| 02 February 2005 | Wednesday | 22 Zilhaj 1425 |
Tribute to Baba Najmi
Plea for provincial autonomy
There is an air of distrust in the small underdeveloped town of Sui whose existence is at stake after army spokesmen announced that a 15-kilometre area around the gas field would be evacuated.
"This means that almost the entire Sui would become a ghost town as the town itself is spread around the Sui gas field which is the lifeline for local residents," says Jamhoori Watan Party secretary-general Rauf Sasooli.
The announcement about the setting up of a garrison has added to the bitterness caused by the January 3 rape incident towards Pakistan Petroleum Limited (PPL) and the Defence Security Guards (DSG).
"First of all they don't give us employment. The gas field is basic for the local population of Sui. Residents are dependent on the gas field even for their need of water which comes from the field," says 40-year-old Qalandar Baksh Bugti.
Gang rape is a term which is unheard of at least in the local tribal framework of the Baloch people. "We are even more bitter due to the fact that the lady doctor was a guest in our land and according to our tribal traditions we were supposed to protect her even at the cost of our life. Sadly that hasn't happened", says Nawazdin Bugti, a local shopkeeper.
The attempt to hush up the matter by the PPL management and the DSG further fuelled the fire. "Had a civilian been accused in the incident, the sky would have fallen upon us by now", remarked Nawab Mohammad Akbar Khan Bugti, chief of the Bugti tribe who also heads the Jahmoori Watan Party.
There are also reports that after the incident, the lady doctor was intimidated and was offered a hefty amount to keep silent over the matter, a local said. An employee of the Sui gas field requesting anonymity said that the lady doctor was helpful and used to treat women and children with kindness.
He recalled a minor incident a few days before the rape in which the wife of a DSG official had asked the lady doctor to prescribe some expensive medicines. When the lady doctor declined, the lady became furious and left the place, hurling abuses at the doctor.
Apart from her, the PPL field hospital has several other lady doctors and nurses who must now be feeling insecure. Not far from the gas field is the sleepy looking Sui police station.
A police official who also requested not to be named said that he last went inside the gas field about three years back. "They security forces behave as if they have been directly sent from heaven; even policemen cannot enter the field without being physically frisked by the personnel," he said. Search of policemen at gate no.2 of the gas field was witnessed by this reporter also.
A visit to the area shows that the army along with paramilitary forces have taken up positions and dug bunkers along the route right from Kashmore to Sui and Dera Bugti. Checkposts are manned by the FC and Rangers.
The Bambore rifles have taken up positions on the mountain tops overseeing Dera Bugti where Nawab Akbar Bugti is based. Though seemingly outnumbered by the troops, the local tribesmen do not appear to be intimidated by the fire power of the other side.
Both sides are eyeball to eyeball in Dera Bugti where Bugti tribesmen have also taken up position. Tribesmen equipped with rocket propelled grenades (RPG) were also seen entrenched in Dera. Troops patrol the streets of Sui and Dera Bugti in convoy. En route from Sui to Dera Bugti, this reporter saw tanks taking up position in the area.
The announcement of the setting up of a cantonment in Sui might have shocked many, but it was not a surprise for the local administration who were aware of the process for the past some months.
Dera Bugti district Nazim Mohammad Kazim Bugti told Dawn that the process was initiated two to three months back. Though the military went through all the formalities for acquiring the land originally belonging to the Bakahalani clan, an offshoot of the Kalpar tribe, the 400 acres of land is seen as a forced acquisition.
"The land in question does not belong to any single person. It is the property of the clan and different representatives of the clan had refused to give their land, but the army has acquired the land under the 1894 Land Acquisition Act," said Kazim Bugti. The land has been acquired in two phases, he added.
"No one has sold the land nor has anyone purchased it. It is clearly a forced acquisition", Mr Bugti remarked. According to a local journalist, a significant number of the local people have migrated from Sui to adjoining areas of Dera Bugti and Muth, a region with some vegetation, fearing troubled times ahead.
Heading for Dera Bugti from Sui this reporter tried to talk with some of the locals who were on the move with their families heading towards Muth. However, they refused to talk, saying that it could land them in trouble.
Tribute to Baba Najmi
Punjabi is popularly used in most parts of Pakistan, much beyond the boundaries of Punjab. It is endowed with rich folk literature and poignant sufi poetry. Like Urdu, Punjabi is also the common citizen's lingua franca in Karachi's cosmopolitan culture.
That was why a large audience had turned up to listen to Punjabi poet Baba Najmi at the launch of his third poetry collection at the Karachi Press Club last Wednesday.
The Baba is popular also for his thematic and down to earth verses. Following the late Habib Jalib, whom he considered a patron and friend, Baba has been a valiant supporter of the people, uncompromising in his cause and firmly an anti-establishment poet.
At the launch of his collection, Mera na Insan, the speakers admired Baba's diction and simple language. As someone rightly pointed out, his poetry was so close to Urdu that it did not require a translation.
Apart from Senator Aitzaz Ahsan who had come from Islamabad to preside over the deliberations, other speakers included Nadir Shah Adil and Sajjad Mir, editor of an Urdu daily.
Adil, a Baloch from Lyari and a journalist and columnist, described how he had first met Baba Najmi, earning his daily bread by washing cars by the roadside. Baba lives in a neglected locality of Mehmoodabad, and Adil soon found a similarity between the deprived people of Lyari and those of Mehmoodabad - honest, hard working and brave.
Baba Najmi's verses, other speakers observed, reflected the humane tradition of liberalism and enlightenment existing for centuries in Punjab and found in sufi poets such as Bulleh Shah and Waris Shah. The pain and distress of the common people and their longing for a just social order found an echo in Baba's verses.
Aitzaz Ahsan admired the fact that Karachians had embraced a worker from Punjab and appreciated his poetry. While praising the traditional humanism of Punjab and the culture nourished by its saints and sufis and their anti-establishment role, one of the speakers recalled Dulla Bhatti who had for many years fought the Mughals.
It was interesting to note that while all the speakers remembered Habib Jalib's role in the making of Baba Najmi, nobody recalled Ustad Daman, who had kept the torch of rebellion alive during the martial laws of Ayub and Zia. Though a recluse, his 'hujra' in Lahore had remained a meeting place for young poets and radical young people.
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The revival of literary sittings at the Goethe Institut after a lapse of two years has been warmly welcomed. The new director of the institute, Dr Petra Raymond, in her remarks at the opening of the new building on Jan 28, recalled that it was in May 1999 that literary functions in cooperation with Pakistani writers had first begun at the Goethe Institut, but the law and order situation had intervened, and the process had come to a halt.
The library at the Goethe Institut at the disposal of writers and intellectuals, Dr Raymond said. Dr Mohammad Ali Siddiqui presided over the sitting while a short story was presented by Ms Shahnaz Shoro, a popular Sindhi writer who is equally eloquent in Urdu.
Her story with the Arabic "La iqrah fil-deen (There is no coersion in religion)" as its title depicts the hatred found between Hindus and Muslims on both sides of the subcontinent.
Later, Yawar Awan read out a poem 'Kapelwastu Sey Gaya Tak', eulogizing the humanitarian and peaceful message of Gautama Buddha. But the opening piece of the evening was a poem by Tashna Barelvi - an Urdu version of a work by German poet Schiller.
Schiller, who lived and wrote in Goethe's time, was known for his romantic verses, which influenced English poets as well, including Byron and Shelley, Dr Siddiqui said.
The term 'romanticism' was misunderstood by many as relating only to romantic love. But it was much more, and meant "freedom, complete freedom of the body and soul," Dr Siddiqui said.
He added that the romantic movement in Urdu literature during the '20s and '30s came with Sir Ross Masud, Majnoon Gorakhpuri and other writers, all of whom were influenced by Schiller and the English poets of those times.
Tashna Barelvi's translation was liked by the audience and Shahnaz Shoro's short story was seen as timely and rich in content.
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A qaumi Yakjehti mushaira-2005, hosted by New Karachi Town and attended by all the well-known poets of Karachi, was held last Saturday. Both the 'mehmaani-khasoosi' and the 'mehman-i-aizazi' had not reached the venue till 1am, according to a friend who had left the mushaira at about that time.
Khalid Alig, Jazib Qureshi, Sajid Ali Sajid, Sarfraz Abad, Aijaz Rahmani, Muslim Shamim, and in all about 40 poets took part.
Plea for provincial autonomy
Referring to the demand for full provincial autonomy made at Quetta's All-Party Conference, Ibrat says that the Pakistan Resolution had guaranteed autonomy and equal rights for the federating units but the provinces which comprise Pakistan were denied autonomy as well as their rights.
Worse, from the Bengali to the Baloch people, those demanding provincial autonomy were subjected to military operations and state oppression by successive governments. This resulted in the dismemberment of the country in 1971.
When the constitution of 1971 was presented in parliament, it was again promised that provinces would get more rights in a decade, a promise yet to be fulfilled.
When Gen Pervez Musharraf assumed power, he admitted that there was a sense of deprivation prevailed in smaller provinces and his agenda included decentralization of powers.
The daily blames the unresolved issue of provincial autonomy for the recent crisis in Balochistan and says that the volatile situation can be defused by resorting provincial autonomy and not by resorting to a military operation.
Kawish comments on the supply of contaminated water to Rohri and says that while the discharge of sewerage from cities and towns on the banks of the River Indus is polluting the little water that is flowing these days, the water and sewerage lines got linked in Rohri.
As a result, highly contaminated water was supplied to Rohri leading to an outbreak of stomach diseases in the town. At least 35 people have so far been hospitalized and there are also reports of some deaths.
The daily says the situation calls for action against people responsible for supplying water to the town but so far no-one has been held accountable. Last year, contaminated water supplied to Hyderabad caused deaths of more than 40 people and an outbreak of severe diseases.
However, an inquiry committee failed to pin responsibility on any particular organization or department. It was said that with the devolution of power, the district governments would solve basic problems of the people.
This did not happen. And the federal and provincial governments do not appear to be interested in monitoring their performance or utilization of funds. The authorities, the paper said, should take measures to put a stop to supply of polluted water to Rohri and to provide clean water in the province.
Awami Awaz points out that the recent death in a police station of a person accused in a theft case allegedly by torture, has sparked protests in Mirpurkhas.
The paper says that although four police officials have been arrested and a case of custodial death has been registered, there is little hope that those responsible for the death will be brought to book.
It is not the first incident of its kind because as a number of people have been killed and no police official involved in incidents of killing has been dealt with in accordance with law. It has given the force a licence to kill innocent people.