| 17 October 2004 | Sunday | 02 Ramazan 1425 |
A city under perpetual threat
The 'hotspur' of the Lahore Darbar
Karachi: A paradox generally ignored in the raging debate on the uniform is that General Pervez Musharraf will become disqualified from holding the office of president the moment he gives up his army post.
A provision of the very article under which he is being asked to relinquish the army command bars any person who has been in the service of Pakistan from being elected to parliament and, by implication, to the presidency unless a period of two years has elapsed since he ceased to be in such service.
The relevant constitutional provision, Article 63, deals with the disqualifications for membership of parliament. Paragraph 'd' of its clause 1 disqualifies holders of office of profit in the service of Pakistan other than an office 'declared by law' not to disqualify its holder while its para 'k' stipulates that at least two years must elapse for a holder of a public office to become eligible for membership of parliament.
The army chief's office has been declared to be an office that does not disqualify its holder by the 'President to Hold Another Office Act 2004' adopted by the National Assembly on October 14 but its provisions are applicable only to the incumbent head of the state.
Service in the armed forces has been included in the 'service of Pakistan' by Article 260 (definitions clause) of the Constitution and the exempted offices include that of the prime minister, chief minister, speakers, ministers, advocates-general and the attorney-general, advisers, special assistants and chairmen and members of the Islamic Ideology Council and law commissions since there is no apparent conflict of interest or concentration of power involved in holding these offices and membership of parliament simultaneously.
The government has taken advantage of the expression 'declared by law' in Article 63(1)(d) to exempt the present army chief in an attempt to bring him at par with holders of offices mentioned in Article 260 for the time being.
The provisions of Article 63 aim at keeping the legislatures free of convicts, defaulters, anti-national elements and vested interests. They also seek to ensure adherence to the concept of separation of powers by forbidding executive and judicial functionaries from becoming lawmakers.
The provisions are vicariously applicable to the office of president by virtue of Article 41, which says that besides being a Muslim of not less than 45 years of age, the president should be qualified to be elected as a member of the National Assembly.
According to one view, the word 'qualified' occurring in Article 41 embraces only 'qualifications' of legislators, which have been enumerated in Article 62. Good character, adequate knowledge of Islam, sagacity, moral rectitude and respect for national integrity are among the qualifications.
The 'disqualifications' specified in Article 63 cannot, according to this view, be read into Article 41 as the president is not required 'not to be disqualified' from becoming a member of parliament. However, according to some superior court judgments, 'qualifications' and 'disqualifications' are two sides of the same coin and cannot not be separated from each other.
A more categoric bar is contained in Article 41, which prohibits the president from holding 'any office of profit in the service of Pakistan or occupy any other position carrying the right to remuneration for the rendering of services'. The supreme command of the armed forces is vested in the president but that does not carry the right to remuneration. It is immaterial whether he actually receives the salary and allowances for any other office held by him so long as the office carries the right to be remunerated for services rendered.
But Article 43 has been overridden by Article 41(7)(b) as amended by the XVII amendment to the Constitution. The amended provision says that having received the democratic mandate to serve the nation as president of Pakistan for a period of five years, the chief executive (General Pervez Musharraf), notwithstanding anything contained in this Article (41) or Article 43 or any other provision of the Constitution or any other law for the time being in force, assume the office of president forthwith and shall hold it for five years.
It is the proviso to Article 41(7)(b) that has given rise to the controversy over the uniform. Trumpeted by Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal as the crowning achievement of its campaign against the Legal Framework Order despite the adoption of the XVII amendment, it says that para 'd' of Article 63(1) barring the MPs from holding any office of profit in the service of Pakistan shall become operative on December 31, 2004.
It is silent on the operation of para 'k', which says that a holder of office of profit must wait for two years before becoming eligible for election as a member of parliament. Para 'k' is an equally valid and subsisting law, though, like other relevant constitutional provisions, it has been overridden by Article 41(7)(b).
A city under perpetual threat
I had gone to Bohri Bazar on Oct 9 on Saturday evening around 7pm, on a short visit for urgent last-minute shopping, when I realized that there was panic and fear in the weekend crowds. Families shopping at leisure became tense, and shopkeepers began pulling their shutters down. No one knew really what exactly had happened, except that Mufti Jamil Ahmed Khan and his one of his associates, Maulana Nazeer Taunsvi, had been shot dead, what tragedy again?
Some men and women couldn't comprehend the situation that had set in and persuaded the shopkeepers to stay calm. I heard one shopkeeper say: "You don't know what can happen in this situation, we know it better. Things are terrible in this city, don't you know?"
This had a depressing effect on me. One has indeed lived in fear in the past in this city at different times, for varying lengths. But this feeling made me sink anew. Suddenly, the bustling Bohri Bazar we have known for decades now, seemed a place, that one should get out of quickly.
It was a strange evening that followed an afternoon earlier on, when a familiar closure of main roads in South district, caused by heightened security measures enforced in view of prime minister's presence in the town, was experienced by the citizens. Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz was here for inauguration of a major exhibition - Jewel in the Crown: Karachi under the Raj 1843-1947- at the Mohatta Palace Museum.
The exhibition, which is scheduled for a full bloom very soon after Ramazan, one believes symbolizes the die-hard optimism and faith in Karachi and Pakistan. Indeed a matter of pride that we have ventures that reflect the other side of Karachi; the cheer not the fear; the exuberance, not the anxiety; the faith, not the despair. Living in the city is a swing between the two extremes.
With the kind of intensive security measures that were in place around midday on Saturday, around the Club Road and Ziauddin Road, and the way in which the PIDC House roundabout was clogged with vehicular traffic once again, I had lost all hope of attending the sneak preview, as it was called, of the exhibition. How I managed to reach the Mohatta Palace Museum on time, was due to the enterprise of a young man, who was undeterred by the traffic mess around. By the time, a proposed underpass will be constructed at this PIDC House roundabout, we would have suffered and aged unduly, remarked a Karachiite, who uses this area very acidly.
Now that Ramazan is here, thoughts naturally turn to the traffic jams and the paralysis that will unfold with a vengeance around Iftar time in particular, and the mayhem that will result. It is a dreadful thought for the citizens driving in this month at most times and a glimpse of this was evident on Friday evening, the eve when Ramazan began.
See what the prime minister, no stranger to Karachi having had his education here, said in the city on that Saturday evening at the earth-breaking ceremony of the development and rehabilitation work on the road from Mai Kolachi to the Submarine Chowk, sponsored by the Karachi Port Trust under the Tameer-i-Watan programme. He said: "his government attaches priority to communications sector and the construction of the above mentioned road would ensure smooth and uninterrupted flow of traffic."
The prime minister has noted what we may regard as the concern of Karachiites over delayed projects. He said that underpasses were being built in Pakistan in 90 days. However, this Mai Kolachi project being complex, he advised the contractor- the Frontier Works Organization- to ensure that the deadline is not "slipped". For the prime minister said that he was aware that the "delay would cause interruption to other construction activities in the city, which would create more hardship for the people here."
During the visit he also took notice of the inconvenience being caused to Karachiites when dignatories come to the Sindh capital. He said that alternatives were being examined and solutions were being looked for.... And he conceded, "But so far we haven't found much success and are still working on it."
The fact that solutions have not been found to the problems being created by security measures and VVIPS' visit (or when cricket and hockey teams from abroad stay here) is evident almost daily.
What happened on Thursday morning outside the Sheraton Hotel near the Chief Minister's House is something relevant in this context. For reasons unknown, around 10am swiftly and suddenly, the police (one presumes) began moving those large road-blocking containers through lifters, and bringing them to block Dr Ziauddin Ahmad Road, outside the Sheraton Hotel, in what appeared to be steps to block movement to and from the Chief Minister's House.
Many thoughts crossed the questioning, restless mind. For we live in a city so troubled, and only during this week the Sindh governor noted, in a law and order meeting he presided over, that Karachi was in the forefront of the impact created by Pakistan's courageous stand on the war against terrorism. Was there a procession moving towards the Chief Minister's House? Was there some bomb blast threat in the area? Was there an anticipated movement of terrorists? Thoughts like these began to be discussed as the silence of the morning evaporated into the din of the day unfolding gradually.
In a city, forever uncertain, there was more to it here than met the eye. That was the morning, one of the two Chinese engineers taken hostage, along with his five kidnappers had died in a rescue operation, while one Chinese hostage escaped unhurt. Was that related to this security step? Citizens carried on with their lives in suspense.
No one knows why all that had happened. Blocking roads with containers etc is indicative of our changing times and security needs and perceptions.
But what one does note here that the KPT, through full-page colour advertisements earlier during the week, announced that it was coming up with a Port Tower Complex, which would be amongst the ten tallest buildings in the world. Of course, this is a commercial venture whither insecurity?
Some of us were talking about this promised project advertised so generously and there was this view that it would have been far better were we to take care of the buildings and people that we already have. That there is far too much of population and resultant congestion in Karachi. Philosophically speaking, there is a need to stop the influx of people into the Sindh capital.
But there was this other view too, which says that if such mega projects do not come about then how are we going to make money? Make money. Don't think, dear fellow citizen! Imagine our future!
The 'hotspur' of the Lahore Darbar
One of the most intriguing incident in the entire history of the Lahore Fort has been the manner in which an important archway between the Hazuri Bagh and the fort at Roshnai Gate collapsed in 1840 without any apparent reason. There are several versions to the collapse, as well as some folk legend.
The collapse took place just after the cremation of Maharajah Kharrak Singh, the son of Maharajah Ranjit Singh, just outside the Lahore Fort. As the ruling Sikh elite walked back to the fort after the cremation, the heir-apparent Naunehal Singh, accompanied by Udham Singh, son of Maharajah Gulab Singh of Kashmir, led the procession.
As soon as they reached the archway, it suddenly, and mysteriously, collapsed, killing both princes of Punjab and Kashmir in a tragedy that shook both States and led to their ultimate collapse. Was it intrigue or was it sheer accident, this is a question that has vexed many an expert. Let us examine the folk legend that still takes the rounds of the old walled city of Lahore.
It exists in the shape of a phrase: "Whether if tell or was made to fall, for in it perished Naunehal". Such old sayings are now dying out themselves, and need to be recorded for the sake of future research. But the few that can be recorded in such columns add so much to our understanding of how people felt in those days.
According to a description of the incident by Kanhiyya Lal, once Maharajah Kharrak Singh became the ruler, the Dogra family that was so powerful in the Lahore Darbar, started intriguing against the new Maharajah. The death of the all powerful Maharajah Ranjit Singh, who ruled for a full 40 years, had left a massive power vacuum. Anyone of any consequence was trying to read just in a more powerful slot. Intrigue reigned supreme.
The powerful Dogras had managed to find a power ally in the heir- apparent, Prince Naunehal Singh. After they managed to murder Chet Singh, a pretender, they created circumstances that led the prince to force his father in confinement at his 'haveli' inside the walled city, and himself became the effective ruler.
Maharajah Kharrak Singh never forgave his son for this treatment, so much so that when he fell ill he refused to let his son come to meet him. In turn, Prince Naunehal Singh began to portray his father as a crazy man, which he certainly was not. He had turned into a mystic, and kept uttering deep meaning sentences, which most people were not able to understand. Others thought they were wise utterances of a very wise man.
It is a fact that the people of the walled city began to take a liking to the imprisoned Maharajah Kharrak Singh. In his confinement he would go round the moballahs of Lahore knocking on windows of Muslims, waking them up to say their prayers. The phrase "Kharrak Singh kay khattaknay say kharrakti hain khirkian" is still uttered by almost all school-going children in Lahore.
The sardars of the Lahore Darbar found this to be "utter madness" and they wanted a patch-up. Maharajah Kharrak Singh refused to entertain such thoughts and started telling anyone who came to meet him. "He is stupid if he thinks he will go to the Lord alone. When I go, he will go too". Kanhiyya Lal records as having met a lot of old people in the walled city had heard of this.
Another source, a Sikh history website, states that "Kharrak Singh was a mystic who could predict the future and he accurately, to the very date, predicted his own and his son's death". Yet another source describes Kharrak Singh as letting out a loud laugh when told that Naunehal Singh was the effective 'maharajah'. "That day will never come', he would laugh.
There is every reason to believe that Naunehal Singh was party to the slow poisoning of his father. When Kharrak Singh died in 1840, he was cremated just next to where his father was. After the cremation as the hyperactive Naunehal Singh was walking back to the Lahore Fort for his certain enthronement as maharajah of the Punjab, the archway under which he as passing collapsed and he was buried alive along with the Udham Singh. Here it would be interesting to take up the description of Col. H.R.Golding: The British called him the hotspur of the Punjab.
The fall of the archway has been attributed to some design.... as the sikh courtiers tried to conceal the injuries to the heir-apparent, conspiracy was feared. But the precise timing of the fall certainly does not seem accidental. Gulab Singh is feared a having engineered it. But then his own son perished, which is inconsistent with the motives of Gulab Singh."
Yet another scholar has described the death of Naunehal Singh in the following terms: "once the cremation of Karrak Singh was over, a gun salute followed which shook the grounds of the fort. At this moment the hair-apparent was in a hurry to leave and start his enthronement. The vibrations of the cannons dislodged the already damaged archway, and it so happened that it collapsed just when Naunehal Singh and Udham Singh were passing under it. The theory of a conspiracy is most unlikely." Sounds a logical theory, even though archways as strong as those of the Lahore Fort are not known to collapse from the thunder of a cannon. But then the mystery remains.
The samadhs of Kharrak Singh and Naunehal Singh are both in the same room, where their ashes are under to small domes just next to that of Maharajah Ranjit Singh. Together rests three generations of the most powerful family ever seen in the Punjab. The first was a pragmatic ruler, the second a mystic and the third a 'hotspur'. In modern terms he could be called a misguided missile that helped end the very dynasty that raised him. In Lahore the first is till admired, the second is loved by those who know about him, while the third has been forgotten.