Monthly Archives: March 2011

Raza Rumi

It is ironic that the electronic media which played a major role in the movement against a military dictatorship is now being cited as one of the challenges to the fractured democratic transition since 2008. Perhaps it is not by design. It is clear that the electronic media remains a nascent industry and like the rest of the country operates in a largely unregulated environment. Pakistan’s overall governance climate is marked by dynasties, oligarchies and mafias. Why should we expect the media to rise above the larger culture? Nevertheless, given its important role in shaping public opinion and attitudes, the need for media responsibility has increasingly been articulated by a wide range of actors and not just the wounded political players.

The current media freedoms are unprecedented. Gone are the days when holy cows could not be touched and certain subjects were taboos in the public domain. Indeed, the national security paradigm is ascendant and the official history of Pakistan is the major narrative but there are plenty of discordant and critical voices within the industry. However, the imperatives of a rating-advertising driven culture impair the ability to be objective and rational. This is why a highly respected English channel had to switch to Urdu to cater to the cruel corporate dynamics. Concurrently, Pakistan with a largely static readership has witnessed the launch of two major English dailies and a third one is likely to be launched by the end of this year! (more…)

To make a living he became a motor mechanic… He opened his own garage, which kept him so busy that he just couldn’t sing for four years. However, he did his riyaz. He claimed he had repaired and assembled 300 to 400 diesel engines
Amit Sengupta Delhi

The Man & His Music
Asif Noorani
Liberty Books
Karachi (Pakistan) 2010
Pg 80
Rs 695

This is a collection of tributes. There is a certain profound admiration for a man with a magical voice weaving lyrics and music which these days can only remain in the realm of a mythical, classical, velvet fantasy. Journalist Asif Noorani from Karachi, has painstakingly collected and edited this neat volume with lovely black and white archival pictures. An eclectic group of writers have penned pithy, innocent revelations on Mehdi Hasan, without heavy pretensions or flowery language, often with a nuanced personal intimacy which transcends the ‘glossy brochure eulogies’ of cross-border legends in the sub-continent – still nursing pre-Partition nostalgia, fragmented, fading memories, and deep, embryonic, unrequited cultural longings. (more…)

People named their sons after Dahir and Chach until 1960s, says historian Manan Ahmed.

He was speaking to an audience of academics, journalists and bloggers at the Nairang Art Gallery. Earlier, he had read excerpts from Kashful Mahjoob by Ali Hajveri and Chach Nama by Ali Kufki. (more…)

Bulleh Shah

Phar nuqta, chad hisaabaan nu,

kar duur kufar diyaan baabaan nu.

Laah dozakh gor azaabaan nu,

kar saaf dile diyaan khavaabaan nu.

Gal aise ghar vich dhukkdi eh,

ik nuqte vich gal mukdi eh.

Hold tight to this point, forget your calculations,

Leave the miserable state of unbelief,

Do not torment yourself with the fear of death and hell,

For these are imaginary fears.

Only into such a house will the truth enter.

At this one point, all talk ends. (more…)

By Raza Rumi

A few weeks ago, when the Raymond Davis saga had gripped the public imagination, I had humbly suggested, on a TV show, that this issue was not going to be resolved either through street protests, or by invoking the absurd ‘national honour’ discourse. There was only one solution: Recourse to the laws (international and domestic). The ghairat brigade had a field day for at least a month by flogging the useless anti-Americanism horse and short-sighted elected politicians, such as a former foreign minister, also risked their political careers by exposing whom they were actually reporting to.

Other than the usual suspects crying foul over Americans having coerced 18 members of Davis’s victims’ families to accept a blood money settlement, the saga has ended rather swiftly indicating that when Pakistan’s security establishment wants to do something, it achieves the objective rather quickly. The families have accepted a hefty settlement and reportedly relocated. Ironically, the settlement is in accordance with the Pakistani laws imposed by Zia’s political descendents. Luckily, no dangerous precedents were set by the Foreign Office (under pressure), declaring that Raymond Davis did not have diplomatic immunity. This settlement also helped the national punching bag, President Zardari and his tottering government, of appearing as US lackeys by certifying Davis’s immunity. Most importantly, the Punjab government, controlled by the biggest opposition party and the security establishment, have been fully onboard. In short, the quiet behind-the-scenes diplomacy worked out well, saving us from the brink of an unnecessary collision with a world power whom we love to hate, but zealously served since 1947. (more…)

By Nadir Hassan

At first glance, the second iteration of the Karachi Literature Festival (KLF) was a rerun of the first, with the same venue and the same authors talking about the same books. A closer look at the programme, however, showed that this was a continuation, not a retread. Sure, most of the authors from last year were making a repeat appearance but the line-up had more than tripled. With more than 100 authors on the slate, there was something for everyone even if, with three sessions running simultaneously, it wasn’t possible to get more than a sampling of the panels on offer. If the KLF continues growing at this rate, it may soon need to add another day to its schedule.

If there is one thing the KLF 2011 showed it is that there is no space safe from politics in Pakistan. Whether it is because our authors are all political by nature or politics is so ingrained in our DNA that we demand it even in literary settings. Some of the most popular and heated sessions revolved around politics. (more…)

By Shahid Javed Burki

EVER since gaining independence Pakistan has done a remarkable job of either ignoring its history or simply not telling the truth about it. The first is true for economic history, the second for the part of history that concerns the country`s political evolution.

In a well-known work Khursheed Kamal Aziz — or simply KK as he was known to his friends and admirers — wrote about the series of lies and distortions that crept into the writing of history. In , one of his last works, he confessed that he was also guilty of committing this crime. The Making of Pakistan

In the officially sponsored which for many years remained the definitive account of the founding of Pakistan as a separate state for the Muslim community of British India, Aziz gave greater prominence to Muslim nationalism as the reason for the creation of Pakistan than suggested by the facts. (more…)

By Ali Abbas

First published in Islamabad Dateline

Mystifying is the turn of time, indeed. Refuted by clerics of his time, the same Bulleh Shah who was refused burial in his community graveyard is quoted by contemporary mullahs and holds worldwide reverence today.

Same can be said for all mystic poets who lived to challenge the rigid interpretation of religion prevailing in their times.

One wonders if he would have been charged for blasphemy and assassinated like Taseer or Bhatti if Bulleh were to say ‘whatever is in the heart’  in our society at present — mou’n aye baat na rehndi aye. (more…)

By Salman Masood

“Then right after prayers end, the Jamaat cadres start organising and leading people out. Even apolitical people then become part and parcel of this larger gathering.”

However, liberals have refused to back down. They are trying to develop a more unified approach, forming the umbrella group, Citizens for Democracy, in December. After Bhatti’s murder, the group started the letter campaign “Silence Means More Blood” against violence and vigilante justice.

More than 300 prominent individuals, including academics, doctors, lawyers, businessmen and women, endorsed an open letter to the president, Asif Ali Zardari, and the prime minister, Yousuf Raza Gilani, and other high-ranking politicians to protest Bhatti’s murder, said Mohsin Sayeed, a journalist in Karachi.

He said a “Day of Resistance” is to be held in Karachi on April 3 at the massive AMC Sports Complex.

“We are targeting at least 50,000 citizens. There will be dance and stage performances. There will be a Hyde Park corner of free speech. There will be seminars. Everything will be resistance-related. We are encouraging people to come out and say whatever they want to,” Mr Sayeed said, adding that information is being distributed through texting and social media.

“I feel we have to reclaim our space. We have to break the silence and for that we have to create awareness and engage people. We cannot pick up guns and start shooting, like our opponents.”

foreign.desk@thenational.ae

Source: http://www.thenational.ae/news/worldwide/south-asia/zeal-gives-religious-right-in-pakistan-the-upper-hand?pageCount=2

By Amanda Hodge

IT says much about Pakistan’s McCarthyist atmosphere that the television presenter whom many accuse of inciting the political assassinations rocking the country is being promoted as “Pakistan’s most dangerous anchor”.

Her now infamous interview was recorded weeks before the assassination, in January, of Punjab governor Salman Taseer.

Meher Bokhari – one of Pakistan’s new breed of firebrand, ratings-driven anchors – accused the moderate politician of being anti-Islam for trying to reform the country’s blasphemy laws.

She wasn’t alone, but in Pakistan one such accusation can be a death sentence and so it proved to be.

On the day of Taseer’s funeral she once again made headlines by posing the question of whether Taseer’s killer was hero or villain. (more…)

The first of seven films looking at Indian artists’ responses to the city of Delhi features Gigi Scaria, a sculptor and video artist from Kerala. His work explores migration and displacement

Source:http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/video/2011/mar/07/artists-delhi-gigi-scaria-video

By Raza Rumi

Professor Javaid Iqbal Syed’s memoir traverses the political and the personal, the mundane and the sublime, and weaves a narrative that reflects the decades of his life and times in Pakistan. Syed came from a Punjabi family which had settled in Balochistan. Through his sheer dedication he rose to the rank of the Vice Chancellor of Allama Iqbal Open University (AIOU) during the mid 1990s. However, his tale is not restricted to his career or professional achievements, but is in fact a record of his inner journeys through the murky and inhospitable terrain known as Pakistan.

It just so happens that I have known Professor Syed since I was a child and he has, for better or for worse, been an integral part of my life.

Syed and my father grew up in the secular, plural, well laid-out cantonment Quetta of the 1940s, and their common bond emanating from the collective memory of a city lost has held them together for decades. Neither of them lives in Quetta anymore, but they are rooted in an imagined world where money, class and possessions did not matter; where human connection and a communal ethos prevailed. Friends were meant to be friends for life; street names were etched in your memory; and the old-world values of tolerance and amity were always revered. (more…)

February 2011 saw the iron fist of Hosni Mubarak being wrenched open after three decades of repressive rule. During this period, the Egyptian secret service – the Mukhabarat – and the country’s powerful military appeared to have imposed an unbreakable hold on Egyptian society and the polity. However, the revolution at Tahrir Square, in central Cairo, took not only the indigenous power elite by surprise, but also astounded its backers abroad – particularly the US and Israel, for which a pliable Mubarak-led regime had long been a key ally. Yet suddenly tens of thousands of young Egyptians were coming together, unified not only by a repudiation of religious differences between Christians and Muslims but also an allegiance to non-violence, pervasive disgust at corruption, and the country’s decades-long lack of democracy. Helping them to organise were modern social-networking tools, which had been used to great effect the previous month in neighbouring Tunisia as well.

By Aysha Raja

The Life’s Too Short Literary Review could never have been possible were it not for the Life’s Too Short Short Story Prize (2009). This was the first ever short story prize held in the region, of which my partner Faiza S. Khan and I had very humble expectations, we didn’t even envisage a publication ensuing from the prize. Today, not only have we published the best of the stories in Pakistan and India to critical acclaim, but we also discovered one of the most anticipated authors of 2011, Jamil Ahmad.

We now find ourselves coming full circle as we invite submissions for The Life’s Too Short Short Story Prize 2010/11, the deadline for which is 31st March 2011. From the formidable response to the first volume of the review we feel that participants can expect the kind of international attention that would ordinarily require an agent and a mainstream publisher.

Although our regulations stipulate that the participants should be of Pakistani origin we in no way want to limit the subject matter to Pakistan, our desire is to bring good writing to the fore and ensure that it is not viewed through the prism of quaint/ repressive tales from a failed state, as the recent issue of Granta Pakistan appeared to do. (more…)