Saturday, February 7, 2015
Who’s who in the Bobbi Kristina case?
As Bobbi Kristina Brown remains in a medically induced coma fighting for her life, little information about the incident at her Atlanta-area home or her condition has slipped from police or family.
Misbah unsure reinstated Ajmal will make World Cup
SYDNEY: Captain Misbahul Haq said Sunday he was unsure whether Saeed Ajmal would participate in the World Cup after the off-spinner’s bowling action was cleared.
The 37-year-old had originally withdrawn from the World Cup, which begins on Saturday, after he failed to correct his action in time for the 15-man squad announcement last month.
Ajmal was reported during the Galle Test in Sri Lanka in August last year and he was subsequently suspended by the governing body ICC from bowling at international level after his action was assessed a month later.
His withdrawal left Pakistan’s World Cup plans in tatters as they lost four one-day matches – two warm-up and two one-day internationals – in New Zealand.
Ajmal was on Saturday cleared by the ICC (International Cricket Council) to play again, sparking talk of a surprise call-up for the World Cup.
“You never know, there are a lot of ifs and buts,” Misbah told a press conference when asked of Ajmal’s chances of appearing in the showpiece event.
“The main concern is that he hasn’t played any cricket yet, let’s see how it goes in the next week because the team is already announced and everybody is here so I can’t just say anything about that,” he added.
Ajmal played two unofficial one-day matches for Pakistan’s second string against Kenya in Lahore in December, bowling only 12.1 overs.
Misbah said that Ajmal himself had doubts whether he would be ready to play.
“I can say he is not sure about that because you need some cricket behind you before such a big event,” said Misbah.
The media have reported that the team’s management were not in favour of reinstating Ajmal, and the rules state a player can only be added when injury rules out a member of the original squad.
Misbah admitted his team’s poor form was a concern, having lost three one-day series last year and going down 2-0 against New Zealand this month.
“I think we are not having good times in the ODIs… but I think this team is capable of turning that around.
“I am excited about this team. This is a bunch of youngsters and a few senior and we are a team which can surprise anybody at any stage.
“I am really hopeful that we are going to improve our performance but we can do that in the World Cup.”
Pakistan open their campaign against arch-rivals and defending champions India in Adelaide on February 15, a day after the tournament begins in Australia and New Zealand.
Misbah said loss of key paceman Junaid Khan to injury was another setback.
“Definitely, Junaid’s loss is a big blow,” said Misbah. Junaid failed to recover from a leg injury and was replaced by Rahat Ali last week.
“Junaid had been our key bowler, especially in the one-days and it’s big blow to lose our best bowler but other bowlers need to stand up and play to their best.
“We need a big effort from all the players. As sportsmen we need to be hopeful. We know that it’s the ODIs and whenever you try to do your best and get the momentum you have chances against any side.”
Helicopter breaks up football riot
Violence erupted at a semi-final match of the Africa Cup of Nations and a helicopter was brought in to try to calm the chaos. CNN's Don Riddell has the details.
UAE to rejoin coalition strikes against Islamic State
ABU DHABI: After withdrawing in December from the US-led strikes against Islamic State (IS) group following the Jordanian pilot Maaz al Kassasbeh’s capture, the United Arab Emirates on Saturday ordered a squadron of F-16 warplanes to be stationed in Jordan to support it in strikes against the militant group.
The UAE rejoined the strikes after the US military on February 6 deployed aircraft and troops to northern Iraq to boost rescue capabilities for downed coalition pilots. The move came after the UAE had requested American forces to position rescue assets closer to operational zones to improve chances of for pilots such as Jordan’s Kassasbeh, downed over hostile territory.
The WAM, UAE’s official news agency, on Saturday said that Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed al Nahayan, deputy head of the UAE armed forces, had ordered the move.
“The initiative… reaffirms the UAE’s unwavering and constant solidarity with Jordan and its leading role and immense sacrifices for the security and stability of the region as embodied by martyr and hero Maaz al Kassasbeh,” the Jordanian pilot burned alive by IS, the agency reported.
WAM said the deployment was aimed at supporting Jordan’s military in the fight against “the brutal terrorist organisation” IS, without specifying the number of aircraft involved or their role.
It said the militant organisation “showed all the world its ugliness and violation of all religious and human values through abominable crimes” that caused “outrage and disgust” among Arab peoples.
After Kassasbeh’s warplane crashed in Syria in December, the UAE withdrew from the US-led coalition’s strike missions over fears for the safety of its pilots. However, a US official said on Friday, after Secretary of State John Kerry met Gulf ministers in Munich, that UAE flights were likely to resume “in a couple of days”.
Abu Dhabi had also “reaffirmed its commitment to the coalition” brought together by the United States to try to defeat the militants who have taken over a swathe of territory in Iraq and Syria.
Another US official said that among all the Gulf countries the pilot’s brutal immolation by IS “has been a unifying event doubling their resolve to take the fight to Daesh”, using an Arabic acronym for the militant group.
Baghdad erupts in joy after decade long nightly curfew ends
BAGHDAD: Iraq’s years-old nightly curfew was raised on Sunday in a bid by Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi to ease restrictions on daily life despite persistent violence plaguing the country.
Doing away with the curfew — which most recently was in effect from midnight to 5:00 am — ends a longstanding policy aimed at curbing violence in the capital by limiting movement at night.
The curfew, in place since the aftermath of the US-led invasion of 2003, did little to curb the deadly bombings that plague the capital, which are carried out during the day or early evening with the aim of causing maximum casualties.
The hours the curfew has been in force have varied over the years, and it has been lifted completely before only to be reinstated again.
Illustrating the persistent danger of violence in Baghdad, bombings in the capital killed at least 32 people and wounded more than 70 on Saturday.
The decision to lift the curfew comes as Iraqi forces battle to regain ground from the Islamic State (IS) militant group, which spearheaded an offensive that overran large areas north and west of Baghdad last June.
Abadi ordered the move this week, a decision his office said was taken so there would “be normal life as much as possible, despite the existence of a state of war”.
National Action Plan: Govt committed to eliminating terror, says Nisar
ISLAMABAD: Interior Minister Chaudhary Nisar Ali Khan said on Saturday that the National Action Plan (NAP) was a manifestation of the firm resolve of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz government to root out the menace of militancy and extremism from the country.
Talking to the UK high commissioner, Philip Barton, he said Pakistan would continue to play its role for peace in the region and beyond. Matters like Pak-UK bilateral relations, war against extremism, strengthening of counterterror cooperation, capacity enhancement of the law-enforcement agencies and regional situation were discussed during the meeting, according to a press release.
The minister said Pakistan has abiding interest in peace and prosperity of the neighbouring country and would continue to assist Afghan institutions in their capacity enhancement. Sharing the borders, Pakistan and Afghanistan also share common issues and challenges which can only be addressed through greater cooperation and collaboration. He added that the level of cooperation between Pakistan and Afghanistan was never as good as it was today.
While appreciating UK support to Pakistan in various areas, the minister observed that further strengthening our cooperation in capacity building of law-enforcement and investigating agencies and the fight against extremists will go a long way towards achieving our shared goal of ensuring lasting peace and sustainable development in the region.
Barton appreciated the sacrifices made by the people and law-enforcement agencies of Pakistan against militants and reassured his government’s possible support to the country in its mission to eradicate extremism and promote development in the region.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 8th, 2015.
U.S. considers troops in Mosul
The U.S. military is trying to gather as much intelligence as it can about ISIS defenses in Mosul to make a key decision about whether it's necessary to recommend American ground troops accompany Iraqi forces on the looming fight to retake Iraq's second largest city.
Bruce Jenner involved in car crash, 1 dead
Former Olympic decathlon champion and reality TV star Bruce Jenner was involved in a fatal four-car accident in Southern California on Saturday, the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department said in a statement.
5 dead in Atlanta shooting
A gunman killed at least four people, including a 7-year-old, and wounded two others Saturday afternoon at a home in suburban Atlanta, authorities said.
Terror trainee jailed
Imran Khawaja left London to train with a terror group in Syria last year and rose in the ranks, eventually appearing in one of its online promotional videos holding a severed head to the camera, authorities say.
Ideological debate: Dictatorship ruins, democracy salvages nations: minister
ISLAMABAD: Information Minister Pervaiz Rashid said on Friday that democracy salvages nations while dictatorships have always ruined them.
Talking to the media after attending a seminar on interfaith harmony, the minister said that he was surprised to know that PTI Chairman Imran Khan has stated that Pakistan could not have a good dictator who could have transformed the nation.
The minister said the entire world knows that dictatorships have destroyed many countries and Germany under Hitler and Iraq under Saddam Hussein were two such examples.
He asked Imran to tell as to who was good dictator Hitler, Mussolini, Saddam or General Franco?
Pervaiz Rashid reminded that Pakistan was also dismembered during a dictatorship. He said that Imran used to be a supporter of a dictator and canvassed for him during the so-called referendum.
Earlier, addressing the seminar he said that Pakistan would soon become a peaceful and tolerant country and launch of Operation Zarb-e-Azb was the starting point of that process.
The minister said that in the past people of all religions and sects lived peacefully in Pakistan, but after the start of first Afghan war, hatred and intolerance started creeping in society.
“Name of religion was used by certain powers to win a war in our neighbourhood and curricula were changed at the behest of those powers,” he said.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 7th, 2015.
Boko Haram attacks delay vote
Nigeria's elections have been postponed from next Saturday to March 28, the country's election commission announced Saturday.
In protest: Sugar mill workers block National Highway
SUKKUR: Scores of workers belonging to a sugar mill in Ghotki staged a demonstration and sit-in at Ghotki Bypass on Saturday, following the registration of a case against workers by the mill’s management.
Employees of the Jamal Din Wali (JDW) Unit-3 sugar mill, Ghotki, gathered at Ghotki Bypass on Saturday while shouting slogans against the management for harassing and registering a case against the workers. They carried placards and banners. Led by JDW Unit-3 workers’ union president Ali Mardan Chachar and others, they staged a sit-in at Ghotki bypass which suspended the traffic between Sindh and Punjab for many hours.
Chachar condemned the anti-labour attitude of the sugar mill management. He said that workers have been deprived of their rights such as pay raise, allowances and promotions for long. Besides this, he added, the management is recruiting non-locals on wages higher than those paid to local workers.
The union’s general secretary, Shoukat Ali Samejo, accused the management of trying to supress the voice of the workers by registering false cases against them. He said that on the one hand, the sugar mill management is exploiting the poor sugarcane growers, while on the other they are usurping the rights of the mill employees. “Our protest will continue until our demands are accepted,” he said.
Earlier, the workers’ union had staged a demonstration on Friday in favour of their demands. The management registered an FIR against 38 workers, including union office-bearers Chachar, Samejo, Khalid Sundrani and others over charges of ransacking the offices of the administration and causing damage to the furniture and fixtures.
Talking to The Express Tribune, Ali Mardan Chachar said that the sugar mill started operation in November 2007 and the workers employed since then have neither been granted pay raise nor have they been promoted. He said that most of the workers are getting Rs12,000 per month, while the non-locals are getting Rs16,000 to Rs18,000 per month.
“Instead of listening to our demands, the management has registered an FIR against 38 workers and office-bearers of the union, including myself,” he said. “We are not afraid of the tactics of the sugar mill management and will continue our protest until our demands are accepted.”
He further said that the Ghotki DSP and SHO came to them and assured them of withdrawing the case and taking up the matter with the sugar mill management. “On their assurance, we have ended the blockade,” he said.
Despite repeated attempts, this correspondent could not contact the mill’s administration general manager Colonel (retd) Khalid Suhail and security manager Major Muhammad Amin.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 8th, 2015.
Wiesberger outstrips Westwood for lead
KUALA LUMPUR: Bernd Wiesberger birdied six of his first seven holes en route to his best European Tour score yet, a nine-under 63 that catapulted him past defending champion Lee Westwood and into the Malaysian Open lead after three rounds.
Westwood, who held a share of the lead at the end of each of the first two days, remained in contention three strokes back with a 69 for the day.
But the Englishman, who is notably comfortable with the Kuala Lumpur Golf and Country Club’s undulating fairways, has snared fewer birdies each day as others seem to be figuring the course out — including Wiesberger.
On a day where temperatures climbed to 33 degrees centigrade, the Austrian started hot and cooled only slightly on his way to 10 birdies and sole first place at 17-under-par for the tournament.
“It was a great day for me. This is my European Tour record. I’ve never shot a 63,” he said. “But I had a fast start today and anybody can do that tomorrow. If I keep playing like this then I have a good chance to take this home.”
Second-round co-leader Alejandro Canizares was two strokes behind Wiesberger at 15-under for the event after shooting a 68.
Westwood was tied for third along with his fellow Englishman Paul Waring at 14-under.
“I didn’t play particularly well today, so I was pleased to shoot 69, which keeps me in the hunt,” said Westwood, who won last year by seven strokes and also took the title in 1997.
India’s Anirban Lahiri matched Wiesberger’s 10 birdies, posting a bogey-free 62, the lowest score of the tournament so far, to sit five strokes off the top.
One shot behind Lahiri was Paul Peterson of the US, who carded a 64.
Former Major winner Graeme McDowell’s hopes appeared dead following an even-par effort that left him 12 shots off Wiesberger’s pace.
The $ 3-million event is co-sanctioned by the Asian and European Tours.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 8th, 2015.
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Dylan critical of music critics in rare speech
LOS ANGELES: Bob Dylan is notoriously a man of few words when he’s not singing, but he opened up at a gala tribute to him as he turned the tables on music critics.
The 73-year-old Dylan offered his own assessments of some fellow rock legends — as well as undiplomatic write-offs of other musicians — in an unexpected speech at a charity event ahead of the Grammy Awards.
Dylan was honored Friday night in Los Angeles by MusiCares, which raises money for musicians in need, with a star-studded concert and an introduction by former US president Jimmy Carter.
“There is no doubt that his words on peace and human rights are much more incisive, much more powerful and much more permanent than those of any president of the United States,” Carter said of the emblematic voice of the 1960s counterculture.
A who’s who of music greats covered Dylan’s work at the event including Beck, Tom Jones, Jack White and Crosby, Stills and Nash.
Bruce Springsteen joined Tom Morello for a harder-edged rendition of “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door,” while Neil Young closed with another Dylan classic, “Blowin’ in the Wind.”
Dylan did not perform but instead gave a half-hour speech, staring down at a text on loose papers as if they were sheet music on a stand.
He ribbed music critics, saying that throughout his half-century career they have said of him: “I can’t sing — croak, sound like a frog.”
“Why don’t critics say that about Tom Waits?” he said of the singer with the famously growling voice.
“Critics say my voice is shot — that I have no voice. Why don’t they say those things about Leonard Cohen? Why do I get special treatment?”
Charting Dylan’s roots
The speech was remarkable in that Dylan rarely discusses his music and in recent years has given few interviews.
The rock icon described himself as adapting folk tunes, drawing a parallel to how Shakespeare created a more refined form of theater after growing up watching traditional plays in the 16th century.
“You just do it subliminally and subconsciously. It’s the only way that makes sense,” Dylan said.
“These songs of mine, they’re like mystery plays, the kind Shakespeare saw when he was growing up. And I think you could trace what I do back that far,” he said.
He explained “Blowin’ in the Wind” — whose rhetorical questions on the nature of freedom turned the song in a Vietnam War-era anthem — in the context of “John Henry,” the folk ballad about a hard-working African American “steel-driving man” in West Virginia.
“If you had sang that song as many times as I did, you’d have written, ‘How many roads must a man walk down,’ too,” Dylan said.
Hailing other music greats
Dylan thanked Peter, Paul and Mary for turning “Blowin’ in the Wind” into a hit in 1963, saying the song had initially been “buried” on his second album.
Peter, Paul and Mary performed the song “not the way I would have done it — they straightened it out.
“But since then, hundreds of people have recorded it and I don’t think that would have happened if it wasn’t for them,” Dylan said.
Dylan also thanked a number of other artists who have covered his songs, including Nina Simone, Jimi Hendrix and Joan Baez, whom he described as a woman of “devastating honesty.”
He also hailed Johnny Cash for sticking up for him to critics when Dylan went electric in 1965.
“In Johnny Cash’s world of hardcore Southern drama, that kind of thing didn’t exist. Nobody told anybody what to sing or what not to sing,” he said.
But Dylan also had barbs for other musicians. He criticised Mike Leiber and Jerry Stoller, the songwriters who wrote hits for Elvis Presley including “Hound Dog” and “Jailhouse Rock.”
“I didn’t really care that Leiber and Stoller didn’t like my songs… because I didn’t like their songs,” he said.
Dream Ski Programme: Jumma Mir, Muhammad Mumtaz return home with accolades
KARACHI: Teenagers Jumma Mir and Muhammad Mumtaz from Naltar Valley in the Gilgit-Baltistan province made Pakistan proud after bringing home a gold and silver medal respectively from South Korea, having outpaced 30 participants in the two-week long Dream Ski Programme.
Mir and Mumtaz returned from Korea on Saturday morning and were commended for their efforts by the Ski Federation of Pakistan (SFP) in Islamabad.
“We are very proud. Our children have been winning medals in Korea for the last two years now,” SFP secretary Mussarat Ali told The Express Tribune. “The achievement is even bigger because they were the best among 30 athletes from different countries, despite this being their international debut.”
According to Ali, this experience had changed the teenagers’ lives. “They had never even gone to Gilgit before this trip. They are more confident and self-assured after training with the best athletes from around the world.”
The secretary added that the reason for the success of the Pakistani youth in the Dream Ski Programme was due to the SFP’s policy to shortlist players based on merit. “We only select the best talent, not based on their contacts in the federation.”
Ali said that the SFP will continue sending athletes to the skiing programme till 2018 as they had signed an agreement with the Korean Embassy back in 2011.
“This time we sent only two athletes, next time we are hoping to give at least three a chance,” he said, while adding that the SFP will try to send an athlete from Malam Jabba in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa to Korea for the Paralympics category.
“We have an athlete who was affected by polio and we’re hoping he can represent Pakistan at the Paralympics in Korea as well.”
Meanwhile, SFP vice president Javed Iqbal also praised Mir and Mumtaz and said that the federation will focus on training and educating the boys and girls in Naltar and Malam Jabba.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 8th, 2015.
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Mitchell Johnson — Possibly playing his last World Cup
Former Australian cricketer Dennis Lillee had dubbed a then 17-year-old Mitchell Johnson a ‘once-in-a-lifetime prospect’ during a fast-bowling clinic in Brisbane, urging his induction in the Australian Cricket Academy in Adelaide. From there on, Lillee’s protégé was identified by other mentors as the ‘next Brett Lee’, but the youngster was not to have it easy.
The next big thing for Australian cricket had a difficult start to his ODI career on his debut against New Zealand on December 10, 2005 at Christchurch, where he failed to take a wicket in nine overs, conceding 64 runs at an economy of 7.11.
The next five games saw sporadic displays from the left-armer, who proved expensive, especially on the pitches of the Centurion and Kuala Lumpur where he gave away 0-28 in three overs against South Africa and 2-65 against the West Indies in eight overs.
However, Johnson soon performed a U-turn in the DLF Cup against India just three days after his dismal performance against the Caribbean side in the same tournament, in the same city.
Australia had been bowled out for 244, while India’s reply was interrupted by rain twice before the match was officially abandoned. But before that, the men in blue received a jolt when they lost five wickets in just 18 balls, four of them courtesy of Johnson’s searing pace.
On the fifth ball of his third over, Rahul Dravid was sent back attempting to chip Johnson’s short of a length ball over the infield but ended up giving a simple catch to Damien Martyn at cover.
In came Irfan Pathan and the next ball crashed into the off-stump as Pathan tried to play inside the line.
A fiery Johnson left his mark once again in his next over, bowling a full delivery just outside off. Sachin Tendulkar, of all people, edged the drive through to Brad Haddin to give Johnson his third wicket. But he was not finished, Yuvraj was added to the list of casualties to finish with figures of 4-11 as India were reduced to 35-5 in just eight overs before rain interrupted Johnson’s onslaught.
Johnson was not as prolific until he burst into life again in the ODI series against India in 2008, but neither was he the erratic bowler that leaked runs early on in his career.
Aggressive, resilient, tattooed and boasting a furry lip-warmer in his latter years, Johnson has claimed eight four-wicket hauls, two five-fors and a best figure of 6-31 in 10 overs against Sri Lanka on August 10, 2011, including the big wickets of Mahela Jaywardene, Kumar Sangakkara and Angelo Mathews.
Bowling on a full length, he drew Jayawardene into a drive which the Sri Lankan legend could only edge behind to Haddin, while Sangakkara was deceived superbly by a slower delivery.
But the fiery pacer has not performed as well at home, and only one of his top 10 bowling figures have come in Australia.
Although he didn’t play in the 2007 World Cup, he was still a part of the winning squad, while the 2011 edition saw him bag seven wickets in 57.3 overs at an average of 4-19.
With the 2015 World Cup about to get underway, the lethal bowler has also proven to be a handy lower-order batsman, with a 43 and 73 not out against the West Indies and England respectively in 2009.
Mitchell Johnson, holder of the ICC Cricketer of the Year as well as the Test Cricketer of the Year awards for 2013-14, bowls it fast, and bowls it at the stumps; after all he has been recorded to bowl at 156.8km/h, one of the 10 fastest deliveries in cricketing history.
A lethal weapon for the World Cup co-hosts this year, people will expect him to spearhead his side with his trademark aggressive approach and how he would love to improve on his home record by lifting the biggest trophy at the end of it.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 8th, 2015.
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Bachelors’ theses: Inspired by Kandinsky and Keller
LAHORE: Communication design major Khadija Liaquat said on Friday that no games were made for the blind in Pakistan.
She was speaking to The Express Tribune at an annual thesis show featuring the work of the Hunerkada School of Visual and Performing Arts’ Bachelor in Fine Arts Programme students. Liaquat designed a game for the deaf and the blind. She said her work was premised on the life of American author Helen Keller. Liaquat hoped that her work would serve as a prototype for this. Hammad Khan, another communication design major, created an advertisement campaign for a perfume.
Sehrish Mazhar, another artist, said she had used wood, plaster cast and fibre to make sculptures being displayed on the occasion. She referred to them as “manimals” saying that her work incorporated attributes of humans and animals. Mazhar said her work was premised on the concept of alterirty. She said she had observed animalistic traits in humans. Mazhar said her sculptures were a visual presentation of this phenomenon. One of her sculptures featured an enthroned human skeleton with the head and wings of a vulture. She said it depicted people in power.
Alina Fayyaz, who majored in textile design, created a pattern inspired by gothic architecture. She said she had used symbols found in gothic architecture to create motifs for her design. Fayyaz said she had used broken mirrors, mirrors, steel wire, laces, ribbons, acrylic paints and poster paints among other materials. Junaid Ahmed, another textile design major, used the work of Russian painter Wassily Kandinsky to develop new ideas and compositions for his thesis.
Zahra Fatima, a product design major, created decorative terracotta tiles after studying the Harappan civilisation. She said the sofa created by her was reminiscent of the wheel invented in Harappa. The legs of the sofa were wheel-like.
Fatima Butt, a miniature major, said her work was premised on correlating learning of alphabets with miniature painting.
The show concludes on Sunday (today).
Published in The Express Tribune, February 8th, 2015.
The hunt for rare birds
Every year I get infuriated when I learn that somebody in the ministry of foreign affairs has given a free hand to some Gulf sheikh or prince to destroy the wildlife of my province. Now that the Sindh High Court allowed a constitutional petition against the issuance of permits to Gulf dignitaries for hunting endangered wildlife, particularly the Houbara Bustard, shouldn’t the man from the ministry be asked to explain why permission was granted to a Saudi prince to unleash his falcons on our birds? When I put this question to an American friend, he said the only hunt he approved of was the scavenger hunt; and he reminded me of the time, over 30 years ago, when the two of us attended such a hunt at the residence of Paul J Rappaport — one-time information officer at the US consulate general in Karachi.
Rappaport, who was known for his collection of antiquated gadgetry, his near-Raphaelite looks, rough hewn but gentle voice, swarthy complexion, attributed to his Portuguese ancestry and nobly poetic stare, made him the most lionised information officer of his generation. His sense of humour, infinite collection of jokes and warm hospitality made him extremely popular; and he made more friends than Mani Shankar Ayer, a former Indian consul general, who had become a legend in the metropolis. One fine evening in late autumn Rappaport decided to host a scavenger party and invited 24 couples to the caper. The guests were divided into eight groups, given a list of items which had to be procured and asked to return to Rappaport’s residence in an hour and 20 minutes.
The first item on the list was procuring a Russian newspaper, preferably Pravda. I pulled up at the formidable building in Bleak House Road. The Russian duty officer peered suspiciously through a window of the wrought-iron gate. I asked him if he had a copy of Pravda. He looked at my car to see if it had any distinguishing marks like broken headlights or bullet holes in the rear window. During the drive I had rehearsed what to say in case the officer wondered why there was this sudden interest in his language. I said Pravda means truth and my friend’s wife who has taken up Russian was keen to get the Soviet point of view on world affairs. When that didn’t cut any ice, I told him the truth. He burst out laughing and gave me a copy.
There was a number of other items — a man, preferably called Intrepid, a $ 500 bill, preferably issued before 1970, a slot machine preferably from Las Vegas, a traffic violation ticket, preferably issued by the Karachi police, a European restaurant menu preferably Italian, an elephant preferably a baby, a sex symbol preferably Japanese, cherries preferably Maraschino, and a cockroach preferably alive. The last named item caused the most mirth when the owner of the BeachLuxury Hotel produced a match box containing four live cockroaches which he stated he had caught in the lobby of a rival hotel. The ingenuity and resourcefulness displayed by members of all the groups in obtaining the items and the amusement they caused is something I will never forget. Mind you, things were quite different in the 1980s when one could freely move about the city at night without fear of being attacked or robbed at traffic signals. But even then, Paul J Rappaport showed us that it was possible to go on a hunt without breaking any laws, without causing offence to any party and without taking a life.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 8th, 2015.
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Death of Rage
Never a dull day here. So much is happening it makes your head spin. Senate elections are round the corner and the prime minister is holed up in Raiwind with his family to decide who gets to become a senator and who sulks his way back to his miserable un-senatorial life. Then of course there’s that small decision about appointing a new governor of Punjab. Much head-banging going on for it. Back in Islamabad, the energy crisis annoyingly persists and keeps nagging the premier like a bad habit. He’s busy. Just like Imran Khan who’s burrowing into electoral malpractices in between chopper trips over Hazara to witness the baring of mountaintops and then putting the errant persons to the sword. How dare they kowtow to the timber mafia? Meanwhile, the maulanas are frothing at the mouth for one thing or the other and being their sweet angry selves. And while this hectic activity unfolds in slow motion, the nation is gradually catching the cricket World Cup fever as the greenshirts set up a fighting chance against far superior teams. Seems like all is swell and normal in Pakistan.
Except it’s not.
Yes it’s not, because we are a nation at war. It may not look like that, or even sound like that, but that’s the harsh reality. It hasn’t even been two months since the horrendous inhuman tragedy that unfolded in the Army Public School, but already a sickening forgetfulness seems to be creeping into our psyche. Time, they say, heals all wounds.
But this one must not heal. This one should not be allowed to heal.
As the true horror of December 16 unfolded, it seemed clear that we would not be able to live this down. No craven politician, no Taliban apologist, and no ambiguity-peddling media parasite would have the temerity to add ifs and buts to this tragedy. If ever there was a call to arms, this was it. A nation shocked into unity — and action. A leadership horrified and shamed into resolve. That was then.
And now?
Now you see the leadership going through the motions. Meetings are held, handouts issued, figures released and statements made. The National Action Plan has become a procedural liability for a government weighed down by its own incompetence and determined vacillation.
Here then is the shameful tragedy that appears to be trumping the actual tragedy: the apologists are back. And so are the ambiguity-peddling media parasites. They are back with a vengeance, having recaptured the toxic narrative with nauseating relish. Look at them grinning that evil grin, mocking the martyred and their memories. Look at them vomiting justifications as they rage on the streets; look at them puncturing the national resolve with noxious rhetoric dipped in deliberate confusion; look at them polluting minds and reshaping opinions with unsacred insinuations and unholy intent.
How heartless does a leadership need to be to allow this to happen? Make no mistake, this slide back into darkness is happening because the government doesn’t have the moral and physical courage to make the decisions that need to be made. The National Action Plan includes 20 points, each one of which requires a massive effort by the leadership to get it off the ground. In the immediate aftermath of the plan being agreed upon, dozens of committees were formed to get the plan into action. Sombre-looking men and women then gathered around in plush conference rooms, sat around well-polished tables, and prepared to do a whole lot of pointless things. That they did really well.
As a result, suspects got picked up, loudspeakers got sealed, registration documents got shuffled and ministers got trotted out in front of cameras to claim credit for things that mattered just a bit in the larger scheme of things. The provincial governments also got into the game, and spewed forth a litany of facts and figures conjured up by their law-enforcement set-ups. These guys have an answer for every terror-related question now, all painted and polished in brightly coloured, slickly designed PowerPoint presentations.
But do you feel safer?
Men who promise violence still stalk the streets. Books that teach hate still adorn the shelves. Curriculums that nourish intolerance and bigotry still grace schools. Madrassas that get unaccounted for funds, still get those funds. And they are still unaccounted for. Sectarian militias that kill humans for their beliefs still walk around armed and ready to kill. Target killers in Karachi still kill their targets and find shelter under political wings.
The only thing that divides the new normal from the old normal is the brutal martyrdom of 140 of our beautiful children. Do we remember them still?
We said we shall never forget. Do you remember saying that from behind those scalding and burning tears on your cheeks as you saw the tiny coffins being lowered into the ground by shattered mothers and fathers? You do remember those scenes, don’t you? We said this horror would change us forever; that it would galvanise us into action and shed all doubts once and for all. Do you remember clenching your fists and shaking with uncontrollable rage at the monsters who slaughtered our children? You do remember aching for vengeance, don’t you?
And look at you now. Poor weak and helpless you, led by men who bleed courage and resolve like a hemophilic patient. Look at you all out of anger and rage, and shriveled up like a sorry looking raisin. Look at you reconciling to your destiny as a citizen of a nation that lets monsters eat its children, and does nothing. Nothing. This is what your leaders have reduced you to — a flock of sheep ready to be slaughtered. Again.
And all because the leadership is weak. And scared. And incompetent.
So go back to your Senate elections, your governor appointments, your electoral frauds and your cricket World Cup. Go back to what you were doing before December 16, 2014. Go back and bury your hand in that bloodied sand and wait your turn.
Or find leaders who will never forget, never forgive, and never rest till this land is cleansed of monsters that eat our children.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 8th, 2015.
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Liberation from ‘Kashmir’
This February 5, the State-ordained ‘Kashmir Day’ makes one reflect on the time before cable television and 24/7 news channels, when the final broadcast of the day on Pakistan Television (PTV) was the 9pm “Khabarnama”. There was a special segment every evening on the atrocities in Jammu and Kashmir. Every evening, it was inescapable. Now, those look like peaceful days, a bit of State propaganda perhaps, but no real war, at least domestically. Yet, there is nothing peaceful about calling for open war; nobody felt the need to deny the support for the Kashmiri ‘Mujhiahdeen’ in those days. The ‘liberation’ of Kashmir was what an entire generation (perhaps generations) was brought up on; the TTP’s ‘liberation’ of Pakistan lay well in a bloody future then. The State’s primary foreign policy imperative was uni-dimensional, ubiquitous and unrelenting, in the mosques, on PTV, in schoolchildren’s textbooks and of course on the ground in Kashmir.
The world changed and we sluggishly and perhaps unwillingly followed; the level of involvement of the ‘Mujhiadeen’ in Kashmir has very significantly dropped, other ‘Mujhiadeen’ have since entered the building and have us in their thrall. The days of Kashmiri ‘freedom fighter’ being sent across the border were simple; the State had a narrative and had engineered societal convergence on the point. The freedom fighters demanded no implementation of Sharia in the heartland; and the land of the pure was the fortress of Islam. ‘Jihad’ was still bloody but a State-controlled enterprise. How far have we and the State come? The TTP attack us on not being ‘Islamic’ enough, for being ‘infidels’; from the Fortress of Islam to being ‘heathens’. This journey has left many, many thousands dead on the way, starting from the sectarian killings of the 1990s to the ongoing tragedy that is the APS Peshawar and Shikarpur.
We are told, APS Peshawar changed everything. We see that it hasn’t. This February 5 like most, belonged to Hafiz Saeed, the JuD, the HuM and friends. The defence put up is that these are pro-Pakistan groups; essentially meaning that they do not attack the Pakistani State or citizens. One can admit for the time being they might not. Yet, the National Action Plan (NAP) is about “zero tolerance for militancy”, is it not? More fundamental is the implicit basic norm of the NAP that violence will not be privatised to militias and the business of governing the state and conducting its foreign policy will not be outsourced to armed, jihadi militias. The key question determining the success or failure of the NAP is: can the business of enforcing ideologies by the use or threat of force be allowed to be conducted or worse delegated to private actors by the Islamic Republic of Pakistan? The answer after this past February 5 is yes.
Jammu and Kashmir has incredible levels of human rights abuses, enforced disappearances, extra-judicial killings, mass graves and repression by the State of India; that is not under dispute. To refresh, one can recommend watching Haider, a very powerful adaptation of Hamlet in modern-day Kashmir; the movie minces no words on the repressive policy of the Indian State in Kashmir and it baffles the mind why the Pakistan censor board decided to ban it in the land of the pure. Our right to highlight and condemn the violations in Jammu and Kashmir is also unexceptionable (please, the argument of look at xyz at home first is not persuasive; that would require one to condemn everything before one condemns anything, etc.). However, why are we obsessed with the ‘Kashmir issue’? Note, we are not really obsessed with the plight of the ‘Kashmiri people’. Kashmir is about politics and it is now about domestic policies and politics. Why is the major advocacy for Kashmir domestic, and done through mosque loudspeakers and jihadi megaphones in the streets? Surely, the people of Pakistan are sold on the idea. Shouldn’t the advocacy for the Kashmir cause be done in the UN and other international forums? Why is the Kashmir issue framed only in terms of religion and jihad? The answer is because Kashmir is as much about foreign policy as it is about domestic control. The Taliban went rogue and are ‘bad’, however, ‘ideological’ states not only have ideologues but also have foot soldiers acting on those ideologies. To give up on ‘Kashmir jihad’ is to give up on ‘jihad’; isn’t that what the NAP is about? Kashmir Day and jihad, etc. is not about the Kashmiris; it is about us. It is about ceding space; both physical and of narrative to armed militants with rhetoric of martyrdom and killing. It is about keeping the ideology of jihad and the State conducting it through proxies alive. The prime minister doubling up as the foreign minister is the side show on Kashmir Day; it is Hafiz Saeed who is the show-stopper. In the speeches of recent years, even Kashmir is becoming a marginal issue; it is an opportunity to display muscle; both ideological and physical.
We declare a National Holiday on Kashmir Day. How does shutting down the economy and the entire business of the State for a day display solidarity with the Kashmiri people? How does it display intent to India, etc.? It doesn’t and that is not the point of it. The point of it has become giving the platform to the religious right, often armed to talk about Kashmir, xenophobia, but above all, the ideology of violence. What providing of open mic for one entire day does is that the ASWJ holds rallies and shows of strength ostensibly in favour of the ‘Kashmiris’ while actually simply making the Shias of Pakistan feel less secure than they already are.
The argument is not that the Pakistani State should give up Kashmir as a ‘foreign’ policy issue and not argue that case in appropriate forums. The Pakistani State has long lost the will to do that. The Kashmir issue is the domain of the government and the audience should be international. Kashmir now is a prop, an opportunity for assorted jihadi outfits to make their presence felt. We do a great disservice to the persecuted people of Kashmir and their genuine suffering by using them as mere gimmicks for domestic narrative power grabs; we do a disservice to ourselves by ceding the few inches of narrative space captured after APS Peshawar. ‘Kashmir jihad’ is the original sin; the convergence of religious militancy with hyper-nationalist patriotism. ‘Kashmir Day’ today makes a mockery of the NAP. We need to be ‘liberated’ from ‘Kashmir’ in our imagination before we talk about us, the NAP and perhaps even Kashmir.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 8th, 2015.
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