Kinship ‘yes’, reunion ‘no’

WHAT we must recognize and accept about Bangladesh is its absolute and irreversible status as an independent and sovereign country much in the same way as we are. The past is another country.

Regardless of the resurgent sentiment for Pakistan I saw during a recent visit to Dhaka to attend a conference of the South Asia Free Media Association (Safma), any suggestion of a reunion even within a loose confederal framework should be firmly set aside. The wounds of the 1971 civil war and military atrocities may have healed, but the scars remain.

Said Prime Minister Khalida Zia in her address at the Safma conference: “We won freedom of our country at the cost of many lives. The desire for total freedom propelled us...”

Without raising a finger against Pakistan, the prime minister’s reference to ‘freedom ‘won at the cost of many lives’ and her emphasis on the ‘desire for total freedom’ should be enough to dispel any illusions we might still entertain of a Pakistan-BD condominium in any shape or form. Sheer political pragmatism and sagacity would demand scrupulous avoidance of any talk suggesting ‘one nation and two states’ or anything even remotely like that.

The first thing the Pakistani delegation therefore sensibly did as the conference opened was to offer, on behalf of their country and the army, an unqualified apology for the excesses committed in 1971. However, expressions like ‘atrocities committed by criminal gangs of the then military regime against the people of Bangladesh’ had better been avoided, especially in the generous forgive-and-forget setting of the conference.

Also, the use of the expression ‘right of self-determination’ in respect of East Pakistanis was, in my view, both inept and irrelevant. East Pakistan was no Kashmir, but an integral part of Pakistan and the East Pakistanis had already exercised their right of self-determination through the 1970 elections and theirs was a ‘yes’ vote for an united Pakistan.

The Safma conference took me to a city and region I had once known and loved as part of Jinnah’s Pakistan and still feel intimately attached to. I was lucky to find many old friends, turned grey through the years but still as warm and friendly as ever. Dhaka itself has of course changed a great deal like any other capital city, what with the monstrous, mushrooming high rises and the jungle of vehicular traffic, from shining luxury cars to rickety taxis, motorcycles and rickshaws.

Considering its shaky start as an ‘international basket case’, Bangladesh’s progress at the grassroots level may be justly considered enviable. Coupled with this is a growing sense of pride and confidence in the people’s ability to grow from strength to strength as a nation. In spite of rampant poverty and underdevelopment, the average Bangladeshi is much better off now than he has in Pakistan. He does not have to look beyond Dhaka to places as far away as Karachi and Islamabad for official help and orders. He is the master of his own affairs, despite the same age-old bureaucratic procedures and bottlenecks. The feeling of being on his own is real enough, regardless of the citizen’s actual share in power and authority.

Luckily, the Bangladeshis have none of the parochial problems afflicting Pakistan at the ethnic, sectarian and political levels. English remains the language of official business, but Bangla is the national language, and a source of pride. Unlike Pakistan’s polyglot culture, Bangladesh is unicultural as far as language is concerned. It is much more in evidence today than it was in the past in the late East Pakistan. No Urdu or Hindi — only Bangla or English as the two mediums of expression.

Except for Foreign Minister Morshed, Prime Minister Khalida Zia and President Iajuddin Ahmad delivered their speeches at the Safma conference in Bangla. There is little doubt that the oneness of language and idiom provides a powerful impetus to national cohesion and unity. Can we, in Pakistan, boast of anything at all even close to such a process of unification and integration at the national level?

After 55 years of Urdu as our national language, we are still being inexorably sucked into provincial moulds to compromise our image as a unified national whole. It is a source of gratification, tempered with a kind of remorse, to find Bangladesh relatively better-off today than in the past as Pakistan’s eastern half.

— The writer is a retired Brigadier of the Pakistan army.

Work gets under way on runway

WORK on the runway of Sialkot international airport has started and the project will be completed at a cost of Rs1.5 billion in two-year stipulated period.

The airport is being developed on a built, operate and own basis. The 3.6-kilometre-long runway, taxiway and apron will be completed at a cost of Rs48.131 million in one year. The runway is being constructed for 747, A-300, B-737 and F-27 aircraft and will cater to the requirements of international flights.

Nespak (the project consultant) are preparing detailed designs whereas the concept plan of cargo complex and fire, crash and rescue building are under review. According to the schedule, the land side development work is planned to start on June 27, 2003, and will be completed by March 26, 2005.

The Sialkot International Airport Limited (SIAL) has acquired 1,003 acres for the project. The government has provided Rs230 million as soft loan on a three per cent mark-up for 15 years for the acquisition of land for the airport. The project will be financed by the private sector.

SIAL chief executive Khawar Anwar Khwaja said: “We have acquired a very suitable land for the airport, 13km west of here, linked by road with Sialkot, Gujranwala, Wazirabad, Narowal and Gujrat as well as nearest to the Sialkot dryport and the export processing zone.

He expressed the hope that the airport would cater to the needs of exporters of Sialkot, Gujranwala and Gujrat.

He said due to non-availability of an airport, the exporters were confronted with problems because air cargo from the area was sent via Lahore and Islamabad airports.

According to an estimate, 60 per cent of aircraft movement will be domestic and 40 per cent international.

SIAL’s chairman Mohammed Riaz said cargo flights from the airport would be started in 2004, and international and domestic passenger flights in 2005.

THE Pakistan Sports Goods Manufacturers and Exporters Association has urged the government to provide a 10 per cent cash subsidy to exporters and industrialists on exported goods so that they can compete in the international market, especially with the neighbouring country.

Sports Goods Association chairman Shaikh Ahmad Husain told newsmen the other day: “For a considerable period, our oldest foreign exchange earning industry is in a crisis. Exporters deserve compensation which will enable them to continue their business.”

He said due to various negative factors, the cost of production of footballs had increased in Pakistan and as such the football business had shifted to China. The demand for latex had increased in China resulting in a further increase in its prices in Pakistan. Due to the decrease in exports and production of exportable goods, a number of workers had been rendered jobless.

He said a rapid increase in the rates of fuel, electricity, telephone, Sui gas as well as security surcharges and war risk insurance had badly affected the cost of production of exportable goods. Furthermore, duty drawback and sales tax claims were not being paid for the last many months, affecting our exports.

He appealed to the authorities to make arrangements to clear the pending claims of sales tax and duty drawback and ensure that such claims were disposed of within a month at the maximum.

He said customs duty, sales tax was levied on free samples sent by foreign customers whereas no duty was charged for free samples by any other country. He said customs duty, sales tax should not be levied on such samples. Many cases of reimbursement of ISO-9000 certificates had been lying pending with the Ministry of Science and Technology for the last many years. He said payments of pending cases be finalized at the earliest as these funds had to be utilized by the exporters.

THE surgical industry of Sialkot is producing about 10,000 different types of surgical instruments. This is a big achievement that except Germany, no other country was capable to produce such a huge quantity of surgical instruments.

The exporters and manufacturers of surgical instruments are producing about 140 million instruments annually, and the industry still has 34 per cent utilized production capacity.

The industry is 100 per cent export-oriented and dominating global market and unique distinction. According to rough statistics some 1,500 small, medium and large industrial units are functioning in and around the Sialkot.

The surgical instruments are being imported by most of the European countries from Sialkot for re-export purpose under their own brand names.

Germany is a world leader in manufacturing surgical instruments, but the price of its products is about 10 times higher than Pakistani instruments. Pakistan is closing fast on the German quality, and the time is not far away when its instruments will accurately match the German standard.

The surgical instruments made in Sialkot with the collaboration of Germany are being sold in international markets as “Made in Germany” without any problem. The high technology and technical knowhow are steadily creeping up in Pakistan’s industry which will certainly be helpful in bringing a big boom in exports.

The Surgical Instrument Manufacturers Association of Pakistan in collaboration with the Export Promotion Bureau has established an ultra modern material testing laboratory at a cost of Rs12.5 million for providing maximum facilities to the manufacturers and exporters engaged with the surgical industry.

A helpless politician

HE was a student of the Islamia College, Railway Road, Lahore, during the politically most active period of the place when Hameed Nizami and Maulana Abdus Sattar Niazi were heading the Pakistan Movement there. One finds sketches of many of the old and young students of the college in the book, Yaaran-i-Maktab by Bedar Malik, published by the Pakistan Study Centre under the patronage of the then vice-chancellor, Dr Rafiq Ahmad, now associated with the Karkunan-i-Pakistan. But Meraj Khalid was just mentioned there. Why? There could be only two reasons. One that the book was written and published in Ziaul Haq’s period when the people attached with the Pakistan People’s Party and other liberal circles were deliberately ignored by institutions like the Punjab University.

Abdullah Malik was also a prominent student of the Islamia College but the book under discussion makes only passing reference to him. The other reason may be that during this period, Hameed Nizami was nominated as the secretary of the students union against which the Islamia College boys protested but the principal never allowed the democratic system to work.

In the next term, Mr Bedar Malik was nominated secretary but this time the protesting students got the nomination undone and elections were going to be held in which Bedar Malik’s rival was Malik Meraj Khalid. It so happened that Bedar Malik’s nomination papers were rejected on some technical ground and Malik Meraj Khalid was elected unopposed. Meraj Khalid as also a member of the Muslim Students Federation which contributed a lot to the success of the Muslim League gainst the three-pronged opposition of the Unionists Party, the Ahrar and the Congress. The ruling Unionists supported the Ahrari candidates where they had no potential candidates. But not a single Ahrari could won the elections.

The area in which Meraj Khalid lived was considered a stronghold of the Qizilbashes and Nawab Muzaffar Ali Qizilbash won the seat on a Unionists ticket. It may be mentioned that Meraj Khalid had close association with the Nawab’s family for a very long time. But in the meantime he began doing some social work including the kisan committees which had put up a great show in Bhangali against the Unionist government of Khizar Hayat Tiwana.

During that period, the sectarian situation was not very tense. Therefore, even the students of the Islamia College used to invite known Congress leaders like Saifuddin Kitchlow. Actually, the students wanted to hear both sides and the atmosphere was tolerant and democratic in which Malik Meraj Khalid and people like him had their political training. Malik Sahib first tried his luck in the 1962 elections for a provincial seat. He won that in 1965 as an independent candidate. It was the Kalabagh period and Malik Sahib joined the Convention League.

In the mid-sixties, the West Pakistan Government closed the doors of the Shalimar Bagh on the Mela Chiraghan. Young Punjabi writers of Lahore had established a literary organization, Majlis Shah Husain, with Rai Manseb Alim Khan (then an MPA from Nankana Sahib) as its president and Shahzad Ahmad as its secretary. The majlis asked Malik Meraj Khalid to support Rai Manseb to get the decision on the Shalimar reversed.

Malik Sahib did his bet but to no avail. But it brought him closer to the young intellectuals leaning towards the left. Malik Sahib himself was pushed into the Afro-Asian Solidarity Organization by the then federal minister, ZA Bhutto. Malik Sahib’s residence at the Lakshmi Mansions became the office of the Solidarity where the anti-American elements of Lahore used to get together and among them were Masudullah Khan, Amin Mughal and later Husain Naqi and many others who had raised an anti-American organization, the Pro-Vietnam Society with its working headquarters at the Pak Tea House. Malik Meraj Khalid also contributed to the efforts of this society and many meetings and seminars were held in his office.

The Pro-Vietnam Society arranged a big protest procession against the US which was joined by almost all the left parties and organizations. Even the late Mian Mumtaz Muhammad Khan Daultana joined the procession. It was not liked by Nawab Kalabagh and Daultana was asked to stay away from such activities. Daultana was committed to support Majlis Shah Husain for its campaign for the promotion of the cause of the Punjabi language but after this procession in which some miscreants had damaged the office of an American bank in Lahore, Daultana withdrew its promise which also arranged seminars at Malik Sahib’s office where two big exhibitions of photographs were also arranged. The one was about the atomic attack on Hiroshima and the other was about the American army’s oppression in Vietnam. These exhibitions were a great success. All these activities had brought the left leaning and liberal forces together and provided a very fertile field to ZA Bhutto who in 1966 was ousted from the Ayub Khan cabinet.

During the same period, a former American vice-president privately visited Lahore to face a hostile crowd from the Pak Tea House. The forceful demonstration on the Lahore airport was led by Malik Meraj Khalid and the late Mumtaz Ahmad Khan head of the Pakistan-China Friendship Society which was also very active in those days.

ZA Bhutto, after leaving the government and witnessing the unprecedented welcome by the Lahorites at the railway station, went to Larkana. His second visit was unannounced and he met a selected few at the residence of Malik Meraj Khalid, who later joined the PPP. After the fall of Dhaka when Bhutto came into power, Meraj Khalid was made the chief minister of the Punjab. The real power was with strongman Mustafa Khar on whose orders the famous Punjabi poet, Ustad Daman, was arrested. The Ustad had written some critical verses on Mr Bhutto. The friends of Malik Meraj Khalid from the Pro-Vietnam Society and other organizations lodged a strong protest with Malik Sahib who deliberately avoided to meet them. But for how long? His reply was: It is just shameful but I am helpless and after the elections of 1997 on the return of the old opportunists, Malik Sahib again said: ‘The mardoods are back but I was helpless’.—STM

An evening with Amir Khusrau

KARACHI: It was after a long time that a literary circle, Idara Asr-i-Nau, priding on the Persian heritage of our culture, focused its deliberation through a paper on Amir Khusrau (1224-1325 AD) crediting the great poet with three firsts:

1) promoting the Khuri Boli of Delhi and its suburbs — as opposed to Brij of Mathura; 2) promoting a new school of Music integrating the Arabic-Persian tradition with the Indian into a distinctive separate development; 3) achieving the distinction of being the first Arabic poet of the subcontinent with more than 700 verses and a few prose-writings capable of being compared with reasonably good poets of that language.

Dr Hammad Fazal read out the paper on Khusrau; its uniqueness was the level of discussion which filled in the blanks in the paper and made it a wholesome fare. It was averred that it was due to Amir Khusrau that the Khari Boli, Tad Bhu Prakrit known as surseni, developed a bit faster than Brij simply because the Brij was catering more to the Bhakti movement. That view is borne out by Dr Tara Chand, Suniti Kumar Chattergee, Ehtasham Husain and Mohyuddin Qadri Zor.

Amir Khusrau had named the following language in his preface to Noh Siphir — a historical Masnavi composed by Khusrau in 718 H. Mubarak Khalji had promised him to offer an elephant’s weight of gold but history is silent whether our poet fared the same fate which Firdausi had fared at the hands of Mahmud Ghaznavi. The third part is devoted entirely to the praise of India and other sections to the exploits of Mubarak Shah and Khuram Khan’s campaign Amir Khusrau declares in this Mathnavi Sanskrit to be inferior to Arabic and superior to Persian. This is the only remark for which he could be chided; otherwise India is all paradise and the Indians are the princes of the world in this Masnavi.

The above fact — the primacy of Khari Boli to that of Brij is regarded as the more acceptable opinion. Most of Khusrau’s poetry is nearer to Khari Boli and it could be confidently said that he was the first promoter of Khari Boli. Amir Khusrau’s contemporary Bhagat Nam Dev (1270 — 1350 AD) was also composing poetry in Khari Boli.

While discussing Khusrau’s time, it is to be kept in mind that his was the time when the influence of the great leader of the Bhagti Movement Ramanauj (1016-1137 AD) had taken its root. He and Swami Namanand, teacher of Bhagat Kabir, were in the forefront. Khusrau did not sound very different from them in that he also loved humanity. He was instrumental in the vogue of a new culture whose outlines were clear. Dr Tara Chand accepts that most of the elements of Bhakti philosophy could be traced to Upanishads, Mahabharata and Bhagwat Puran and they were in response to the challenge of Islamic influences.

MUSIC: Let us take only one influence where Khusrau outshone others i.e., music. It could be accepted as the most profound of all influences.

Amir Khusrau’s contribution to Indian music is so vital that the moment one stripped off his role, the Indian music could be a different thing.

From Amir Khusrau’s time, the language of the classical song changed from Sanskrit to Brijbhasha .... Another of Amir Khusrau’s outstanding achievements was the cultivation and popularization of “Qawali”. Amir Khusrau is also said to have set the ground work for the Khyal style of singing.

ARABIC POETRY: Yet one aspect of Khusrau which has not been given any attention is his contribution to Arabic poetry. In Dr Zahur Ahmed Azhar’s opinion, he is the creator of more than 700 Arabic verses whose brilliance and assonance takes us by utter surprise. He is truly a master of Arabic. His comments on the comparative virtues of Arabic and Persian are so erudite that one wonders why his status as an Arabic poet has been in oblivion, so far.

A genius like Amir Khusrau takes centuries to be borne and many centuries more to let his influence wane.

Top players must show respect for new domestic format

THE Pakistan Cricket Board has unveiled a new format for domestic tournaments which appears to be a radical departure from the format that evolved rather than structured and become something of a mishmash.

I must frankly admit that I have given the new format only a fleeting glance because I believe the test of a pudding is in the eating and a format itself is a road map and a road map can lead nowhere. The test that should be applied is whether the new format will be more competitive and whether it will generate sufficient interest among the cricket public that it will lead to the creation of ‘loyalties’ and ‘rivalries’.

Will these regional teams engender the sort of passion that one associates with say a Lancashire-Yorkshire match and which became known as the ‘battle of roses’? I am not sure whether the new format is what Imran Khan had in mind. He is being credited with having inspired it.

There is no standard format for domestic cricket and every country has its own system. On paper, the new format appears to be more rational. But in order to succeed it will have to be closely monitored. It will, first of all, need to have a fixed schedule and matches cannot be postponed and venues shifted.

There will have to be a panel of umpires of an acceptable standard and the nature of wickets and ground conditions will have to conform to the requirements of first-class cricket. In other words, we will have to have level playing fields, avoid all the pitfalls of the previous domestic format.

But in the final analysis, it will have to be made mandatory that no player can be eligible for the national team unless he has played in the domestic tournament and not one-off but regularly and if domestic matches clash with county and league commitments, then its too bad. It is our top players who will have to show some respect for domestic cricket.

But no system, no matter how perfect, will produce that great player who stands apart from all the others. Don Bradman was self-taught, he was a boy from Bowral, a town in the back of beyond. Gary Sobers was a ‘natural’ and owes little to domestic cricket in the West Indies but most of all, Pakistan produced outstanding cricketers and teams despite its much discredited domestic cricket.

I can reel off the names and Pakistan did win the World Cup in 1992. All those who went to play county cricket in England did so after they had played Test cricket for Pakistan. How much better would our players have been if they had grown up in a healthier domestic cricket environment. This is one of those hypothetical questions for which there is no scientific answer.

Sachin Tendulkar was a cricket prodigy and owes little or nothing to the Ranji Trophy. England players resemble one another because they come out from an assembly line but then along comes a Denis Compton. The Williams sisters learned their tennis playing in public courts. The outstanding sportsman is one who beats the system.

It remains to be seen if we will produce a Wasim Akram from the new format. This is not an argument that is meant to devalue the proposed new system or any other system. It is an argument that acknowledges that a champion is born. Call it fate or destiny.

The question is: Are there any champions withering away for lack of opportunity. That, I suppose, is what we mean when we say there is a lot of untapped talent in the country. But we mustn’t raise our expectations too high.

By the time this column appears in print, we will know the result of the first of the three games against England. In the practice matches so far, the results have been mixed and Yousuf Youhana’s form is a matter of concern. He is going through the same bad patch that bedevilled Inzamam-ul-Haq in the recent World Cup.

There seems to be a loss of confidence but Youhana will have to be mentally tough to get out of the bad patch and I am sure that he has the support of all his team-mates. He is, without doubt, the best batsman in the team. It sometimes happens that a player puts on too much pressure on himself.

I was delighted that Abdul Razzaq has been asked to join the team. He should not have been left out in the first place. The reason given for leaving him out was far from convincing. Perhaps, such was our disappointment at our dismal showing in the World Cup that we wanted to clean house and Razzaq got swept away.

I don’t think Razzaq can be compared with Azhar Mahmood and the choice should not be an either or. Both are quality all-rounders and there is no law that says we can’t have both of them.

Pakistan’s first match is at Old Trafford and the weather is always a factor. Besides, it is a day/night match and England does not play much cricket under the lights. The game is a sell-out which means that there will be a heavy contingent of Pakistani supporters. This creates its own pressure.

England too will be fielding a new and relatively inexperienced team with an untried captain. It should even things out. Pakistan will be without Shoaib Akhtar who will be working out his ban. Mohammad Sami will spearhead the attack and it’s a great responsibility.

But bowling is not the problem, Razzaq’s inclusion will strengthen it. It’s the batting. No one has made a hundred yet. Younis Khan looks to be in good nick but he has to learn to play a long innings and the best known way is staying at the crease and not chucking away all the hard work.

Younis has become central to our batting and that carries a responsibility. Still, it goes without saying, that the team carries our best wishes and a great chance is available to the younger players to cement their place in the team.