| 15 March 2004 | Monday | 23 Muharram 1425 |
Sectarianism: what needs to be done?
Karachi does us proud
Karachi's nightmare, India's neurosis
A millionaire, only for a week
'Journalist poets' host mushaira
Book on history of Muslims launched
The minister of state for environment recently announced that the government would be launching a comprehensive vehicular emission control programme to check air pollution. The programme involves, among other things, evolving an emission testing system, and replacing two-stroke engines, especially in rickshaws and motorcycles, with four-stroke engines.
There is another important means of checking air pollution which the government should also adopt - controlling the spiralling vehicle population on the roads. The increasing vehicular traffic is not only causing environmental problems, but also accidents and traffic congestion.
Several main roads in Rawalpindi have been widened in recent years to cope with the increasing traffic but still traffic congestion is common and increasing. After all, there is a limit to road widening.
In Islamabad, work on a flyover at Zero Point is finally going to begin by the end of this May, so said the interior minister last Thursday. Also last week, the government announced several major road widening and improvement projects for the Capital. But will all these be able to solve the growing congestion problem in various parts of Islamabad caused by the ever increasing vehicle population?
A transportation study of the twin cities in 1995 by a foreign consultancy company in conjunction with the ministry of communications had projected that car ownership in Islamabad over the next 15 to 20 years period would reach the high level of 200 cars per 1000 inhabitants, that is, one car for every five persons.
The car growth in the twin cities, and in other cities of the country, has been due not only to population expansion but also to the greater affordability of cars resulting from the easy-to-pay monthly-instalment loan schemes offered by various banks to people for buying cars. As a consequence, many families who had never owned cars before are buying cars.
A resident in Islamabad who works in an NGO and had bought a 1000cc car on a loan scheme before the last Eidul Fitr, said that he was surprised at the rush of people buying cars just as though they were shopping for new clothes for Eid!
In fact, many families now own not just one but two or three cars. A semi-government official, whose wife is teaching in a private school, explains why he has two cars: My wife's school is at one end of Islamabad, and my office is at the other end. Besides, our timings are different so it is not possible to depend on only one car, unless we have a driver.
Forty-five year old Talat, whose parents never owned a car, now has three cars which he parks with great difficulty in his small 7-marla-plot house in I-10 sector.
One is a 1600cc car which he drives to his foreign oil company office based in Islamabad; another is a 800cc car which his wife takes to her office, and the third is a small pickup which his unmarried brother, who is in the construction business, uses.
It is not only working wives who need a car. A resident of G-11 sector, whose wife is a home-maker, says that he has two cars because he needed to concentrate on his office work and so he bought a second car so that his wife could help him with errands like dropping and picking the children to and from school and tuition, buying groceries and paying the bills at the various banks.
The manifold increase in car ownership is due not only to the availability of loan schemes, but also to the fact that travelling on car has become a status symbol. It is an unfortunate fact that public transport travel in Pakistan is generally associated with the poor and less well-off commuters who cannot afford to buy and/or maintain a car.
One important way of curtailing the vehicle population on the roads, and thus congestion, pollution and accidents, is by having a modern and reliable mass transit system in which all classes of people - ranging from a well-dressed bureaucrat in a suit and tie or an MNA for that matter, to an ordinary office worker or labourer - can feel equally comfortable travelling on.
There is no argument about the fact that a single train carrying hundreds of commuters means lesser cars, motorcycles, rickshaws, wagons and buses on the roads, and thus lesser pollution and accidents.
It has been acknowledged in a 1998 policy paper on national transport prepared by the Pakistan Chartered Institute of Transport that mass transit systems are needed in urban areas of Pakistan with over 1 million population, more so than ever in the mega-city of Karachi.
In fact, a National Mass Transit Authority (NMTA) was established in 1995 under the federal ministry of communications with the objective of establishing the much-needed mass transit systems in major cities like Karachi, Lahore, Rawalpindi-Islamabad and Faisalabad.
In 1996, NMTA had actually signed an agreement with an international consortium of companies to build a $600 million light railway mass transit system in Karachi. But the federal government later backtracked on that agreement and the NMTA Ordinance was allowed to lapse.
It has now been reported that Lahore city is mulling over a light rail transit system and the Karachi city government is considering an electromagnetic train project.
Exactly a year ago in March 2003, the minister for railways was reported to have told the French ambassador in Pakistan that the government was going to invite foreign investors for mass transit projects for Karachi, Lahore and Rawalpindi. But investors can hardly be blamed for being extremely cautious, given the government's track record on mass transits.
It has been three decades since the mass transit system for Karachi was first mooted in the 1970s. Since then, many cities in the developing world have completed mass transit system projects, including Calcutta, New Delhi, Tehran, Cairo, Istanbul, Ankara, Kuala Lumpur, Hong Kong and Singapore.
But in Pakistan, the lack of political will and clear policies seem to be the main hurdle in overhauling the disorganized urban transport system in its major cities. The idea of having a mass transit system still remains an idea only, yet to move beyond the stage of discussion and planning.
Sectarianism: what needs to be done?
Since the Quetta tragedy, the president and the prime minister have reportedly had at least two long meetings to devise strategies for countering the menace. Brave words have been spoken.
Rewards for the apprehension of the suspected perpetrators have been announced. The question is whether these discussions will include tackling with ruthless determination the elements who contributed to the problem.
There should be no hesitation in acknowledging that many of the extremists and sectarian elements in our society have built their organizations not only on the strength of bigoted dogma but on the strength of funding from abroad.
This flow of funds started shortly after the Iranian revolution and grew after the Iran-Iraq war broke out as the Iranians and the Iraqis (with the assistance of the other Arab countries) tried to strengthen their support bases in Pakistan.
The flow of money, however, became a flood after the intelligence agencies of Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and the US coordinated efforts to secure the diversion of Zakat funds from Arab philanthropists to assisting the Afghan jihad and to the groups in Pakistan which, by setting up madressahs and other training centres, were contributing to the creation of volunteers for the jihad.
These were funds that were in some measure or the other subject to scrutiny, albeit loose, and there was a measure of control exercised. But there were other freelance beneficiaries and their numbers increased exponentially once the Soviets withdrew from Afghanistan and the rationale for continued support for the Afghan Mujahideen groups weakened.
Virtually every one in Pakistan has a story to tell of one Mullah or the other returning to Pakistan with "briefcases" full of dollars for one or other madressah or seminary.
The donors of money to these freelancers also dictated the sort of teaching that would be encouraged in the madressahs or other institutions set up with this money and the causes that volunteers recruited with this money would serve.
Contrary to the tradition of the South Asian madressahs the new madressahs taught only a particularly dogmatic and narrow interpretation of Islam and deliberately eschewed the teaching of any other subject.
The "volunteers", easily available in poverty-stricken Pakistan, were recruited to serve not only what were perceived to be Islamic causes in the region but well beyond. Today we have according to one set of government figures some 13,000 madressahs in Pakistan.
According to other observers the number is closer to 40,000. Not much progress has been made on securing their voluntary registration with the government and certainly even less progress has been made in securing any declaration from them about the source of their funding.
The chilling accounts in the western media of the activities in these institutions may be exaggerated and many of them may well be doing nothing more than providing a modicum of education and free boarding and lodging to students from poorer families. Conversations with the graduates of even the most benign of these madressahs makes clear how narrow a vision they have imbibed and how ill-prepared they are for adjusting to the demands of modern society.
The situation with regard to the other facet - the recruitment of volunteers is even more alarming. Without entering into the sordid details of what these volunteers were taught, what they did in Pakistan and what they did in the other countries or regions to which they were sent, certain conclusions can be drawn about the impact they had on Pakistan's domestic polity and on Pakistan's foreign policy and its "image".
The creation of the "Kalashnikov culture" was owed to the Afghan jihad but its perpetuation as also the brutalization of society and the deterioration in the law and order situation certainly owed a great deal to the mushrooming of well-financed extremist groups and their well-paid "volunteers".
The cream of our youth looked for economic opportunities abroad even before the "Islamization" process but even those who wished to stay and serve the country started fleeing as these volunteers caused the traditional social fabric of the country to start unravelling.
The newly independent Central Asian States, anxious to escape the Russian stranglehold on their economies welcomed the prospect of expanding intra regional trade and establishing new transit routes through Pakistan.
This early promise was soon belied as the Central Asian States and their secular leaders took alarm at what they saw as an effort by Pakistani groups to act as a conduit for rich religious organizations in the Gulf to preach fundamentalist Islam to their countries.
Even the traditionally close relationship with the People's Republic of China came under threat as Pakistani individuals and groups were identified as aiding the Uighur separatist movement.
Certainly it was these volunteers and their "connections" that led report after report by western intelligence agencies to claim that in the investigation of virtually every terrorist incident the trail led back to Pakistan or through Pakistan to Afghanistan. It was their activities which brought Pakistan to the brink of being declared a "terrorist" state.
Much of this was tolerated and even encouraged in the false belief that such trends in society and such "volunteers" could advance Pakistan's foreign policy goals or the interests of particular groups. There now appears to be a realization that these hopes are false and that any further pandering to these trends could be fraught, in the current domestic, regional and international environment with the most dangerous consequences for the stability of our country.
If this is true then corrective measures have to be taken with pragmatism both in the domestic and international sphere. On the domestic front we need first of all to change the laws that promote extremism. Rather than inviting a debate on the Hudood Ordinance the measure should be repealed.
Rather than vacillation the proposed changes in the Blasphemy Law should be instituted. Rather than seeking voluntary registration our laws must call for the mandatory registration of madressahs on the one hand and of the private schools which fall outside the public education system and follow curricula in certain areas that have no relevance to Pakistan.
Rather than merely bewailing our inability to control the influx of foreign funds and therefore foreign influences,k let us legislate tough punishments for those who are found guilty of illegally receiving funds from abroad.
We must, through tough action, give lie to the assumption by many in Pakistan and many more abroad that the administrative machinery is unwilling more so than unable to wage the battle against extremism that the government has proclaimed.
Those in government who flout or deliberately frustrate government policy must be disciplined. The administrative machinery has been weakened by many years of mismanagement but the rot has not set in so deeply that it cannot be stemmed and then reversed.
The administration should be put on notice that the government will no longer accept that the perpetrators of sectarian violence cannot be identified nor will it accept at the national level that the administration is unable to act because of the strong political pressures at the local level.
The government has to dispel the image that we are a soft nation unable to take the tough actions needed to bring sanity back to our national life. As we take these steps internally we will prepare the ground for seeking the cooperation of our friends in the Muslim world to curb the clandestine transfer of funds to extremist organizations.
Already many Arab philanthropists, many with large investments in the West, have become wary of giving funds to "Islamic" organizations for fear that if these organizations are linked with terrorism then the donors' investments in the West may become subject to confiscation.
Even if this is a breach of refugee asylum rules we should press the UNHCR and other agencies to move the Afghan refugees from camps on our side of the border to the Afghan side. We can offer to provide whatever logistic support is needed to ensure that the camp inhabitants continue to receive the same assistance as they are being given on the Pakistan side.
We must not accept the argument that this would worsen the security situation in Afghanistan since our "Pakistan First" slogan should require us to be concerned primarily with the threat the Afghan refugee presence poses to our sectarian harmony.
The denigration of Islam in the western media has had a deleterious impact on the psyche of the people. There is resentment on the restrictions that have been placed on visas for Pakistanis and other Muslims wishing to visit the US and Europe and about the "harassment" to which Muslims resident in these countries have been subjected.
In these circumstances there is a receptive audience when the extremist religious parties maintain that modernization or acceptance of liberal values is tantamount to accepting the dictates of a patently unjust world order. There is a tacit acceptance that perhaps the Muslims will cease to be second class citizens of their own countries and of the world only if they adhere to what the extremist parties preach as the true dogma.
These, unfortunately are the realities of the present day world. It is the first task of Pakistan's leadership to convince the people that the path of extremism advocated by the religious parties is no solution. It is the task of the government to emphasize that even while sympathizing with the Muslims in other parts of the world is natural, our first task is to safeguard Pakistan's interests.
The writer is a former foreign secretary.
Karachi does us proud
At six in the morning on Saturday, March 13, I asked my wife to give me some tea and bring me the morning papers. It took me about an hour to go through the papers and two cups of tea. It was still around seven. But I was excited, waiting for the India-Pakistan cricket match to begin in Karachi.
Counting the minutes did not help. Half an hour went by and my anxiety grew. Two hours still to go. In desperation, I asked my wife to bring me her rosary because I had decided to pray. More than anything else, I prayed for a normal, peaceful game of cricket.
Much more than cricket was at stake. God must have heard me, because what followed was a dream. At the end of the game, I had forgotten everything I had seen. The people of Karachi had been simply magnificent. They had done themselves proud. They had done their country proud. They had cheered the Indians as they flogged the Pakistani bowlers all over the place.
Of the game itself, only fleeting images remain. The one thing I remember is that the Pakistani bowlers have seldom made a more irresponsible start to an international game of cricket. The number of wides and no-balls was staggering. I will name no names.
Everyone was guilty. When India reached 142 for two in 14 overs and a bit, I thought the game was as good as over but the next 35 overs brought 207 runs. Even so, the required run rate was exactly seven an over, a virtual impossibility.
It looked even more improbable when Pakistan lost their openers for next to nothing. Inzimam and Youhanna then took the game away from India or so the pundits said. In the end, they fell a bare five runs short of the target. Enough has been written on the historic match.
For me the game is over, only the memory remains. Above all and above everything else, I will remember the people of Karachi. They have given a historic series a historic start. My only hope is that the people of Rawalpindi, Peshawar and Lahore will rise to the occasion and if they are half as good as the people of Karachi, they shall have been great. More than that I will not say.
* * * * * *
A friend of mine who now lives in Karachi, has reason to remember the Indian newspaper, The Pioneer. Writing for it on March 11, Indranil Basu says:
After 5pm, those who feel hungry and do not desire to cook at home or have arrived in this city of colleges and gardens for the first time, make it a point to grab a bite of the authentic Mughlai food at the Dilan-i-Lahore Food Bazaar at Gawalmandi, which is an extension of the Purani Anarkali Market.
So what if the food is rich and spicy? The smell of fried fish, the aroma of butter chicken and mutton tandoor linger in the air as if there's no tomorrow. And it is tough to resist the temptations (especially if you are very hungry) when the sight of the glowing tandoors greet you at night.
One is courteously guided towards the 50 to 60 stalls which offer a variety of choices. Unfortunately, the gluttony had to be controlled, hence, the focus had to change. So one zeroes in on the customers busy attacking the tandoori items on their plates.
One of them being Begum Sanaullah, a frequent visitor to this grand food bazaar. Between mouthfuls she says: "This is a typical Pakistani food market, where even the poor can afford to eat their fill. It is a place of tourist attraction, where people from all walks of life come and enjoy the food."
But is it safe for an Indian visitor, in particular, to visit such a market after 9pm?
The Begum answers this with a counter question. "Why not? It is safe for one and all, I believe."
Sabir Khan, a security guard, pipes in with some authority in his voice: "Since you people have come here to cover the cricket series, you are also playing a big role in trying to normalise the stormy relationship between the two nations."
During the course of conversations, whenever an invitation to India was extended, it was met with a lot of enthusiasm. "Just as the Indians like tandoori items, we also like the Indian food very much," said Khwaja Ahmad Shakeel, the chairman of the food bazaar. "The South Indian dosa is one of my favourite snacks," he says. "And I just love the Bengali fish curries."
Expressing sadness over the Bird Flu, the Khwaja said: "Our business has definitely been hit. But we serve the best food in Pakistan. It has been more than three years since we are into this business and since its inception, we have not incurred any loss."
With such flourishing gastronomic attractions, one need not go hungry in Lahore. Here ends the Basu story. May I add in passing that I have never been to the Food Street. Some Lahoris like me can be dumb, you know.
* * * * * *
I have received the following piece by mail. Titled The Paradox, it reads: The paradox of our time in history is that we have taller buildings, but shorter tempers; Wider freeways but narrower in viewpoints; We spend more, but have less; We buy more, but enjoy less; We have bigger houses and smaller families; More convenience but less time; We have more degrees but less sense; more knowledge but less judgment; more experts but more problems more medicines but less health; We have multiplied our possessions; But reduced our values; We talk too much; Love too seldom; and hate too often.
We've learned how to make a living, but not a life. We've added years to life, but not life to years. We've been to the moon and back, But have trouble crossing the street to meet a neighbour. We've conquered outer space, but no inner space; We've cleaned up the air, but polluted the soul; We've split the atom, but not our prejudice; We have higher incomes, but lower morals; We've become long on quantity, but short on quality.
These are the times of tall men, but short characters Steep profits and shallow relationships. More leisure, but less fun; More kinds of food, but less nutrition. It is a time when there is much in the show window, and nothing in the stock room; And a time when you can choose to make a difference or just hit delete.
Karachi's nightmare, India's neurosis
Put it to some kind of neurosis that seemingly reasonable people should find themselves prepared to bomb a city and its people they otherwise claim to like. Watching all those emotional peace placards circulating around the cricket stadium where Indian and Pakistan players were locked in a hugely popular game on Saturday presented one side of the case.
On the other hand, just a day earlier, the foreign ministers of both countries were pleading with the world to accept them as legal nuclear powers, to stop treating them as nuclear upstarts and gatecrashers. Why should the world heed them? The question is for the peace-loving residents of Karachi to ask.
Why should Karachi be concerned more than anyone else? Well, there are two books that may hold the answer. First, only last month, much after the current thaw in India-Pakistan ties was well under way, India's former chief of naval staff Admiral (retd) S.M. Nanda released a book he wrote in a "Me Tarzan" mode.
The book is titled "The man who bombed Karachi". What might be even more worrying was the applause that came when someone read out the mindlessly macho passages from it.
A fleet of Indian Navy's missile boats silently made their way across the Arabian Sea on the night of Dec 4, 1971, to take position off the coast of Karachi, for what is called in contemporary history 'the biggest bloody bonfire in Asia', goes the story.
"Back in the naval operations room, the officers were eager to hear the 'word', which meant the most to them. When 'Angaar', the codeword for the successful mission was announced, it became clear that the fresh water port and citadel of Pakistan Army, Karachi, had fallen." This excerpt from a former military man's memory of a bitter war would not matter that much were it not for the bloody-minded approval it received from the audience.
An even less agreeable feeling stems from the illusion of peace sought to be purveyed by the foreign ministers of the two countries as they tried last week to suggest to their audiences in Islamabad and New Delhi that all was going to be normal between India and Pakistan and that they should therefore be accepted as legitimate nuclear powers.
In fact the Indian minister went a step further, claiming that his country really knew how to handle nuclear weapons because India was a 'mature' and 'responsible' nation. Nothing could be more preposterous than the claim of responsibility, forget maturity.
What was the great statesman, also known as India's current prime minister, saying only a few months ago? Yes, true, President Musharraf made some naive macho remarks about his men not wearing bangles.
But how did the neo-Nehruvian prime minister, if there could be such a phrase, respond? "Those who talk about bangles should know that we wear metal karas," came the statesman's rejoinder. The responsible and mature crowd applauded.
And how can we forget the dance of jubilation after Pokharan II when government ministers challenged Pakistan to have it out in a war, the same way as cricket crazy jingoists seek sublimation in a one-day international, if not in a street brawl? Was that responsible? The Indian government was livid when diplomatic missions in New Delhi were evacuated during the military mobilization against Pakistan through most of 2002.
But senior Indian officials have revealed since then that the two countries came close to war in January and May that year. So what are we to believe? That two nuclear-armed countries came close to war twice in close succession recently, but the world should not have taken evasive action because Armageddon was not nigh?
Anyway, coming back to Karachi, a new book gives a dispassionate account of the cost in human and material toll should a nuclear war break out between these two countries. "The Cost of Conflict Between India and Pakistan" presents two horrific case studies - the nuclear bombing of Bombay and the retaliatory nuclear annihilation of Karachi.
According to the analysis by the Bombay-based think-tank, the Strategic Foresight Group, India's retaliatory strike on Karachi would be with a 50 kiloton bomb dropped on the Karachi Port railway station at Saddar.
"The explosion takes place at a height of 600 metres. It is a daytime attack with clear visibility. The attack takes place on a weekday, when commercial areas and offices are manned.
"The area that falls within the 2.5km radius of the hypocentre of a bomb dropped over the Karachi Port railway station would be completely destroyed. This coastal belt marked by the Karachi harbour and a fish harbour to the west, mangrove swamps to the west and south and the Mauripur town ship to the north and east, is known to the locals as the Old City.
The towns that fall in this area are Lyari and Saddar in the south-west Karachi division. In 1998, Lyari had a total population of approximately 0.61 million while Saddar had a population of approximately 0.62 million....This area would be completely decimated in the attack and there would be no survivors."
Obviously, and mercifully, this is a mere hypothetical conjecture by a well-meaning peace promoter. But what is not so widely realized, although it has proved to be an irrefutable fact given South Asia's experience of the last couple of years, is that it is specious to argue that India and Pakistan are mature and responsible nuclear powers: there are no responsible or mature nuclear powers. Unless we agree that dropping the bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki was a mature and responsible act.
The argument for the bomb becomes even less tenable when we see how ordinary people of India and Pakistan can have their share of joy and banter together at a jam-packed cricket stadium in Karachi.
If anyone it is the people of the two countries who could justifiably claim to be mature and responsible, certainly not their governments which seek to drive a wedge between them with their nuclear toys and other assorted weapons.
* * * * *
With its core support coming from cricket-crazy middle class, the Bharatiya Janata Party in Bihar and elsewhere is not feeling very good over the Indian cricket tour of Pakistan.
BJP leaders are reportedly worried that the pulsating India-Pakistan cricket matches will draw voters away from political rallies at a time when the BJP is desperate to defeat Bihar strongman Laloo Prasad Yadav.
The worry is genuine because Deputy Prime Minister L.K. Advani's cross-country campaign will reach Bihar on April 7, when India and Pakistan would be playing their second Test at Lahore.
A millionaire, only for a week
A friend who is good at seizing money-making opportunities with alacrity recently realized his lifelong dream of becoming a millionaire. Telling his envious friends how he pulled off the feat, he often omits to mention that he remained a millionaire only for a week.
One day at the Karachi Stock Exchange, the friend overheard a few successful investors, well known for their business acumen, talk excitedly about some profitable financial venture. He picked up the phrase "Iraqi dinar".
Overcome by curiosity, the friend went straight to a trustworthy moneychanger who told him that the Iraqi dinar was in great demand. The currency was being flown in from Dubai in huge amounts to be quickly snapped up by astute investors, the moneychanger added.
Unable to figure out why the currency of a war-ravaged country was doing so well, the friend turned to a professional banker for advice. The banker said the money market was awash with rumours that the value of the Iraqi dinar would shoot up in the near future.
He added that investors hoped that under American pressure Arab countries would write off the heavy reparations they have been demanding from Iraq since the First Gulf War. This, he argued, would lead to the stabilization of the Iraqi economy.
Since the going rate that day was three paisas to a dinar, the friend immediately purchased some 10 million Iraqi dinars for Rs300,000. He was happy that he had invested in a little-known business enterprise, but soon he read in the papers that a large number of venture capitalists were also doing exactly the same.
He knew from experience that this would make the currency shed some value. His heart sank when the State Bank, rather belatedly, issued a warning, advising people against buying Iraqi dinars in the hope of making a killing.
The friend took fright and sold his Iraqi dinars at once. Since the exchange rate between the dinar and the rupee was a bit higher, he earned a measly profit of Rs5,000.
However, he stopped grousing about the episode when shortly afterwards the Iraqi currency suddenly fell, and a large number of small-time investors lost a fortune. Now he tells his friends that it is such a good feeling to be a millionaire - if only for a week.
Crowd does Karachi proud
When the first ODI was played between Pakistan and India on Saturday the city came to a virtual standstill. True, the local authorities declared it a holiday to enable cricket buffs to watch the match at the National Stadium or on TV, but even banks which were supposed to function wore a deserted look. Someone visiting a multinational bank on the 26th Street in Defence Housing Authority saw the staff glued to the TV set, which normally doesn't attract much attention.
In the evening greengrocers at Empress Market were selling their vegetables at considerably reduced prices because few customers had turned up to buy them during the day.
The small boats which are used by fishermen to net small fish not too far away from the beach opposite Seaview Township and Darkshan Homes in the non-monsoon months, were conspicuous by their absence. There was one solitary boat, which too disappeared in the afternoon.
Instead of watching the match at home, many people joined their friends who had TV sets with larger screens. Some of the hotels had installed large-screen TV sets in their coffee shops, and one of them had temporarily rechristened its restaurant as Dosti Coffee Shop. The menu was changed too. Various dishes were given cricketing terms and the menu folder bore the flags of both countries.
Seen in the lobby was a friend of Rahul Gandhi, who was feeling somewhat lost because Gandhi, his sister and brother-in-law were supposed to have stayed with him in the five-star hotel but were shifted to the State Guest House.
Whenever there is a limited-overs game featuring Pakistan, the attendance at cinema houses falls. This time acting on the famous saying "If you can't beat them, join them," three cinema houses got special permission from the authorities to show Saturday's match.
The mini cinema house on Beach Avenue in DHA couldn't attract a full house, primarily because the management charged exorbitantly for admission tickets - Rs 499. But Lyric and Bambino in Saddar attracted full houses. Their admission ticket was Rs100.
A colleague of ours who saw the second half of the match in Bambino said that it was like being in the stadium. The audience applauded every good shot by a Pakistani batsman or a neat save by an Indian fielder. Encouraged by a full house, the cinema management showed slides announcing that they would screen the remaining four ODIs also.
An Indian journalist who watched the match at the stadium said: "I didn't expect any trouble to erupt at the stadium in view of the strong security measures, but I didn't expect the people to be so appreciative of the game either.
They were generous in their praise and every good performance was applauded. It was among the best crowds that I have seen in the subcontinent in all these years." That the crowd did Karachi proud goes without saying.
Wrinkle-free notes
There is this lady who has a fetish of paying shopkeepers the exact price of what she buys and thus not have to receive any change. She says she can't think of putting the soiled currency notes handed over by, say, the butcher in change into her bag. She is not the only person who thinks that way. Most citizens are getting fed up with the dirty notes they get back from shopkeepers, other traders, bus conductors, and even banks.
The currency notes in circulation are not only becoming dog-eared, torn, defaced but are often so filthy that one is sure they must be carriers of many diseases when they exchange hands, especially when scratching and spitting and nose-cleaning are so common.
One wonders whether it is possible to switch over entirely to coins. A study carried out by Karachi University last year said coins are safer than notes which can carry germs. But with so many coins of varying denominations will come the problem of weight. Stronger pockets will be needed, not to mention the jangle the coins will make as you walk.
So, how about trying some synthetic material - washable, wrinkle-free and worry-free? No oil or ink blotches, no sweat stains. How about polymer? For the record, Australia issued the world's first plastic currency in 1988, a $10 note commemorating the continent's bicentenary.
Zambia is the first African country to have introduced notes made of polypropylene. The proponents of plastic notes say that for countries where bank notes need the highest level of security or have a short life-span due to climate conditions, polymer is an excellent means of ensuring the currency's security and longevity.
The downside is the cost of switching over from paper. But the bright side would be that our State Bank would have to incur no cost as it does now while disposing of worn-out currency notes or worry about forgeries.
Plastic cannot be run through colour photocopiers or laser printers. The majority of polymer currency note users are developing countries. Most countries use coins for small denominations, as these are extremely durable.
email: arachi_notebook@hotmail.com.
'Journalist poets' host mushaira
Ahmad Faraz with a couple of other poets from upcountry graced the All Pakistan Mushaira, held at the Karachi Press Club on Saturday night. The poets were divided in two groups - journalist poets and non-journalists, the former being the hosts, trying to prove their mettle in literature as well. The mushaira, which started late in the evening was concluded in the Vee hours of Sunday.
Ahmad Faraz recited two of his famous pieces - 'mohasra' and the ghazal 'suna hai log use ankh bhar ke dekhtey hein.' The former, when recited during Zia regime at the same venue and under similar circumstances, had landed Faraz in police custody because of its revolutionary contents, while the later was a romantic ghazal-i-musalsal, but Ahmad Faraz had some fresh stuff as well:
Ab to hum ghar se nekaltey hain to rakh detey hain
Taaq per izzat-i-sadaat bhi dastaar ke saath.
Eik to Khaab leay phirte ho galyoon galyoon
Us pe takrar bhi karte ho khareedar ke saath
Shehr Ka shehr he naaseh ho to phir kya kejay
verna hum rind to bhir jaatey hain do chaar ke saath
humko is shehr mein taamir ka sauda hae jahan
log memaar ko chun detay haen deevar ke saath
Amjad Islam Amjad and Shehzad Ahmad, both from Lahore, recited ghazals and poems, which had always attracted their fans. Aqeel Abbas Jafery had come from Islamabad, Khalish Mozaffer and the elderly Enayat Ali Khan from Hyderabad and Ghulam Haider Syed from Multan, to make the mushaira truly 'all Pakistan' in character. Mr Haider recited the following:
Lebaas dekh ke itna hamey ghareeb na jaan
hamara gham teri imlaak se zeyada hai
Among local poets, there were many prominent persons like Prof Saher Ansari, Ms Fatema Hasan, Ghaus Mathravi, Naqqash Kazmi, Rehana Roohi, Zakia Ghazal, and our own 'Khalid Bhai' popular for his anti-establishment verses, Akhtar Saeedi, Ajmal Seraj, Khalid Moin, Azm Behzaad, Javed Saba, Sarwer Javed and Parvin Javed were given due reception by the audience. Fazil Jameeli, who was youngest among the lot, read out a good poem 'for the trees.' Akhar Saeedi read out the following:
Pairoon mein ager ishq ki zanjeer na hoti
Maen kaisay bhala vadi-a-mehran mein hota
Ajmal Siraj's verses carried the real journalists touch:
Jo naheen hai usi ka rona hai
Gham ka rona khushi ka rona hai
Mushaira was, after all very well managed and successful, ,Rashid Noor conducted the proceedings. Khursheed Abbasi, Secretary of the KPC thanked the guests.
Book on history of Muslims launched
Karachi: "Europe mein Islam ki aamad" - Urdu version of a well-researched book by four Muslim authors written in German language was launched on Saturday at the Aligarh Muslim University Old Boys Association lawn.
Among those who introduced the translator and spoke on the merits of the book included Prof Dr Riazul Islam, Dr Manzoor Ahmad, Dr Mohammad Sabir, Dr Mumtaz Ahmad Khan and others. The writer, Mohammad Shakir Ali Khan, staying in Germany for decades and well-versed in German language did the stupendous work. The original book was written in Italian language.
Aligarh Muslim University Old Boys Association president Z.A. Nizami, who presided over the launching ceremony, admired the writer Shakir Ali Khan for doing a fine job and said that authentic books on Muslim history and culture was in much demand in the West, particularly in the United States.
Prof Hearte, a non-Muslim scholar, had in recent times compiled a book on leading historical personalities, the Holy Prophet (PBUH) on the top of it. Mr Nizami advised people to go through that part of the book and try to understand the virtues of Islamic teachings. He praised Zakir Ali Khan, the writer's elder brother, who had published at least nine books on behalf of the Association in a decade, or so.
As Prof Mohammad Sabir whose preface evaluated the book pointing out some lapses, the speakers including Dr Manzoor Ahmad thought that those were not intentional. Dr Sabir made a brief speech as well.
Prof Riazul Islam surveyed the contribution of the Muslims in Spain spread over hundreds of years. Qordaba, being the cultural capital of Spain had 700 mosques/colleges and a library, proudly contained four hundred thousand hand-written manuscripts, which were all destroyed by the zealot Christians.
The rise of Muslims rule was indebted to their judicious mode of governance and minimum rate of taxation, he observed. Europe's renaissance was also indebted to the knowledge provided by the Arabs who did massive translation work during their heyday. It was progress in science which determined the success and rise of a nation, Dr Islam said.
Dr Manzoor Ahmad emphasized on the honest and secular approach towards history writing and said it should not be mixed with religion. Enlightenment and tolerance were the basic needs of the present Muslim societies, he said.
Shakir Ali Khan described his experiences while staying in Spain and travelling in its four corners. He said that a deliberate effort was made by the enemies of Islam to erase the slightest sign of Muslim culture, but, it had very strong roots even in present times.
The selfless service, hospitality and generosity found in them was the blessing of the Muslims rule. Prof Rahman Khawer recited his verse written for the occasion. Mazher Ali Khan Arif did the compering and introduced the guests.