Photographers of ‘Great Game’, more during the British Raj

Research on the manifold trappings of the “British Raj” continues to open up interesting areas of study for the scholars. One such study, that of photography done by two Irish soldiers who opened their “studios” at Murree, Peshawar and Lahore in the subcontinent (as the South Asia was known in the British vocabulary of those days) has been brilliantly researched by Omar Khan in the photographs of Johan Burke and William Baker, two “photographists” (as the word photographer was known in those days) from 1860 to 1900 in a book Kashmir to Kabul. The book was launched by the British High Commissioner Hillary Synott at a function arranged at a local hotel in collaboration with the Asian Study Group Thursday, where the author gave an illustrated talk on his book.

According to Omar Khan these two can be ranked among the earliest, news and landscape photographers in the subcontinent. They operated under the firm name of “Baker and Burke”. The author has reversed their name in the title of the book because he seems to be more impressed by Baker, whose career was a great deal longer, and according to him, the latter was a greater photographer, who “shot” warlords, landscapes and a lot many other things including portrait photography.

Mr Khan also gave an illustrated talk on the achievement of these photographers, which were also published in London in the weekly Graphic and the Illustrated London News. Retired Sergeant William Baker of the 87th Regiment became one of the first commercial photographers in Peshawar and partnered with John Burke “from the Royal Artillery a teenage assistant apothecary, whose units provided firepower to British infantry and cavalry regiments throughout the world (Artillery remained largely in the British hands in India). Their photographs fetch high prices at auctions today, even if the buyers are not familiar with the event or the persons appearing in it; and the chemicals and procedures used by them have aged better than those of others. Many important, early books on the art of photography in India, including The Last Empire: Photography in British India 1855-1911, mainly contains their work, attributed or otherwise. Field-Marshal Auchinleck’s The Army in India, 1850-1914 is one of these.

Much of their photography, besides its aesthetic and photographic value, centres around what has been as described as the “Great Game”, the period when the British struggled in Afghanistan to keep the Russians at bay from the Empire: Russians who were conquering the Central Asian states one after another at that time. A number of campaigns were launched but the famous three Afghan wars from 1938 to 1919 were part of this “Game”. The cameras, the early cameras that needed the appurtenances and the long paraphernalia of chemicals and frames with a wasting capacity of exposures in a “jiffy”, of Baker captured the movement of what is called the Second Afghan War (1878-80). No wonder, Omar Khan calls Burke the photographer of the Great Game. His albums of photographs taken during this period are well-known, and were published in two parts as the war progressed. And most of the major and minor British, Afghan and Pathan players were captured by his camera. Khan somehow tries to establish a relationship with Burke and Kipling, the writer of the well-known novel Kim (which gives the feeling the things are “not necessarily what they seemed to be). He thinks that Burke’s photographs also contain similar “contradictions and ambiguities”. Hence an anonymous review on Burke’s photographs of the Lahore Durbar (held by the Duke and Duchess of Connaught on their visit to India) which was published in a Supplement to the Civil and Military Gazette in November 1886, takes him to a Kipling scholar who attributes it to the writer. The review called the photographs “as fine as we have ever seen”. Among one of the interesting photographs is that of a football team comprising the Princely Aitchisonians of those days.

Parween Malik, the moving spirit behind such scholarly functions of the Asian Study Group in the capital (and her literature group), seem to establish the “Potohari” credentials of the young author who has constructed the award-winning website www.harappa.com, a gateway to South Asian history. The blurb of the book tells us that he grew up in Vienna and Islamabad, where he worked for UNICEF and produced a series of educational videos for Pakistan’s Parliament. A graduate of Dartmouth College and Columbia and Stanford universities, he has been researching Raj photography for over a decade. He is also developing a data base of photographers who worked in India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka between 1845 and 1947.

F.S. Aijazuddin has provided an excellent forward to the book published by Prestel Verlag and Mapin Publishing.—Mufti Jamiluddin Ahmad.

Treading the straight and narrow

THE extensive political engineering that President Pervez Musharraf and his associates have had to undertake ever since they decided on a date for general elections is before all of us. Much of the deviousness could have been avoided, and the Constitution and the political process prevented from being corrupted, if the straight and narrow path of conciliation had been taken. The general would have saved himself much embarrassment and discomfiture.

Despite the disastrous referendum, which no one in any case wished to remember, the Musharraf government could have opened negotiations with the country’s two major parties, the PPP and the PML(N), on a sensible pre- and post-election strategy. Even if it didn’t want to talk to Ms Benazir Bhutto or Mian Nawaz Sharif, the government could have invited the interim leaders of the two parties for talks. He could have put his (or the military’s) cards on the table, and said there were certain issues, such as indemnity for actions taken in the past three years and a more active role for his presidency, on which it sought politicians’ cooperation. In return for this cooperation, he could have promised that the elections would be held fairly, under a new chief election commissioner appointed by consensus, parties winning the largest number of seats would have the right to form governments at the centre and in the provinces, and the legislatures’ independence would be respected. Other political groups could have also been associated with the talks.

A pre-election compromise might thus have been possible. None of the parties would have been shortsighted enough not to realize that the objective of restoration of elected government was more important than temporary adjustments on the military’s demands. Agreement on many clauses of the Legal Framework Order was in any case reached with the MMA — but this was after the elections and after the formation of a “king’s party”. If an effort had been made to reach such an agreement earlier with all the major parties, there would have been no need to create the PML(Q), seek to fix elections, and then run around trying to bribe or cajole MNAs and MPAs belonging to the PPP. It would not have been necessary to issue ordinance after ordinance to meet every new contingency that arose in mustering support for the PML(Q). Many of these measures ordered by presidential fiat have already rebounded on the general, such as the provision including a conviction of contempt of court as a disqualification for contesting election. This was aimed specifically at Ms Bhutto, who was convicted for refusing to turn up in court, but it now appears that one of the prime minister’s advisers was among those sentenced after the storming of the Supreme Court by the Sharif mafia. At least two ministers of Balochistan faced National Accountability Bureau proceedings before their induction into the provincial cabinet, and the present federal interior minister was also reportedly under investigation and on the exit control list.

A little foresight and honesty of purpose might have averted much of this. Instead, we were treated to the almost daily spectacle of the president’s uniformed spokesman ridiculing politicians, particularly Mr Sharif and Ms Bhutto. They were reviled as thieves. What does this gentleman have to say now about some of those in government, not least the redoubtable Chaudhrys of Gujrat who are allegedly bank loan defaulters? The moral case built up to justify keeping some politicians out of the process, and which was not entirely without some basis, has collapsed.

The graduation clause incorporated by Gen Musharraf has created problems of its own. It isn’t clear whether the MPA favoured as chief minister of Sindh by the PML(Q) — and chosen after much running back and forth between the MQM headquarters and Kingri House — is a graduate or not. The educational credentials of some other elected legislators have also been challenged as bogus or fake.

A more straightforward and honest transition might have preserved some of the goodwill built up by the Musharraf government amongst sections of the people. Its obsession with keeping the PPP and the PML(N) out of government led it into over-managing the elections. Even then it could not stop the PPP from emerging as the party with the highest number of popular votes. After the elections, trying to sideline the party in Sindh has led to further distortions. This is now a matter of retrospect, but if the regime had come to an amicable pre- election arrangement with the PPP and the Nawaz League, it would probably still have got what it wished without suffering such deep erosion in credibility and creating a crisis at every step. Even a government of national consensus might have been possible. Instead, political polarization has been sharpened. Treading a crooked path is never a sensible way to get from one point to another. It may still be possible for Gen Musharraf and the Jamali government to hold a roundtable conference with all political leaders to reach a working accord on fundamental constitutional issues so that constant bickering is avoided and the new dispensation given a lease of life a little longer than may seem possible at the moment.

Exporters’ kidnapping

THE rising incidents of kidnapping for ransom involving Sialkot’s leading exporters have exposed the poor performance of the police in checking heinous crime.

One kidnapped exporter was got released by his family after paying Rs8 million ransom. A leading businessman was of the view that the criminals resort to kidnapping for ransom to become millionaires overnight.

Now this concept has become deep rooted. If any exporter is kidnapped, his heirs should be ready to pay a ransom to protect his life.

Sialkot’s business community is of the view that the police have lost confidence of exporters who believed in paying ransom for getting the victims freed.

The business community does not trust in police. It says reporting the matter to the police can result in death of the kidnapped person as the kidnappers demand a ransom according to the status.

Three leading exporters, including Haji Muhammad Latif and Muhammad Islam Shaikh, were kidnapped for ransom from Sialkot over the last 20 days. Reportedly, their families got them released after paying Rs10 million. Several other kidnappings for ransom relate to the common people.

It is learnt that instead of tracing the kidnappers, the police often force the families of the victims to keep their mouths shut. They refuse to register minor incidents or force the people to change the situation of the incident for getting their cases registered.

The district police officer’s remarks that Sialkot district is a nursery of criminals as well as a land of exporters have shocked the people. They say the police’s failure to extricate the district from the grip of heinous crime prompted him to pass such remarks.

Earning foreign exchange to the tune of $650 million, Sialkot is globally known for its exportable items and as the city of Iqbal (the poet of the east). The citizens are of the view that the DPO should focus attention on curbing heinous crime.

Exporters and philanthropists have donated 10 motorcycles, wireless sets and an ambulance to the Sialkot police, besides constructing a modern building for Rescue-15. But they are still feeling unsafe.

In the past, the Sialkot police controlled crime by adopting effective strategies in consultation with the local people and businessmen. People are of the view that Sialkot is in dire need of new SHOs. Lack of check on police stations is said to be one of the reasons for the failure to control crime.

Making do with books and magazines

During Ramazan, there was hardly any worthwhile literary activity and anyone with a craving for literature had to make do with books and magazines.

Iftar parties thrown by literary figures were there, but they were merely get-togethers, unlike those thrown by political figures with obvious, intentions. Let’s forget about them. Let me now tell you about what I have read these days.

I had seen an article about Maulana Rum in the last issue of the monthly Takhleeq. It happened to be an excerpt from a book written by Zafar Azeem who, I understand, graduated both from the Punjab and the University of Southern California. He is the author of many books, including some in English. Now Azhar Javed, editor of Takhleeq has been kind enough to send me the book from which the excerpt was taken. It has been tastefully produced by Liberty Books of Karachi under the title, Rumi key Naghmey.

The book first explains what is understood by the term sufism and how do people conceive it. Then it propounds the thoughts of various stalwarts of sufism. The book further covers in detail the thought process of Maulana Jalaluddin Rumi and the influence on it of Shams Tabrezi. In fact, several pages have been devoted to Shams Tabrezi and a selection included of his poems. The book has been compiled in such a manner that it can serve as a guide for anyone working on Maulana Rum. But then I wish to add something from my side as well.

Rumi is acknowledged as the greatest and most revered mystical poet-saint of all time. His masnavi, described as the Quran in Persian (hast Quran dar zaban-e-Pehlavi), is included in UNESCO’s list of representative works of world literature and has been translated in more than one European languages. Iqbal accepted him as his spiritual guide but the person who transformed Rumi into Maula-i-Rum was the dervish, Shams Tabrez, as he himself admits; Maulvi hargiz na shud Muala-i-Rum

Ta ghulam-e-Shams Tabrezi na shud

Rumi is the best selling poet in the US. The Essential Rumi (Harper, San Francisco) sold 110,000 copies in three years.

Rumi believes that love is the motive force behind the universe. As Prof R A Nicholson puts it:

Through love bitter things seem sweet

Through love bits of copper are made gold Through love thorns become roses

Through love vinegar becomes sweet wine

I really do not know what prevents the government sponsored literary monthly, Mah-i-Nau, from appearing regularly. It has all the possible resources, financial and otherwise, which similar other publications lack and yet manage to appear, if not at the beginning of the month, at least soon after. Now the issue of Mah-i-Nau that I have received at the end of November is supposed to be a combined one for the months of September and October, 2002. And it gives the happy news that the November issue would be devoted to Iqbal. From all indications, it might see the light of day some time next year. It is more than obvious that there is something wrong somewhere. Those planning and executing the affairs of this publication need to wake up.

Even the writeups in this ‘latest’ issue are not only childish but also frivolous. What is the idea of telling people about the habits of Hafeez Hoshiarpuri or going out of the way to compliment Jamiluddin Aali? Even the writeup on Zamir Jafri appears to be written by a class-five school girl.

I have known this magazine from the days of Rafiq Khawar’s editorship. It once used to boast of matters of high literary value but now it carries writings which are laboured and shoddy. — ASHFAQUE NAQVI

A 9/11 widow speaks out

YOU will never expect to find Jessica Murrow’s story on any mainstream American news channel or newspaper. In fact, probably even international wire services like the Associated Press, Reuters, or Agence-France Presse would really be interested in carrying a feature on her. This indirectly means that people in Pakistan and reading one of the half a dozen or so English morning papers would never have heard of her story, since most of the print media subscribes to these news wires. In fact, her efforts to convey her anger at being used by the American government in its witch-hunt against whole nations, Ms Murrow found even her own local TV channel, where she worked, editing out her comments.

However, to be fair, it is precisely an American news source, in this case the World Socialist website that carried what Ms Murrow has to say. She’s not one of those hundreds of nameless family members that paraded up and down America rallying Washington to “bring them justice, and bring it quick”. She’s also not one of those many hundred of people who happily sold their stories to local newspapers, radio stations or local news networks, and neither is she the sort one could ever see on The Oprah Winfrey Show (in any case Oprah is too mainstream too allow such opinions on her programme).

A sound engineer with a local TV station in New York, Jennifer Burrows told Bill Vann of the World Socialist Web Site (WSWS) in an article carried on December 2 that if her voice, as someone who had suffered such a terrible loss, carried any weight, she wanted to raise it as strongly as she could against the drive to war against Iraq. Her husband, Steve Adams, was a beverage manager at the landmark restaurant, Windows on the World, on top of the World Trade Centre’s north tower when the first plane slammed into the building. Just promoted, he had come to work an hour earlier, on a day after the couple had gotten back together after a long separation. She says that she was “falling back in love” with him and “wanted to express that, and didn’t.”

The next morning her husband left before she got up. She was awakened by a frantic call from his cousin asking if Steve had gone to work. He told her to switch on the TV and she saw the World Trade Centre burning.

“I called Steve, but the line was busy. The phones were out. I was thinking to myself, ‘There goes Steve’s job.’ He was finally going to make some decent money after working at blue-collar jobs. I never thought he’d die,” she says.

Ms Murrow told WSWS that she wanted to express her opposition to her government’s determination to use her plight, and those of others hit by Sept 11, as a pretext of going to war with other nations. “But the effort proved frustrating,” Mr Vann writes. Her own network did a report on the restaurant where her husband worked and where 73 employees, including him, died when the towers collapsed. The report interviewed a group of relatives of the dead ones, most of whom had brought photographs of their missing relatives. However, she said, she did hold up a photo. Asked for her views, she said she looked in the camera and said that her husband would have been “mortified” if he knew that the US government was preparing to take military action on the pretext of avenging his death. “Are you going to kill someone else because my husband is dead?” she had said. She had further noted that the man sitting next to her was from Ghana and that the others interviewed had come from other countries, but all shared the same pain and grief.

According to WSWS, Ms Murrow’s next sentence was edited out of the broadcast. She had merely asked: “What evil have we created that would bring people from another nation to do this to us? Don’t we need to look at our own actions?”

Some two months later, she was again interviewed by the same local network. Her interview was supposed to be live but wasn’t in the end.

She says that in that second interview she had drawn comparisons of the WTC attacks with the bombing in Afghanistan. To quote her: “The big story that week was the war in Afghanistan. I said in the interview that when I saw the scenes from there — of bombed-out villages, people screaming and rubble everywhere — to me it looked just like Ground Zero. How was that helping anyone?

Once again, her statement was deleted from the broadcast.

She said that interview was tailored so that all viewers got was a take on her relationship with her dead husband. She said this was “very sweet and very true” but that wasn’t why she had agreed to do the interview. “They cut out everything I said about the government and about war. Of course, the first 15 minutes of the show were all about Bush and how his ratings had gone up, so I guess they couldn’t very well have me saying that.”

It also became quite clear to her, she says, that while television was providing non-stop coverage of Sept. 11 attacks, virtually none of it was addressing important questions like “why it happened, what the meaning of it was. “

Over time, she says, she realized that the main aim of producing shows was to generate ad revenue and keep sponsors happy, and that producers were not at all in informing the audience or even in raising important questions and addressing issues that she felt had to be looked into by Americans especially after the events of Sept. 11.

She described that Bush administration’s invoking of the deaths as a pretext for war as “the most hateful thing that could ever possibly happen to us.”

As for reading mainstream, even so-called liberal, American papers post-Sept 11, Ms Murrows had this to say: “I used to think that the New York Times would be in the middle, but it’s gone to the right. It is so hard to find your own voice anywhere in the media.” — OMAR R. QURASHI

(Email:omarq@cyber.net.pk)