| March 16, 2002 | Saturday | Muharram 1, 1423 |
Hazrat Umar — administrator who valued others’ opinion
Omer’s satire on 50 years of Pakistan
A game without rules
Media attitudes on terrorism, conflict six months on
A SUM of Rs6 million has been allocated for the completion of various school expansion works in different parts of the Chitral district, which had been left halfway due to non-availability of funds for the last many years. The delay in completing the projects has affected academic standard at schools, besides causing innumerable hardships to schoolgoing children, as many girls could not continue education because of the non-availability of separate classrooms.
HAZRAT UMAR, the second caliph, made remarkable achievements in all spheres of human life: duty, service to mankind, simplicity and impartiality were his guiding principles as enjoined by the Quran and Sunnat. The spirit of Islam was envisaged in his administration and action.
AFTER inviting women writers of the city last month to ascertain their views about the current literary scene in their exclusive field, the programme managers of the Quaid-i-Azam Library called over local newspaper columnists to know about the pursuit in their own words. Unfortunately, the call evoked a poor response as less than a dozen out of the uncountable ones floating around in the city cared to show up. Moreover, among those were some who could not be regarded columnists in the true sense of the word. One was a corporate lawyer who writes newspaper articles relating to his specialty and another, a former professor of political science, who writes on international affairs.
Because of political instability in the country, most of the school expansion works, initiated during the last one decade under the Tameer-i-Watan and the People’s Work programmes, had been abandoned, while upgradation of a large number of primary and middle schools was put on hold after construction of the required buildings.
Besides, a ban on appointment, promotion and transfer of teachers for the last many years has caused hurdles in imparting quality education in the schools.
When contacted, Executive District Officer (Education) Samad Gul told Dawn that upgradation work in 11 schools, mostly for girls, had been left incomplete for a long time and the district Nazim was recently requested to earmark fund for the purpose out of the Rs50.8 million Khushhal-i- Pakistan Programme funds allocated to the district.
He said the executing agencies, including the C&W and the defunct district council, had been approached to assess the estimated cost of the remaining work. Apart from the 11 schools, he said, four schools needed reconstruction as they were damaged due to heavy landslides. “The required funds have been earmarked and work on the projects will start after the cold season is over,” he added.
About the continuing ban on appointment of teachers, the EDO said a large number of government employees had been put on the surplus pool in the province and the NWFP governor had issued an order that till the surplus pool staff were readjusted no appointment would be made. He said that for transfer and appointment in the department two committees, with five members each, would be formed which would take decision on a case-to-case basis. Strict policy of meritocracy would be followed in this regard, he added.
Despite ban on appointment of teachers, training of young graduates at the Drosh Elementary College has continued from where scores of youths have been passing out after completing PTC, CT and DM courses without there being any job opportunities. Terming the practice a mismanagement, Samad Gul said the PTC training programme in the college would be disbanded this year. He said a provincial institute for teacher training was being established in Peshawar, where candidates with Intermediate and Bachelor’s qualifications would undergo a three-year diploma in teaching programme.
Apart from the 550 primary and secondary schools, including 181 for girls, the mushrooming of public education institutions has a quick inroad into the valley. Most of the schools have hired unqualified youths as teachers on a paltry remuneration, and the poor quality of teaching in the schools has led to deterioration of academic standard.
The EDO said efforts were being made to improve quality of teaching in the government schools. He said the local education department and the Aga Khan Education Service (AKES) had reached an agreement, according to which the AKES would train the government schoolteachers on modern lines. So far, the AKU-IED-trained master trainers of the AKES have imparted training to over 150 teachers, including women, in six different subjects. “This three- week training programme is continuing,” he added.
About the non-availability of headmasters in 26 out of the 45 secondary schools, Samad Gul said the posts had remained unfilled as local teachers could not meet the requirements, including passing the Public Service Commission exams or the seniority criterion. After crossing grade 18, the education officials are transferred out of the district as there are only three posts of grade 19 and above in the schools.
Necessary administrative powers have been delegated to the teachers-in-charge of the schools so that there are no negative effects on the academic activities, the EDO maintained.
Although his empire extended over Arabia, Iran, Iraq, Syria, Palestine, Egypt, etc — an empire greater than that of Chosros and of the Byzantine emperors — he never felt arrogant, rather he took a balanced view of things and possessed frugal habits.
A major point that made his style of governance outstanding was the adoption of a democratic dispensation, i.e. the running of the affairs of the state by consultation and counsel.
Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him) and the pious Caliphs had a consultative assembly called Majlis-i-Shoora, composed of able and learned companions who were consulted on all important affairs of the administration. During the reign of Hazrat Umar there were two such consultative bodies. One was a general assembly which would be convened through a general announcement to discuss the affairs of national importance only.
To deal with the day-to-day business there would be a committee on a smaller scale. Even matters of appointment and dismissal of public servants would be brought before this working committee. Besides the deputies from the capital, representatives from outlying areas of the empire would be invited to these deliberations.
Non-Muslims too would attend. For example, when the matter relating to the management of Mesopotamia was discussed, the native Parsi chiefs were consulted. Even the general public would be taken into confidence on certain state affairs. Every citizen enjoyed the right to give his opinion, without any let or hindrance.
A great believer as he was in equality and justice, Hazrat Umar would not hesitate to defend himself in the public court as an ordinary man. In a dispute with Ubayy-ibn Ka’ab, Hazrat Umar appeared as a defendant in the court of Zaid-ibn-Thabit and when the latter wanted to show respect to him he immediately corrected Zaid by saying that it would amount to partiality. Hazrat Umar worked hard to uphold the higher principles of democracy. No one was above the law. Even the caliph would be questioned by the common man.
There was a public treasury (Bait-ul-Maal) in which the state revenue would be deposited. Abdullah-bin-Arqam was appointed chief officer of this department and charged with the task of increasing production, looking after the welfare of the peasants and the people at large. As revenues would be collected according to planned assessment, agriculture flourished immensely.
The revenue from land was kharaj, i.e. one-fifth of the produce of land; (2) ushr, one-tenth of the produce of land; (3) zakat, two-and-a-half per cent of the wealth; (4) jizya, (military tax paid by non-Muslims), but the poor, the sick and the crippled, women, children, the aged and priests and monks were exempted; (5) ghanimah or khums, one-fifth of the war booty; (6) ushoor, i.e. import duty of 10 per cent on traders and businessmen.
The public treasury would bear the expenses made on the welfare of the people, as well as on sustenance of the poor and the needy. The weak and the disabled too would get allowances, irrespective of the fact that they were Muslims or Non-Muslims. The system of old-age pension, now prevalent in many countries in the West, was first introduced by Hazrat Umar. For wayfarers, large rest-houses were constructed in all big centres. Children without guardians were brought up at the expense of the state. During famine the Caliph worked day and night to render succour to the starving people. To ascertain the weal and woe of his people, he used to go out at night and visit various places.
During the 30 years that the Republic lasted, the policy derived its character chiefly from Hazrat Umar. To regulate the receipt and expenditure of the revenue, the Caliph established the department of finance under the name of the diwan. The expenses were on civil administration, the army, the navy and the common people. In the diwan a register containing the names of Arab and non-Arab allowance-holders was maintained and no favour was shown to anyone.
From public revenues the canals for irrigation purposes were built. During Hazrat Umar’s reign a canal was built which joined the Nile to the Red Sea, and was named after Amirul Mominin. This canal facilitated transport of grains from Egypt to Hejaz. Other famous canals were those of Abu Musa, Maaqal and Saad which did much to solve the problems of irrigation.
For smooth running of the state the empire was divided into 14 provinces, each governed by a wali. Those were: Makkah, Madinah, Syria, Basra, Kufa, Egypt, Algiers, Palestine, Khorasan, Azarbaijan, Faras, Yemen, Najd and Bahrain.
The provinces were subdivided into districts and each district had its Amils, i.e. revenue collector and Qazi (judge). They worked under the jurisdiction of the provincial governor. The duties of the governor and the officers were clearly defined so that they should not misuse their powers.
Before their appointment the governors and officers had to submit an account of their wealth and properties, and at the time of retirement their accounts were verified and if it was found that any excess had come to them, those additional riches would be confiscated.
The qazis were under strict instructions to decide cases according to the Quran and Sunnat, Ijma (consensus of opinion) qiyas and ijtehad. But this privilege would be given to the most learned and honest fuqaha (jurists) and they were highly paid.
For helping the citizens and giving them free legal advice, a department of ifta was established by Hazrat Umar. It has no parallel in the history of modern world. The most eminent persons were appointed for advice and help, namely Hazrat Ali, Hazrat Usman, Ma’az ibn Jabal, Abdur Rehman bin Auf, Ubayya bin Ka’ab, Zaid bin Thabit, Abu Huraira and others.
By 15 A.H. the Caliph had fully organized the army into infantry, cavalry and archers. The army was broadly divided into standing and reserve. The regular one was ever ready for defence of the state and borders; the reserves were called during the time of war. Intelligence and communications were also developed.
Hazrat Umar laid great stress on knowledge and learning and made education compulsory both for boys and girls. A number of schools were built in cities and towns for public instruction. Such distinguished companions as Abu Ayyub, Abu Darda and Ubaida were deputed to Syria for the purpose of organizing Islamic education in that country. They spent some time in Hims, Damascus and Palestine and promoted Quranic teaching in those places.
Prof Philip K. Hitti in History of the Arabs writes: “Umar, who was of towering height, strong physique, continued, at least for some time after becoming Caliph, to support himself by trade and lived throughout his life in a style as unostentatious as that of a Bedouin Sheikh. In fact, Umar has been idolized by Muslim writers for his piety, justice and patriarchal simplicity and treated as the personification of all the virtues a Caliph ought to possess.
“His irreproachable character became an exemplar for all conscientious successors to follow. He owned one shirt and one mantle only, both conspicuous for their patchwork, slept on a bed of palm leaves and had no concern other than the maintenance of purity of faith, the upholding of justice and the ascendancy and security of Islam and the Arabians.”
But this glorious period of 10 years, six months and four days came to an end with the martyrdom of Hazrat Umar at the hands of an assassin, Abu Lu’lu (Feroz), an Iranian slave, on first Muharram, 24 A.H. (Nov 6, 644).
LAUGHTER GUARANTEED, was indeed laughter guaranteed for the dull and drab dwellers of Islamabad with Omer Sharif providing the best medicine with a stage show on Thursday night at the National Library Auditorium.
The play was a fund-raiser organized by Mashal, a non-governmental organization (NGO) run by Shahida Azeem, working for the under-privileged and the marginalized. The funds generated would be used to help women and children in the health sector.
“It is a comedy, a satire on the 50 years of Pakistan. Omer will make people and organizations accountable for what they have given to this country and for bringing the country to this state” Talat Azeem of Grapevine Communications said while introducing the popular artist, who performed without any remuneration for the cause.
Omer Sharif, undoubtedly a man of great talent did a fine job and held the audience’s attention for two hours. The federal territory did have its sombre effect on the versatile artist who looked serious and solemn, clad in a black suit and resembling a grade 22 bureaucrat.
With a proven track record of causing ripples in straight waters, his spontaneous, un-scripted sarcasm left the audience roaring. There were no pauses, no missing lines and no forgetting dialogues.
The play was way, away from the usual Omer Sharif type comedy which people generally avoid watching with the family for its rather crude jokes.
The set was that of a courtroom with Omer doing the role of a lawyer, cross-questioning various professions represented by an individual.
Each profession was presented to the court one by one and asked to account for its doing. The first victim of his attack was a a mother. Allegations were imposed on the policeman, air hostess, model girl, father of 15 children, a prostitute, Punjabi film actress, hockey player, traffic police constable, a woman activist and last but not least a politician.
And as Omer was winding up the proceedings suddenly the lights went off and there was a typical Urdu movie dialogue wakil sahab abi thehreay. He said you have called everyone to the dock, but not me. He introduced himself, “I am the people” and accused everyone of exploiting him and never giving him a chance to a better life.
The interrogation was punctuated with Omer’s catchy one liners adding spice to the already very funny script.
Laughter is good for health. With the dearth of entertainment in the city, the stage play was a breath of fresh air and should definitely be supported. Why should it only feast the people of Lahore!
A number of seats were vacant at the National Library auditorium and the audience present all seemed to belong to the private sector.
It is an open secret that the bureaucrats in Islamabad only accept free invitation may it be a fund-raiser or a charity event. They believe charity starts from home and since government employees are underpaid, they are the ones who deserve it the most.—HUMA KHAWAR
Even Mr Inayatullah, the main person behind the programme of the evening, is a news analyst apart from writing thought-provoking articles on social issues, current affairs and the like. The only true columnists present that evening were Zafar Samdani, Sarfraz Syed, Aizaz Ahmad Azar, Kazy Javed, Irshad Ahmad Arif and one more, quite unknown. He even made a fool of himself that day by making some ridiculous comments and was rightly snubbed.
The female columnists who attended were Prof Afzal Tauseef, Aqeela Kazmi, and Neelma Sarwar. However, I have to think twice before calling the last named a columnist. Neelma has some poetic collections to her credit and, as such, she is more of poet to me than a columnist. Besides her Urdu poetry, she has just come up with a collection in Punjabi, Chanan Kitthey Hoya? Its special feature is that the contents appear both in the Persian and Gurmukhi scripts. Anyway, that’s an aside. Coming back to the proceedings of the evening, these were conducted by Shahnaz Muzzammil, the programmes officer of the library.
Writing columns for a newspaper is different from writing an article or, say, an editorial. It needs a special skill which has to come from within the writer. It is not something which can be taught. A columnist has to have a special mind and a special way of thinking. In whatever he writes he can think about anything under the sun or be amusing at the expense of some known person. To be readable, a column has to have some salty contents apart from a combination of wit, pun and wisdom. As someone said, “It is not the subject but how it is presented.” Column writing, in short, is a game without rules.
A column is not a work of creative imagination and has its limits. As such it cannot fall under the category of literature. In addition, it is too ephemeral to last. However, opinions differ in this regard. Some circles contend that great columnists like Ibrahim Jalees, Chiragh Hasan Hasrat, Shaukat Thanvi and Abdul Majid Salik have turned column writing into an art form “to be read, felt and enjoyed.” There is no denying that the ‘gossip’ columns of Maulana Abdul Majid Salik and Chiragh Hasan Hasrat increased the sales of the dailies Inquilab and Imroze for which they wrote. They wrote immaculate prose which is a pleasure to read even today.
As noted earlier, a column is transient and usually provides you with temporary reading pleasure. However, there are some which deal with topical subjects and current events and become everlasting. Columns on literary topics can fall under the category of literary criticism. Although many of these writing in Urdu have books compiled and printed of their columns. I know of only one English columnist, Muhammad Idrees, whose selected columns appeared in book form after his death. Those columns dealt with many important subjects and have been categorized and presented under different heads. They present a historical perspective of his times.
WHILE arranging a function on the occasion of the World Women’s Day, Kazy Javed of the Pakistan Academy of Letters bemoaned that such days often went unnoticed and even our poets did not know that a poetry day was also celebrated in the world. However, the Lahore chapter of the academy has been religiously celebrating the women’s day for the last six years.
This time the Academy arranged a symposium on the occasion. The topic was: Women’s Struggle in the Field of Literature. And all credit to Kazy Javed for pulling Saira Hashmi out of her hibernation to preside over it. Once so active in literary circles, Saira has been missing for quite some time. Even her literary organization, Bazm-i-Hamnafsaan, is lying dormant.
Those participating in the discussion that afternoon included Dr Attiya Syed, Bushra Shams, Munawwar Sultana and Shagufta Nazli. The sum total of their views was that Pakistani women had played an important role in the promotion of literature and distinguished themselves in the short story, novel writing and poetry. They had even been writing on political subjects and international relations. Special mention was made of the fact that it was not only Urdu which women used as their medium of expression but there were also many prominent ones who wrote in English, Pushto, Punjabi and Sindhi. So far as the standard of their writings was concerned, it was in no way less than that of their male counterparts.
SOME TIME back I have written about the classification of poets made by a friend. According to him, since Ghalib and Iqbal were regarded first rate poets, those following them, Faiz and Qasmi, could only be called second rate. As such, the rest of the poets were third rate. In a jocular mood I had asked those attending the monthly mini-mushaira of Adab Serai at the residence of its chairperson, Shahnaz Muzzammil, as to how would they categorize themselves. Although most members took my question sportingly, some did feel offended. I, therefore, take this opportunity to beg their pardon.
Despite the fear that I might be lynched, I made brave to attend the monthly meeting of Adab Serai this time. Only to be received by smiles all around. In the bargain I listened to some really good poetry.
THE six-month ‘anniversary’ of ‘Nine-One-One’ — the phrase that we hear ad nauseum on the international news networks with reference to September 11 — came and went by this past week. Most channels covered it with varying levels of sobriety, and respect. One image that stood out probably was the two vertical beams of light that lit up New York City’s skyline emanating from where the twin towers of the World Trade Center once stood.
The networks had extensive programming for this. The anniversary coverage will presumably be even more detailed. The firefighters who risked or gave their lives to save the people trapped in these buildings were remembered as were the police officers, and the victims themselves. US President George Bush spoke about the tragedy and how it had apparently brought all of America together — something that US presidents and senior politicians often like to say in reference to a calamity or disaster.
However, the voice of the people of Afghanistan — the country that America and its allies bombed literally to death — were not represented. We had women and men who lost their loved ones in the World Trade Center attack or at the Pentagon being invited to the networks to talk about the ways in which they had coped with the tragic turn in their lives. We also had children who came and spoke about what it was like to be without a parent. But we did not get any Afghan men and women, or children, people who lost their loved ones in the bombing, speaking on any of the major news networks. Surely, this side should have been represented — if anything, to put the events of September 11 and their aftermath in perspective.
Can the news editors of major news networks really be so myopic? Can they really be so Euro/Amero-centric as to believe that the only valid vantage point of looking at events is their own? The answer to that probably is an unqualified ‘yes.’ In fact, it shouldn’t be all that hard to fathom this given the way the ‘war against terror.’
Unfortunately, this way of categorizing things, without making any kind of effort to make any historical or contextual sense of it, is the hallmark of much of the western electronic media available in Pakistan.
Even the BBC, the channel many Pakistanis consider to be the least biased (again a relative term), is guilty on this count. A good example is to look at the way the conflict between Israel and Palestine is covered. When the Palestinians retaliate against the excesses of the Israeli army it is called “terrorism.” But when close to a hundred tanks of the quite formidable Israeli army barge into Ramallah in complete violation of the terms and conditions agreed upon in the Oslo accord — that is quite benignly called an ‘incursion.’ These phrases are not attributed to any official or authority on either side but come up in the way the news channels describe the conflict and label the opposing sides.
Here, it would be worthwhile to quote Norman Solomon, author of the The Habits of Highly Deceptive Media, and executive director of the Institute for Public Accuracy, a nationwide consortium in America of public-policy researchers, and who wrote this for media watchdog Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting’s website (www.fair.org): “Since last fall, the biggest media buzz-phrase has been ‘the war on terrorism.’ By now, journalists are in the habit of shortening it to ‘the war on terror,’ — perhaps the most demagogic term in recent memory. Present-day reporting is locked into a zone that excludes unauthorized ironies. It simply accepts that the US government can keep making war on “terror” by using high-tech weapons that inevitably terrorize large numbers of people. According to routine news accounts, just about any measures deemed appropriate by top officials in Washington fit snugly under the rubric of an ongoing war that may never end.
“Irony, while hardly dead, is mainly confined to solitary reflection. If insights run counter to the prevailing dogma, then access to mainstream media is fleeting or non-existent. The need for independent thought has never been greater. At this point, facile phrases about war on ‘terrorism’ or ‘terror’ are written in invisible ink on a blank cheque for militarism. They can be roughly translated as “pay to the order of the president” — to be cashed in with a lot of human blood.
“The grand media outlets are so entangled in the current new-speak that they rarely seem capable of presenting any fundamental challenge to the White House. At the same time, a smattering of news outlets — far from the centers of journalistic power — refuse to dodge the task of raising key questions. “A daily paper in Florida made a profound statement on March 2. “The nation’s loyalty is turning into group-think,” the Daytona Beach News-Journal editorialized. “How else explain a president who, playing on the war’s most visceral slogan, gets away with justifying an obscene corporate tax cut as ‘economic security,’ a build-up of defence industry stock as ‘homeland security,’ and an exploitative assault on the nation’s most pristine lands as ‘energy security?’ How else explain his contempt for Congress, his Nixonian fixation on secrecy, his administration’s junta-like demeanour in Washington since September?” The notably forthright editorial pointed out that “without robust dissent, democracy might as well pack up and head for the hills.” And it accurately described the status quo of March 2002 in the US: “This is not unity. It’s not patriotism. It’s stupor.”
“At once foggy and focused, the media lexicon of self-justification rolls on. By implicit definition, Washington’s actions against “terrorism” can only be righteous — and a penumbra of virtue extends to Uncle Sam’s allies. That helps explain why, in the daily drumbeat of reporting from the Middle East, the Israelis who shoot are engaged in “security” operations while the Palestinians who shoot are “gunmen.”
“Almost without exception, in US news reports about the back-and-forth violence, exculpatory words like “retaliation” are reserved for deadly Israeli actions, not deadly Palestinian actions. It’s a typical element of style for American journalism: Israelis “retaliate.” Palestinians don’t. The media spin is exceedingly kind to the occupiers. When Israeli onslaughts take civilian lives, that’s not “terrorism.”
“A little more than a year ago, at the first World Social Forum in Porto Alegre, Brazil, the Latin American writer Eduardo Galeano commented that our societies suffer from “fear of solitude ... fear of dying, fear of living.” The dominant trends encourage passivity. “Quietism is based on fear.” And: “The system presents itself as eternal. The power system tells us that tomorrow is another word for today.
“Currently, that’s more true than ever. Promised a perpetual “war against terror”, we face a parallel media war without end. It’s a propaganda siege that must be resisted — because truly open debate is essential to democracy.” Mr Solomon’s other books include Wizards of Media Oz: Behind the Curtain of Mainstream News (1997), Through the Media Looking Glass (1995), Adventures in Medialand (1993), The Trouble With Dilbert: How Corporate Culture Gets the Last Laugh (1997), False Hope: The Politics of Illusion in the Clinton Era (1994), The Power of Babble: The Politician’s Dictionary of Buzzwords and Dobuletalk for Every Occasion (1992), Unreliable Sources: A Guide to Detecting Bias in News Media (1990) and Killing Our Own: The Disaster of America’s Experience with Atomic Radiation (1982). — OMAR R. QURESHI