ALL the darbaris —- wanted, convicted and arrested at different times in their political careers -- were present there in the royal court of the Badshah to take the oath to serve the nation, Sidq-i-dil se. Yes, innocent until proven guilty !
Sitting pretty next to President Musharaff was the crown prince (now big enough to take over the throne and become the premier) the latest Prime Minister of Pakistan, Shaukat Aziz. It did look like a darbar and more like as if ‘whoever entered first will become a ministe’, with the count going over 50 — all the more reason as the endorsement had come from none other than ex-president of Malaysia Dr Mahathir Muhammad, who had 60 plus minions in his progressive cabinet. The assembly session, for sure, will now be held at the Islamabad Convention Centre, for no other place is big enough to house our enormous cabinet. By the way, who is his ideal — Mahathir or Manmohan? We do know that for President Musharraf it was Mustafa Kamal Pasha, for Jamali it was Fatima Jinnah, (so was his fate) and for Chaudhry Shujaat it was Musharraf and will remain so ... till death do us apart.
A TALE OF TWO CITIES: In 2001, while the state machinery and the media were actively participating in the game of hatred and aggressive posturing, Shahid Nadeem was asked by the Ajoka Children’s Theatre to write a play on peace. “May be the children can play a better game than the grown-ups I had seen at Wagah,” he thought to himself. Thirty four children, 17 from Lahore and 17 from Amritsar, met and interacted for two weeks to put together a performance — Border Border, a collaborative effort of the Ajoka Children’s Theatre of Lahore and the Amritsar-based Punarjot. The performance in Islamabad this week was the last on the itinerary in which the group performed in the two border cities of Lahore and Amritsar and the capitals of both the countries.
Bringing children together is the best way of opening the hearts and minds shut by the holocaust of partition, believes Harinder Sandhu, director of the play. “Theatre,” he says, “is the time-tested medium of touching the hearts and causing soul-searching catharsis, and is perhaps the best tool to highlight the shared roots and emotions.”
The play reflected feelings and emotions of three generations of people on both sides of the border regarding the partition through two families who go for a picnic in the border area. While the children are curious to know about each other, the older generation, who bore the brunt of the partition, is still filled with hatred and bitterness. But the people who lived together before the partition are nostalgic and harbour feelings of togetherness, ruthlessly marred by political forces.
Young messengers of peace and friendship are not nudged by any super power or by political or economic interests to play for peace. Their desire for love and harmony is genuine and innocent. They are our hope for peace and our chance for survival and progress.
VEILED PROTESTS: To wear a hijab is a fundamental human right. Hijab is a religious obligation, read the placards and banners held by hundreds of women and girls gathered at the capital’s Jinnah Super Market. Clad in white and black headscarves or hijabs, the protesters, agitated against the recently imposed ban on women wearing headscarves in France’s state schools. The French government was accused of violating Article 18 of the United Nations Charter which stated that every person had the right to adopt any religion and free to spend life on their own will.
The demonstration coincided with the World Hijab Day. The decision to observe the day was taken in Britain in July this year in which some 300 participants from 12 countries participated. Comprising mostly women activists from the Jamaat -i-Islami, it was led by the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA) Senator Kousar Firdous and MNA Jamila Ahmed.
The Muslims all over the world were protesting against the ban which went into effect this week. Senator Kousar said France had 0.5 million Muslim population and the ban on hijab would have a direct effect on Muslim students and working women. “The law will be a dent on the future of Muslim women as they might lose their jobs and admission to the educational institutions. France is a secular country and other countries will also get encouraged to take similar decisions.”
According to a statement issued, the ban, introduced by the centre right government of President Jacques Chirac to preserve France’s strict separation of religion and state, was a blatant violation of the religious freedom and choice of human beings as well as of five million Muslims living in France.
ALL the darbaris —- wanted, convicted and arrested at different times in their political careers -- were present there in the royal court of the Badshah to take the oath to serve the nation, Sidq-i-dil se. Yes, innocent until proven guilty !
