic breeding species which is found in Lahore during transit migration in spring and autumn. It stays here from April to September. They are useful since they feed on locusts, but also eat fruits, berries and other insects.

Jungle Myna, Roufous Tailed Finch Lark and Indian Plaintive Cuckoo are the three new families of guest birds in Lahore. The breeding of the Roufous Tailed Finch Lark was observed in the Jallo Recreational Park whereas the Jungle Mynas were first time seen in urban Lahore on trees and the lawns of Kinnaird College in 2004. The recorded presence of Jungle Mynas has otherwise been observed from Murree eastwards into India. The Roufous Tailed Finch Lark is found as an erratic monsoon visitor to Northern Punjab whereas the Indian Plaintive Cuckoo is reported from Margalla Hills of Islamabad.  

Blossom Headed Parakeet is a winter visitor to Lahore and the vicinity. This Parakeet was observed in Mayo Gardens in July 2004 which indicates that there might be a possibility of dispersal from their breeding areas to Lahore and vicinity. Their presence in the summer season is unusual.

All these bird species have certain habits and habitat preferences at their dwelling places which are called the ecological linkages. Trees are the backbone of an ecosystem playing important role in cleaning the environment and recharging ground water, hence offer an abode for many bird species. Trees like Pipal, Banyan, Mulberry, Jaman, Mango and Shisham provide food, (in spring, spring summer and summer monsoon season respectively) shelter, nesting holes and roosting places to bird species. Banyan trees provide food to many birds like Mynas, Bulbuls, Pigeons, Parakeets, Grey Hornbill and Koel etc. These trees produce fruit for whole year because the fruit ripens systematically one after the other on the apex of their branches.

Common Myna, Golden Oriole, Koel, Bank Myna, Copper Smith Barbet, Golden Backed woodpecker, Pied Woodpecker, Yellow Footed Green Pigeon, Grey Hornbill, Red Vented Bulbul, Oriental White Eye, Rosy Pastor, Spotted  Owlet, and Alexandrine Parakeet are ecologically linked to Hareer, Banyan, Simul, Eucalyptus, Poplar, Pipal, Wild Mulberry, Mango, Shisham trees for feeding figs and insects. These birds also prefer these tall trees for nesting at approximately 10-35 feet. They also use these trees for roosting. Baya, the Weaver birds even prefer to make nest on dates’ tree at 40 feet height.

 Myna species, Parakeets, Red Vented Bulbuls, Robins, Oriental white Eye, Jungle Babbler, Koel, Purple Sunbird and Golden Oriole are ecologically linked to the medium height Mango, Mulberry, Jaman, Gullahar, Dhrek, Pilkan, Guava, Peeloo, Kikar, Mesquite, Gul-e-Nashtar, and Alistonia trees for feeding figs and insects.

 Birds like Sparrow Hawk, Bulbuls,  Ring Dove, Rose Ringed Parakeet,  Magpie Robin, Spotted Owlet, Pied  Myna and House Crow use these  medium height trees for nesting at  approximately 10-20 feet. Mynas,  Doves and Babblers use these  medium height trees for communal  and individual roosting.

 Pond Heron likes to make its nest  on the medium height trees like  Kikar and Alistonia at a preferable  height of 10-20 feet. This bird has  adapted to build nests on exotic trees such as Alistonia. They also make nests on Eucalyptus and Bamboo thickets.

Weaver Birds prefer medium height Beri and Dhrek trees for nesting at a preferable height of 10 feet. Red turtle Dove is ecologically linked to the medium height Mango and mulberry tree for nesting respectively at approximately 10-20 feet height.

Common Starling prefers Gul-e-Nashtar trees along canal for roosting at 20-25 feet. Common Mynas also roost along with these Common Starlings. Common Starling uses Simul tree in winter to eat insects from its flowers. Blossom-headed Parakeets are ecologically linked to Jaman and Pipal trees for roosting. They eat Guava and fruits of Mango and Beri.

Koel and Rosy Pastors are ecologically linked to figs of Jaman, Pipal, Banyan, Mulberry and Pilkan. Alistonia trees and Bamboo thickets are used for roosting by Rosy Pastors.

Small trees like Guava, Loquat, Pomegranate, Peeloo, Dhrek, Beri, Mesquite and Kikar are used for roosting by House Sparrows and Jungle Babbler. The Rose Ringed Parakeet, Koel, Oriental White Eye and Red Vented Bulbul use them for feeding. Whereas Weaver Bird, Babbler species, Red vented Bulbul and Purple Sunbird use them for nesting at 5-10 feet approximately. Purple Sunbird uses Black Siris tree for eating insects on the leaves at 6-7 feet height approximately.

Dead trees also serve as excellent breeding ground for the birds of Lahore providing roosting place in the form of holes and cavities which are used by birds like common Mynas for nesting at approximately 10-20 feet height in the parks and gardens near the Zoo. Dead and live Simul and Gullahr trees are used for nesting by Blue rock Pigeons at 15-25 feet. Birds like Crimson-breasted Barbet, Maratha woodpecker; Magpie Robin, Alexandrine Parakeet and Hoopoe also make nests in dead trees. 

Climber species and thickets of different kind of flora are also important for some birds that prefer to make nest, roost and feed near to the ground. This kind of flora also provides camouflage. Purple Sunbird is attracted to Bougainvillea and Bamboo 

thickets for nesting at 5-15 feet height. Bamboo is also used by Jungle Babblers, House Sparrows, Spotted and White throated Munias for nesting, roosting and feeding respectively.

The expansive lawns of the play grounds, bungalows and of parks and gardens during the grass mowing offer a large variety of food for the birds like Mynas, Hoopoes, Pied crested Cuckoo, Munias, Common Starling and Wagtails, the insects, seeds and grubs. These birds are also attracted to these lawns when they are flooded with water. The Roufous Tailed-Finch Lark is ecologically linked to the long and thick grass for nesting preferably near the edge of dried water channels.

With the increase of urbanization, some bird species have adapted the urban environment for their subsistence. Many urban structures like electric wires, electric poles, electric lamps, buildings, nest boxes, houses, ventilators, shades, roofs and canal banks are used by Mynas, Sparrows, Robins and Blue rock Pigeons for nesting, roosting and feeding.

In humid summer nights, there is abundance of flying insects near lights on road side pavements, streets, parks, and gardens. Small lizards come to eat these insects. Some amphibians like toad and nocturnal birds like Spotted Owlet eat large insects in this light. Spotted Owlets eat these toads also. The fallen insects around these lights become the food of Mynas, Red-vented Bulbul, House Crow, and House Sparrow in morning.

The giant large fruit bat roosts by day on large Banyan trees in Jinnah Gardens and Lahore Zoo. Palm squirrel populations are common in all areas where there are gardens. Huge flocks of Blue Rock Pigeons breed and roost at night in the walled city as well as in old large buildings outside the city’s stockade. Grey hornbill is found in fig trees particularly in the Lahore Zoo, Jinnah Gardens, Mayo Gardens and the Cantt. area.

 A study done in 2000 revealed that  population in urban Lahore’s white  backed vulture almost vanished.  The main culprit responsible for  this important raptor’s extinction is  a veterinary drug called  ”Diclofenac”. The drug is used by  the vets to inject livestock for  curing joints disease in cattle. After  having found the lethal effect this  drug has had on vulture populations  in Lahore and elsewhere, (it causes  fatal kidney failure in vultures) the  drug has been banned by the  Ministry of Environment.

 The Indian Koel is a spring and  summer visitor to Lahore. Its arrival  is usually in early April though most  of the population arrives in May. On  the contrary in recent surveys it has  been seen coming around Mid  March in Aitchison College. It is a  brood parasitic bird. It feeds  on insects and fruits and drinks  water from water taps in the lawns  of the bungalows. It lays eggs in the  nests of crows, and foster parent  crows are seen feeding full size  cuckoo nestlings.

 The predators for these birds in urban Lahore are the domestic cat,  ants, Sparrow Hawk and the House Crow.

These birds are important because they control the insect infestation in the green areas of the city and the vicinity and play important role in pollination. The seeds of the Banyan tree cannot grow until they are passed from the intestine of the Mynas, hence the role of these birds, trees and green areas in maintaining the ecological balance and vice versa does not need any overemphasis. They are important because they are part of food chain. Unfortunately the ruthless cutting of the tall, old and endemic trees is going unabated in this ancient and historic city. And all this is being done in the name of city’s development, a development which is not sustainable and hence destroying the over all biodiversity in Lahore’s urban environment. These trees are necessary for the survival of these bird species which contribute to a harmony of eco-balance. In this regard collective efforts are needed by all concerned, the general public, the stakeholders and the concerned authorities.

To maintain and increase the number of bird populations in Lahore, government departments like Parks and Horticulture Authority (PHA), the Ministry of Environment and NGOs like WWF need to develop a plan to improve the green pockets by planting trees and vegetation like bushes and thickets so that they attract a variety of birds preferring different nesting heights from tall trees nesting’s to near the ground ones besides offering different kinds of fruits and figs. These pockets are: 1: The Forest Colony, Ravi Park, Railway Station, Engineering University and Shalimar Gardens and the pocket 2 is The Aitchison College, GOR, Kinnaird College, Jinnah Garden, Lahore Zoological Gardens, Cantonment and Mayo Gardens extending up to the whole of canal area.

Stealing of the nestlings of Rose Ringed Parakeet and Alexandrine Parakeet should be checked in urban Lahore and there should be a strict implementation of the Punjab Wildlife Act 1974. The solid waste management system should also be efficient enough to avoid scavengers like the house crows and common mynas

Writer is Media Manager at the WWF, Pakistan, Lahore

Colin David – Avant Garde of Non Conformist Painters

Father of the Nation - Portrait by Colin David

by Sehrish Chaudhary

Colin David’s mortal body left this world on 25 Feb., 2008 but his soul breathes in his art and people.

Colin was one of those good adroit painters who fashioned human anatomy with skill and imagination. Like Ustad Allah Baksh, Sadiqain, Shakir Ali, Saeed Akhtar, Colin portrayed women figure as a special element in his paintings, a superb draftsman with a technical perfection that is all too rare. According to Marjorie Husain, an art critic, Colin used to paint non traditional style in the highly censored environment created by Gen. Ziaul Haq which consolidated his position as the most popular artist in that period.

Colin was born in Karachi in 1937; he began his art education at the University of Punjab when the fine arts department opened its door to male students in 1956. According to Niilofer Farrukh, he once ran away from home because his father, a journalist, did not allow him to take up art as a profession. Colin David was among the first group of three young men who were taught by Khalid Iqbal, and by Anna Molka Ahmed who highly appreciated the talented trio. Prof. Anna Molka involved them in many of her Department’s projects and in later years, spoke of their success with pride.

After his masters, Colin got an opportunity to study in UCL where he was guided by Sir William Cold Stream, an artist who painted in “Euston Road” group style. There Colin got opportunity to paint from life and found his artistic meter. It was the time when Naz Ikramullah was taking a course of Lithography at the Slade, and Colin mentioned meeting her in letters home.

 Returning to Pakistan in 1962 Colin rejoined the Faculty of Fine arts of the  University of Punjab, and remained there till 1964. Later differences with Anna  Molka Ahmed caused him to leave the Fine Arts Department of the university and  he joined the National College of Arts, where Shakir Ali was the Principal. Colin  remained there, being an integral part of the college for quarter of a century.

 In those times of experimentation Colin developed a unique, distinctive style  which showed his own inclination. His first solo exhibition, a collection of figure  studies in oils painted with great luminosity was held in Karachi in 1970 at “The  Gallery” where Colin gathered high praise and great appreciation. His work in the  genre of the nude inspired new art collectors. The element of design in a form of  ”figure” always creates balance and harmony in his compositions. Sense of space  was an important subject in his paintings. Colin explored the female figure as a symbol of beauty and presented “women as women”.

                                 Absorbed in the world of words

Colin successfully portrayed the sensitive studies of children at play. In one of his paintings he portrayed a child eating toffee without unwrapping the sweet thing, chubby fingers persevering, and an expression of total single mindedness on child’s face, the depiction of this innocence through masterly acts of his brush, attracted UNICEF’s interest in his work. Many of his art pieces went to foreign art collectors.

It was ironical that in his life many a times he was obliged to hold exhibition at his home and unnamed spots for selected audience since he was unable to show his work publicly. Once he said “In the earlier stages of my career when figure painting was artistically acceptable, my exhibitions were always highly successful. The public understood and appreciated my work. They still do of course, but it means my exhibitions become elitist.”

 

In his last days, despite of bad health, Colin continued to work and exhibited his art work in Karachi and remained popular.

Time goes, you say? Ah, no! Alas, time stays, we go. (Henry Austin Dobson)

*The writer is an artist and an art teacher. She has held three consecutive exhibitions of her work in Lahore.

Can India and Pakistan live in Peace

by Nayyar Hashmey

Hinduism in Pakistan is viewed more in a political sense than religious, an approach that has turned both Islam and Hinduism into adversaries. The politicization of two great faiths in the subcontinent is goaded in the pages of history ever since partition of India and beyond

The Afghan King Mahmud of Ghazni in Pakistan is acclaimed more as a hero than a foreign intruder. His famous saying to Hindu priests while plundering the wealth of Somnath, when the former offered him as much money and gold as he wished but to spare the idols kept in the temple. To their appeal quipped Mahmud, “Am a destroyer and not dealer of idols”. This slogan for a long time after creation of Pakistan has been a rallying cry for the Pakistanis to develop a wave of hate against Hinduism.

While delving into this particular part of history, I came to observe that Mahmud though a Muslim was not the monarch who was determined to destroy Hinduism or spread Islam, like typical imperialist he accepted retributions from conquered peoples and then went back to Ghazni in Afghanistan. The basic aim of Mahmud like any other ruler of the ilk was to retain the largest piece from the cake, the “Gold Bird” called India (here India is synonymous with the South Asian subcontinent). Had he been a Mujahid as most of our Pakistani writers portray and believe, he should have tried to convert Hindus to the fold of Islam, which he did not – not because he was a liberal Muslim but because of his desire to amass the Indian wealth and expand his empire. Like most of the rulers who invaded the subcontinent, he either accepted reparations from Hindu rulers in the subcontinent or demanded abject obedience; in other words slavish statehood for the conquered people and the lands.

Contrary to Mahmud and quite ironically the local Muslim rulers who established themselves in the soil of this subcontinent like certain Afghan and Mughal rulers in the later day periods, the sad fact of history is that the Hindu’s too never accepted even those local Muslim rulers as their own (vis-à-vis the Hindu rulers) a very sad fact indeed, which created a wedge between the Hindus and the Muslims as separate and distinct identities. Then there were incidents in history like Shiva ji stabbing Afzal Khan in the back while he was invited at a dinner by the Maratha leader. Incidents like these exacerbated the gulf between Muslims and Hindus still wider.

It’s in backdrop of such incidents that relations between the Hindus and Muslims always remain tense, creating a perpetual atmosphere of rivalry between the two giants of the subcontinent, rivalry which with every passing day is getting more serious, more vitriolic thus turning the subcontinent  into a flashpoint.

No wonder then that both India and Pakistan even till this day see themselves as arch enemies. After three successive wars we have come back to square one. There still are many religious extremists on both sides of the sub continental divide, who every now and then start sabre rattling, crying for a war obliviating the very fact that both are nuclear powers.

“I lived through the whole war,” Thucydides remarks in his History of the Peloponnesian war, one of the greatest woks of history ever written, “being of an age to comprehend events and giving my attention to them in order to know the exact truth about them”.

I personally find it extremely difficult and not always possible to learn the exact truth about the enmity between the two neighbours who have fought three successive wars in our recent history. The avalanche of history books do throw further light on road to the stark truth, which otherwise would not have been possible, but its very vastness can often be confusing for in all human records and testimony there are bound to be baffling contradictions.

No doubt my own prejudices, which inevitably spring from my experience and make-up, creep thorough while I write these lines.

I detest totalitarian dictatorships in principle and come to loathe the ones we have had in our country and watched their ugly assaults upon the very noble and human spirit of Pakistan. Nevertheless in this approach I have tried to be severely objective, letting the facts speak for themselves. No incidents, scenes or quotations stem from the imagination; all are based either on documents, the testimony of eye witnesses or writers’ own personal accounts and observations.

My interpretations, I have no doubt, will be disputed by many. That is inevitable, since no man’s opinions are infallible. Those that I have ventured here in order to add clarity and depth to this narrative are merely the best I could come by from the evidence and from what knowledge and experience I have had.

Pervaiz Musharraf should probably be the last of the generals-conqueror in the tradition of Ayub, Yahya, and Ziaul Haque, or for that matter the democratically elected president and prime minister of India to start a war between two giants of the subcontinent. The curtain has however rung down on that phase of the history, at least by explosion of nuclear bombs by both, and their experimentation with the long range missiles and of satellites that hit the moon.

In our new age of terrifying, lethal gadgets, which have supplanted so swiftly the old one, the first great aggressive war, if it should come, will be launched by suicidal little madmen pressing an electronic button. Such a war will not last long and none will ever follow it. There will be no conquerors and no conquests, but only the charred bones of the dead on an uninhabited subcontinent. Should this be our fate?

Photo Credits: 1st on top: All Things Pakistan, 2nd on right www.indyarocks.com and 3rd at centre bottom www.gulfnews.com

The View Point

 

by Swaraj Chauhan

President Asif Ali Zardari is Pakistan’s first head of state to promise a “no-first nuclear-strike” against India. He talked of the need for change and reconciliation in India-Pakistan relationship, and the possibility of doing away with passports for travel between two countries.

The surprise statement came when Zardari was addressing the Hindustan Times Leadership Summit at New Delhi on Saturday via a satellite link from his official residence in Islamabad. Telecast live from India by CNN-IBN, the session was picked up simultaneously by news channels in Pakistan.

“Zardari borrowed a quote from his late wife (Benazir Bhutto), who once said that there’s a ‘little bit of India in every Pakistani and a little bit of Pakistan’ in every Indian. He also talked about Indians’ and Pakistanis’ ’shared bloodlines’.

” ‘I do not know whether it is the Indian or the Pakistani in me that is talking to you today,’ Zardari said, amid applause from his high-profile audience, which included diplomats, politicians and industrialists.

“The President also talked of a common South Asian economic bloc with other countries. He suggested a ‘flexible Indo-Pak visa regime’, eliminating the travel documents now required and replacing them with a smart-card enabled e-visa system.” More here…

The deteriorating relationship with the US administration seems to be prompting Pakistani leaders to abandon the traditional 60-year-old bitter rivalry with India. India and Pakistan have a shared heritage going back to centuries. But that came to an abrupt end in 1947 with the end of the British colonial rule and a bloody partition.

“Polls show that the U.S. already faces ‘mounting popular opposition’ in Pakistan, which has not been significantly influenced by the election of a new civilian government in February,” wrote Jim Hoagland in July 2008 under the heading “India the Key to U.S.-Pakistan Relationship” in RealClearPolitics.

“Pakistani politicians, civil servants and military men have told me in recent months that open ‘collaboration’ with the United States is so ‘dangerous’ that they cannot afford to be seen working with the U.S.

“India’s growing economic power will leave its neighbor in the dust unless Pakistan becomes part of that prosperity. Pakistan’s future will be determined by its relations with India, not by increased U.S. aid or maintaining its support for tribal war in Afghanistan.” More here…

The New York Times has an interesting take on India-Pakistan-US tangle…Please click here.

Courtesy: The Global Voice

How To Win Elections, The Hindutva Style!

Signs of An Attempted “Soft Coup” in New Delhi

 

by Ahmed Quraishi

 With a traumatized nation and an apparently paralyzed government, millions of secular ideologues and Hindu nationalists are executing a ’soft coup’ in New Delhi to bring to power the hawks who want to pursue America’s agenda of grooming India as a regional policeman, sort out Pakistan and confront China. India will self-destroy in the process. India’s military and intelligence has been penetrated. The man who uncovered the plot, Hemant Karkare, the antiterrorism chief of Mumbai police, was the first target of the mysterious terrorists. Patriotic Indians need to wake up and save their country.

Preliminary signs emerging from India’s power center, New Delhi, paint a picture of an unstable situation. Security is already compromised. But a bigger story is taking place in New Delhi, not Mumbai. There are disturbing signs that India, a nuclear-armed nation of a billion people, is witnessing a ’soft coup’ attempt involving secular rightwing ideologues and Hindu nationalists.      

Exploiting the fears of a traumatized nation and a government caught sleeping at the wheel, a core group of rightwing ideologues within India’s military, intelligence and political elite are trying to overthrow Manmohan Singh’s government. The plan apparently is to help the rise of rightwing elements in power and firmly push India to a confrontation with Pakistan and some other countries in the region. 

The objective of this core group is to see India emerge as a superpower closely allied with the United States. They are excited about American plans for India as a regional policeman and have no problem in confronting China and Pakistan to achieve this status. They think time is slipping and they don’t want a hesitant political leadership in their way. Already the instability in the wake of Mumbai attacks is being exploited to start a war with Pakistan. The fact that this will also help U.S. military that is facing a tough time in Afghanistan appears to be more than just a coincidence.

In the very first hours of the Mumbai attack, the unknown terrorists were able to achieve a singular feat: the targeted murder of Hemant Karkare, the chief antiterrorism officer in the Indian police. The man was responsible for exposing the secret links between the Indian military and Hindu terror groups. His investigation resulted in uncovering the involvement of three Indian military intelligence officers in terrorist acts that were blamed on Muslim groups. At the time of his murder, Karkare was pursuing leads that were supposed to uncover the depth of the nexus between the Indian military and the sudden rise of well armed and well financed Hindu terrorism groups with their wide network of militant training camps across India. 

Curiously, a CCTV camera has caught on tape one of the unknown terrorists when he arrived with his group at their first target: a train station. The man, dressed in a jeans and a black T-shirt and carrying a machine gun [see picture below], is wearing an orange-colored wrist band very common among religious Hindus. As a comparison, a recent picture of a Hindu militant activist taken during an event this year is shown on the top where the militant is wearing a similar band.

A CCTV snapshot of one of the Mumbai terrorists, wearing the sacred Hindu armband and carrying a machine gun. Right, below, a picture of a typical member of Hindu terror groups, wearing the same armband. The band is sacred to fundamentalist Hindus who believe wearing it shows devotion and brings good luck from gods. An aggressive advertisement campaign has already begun across India urging a scared population to rise against the government.On Friday, front-page ads appeared in several newspapers in Delhi showing blood splattered against a black background and the slogan “Brutal Terror Strikes At Will” in bold capital letters. The ads signed off with a simple message: “Fight Terror. Vote B.J.P.”

The Indian, the Pakistani and the international media has not woken up yet to this ’soft coup’ taking place in New Delhi. Some observers and journalists are beginning to catch its first signs. This is how a New York Times reporter, Somini Sengupta, has characterized it today:

 “Mr. Singh’s government had lately hit back at the Bharatiya       Janata Party with evidence that its supporters, belonging to a range     of radical Hindu organizations,         had … been implicated in terrorist   attacks. Indeed, in a bizarre twist,   the head of the police                   antiterrorism unit, Hemant   Karkare, killed in the Mumbai   strikes, had been in the midst of a high-profile investigation of a suspected Hindu terrorist cell. Mr. Karkare’s inquiry had netted nine suspects in connection with a bombing in September of a Muslim-majority area in Malegaon, a small town not far from Mumbai. “
 Evidence is emerging that Karkare  knew he was facing the prospect of a violent death because of the investigation he was pursuing. What Karkare probably didn’t know is that his elimination would come in such a perfectly executed operation.Only hours before Karkare’s violent death, his close friend, retired Colonel Rahul Gowardhan, received an envelope. Karkare called him to say he was sending him a confidential letter. This is how Times of India has reported the story:Just some hours before that, Karkare had sent a letter to him in an envelope which had some “personal” content. “Hemant had called me up on Wednesday,” said Gowardhan, a top official with MSEDCL. “As I was in a meeting, we decided to postpone the talk. He hung up saying he would be sending me an envelope. When I wanted to know the content, he told me to just read the letter that’s inside it. I returned home and read it. I cannot share the content of the letter with anyone,” said Gowardhan.
 

The highly sophisticated nature of the attack in  Mumbai, lasting for almost 60 hours, diminishes the  chances of a foreign invasion and increases the  possibility that influential elements in Indian                      intelligence and Hindu militant organizations might  have helped orchestrate this incident, pretty much like  they did in the Sept. 29 Malegaon attack, in which they  tried to simulate a Muslim terrorist group. In that attack, in which three Indian military intelligence officers have been arrested, the objective was to provoke a Muslim backlash that could justify a massive state crackdown against minorities.
Observers are already seeing how the hawks within the Indian establishment and Hindu militant organizations have seized the initiative from a paralyzed government. The Indian army and intelligence are already penetrated. Now the real culprits are channeling the fears of a traumatized people toward Pakistan.
 India is on the same path today that the  Bush administration hawks took the  American nation on after 9/11. But this  time, patriotic Indians have the benefit of  hindsight. They should stop the secular  warmongers and Hindu militants from  hijacking their country. The future of the  entire region depends on it.

Ahmed Quraishi is a Pakistani writer, TV Anchorman and a Political Commentator

© 2007-2008. All rights reserved. AhmedQuraishi.com  & PakNationalists

MUMBAI ATTACKS – INDIA’S 9/11

Upcoming Post by Michel Chossudovsky

A few days back, I inserted a post by Ahmed Quraishi on India’s so called 9/11. (You can see more here). I say it’s so called because what happened on 9/11 in New York was highly tragic, yet it turned into a bonanza for the neocons in the US who covertly used it as a ploy against Islam and the Muslims.

The real cause and the master mind / s of this act, are still shrouded in mystery. Yet the information gathered from relevant books, interviews and videos creates a lot of doubts on what has been reported in the western media. All research into this incident points to the master minds who seem to have a global agenda to control the world, but the whole blame has solely been shifted to certain extremist Muslims.

Extremism in any form is not desirable, yet it prevails in every religion, every faith, and every society. Highly tragic though the 9/11 was, yet a powerful lobby in the corridors of power in Washington D.C. meticulously used it to bracket extremism only with Islam. With power over the mass media, the west particularly USA succeeded to influence the public opinion there. However, there are also the voices who know the real reason of this tragic incident, the root cause of this propaganda war, and therefore, are raising their voice at every forum, every platform and above all, with the force of their pen because these men believe the pen, the human conscience and the humanity are mightier than the sword even today. One such voice is Michel Chossudovsky’s.  WOP readers are familiar with writers like Eric Margolis, John Maszka, Ron Johnson and so many others who through their writings and the media are doing their best to fight out neocons’ agenda.

I am inserting now for the first time a thought provoking, highly analytical post from Prof. Michel Chossudovsky.  Professor’s analysis enables us to find the way even in the darkest of darkness created by the western media and therefore highly relevant and a “must read” for our policymakers as well.

61 years of independence has not delivered the ‘independence’ our leaders had then thought. From British colonialism we landed into US imperialism. In this regard both Indian as well as the successive Pakistani leaderships played into the hands of the US who fuelled differences between the two neighbors to an extent that we fought three wars, wars which brought no benefit either to the Indians or the Pakistanis. The only beneficiary was US whose war industry sold billions worth of military hardware to both India and Pakistan.

In Pakistan’s context it’s also the oil and in case of India it’s the military sales; and thirdly to install India as Asia’s policeman especially against China. But as the former Shah of Iran, also one time policeman of Asia built up by the US in the area failed miserably, so will India.

Both neighbors need to understand that they have a shared history. Instead of fighting each other, they can peacefully work together to contribute not only towards economic well being of their own people but also play a highly constructive role in the global economy as well. Prof. Chossudovsky’s analysis too points in almost the same direction.

 

Coming up next

1. What happened in India’s commercial capital on 26th November?
2. Who was behind the attacks?
3. “Clash of civilizations” and Mumbai attacks?
4. The disinformation in the US and in Indian media. The purpose?
5. Is Pakistan’s military intelligence America’s Trojan horse?
6. Pakistan’s Chief Spy appointed by CIA?

To find answers to these questions, see next the first part of Chossudovsky’s article on these pages.

From all of us at Wonders of Pakistan

(wondersofpakistan.blogspot.com, wondersofpakistan.wordpress.com & www.nadeemkhawar.net)

I wish our readers, viewers, contributors, and all those friends, institutions who have been with us since day one, a very happy Eid Mubarik.

 While I send these greetings, I do understand the challenges, the crises and dangers we are facing at the moment but dear readers, nothing is going to happen Insha’ Allah to this great land of ours.

 It has persisted not for decades, centuries but for millennia, a beautiful land that has a history, not from 1947 but far beyond. It started from the time when man got to perceive the basics of a civilized life. Being inheritors of a great civilization, our nation demonstrated a unique type of resilience against all odds; all ups and downs and Insha’Allah will overcome its present predicaments too.

 This Eid is a symbol of a great sacrifice. Let this symbol be a sacrifice for our beautiful land as well. And this sacrifice is nothing but a will that we are one, together do we celebrate, together do we stand and together do we win.

PAKISTAN – The Largest Land of Glaciers-II

The Majestic range of Karakoram in Northern Pakistan has the honor of having World’s largest glaciers outside north and south poles. The picture here is among one of them taken in the extreme summer month. The place here is a junction of Biafo and Hispar glaciers which together form 118 km of longest layer of ice on the Earth outside the pole.

by Dr. Nayyar Hashmey

In about 1978, the Indian Army mounted an expedition to Teram Kangri peaks (in the Siachen area on the China border and just east of a line drawn due north from NJ9842) as a precursor-exercise (a camouflage to occupy the area by force). The first public mention of a possible conflict situation was an article by Joydeep Sircar in The Telegraph newspaper of Calcutta in 1982, reprinted as “Oropolitics” in the Alpine Journal, London, in 1984. India launched an operation on 13 April, 1984. The Indian Army and the Indian Air Force went into the glacier region. Pakistan army quickly responded with troop deployments and what followed was literally a race to the top.

 Current situation

Ever since then, the Indian Army occupies the high altitude side of the Siachen Glacier and the three main passes of the Saltoro Ridge immediately west of the glacier, Sia La, Biafond La, and Gyong La, thus holding onto the advantage of high ground. However, its tactical advantage by contrast demands a heavy toll in terms of money and human loss. Gyong La (Pass) itself is at 35-10-29N, 77-04-15E; that high point is controlled by India. Pakistan controls the glacial valley five kilometers southwest of Gyong La.

Though Pakistani soldiers have waged a valiant struggle to get up to the crest of the Saltoro Ridge, the Indians resist to come down and abandon their strategic high posts. In 2003 a ceasefire went into effect. Even before then, every year more solders were killed because of severe weather than enemy firing. The two sides have lost more than 2,000 personnel primarily due to frostbite, avalanches and other complications.

 Who owns Siachen

The glacier is well inside Pakistani territory. But India’s strategic want to keep an eye and a possibility to seek vigilance over Pakistan’s strategic route to China (the Karakorum Highway) in 1982 it sent a training expedition to Antarctica to train under “Siachen Glacier Like” conditions. Then in April 1984, it conducted its Operation Meghdoot’, and invaded Pakistani territory.

Since the glacier is not physically connected to India (there is no natural ground routes connecting India and Siachen Glacier), therefore, it used its Air Force to drop all of its forces at Siachen and still to this day uses helicopters and aircrafts to transport supplies, food and soldiers.

Historically-geographically-and factually this third pole on earth is well Inside Pakistan where Pakistanis are confronting the Indians who have a force 5 times their size. However, India in the process is paying a heavy price. According to a book on the War on Siachen, 50% of Indian soldiers, who make back alive, suffer from permanent mental retardation, not to mention amputations and other terrible things that Indian soldiers have to go through.

The Majestic range of Karakoram in Northern Pakistan has the honor of having World’s largest glaciers outside north and south poles. The picture here is among one of them taken in the extreme summer month.

Left to Right) Paiju Peak (Trango II?), The Trango Monk, Trango Nameless Tower (6,239 m), and the mass of the Great Trango (6,286 m) on the northern lateral moraine of the Baltoro Glacier in the Baltoro Muztagh Range.

The war has been going on for almost quarter of a century. Though the price has been heavy for both sides (especially for India), Pakistan has been slowly driving the Indians out of Siachen Glacier (Pakistani Territory).

As the conflict between two nuclear neighbors continues, another apathetic side haunts Siachen. Right on the glacier, amid bullets whistling over wild roses and snow leopards’ dens, the already fragile environment is highly endangered due to perpetual warlike conditions since several decades. To save the flora and fauna, the natural habitat in the area, in 2003 this beleaguered bit of no-man’s-land high up in the Himalayas was readied for a radical recasting, when a group of Pakistani and Indian mountain climbers gathered in the Swiss Alps to highlight the plight of Siachen and other threatened cross-border regions.

The solution? Designating the glacier a ‘peace park’ where two hostile nations could cooperate for the sake of sustainable development. However, this process didn’t come to a declaration of an inter-national peace park due to apprehensions and doubts on both sides. Last year, India started inviting foreign climbers to the Siachen to prove its virtual hold over the glacier. This again put things in the back gear.

  Siachen’s Present Scenario

Just a week before Mumbai attacks on 26^th November this year, time had been most opportune. Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari was sincerely pushing for a serious dialogue between two nations, the idea of a ‘peace park’ was ripe for rejuvenation once again. However, the Mumbai attacks have once again brought both nations to the old ‘worst enemy stance’.

 But war in Siachen is a war against nature than a war between ‘”too” Nuclear Neighbours

Many in Pakistan and India perhaps might take this approach being out of tune, but this writer personally believes, the majority of people in Pakistan as well as the Govt. in Pakistan, do wish a permanent peace between India and Pakistan. I have been advocating for friendship parks between India and Pakistan, one at the Wahga border crossing and the other one at the Siachen. But quite ironically this time its India reversing the cycle and resisting attempts for peace and friendship between two neighbours raising issues such as terrorism; ignoring the very fact that Pakistan too is the target of terrorists as much as India is.

Contd…

Photo Credits: On top: Heartkins Photostream, Bottom by Atif Gulzar

PAKISTAN – The Largest Land of Glaciers-III

Green In the Black refers to the Kararkoram mountains whose name means Balck Mountains and it is surprising that a lush green valley is found inside the snow clad peaks and largest glaciers of the world. 

by Dr. Nayyar Hashmey

Baltoro Glacier

The Baltoro Glacier, 57 kilometers long, is one of the longest glaciers outside of the Polar Regions. Located again in Baltistan, in our Northern Areas it runs through part of the Karakoram mountain range. The Baltoro Muztagh lies to the north and east of the glacier, while the Masherbrum Mountains lie to the south. At 8,611 m (28,251 ft), K2 is the highest mountain in the region, and three others within 20 km top at 8,000m or above.

The glacier gives rise to the Shigar River, which is a tributary of the Indus River. Several large tributary glaciers feed the main Baltoro glacier, including the Godwin Austen glacier, flowing south from K2; the Abruzzi and the various Gasherbrum glaciers, flowing from the Gasherbrum group of peaks; the Vigne glacier, flowing from Chogolisa, and the Yermandendu glacier, flowing from Masherbrum.

Masherbrum (7821 m), enveloped in mist, stands without its usual sheath of ice and snow in the Karakoram summer.

Masherbrum was first named K-1 for Karakoram 1 when it was believed to be the tallest peak in the Karakorams – an honour that was later taken away by the group of 4 mountains just a days trek away where the mighty K-2 (8611m) accompanied by the other 3 Eight-thousanders (Broad Peak, Gasherbrum 1 and Gasherbrum 2) rises out of the Godwin-Austen glacier in all its majesty.

Masherbrum has been summited 4 times.

Concordia

 The confluence of the main Baltoro glacier with the Godwin Austen glacier is known as Concordia. Concordia is the name for the confluence of the Baltoro glacier and the Godwin-Austen glacier, in the heart of the Karakoram Range. The name was applied by European explorers, and comes from this location’s similarity to a glacial confluence, also named Concordia, in the Bernese Highlands, part of the European Alps.

This location and K2 base camp are popular trekking destinations. The trough of the glacier here is very wide and its central part is a vast snowfield. Small valley glaciers form icefalls where they meet the trunk glacier. The sidewalls vary from very steep to precipitous. The glacier has carved striations on the surrounding country rocks. Moving ice has formed depressions, which serve as basins for numerous glacial lakes. The glacier can be approached via the important Balti town of Skardu.

BALTORO GLACIER, Taken upon return to Concordia from the K2 Base-camp day trek, Altitude: 4900 meters. Its around Concordia where some of the highest peaks are clustered as nowhere in the world. Four of the world’s fourteen “eight-thousanders” are in this region, as well as a number of important lower peaks.

Concordia offers the region’s best place to camp for mountain enthusiasts not involved in climbing. With breathtaking views, it also offers short hikes to several important base camps: K2 (three hours), Broad Peak (two hours) and the Gasherbrums (three hours). An alternative exit to returning down the Baltoro glacier is available by climbing the Gondogoro Pass (5,450m). Visitors to the region are advised to carefully monitor their water intake with concern. To avoid often painful and sometimes debilitating stomach upsets at high altitude, water should be obtained from clear water sources, preferably white ice dug from the glacier.                                                 

Batura Glacier

Batura Glacier (57km long) lies in the Gojal region of Northern Areas just north of Batura (7,795m) and Passu (7,500m) massifs. It flows west to east. The lower portions can be described as a grey sea of rocks and gravelly moraine, bordered by a few summer villages and pastures with herds of sheep, goats, cows and yaks and where roses and juniper trees are common.

Biafo Glacier

 The Biafo Glacier is a 63 km long glacier in the Karakoram Mountains which meets the 49 km long Hispar glacier at an altitude of 5,128m (16,824 feet) at Hispar La (Pass) to create the world’s longest glacial system outside of the polar region. This highway of ice connects two ancient mountain kingdoms, Nagar (immediately south of Hunza) in the west with Baltistan in the east. The traverse uses 51 of the Biafo Glacier’s 63 km and all of the Hispar Glacier to form a 100 km glacial route.

The Biafo Glacier presents a trekker with several days of very strenuous, often hectic boulder hopping, with spectacular views throughout and Snow Lake near the high point. Snow Lake, consisting of parts of the upper Biafo Glacier and its tributary glacier Sim Gang, is one of the world’s largest basins of snow or ice in the world outside of the Polar Region, up to 1,600m (one mile) in depth.

The Biafo Glacier is the world’s third longest glacier outside of the Polar Region, second only to the 75 km Siachen Glacier and Tajikistan’s 77 km long Fedchenko Glacier.

Camp sites along the Biafo are located off of the glacier, adjacent to the lateral moraines and steep mountainsides. The first three (heading up from the last village before the glacier, the thousand-year-old Askole village) are beautiful sites with flowing water nearby. Mango and Namla, the first two camp sites, are often covered in flowers and Namla has an amazing waterfall very near the camping area. Biantha, the third camp site, is often used as a rest day. A large green meadow, it has a few running streams near the camp and many places to spend the day rock climbing or rappelling.

Evidence of wildlife can be seen throughout the trek. The Ibex and the Markhor Mountain Goat can be found and the area is famous for brown bears and snow leopards, although sightings are rare.

Godwin-Austen Glacier

The Godwin-Austen Glacier is located near K2. Its confluence with the Baltoro Glacier, the Concordia is one of the most favorite spots for trekking in Pakistan since it provides excellent views of four of the five eight-thousanders in Pakistan.

The five major glaciers are like five monarchs of Pakistan’s ice kingdom that have ruled their territories since ages. With their spellbinding beauty, grandeur and their steadfastness to protect their domains, they offer also a challenge to climbers from all over the world. Many climbers have lost their lives but the lure, the challenge and the spirit to conquer still prevails. 

Concluded.

Photo Credits: Top by Atif Gulzar, Centre and Bottom by Aqib, Heartkins Photostream

PAKISTAN – The Largest Land of Glaciers-I

The dark green part in the map are karakorams and the dark orange, small part is Siachen

by Dr. Nayyar Hashmey

In Pakistan, we have more glaciers than any other land outside the north and south poles. Our glacial area covers some 13,680 sq. km which represents an average of 13 per cent of mountain regions of the upper Indus Basin. Baltistan in our north eastern corner and in the heart of Karakorams, provides the world’s most magnificent mountain scenery and mountaineering possibilities. Renowned for the largest glaciers and towering peaks, it has four 8000m peaks, and many over 7000m.

The glaciers in Pakistan can rightly claim to possess the greatest mass and collection of glaciated space on the face of earth. In fact, in the lap of our Karakoram mountains alone there are glaciers whose total length would add up to about 6,160 sq. km. To put it more precisely, as high as 37 per cent of the Karakoram area is under its glaciers against Himalayas’ 17 per cent and European Alps’ 22 per cent. The Karakorams have one more claim to proclaim; its southern flank (east and west of the enormous Biafo glacier) has a concentration of glaciers which works out to 59 per cent of its area.

 Eric Shipton, a great mountaineer who perished in Pakistan’s Northern Areas, while describing the peaks and glaciers in Pakistan wrote in his account “To describe this region is to indulge in superlatives, for everywhere you look are the highest, the longest and the largest mountains, glaciers and rivers in the world”.

 Making some allowance for Shipton’s tendency towards slight exaggeration, born out of awe and fascination, the fact remains that Pakistan boasts of the largest share of the highest number of glaciers after the poles.                          

Siachen

The biggest glacier is Siachen, which is 75 kms in length. The Hispar (53 kms) joins the Biafo at the Hispar La (5154.16 metres (16,910 ft) to form an ice corridor of 116.87 kms (72 miles) long. The Batura, too is 58 kms in length. But, the most outstanding of these rivers of ice is the 62 kms Baltoro. This mighty glacier fed by some 30 tributaries constitutes a surface of 1291.39 sq. kms.                   

Siachen is located in the eastern Karakoram range in the Himalaya mountains. It is the longest glacier in the Karakoram and second longest in the world’s non-polar areas. It ranges from an altitude of 5753m (18,875 ft.) above sea level at its source from a pass near the China border to its snout at 3620m (11,875 ft.)

 The glacier lies south of the great watershed that separates Central Asia from the Indian subcontinent. The 75 km long Siachen lies between the Saltoro Ridge line immediately to the west and the main Karakoram range to the east. The Saltoro Ridge originates in the north from the Sia Kangri peak on the China border in the Karakoram Range. The crest of the Saltoro Ridge’s altitudes ranges from 5450 to 7720m (17,880 to 25,330 feet). The major passes on this ridge are, from north to south, Sia La at 5589m (18,336 ft), Bilafond La at 5450m (17,880 ft), and Gyong La at 5689m (18,665 ft.)

 The Conflict Zone

 This largest ice mass in the subcontinent however, continues to mar relations between India and Pakistan.

 Located in the disputed region of Kashmir its average winter snowfall is 10.5m (35 ft.) and temperatures can dip to minus 50○C (minus 58○F). In spite of this severe climate, the word ‘Siachen’ ironically means ‘the place of wild roses, a reference some people attribute to the abundance of Himalayan wildflowers found in the valleys below the glacier, but specifically refers to the thorny wild plants which grow on the rocky outcrops.

 Presently the glacier is also the highest battleground on earth, where India and Pakistan have fought intermittently since April 13, 1984. Pakistan maintains permanent military personnel in the region at a height of over 6,000m and so does India. The site is a prime example of mountain warfare.

 The glacier’s melting waters are the main source of the Nubra River, which drains into the Shyok River. The Shyok in turn joins the Indus River. The glacier’s melting waters are a major source of the river Indus, a vital water source for Pakistan

 The conflict in Siachen stems from the confusion in the improperly demarcated territory on the map beyond the map coordinate known as NJ9842. The 1949 Karachi Agreement and the 1972 Simla Agreement did not clearly mention who controlled the glacier, merely stating that from the NJ9842 location the boundary would proceed “thence north to the glaciers.” In the 1960’s and 1970’s, however, the United States Defense Mapping Agency (now National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency) issued maps showing detailed position of the area and made their maps available to the public and pilots as proceeding from NJ9842 east-northeast to the Karakoram Pass at 5534m (18,136 ft.) on the China border. Other international (governmental and private cartographers and atlas producers) confirmed this position. This implied in a cartographical and categorical allocation of the entire 2700 square kilometers (1040 square miles) Siachen area to Pakistan. However, prior to 1984 neither India nor Pakistan had any permanent presence in the area presumably due to the extremely harsh conditions which prohibited any such presence.

Fighting

In the 1970s and early 1980s several mountaineering expeditions applied to Pakistan to climb high peaks in the Siachen area and Pakistan granted them, which reinforces our claim on the area, as these expeditions arrived on the glacier with a permit obtained from the Govt. of Pakistan.

The glacier is well inside Pakistani territory. However, India with a design to keep an eye over Pakistan’s strategic route to China (the Karakorum Highway) in 1982 sent a training expedition to Antarctica to train under “Siachen Glacier Like” conditions. Then in April 1984, it conducted its Operation Meghdoot’, and invaded Pakistani territory.

Since the Glacier is not physically connected to India (there is no natural ground routes connecting India and Siachen Glacier), therefore, it used its air force to drop all of its forces at Siachen. And still to this day uses helicopters and aircrafts to transport supplies, food and soldiers.

On this third pole on earth, Pakistani military is confronting the Indians who have a force 5 times its size. In the process India is paying a heavy price. According to a book on the War at Siachen Glacier, 50% of Indian soldiers, who make back alive, suffer from permanent mental retardation, not to mention amputations and other terrible things that Indian soldiers have to go through.

The war has been going on for about quarter of a century. Though the price has been heavy for both sides (especially for India), Pakistan has been slowly driving the Indians out of Siachen Glacier.

Contd…

Tourism in Azad Kashmir

by Nayyar Hashmey

Last Sunday, the 4th of Jan. 2009, I was watching “Jawabdeh” the Pakistani version of BBC’s HARDTalk show by Geo News. The interviewer was channel’s most popular anchorman Iftikhar Ahmad, who is known for his razor sharp questions – questions that baffle even the sharpest, the wittiest and the wisest guy. At the grinding disc of Itikhar now was none else than the young prime minister of Azad Kashmir, Sardar Ateeq Ahmad Khan.

Though presently the PM is facing a no confidence move in the Assembly, he appeared very confident to emerge successful over what he called move by a bunch of legislators who could hardly muster 2-3 seats in the AJK Assembly.

But politics apart, the most important aspect of this Q & A session was young PM’s approach towards a policy of dialogue vis-á-vis his father’s on Kashmir dispute between India and Pakistan. Quite logically did he respond to pointed questions raised by I.A. and apprised the latter on salient features of phased withdrawal of Pakistani and Indian forces from both parts of Kashmir. A step which, he said, will pave way for a gradual move towards a permanent solution of Kashmir dispute, a solution which would guarantee a face saving formula for all stake holders.

Another idea which this writer found highly innovative was Saradar Ateeq’s approach on development and promotion of Tourism in Azad Kashmir. Hitherto A.K. has been an area where only Pakistanis could see the touristic attractions of this paradise like part of the valley. Foreigners were allowed only on a special permit to visit the area.

During my personal visits to Azad Kashmir I saw lot of developments, which were done during the administration of former prime minister of the state. But this wonderful developmental work was shattered during the terrible earthquake in Oct. 2005. Extensive efforts were made ever since and the life in the affected areas has almost come to normal. Now the state administration endeavors to go beyond restoration and is intending to surpass development much above the pre 2005 level. It is good news that the present prime minister of A.K. recognises the importance of tourism in the economy of the state. We are hope that he seriouslywill follows up his own initiative,in which case the area of Azad Kashmir can definitely turn into a touristic paradise not only for domestic but also for our foreign guests.

HARAPPA – Whispers of an Ancient Past

Map showing location of the two sites of ancient Indus Valley Civilisation in modern Pakistan

Time present and time past, Are both present perhaps, in time future, And time future contained in time past, If all time is eternally present all time

 is unredeemable.

T.S. Eliot

by Umair Ghani

                       Seated on a high deserted mound amid ruins of Harappa I experience timelessness, envisioning the time when world was not a chaotic blend of tension, power and dominance, but a warm cosmic breath that gave impetus to a simple yet blooming life. I tried to relate frayed ends of an existence distorted by merciless scythe of time.

           My imagination flickered and thoughts carried me to times immemorial when cities of ancient Indus Valley flourished on fertile alluvial soils along the banks of mighty Indus River. I started listening to echoes of life amid those ruins and saw shadows walk past me. Who are those figures calling from the stony graves? What do they whisper; from eternity! I am standing among my ancestors, my fore-fathers, mothers, aunts, uncles, now reduced to bony ashes! My friends, foes, sons of the land that my own being is made of.  I saw them buried under tons and tons of dust, fossilized in a state of eternal slumber spanning centuries, waiting for someone to excavate the naked truth of what happened to them.

          It was in year 1856, some six miles from River Ravi, that British engineers John and William Brunton were laying the East Indian Railway Company track connecting Karachi and Lahore. Gossip of an ancient ruined city called Brahminabad already existed there. Charles Masson had already mentioned it in 1842. Railway construction workers struck their spades on a mound of backed bricks. The mound crumbled and collapsed. Along with the bricks, some unrecognizable pieces of soapstone (with figures of animals and plants) and other objects were also revealed. 

Some more brick mounds were reported near the village of Harappa. Buried truth of many thousand years began to yawn and got set for resurrection. In 1872-73, Sir Cunningham confirmed the antiquity of the discovered material (3300 -1700 BC) and archeologists embarked upon a course of astounding discoveries that provided evidence of many missing links to the past of humanity. More sites were unearthed and the world resounded with the discovery of Harappa civilization in the plains of Indus River.

Later, more seals of the ancient Harappa civilization were discovered by J. Fleet, in an excavation campaign under Sir John Hubert Marshall [Sir John Marshall, To Rai Bahadur Daya Ram Sahni and Madho Sarup Vats goes the credit who unearthed much of Harrappa settlements in 1921-22]. Indus Valley settlements were scattered all over present day Pakistan and into some parts of India but main cities were Harappa and Moenjo-Daro. Now the past of human civilization got a new dimension i.e. the Pre- and Post Harappan periods. 

“The story of Harappan civilization is a story of a people intricately tied to their environment,”

Harappa flourished as a centre of civilization between 2600-1900 BC [most precisely between 2250-1900BC]. Indus Valley civilization was twice as extensive as earliest civilizations, the Old Kingdom of Egypt and the Sumerian city-states. Its people, towns, markets thrived with economy entirely depending upon agriculture. Use of fire bricks in certain residences suggests that people were governed by a rich bureaucracy [in form of an efficient municipal government] that lived lavishly and enforced a system of collection and distribution of available resources. Ruling elite carefully laid down the city plans [with pathways within the city in a perpendicular criss-cross fashion] and suggested the use of sun backed bricks as an option easily available to everyone [which still continues without much change]. Since financial system revolved mostly around agriculture, huge granaries were built at each city which contained grains. These semi-nomadic people cultivated wheat, barley, peas, sesame seed, and cotton. A system of weights and measurements was also introduced [Indus Valley civilization is credited with the earliest known use of decimal fractions in a uniform system of ancient weights and measures, as well as negative numbers].

Evidence of manufacturing stone and copper drills, large pit kilns, copper melting crucibles, and button seal devices with geometric designs were a hallmark of Indus Valley people. Harappan seals have pictures of animals that relate to a wet and marshy environment. Rhinoceroses, elephants, and tigers are placed in the midst of marshy plants. The Harappans reared a range of domesticated animals such as cats, dogs, goats, sheep, and buffalo.   

The term ”Fertile Crescent” was coined around 1900 by archaeologist James Henry Breasted. It involved rivers of Middle East, but Arnold Toynbee with a keen look at world map suggests that earliest civilizations flourished along a wider Fertile Crescent which spanned from Latin America to Yangtze River in China, including Mediterranean, Euphrates, Nile and Indus rivers. River Ravi and Bias provided large scale irrigation to Indus Valley settlements around Harappa. Water was abundant so an advanced drainage system also existed. Drains started from the bathrooms of the houses and joined the main sewer in the street, which was covered by brick slabs. Living quarters even had latrines [which still can be seen in their most ancient traditions in many cities of Sind and also in modern day Harappa village].

Harappan society had a strong social stratification. The towns were planned in a way that the citadel was a good 20 ft higher than the tower of the middle cities. Dr. J.M. Kenoyer, an expert on Indus Valley Civilization states, “Several competing classes of elite who maintained different levels of control existed there. Instead of one social group with absolute control, the rulers included merchants, ritual specialists and individuals who controlled resources such as land, livestock and raw material. Maybe — Just may be — we are seeing an ancient democracy at work”. 

“We know nothing of the religion of the Harappans”, writes Richard Hooker, “Unlike in Mesopotamia or Egypt, we have discovered no building that so much as hints that it might be a temple or involve any kind of public worship. We do, however, have a number of tantalizing figures on various seals and statues. What we gather from these figures is that the Harappans probably exercised some sort of goddess worship”.

I stared at the figures of gods and goddesses of Harappan people with all the qualms of an atheist. There was a time when they governed the fate of an entire civilization, which looked after them as protectors and sought benevolence from them. New all of them mutilated tiny statues of terracotta, helplessly hanging by steel clamps in glass shelves at Harappa Museum. The statue of King Priest found at Moenjo- Daro leads to a speculation that Indus Valley Civilization had a religious hierarchy [or probably a chain of  command and chartered social norms and implemented ethics].

The most copious of the existing artifacts are a series of soapstone seals [some two thousand inscribed seals in good, legible condition], of which the best known are those of the humped Brahmani bull and Pashupati. These seals carry a pictographic script which is enigmatic and undecipherable at present. Some archeologists argue about their nature signifying that they were used as currency; while some believe that they were mere imperial seals and were issued to bestow authority upon some high ranking officials. What puzzles the scholastic world is very short and brief text. The average number of symbols on the seals is 5, and the longest is only 26 and the language is completely dissimilar to anything else, meaning an isolate. It appears that the maximum number of Indus script symbols is 400, although there are 200 basic signs.

In 2005 Steve Farmer, Richard Sproat and Michael Witzel stunned the world by their hypothesis that the Indus sign system was not writing thus thwarting the work of Dr. Asko Parpola who had concluded that the Indus Valley sign system represented an ancient Dravidian language. But Dr Ahmed Hassan Dani, one of the subcontinent’s most remarkable archaeologists, disproves of any possibility that Indus Valley script relates to Dravadian language and asserts that its agglutinative language, without doubt. 

And then Harappans disappeared, and they disappeared without a trace. Between 1800 and 1700 BC, the Harappan cities and towns were mysteriously abandoned. Dr Kenoyer quotes that from the earlier excavations in the Cemetery H, occupation areas have been identified dating to the late Harappan phases [1900-1300 BC)] in contrast to earlier interpretations of decline and abandonment, the city was in fact thriving and at the center of important cultural, economic, and ideological transformations till 1300 BC. However, some scholars believe that they were overrun by the war-like Aryans around 1700 BC. Aryans called themselves the “noble ones” or the “superior ones, who, like a storm, rushed in from Euro-Asia and overran Persia and northern India. Again Dr Ahmed Hassan Dani quotes, “Whatever we know of the Aryans, from the literary records, in the Rig Veda, the earliest book, do not speak at all of any urban life. They speak of only rural life, villages, and as the Indus Civilization is an urban civilization, therefore to talk of any Aryan association with the urban life seems to me rather unthinkable.”

Another possibility is that the periodic changes in the course of Indus contributed to the decline of Indus Valley Civilization. Whatever the cause or the causes, the Harappans disappeared and the archeologists still wriggle and tangle to unlock the heart of the sentinel hush of Harappan ruins. These artifacts for posterity remain shrouded in mystery. Only faint whispers tell the tale to passing winds and yet the secret is guarded by the night.

 

“Darkness was hidden by darkness in the beginning.”

Rig Vedas

Photograph Credits:

All photographs in this post are courtesy www.harappa.com

Pictures Description:
Photograph # 1: J. Mark Kenoyer is Professor in Anthropology. He teaches archaeology and ancient technology at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. USA.In this photograph he is sitting in the right foreground taking notes during excavations at site in Harappa.
Photograph # 2: Three Early Harappan zebu figurines from Harappa. The earliest animal figurines from Harappa. They are typically very small with joined legs and stylized humps. A few of these zebu figurines have holes through the humps that may have allowed them to be worn as amulets on a cord or a string.
Photograph # 3: Bird figurine from Harappa. Many bird figurines have circular bases instead of legs and feet. Some have outstretched wings and may represent birds in flight. (Photograph by Richard H. Meadow)
Photograph # 4: Zebu figurine with painted designs from Harappa. Other animal and sometimes anthropomorphic figurines are decorated with black stripes and other patterns, and features such as eyes are also sometimes rendered in pigment. Figurines of cattle with and without humps are found at Indus sites, possibly indicating that multiple breeds of cattle were in use.  (Photograph by Richard H. Meadow)

Photograph # 5: Unicorn seal after conservation. Note the deeply chiseled engraving of the script similar to that found particularly on Period 3C rectangular seals.

A Peacock Story

The Tale of a Mound in Harrapa

 by Umair Ghani

One of world’s most renowned archeologists, Sir John Marshall reacted with sudden surprise when he saw the famous Indus Bronze Statuette of a slender limbed “Dancing Girl” in Mohenjo-daro:

“When I first saw them I found it difficult to believe that they were prehistoric; they seemed to completely upset all established ideas about early art and culture. Modeling such as this was unknown in the ancient world up to Hellenistic age of Greece, and I thought, therefore, that some mistake must surely have been made, that these figures had found their way into levels some 3000 years older than those to which they properly belonged…”

Similar thoughts permeated my being in front of a huge mound in Wahniwal, as I witnessed unearthing of a small piece of pottery with a beautifully drawn figure of subcontinent’s most cherished fowl: a peacock. Sheer awe besieged me. I heard Zubair Ghouri’s victorious yell. I watched his dance of euphoria and triumph in a state of ecstatic delirium. “What a way to end a day!” he cried out loud and ancient winds carried his words to me years across the dust covered mound.

I felt that eternal satisfaction surge through my whole being which comes while witnessing an accomplishment. I was part of this discovery.  I was member of a team which had found this beautiful piece of terracotta pottery that remained buried for several thousand years in oblivion. I touched and felt the rough clay figurines which carried primeval tales of the earliest settlers on these soils.

I and Zubair Ghouri had only arrived at Qutabpur a day before. Spurred by excitement to visit ancient Harappan sites by the side of the dry course of river Ravi and Beas, Ghouri had consented to take me along on one of his very personal explorations of Indus Valley sites. Ghouri, the author of a significant book in Urdu titled Ravi Kinary Ki Harappai Bastiyan [Harappan Settlements on the Banks of River Ravi], loves to talk about his earlier discoveries in Balochistan, Sindh and now in Punjab. Since this was our maiden venture, he was hesitant to deliver scholarly opinions in response to my incessant queries. “I am still in the dark. The evidence is insufficient. It will be too early to establish any authentic opinion on the basis of excavations at Harappa and Moenjodaro only,” he said; as we eagerly started eating Halwa in guest room of Qutabpur railway station, which Ahmed Bukhsh, the station master offered us as a token of gratitude for Ghouri Sahib’s gracious presence.

Tea tasted even better. I sipped it down my cold stomach in big swallows. Wintry winds howled outside cutting through the silence of the dark wintry night. Charpoys felt cozy and I dozed off amid dreams of ancient voices and figures dancing all around me.  

Fog and cold descended stealthily on the mound near Qutabpur cemetery. Probably to guard hush of the ages that laid buried there. ‘Twenty Minutes, Umair sahib,” said Ghaouri as he began to reveal secrets of the dead, “You’ll find surprises awaiting you, but we need to be at Wahniwal before noon!” I looked around with shy curiosity of a bewildered child. Suddenly aware of my presence amid silence and secrets of an epoch now lost forever, shrouded in a deep and mysterious hush, waited me to approach and break the silence. With cautious steps of a dazed explorer, I moved above the mound. Shreds of pottery crunched and creaked under my heavy boots.  Ghouri was busy looking for objects of his particular interest.

 Occasionally he would pick up some portion of ancient pottery and after a close observation would place it into plastic bags [which he carried in abundance] with great care. “What is this,” I pointed to a tiny round piece which apparently looked like fragment of plaster of Paris. “Steatite Bead!” said Ghouri, “also called burial beads and sometimes termed as ankle beads. You’ll find them at almost every mound we visit.” With quivering hands I touched that object from antiquity and watchfully placed it in a synthetic bag which Ghouri Sahib had offered with great bounty. I spotted a piece of stone, sharpened at one edge like a blade, probably used as a knife. And then through Ghouri’s guidance learned my first on field lessons in anthropology.

Looking down consistently, with observant eyes proved to be a tedious task, but the fear to miss something significant was more tiring. My gaze remained glued to the ground and I did reap rewards for that. Ghouri Sahib occasionally glanced back and encouraged me with satisfactory nods.

We arrived at Fojianwala a little later. This mound had a considerable spread. Pottery shred scattered on the surface and I found myself bamboozled in the age old kid’s game of Yasu, Panju, Lal, Kabutar, Doli…a kid’s game but a riddle of never ending times. What I found there, too…was again a riddle… of never ending time.

Ralli Quilts of Pakistan

   The Magnificient Art of  Making Handmade Textiles 

                                         by Hira N. Hashmey

Throughout history, Asia has been known as a place producing the best in textiles. The art of making fabric from cotton was first perfected here, in the ancient southern part of this subcontinent. The Romans even sent traders to this area to get fine fabrics for their togas.   Womenfolk in the Indus Region of the subcontinent, presently the domain of an independent sovereign state of Pakistan have traditionally been the harbingers of this historical tradition. A particular type of such beautiful textiles produced in the area is the “Ralli” quilts.                               

Adorned with bright colors and bold patterns, the quilts are also called rilli, rilly, rallee or rehli derived from the local word ralanna meaning to “mix or connect”. For sake of simplicity and to avoid confusion in terms, used in different places of ralli production, the term “Ralli” has been used in this post; which by no means be taken as a standard term.

In Pakistan, rallis are made in the southern province of Pakistan including Sindh, in Balochistan province and Cholistan desert in Bahawalpur district of Punjab. Just across our borders, in India the art is found in the adjoining states of Gujarat and Rajasthan.

Muslim and Hindu women from a variety of tribes and castes in towns, villages and also of nomadic settings usually make rallis. It’s an old tradition which probably dates back to the fourth millennium BCE, (as evidenced by similar patterns found even today on the ancient pottery in the subcontinent).

Rallis are commonly used as a covering for wooden beds, floor covering, storage bags, rugs and padding for workers or animals. In the villages, ralli is an important part of a girl’s dowry.

Ralli is termed “patchwork” in the west, a nomenclature used because of combining fine craftsmanship with thrifty recycling; more so, because it is the joining of shaped pieces of patterns or colored fabrics to form a rich mosaic. The technique offers a limitless scope to experiment with patterns, color and textures.

Patchwork is either a pieced work or appliqué: 

The Pieced work is usually small regularly shaped scraps of material sewn together to form a strong fabric. Since patches are stitched to each other rather than to a background fabric, therefore, pieced work must be lined to hide raw edges at the back. 

In Appliqué or the applied patchwork motifs are cut from plain or decorative fabrics. The edges are turned under the pieces and are hemmed or slipstitched to a background fabric. Sometimes the edges are left raw and a buttonhole stitch is used to join the fabric to the base in a more elaborate way


The pattern making possibilities offered by patchwork are almost infinite, but the traditional patterns are still the most popular. The simplest patchworks are one-patch design based on a single geometric shape such as a triangle, a square or a hexagon. Beautiful effects can be achieved by using different fabrics to create patterns. For instance, in the tumbling block design, light, dark and middle tones are used to create a three-dimensional illusion.



In the last half of the nineteenth century, crazy patchwork became fashionable. Scraps of unrelated fabrics, silks, ribbons, satins or velvet, were sewn on to a backing. Each piece was outlined with feather stitching in thick silk, often in a golden thread. Crazy patchwork was used for quilts, table coverings, cushions, handkerchiefs and nightdress cases.

Some of the loveliest patchwork comes from the United States, where it is a popular folk craft. The earliest American quilts were made for protection against the harsh winter. As time passed, the colonists developed their own style. Indeed, the names given to many of the patterns – log cabin, barn raising, bear’s paw and cactus basket – reflect their origins.

They evolved in particular, the block method of working, in which case a series of rectangular or square units were made up separately and the stitched together to create a large quilt. The advantage was that the individual blocks were more manageable to work than one large quilt. Sometimes quilts were worked by several different people and became known as friendship quilts. Each individual would work a separate block, often in a different design. The skill came in assembling these independent blocks into an amazing pattern.

On many old quilts one may find a spider’s web embroidered in a corner, as recognition of a creator’s skill. In some areas a spider’s web would be laid on the back of a baby girls’ hand so that she would acquire some of that dexterity. Often, one finds a deliberate error in a patchwork, such as repeating motif worked in the wrong color. This reflected a belief that only God could create perfection and it was therefore inappropriate for a mere mortal to aspire new heights.

The rallis are made from numerous panels, some of which are square and some rectangular. Each panel is individually worked before being joined to its neighbors by means of a network of fine border strips. Some panels are made from colorful patchwork shapes, while others are prettily quilted and appliquéd with a range of motifs.

A patchwork quilt is centuries old craft with intricate patterns and a breathtaking admiration for the talented womenfolk who stitch these quilts. The designs look so intricate and the stitches so tiny and neat; yet in reality anyone who has made a patchwork knows how simple they are for these ladies to make. Patience is indeed the essence of such work because ralli quilts are usually very large and therefore take time to stitch, but most designs, are based on a square pattern made up of about a dozen patches. Once the craftswoman has mastered the design of one square, she can simply repeat it many times over and at the end sew them all together to make the beautiful cover. Some also include interesting border designs which make them extra special.

Once finished, the patchwork is backed with cozy wadding, quilted and lined. The quilting is not essential, but looks decorative and has the practical function of holding the wadding in place.

RALLI – Blending One’s Soul & Self into a Piece of Textile

                                      by Nayyar Hashmey

What’s the true sense of beauty? Does it lie in the eyes of the beholder; or is it manifest in the crafted object itself or is it a coming together of kindred spirits – that of the maker and the beholder, the magical moment when a common chord is struck across the barriers of time and space. Just such chemistry ripples through the articulated patchwork of traditional homemade products crafted by the rural feminina of Sindh in Pakistan.

This fascinating product called Ralli or Rilli is a remarkable textile artwork converted into quilts, table runners and cushion covers. Thousands of women are involved mostly in Sindh, partly in some parts of Cholistan in Bahawalpur distt. of Punjab and in some areas of Balochistan.

A normal ralli whether a quilt, a cushion cover or a table runner, is a textile jewel finished with physical and spiritual labor done with hand and mind putting in almost 180 hours of an artisan woman doing this job. Women start making ralli in early ages as part of their dowry. In other cases, the poor artisans offer these products as gifts to elite families of Sindh on occasion of marriages or births and in return get an animal like cow, buffalo or a goat (locally called as khir piyarina i.e. to provide a regular source of milk for the artisan’s family).

Ralli, the beautiful handicraft from Sindh in Pakistan exhibits the wide array of cultural beauty. Its intricate patterns show the creativity, the skill and dexterity of the Sindhi artisans which places the area among the culturally rich lands of the world.

Sindhi rallis are beautiful and colorful. They are cluster of patchwork and or embroidery. Used also as bed linen Sindhi ralli is made with multicolored pieces of cloth stitched together in attractive designs. The color combinations and unique patterns speak for the aesthetic sense of its creator. The designs vary from floral motifs, waves and images of animals or trees. Many handicrafts of great beauty like cushion covers, embroidered shirts; wall hangers and mirror worked handbags are also made in ralli style mainly in Umarkot and Tharparkar area of Sindh.

Patricia Stoddard, an American author, teacher and expert writes in her book “The Ralli Quilts” Ralli textiles are very traditional made by women in the areas of Sindh, Pakistan, Western India and Gujarat. Ralli textiles are just gaining international recognition, even though women have been making these quilts for hundreds, may be thousands of years. The levels of the people, who make these textiles, are woven into each piece. The symbols of flowers and animals used in the decoration and colors are imaginative and exotic. Every ralli quilt tells a story. It tells of the natural creativity and love of color and design of the woman who creates them. Every ralli tells the story of the strength of tradition and motifs of rallis which have been passed from mother to daughter and woman-to-woman may be for thousands of years.

Cecilia Eddy, a British author and too a teacher of quilts has a deep study on ralli quilts. She in her book “Quilted Planet” says “The pattern and colors of ralli quilts embody all the romance and exoticism of the East. Did you know that in the Indus region of Pakistan where many rallis are made to this day for dowries, the word ralli means to mix or connect”. One of the ralli quilts pictured in her book looks like a bar quilt of flying geese, surrounded by a saw tooth border and a wider border of square-in-a-square on point.

Ironically, this fascinating cultural product, gaining recognition abroad, is loosing its importance back home. Textile market trends are changing as do the changes in ultra fashioned home textiles which influence the purchasing priorities of the buyers. A major reason involved in decline of usage of the cultured goods is also the poverty of the inhabitants of Sindh.

A lot of skilled artisans are leaving their profession because of a lack of patronage. This work of art is exclusively handmade and cannot be duplicated. The skill travels from generation to generation but due to dearth of proper avenues for young artisans, new generation has not much interest in learning the trade of their forefathers. Their priorities too have changed.  Which’s why this centuries old art is on decline. For a revival and preservation of the handicrafts support is needed from the concerned quarters of the society. New markets need to be explored within the country as well as internationally.

AHAN steps in…

To solve the problems and to tackle on-ground issues, due credits go to AHAN (Aik Hunar Aik Nagar) project of the Ministry of Industries, Govt. of Pakistan, wo with a three pronged strategy initiated a pilot project for the craftswomen of Sukkur  (Sindh).

During first phase of this pilot, a large number of designs were reviewed by the designers. They observed that different geographic locations have different ralli designs having their own history and tradition, hence different geographic clusters and craftswomen were identified by AHAN. They were then trained as master trainers. About five clusters of 12 master craftswomen were given one month on-job training at designers’ training centres in Karachi.

The training course provided skills in product development with different themes and tones. The object of this pilot project is that by training the ‘masters’they will then work further at their villages to train more women.

Renowned Pakistani designer Deepak Perwani was involved to provide his expertise in product development and training. He has now trained a group of female artisans at his factory in Karachi.

The idea behind such trainings is to add value to this village craft by turning out different ralli products like fashion apparel, handbags, embellishments on shawls  and bedroom accessories that include table lamps shades, cushions and toys. The women participants were also trained on modern designs and guided on different marketing channels. Their products were also displayed at a women expo to get the market feedback.

In embroidery and patchwork ralli, Ms. Shehnaz Ismail, Head of the Textile Deptt., of the Indus Valley School was engaged to design and develop a tailor made course for the artisans engaged in embroidery and patchwork.

The first training of the groups was conducted by the craftswomen who were already familiarized with design, measurements and pattern making, improvement of aesthetic- ability / sense and quality aspects of the product. During trainings they were also introduced with different markets for purchase of good quality raw material and sale of their products.

Once the training programs scheduled by the AHAN are completed, we can see some chances for the womenfolk indulged in this rural craft; that their economic lot will be improved and their products will be sold not only in their traditional markets but also in modern, trendy fashion boutiques of the world as well.

Note: This post is based on information from different Internet sources and so are the pictures.

Welcome Mister President

 

     Barack Hussein Obama has already assumed office as the 44th President of the United States of America. Just two days in office, he has introduced some major policy shifts. He seems to prove he has a vision – contrary to shortsighted approach by George Walker Bush who mainly believed in military solutions to every problem everywhere.

     As a sequel to this major change at the White House, we are inserting two posts here. In the first post by Eric Margolis, the existing, outdated, fruitless US policy against its only Communist neighbor in the Americas is reviewed. Eric has also some suggestions for the new American president. In the second post, Michael Carmichael tracks on what Obama primarily needs to do for his fellow Americans and the world.

     These posts are being put up to enable WOP readers have some insight (with respect to US context) of the issues of immediate import for the new President. On global scale, Obama as a pragmatic young leader needs to take such steps, which can save this world from chaos that George W. Bush in collusion with his toadies like Tony Blair and Pervaiz Musharraf left as his legacy. A million dollar question, however, still remains. CAN HE DO it? The neocons who contributed towards Bush’s doctrine of New World Order are still occupying important seats both at the White House as well as the Pentagon. Only time will tell whether the statesmanship of new US president brings tangible results: that he introduces a Universal World Order instead of this so called New Word Order!

by Eric Margolis

The inauguration of Barack Obama as 44th President of the United States of America has more of the mood of a second coming than the investiture of a new president. Of course, the Bush administration, the most catastrophic in memory, is an easy act to follow.

Barack Hussein Obama brings a bounty of hope, whereas the Bush administration brought fear-mongering, wars, flirtation with fascism, and financial ruin.

Some 80% of Americans in a recent poll are strongly positive about Obama. But now that Obama has taken office, reality is going to set in and the euphoria will quickly dissipate as the young president confronts truly gargantuan problems and Washington’s powers that be assert their influence and bind him with a thousand cords.

Still, like most people, I am elated to see the departure of the sinister Bush administration and welcome the new president, a man of dignity, intelligence and strength. 20th Jan. 2009, was a majestic day for all Americans. As an American (and a Canadian) I am awfully proud. It’s been a long time since I felt good about my country.

So all best wishes to our new president. I am happy I suggested that one of his first official acts should be to immediately close the shameful Devil’s Island at Guantanamo Cuba, (which he has already ordered on the very first day of taking office). He should now further order this base, an embarrassing relic of 19th Century American imperialism, returned forthwith to Cuba. His next step should be to ask Congress to end the hypocritical, idiotic 50-year embargo of Cuba.

I am just back from Cuba, and here follows my observations on its 50th anniversary of Communist rule.

HAVANA – The 50th anniversary of Fidel Castro’s revolution has been a very modest, low key affaire, totally out of keeping with this island’s normally boisterous fiestas. Fidel remains gravely ill. He has been out of sight for the past two years, though he publishes news commentary from seclusion.

Economically stricken Cuba is hanging on by its fingernails. Life is grim and hard on this beautiful but impoverished island. Food is rationed and scarce, public transport erratic, and blackouts common. Many people living in decrepit apartment buildings must haul buckets of water up numerous flights of stairs.

In the early 1950’s (an era how seemingly as remote as Ancient Egypt), my parents used to bring me to Havana each winter, and we often joined Ernest Hemingway and his mistress Pilar for daiquiris at its fabled ‘Floridita Bar.’ He was big, vivacious man with a white beard and a rumbling laugh. I took an immediate liking to the famed writer, and he was very kind to me, telling me stories about the Spanish civil war and deep water fishing. I still have one of his books, inscribed, ‘to Eric, from his friend Ernest Hemingway, Havana, 1951.’

Eight years later, a Communist lawyer named Fidel Castro Ruiz stormed ashore with 81 men to begin a guerilla war against the US-backed Batista dictatorship. Cuba was then a virtual American colony: Americans owned 60% of Cuba’s farmland and industry. But, contrary to Communist history, the island was not a wasteland of gangsters, prostitutes and oligarchs. It was the West Indies’ most developed, prosperous island with a well-developed middle class and a living standard that was near the top of Latin America’s.

On 1 January, 1959, Castro’s guerilla fighters arrived in Havana and proclaimed a revolutionary republic. For the first time in its long history (Havana is 50-70 years older than New York City), Cuba was genuinely independent of Spanish rule and American domination.

Once Castro was in power, his comrade-in-arms, Ernesto ‘Che’ Guevera, today an icon of romantic revolution to the uninformed and juvenile, ordered the execution of over 600 ‘bourgeois.’ Che then went off to the Congo to wage revolution but found cannibalism instead of a waiting proto-Marxist proletariat and was quickly run out of the chaotic country by the CIA.

Undaunted, Che headed to Bolivia, where he got killed leading a farcically inept Marxist revolution. That nation’s dirt poor peasants rejected Che and turned him in. CIA’s famed agent, Felix Rodriguez, finished off Che. But, as Che rightly observed, ‘revolutionaries never die.’ His memory went on to live as a pop image on t-shirts and berets around the globe.

Che’s fiascos notwithstanding, in an era when America bullied and exploited Latin America, and treated its people with contempt and scorn, Castro’s revolution was a triumph. His resistance to 50 years of US efforts to overthrow or assassinate him, and a near-lethal embargo, was epic. Recall that this was the era when most of Latin American was ruled by US-backed military dictators or civilian oligarchs.

US attempts to topple Castro nearly led to nuclear war with the USSR in 1962. The Soviets rushed nuclear-tipped missiles into Cuba to thwart a planned US invasion. The US imposed a naval blockade of Cuba and massed forces for an invasion. Nuclear war was very close. I was a student at Washington’s Georgetown University at the time and vividly recall how frightened we all were.

In the end, Moscow won the confrontation, though Americans were led to believe by White House spin, their media, and Hollywood that President John Kennedy was the victor. Moscow withdrew its missiles in exchange for the US agreeing never to invade Cuba and pulling its missiles out of Italy and Turkey. Castro was saved by Moscow.

In recent years, KGB veterans of the Cuban missile crisis have claimed that Castro begged Nikita Khrushchev to fire nuclear weapons at the US mainland. Moscow refused.

The cost of maintaining Cuba’s independence and dignity was poverty, dictatorship, and quickly becoming a Soviet satellite until the USSR collapsed in 1991. Today, only oil-rich Venezuela and Canadian tourists are keeping battered Cuba afloat.

Havana, once called ‘the naughtiest city on earth,’ is a museum of the 1950’s: decaying, melancholy, dark and depressing.

Cuba has one of Latin America’s best medical and education system, and highest literacy. But life in Cuba is punishing: food and power shortages, endless queuing, grinding poverty and constant supervision by secret policemen and Communist party informers – in short, tropical Stalinism.

Castro blames this misery on the US embargo. The US blames Castro’s failed Stalinist economics for the mess. In fact, both are responsible. Cuba has suffered fifty years of the kind of pitiless collective punishment that Gaza has been experiencing, just in slower-motion.

The US has maintained its crushing boycott under the laughable pretexts that Havana holds 200 political prisoners and is Communist. Yet the US cheerfully deals with Communist China and Vietnam, and itself holds 36,000 Iraqi political prisoners, not to mention Guantanamo. America’s ally Israel holds 10,000 Palestinian political prisoners.

It’s high time the West Indies’ largest island was welcomed back to this hemisphere and given civilized treatment. A recent poll showed that even 55% of Miami’s once fanatically anti-Castro Cubans now support ending the US embargo.

On an interesting side note, Fidel Castro used to warn black and mulatto Cubans, who are about 60% of the population, that the US was a deeply racist nation that hated blacks. The election of Barack Obama has exploded that argument. Cubans are just as agog over Obama as everyone else.

Chinese influence is moving into Cuba, and Russia is reasserting its strategic presence by rearming Cuba’s obsolete military forces. So the US has little time to lose.

First Fidel, and now Raul Castro, have been happy to keep the US at arm’s length by provoking occasional crises. An end to US-Cuban hostility could bring up to two million US tourists. The creaky Communist control system could not withstand this invasion. Nor could the Spartan tourist infrastructure.

Young Cubans are yearning for the kind of anti-Communist revolution that swept Eastern Europe. So the Party, which refuses to implement Chinese-style reforms, may keep Cuba frozen in time.

As I wrote from Havana eight years ago, there will be no major changes until Fidel Castro, whom just about all Cubans regard as their nation’s beloved ‘papa,’ finally dies.

The age of Yankee imperialism in Latin America is over. Cuba raised the banner of revolt, and paid the price. Now is the time for Cuba to rejoin the polity of Latin American democratic nations as a member in good standing. America, I hope, will by now have learned to treat Cuba with dignity, respect and economic restraint.

copyright Eric S. Margolis 2009

Obama: Amaze us!

by Michael Carmichael

     As Barack Obama has approached the helm of the American ship of state, he is facing many challenges.

    Just as she was being born at the dawn of her journey into history, the American nation is poised on the brink of a new beginning.  In those revolutionary times, America faced a roiling sea of danger, uncertainty and trepidation.  Today, after more than two centuries of venture, America moves forward beyond and away from the final and most tragic acts of the second Bush presidency.

The American journey has been filled with triumph and tragedy.  Triumph over the bonds of colonialism transformed into the tragedy of slavery, Manifest Destiny and the genocide of Native Americans followed by Civil War.  Abolition began to right the wrongs of slavery, but America careened forward into the excesses of the Gilded Age and the arrogance of her Imperialist Presidency that extended her empire to the islands of the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea.

The Roosevelts expanded the American vision to encompass economic justice, environmental preservation and the duty to deliver peace beyond our borders.  At the same time, American philosophers advocated the virtue of selfishness, the goodness of greed and the siren song of supply side trickle down economic miracles, while Martin Luther King, Jr. marched to the beat of a different drummer to demand the fulfillment of civil rights for our black brothers and sisters.

In an ancient scenario, the culture of greed infiltrated the American defense establishment and commandeered the ship of state to instigate conflicts and to impose its will by force.  American power came into conflict with competing ideologies promising a better and more just society through cooperation rather than competition.  For more than three-quarters of a century, America has moved forward toward its promise of freedom for all her people:  freedom of speech; freedom of religion; freedom from want and freedom from fear.

As Barack Obama approaches the dais to take his oath of office, he is focused on delivering the four freedoms to all Americans.  Each of FDR’s four freedoms is in danger in America today.  Freedom of speech was curtailed in pursuit of solidarity against the Axis of Evil in the War on Terror.  Freedom of religion is under threat as Muslims are treated like criminals and terrorists.  Freedom from want is on its deathbed, for millions of Americans have been expelled from their homes, banished from their workplaces and shunned by their employers.  Freedom from fear has vanished, as Americans are convulsed in a paroxysm of panic apprehensive about their financial security and in fear for their very lives.

Barack Obama faces an insurmountable Himalaya of fear.  In its face, Obama brings a message of hope for change.  Obama erases fear with the promise of hope.  Now he must turn to the people of America and deliver the four freedoms they have been promised. 

Obama faces anxiety over the economy.  While there are differences of opinion about what must be done and what must not be done, Obama has few choices.  Obama’s errant predecessor capitulated to the demands of his capitalist coterie for massive federal bailouts of financial institutions.  With the bloated banking system now in bankruptcy, the calls for government regulation from Wall Street and the Federal Reserve will herald the beginning of state capitalism, a propagandistic oxymoron for a socialized banking system.  While the incomes of financiers, bankers and others will shrivel, the confidence of the American people will be restored.  The new American banking system will resemble a vast public utility, where salaries are strictly limited and profits are regulated.

But, the American people fear for their very lives today.  Faced with the rapacious appetite for corporate profit that no population of any other industrialized nation faces, Americans spend more than twice what citizens of other democracies spend for their healthcare.  In order to restore the freedom from fear, Obama must deliver a better system for healthcare that will be nothing less than revolutionary for it must delete the profitability of illness, injury and disease from the national vocabulary.  The people of America are suffering through a stupefying crescendo of ghoulish greed that is pervasive throughout the healthcare industry.  Obama believes that healthcare is a human right that government must deliver to a free people to ensure that they do not experience fears for their own lives.

But, Americans fear for more than their financial futures and their health, they fear for their very existence under threat from those who would destroy the fabric of our society – the terrorists.  Bush launched his War on Terror to galvanize political support for a Gotterdammerung of Islamist terrorists.  In the process, Bush triggered a massive avalanche of fear within America that has led to two immoral and counterproductive wars in Asia.  America’s standing in the world has been toppled from the top of a tall column.  For the world at large, the Statue of Liberty has lost all meaning.  America’s prestige has morphed into a global loathing of the stars and stripes.  In 2008, America has become the most feared and hated nation on earth.

Like no other president before him, Obama faces a global challenge to America’s faltering leadership.  To address the global challenge, Obama must replace opprobrium with trust and restore equilibrium with peace.  American Muslims must be freed from the burdens of ostracism, stereotyping and the prison of Guantanamo.  But, the closure of Guantanamo is only the first step.  The American prison population has inflated beyond all sense of reason.  Alone among all other nations, America imprisons one out of every one hundred of its citizens.  For shame, more American prisoners are from the black and tan minorities rather than from the white majority.  The American prison-industrial complex has transformed the land of the free into a police state where minorities are incarcerated for misdemeanors while whites go free for felonies.  Obama must right this terrible wrong that tarnishes America’s luster in the eyes of the world.

Even more importantly, Obama must forge a new foreign policy that does not genuflect to the Pentagon and resort to military interventions and wars to enforce American power by the simplistic application of force — for force has failed America in Korea, Vietnam, Afghanistan and Iraq.  In the Information Age, hard power is indeed outmoded, outdated, obsolete and counterproductive.  Soft power is now the only instrument available for forging ahead on the global seas of commerce, ecology and culture.

Obama’s global challenges are manifold, but none more difficult than in the Middle East.  In recent days, hard power inflicted pain and destruction in the Arab-Israeli conflict.  America’s involvement in the Middle East has not delivered peace or security of the freedom from fear to the peoples of the Middle East.  Since the Camp David Accords and the Oslo Agreement, the Middle East has devolved into conflict and crisis.  Under George W. Bush, American policy made the insufferable situation worse by launching the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and unwise favoritism in the Arab-Israeli conflict.  Nowhere does Obama face a more difficult challenge than in the Middle East, but in challenge therein resides opportunity – a unique opportunity to redefine America’s vision in the eyes of the world.

On Wednesday, the 21st of January 2009, Barack Obama has entered the Oval Office where he wields the power of the American nation.  From that date onwards, the world will judge him for the priorities he engages from the very outset of his presidency.

While he has promised America that he will order the cessation of torture, the withdrawal from Iraq, the final phase of the war in Afghanistan and the restructuring of American involvement with the Arab-Israeli conflict, Obama’s global reputation will be cast in the flames of the forge.

In that moment and in the others rapidly to come, we shall learn the extent and the tenor of the change Obama will bring – not only to America but to the tiny planet where he will be the most powerful leader in world history, a leader for all peoples – for better or worse — and it is indeed quite difficult to imagine how he might be worse than George W. Bush.

President Obama, the time is now ripe.  Bring on all the changes you have promised from sea to shining sea and from nation unto nation – you must now bring peace unto all the nations of the earth.  We, Americans who summoned and supported you are waiting; the nations are gazing intently upon you.  Amaze us.

Courtesy: Globalresearch.ca  /  planetarymovement.com

Tourrism not Terrorism

              ♦ Pakistan can sustain its economy only by promoting tourism.

              ♦ Once normalcy is restored, this country has tremendous potential to become an economic hub of tourism. Its history and heritage alone are fabulously rich – to lure international tourists to this land of immense beauty.

              ♦ The electricity and gas crunches have crippled our textile industry the main source of export earnings and employment provider in this country.

 The end of January, the starting month of the year, the coldest one is ending now. A change in the air is coming. Trees will soon be loaded with fresh green. Multi colored flowers – many with a mosaic of beautiful patterns will open up to fill the airs with a sweet fragrance. The whole ambience all over the country will wear a cool, green and fresh look of spring.

Simultaneously in the months to come, the vales of Swat and the rugged mountains of federally administered areas in our tribal belt will welcome the spring with ear shattering cannon shots. In return shall come again the gun shots. The point is – who is getting killed? If a soldier of the Pakistan army or a paramilitary sepoy loses life, it is the blood of a Pakistani that is spilled on the sacred soil of Pakistan. Again if an unarmed civilian tribal from the other side is killed, it’s the blood of our own country man. Dilemma before us is that guns and the drones do not precisely differentiate between a terrorist and a peaceful civilian living nearby.

Why can’t we understand, in this modern age when technology has reached its zenith, when information revolution has taken the whole world like a storm, we in Pakistan are fighting along with the US, a war which seems to have no end. We should not overlook the very fact that a Pakistani can never be and should never be the enemy of another Pakistani? Our common enemy at the moment is terrorism. And this very enemy is working against acceptability of our country as a modern democratic entity which has endless beauty to offer to its visitors. But alas! With firing of guns, and people getting killed through bomb blasts, would a foreign guest ever think of coming to Pakistan risking his / her life!

It is the time, we as a nation should think, should ponder over the core question: how can we make this land of ours a land of peace, tranquility, a secure and a leisure-full vacationing land so that the endless touristic wonders that we have can be properly marketed to the outside world as an ideal place to visit, for a land infested with wars, extreme polarizations in political and social culture, with acute lawlessness all over, who would ever dare to enter this land just to view such touristic splendors.

 We could perhaps go a step further.  Why not initiate a nationwide dialogue amongst all stakeholders on one point agendum only: “Tourism not Terrorism” will henceforth be the creed, the philosophy and the dictum of Pakistan. Once we succeed to achieve this, we would be leaving a prideful legacy not only for our coming generations but may see happy days in our lifetime as well.

By promoting tourism, not only do we offer a wholesome environment to international guests, to see the real beauty of the country, the hospitality of its people but also succeed to wash our image as  a nation abetting terrorism. (Wrong though, unfortunately this is the image we have).

Kashmir: The Country Without a Post Office*

           Dargah Hazrat Bal – Landmark of Srinagar, the Capital

             Ever since the partition in 1947, Kashmir problem is simmering between India and Pakistan. Both countries fought three wars and the main cause of these wars has been Kashmir. India maintains that the one time princely state, Kashmir is its integral part. Pakistan contests this stance and has stresses a solution based on fair and free plebiscite which would allow the people decide their own future through a right of self determination; whether they wish to continue living in India or would want to secede and join Pakistan.

           Though both India and Pakistan remain ‘fastened’ to their respective stands, there have been efforts on the way to resolve this decade’s long dispute between two nuclear neighbors. Various formulas are being discussed by which no one loses its face and a solution agreeable to all parties, is finalized. Deliberations of these talks, referred to as Track II diplomacy have been kept secret (for obvious reasons). Even in the valley itself three different views persist. 1) Those who think separation of Kashmir from Indian Union is unconceivable. 2) Those who want to secede from India and join Pakistan. 3) Those who would wish Kashmir an independent state.

           Scant details of these options available are based on four different scenarios. It is said that the Chenab formula was almost agreed by all the parties before departure of Gen. Perviaz Musharraf from the scene.

           Shortly before a no confidence move against him, Sardar Ateeq Ahmad Khan, former Prime Minister of Azad Kashmir in an interview, did hint to some extent of a solution on similar lines.(WOP will cover this option including other scenarios in its next post)

            The first one of this series is being inserted in our current issue. Written by Shubho, a fellow blogger from India, it will be followed by a second report by BBC on the four scenarios under consideration.

            The third and the fourth post again from India show the picture in the valley and views by so many Indians who believe a solution of this 61 years old dispute must be sought.

            We at WOP believe: being part of the Indian sub-continent, the two neighbors who share landmass, mountain ranges, rivers and seas, ancient cultures, history, and religions cannot be and should not be a hostage to this or that issue. Soft borders and free trade between the two can release immense potential in terms of tourism, intercultural exchange, and a common South Asian approach to world affairs.

          by Shubho

            Since the dawn of independence, Kashmir is the main cause of disagreement between India and Pakistan. The only difference today from what it was in 1947 is, that the state seems to be more divided and communalized. Regular attempts by both countries took place to resolve the dispute through various means: from bilateral talks, wars and state sponsored militancy but the crisis sustained as the major source of tension and dispute between them.

Today the divide among the Hindu and Muslim communities has enormously widened up in the region, credit goes to the intensified promotion of religious politics by major political parties from both sides. When one side desires to justify the ‘Two Nations theory’ that emphasizes that Muslims and non-Muslims can’t live together, the other side promotes jingoistic nationalism and demands Muslims to be treated as second-class citizens. Religious sentiments are repetitively injected to both communities, as it is a well-known fact that religion is the only topic that can easily rouse the ordinary people to fight against each other.

 History confirms again and again the famous Karl Marx maxim “Religion is the opium of the masses“. An elderly Muslim shopkeeper in Udarana, a mixed Hindu-Muslim village near the town of Bhaderwah, expresses this enormous divide “Now we hardly visit each other’s homes or patronize each other’s shops. …We really don’t have love in our hearts for each other.” From the early nineties, Hindu-Muslim relations have rapidly been diminished in the state.

          Jammu and Kashmir’s first political party, the ‘Muslim Conference’ was founded in 1932 with Shaikh Abdullah as its President. While a student at Aligarh Muslim University, Shaikh Abdullah was influenced by liberal and progressive ideas. He became convinced that the feudal system existing in the land was to blame for the miseries of Kashmir, which was ruled in an oppressive and autocratic manner by a Hindu monarch. ‘Muslim Conference’ changed its name to ‘National Conference’ in 1938 with an objective to create a broader platform and allow people from all communities to join the struggle against the monarch Maharaja Hari Singh.

          At the time of partition, when the Maharaja was hesitating over the choice of acceding either to India or to Pakistan, Shaikh Abdullah supported India. He was appointed Prime Minister of Kashmir on March 17, 1948. Until the monarchy existed, most Muslims in the region were landless laborers. Along with the Dalits, they were also treated as untouchables by the ‘upper’ caste Hindus. Under Shaikh Abdullah, radical land reforms were introduced in the state, through which sharecroppers, mainly Muslims and Dalits, got land previously owned by Rajput and Brahmin landlords.

         His effort made him a hugely popular mass leader. In 1953, the Indian government betrayed Shaikh Abdullah by sacking him from the Prime Minister’s post. He was accused for conspiring against the State and jailed from 1953 to 1975. Meanwhile, the Indian Constitution, vide Article 370 had granted a special status to the state guaranteeing it autonomy except for defense, foreign affairs and communications.

        After his release, he was sworn in as the Chief Minister in 1977 with a massive mandate. For the next five years, until the death of Shaikh Abdullah in 1982, Jammu and Kashmir was politically calm and stable. The separatist movement in the Kashmir Valley restarted from April 1988. The movement gathered momentum through a close nexus between Jammu & Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) and Pakistan, which reached its peak in the mid nineties. The controversy on the Amarnath Shrine Board land transfer and the subsequent incidents which arise in the valley one after the other are based on such facts of Kashmir history.

 Amarnath Shrine Board land transfer fiasco

        The Amarnath Caves are one of the most famous Hindu shrines located in the Himalayas at the altitude of 12,760 feet. The caves are about 88 miles away from Srinagar, the summer capital of Jammu and Kashmir (Jammu is the winter capital). It is one of the most significant pilgrimage destinations for the Hindus and attracts about 400,000 pilgrims (Yatri) every year. In the year 2000, the Shri Amarnath Shrine Board was set up to take care of the pilgrims passage (Yatra) to the caves that was previously conducted jointly by tourism department of the state government and Dharamarth Trust.

On 26 May 2008, the Congress-led coalition government of Jammu and Kashmir decided to transfer 100 acres of forestland to the Shri Amarnath Shrine Board to set up temporary shelters and facilities for the pilgrims. The government decision snowballed into a huge public outcry in the Kashmir valley. During protests, six people were killed and 100 injured in police firing at Srinagar. The coalition partner PDP pulled out its support and the government was reduced to a minority.

       Keeping in mind the coming state election and under pressure from different quarters, the government revoked the order on 1 July. Immediately, violent counter protests sparked off in the Jammu region spearheaded by Shri Amarnath Yatra Sangharsh Samiti, a conglomeration of several Hindu chauvinist groups but with a large mass support. Here also at least three people were killed by police firing. Questions were raised by the Samiti, which was formed around the Hindu sentiment, that if the decision to transfer the land was revoked after the protests in the Kashmir region, why not it is further restored after the more aggressive Jammu counter protests?

      On 7 July, Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad resigned after loosing the trust vote in the state assembly and Governor’s rule was imposed in the state.

      The Yatra and Yatris were largely assisted by the local people of the region, who are Muslims. Apart from the obvious gesture of religious harmony, the Amarnath Yatra is also economically important for the local people

      In this political chaos, the role of the PDP (Jammu and Kashmir People’s Democratic Party) was the most to condemn. The decision to transfer the forestland to the Shri Amarnath Shrine Board was a unanimous cabinet decision cleared by the state forest ministry and the deputy chief minister, both top notches from the PDP leadership. PDP president Mehbooba Mufti’s remark that she came to know about the decision only from newspaper reports were a full-size lie. The fact is that the PDP leadership could not foresee the huge public protests following the order and when the situation turned worst did a volte-face to safeguard its political ambitions in the coming election. After the government revoked the land transform order, PDP started demanding a credit for it. This is a clear example of the politics of opportunism being played by political parties jeopardizing the life of the ordinary people of Jammu and Kashmir.

 The aftermath

The turmoil clearly shattered the myth of Jammu and Kashmir as a single entity. The deep-rooted religious and social divide prevailing in the region entirely exposed as a ‘Jammu versus Kashmir’ dispute. In the Jammu region, the Muslims are a minority compared to Kashmir where the Muslims are the majority. Therefore, while protesters in Jammu enforced an economic blockade of the Kashmir Valley by stopping traffic on the Srinagar-Jammu National Highway, on 11 August last year separatist leaders of the Kashmir region instigated a march to Muzaffarabad (the capital of Pakistan controlled Kashmir referred as Azad Kashmir) bypassing Jammu. The intention was to explore new trading options by crossing the Line of Control, the temporary border dividing Kashmir between India and Pakistan. The march violated the imposed curfew, clashed with the security forces leading to ten more deaths including All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC) leader Sheikh Abdul Aziz. The polarization in the state became absolute and there was no space of suppleness visible from either side.

My memory is again in the way of your history. Army convoys all night like desert caravans:

In the smoking oil of dimmed headlights, time dissolved— all winter—its crushed fennel.

We can’t ask them: Are you done with the world? 

In the lake the arms of temples and mosques are locked In each other’s reflections.

Have you soaked saffron to pour on them when they are found like these centuries later in this country

I have stitched to your shadow? 

In this country we step out with doors in our arms. Children run out with windows in their arms. 

You drag it behind you in lit corridors.

If the switch is pulled you will be torn from everything.

            - Farewell: Agha Shahid Ali

Political gambits have caused a colossal damage to the economy, education system and social fabric of Jammu and Kashmir. The once tranquil and gorgeous land has turned into a ‘valley of fear’. It has turned into a land of orphans and widows, a land of graveyards. After frequently witnessing violent deaths and funerals of near and dear ones, the people here have lost their normal human feelings. Violence has affected all sections of life. It has in fact become a way of ‘communication’. Human lives are so devalued that a few killings hardly shock anybody. Students have lost their inquisitiveness to learn. Teachers lost their enthusiasm to teach. To visit homes of friends and relatives people have to prove their innocence before security personnel. Everyone has to carry an identity card, which is regarded almost as oxygen. The situation is best described by Agha Shahid Ali in his poem, “everyone carries his address so that at least his body will reach home“. Anxiety and tension has become a part of the daily life here. A very disturbing psychology of suspicion and fear has permanently etched in the minds of local people.

Though located within free and democratic India, Jammu and Kashmir no more signifies to be a free place. The presence of army and security forces in every nook and corner has developed a feeling of confinement and repression. To the ordinary Muslim minds in particular, the most humiliating feeling must be to live under regular scrutiny about their ‘patriotism’ and allegiance to the Indian state. Armed conflict and disputes have halted the economic development of the state. In one and a half month following the Amarnath Shrine Board land dispute, the local economy suffered a loss of nearly Rs. 200-250 crores.

We shall meet again, in Srinagar,

by the gates of the Villa of Peace,
our hands blossoming into fists
till the soldiers return the keys
and disappear. Again we’ll enter

our last world, the first that vanished  in our absence from the broken city. 

We’ll tear our shirts for tourniquets and bind the open thorns,

warm the ivy into roses. Quick, by the pomegranate-  the bird will say-Humankind can bear

 everything. No need to stop the ear

- A Pastoral: Agha Shahid Ali

There is very little hope left over for the ordinary people of Jammu and Kashmir today, the hope for an exuberant future. In the present circumstances, it is almost impossible even to dream about a brotherhood involving the two communities, as the poet Agha Shahid Ali did in his deeply emotional poem A Pastoral dedicated to his Kashmiri Hindu friend Suvir Kaul. To hope, one should regain trust and rely on truth. Who will bring back trust and truth among the people of Jammu and Kashmir? 

Note:

* Derived from the title of Kashmiri-American poet Agha Shahid Ali’s book The Country Without a Post Office published by W. W. Norton & Company in 1998. Agha Shahid Ali was born in New Delhi, grew up in a distinguished Muslim family in Srinagar, Kashmir and was later educated at the University of Kashmir, Srinagar, and the University of Delhi. He earned a Ph.D. in English from Pennsylvania State University in 1984, and an M.F.A. from the University of Arizona in 1985. He died peacefully, in his sleep, of brain cancer in December, 2001.

Courtesy: wordsofsolitude.blogspot.com

Post Mumbai: Conclusions

 

An article carrying an excellent analysis on post Mumbai situation has recently come up from Gen. (Retd). Jahangir Karamat, formerly Pakistan’s Ambassador to the US, Chief of Pakistan’s armed Staff and one of the few generals who literally followed the constitution of Pakistan 

Hitherto our army generals (the COAS-cum CMLA’s-cum Presidents) have been lecturing us only on dangers that this country faces and they as Supremos of Pakistan army are the only saviors, the only judge to decide on patriotism of an ordinary Pakistani. Anybody who opposed their government (which was in every case, without any single exception100 percent dictatorial) was either a mulk-dushman or agent of somebody who is outright determined to undo this land.

In case one didn’t fit into any of the above categories, he was a communist, an Indian agent or many a time just a “persona non grata”. (I remember once our friend from Safma (South Asia Free Media Association) an ardent supporter of India Pakistan Friendship while speaking on this subject, was told by then Governor of Punjab, again a military general that to him the former appeared to be an agent of RAW and to this quipped our friend, “my dilemma is when I speak of friendship between two of us (India and Pakistan) in India am told, am an agent of ISI and here in my own country I become an agent of Raw. The fact is General Sahib! Am agent of Pakistan only and as a Pakistani I sincerely believe in friendship between the two countries”.

In this context, am extremely delighted to read this post and find it extremely heartening that Gen. (R) Jehangir Karamat has the sagacity to utter the stark truth, a truth that most of our policy makers always tend not to recognize. Rightly says he, we just shove our eyes in the sand and forget that there is something happening, something which we need to redress. By now so much has been said and written and has happened that there is a dire need to draw conclusions. Not just draw conclusions but to evaluate them, prioritize them and act on them.

 The general consensus is that India and Pakistan need to talk. This is a decision that the political leadership on both sides needs to take. The how, when, where and what can be sorted out once this political decision has been made.

by Gen. Jahangir Karamat ex COAS

 By now so much has been said and written and has happened that there is a dire need to draw conclusions. Not just draw conclusions but to evaluate them, prioritize them and act on them.

The general consensus is that India and Pakistan need to talk. This is a decision that the political leadership on both sides needs to take. The how, when, where and what can be sorted out once this political decision has been made.

By now it is clear to all except the ostriches that Pakistan faces a serious internal crisis. This crisis is multifaceted and has many interconnected dimensions. It cannot be addressed unless there is an in-depth understanding of its reality. To do this it is necessary to develop a comprehensive picture of the scale and magnitude of the internal threat

Recent writings, discussions and decisions have made it abundantly clear that Pakistan lacks a national intelligence coordination mechanism and a policy planning and decision making structure. This gap leads to reliance on intelligence agencies for not just intelligence but also the response options. This must change. Coordinated intelligence will produce the threat picture and the policy planning process will develop response options. From these options the decision maker will choose the course of action. This process will also respond to the criticism of intelligence agencies.

Political stability will be one facet of the response to the internal threat but the general conclusion being reached by most Pakistanis is that has to be the first step and it can be a comparatively easy step if personal ambitions and vendettas are shelved and simple decisions taken on restoring the parliamentary system, empowering the judiciary and election commission and removing controversial appointees.

 There is a dawning realization that Pakistan should not seek an identity beyond our region in Arab lands. Our identity is in the greater South Asian sub-continent that includes Afghanistan. If we come to terms with this reality our bilateral relations with our neighbors will take on a whole new significance and urgency. For this a process of re-education has to start. Muslim countries and particularly Arab countries will remain our close allies and friends.

 Finally it is clear that in a globalized world Pakistan’s foreign policy has to be on a global scale and Pakistan should never be seen as a threat to global peace. To climb out of the economic quagmire Pakistan has to forge relationships on the basis of trade, economic activity, technology transfers, investment, education, health care and support at the international level. This should help in prioritizing relationships and developing public opinion that supports foreign policy rather than opposing it. This is what will redefine and drive our relationship with the West.

Courtesy: http://www.wichaar.com

US war against Pakistan?

US drone ready for raid into Pakistan

by Eric Margolis

The killing of 11 Pakistani soldiers by US air strikes last week showed that the American-led war in Afghanistan is relentlessly spreading into Pakistan, one of America’s oldest, most faithful allies.

Pakistan’s military branded the air attack “unprovoked and cowardly.” However, the unstable government in Islamabad, led by the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), which depends on large infusions of US aid, later softened its protests. This is in good part because the PPP leader, Asif Zardari, is being shielded from judicial corruption investigations through a quiet deal with President Pervez Musharraf  and Washington to thwart reinstatement of Pakistan’s ousted supreme court justices.

The US, which used a B-1 heavy bomber and F-15 strike aircraft in the attacks, called its action, “self-defense.”

What actually happened on the wild Pakistan-Afghanistan border remains murky. But there are reports that US and Pakistani troops engaged in a direct clash and heavy firefight that was ended by the American bombing.

In recent months, US aircraft, Predator hunter-killer drones, US Special Forces and CIA teams have been launching attacks inside Pakistan’s Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) along the Afghan border. The Pashtun tribes inhabiting this traditionally autonomous mountain region are ardent supporters of their fellow Afghan Pashtuns who form the core of Taliban and reject the current Afghan-Pakistan border, known as the Durand Line, as an artificial creation of British imperialism – which it undeniably was.

US Defense Secretary Robert Gates has been openly advocating major ground and air attacks by US forces into Pakistan. American neoconservatives have been denouncing Pakistan as a “rogue state” and a ”sponsor of international terrorism,” and are calling for US air and missile strikes against Pakistan’s nuclear weapons and reactors.

But instead of intimidating the pro-Taliban Pakistani Pashtun, limited US air strikes flown from secret US bases inside Pakistan have ignited a firestorm of anti-western fury among FATA’s warlike tribesmen and increased their support for Taliban. Pakistanis are united in their opposition to any US strikes into their nation and enraged at the United States for supporting dictator Pervez Musharraf.

The US is emulating Britain’s colonial divide and rule tactics by offering up to $500,000 to local Pashtun tribal leaders to get them to fight pro-Taliban elements, causing more chaos in the already turbulent region, and stoking old tribal rivalries. The US is using this same tactic in Iraq and Afghanistan.

This week’s deadly US attacks pointedly again illustrate the fact that the 60,000 US and NATO ground troops in Afghanistan are incapable of even holding off Taliban and its allies, even though the Afghan resistance has nothing but small arms to battle the west’s high-tech arsenal. Further evidence was supplied by an audacious Taliban raid on Kandahar prison, which liberated 450-500 Taliban prisoners and humiliated Canadian and NATO forces policing the region.

US air power is almost always called in when there are clashes with Taliban or other anti-western forces. In fact, US and NATO infantry’s main function is to draw Taliban into battle so the Afghan mujahidin can be bombed from the air.

Without the round the clock overhead presence of US airpower, which can respond in minutes, western forces in Afghanistan would risk being isolated, cut off from supplies, and defeated. A sizeable portion of NATO manpower in Afghanistan already goes to defending bases and supply depots. However, NATO’s long supply lines that bring in fuel, food, and ammunition across FATA from US-run bases in Pakistan are increasingly under attack. Forty giant fuel tankers were recently destroyed at the Torkham border crossing.

But these deadly air strikes, as we have seen in recent weeks, are blunt instruments. Guerilla wars are all about controlling civilian populations. The US air attacks often kill as many or even more civilians than Taliban fighters. Dead civilians are routinely described away as “suspected Taliban fighters.”

Mighty US B-1 heavy bombers are not going to win the hearts and minds of Afghans. Each bombed village and massacred caravan wins new recruits to Taliban and its allies.

Now, the US and its NATO allies are edging ever closer to open warfare against Pakistan at a time when they are unable to defeat Taliban fighters inside Afghanistan due to lack of combat troops. The outgoing commander of US and NATO forces in Afghanistan, US Gen. Dan McNeill, recently admitted he would need 400,000 soldiers to pacify that nation. The US and NATO have a combined force of around 60,000 troops in Afghanistan.

“We just need to occupy Pakistan’s tribal territory,” insists the Pentagon, “to stop its Pashtun tribes from supporting and sheltering Taliban, and shut down Taliban bases there.” US commanders in Vietnam used the same faulty reasoning to justify their counterproductive expansion of the Indochina War into Cambodia.

A US-led invasion of FATA, as urged by Secretary Gates, will simply push pro-Taliban Pashtun militants further into Pakistan’s Northwest Frontier province, drawing overextended western troops ever deeper into Pakistan and making their supply lines all the more vulnerable. Already overextended western forces will be stretched even thinner and clashes with Pakistan’s tough regular army may become inevitable.

Widening the Afghan War into Pakistan is military stupidity on a grand scale and political madness. It could very well end up a bigger disaster than Iraq. But Washington and its obedient allies seem hell-bent on charging into a wider regional war that no number of heavy bombers will win.

Courtesy: http://www.lewrockwell.com/

Mehrgarh: The Lost Civilisation

      PART-I- THE FIRST URBAN SETTLEMENT IN HUMAN HISTORY

                                     Female Figurine of fertility from Mehrgarh

•    The people of Mehrgarh in ancient Pakistan were the first to start a community life in human history.

•  They knew the art of making fabric “just” 9000 years ago.

•  They had an organized social life when the humanity at large was ‘housed’ in caves.

        The origin of man on this earth is one of the most mysterious and intriguing questions boggling the human mind. The search for the origin of man’s endeavors and any traces of these activities is rightly considered a step forward in the solution of the jigsaw puzzle of human endurance and survival.

 by Mahmood Mahmood

       The knowledge developed for the search of the origin of the humanity is called anthropology and it has a diverse mosaic of tools and branches developed to assist in the understanding of the basic question of humanity’s origin. The range of subjects and techniques applied in tracing and understanding the bases and origin of humanity in the universe and earth is exhaustive. But on the earth the archaeology is the most potent field in understanding the remnant and footsteps of the ancestors of the human being.

         Pakistan is the epitome and zenith of diverse cultures and harmonized expressions of human creative influences ranging from initial agricultural relics at Mehrgarh and the first human dentistry which was practiced here in the Balochistan province. [1]

       The archaeological evidence revealed in the vast span of this country gives the sense of immense cultural origins of civilization from the cave art of Chilas to the well developed and oldest urban civilisation in the world excavated so far; with the developed urban infrastructure.

       Archaeological artifacts are the undeniable source of the solid knowledge about the ancient history.[2] Heitherto, the ancient history of the world was more centered on Mesopotamia and Egypt in the Middle East, specially the sites in present day Israel. China and many other sites in Europe and Latin America, Australia and North American areas have also been under a focus. However, when a comparative study is done, only then is it realized that all civilisations like Middle East, Europe, China, Asia and other parts of the world are not older than 4000 BC. Mehrgarh being the oldest in the world is unique. See for instance Jericho, a town in Palestine, large quantity of grains ranging back to 12000 years old were found but there was no evidence at all of settled, urbanized towns before about 4000 BC.

       A chopping tool found in Pakistan dates back to 2 million years ago, earlier than the earliest hominid remains, the Homo species “Narmada Man,” (250000 years ago). The presence of early anatomical modern Homo sapiens was first indicated in Sri Lanka only about 34000 years ago.

       But what distinguishes the Mehrgarh area from other archeological sites is its unique, independent and locally developed culture. There is a continuous, vast, developed, intellectually robust, indigenous and sustained thread of civilization in the present day Pakistan.

       While doing an assessment of the past history or exploring the layers upon layers of humanity’s social habitat, there is always a risk of ethnocentric bias. Due to overtones of nationalism – to talk in the light of experiences of past, it frequently becomes a passionate and controversial issue. Interestingly this risk is done away with in case of our country as the study of past in the present day Pakistan is religiously irrelevant. More than 98% of Pakistan’s population is not practicing the traditionally popular religions of the area and are converts to the most recent religion Islam. However, this also can be a destabilizing affect in the form of over- zealous and conservative interpretation of the religious affinities of the masses. But it is the utmost interesting and important aspect of this study to delve deep into the soul of the people from Mehrgarh to present day Pakistan – spread over thousands of years. In the present discourse, therefore, an attempt is being made to understand the history in its true perspective and analyze the legacy of our past in a dispassionate and objective way to make sense of our glorious past as the first known urban people of the world.

       The Mehrgarh period of Indus Civilisation is the most fascinating phenomenon of human development as it is the oldest town as per the present available records but its pre-eminence is rarely mentioned in the text books or historical documents. Mostly it is cited as the pre-Indus Civilization without referring to its unique and innovative aspects.

       In these pages it is endeavored to understand Mehrgarh as an independent unit and its study as a pioneer chapter in the development of civilization in the cradle of civilization. Let us look in depth

• What are unique attributes of Mehrgarh?
• Why is it unique?
• When did it flourish?
• What relation does it have with the succeeding Indus civilization?

       The archaeological site at Mehrgarh consists of a number of low archaeological mounds in the Kachi plain, close to the mouth of the Bolan Pass, located next to the west bank of the Bolan River, it’s some 30 kilometers from the town of Sibi. Covering an area of about 250 hectares, most of the archaeological deposits are buried deep beneath accumulations of alluvium although in other areas ‘in situ’