Indo Pak border at Wagah (Credit: exclusivenews.in)
NEW DELHI, Aug 15 — More than 250 Pakistani Hindus have arrived in India over the past two weeks bearing tales of religious persecution, according to Indian border officials, fueling perceptions of growing discrimination against minorities in Pakistan.
The Pakistani Hindus, who came by road and rail with valid pilgrimage visas from Sindh, Baluchistan and Punjab provinces, have reported incidents of kidnapping, looting and forced religious conversion, the officials said.
Pakistan has 2.7 million Hindus in a majority-Muslim population of 180 million. They represent those who chose to stay after the sectarian blood bath that accompanied the 1947 partition of the subcontinent at the end of British rule.
The Pakistani Hindus’ allegations of persecution and expressed desire to stay in India pose a diplomatic quandary for the New Delhi government: Should India welcome them and open the floodgates? Or should it stay aloof, treating this as an internal Pakistani matter — and shielding itself from allegations of Muslim mistreatment in India.
“As far as we know, the families have come on a pilgrimage. So far, no family that is based in Pakistan has approached us for asylum,” Preneet Kaur, India’s deputy foreign minister, told the Headlines Today news channel in New Delhi on Tuesday.
Kaur noted that India and Pakistan had agreed in 1972 not to interfere in each other’s internal affairs. But she added, “However, we do request Pakistan, on humanitarian grounds, to look after the interests of minorities.”
India does not have a national refugee law; it deals with arrivals from neighboring countries on an ad hoc basis. Thousands of Pakistani Hindus who have come here in the past two decades have still not received Indian citizenship.
But the country may be unable to maintain that detachment for long, in view of the steady stream of Pakistani Hindus who say they are being harassed by new Muslim fundamentalist groups in Pakistan’s Sindh province.
“They barge into our homes in broad daylight, snatch jewelry from the women, money from our shops, and kidnap Hindu girls and convert them to Islam,” Mukesh Kumar Ahuja, a young Hindu from Pakistan, told Indian reporters in the northern state of Punjab. “We want India to let us stay and ease visa rules for our relatives who are still in Pakistan.”
Tejinder Goggi, a hotel owner and peace activist in Punjab, said he saw at least 100 Pakistani Hindus arrive last week with bedding, pots and pans stuffed into jute sacks and cardboard cartons.
“They are worried about their daughters because 20 girls were kidnapped and married to Muslim boys in the past year,” Goggi said.
An immigration officer said that only half of those who have come to India in the past year have returned to Pakistan.
“They come for pilgrimage on a 30-day visa, and they keep extending it,” the officer said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss the politically sensitive issue. “They produce medical certificates to say they are ill, or report a marriage or death in the family.”
On Monday, several Indian lawmakers raised the issue in Parliament and urged the government to take it up with Pakistan.
“If persecuted Hindus don’t come to India, where will they go?” asked Prakash Javadekar, spokesman for the Hindu nationalist opposition Bharatiya Janata Party.
Hindu protests have been growing in Pakistan. Last week, Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari set up a three-member panel to address the Hindus’ grievances, and Interior Minister Rehman Malik has promised to examine the situation. “The government will first look into the matter and then allow them to leave Pakistan,” Malik said of those seeking visas. He did, however, question why India had given such a large number of visas to the Hindus.
Not all Pakistani Hindus want to leave. “I was born in Pakistan,” Kanhaiya Nagpal, a retired professor, said in a telephone interview from Karachi. “I like to live here. This is my country.”
Nagpal said he had participated in a demonstration organized by several Hindu groups Monday to protest harassment. But he added: “The solution is not to run away. If the rule of law is followed in Pakistan, then everything will be all right.”
Nisar Mehdi in Karachi contributed to this report.
New York, Aug 6: Sikhs in New York and across the country on Monday mourned the deaths in the shooting rampage at one of their temples outside Milwaukee, and some said the killings revived bitter memories of the period just after the Sept. 11 attacks when their distinctive turbans and beards seemed to trigger harassment and violence by people who wrongly assumed that they were militant Muslims.
Nancy Powell, the American ambassador to India, where the vast majority of the world’s 25 million Sikhs live, visited a temple in New Delhi and expressed horror and solidarity. Elsewhere, Sikhs reflected on the uncomfortable fact that because their appearance sets them apart, they are sometimes mistakenly singled out as targets. Observant Sikh men often wear turbans and do not cut their hair or shave their beards.
“I have been called Osama bin Laden walking down the street, because in the popular imagination a turban is associated with bin Laden and Al Qaeda,” said Prabhjot Singh, who works in the high-tech industry near San Francisco. “But 99 percent of the people who wear turbans in the United States are Sikhs, so they face a disproportionate number of acts of discrimination.”
In collecting data about post-Sept. 11 hate crimes, the Justice Department does not draw a distinction between Sikhs and Muslims, an entirely separate religion. A report from October says, “In the first six years after 9/11, the department investigated more than 800 incidents involving violence, threats, vandalism and arson against persons perceived to be Muslim or Sikh, or of Arab, Middle Eastern or South Asian origin.”
Sikhism, a monotheistic faith that emerged from the Punjab region of India about 500 years ago, is one of the world’s youngest major religions. It emphasizes self-reliance and individual responsibility and draws its tenets from the words of 10 gurus. The last guru, named Singh, as are many Sikhs today, died in 1708.
More than many other religious practitioners, Sikh men wear a uniform: unshorn hair and a small comb covered by a turban; a steel bracelet; and, for a certain group of initiates, a sword known as a kirpan.
The religion is known for promoting women to positions of power, and has championed social justice.
British colonialists in India tended to favor the Sikhs, viewing them as more Western than the Hindus and Muslims, who made up the vast majority of the population there.
“Historically in India there has been tension between the Sikhs and the ruling elite, whether Muslim or Hindu,” said Harpreet Singh, a Sikh who is finishing a doctorate in South Asian religions at Harvard and helped found the Sikh Coalition in 2001 to help Sikhs stand up for their rights. “The gurus didn’t want to pay the non-Muslim tax. Sikhs grew in numbers and became a political force.”
The prime minister of India, Manmohan Singh, is a Sikh from Punjab, and on Monday he expressed sorrow and condemnation for the killings of six people at a Wisconsin temple on Sunday by a man who appeared to have ties to a white supremacist movement. The gunman was killed by the police.
Other recent acts of violence against Sikhs — the defacing in February of a temple in Michigan, the beating of a cabdriver in California in late 2010 — involved mistaken references to Al Qaeda or militant Islam. The first post-Sept. 11 killing classified as a hate crime took place in Arizona, where a Sikh was gunned down by a man who is now serving a life sentence.
In the Jackson Heights section of Queens on Monday, Sikh men in russet, black and peach-colored turbans swept leaves from the fronts of stores selling saris and gold jewelry, and offered discounts to passers-by. Many talked about the Wisconsin rampage.
“Very sad. I was shocked,” said Harbinder Singh, who works at a grocery. “We have not done any harm to anyone. Why are we targeted? Maybe some other religions have done harm. They think that we are the same. Maybe that’s the reason.”
Inder Mohan Singh, 73, who owns a Western Union location, lives in Woodbury on Long Island and has been in the United States for 40 years.
“I’m just an ordinary man, just like other people, just like other Americans,” he said. “I should cut my hair? No one is going to change. I’m wearing the turban. I have to do it. I don’t want to say, ‘No, now I’m not going to wear my turban because of this man.’ ”
He added: “This is our religion. We cannot leave our religion for one man.”
ictim of Honor Killing in London (Credit: guardian.co.uk)
LONDON, Aug 3 : A Pakistani-born couple were jailed for life by a British court Friday for murdering their “westernised” teenage daughter in an apparent honour killing.
Iftikhar Ahmed, 52, and his wife Farzana, 49, were told at Chester Crown Court in Cheshire, north-west England, that they would serve a minimum of 25 years each after suffocating their 17-year-old daughter Shafilea in 2003.
In a high-profile case, Shafilea’s sister Alesha had told the jury that her mother had said, “Just finish it here,” as they forced a plastic bag into Shafilea’s mouth in front of their other children.
Prosecutors said the Ahmeds, who lived in the town of Warrington, near Chester, killed their daughter because they felt her “western” habits such as wearing make-up and talking to boys brought shame on the family.
Passing sentence, judge Roderick Evans told the pair: “Your concern about being shamed in your community was greater than the love of your child.
“Shafilea was a determined, able and ambitious girl who wanted to live a life which was normal in the country and in the town in which you had chosen to live,” he said.
“She was being squeezed between two cultures — the culture and way of life that she saw around her and wanted to embrace, and the culture and way of life you wanted to impose on her.”
Iftikhar Ahmed stood impassively as the sentence was passed, while his wife sobbed.
The jury had unanimously found them guilty earlier on Friday after 11 hours of deliberation.
Shafilea had disappeared in September 2003, and her body was found five months later on a riverbank in Cumbria, north-west England.
The court heard that she had been drugged and taken to Pakistan in February 2003 to be forced into a marriage with a much older man.
She was so terrified of the marriage that she drank bleach, and was taken back to Britain where she spent eight weeks in hospital.
Shortly before she was taken to Pakistan, she had run away from home and asked the local authority to provide her with emergency accommodation, the court heard.
In her letter to the authorities, she said she had suffered from regular domestic violence since she was 15.
“One parent would hold me whilst the other hit me,” she wrote. “I was prevented from attending college and my part-time job.”
Her main reason for running away was that her parents “were going to send me to Pakistan and get me married to someone,” she added.
Her parents were arrested in December 2003, three months after the killing, on suspicion of kidnapping Shafilea — but they were released without charge after prosecutors found there was insufficient evidence against them.
They were re-arrested in 2010 after Alesha was caught organising an armed robbery at the family’s own home, and told police she had witnessed her sister’s murder.
Iftikhar Ahmed, a taxi driver, denied the murder and said Shafilea had run away. His wife also denied the killing, but told the jury she saw her husband beating Shafilea and believed that he killed her.
Another of their daughters, Mevish, supported their defence.
But in a remarkable twist after the trial began, one of Mevish’s friends produced writings by her that appeared to corroborate Alesha’s story.
Mevish Ahmed insisted the writings were a piece of drug-induced “fiction” that Alesha had used to base her story on.
Prosecutor Paul Whittaker paid tribute to Alesha Ahmed for having the courage to give evidence against her parents, and urged victims of honour-based violence to come forward.
“The word ‘shame’ has been heard many times during the course of this trial, but the shame is not on Shafilea, it is on her parents,” he said. (AFP)
Karachi, Aug 3 – Imagine a situation in which 4 candidates, A,B,C and D contest elections from a constituency. There are 100 voters in that constituency and the turnout is 40 percent. A,B,C and D receive 6, 9, 12 and 13 votes respectively, and thus D wins the election. If this situation prevails at most other constituencies, we will have a government with absolute majority although 68 percent of those who voted and 87 % of the total eligible voters never voted for that government. This may be summed up as madness bordering on tyranny. Technically this is also referred to as democracy.
Now imagine another situation in which three candidates contest elections from a constituency. They submit their nomination papers and make the required declarations. All three possess fake degrees, hold dual nationalities, hide their assets and have defaulted on tax payment for past several years. They have also been regular “bhatta” collectors and engaged in ‘ephedrinal’ matters over a long period of time. What is the chance that the Election Commission will disqualify any of them from contesting the election and becoming our next Prime Minister. The answer is ‘Zero’. While this may sound utterly sinister, that is exactly how the system is designed to work.
If we tax our memories hard enough, we will recall that it was only four years ago that the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) conducted a fake exercise code named ‘elections’ using a fake list of 37.2 million fictitious voters. It then went on to multiply the scam by introducing some 300 parliamentarians who had cheated the system by acquiring fake degrees. Not satisfied with the level of spuriousness, the ECP also forgot the vital constitutional requirement of checking for dual nationality and thus pushed in another estimated 80-100 half foreigners as our law makers. Finally the ECP preferred to look the other way even when a parliamentarian broke away from police custody, was found using stolen visa card or declared a fake degree holder by the Supreme Court.
Will the next election replicate the ECP’s dismal performance of the past? Do we realise that we have the same infra structure, the same rules and the same bureaucratic mindset of the past. In the last elections the ECP came out with a brilliant gimmick. Enter your NIC, select the province and hit the ‘send’ button to search your voter ID. As there was no corrective mechanism beyond pressing the ‘send’ button, we ended up with a voter list of 37.2 million fake names. This time too, we are told to enter the NIC number, punch 8300 and send an SMS. One promptly receives a response which describes your electoral details. But how will an estimated 15 million dead punch their NIC cards and send SMSs from locations where (fortunately) the telecom industry has no access. What happens when the response indicates a wrong name or address. Exactly like the last time, the ECP has opted for a look-good process that neither corrects nor improves the current voter list.
The decisions relating to eligibility of those contesting elections ought to be based on scrutiny of facts. The ECP in this area is designed on the pattern of a glorified post office. It must limit itself to the business of collecting and filing nomination papers. It must not use eyes, ears or neurons of its own. It must wait for a political opponent or a party to challenge the information provided by a contestant. Once elected, it must wait for the Speaker to refer a case for disqualification. While the number of delinquents ran into hundreds, how many cases for disqualification were referred to the ECP. So unless the ECP has the courage and conscience to break away from its apathetic past and act proactively, it is likely to allow the same aberrations to reappear as our second generation of law breakers.
The Supreme Court has already declared that the First-Past-the-post electoral system violates the concept of majority rule, and has asked ECP to find ways to ensure true representation of the people. Despite having been specifically directed to do so, the ECP has taken no steps to move towards ‘proportionate’ or the ‘run-off’ system of representation. Pakistan ought to opt for a system of proportionate representation, if we wish to move away from the tyranny of a minority in the garb of a majority.
Will the ECP before receiving the nomination papers of a candidate also ask for the names of his / her party office bearers. Will the ECP check if they meet the qualification requirements for being elected as parliamentarians, as required by Section 5 of the Political Parties Order. Will the ECP also remember to ensure that the office bearers of a political party do not hold an elected public office, which is rather well defined at section 9 of the Political Parties Order. How come the ECP remained in deep slumber while this law was flouted over the past four years. If the new ECP setup can do just the few things mentioned in this article, Pakistan would get a fresh opportunity to build an equitable and accountable electoral system.
Indo Pak trade reps Sharma & Faheem (Credit: newspakistan.pk)NEW DELHI, Aug 1: India on Wednesday overturned its ban on foreign investment from Pakistan in a move designed to build goodwill amid a renewed push for a peace settlement between the two neighbours.
“The government of India has reviewed the policy… and decided to permit a citizen of Pakistan or an entity incorporated in Pakistan to make investments in India,” said a statement from the Indian commerce ministry.
India and Pakistan, which have fought three wars since independence, are channeling their peace efforts into “trade diplomacy”.
The aim is to build enough trust to tackle the more troublesome issues that divide them, such as the disputed territory of Kashmir.
“It will definitely benefit Pakistani investors and industrialists. We hope this decision will be fruitful for the people of both countries.” Pakistani businessmen also welcomed the move.
“We do appreciate this action by the government of India, but what will be more interesting for me is when the Indian authorities lift its ban on Indian investors investing in Pakistan,” said Majyd Aziz, involved in the import and export of minerals and in shipping.
“For a better economic future in South Asia, it will be a huge step when businessmen from both the countries can freely invest in each other’s country.” Zubair Motiwala, chairman of the board of investment in Sindh province, said it was the “right decision taken at the right time”.
“Allowing our country to invest in India is a great confidence booster and will pave the way for more cordial bilateral relations,” he said.
The warming commercial ties underline the new relevance of the private sector in the peace process, analysts said.
Pakistani citizens and companies will be allowed to invest in all sectors apart from defence, space and atomic energy, a government statement said. All propositions must be notified to the Indian government, it added.
The decision to accept foreign direct investment from Pakistan was taken in April when the trade ministers of the South Asian rivals met in New Delhi.
They also discussed ways to ease visa curbs on business travel and the possibility of allowing banks from both countries to open cross-border branches.
The improved relations between the rivals stem from Pakistan’s decision to grant India “Most Favoured Nation (MFN)” status by year end, meaning Indian exports will be treated the same as those from other nations.
MFN status will mean India can export 6,800 items to Pakistan, up from around 2,000 at present, and the countries aim to lift bilateral trade to $6 billion within three years, officials have said.
Official bilateral trade is just $2.7 billion and heavily tilted in New Delhi’s favour, according to most recent figures, but unofficial trade routed through third countries is estimated at up to $10 billion.
In further progress, the neighbours opened a second trading gate in April along their heavily militarised border, increasing the number of trucks able to cross daily to 600 from 150.
Pakistan has called for a “new era” in economic collaboration with India to build “a legacy of peace and prosperity for our future generations”.
The two countries have said there are many sectors with huge trade potential, from information technology to engineering, education and health.
The two nations have voiced hopes that boosting trade can help peace talks which India warily resumed last year after suspending them after the 2008 attack by Islamist gunmen on Mumbai that killed 166 people.
“Commerce is an excellent way to bring countries together,” Indian strategic analyst Uday Bhaskar told AFP recently.
“Once you institutionalise trade, it becomes hard to slow the momentum for cross-border exchanges.”
Agha Waqar ki Motor Car (Credit: timthumb.php)ISLAMABAD, July 28: A Pakistani engineer has built a car that runs on water, a feat that left onlookers astounded.
Engineer Waqar Ahmad drove his car using water as fuel on Thursday during a demonstration for parliamentarians, scientists and students, Dawn reported from the capital.
He said cars could be driven by a system fuelled by water instead of petrol or CNG.
The onlookers were taken aback when they saw it and a cabinet sub-committee lauded the ‘Water Fuel Kit Project’.
Religious Affairs Minister Syed Khurshid Ahmad Shah, who heads the panel, said the engineer would have their full support.
The media report explained that the water fuelling system is a technology in which ‘hydrogen bonding’ with distilled water produces hydrogen gas to run the car.
Ahmad had earlier told Shah about the unique project and it was taken to the federal cabinet which asked its sub-committee to discuss it. During the demonstration, Shah himself drove the car.
The minister said that Ahmad would be given complete security and the formula would be kept secure. Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf and Finance Minister Hafeez Sheikh value the project, he said.
“We own this project and are committed to successfully completing it,” he was quoted as saying.
Rabia Ashiq (Credit: brecorder.com)KARACHI: Pakistan’s talented athlete Rabiq Ashiq who will be competing in the 800 metres competition at the London Olympics, scheduled for Aug 8, has received a major boost with her recent sponsorship contract.
Rabia was selected to participate in the Olympics through wildcard and is hoping to make an impact in the challenging event at the Games scheduled for next week.
Rabia said that although she will strive hard for the medals, this opportunity alone of competing in the world’s top sports extravaganza is a dream come true.
“Girls should educate themselves and realise their dreams through hard work and persistence. Nothing is impossible,” she said prior to her departure for London.
Hailing from a modest background, Rabia had to face discouragement from her immediate and extended family initially but her passion drove her to continue taking part in sports at school and college level.
Recognising her tenacity, Zong a leading cellular company has decided to sponsor the athlete for her participation in the world’s foremost sports competition.
“Rabia is an epitome of courage and an excellent example for the world to see that with minimal resources there can still be success stories of women who are willing to dream. Even if the society is not ready to support, a person can change everyone’s perception through his or her consistent efforts,” said an official. (Agencies)
Pakistan police on front lines (Credit: cnn.com)WASHINGTON: Faced with mounting violence, Pakistan needs to push ahead reforms of its police force, which lacks the training, equipment and political will to be effective, a new study said.
In a lengthy report, a commission set up by the New York-based Asia Society called for Pakistan to step up police training and carry out structural reforms to boost the force’s skills and reduce corruption.
“High crime rates throughout the country, relatively low conviction rates of prisoners on trial and heightened concerns about instability spilling over from Afghanistan indicate that there is an urgent and critical need to invest in and reform Pakistan’s law enforcement infrastructure,” the report said.
The study, due to be released on Monday, said that criminals and Islamic extremists have increasingly colluded and evaded a police force hampered by “severe deficiencies” in technology and training.
Pakistan’s military and Inter-Services Intelligence agency have historically been major centers of power. But the report said the police hold primary responsibility for law and order.
“Shifting all the blame onto the police force, whether done by the public, media or government, is unfair and unproductive,” the report said.
Pakistan’s police system “simply is not structured to reward good behavior, as merit-based opportunities for professional advancement are scarce, low pay is the norm and a lack of support and resources compels even many well-intentioned officers to misuse their authority in order to survive,” the report said.
Hassan Abbas, the commission’s project director and a professor at the National Defense University in Washington, said international assistance could help. Britain and the United States have both been assisting police reform.
“However, the overall funding for these projects is no match for the resources provided to Pakistan for anti-terrorism operations throughout the last decade, very little (if any) of which ever reached police institutions because it was so largely geared toward the defense sector,” he said.
“Both are important needs, but a balanced approach is needed to help Pakistan tackle internal and external challenges more effectively.”
Pakistan has received more than $18 billion in US aid, mostly for its military, since it agreed to support the US-led war in Afghanistan after the September 11, 2001 attacks.
The country in recent years has been torn by violence, with extremists carrying out attacks in major cities, militant cells holed up in lawless border areas and an ethnic insurgency raging in Balochistan.
Pakistan’s then military ruler Pervez Musharraf in 2002 issued orders to set clear rules for the police, but the reform quickly lost steam.
The Asia Society study called for the implementation of the 2002 reforms, along with an overhaul of hiring practices, improvements in working conditions and the establishment of an independent authority to assess complaints of police misconduct.
The commission recommended the training of anti-terrorism investigators at each police station, along with special units with direct access to data from private cellular telephone operators.
The report also called for training on protecting the rights of women, children and minorities, a frequent source of concern, and efforts to recruit more women police officers.
Separately, the study called for special efforts to recruit local youth as police in Baluchistan, the southwestern province where insurgents rose up in 2004 to demand greater autonomy.
The report said that police should be put in charge of investigating charges of extrajudicial killings in Balochistan and that Pakistan should restrict the roles there of the paramilitary Frontier Corps and intelligence agencies.
WHAT are the qualities — in terms of scholarship and character — that one should seek in the head of a university if it is to be run competently and produce excellence in education?
Inarguably he must, above all, inspire his students so that he can lead them with his moral strength and knowledge. Considering the fact that many of our universities are in a state of crisis today, it is time we looked at the leadership factor to determine what has gone wrong.
Sindh University presents itself as a perfect example of how poor leadership can destroy an institution of higher education. There has been unrest at the campus at Jamshoro since January when a teacher was murdered. The protest is directed against the vice chancellor, Dr Nazir Mughal. When he was dispatched on ‘forced leave’ in February and his controversial orders dismissing some faculty members withdrawn, a semblance of peace was restored and classes resumed.
Yet all was not well at Jamshoro, because stopgap solutions do not resolve problems. Last month Dr Mughal was back and there has been trouble again. Immediately after his return the vice chancellor announced summer vacations and the examinations that were in progress were disrupted. Soon thereafter a really heinous crime occurred. Two professors — Amar Sindhu, who received bullet wounds, and Arfana Mallah, the secretary general of the Sindh University Teachers’ Association (Suta) — were attacked. Masked gunmen opened fire on them, giving rise to widespread anger. It was plain that those in power were trying to eliminate the VC’s two most vocal critics.
What is at the root of this crisis? The fact is that Dr Mughal does not enjoy the confidence of the faculty. There are serious charges against him. In a petition filed before the Supreme Court, Marvi Memon, a former Senator, has listed a number of them.
They range from the absence of transparency in his appointment in 2010 to his failure to keep peace on campus. Two students and a teacher have been murdered in the last two years. Allegations of corruption, embezzlement and other malpractices have also been levelled.
Meanwhile the vice chancellor has kept himself in office by manipulating pro-PPP student groups. As a champion of the ruling party’s interests he also enjoys the support of political patrons who need compliant and subservient subordinates in critical positions. Since student unions remain banned from Gen Zia’s days, there is no way of knowing where the youth stand on the issue.
All this has affected academic standards while charters have been granted with abandon to institutions with dubious credentials. Instead of universities being cradles of research and intellectual regeneration, they are stagnating. The powers that be have clamped down on students to prevent original thinking that could challenge the status quo.
Dr Mughal had earlier served as vice chancellor of Sindh University from 1995-98 and was reappointed quite arbitrarily in 2010 because of his connections in the right quarters. That was a slap in the face of education in Pakistan considering that his credentials are not impeccable. A committee appointed after his last dismissal in 1998 had recommended disciplinary action against him. In his last tenure he was removed when a student was killed on campus and there was widespread public agitation.
The Suta has now issued a white paper that levels 24 charges against the vice chancellor. Some of them cast doubts on his eligibility for the post he holds today. His association with two educational institutions with foreign links is said to have kept him away from Sindh University, where he was first appointed in 1974 but never confirmed as his presence there was minimal.
The white paper meticulously records photocopies of bills and memoranda in support of corruption charges ranging from financial embezzlement to academic malpractices such as allowing students with zero attendance to appear in examinations, nepotism in the appointment of teachers and the sale of teaching positions. It calls for an independent enquiry.
What is, however, most serious is the fact that the vice chancellor’s relations with the faculty are adversarial and militate against healthy academic activity. The rise in violence at Sindh University — 235 FIRs have been registered since 2010 — is disturbing. Attacking teachers is no solution when matters have reached such a state.
While it is a matter of serious concern that the students of Sindh are being denied a good education and their academic life stands disrupted, the wider implications of the troubles in Jamshoro are grave. Marvi Memon spoke of the vice chancellor’s role being indispensable in facilitating the election of MNAs (said to be 23 in number) who have suspect degrees from Sindh University. She requested the Supreme Court to ask the Higher Education Commission to verify their degrees. This has not happened.
What is happening in Sindh’s universities can at best be described as the politicisation of higher education to facilitate the perpetuation of a party in office. If the axe falls on MNAs who support the present government, that would be destabilising for it. Schools have already been used to consolidate the power of those in office by planting their henchmen in educational institutions. Universities are also being used for the same purpose even though this practice has been deemed illegal by the Lahore High Court in the case of the appointment of the vice chancellor of the University of Health Sciences, Lahore and others.
Badshahi mosque in Lahore (Credit: diplopundit.net)Pakistan, July 8: Many of us travel for business or leisure. But few ever take a trip that dramatically shatters their entire worldview of a country and a people in one fell swoop. I was lucky enough to have returned from just such a trip: a week-long sojourn in Pakistan.
It was a true eye-opener, and a thoroughly enjoyable one at that. Many of the assumptions and feelings I had held toward the country for nearly 30 years were challenged and exposed as wrong and even ignorant outright.
Yes, I was aware of all the reasons not to go, safety foremost among them. As an American, an Indian, and a Hindu there seemed to be multiple reasons for someone of my background to have concerns about security. Relatives and friends couldn’t hide their dismay and genuine fear; a frequent question was “why would you want to go?” The subtext is that there’s nothing to see there that’s worth the risk.
The Western and Indian media feed us a steady diet of stories about bomb blasts, gunfights, kidnappings, torture, subjugation of women, dysfunctional government, and scary madrassa schools that are training the next generation of jihadist terrorists. And yes, to many Westerners and especially Indians, Pakistan is the enemy, embodying all that is wrong in the world. Incidents such as the beheading of American journalist Daniel Pearl, 26/11 and the Osama Bin Laden raid in Abottobad have not helped the cause either. Numerous international relations analysts proclaim that Pakistan is “the most dangerous place in the world” and the border with India is “the most dangerous border in the world.”
I’m not naive enough to argue that these proclamations don’t have some elements of truth; through extensive academic work on Pakistan’s governance, its history, and its nuclear weapons arsenal I know that some problems are real. Rather, I am here to tell you that these aspects are overblown; that this country is about so much more, a whole other and much larger, beautiful, glorious, and uplifting side not given equal time by the media. I’ve seen it with my own eyes. And it’s time that Indians and Americans acknowledge Pakistan for what it really is as a whole- and our ignorance for what that is.
It may be easy to dismiss my firsthand experience as anecdotal: yes, I stayed in affluent neighborhoods in large cities, mostly met those who belong to the educated elite, was protected by firearm-toting bodyguards, and rarely revealed my ethnic background to most of the new people I met. Funnily enough, I don’t think now that the absence of any of these factors would have changed my experience at all.
The Genesis
My trip to Pakistan was not planned much in advance. I was in Sri Lanka for a friend’s wedding and spent a great deal of time with two Pakistani friends from my undergraduate days at Georgetown. Both are now businessmen, one in Karachi and the other in Lahore. I was going to be in India soon, and mentioned that a trip to Pakistan is something I always wanted to do, but I was too scared to execute it. Over the next few hours, we had some beer and seafood by the hotel swimming pool in Colombo and got into a detailed and lively discussion, during which time they insisted I visit and guaranteed my safety throughout the stay. My concerns allayed, I promised to make it happen, probably the first person from my family tree to visit Pakistan since the bloody 1947 partition. I was fortunate to have the opportunity for a fully hosted trip and couldn’t pass it up anymore. I have realized now more than ever before how deep the friendships forged during college can run- cutting across borders, cultures, and time.
Karachi
As I was about to land in Karachi on my flight from Colombo, Sri Lanka (direct flights from India are few and far between), I was gripped by a familiar fear. What the hell was I doing? What if I got detained in the airport and then deported because they found out my Indian ancestry and suspected my motives? How would my parents react if they learned I was the victim of a bomb blast while traveling around the city? On the plane I sat next to a very chatty and friendly executive from Lahore, who had gone to Sri Lanka on business. He was excited to tell me about Pakistan since it was my first visit, and the conversation was pleasant enough. But I kept feeling the growing knot of fear in my stomach. I tried to be brave as the plane landed. As my friend had said, 20 million people live in Karachi and now and then bad things happen, but the odds of it affecting me were very low.
Fortunately I got through immigration at the Quaid-e-Azam Airport quickly, and a friend was waiting for me with his pickup truck. The first thing I saw outside the airport was… a giant McDonald’s restaurant surrounded by a large and well-manicured green lawn. An unexpected welcome from the golden arches on a sunny, hot day.
Two uniformed bodyguards with rifles who were exceedingly friendly and welcoming climbed onto the pickup truck bed as we started on a 45-minute drive. I was impressed by the massive, well-maintained parks and gardens surrounding the airport. I was also impressed by the general cleanliness, the orderliness of the traffic, the quality of the roads, and the greenery. Coming from a city government background, I was surprised at how organized Karachi was throughout the ride. I also didn’t see many beggars the entire way. I had just spent significant amounts of time in two major Indian cities, Mumbai and Bangalore, as well as several second-tier cities like Mangalore, and none would compare favorably on maintenance and city planning, especially when it came to potholes and waste management. This was the first surprise; I was expecting that piles of garbage and dirt would line the roads and beggars would overflow onto the streets. Surely there is dirt and poverty in Karachi, but far less than I was expecting. Karachi was also less dense and crowded than India’s cities.
My second pleasant surprise was to see numerous large development projects under way. I had read about Pakistan’s sluggish GDP growth and corruption in public works and foreign aid disbursement. This may be true, but construction was going on all over the place: new movie theaters, new malls, new skyscrapers, new roads, and entire new neighborhoods being built from scratch. In this regard it was similar to India and every other part of Asia I had seen recently: new development and rapid change continues apace, something we are seeing less of in the West.
Just a few of the many highlights in Karachi included relaxing at beachside cafes, dining at amazing tandoori restaurants such as the massive Barbecue Tonight, an excellent burger/brunch joint called Xander’s, a visit to the historic and beautiful Mazar-e-Quaid where the nation’s founder, Muhammad Ali Jinnah is entombed in a marble mausoleum, visiting a book fair next to the British-era Frere Hall, and a sailboat ride around the Karachi port where a magnificent crab feast fit for a Mogul emperor was served on board. The service was so impeccable, the cooks would crack and remove individual crab claw shells by hand to make it easier to access the fresh meat.
We were also able to do some things which may sound more familiar to Americans: bowling at Karachi’s first bowling alley, intense games of pickup basketball with some local teenagers at a large public park (these kids could really play), or passing through massive and well-appointed malls filled with thousands of happy people of all ages walking around, shopping, or eating at the food court. We even attended a grand launch party for Magnum ice cream bars, featuring many of Pakistan’s A-list actors, models, and businesspeople. A friend who is involved in producing musicals directed an excellent performance at the party, complete with live band, singing, and dancing. This troupe, Made for Stage has also produced shows such as the Broadway musical Chicago to critical acclaim with an all-Pakistani cast for the first time in history.
Even the poor areas we visited, such as the neighborhoods around the Mazar, were filled with families coming out for a picnic or a stroll, enjoying their weekend leisure time in the sun. All I could see were friendly and happy people, including children with striking features running around. At no time did I feel the least bit unsafe anywhere we went, and we definitely went through a mix of neighborhoods with varying profiles.
Lahore
Lahore is more beautiful overall than Karachi or any large Indian city I’ve seen. Serious effort has gone into keeping the city green and preserving its storied history. Historians would have a field day here. In particular we saw two stunning historic mosques, the Wazir Khan and the Badshahi, both of which should be considered treasures not only for Muslims, Pakistanis, or South Asia, but for all of humanity. I felt it a crime that I’d never even heard of either one.
Each of them in different ways features breath-taking architecture and intricate artwork comparable to India’s Taj Mahal. These are must-see sights for any tourist to Lahore. The best way to enjoy the vista of the Badshahi mosque is to have a meal on the rooftop of one of the many superb restaurants on Food Street next to the mosque compound. This interesting area was for hundreds of years an infamous red-light district, made up of a series of old wooden rowhouses that look like they were lifted straight out of New Orleans’ Bourbon Street, strangely juxtaposed with one of the country’s holiest shrines. From the roof of Cuckoo’s Den restaurant, we could see all of the massive Badshahi complex along with the adjoining royal fortress, all while having a 5-star meal of kebabs, spicy curries in clay pots, and lassi under the stars. We were fortunate to have very pleasant whether as well. This alfresco dining experience with two good friends encompassed my favorite moments in the city.
We did much more in Lahore. We were given a tour of the renowned Aitchison College, which one of my friends attended. This boys’ private prep school is known for its difficult entrance exams, rigorous academic tradition, illustrious list of alumni since the British founded the school, and its gorgeous and impeccably maintained 200-acre campus that puts most major universities icluding my own Georgetown to shame. Aitchison has been considered one of the best prep schools on the subcontinent since 1886. However, it would have been impossible to get a tour without the alumni connection because security is very thorough.
We went out to the village of Kasur, not too far from the famous Waga border with India, to see my friend’s agricultural business. This gave me a profile of village life, which like India makes up most of the country. The highway on the way was in very good condition, and the village was serene and pleasant, if poor. Just as with the cities, I saw lots of potential in this place. With more advanced farming, shipping, and storage methods, it’s quite likely that we will see much more wealth coming to Pakistan’s villages in the near future.
Beer seems to taste better when it’s bootlegged. There’s an alcohol prohibition in effect across Pakistan so there’s no other way to get it. One of the modern contradictions of Pakistani life is that the country has a top-notch brewer called Murree’s, set up during the British Raj, but the company officially exists only to export the beer- or to have it sold on the local black market, which is apparently insatiable. If you have the money and contacts, you are usually able to find booze. We spent two leisurely evenings in Lahore drinking Murree’s in my friend’s pool, swimming, chatting, and listening to music such as techno, hip-hop, and Talking Heads. Life does not get any better than that- in Pakistan or elsewhere.
In Conclusion
This is a story about more than individual friendships, which brought me to Pakistan in the first place. I was hosted by a number of people in their homes, including a former high-ranking general of the Pakistani Army, and treated like a part of the family despite my background. I conducted several meetings, both formal and informal to discuss business opportunities, and was always treated with great respect. I made a number of new friends, people who I hope to stay in touch with and see many times again.
Indians and Pakistanis should take a step back and think about all of the things they have in common. The brand of Islam I saw in Pakistan was benign, mostly relegated to melodic prayer calls from the minarets, and pleasant salutations between people. It is not an in-your-face brand of the religion as I have seen in the Middle East, where everyone is forced to conform to rules about clothing or shutting down business during prayer times. Pakistanis and Indians are cut from the same cloth, and really aren’t that different from each other. I think this was my biggest and most pleasant surprise of all. The ill feelings that do exist are mostly manufactured for political gain on both sides of the border, or based on slights from decades or even centuries ago.
Though there are grand challenges, foremost among them the issue of Kashmir and related border disputes, these should be easily overshadowed by the economic opportunities available to Pakistan, India, and the West by increasing their level of international trade. In fact, I believe commerce and the march of capitalism will provide the path for India and Pakistan to become allies as nations and friends as people.
There are certainly other challenges. Terrorism and gangsterism are very real problems, and they are alive and well in Pakistan, especially in the rough terrain of the Northwest Frontier region ruled by tribal militias and their blood feuds. The army continues to play an outsized role in government, and there are not yet any better options as the civilian leaders are mostly compromised by business interests and cronyism in a land where feudal tendencies appear time and again. But even these problems can be overcome by bringing Pakistan deeper into the community of nations, and further integrating Pakistan into world markets. India and the United States for their part can do more to help bring this about. I am convinced that instead of the delicate dance the three nations have done around each other since 1947, it is time for all to become closer friends and drop the pretexts for moving backward instead of forward. What I saw in Pakistan more than the perils, is great potential.
I plan to do my part, and this piece is only the first step.
