Huge Brides on the Move

Truck art is one of the great folk arts of Pakistan. These heavy machines affectionately called “brides” by truckers are covered mostly in vivid bright multilayered colors and fairy lights which have a talismanic function of warding off evil spirits and promote good luck – something one needs in plenty when navigating our roads. But apart from this magical effect, truckers have another romance with these brightly colored vehicles as Salamat a typical truckwala admits that he spends more on decorating his truck than he paid for his second marriage a couple of years ago. “I spend most of my time in my truck. It’s like a second home to me” says Salamat. 

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PAKISTAN’S

BIGGEST ART SHOW ON ROADS

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by Umair Ghani

Truck art, as any one knows, is one of the great folk arts of Pakistan. These heavy machines affectionately called “brides” by truckers are covered mostly in vivid bright multilayered colors and fairy lights which have a talismanic function of warding off evil spirits and promote good luck – something one needs in plenty when navigating our roads. But apart from this magical effect, truckers have another romance with these brightly colored vehicles.

Salamat a typical truckwala admits that he spends more on decorating his truck than he paid for his second marriage a couple of years ago. “I spend most of my time in my truck. It’s like a second home to me” says Salamat.

Obama, the Democratic ‘War President’

Many n this country believe that it’s only the Bush administration which is putting pressure on Pakistan to do more. Surprisingly a more serious voice has come from Democratic party’s nominee Sen. Barack Obama.

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Eric Margolis

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Now that our democratically elected Prime Minister is on a visit to the United States, he has on his schedule a meeting with the US President, George Walker Bush. However much before his journey, voices started coming up from Washington for a strong action, a terminology which in US administration’s political jargon means a war. War against whom? Against US’s most allied ally in the world – Pakistan. Many political pundits & strategists in Pentagon put forward the thesis that Pakistan is not doing enough to curb the activities of Taliban in its federally administered tribal areas (FATA).

Many in this country believe that it’s only the Bush administration which is putting pressure on Pakistan to do more. Surprisingly a more serious voice has come from Democratic Party’s nominee Sen. Barack Obama who said once he is elected he might attack Pakistan in FATA to flush out Taliban in the region and thus secure a safe position for ESAF troops in Afghanistan.

It’s in this scenario that noted columnist and analyst Eric Margolis evaluates Obama’s statement and the effect it might have on the already explosive situation in the region.

Barack Obama wants to withdraw US troops from Iraq and send them to Afghanistan, which he calls the real front on the “war on terror.” He also has repeated threats to attack Pakistan “if necessary.”

One understands Obama’s need to sound macho. Rival John McCain has been beating his chest, proclaiming, “I know how to win wars.” Polls show Americans trust McCain three to one over Obama as a war leader. Unfortunately, recent US presidents seem to require small military conflicts to prove their political virility.

But Obama has long called the US-led occupation of Afghanistan a “good war,” a view most Americans and Canadians share. They see Afghanistan – and now Pakistan – as hotbeds of al-Qaida and Taliban terrorists that must be eradicated.

It is distressing to see Obama succumb to the blitz of war propaganda over Afghanistan and adopt George Bush’s faux terminology of terrorism. Before Obama urges widening America’s war there, he should consider:

• Al-Qaida never numbered more than 300 men. There are hardly any left in Afghanistan. Survivors scattered into Pakistan. Finding them is police and intelligence work, not a job for thousands more western troops.

• US policy towards Afghanistan is driven by energy geopolitics. Pacification of rebellious Pashtun tribesmen is necessary in order to build energy pipelines south from the Caspian Basin. That is the primary strategic mission of US and Canadian troops.

• Taliban fighters are not “terrorists.” Taliban was founded as a fundamentalist Muslim religious movement of Pashtun tribesmen to fight banditry, rape, drugs, and Afghan Communists. Taliban received millions in US aid until four months before 9/11. It had no part in 9/11 and knew nothing about them. The US overthrow of Taliban resulted in the Communists resuming control over half of Afghanistan. Under US occupation, Afghanistan has become a narco-state that supplies over 90% of the world’s heroin.

• Pashtun tribes comprise half of Afghanistan’s population, and 15% of neighboring Pakistan’s people. The western powers are involved in an old-fashioned, colonial-style pacification campaign against the Pashtun Taliban. Imperial Britain, the Soviets, and now the US and its allies all employed the same classical colonial strategy: using puppet rulers, local mercenary troops, and lavish bribes to enforce their will. Afghans who resist get bombed.

• Before urging expansion of the Afghan war, Obama should total up the bill for America’s military misadventures. As of last January, according to the Pentagon and data revealed under the Freedom of Information Act, the Iraq and Afghanistan wars cost 72,043 American battlefield casualties. Veteran’s Administration hospitals have treated 263,909 veterans from these wars and registered over 245,000 disability claims.

No one knows how many Iraqis and Afghans have been killed. The number could be over one million. Just last week over 50 Afghans in a wedding party were killed by a US air strike. But without the constant use of massive air power, including B-1 bombers, the US could not maintain its occupation of Iraq or Afghanistan.

• According to a Democratic Congressional committee report, the two wars will cost $1.6 trillion by the end of 2008, or $16,500 per US family of four – not counting the cost of borrowing money to pay for the wars.

Obama and McCain believe Afghan resistance can be crushed by more brute force. They are wrong. More western troops and more bombed villages will mean fiercer Afghan resistance.

The war is now seeping into Pakistan, a nation of 165 million. Obama’s threats to attack Pakistan and go after its nuclear arsenal are reckless and extremely dangerous. He appears headed over the same cliff as those would-be “war presidents, Bush and McCain. As the head of NATO recently admitted, political settlement, not bombs, is the only way to end the unnecessary Afghan war.

Is Obama beginning to fall under the influence of the same military-petroleum complex that guided Bush’s imperial-minded presidency? Could Pakistan become a disaster for the Democrats as Iraq was for Republicans?

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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 Image source: NoApprentMotive.org

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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The coming US invasion of Pakistan

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.

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THE MARCH TO FOLLY ON THE AFGHAN BORDER

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by Eric Margolis

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The killing of 11 Pakistani soldiers by US air strikes last month 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.

These 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.

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

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Source, Title Image

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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Rohtas – A Lion’s Fort [4 of 4]

Another View of the Huge Fort

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THE GATES OF ROHTAS QILA

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by Nayyar Hashmey

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After listening to Haroon’s recount of the Lion King, my mind flashes back again to Qila Rohtas. The Qila is situated in a gorge on a hillock where the small Kahan River meets another rainy stream called Parnal Khas and turns east towards Tilla Jogian range. The fort is about 300 ft above its surroundings. It is 2660 feet above sea level and covers an area of 12.63 acres. Rohtas Fort was built as a garrison fort and could hold a force of up to 30,000 men. Due to its location, massive walls, trap gates and 3 Baolis (stepped wells) it could withstand a major siege although it was never besieged. Most of the fort was built with ashlar stones collected from the surrounding villages such as Tarraki. Some parts of the fort were built with bricks. The fort is irregular in shape and follows the contours of the hill it was constructed upon. A 533 meter long wall divides the citadel (for the Chieftain) from other parts of the fort.

Rohtas – A Lion’s Fort [3 of 4]

Haveli Raja Man Singh

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THE CAREER OF SHER KHAN OF SUR IS AS FASCINATING AS THAT OF BABUR  & NOT LESS INSTRUCTIVE THAN THAT OF THE GREAT MUGHAL AKBAR

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by Nayyar Hashmey

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The fort was named by Sher Shah after the famous Rohtas Garh fort in Shahabad District near Baharkunda in Bihar (India), which he captured from the Raja of Rohtas Hari Krishna Rai in 1539. Rohtas Garh is situated on the upper course of the river Son, 20 37’N and 85 33’ E. It was built by Harish Chandra of Solar dynasty and was named after his son Rohitsava after whom the fort Rohtas Garh was named.

While the towering personality of this Indo Afghan King comes again into my mind, my friend Haroon Mohsini of the University of Toronto describes the saga of this great Afghan in following words.

Rohtas – A Lion’s Fort [2 of 4]

A portion of Fort’s Main Wall

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ROHTAS QILA: “ITS CRENELLATIONS ARE LIKE OMINOUS ROWS OF HELMETED WARRIORS - AN AWE INSPIRING SIGHT”

by Nayyar  Hashmey

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In fact Sher Shah recognized the strategic importance of Rohtas immediately after expelling the Mughal Emperor Humayun in 1542 AD from India. He considered it necessary to take measures against Humayun’s return and his friends, the Gakhars of Rohtas area. After visiting the Jhelum hills, Sher Shah ordered construction of this great fort. The Gakhars who lived around Rohtas persuaded the people not to allow any raw material such as bricks and stones to the fort site. They also blocked various tracks leading to the site, but Sher Shah declared that any one who brings stone will get a Rupee. People thought that Sher Shah’s men will not honour their commitment but once they tried to supply the stones, they were paid one Rupee for each stone. In this way raw material for the fort was received in abundance as one Rupee was a considerable sum of money at that time. So the gentle but intelligent move of Sher Shah worked its way through the bureaucracy, the state administration to the common folk. All efforts of the Gakhars failed and the fort was completed in 1543 AD.

The fort itself though is not associated with any important historical event, yet is remarkable for its size and massiveness.

Front View, Langar Khan gate

Sir Olof Caroe, the last British Governor of the N.W.F.P., and a great scholar of Pakistan’s northern belt, described his first impression of this fort in following words:-

“There it stands across a low rocky hill, a few miles north of Jhelum, its great ramparts, growing from the cliff like the wall of China, looking north a sandy stream bed to the low hills of the salt range and beyond them, to the snows of Pir Panjal. The circumference is large enough easily to hold a couple of divisions of troops. As you approach the fort, the crenellations look like ominous rows of helmeted warriors, watching you with disapproval. It is an awe inspiring sight.”

With this accurate composition in mind which Sir Olof Caroe so beautifully tried to relate in words, I read the plaque fixed on Talaqi Gate of the fort.

In 948^th year of Alhijra, our king ordered construction of this fort. Our Emperor is a lion. The whole world trembles at the sight of him. His foes cannot face him and flee away. Rohtas Qila is a symbol of our Emperor’s greatness. The Qila is built by Shahu Sultan.

This plaque fixed on Talaqi Gate (not very far from the Shishi Gate) which too has replica of this dateline, with same inscriptions. Though contemporary historians wonder as to why two plaques fixed at a very short distance, it seems likely that the builder wanted to record the year of construction as a symbol of the regality of his ruler, the great Emperor Sher Shah Suri, in case one is damaged, broken or destroyed, the second plaque should remain intact to testify the inscribed information. Whatever the reason, the fort of Rohtas is a magnificent example of Muslim military architecture in the area.

The plan of the fort is adapted to suit the terrain and it is defended by a number of deep ravines as well as the river Kahan, which breaks through the low eastern spur of the Tilla range. The fort is about six km in perimeter and surrounded by a massive wall strengthened with 68 bastions. Besides providing strength to the wall, these bastions give a touch of elegance and grandeur to the fort. The wall is usually composed of two or three terraces, varies in thickness at different points the maximum being 36ft near the Mori Gate. These are interlinked with each other by way of stair line and the top most terrace is stylefully laid in the line.

The height of the fortification wall ranges from 30 to 40 ft and a considerable number of galleries have been provided in the thickness of the wall for soldiers and for use as a storage space. The wall is built in sand stone, coarse rubble masonry laid in lime mortar with granular brick grit.

Front View Gate No. 3

Though built purely for military purposes, some of its twelve gates are exceptionally fine examples of the architecture of that period. One of these gates, the Sohail Gate guarding the south west wall is in fair condition even today. This gate is an example that illustrates how a feature built for strength could also be made architecturally graceful. As it is more than eighty feet in height so it provides a grand entrance to the magnificent fort complex. Every part of its structure has been carried out in broader and simple manner, each line and plane has a sober and massive elegance while the whole is aesthetically competent.

Within the fort a small town has developed and several thousand people live here. The size of this town can be judged from the fact that there are more than 10 schools and twelve mosques. So much space is available within the fort even today that more than two towns of similar size could be developed. However, the inhabitants of this village have obviously defaced and damaged the original structure of this fort in many places. Many mazars (graves of Muslim holy men) have come up in every nook and corner of this fort, I counted at least five. Some of these were built in shelters in the walls for soldiers. One is built right at the main entrance and is shamefully coloured in green paint and white choona. The only shrine that I could find a historical reference to was Shah Chand Wali’s who was a saint. The Wali worked on the fort construction without taking any compensation and who in my opinion rightly deserves a shrine inside.

Telephone and electric lines run over the walls and a particular area with the most beautiful view of green fields of Tilla Jogian has been converted into an open air toilet. To describe that corner of the fort would turn my stomachover.

Contd…

Next: Rohtas: Part III

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Note: To read this post on a continuous blog sheet, please visit: http://wondersofpakistan.wordpress.com/2008/06/04/rohtas-a-lions-fort/

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Lessons from Sher Shah Suri – II

Sher Shah Suri

In my previous post,
I quoted a paragraph from the book ‘The Great Mughals’ wherein the historian describes the way a great king, thru simple ingenuity and tactics enforced law and order in his kingdom.
In today’s daily Jang, (the 23rd of July 2008), Riaz Ahmad Syed describes another incident which proves the sagacity and the statesmanship of the same king who in a brief interlude to the Mughal empire, took such remarkable steps in governance that even rulers of today can learn a lot from him, if they want to!

Now back to the column.
Syed states: The king had camped his royal tent in Sonargoan in present Bangladesh. During a royal audience, he was informed of an innocent traveler murdered in Patna in Behar pargana; at the hands of some ruthless marauder, and that almost a month had passed yet the murderer had not been apprehended. The king became so distressed that without informing anybody, he reined up his horse. Galloping through vast span between Patna and Sonargaon, he finally reached the place of incidence. The king covered his face and head like an ordinary daily wager and started hitting a large tree trunk with his axe.

A villager came nearby
and asked him to stop cutting the tree but the stranger didn’t pay any heed to what the villager had said. The villager went to call his co-dwellers for help. Now they too asked the stranger to stop cutting the tree, but the stranger did not listen to them either. Annoyed they went to call the village head, the ’Mukhia’ who wielded the power of a police commissioner as well as of a Distt. Nazim. The Mukhia too was furious and addressed the stranger in an authoritative tone to stop at once. However stranger was still adamant.

“Don’t you know
this tree belongs to our king Sher Shah Suri and I being Mukhia order you to stop what you are doing”. Even after listening Mukhia’s commanding words, the stranger didn’t appear to be in a mood to stop. Mukhia’s irritation knew no bound then, He caught up the hand of the king to stop him from his act.

That was the time when the king
took mask of his face and addressed to his objectors “Am the king and am Sher Shah Suri. I have tried to axe a tree trunk and all of you ran up to me but right here in your village, right amongst you, an innocent traveler has been axed to death and you have cared a damn since last one month. I give you only 24 hours, go get him otherwise I will axe you too. I remain here until you bring the culprit before me.”

And then the heaven witnessed
the scene. Before the sun set in the west, the culprit in chains was brought and thrown to the feet of Sher Shah Suri.

So are the ways of statesmanship.
The lion king did not take refuge in pretexts like “Am not a thanedar to catch a murderer myself or I need years to straighten matters because affairs of the state have been put in a terrible shape by my predecessors.

There never has been a ruler
like the lion king Sher Shah Suri. All business, all discipline, cold as ice, more demanding, more determined. He gave off vibrations of control, excellence and competence.

History books tell us,
he was never content to sit on the sidelines to be a gentle leisurely ruler, letting events take their course. He always controlled and dominated events and historians till the present tell of the good that he had done.

Men welcome leadership.
They like action and relish accomplishment. If he was not wholly liked by some of his contemporaries, there was an almost universal respect for him; more important, he was liked and respected by civilians. He was, in fact, a general that civilians felt at ease with and trusted. There are ample lessons for our politicians to learn – IF THEY WANT TO???

( Nayyar Hashmey)

Rohtas – A Lion’s Fort [1 of 4]

A lateral view:The Langar Khani Gate

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ROHTAS, A LION’S FORT

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by Nayyar Hashmey

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In our earlier post, the reportage on Rohtas Fort was printed on a continuous sheet (Blogroll). Many viewers told us it was quite voluminous, yet highly informative, so they would wish it in a booklet form on the web. For convenience of such viewers we have divided this into four parts. We hope this way viewers will find it more convenient to read.

WoP editor Dr. Nayyar Hashmey was in Rohtas this month. This formidable fort was constructed on the orders of a mighty emperor who is known in history as the Lion King of Sur, a king who built roads, rest houses, water wells and established a model of governance which even today’s governments can emulate to turn Pakistan into a truly welfare state. And now the article. . . .

Heritage – Our Identity – Our Pride

While recognizing monuments as timemarks with a distinct aura around them and 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. The melancholic appreciations of ancient monuments often easily acquire a political significance when ruins are taken as evidence of former glory or as fetishes for a social nostalgia. So things which are perceived as ancient and foreign must, first and foremost, make people think. This thinking process forms a significant part of their individual identity, a phenomenon which is followed by common men also.

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HERITAGE - OUR IDENTITY - OUR PRIDE

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WOP Editor 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.

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by Nayyar Hashmey

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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.

Shalimar gardens are a masterpiece of the Mughal style gardens in Lahore, Pakistan. Constructed under orders of Emperor Shah Jahan in 1637, the gardens have marble palaces and mosques decorated with mosaics and gilt. The elegance of these splendid structures on three terraces with lodges, waterfalls and large ornamental ponds, is unequalled.  The Gardens were declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site, under the UNESCO Convention on protection of the world’s cultural and natural heritage sites.

Legend of Heer Ranjha

Love and nothing but love is my name [Heer painted by Abdul RahmanChughtai, the master painter of Pakistan]

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MY NAME IS LOVE AND LOVE ALONE!

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by Umair Ghani

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First praise be to my Lord
Creator of us all,
Who created Love – foundation for us all

The overloaded passenger van was moving at rocket speed when the wailing voice of Allah Ditta Lonaywala “Assañwich Ishq de rull gyay haañ” struck my ears. Coming out of a noisy car stereo it makes me think of the spiritual reunion; of Heer and Ranjha and wonder if it were we who are lost in love!

I got off from the van a few kilometers ahead of Jhang city as the young conductor pointed towards a dusty street surrounded by a thick cluster of shrubs, “that will lead you to the tomb of Heer Ranjha”. I adjust my worn out travel bag on weary shoulders as I delve into another spiritual quest, into the realm of unrequited immortal love between the two legendary lovers of Punjab, Heer and Ranjha.

A deep hush greeted me when I glimpsed the green colored doom across a dense cluster of wild shrubs scattered in the adjoining graveyard. Climbing a few concrete steps I reached a marble floor guarded on all sides by iron fence and the white, blue, green tiled tomb stood humbly in the middle of it. Had I been here before in another place and time? A déjà vu engulfs my being! Everything looks so familiar, the environment, the canteen and the white and green colored mosque with its abandoned grace, a deep and pure silence occasionally broken by the sobbing young girl who placed her head on the marble slab of Heer Ranjha’s grave perhaps seeking some solace for the pain that her lost love caused. On right side of the tomb’s main entrance a limestone plaque reads, “Darbar Ashiq-e-Sadiq Mai Heer wa Mian Ranjha”. I read on and on, “Asihq-e-Sadiq [True Lovers] and felt some very sacred presence all around the place. Jo bhi kuchh hae, muhabbat ka phailao hae [everything here…is nothing but a span of love].

Annemarie Schimmel, a renowned orientalist writes “Heer Ranjha has been elaborated in more than a hundred versions, in Punjabi, Urdu, Sindhi and Persian. Originally some characters depicted in the Heer were from Punjab’s socio-religious mix, however, gradually the work took on more of an Islamic assertion and by the time version of Ahmed Gujjar came on the scene (1693) Ranjha got portrayed as a Muslim defending Sufi concept of love against asceticism of the Naths. Sufi poets elevated mortal love to the level of spiritual love and the qissa of Heer Ranjha took a pre-eminent place in Punjabi literature, the Syed of Jandiala, Suzanne McMahon writes, “Waris Shah’s Heer is widely regarded as the most brilliant rendering of Heer Ranhja.”It is the story of a young man and a young woman deprived of a societal sanction”.

[[Right] Here at this hujra (quarters) attached to a little mosque in village Malka Hans, wrote Waris Shah the qissa Heer Ranjha. Malka Hans is a town in district Pak-Pattan, previously a part of district Sahiwal]. Photo courtesy ATP

Heer [Izzat Bibi] was a courageous and daring young girl, the daughter of Chuchak Sial and Malki from Jhang. Her courage was elaborated in a qissa, a narration: Sardar Noora from Sambal community had a slave named Luddan. Due to maltreatment meted out to him, Luddan ran away with Sambal’s beautifully crafted boat and begged shelter from Heer. Heer helped him. Sardar Noora enraged by the incident approached her who gathered her friends and confronted Sardar Noora. Heer ultimately triumphs. When Heer’s brothers learn of this incident, they are furious and express their concern, “you fought alone sis, why you didn’t send for us?” Heer replies, “Why should have I? It was not Emperor Akbar who attacked us”.

Ranjha [Mian Umar] was the youngest of his brothers in Takht Hazara. After a row with his brothers, probably over distribution of inheritance; he left home and to seek his fortune wandered with a flute under his arm; finally reaching Heer’s village. On the way he encountered a narrow minded Mullah who didn’t allow him to spend the night in the mosque [saying ashiq, bhor, fakir te kutay - lovers, the insects, beggars and dogs were not allowed to enter the mosque]. Luddan, the former slave too refused the penniless wanderer to take him across river Chenab. Ranjha lured Luddan’s wives and Luddan agreed to take him across the river to get rid of the situation. On boat Ranjha slept on a comfortable couch which was the property of Heer. When she learnt that her couch had been defiled by some unknown Jat, she rushed to river Chenab to taunt Ranjha, but her anger evaporated with Ranjha’s words, “Vah Sajjana!” and they were lost in each other’s eyes.

“Ah Waris, nothing can help when eyes meet on the battlefield of love!”

Ranjha murmured to Heer “life is only a dream and you must abandon the pride of youth and beauty and be prepared to leave the world”. Heer was hypnotized by the way Ranjha spoke and while he played the flute, eventually she fell in love with him. Ranjha asked Heer to pledge for love and become immortal.

To claim nearness to her lover, Heer offered him a job to take care of their cattle. She promised to sacrifice everything for love and even to lay down her life.

Rañjha Ranjha kar di niñ maeñ
ape Rañjha hoi
Ranjha maeñ no har koi akho Heer na akho koi

Rhyming Ranjha Ranjha in my mind,
I myself have become Ranjha

They would meet secretly until they were caught by Heer’s jealous uncle Kaido who conspired with her parents and Heer was forced to marry one Saida Khera. On her wedding day Heer talked to Mullah [who was heavily bribed by Kaido to perform wedding ceremony] in presence of everyone, “I was married in presence of the prophet. When did God give you the authority to perform my marriage again and deny me the first marriage? You are bribed to sell your faith”, she added, “but I’ll keep my faith till my death. “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.”

[Right] The little mosque, which has hujra attached to it, exists even today]. The photo courtesy: ATP

Broken hearted, Ranjha left on his own until eventually he met a Jogi. Wherever he looked, he could only see his departed love and being emotionally scared he voluntarily became an ascetic too. Heer could not forget Ranjha either. She sent a message to him and he came in guise of a Jogi to take her away [they escaped with help from Saida’s sister Sehti]. When Heer’s parents became aware of the elopement they repented and asked her to come back so they could arrange her marriage to Ranjha. The lovers returned to Heer’s village, where her parents agreed to their marriage. On the wedding day, Kaido, the sinister uncle poisoned Heer so the wedding wouldn’t take place. She was buried in Ranjha’s absence. Ranjha learnt of her death, grieved and dejected he rushed to his love’s grave and prayed to be with her. Miraculously the grave parted and Ranjha laid himself down beside his beloved Heer in their eternal sleep. The beginning of Ishq-e-mijazi led them to the status of Ishq-e-Haqiqi and they were declared Pirs and Fakirs at the young age of 32 and 36 years respectively.

Syed Abid Hussein, caretaker of the tomb, finished the legend of Heer Ranjha and I recovered from the trance of an enchanting tale of love. A simple man, Syed Abid looked at me with gloomy eyes, “Is God not a lover?” he said, “Is universe not created out of love? Ishq has uncountable colors and forms. Is everything not Ishq?” I agreed. Ishq was everything, it was everywhere.
“Can my love for a woman lead me to God?” I asked.
“Sure it can! But only if it is true. Ishq is always divine in its essence. If you enter the realm of Ishq, sure it will lead to unknown dimensions. I’ve seen people coming here everyday for many years now. Few of them are true and commit to be burnt, bruised, tortured, and tested by their love. Very few, I assure you!”

A few paces away the young girl sat curled up with her head against marble slab of the grave. She had stopped sobbing somewhere in the middle of caretaker’s narration of Heer Ranjha, but her eyes were still soaked with silent tears flowing down across her neckline. She kept staring blankly into something unseen.
“Everywhere I searched for my love”, her choked voice echoed inside the tomb, “I was betrayed. I come to tell mother Heer [Mai Heer] only she can understand!”
With my back resting against the tiled wall I witnessed everything.

A bare-footed old woman walked in. Went to the grave and kissed it affectionately. Wrinkles filled her face like cracked lines over a parched soil. She performed some secret ritual by closing her eyes and clasping her hands for several minutes. Then like a whirling wind she began to dance in a trance. Her bare feet struck the floor with a loud thud, providing beat for her dance, yet I could see the rhythm was from within.

“Two bodies in one grave but body is nothing”, she talked as she danced. “Soul is everything. Soul is dance. I am a soul and I will dance!” Another loud thud and another swirl within her soul and another thud of the feet and so on. “Only two bodies are here!”
“And where are their souls?” I asked.
“Their souls have become Ishq and spread everywhere!”
“Why do you take my photos?”
“I am trying to capture Heer-Ranjha’s soul.”
“I know where you can find it” she said with a mysterious smile. “I am Mai Saleem, from the family of Heer [her maternal grand parents]”. She dropped down her dopatta and threw her thin hair in the wind. “Look! The women in our family never tie their hair.”
“Ishq is God!” She said and whirled around like a feather in the wind. Only a woman could know better, I thought. Annemarie Schimmel in her book “My Soul is a Woman: The Feminine in Islam” describes the spiritual experience of a woman’s love, “Women setting out on a long journey during the course of which they are separated from the world more and more everyday until their entire being is transformed into their lovers.”

Outside the darbar women prayed for offspring’s, love, happiness and prosperity. Some tied pieces of cloth (strips) to the iron bar above entrance gate as a reminder of their wish to Mai Heer. Young girls brought many colored bangles and strings and tied them to the wooden structures all around the Heer Ranjha’s grave, so they ask God to help them win their love. Sun gently went down the distant horizon, shedding golden light on everything in a blissful adieu kiss. I placed my bag on my back and stepped down the dusty trek. Abandoned course of river Chenab that once flowed close to darbar stretched far and wide. Echo of Heer’s eternal song reverberates all across the land:

Maaey niñ Maaey maenooñ Kherhian di gal naa aakh
Rañjhañrh mera, maeñ Ranjhañ di, ….

I know not but my Ranjha;
To whom I belong and who to me belongs.
Oh, poor folks!
You say: am crazy,
But am happy
Because he knows
Only he knows
What am I.

________

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