Afrah Jamal

Book Review:Talking to Terrorists: A Personal Journey from the IRA to Al Qaeda Author: By Peter Taylor

2012-01-28T13:33:00.005+05:00

Published in Daily Times / Saturday, January 28, 2012

Reviewed by: Afrah Jamal

When Peter Taylor, BBC’s acclaimed investigative journalist, hunts down ‘terrorists’, he just wants to talk. Churchill’s philosophy of ‘Jaw-jaw instead of war-war’ appealed to the audience in one episode of the 2007 BBC Doha debates titled ‘Talking to al Qaeda’. A former ISI chief present on the occasion admitted that they had already established secret channels of communication. But as the host pointedly asked, to what end given the American National Intelligence report that the enemy regenerated key elements of its Homeland attack capability regardless.

Since then this region has watched hastily made peace deals crumble and efforts at diplomacy fail. Five years down the line however, the Taliban are toying with the idea of opening a liaison office in Qatar.

This part memoir that documents Peter Taylor’s 40 years’ experience of talking with the ‘terrorists’ and part mystery that maps al Qaeda’s global footprint in elaborate detail gives a panoramic view of terrorism. At the time of publication, Faisal Shahzad had yet to make his abortive move on Times Square in New York and bin Laden’s lair was still ‘undiscovered’. The book presents a detailed map that traces evolving terrorism hotspots across the globe beginning with the time when the US was ‘tone deaf to the concept’ and OBL was a tiny blip on the intelligence radar.

The detective work put into the identification of Faisal’s predecessors sheds light on a different aspect of the war. It puts readers on the trail of the Lackawanna Six (Yemeni Americans) who came face to face with ‘the’ bin Laden but were never activated, others like the UK airline bombers apprehended before they could strike, still others who survived only to become valuable assets. Spectacular intelligence coups notwithstanding, the journey is harrowing. He documents the genesis of al Qaeda — (the original and its continental spin-offs), the paralysing effect on the world and its polarising effects on communities.

He then narrates the brilliant investigative work that led to these perpetrators spreading out over different continents. Glimpses of chaotic backstage preparations that helped save the day provide the ‘feel good’ side of the story. What happens to the terror suspects afterwards is less reassuring. The final chapters that detail the torture tactics are particularly difficult to get through for they hand the moral high ground to the enemy.

While shocking stories of abuse are on record, efforts at rehabilitation and the rights of detainees also become part of the narrative. The Saudi rehabilitation/reintegration programmes do their bit in making the world a safer place by taking released Guantánamo prisoners to help them make better life choices. The writer gets access to al Ha’ir — Riyadh’s top security prison where he is greeted with traditional Arab courtesy complete with Krispy Kreme doughnuts and the sight of a certain prisoner surrounded by comfort — the same man on whom rehabilitation had reportedly backfired at least once (pg 275).

The writer is seen conversing with an assortment of ‘jihadis’ or ‘mujahids’ (as some believe themselves to be) and their families in a bid to understand the psyche of an average terrorist. Filling the gaps are stories of disillusioned recruits who disagree with al Qaeda’s core philosophy of ‘indiscriminate killing’ renouncing their mentors and seemingly decent citizens with a future turn into manic killers.

This comprehensive study engages with the purveyors of ‘jihad’ to evaluate its twisted trajectory through an ever changing, constantly expanding battlefield. It wonders at how perfectly normal the converts appear to be — showing that the common path to radicalisation many have embarked on does not necessarily begin with a radical mosque. A shady ‘spiritual guide’ becomes the common denominator in this saga of a lost generation (pg 227). The book later trails off to seek the crucial connectors linking the worldwide web of terror to provide a vital timeline of events 9/11 and beyond.

Early chapters on Northern Ireland offer a historical vantage point to observe the manifold dimensions of a peace process. Since Peter has spent 30 years covering Northern Ireland, the Irish Republican Army (IRA) provides a recent reference point to help assess the value of dialogue. The behind the scenes manoeuvring that led to the cessation of hostilities and involved maintaining an open communication channel, and in one case breaking the chain of command, is illuminating. Apparently, there would be no Good Friday agreement if it were not for that breach of protocol.

Defusing the al Qaeda bomb poses unique challenges. He acknowledges that their ultimate aspiration for a Caliphate like the IRA’s United Ireland dream can be set aside, concluding that perhaps less fantastic demands can be accommodated. While talking to henchmen has yielded results, preparing the groundwork for peace is shown to be a painstakingly slow process. “There would still be a question,” he adds, at the end “of who to negotiate with given the way in which al Qaeda has evolved into a global phenomenon with many disparate affiliates not all of them linked to the core leadership” (pg 312).

What Peter took away from the IRA was that “intractable conflicts can be resolved”. Talking to Terrorists: A Personal Journey from the IRA to Al Qaeda is a bold piece of journalism that coolly aligns some powerful sounding arguments with the ‘dialogue over destruction’ theme.

Images courtesy of: http://artswrap.co.uk/sites/default/files/imagecache/event_image_full/Talking%20to%20Terrorists.jpg

VIEW: Coups: bloody, medium, rare

2012-01-14T15:13:00.001+05:00

Published in Daily Times / Saturday, January 14, 2012

One cannot initiate a change of guard in Pakistan without sending the entire nation into a paroxysm or rattling the international community. Not when said change comes atop a war of (some very mean sounding) words between the state and its military.

The New York Times (NYT) editorial, ‘Pakistan’s besieged government’ (January 12, 2012) appears concerned about the fate of Pakistan’s democracy. They hint at “disastrous patterns” and bring up the olden days, implying that a repeat of those times is perhaps in the offing. They then observe that “no civilian government in Pakistan has ever finished its term” and hope that this one would be allowed to do so. Their concern is touching.

The latest crisis precipitated by the firing of the Defence Secretary and the prime minister’s ill-timed statements against our omnipotent military commanders triggered warning bells for Pakistan’s fledging democracy. These back to back incidents gave the impression that a coup was imminent, leading to frenzied speculations. Those who tuned in to the media (mainstream, social) came upon stricken-looking anchors, hysterical headlines and hurried debates all centred on a possible military takeover. These fears are not entirely unfounded and emerge from a not-so-distant past where the military, skilled in overnight redecoration, dictated the national narrative. The bitter aftertaste of earlier coups continues to linger.

Recent events show the military to be in tune with the public sentiments — however grudgingly, not because their special brand of coups (bloody-medium-rare) are no longer effective but maybe because there is less tolerance and sweeter alternatives available. Nevertheless, a coup is the first thing that comes to mind (theirs, ours, everyone’s) when the judiciary, military and the government start exchanging pleasantries and tacking words like dishonest, treacherous, violator of the constitution to the postscripts. Sternly worded warnings issued by the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) countering the prime minister’s accusations can only fuel our overactive imaginations.

The landscape has changed drastically over the past 10 years and yet something remains the same. Pakistan is used to waking up in the morning to fresh faces and a shiny new leadership. The people clamour for a military takeover and then resent them for it. Each time the situation warrants an intervention. Each time it ends badly. Yes, the public is fickle — their taste in politicians is questionable, their memory is notoriously short and choices are limited. But their stance on military rule has always been clear.

Coups, even if they appear justified at the time, are to be discouraged for several reasons. Governments that cannot finish their tenure then accuse the establishment of cramping their style and use these pleas to garner sympathy for their next bid. And it works. Political martyrdom allows the same faces to keep coming back, citing these interruptions as the sole reason for their spectacular failures.

While a coup may not be forthcoming, some changes might. Political parties seem geared up to bid adieu to the government. Something has set events in motion, which might lead the Opposition to seek a no-confidence vote in parliament (the PML-N reportedly falls short of the required votes) or convince either Imran Khan to start his civil disobedience movement or the government to agree to a fall election.

Pakistan’s young democracy needs to find a foothold. The present government has had a busy four years — they have fallen out with the judiciary, the military and the people and quietly watched the railways, airlines and steel mills implode. If people are disillusioned it is not just because the leaders failed to deliver on those enticing promises but because they appeared indifferent to the current tailspin.

No one disagrees with the NYT’s airy observations that “no civilian will ever be able to do a competent job if the military keeps pulling the strings”. The military men have had ample opportunities to step in but they have spent the better part of 2011 quashing such rumours. The danger seems to have been averted but that ‘endangered’ sign continues to hang outside the civilian government’s doorstep. This government is in a legal bind, some might argue of its own making. Others will find it ironic that trying to safeguard their government against an imaginary coup actually brought them to the brink of a real one.

Images Courtesy of: http://www.newageislam.com/controlpanel/picture_library/bohan114.jpg
http://videos.onepakistan.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/news-beat2.jpg
http://www.jagodunya.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/javed_hashmi-imran-khan-nawaz-sharif-pti-jagodunya.jpg

VIEW: No More Sitting Ducks -taking a chapter from the 1980s playbook

2011-12-31T16:11:00.000+05:00

Published in Daily Times / Saturday, December 31, 2011

These days Pakistan can be found standing at the crossroads mulling over its future role in an ongoing war. A shaky alliance merits the deployment of its sophisticated air defence network on the western front. Its cash-strapped economy in turn merits the reassessment of the defence budget to sustain this expansive proposition. After 26/11, Pak military’s mission statement has undergone some necessary overhauls; it must now rethink safeguards against a powerful ally and identify the limitations of its proposed strategy.

The primary goal is to strengthen the western border defences. It has been done before. No Soviet could get past their watchful gaze in the 1980s. Pakistan’s current capability allowed swift detection of an intruding Indian helicopter from the east recently. And yet there have been two air violations from the west in a span of six months. Two!

After the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, radars had been deployed on the western front to keep an eye on those Soviets. That kind of surveillance however comes at a cost and calls for a war-footing scenario. The armed forces managed to maintain a round the clock (low level and high level) air cover and doing so, they will tell you, meant that it paid a high price due to excessive wear and tear.

Those wondering why the changed nature of threat perception did not warrant such a deployment long before 26/11 or Abbottabad raid are treated to some depressing news. Keeping the impressive looking Eyries (AEW&C platforms) in the air while maintaining continuous low level coverage of the entire border, analysts say, is cost prohibitive. This is why there are other deterrents in place. The threat of retaliation, whether it is through military might or by finding the right leverage (economic, diplomatic), generally keeps foreign military misadventures in check.

At present Pakistan is monitoring the airspace using two kinds of radars — one of which has a range of 250 miles (high level). The other, with its limited cone of coverage will not be much use unless deployed in bulk. More than a dozen (high level) radars working on a 24/7 basis deployed alongside 250 or so low level counterparts integrated through a computerised network may be considered enough to cover the entire airspace. Here more depressing news follows. Apparently the shelf life of low level radars that demand periodic overhaul is reduced considerably if operated on a constant basis.

The high level coverage is up and running. But clearly there were major gaps in the low level aspect of the defence network — information that the US Navy SEALS team used to their advantage this past May. To overcome these limitations, point defences at key checkposts close to the border are likely to be deployed along the Durand Line. A US military commander who maintains that the strike was accidental cannot guarantee that something like 26/11 will not be repeated. The tacit agreement between both allies that once prevented Pakistan’s armed forces from engaging the intruding drones is at the moment void. Local commanders can guarantee that a fitting response will be offered should there be a repeat performance by NATO troops.

Coming back to the two violations — in one the US Navy SEALS swooped in and out reportedly unchallenged and in the other NATO combat aircraft engaged unfortunate Pakistani checkposts seemingly unprovoked. In both cases, the response everyone expected and waited for with bated breath was either too late or not forthcoming at all.

The communication network in the first instance was not knocked out — experts say that the modified Blackhawk copters used in Operation Neptune Spear would only have resorted to jamming after being alerted by their radar warning receivers (RWR) because they are virtually invisible to the current generation radars. The second event is harder to deconstruct. Radars on the Pakistani side of the border claim to have picked up activity before they came under attack; they blame their lack of response on downed communication that kept the news of the actual firefight from filtering down.

In the end, the biggest deterrent is not the oft ignored ‘No Trespassing’ sign, but the increasingly downplayed ‘relationship’ card — 26/11 cost the allies’ valuable logistic support, hard earned goodwill and a free (overhead) pass to the tribal zone; that alone can provide some incentive to perhaps not stray too far from the red lines next time.

Images Courtesy of: http://i.istockimg.com/file_thumbview_approve/18307389/2/stock-illustration-18307389-satellite-dish-radars-vector.jpg

VIEW: Spin Cycle (A look at Media’s responsibility) - 2007

2011-12-28T16:33:00.002+05:00

BY: Afrah Jamal & JH
Published in Pakistan Observer 2007

“People understand that democracy depends on a free press, but just as importantly, real democracy depends on a fair press."
Roger Ailes, Chairman & CEO, FOX News.”

The shift in power has been perceptible in the dominance of ‘real news’ over ‘selective views’ and a government that is no longer dogging the footsteps of journalism. A free press is powerful. With power comes responsibility and this new found freedom brings a far greater obligation, to advocate truth with as much ‘good sense’ as with accuracy and impartiality to sustain a liberated press.

This could be when potential harm from complete disclosure vs. publics’ right to information is given due consideration to avoid an infringement upon raison d’état. But this very premise raises some serious questions like ‘will a bowdlerized version of truth be acceptable when national/security interest is at stake?’ ‘And granted that the Media’s role is to further our national/security interest but then who ensures that self interest does not encroach upon it or which facts are invasive to security?’

Sensationalism aside, the sensitivity of the nuclear issue necessitates keeping media apart from a well known public figure; his cult worthy status and achievements may have been newsworthy but the need to know about intricacies of his outfit overrides the right if a mix of media and disclosure activate a chain reaction of devastating proportions to the state.

Facts become stories only after they go through the traditional spin cycle. Every media outlet has one. While some form of sensationalism (“form of bias said to over emphasize, distort or fabricate the exceptional over the ordinary ””) or yellow journalism (“Inflammatory, irresponsible reporting by newspapers. ”) may be evident in all publications/broadcast mediums, they nevertheless maintain a detachment from any visible signs of bias.

A relic of our past still exists in the form of the controlled media but the influencing force of private channels (mainstream) is far greater than the allegedly slanted alternative and for this very reason the impressionable majority takes mainstream media as gospel. The problem with breaking stories is that they are seldom in context. Consequently, the spectacle of judiciary or media under attack by police, seen out of context carries an implicit message of government sponsored anarchy. Only a balanced debate on what sparked the violence empowers citizens to condemn or acquit without succumbing to a prepared verdict.

The narrow focus on negative by mainstream and positive by state is only good for one thing, distorting the picture. Moreover, the persistent replay of such imagery and subsequent innuendos is likely to cause the mood to gravitate towards mass hysteria and paranoia especially where proportionate response is not forthcoming. While the negative aspect is always more newsworthy, the truth can be equally compelling. Drama in stories, however, makes better television.

The highly publicized and widely condemned attack on lawyers protest march of 12 March 2007 could just as easily have been a mob triggered offensive instead of an unprovoked aggression. Premature speculation with selective representation and lack of proper investigation imprisons the public’s decision making capability. “Responsible Journalism seeks to accurately reflect important and interesting information in a timely fashion doing no harm unless the social good achieved out balances the harm." (Jack Fuller, President, Tribune publishing)

The recent front page headline "US Govt. expects Musharraf to quit army post" was hard to miss. It is neither false nor entirely true, just with a spin, that a noted U.S. scholar believed to be a simplification of truth which ‘seemed to reflect more of the editors’ personal interpretation of what the state department spokesman meant, unsubstantiated by the actual quotes’.

That the press in Pakistan is freer today than ever before is a fact. The present government claims credit for providing this freedom and to an extent they are right. While their initial decision to permit establishment of private TV channel and tolerate dissent from existing print media may have been made in good faith, their efforts now to rein them in now is proving fruitless because the global environment has made it impossible for them to do so.

The private TV channels and the print media still complain of government’s efforts to curb their liberty. They too are right to an extent. No press in the world is totally free from pressure, be they from government, big business conglomerates or even the vested interests of media tycoons themselves.

Freedom of press is therefore a relative term and the nation at this point in time is fortunate that its press has greater freedom than most developing nations.
Notwithstanding the ‘trade in’ of yore’s heavy handed influence for the highly prized liberty of today, ghosts of that era do resurface on days like 12 or 16 March 2007 to cast reasonable doubt on the freedom of our press.

Nevertheless, the media remains a decisive player in the pursuit of empowerment through enlightenment so more power to them. Given that “Whoever controls the media, controls the mind”(Jim Morrison), it is all the more important that ill judgment of media managers does not fashion a new breed of captive audience.

Am I glad that our press today is vocal, bold and fairly free? An unequivocal yes. Do I fear that this new found freedom may generate a new set of power players and manipulators? Sadly yes again. Do I want to revert to the old times? Definitely not. I can only hope that those entrusted with this powerful tool use it wisely.

Images Courtesy of: http://www.localwala.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/660628.jpg
http://cdn.criticalppp.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/media-literacy.jpg
http://cdn.criticalppp.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/pak-media.jpg

REVIEW: West Bank Story a live-action short film (2007)

2011-12-28T15:30:00.000+05:00

Published in The POST May 17, 2007

Directed by: Ari Sandel
Written by: Kim Ray and Ari Sandel
Duration: 21 Minutes
(An official selection of the 2005 Sundance Film Festival)

The Middle East is better known for staging violent uprisings, certainly not for inspiring comedic masterpieces.

Since 1967, the West bank has spawned a surge in Arab hostility, frequent visits to the Middle East by Condoleezza Rice and lately, a small little inspirational musical comedy about competing falafel stands, directed, co-written and produced by Ari Sandel (part Israeli, part American Californian native). Since there is no easy way to represent both sides fairly, the very notion of West Bank Story is greeted with a justifiable mix of scepticism, wariness and resentment at first. No doubt, it is a precarious balancing act that mandates such a film to be witty without being offensive, show compassion without discrimination and entertain without losing substance. So does West Bank Story deliver?

West Bank Story is an over the top, comedic if simplistic interpretation of an ongoing and tragic feud. Premiering at the Sundance film festival, this musical embraces the stereotypes with evident glee in a brazenly subtle, wickedly funny musical comedy where thrown together are two competing falafel restaurants (suspiciously like two very well-known fast food franchises) with the archetypal Israeli (acted by Jews/Israelis) and Palestinian characters (enacted by Muslims/Arabs). The pairing of David, a dashing Israeli soldier and Fatima, an equally attractive Palestinian girl, completes the heartfelt little tale amidst a bizarre setting of indisputable deadly rivalry and food.

Ari Sandel skates on thin ice, takes several liberties, but gives a credible performance nonetheless with a well-meaning film that manages to capture some defining and contentious moments of this ongoing conflict, notwithstanding its outrageous humour and Arabs/Jews dancing to some memorable if conventional Arab tunes. Some familiar faces are also seen from AJ Tannen who played the Mossad agent in NCIS (2005) to Naureen Dewulf from Numb3rs (2006).

A year and a half went into the making of this 21 minute film and though the concept appears to be both unconventional and risky, the storyline itself is clever and compelling. West Bank Story has so far won 25 festival awards out of 112, including the coveted Oscar.

Enjoyable from start to finish, I recommend West Bank Story to anyone with a sense of humour and also those in need of one, for this film will restore the lost goodwill for 21 minutes anyhow.

See the trailer at http://www.buzznet.com/tags/comedy/video/65981/ and download music for free or buy DVD from http://westbankstory.com/

Images Courtesy of: http://www.debbieschlussel.com/archives/westbankstory.jpg

VIEW: The Lost Art of Music Video Making (2007)

2011-12-28T15:14:00.002+05:00

Published in the POST Aug 16, 2007

2011: All Pakistani/Foreign Music Channels have been removed from the local TV cable

If, through some science fiction miracle, my past self happened to glance at the present, the me of the 90s would wonder why I tinker with the radio of an obviously non-functional music player in 2007. It is wiser not to let on that though we can carry 1,000 songs in our pocket, getting just one from the 'telly' is practically impossible. I am afraid the Taliban do not get credit for this though. No, the disappearance of English music from TV falls in the jurisdiction of the oft-cited cable provider's monopoly on this particular genre. Two articles on their antics are quite enough and hence, this is not a commentary on these folks.

Still, before we go any further, PEMRA officials need to check what one particular distributor is up to in Karachi. Meanwhile, back in the future without any English videos/music to preview, one can still flip over to MTV Pakistan, till it gets scrambled too. Far from being discouraged, however, this seems like the perfect opportunity to observe the evolving Pakistani music video scene through the remaining five local music channels. Several days of channel surfing later, the evolution is not very discernible and video-making appears to be suffering from a sad case of identity crisis instead. The quality of music, however, has somehow escaped degeneration.

One would imagine that as the video-making business comes of age, it must have built itself up on an established standard, fostered by liberated media policies, superior technical expertise, rising avenues of expression and the ensuing healthy competition. Branded as Pakistani, a good many videos jazzed up as they are, also exhibit an unmistakable streak of an alternate way of life. Whether that is good or bad is entirely a matter of taste. However, beyond the idolised West lies another culture once confined to the Indian cinema and now emulated by the local music video industry. The new generation of musicians either takes refuge behind the Indian film footage they have lent their music to or get a posse of females in (er!) costumes to swing to the beat, or both.

As it gets more difficult to identify with the detour music videos seem to be taking, artists unwittingly gamble with their individuality while endorsing a lifestyle more customary to Indian films than Pakistani television. Barring a few videos, the creative spark is seldom seen as unimaginative templates keep cropping up. Past videos where Yasir Akhtar pranced around as an officer wearing a rank higher than his years allowed is admittedly a minor faux pas compared to the outlandish cultural flaws that routinely show up nowadays. As cowboys perched on train tracks in backwater village/townships and lonely gas stations on a fabricated Route 66 incongruously form the backdrop of an emergent music scene, the landscape dressed up as the 'Wild West' is neither picturesque enough to inspire awe nor befitting for the perfectly coiffed Desi fella.

Video-making is a tricky business where the line between an amusing fantasy and absurd reality is already stretched thin. It can also be a very expensive business, but as the band Noori proved years ago, a handheld camera can just as easily give a good concept the right form. I suppose we should be grateful that the era of 'move while singing in the PTV studio and incur the wrath' is over. One would assume that the presence of so many different venues to showcase musical talents and extraordinarily fine songs must have created a bigger market for video directors/producers. That is the not case where 'classic' has given way to 'risque' on the music video front.

Even though the primary purpose of music videos is merely to entertain while peddling the song, how they go about it is equally important. Singer Abrar-ul-Haq, on a TV appearance claimed that the dearth of good directors makes our singers cross over. That partly explains why a highly talented singer, who also became a commercial success across the border, hesitated to release a Pakistani version of his videos. A Pakistani song featured on an Indian film still needs to have its own video made for home audiences, regardless of the director deficit. To those who ask why spend twice when the product is more marketable with an Indian flavour, the answer would be that since this is not a permanent cultural exchange vaudeville, Pakistanis need to see their own selves represented in some way, however fantastic or mundane that might be.

A popular band won the 2005 MTV music award in an Indian category, which raises the question, how long can our talented musicians distinguish themselves as great Pakistani artists if they continue to be proffered as Indian merchandise? As Indians grow in stature on the world stage, what will be left to promote if artistic merit gets lost in transformation as well? Can we not bridge the cultural divide without assimilating the two identities and alienating our own people?

The local music channels have been remiss in covering the golden oldies of Pakistani music and continually promote the past and present of Indian cinema. The sheer amount of Indian music that comes through would make Indians jump up with glee while our own music maestros neither get the level of recognition nor the extent of exposure enjoyed by the other side. It is not my intention to open a discussion on the alleged popularity of old/new Indian cinema among the masses. It would be nice, however, to set the bar higher for our music directors so that they make videos worthy of our music and aspire for an established international presence in the future.

60 years later, the film industry has expired for all intent and purposes; its revival by the new Shoaib Mansoor film 'In the name of God' has raised hopes. Many believe that the drama scene is also on life support. The present trend indicates an ominous slump in the quality of music videos and unless the video business is properly overhauled, what another 60 years will bring for the music industry will not be that difficult to predict.

Images Courtesy of: http://img.xcitefun.net/users/2009/11/126445,xcitefun-pic1.jpg
http://208.101.27.162/images/musicJunoon.jpg
http://i48.tinypic.com/zx1gjm.jpg
http://www.pakipop.com/description/bands/noori/noori.jpg
http://i1.tribune.com.pk/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/230012-NaziaDESIGNAMNAIQBA-1313156493-998-640x480.jpg
http://www.articleslounge.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/Music-Television-MTV-Pakistan.png
http://jang.com.pk/thenews/dec2008-weekly/nos-07-12-2008/instep/images/download_2.jpg

Pak-US Relations - an Interview with Dr Rodney Jones (2007)

2011-12-28T13:31:00.009+05:00

Published in the POST & VISTA Magazine 5 March 2007 in 3 parts

By: Afrah Jamal & QS

PART 1

Dr Rodney Jones is President of Policy Architects International and has served as Senior Advisor to the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START II) project of the Carnegie Moscow Centre and as Senior Advisor and Counselor to the Keystone Centreâ€™s National Commission on Nuclear Threat. Policy Architects International is a private research, consulting and advisory services organisation in Reston, Virginia that concentrates on services needed in international policy areas, including international security, economic development, technology transfer, trade controls, public and private assistance and direct investment. Following is an interview with Dr Rodney Jones.

Q: Since quite a bit of confusion among Pakistanis, amongst the majority at any rate, stems from the fact that they do not understand how we are perceived from across the Atlantic, so let us begin with the basics - the American mindset.

Dr. Jones: Speaking of Americans at large, the American mindset on this part of the world has changed; before this, it was very passive and ignorant by and large of what life is like in this region, but 9/11 has really changed things in terms of alertness to and feelings, positive and negative, about this part of the world. But the knowledge of the US government official about this region is much greater than that of the average person.

Q: You are talking about public perception or the establishment?

Dr. Jones: Let me start with the mindset of the people; that I think governs how most Americans look at your part of the world. The previous popular mindset in America was very ignorant about this region in the sense that most Americans had very little knowledge about your region. Now people have strong feelings about this region without necessarily having a lot of knowledge about it either. So ignorance remains, especially about the deeper aspects of society in your region. I should add though that there is in the US a rapid expansion of immigrant communities including from South Asia and the Middle Eastern countries. The Muslim part of that is also growing quite rapidly, so mosques are going up and the Muslims present are more visible.

9/11 has had a rather powerful effect in making people more aware of them and therefore to have feelings about them. Broadly speaking, American reactions in the larger public are very open and not negative but 9/11 has tended to create negative perceptions or apprehensions about Muslims to some degree.

I should also say something that is generally true, which is that immigrant communities are pushing their way in to domestic American politics; they are becoming exceptionally active in the US elections. So there is now factionalism developing as first generation immigrants tend to be more closely conscious of and partisan about their origins. So Indians tend to be very active in promoting Indian causes in the US-India relations and this is also true of Pakistanis.

Frankly, though, I think Pakistani immigrants are more divided than their Indian counterparts. Certainly Arabs are from different Arab countries, so there is less homogeneity or cohesiveness of perspective, but there tends to be a similar kind of tendency, which is to become active in the support of relations with their parts of the world and to get a voice in the US government that reflects that.

In terms of other trends, the American establishment view of Pakistan and India in this region has shifted (leaving out 9/11 at the moment). In broad terms, since the post-Cold War emphasis has been increasingly on globalization, therefore the view is less on who is a security partner and more focused on who is more capable of promoting the expansion of global benefits.

Pakistan, to some degree suffers from being in India's shadow; Pakistan's role and appeal in the US in the globalisation sense is weak. It is getting better, it is not going downhill, but it is relatively weak by comparison with India. In an average American's eyes, Pakistan's major liabilities come from the security problems; 9/11, going after Osama bin Laden, things like that. This view of this part of the world has been coloured by the May 1998 declarations and testing of nuclear weapons.

Since the Cold War the quality of many people recruited into American policy making has gone down. That may eventually be addressed, but I think this is one aspect of why things have gone so badly for the Bush administration on foreign policy. He has had people who were experts in the Cold War issues but were not the best for post-Cold War issues; people who tend to be displaced from their regions of former expertise into areas where they really do not have sound judgments. Over time this could change, hopefully it will for the better.

Q: You mentioned the presence of a strong Indian lobby in the US; should their growing influence be as much of a concern to Pakistan as the American Israel Public Affairs Committee-AIPAC was to Saudi Arabia in the early 80s?

Dr. Jones: It is a good question in a way to ask, but I cannot give you a quantitative or precise answer. I should say something about the nature of the Indian lobby in the US so that it is not misunderstood to be all that similar to the Jewish lobby. There are similarities but also differences.

The Indian lobby is of two kinds: Indian expatriates, people who have migrated to the US with Indian backgrounds and what is interesting about them is that those who stay interested in politics are still very much concerned or preoccupied with India. They keep their Indian concerns and connections. Most Americans over time lose their previous ethnic origin and become more concerned with the mainstream issues. The Indians do become concerned with the issues around them as they become naturalised citizens but they remain very much focused on their concerns in India so that is the most powerful part of it. As they become more involved in the country, some of them become very wealthy and they put money into elections.

The second aspect of the lobby is big business; the big business corporations are looking for markets and China and India are the emerging markets where many things are not yet earmarked. The big US corporations have a corporate working group, the US-India Business Council, and Indians have corporate people who participate in a bilateral working group or commission.

Q: So this would explain the recent tilt of the US towards India?

Dr. Jones: It has a lot to do with it. The Bush administration's carving out this US-India civil nuclear cooperation agreement was not done with the broad involvement on the part of the US public, or even with members of Congress ahead of time. It was simply handed to the Congress as a fait accompli. This is very unusual in American politics. So there's a lot of technical criticism, reaction and resistance from professionals in the American arms control community, because this agreement undercuts the whole basis of US non-proliferation policy by making a monumental exception in US laws related to atomic energy. Once you have made such an exception in those laws, the whole basis for the non-proliferation effort becomes shaky and questionable. The people who pushed hard to get an agreement negotiated at the executive level and then through Congress are the pro-Indian constituency. Many experts in the non-proliferation area were horrified but were unable to prevail as they were overshadowed by people using money who are part of the electoral process.

The other side of it is that some of them are caught up with the notion that India is where the future is for their purposes. Some former Congressmen, Steven Solarz, for example, became advocates for India after they lost their positions in Congress; there were others who became active as consultants. They formulated post-Cold War concepts about why this is good for the US and worked to win people over to those concepts, so there is a process that looks reasonable but there are major drawbacks to it. Those who make it look reasonable get out there to push for it and there is no question that US-Indian business investment and interchange are going to be very good for both sides. But there have also been false or misleading propositions advanced in this process. One is the proposition that the agreement will open up the Indian atomic energy area to US business sales in India. While this is true in a limited technical sense, it is unlikely to be true as a political reality.

Q: So the fact that Pakistan is not as strongly represented in the US should in fact concern us?

Dr. Jones: It's a political reality that those who have a strong view of what the US should do in a positive way for Pakistan are fewer in numbers, they are far less wealthy and in that sense they are far less influential in American politics where these groups matter. If you go back 30 years, this kind of influence mattered, but not as overwhelmingly as it does today because it has so much to do with the cost of elections. What has really changed there is the cost of the media. You use the media to get elected, it is expensive, there are huge amounts of money raised, a lot of it is media advertising. That is a big business.

Pakistan's leverage in the US during the Cold War did not depend on the size of any lobby, but rather on the way the US and Pakistani interests dovetailed on geopolitical and security matters. India had less leverage on the US than it might have had otherwise, because it favoured the Soviet Union. That has reversed since the end of the Cold War, except that the war on terrorism has made Pakistan one of the most important partners in combating the terrorist threat.

END OF PART I

PART II

Q 1: How do you see the future of US-Pak relations in the next decade?

Dr. Jones: It's only a best guess but if the incumbent problem which we call 'terrorism' is reduced, the relationship goes up, if not, it is going to go down. If the issues have to do with proliferation, and if we are at odds, then the relationship will go downhill. A lot of this has to do with how Pakistan conducts itself. A lot of has to do with how the US conducts itself. The relationship will continue to basically be solid where we meet on common ground. I think it will never again have the emotional commitment that old timers remember nostalgically; this is unlikely to be rekindled on either side because too much has happened. This is my opinion. In the next 10-20 years, I cannot imagine that there will be rebuilding of emotional positive commitment by either side. However, a broadened relationship that both sides invest in officially and in a sustained way could be a solid relationship that is not easily disrupted.

Q 2: Even if the pressing problems are worked out?

Dr. Jones: I am saying that the relationship will be solid but the depth of commitment that once existed within certain channels in the Cold War, the chances of reviving that are not very likely. Here too, I think what has also changed is that Pakistan is a more differentiated society and it is unlikely that Pakistanis will under any government feel a large degree of collectively positive emotion about the US. Will they want to send their kids there to school? Yes, definitely. Will they want to travel there? Of course, but will they feel a positive overall orientation to the US? I do not think that will ever happen again. Basically you have developed a dialogue within Pakistan which now is a mantra, that the US betrayed you; that has become real and I will not even deny that there is a certain basis for it. This is now well seeded in your educational system and in people moving up in bureaucracy. So if you are looking at this on both sides, you have to admit that about Pakistan. I'm not saying that there is no basis for it. That's my prognosis for the next 10-20 years.

If you talk about how things could become genuinely good (that can occur if) terrorism is gone, countries become prosperous, there is interchange and things that cause division or anger among us become so small that positive feelings are revived. I do not want this to sound condescending but the US deals with a lot of countries and in current circumstances will not take sides with just one country against another. It tilted towards India but still does not view all its investment there as something which would never go bad. This tilt towards India makes it harder going between our two countries at the moment. We need to be realistic about that, in terms of recognising what is in our mutual interests, so that working on them may make the relationship feel better.

See I have dealt with Pakistan long enough to know about some of the complexities. If you read Ayub Khan's book Friends not Masters, and he was the one most close to the US, it was very clear that an unbalanced relationship on the basis of this idea ”can you have unequal relationships where only one side demands and the other gives” does not work with Pakistan. Generally speaking, this is not how things work in international relations and does not work that way for sure with bigger countries. And Pakistan may have its liabilities but it is a big country. It is not going to be easy to deal with and you have people who look at things in different ways. You may believe that India has malevolent and aggressive tendencies and fine, I understand that, that is how we felt about the Soviet Union and back then things warranted that outlook. Since then, conditions have changed and I can understand they have not changed yet the same way in the Subcontinent. That is the reason that a legitimate and arguable case can be made for that.

One of the ways Pakistan, as a state, can improve the relationship is to do things that are beneficial for the present Iraqi condition, such as to be engaged in the training of their security forces, Pakistani entrepreneurs engaged in helping others get on their feet there without being viewed as outsiders trying to take what belongs to the Iraqis. Iraq has very advanced medicine and so does Pakistan and the Iraqi hospitals are in a bad shape. This is an area where things can be done at the government or sub-level basis as a project. Things like that can help you. They will help the Iraqis. They will also help the US in its current involvement in Iraq.

Q 3: Help us in which context?

Dr. Jones: By simply doing good things for Iraq.

Q 4: Why Iraq in particular?

Dr. Jones: Why, that is where the disaster is.

Q 5: Yes, but there are disasters in other parts of the world, Darfur for instance?

Dr. Jones: Yes, there are other disasters, and human rights problems, we can talk about them. Depends how you view them, but I would say that If you accept what the US has stated publicly that the Sudan regime has been engaged in a genocidal programme against the people living in Darfur, if you can accept that and adopt the same point of view publicly, the US and others will be very heartened by Pakistani statements about what they believe, in the UN setting and elsewhere.

Actually, one of the most productive things Pakistan has done for itself, that the US can be very complimentary about, is its participation in the peace keeping forces. They are not necessarily directly connected to with US-Pakistani relations but because they have international prominence, Americans who learn about them can become very supportive of Pakistan for having that kind of capability and Pakistan for being willing to undertake whatever sacrifices are involved in that.

Let us take another area where I am not sure how Pakistan can do much about it in terms of acting as a major regional power, but it is worth exploring. This is the area of energy security. It is how we make sure that energy delivery from Middle East stays there, is available and not broken down. Oil production in Iraq is still not yet back to levels it was before the war and what Saddam did to his own infrastructure have held them back from doubling. They could easily have doubled in the period from the first Gulf War to the second; I am talking about the output, you know, the amount of oil produced. Saddam was fighting the sanctions instead of trying to develop the country but that is another part of the story. However, the point is that there is a lot that can be done in Iraq which will make Iraq healthier and then if the oil is available and out there, that is important for the countries that need to import it and Pakistan is becoming more dependant on imported oil for energy, for electricity generation and also for manufacturing processes. You have a big issue now facing you, which is what will happen if the natural gas deposits from Balochistan area, which currently provide this country with sufficient resources, start to decline? And they are declining and not being replaced.

Q 6: Because of the situation on the ground?

Dr. Jones: Well, partly that, partly lack of foresight and partly because countries sometimes have a hard time getting their act together, but also partly because you may have assumed that imported natural gas from the Middle East will become available from Iran and I think from Turkmenistan. You may have assumed that the problem will be solved in a different way. That is my best guess. Iraq is a part of this picture. The more oil there is available, the less is the strain in meeting your energy requirements, and the US talks about this as an energy security issue.

Today, for the first time the US is becoming the champion of ethanol. In my opinion, ethanol is not a cost-effective alternative energy source when it is made out of corn. But it may have a limited place in an overall energy strategy. If Pakistan wants to join the bandwagon, that would be interesting. Ethanol as a gasoline or petroleum substitute and the proportion of 15 percent ethanol to 85 percent petrol means you can extend the use of the petrol and it will still work OK in a car. The ways in which it could be obtained in Pakistan that would be easy to visualize are from sugarcane wastage after the juice for sugar has been extracted from the cane. Crushed sugarcane waste is a natural way to do this. The US is looking at doing this with corn, which is not a good idea; this will drive the corn price up around the world. But the idea of using ethanol has gained ground because Brazil has made it a significant part of its automobile fuel supply, maybe about 30 percent.

Q 7: What in your opinion are the areas Pakistan needs to focus on to maintain its ally status with the US?

Dr. Jones: There are lots of things that are pretty obvious in that light. Some of them have to do with Pakistan running itself well; some of the things have to do with helping prosecute effectively the terrorists out there, especially al Qaeda; some of them have to do with Pakistan being able to contribute to a positive and constructive set of regional relationships.

Q 8: Positive and constructive regional relationships? Such as?

Dr. Jones: Well, one thing, for example is to support the healing of Afghanistan and reconstruction and the other thing that would be viewed that way by the US would be not to give others nuclear weapons. I mean some of these are so basic and obvious, but I know there are many Pakistanis who do not think these are so obvious.

Q 9: That is precisely why such issues need to be addressed, to get your point of view.

Dr. Jones: Yes, well, if you want the relationship to go up in smoke just go give nuclear weapons to somebody.

Q 10: And what should the US do? Is 100 percent blame with us then?

Dr. Jones: Where is the blame? I believe the issue is how you would move the relationship forward and I think that the US also needs to be attentive to what it can do in a constructive and positive way in this region. It has done a lot of things for Pakistan in the last few years, and they have not been unimportant things, they have to do with debt relief which has been a very major factor in re-stimulating the Pakistani economy and how it is dealt on the Pakistan side is in your hands. Other issues can be in the educational development, but the crying need is to become less dependent on the madrassas that are out there in the Afghan borderland and create real schools there and it is not something the US can fund without these being treated as outposts of US influence. It has got to be a Pakistani project. But that does not mean there cannot be significant US and Western resources, both in the public and private NGO sector going into that. They are going into that where circumstances allow them to in Afghanistan. I think a lot can be done in that area. Another area which we need to work together is in blocking the smuggling of narcotics, heroin from poppies in Afghanistan, the largest producer again of opium and heroin.

END OF PART II

PART III

Q: Nuclear non-proliferation being your specialty, what would you say on Pakistan's nuclear ambitions and why censure Pakistan from going nuclear?

Dr. Jones: I can look at it at different levels and I have to view it in terms of what my own commitment was: if I was a missionary it was to try to prevent the spread of nuclear arms and thereby reduce the risk of nuclear war.

Q: We all agree that there should be nuclear disarmament all around but asking one to disarm when the other retains it makes it seem - well, a bit too idealistic?

Dr. Jones: Not at all. During the Cold War it was vital to keep this in very few handsâ€¦

Q: Why keep it in a few hands?

Dr. Jones: Because of the danger of them being used. The danger multiplies by the number of people who have them.

Q: Five declared countries had it in the Cold War. Why would these declared countries have them still? Why not destroy them? If you are talking about idealism then that would be the ideal scenario?

Dr. Jones: If the 'why' on your part is a serious question then the answer, in part, that is a serious answer, is that the US actually has pushed very hard for nuclear disarmament in a staged way, particularly with the START Treaty and the INF Treaty. The INF Treaty took what are called intermediate range nuclear forces, for the US. It was Peshing missiles, for the Soviet Union it was SS 20s and several older generations of ballistic missiles, and got rid of them completely. The START Treaty, in that context, brought about deep reductions in strategic missiles and warheads and also in heavy bombers. In addition, the US has unilaterally denuclearised its army entirely.

The US army used to have nuclear weapons, but it no longer does. The US also denuclearised its surface ships. In the US Navy, there are still submarines with strategic missiles but surface ships carry no nuclear weapons. So most remaining nuclear weapons are either on strategic missiles or available for the use of long-range aircraft, but the numbers are drastically reduced. Our ability to continue reducing depends in part from Russian reciprocity and cooperation. Russia had built 25,000 tactical nuclear weapons. When the process of reducing really took hold, they still had between 15,000 to 17,000. I'm talking of early 1990s.You can not get a clear report today of how many they actually have. We negotiated strategic reduction and elimination of the intermediate. We did not negotiate on tactical nuclear weapons directly. So you know getting things down depends on cooperation. Arms control is a cooperative process. You decide you do not need all of those or you decide to do without them. So in terms of moral consistency we have been actually been fairly steady there and in terms of non proliferation, we have had a fairly consistent course.

There are problems of double standards and of course Israel has been treated differently in some ways. It has not had the world come down on it because it is being protected to some degree against that but the number of countries success stories that have turned away from this proliferation is significant. These include South Africa, which under the previous white regime developed a few nuclear weapons, but even as it moved on the way to becoming a majority rule government , decided to give them up, went to the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) and a process of elimination began with South Africa joining the NPT. Other countries that have moved away from this are Argentina and Brazil in quite definite ways. Then there is Taiwan. Japan of course is a country that in terms of security apprehension you would think is the one to worry about but they stayed fairly consistently in the non nuclear fold. With South Korea, it took more effort but we managed to keep it from going in this direction. So now we have mainly Iran and North Korea as new proliferators, and a few years ago, before the 1998 tests, Pakistan and India were in that category.

So this original system of very small numbers is breaking down but the logic of it is not gone, it is just that other countries are defying this system of small numbers. It is understandable in some cases. In Pakistan's case, the apprehension about India as a mega country, 5-7 times the size of Pakistan, causes Pakistan to feel certain imperatives in this matter. But this imperative was geared to India going nuclear. It should be noted that India did not go for nuclear weapons because they needed them for security reasons; they went for them for status. That poisons the whole meaning of arms control and it is how you guys came into it. â€œYou have it, why cannot we have it,â€ that thought is poisonous. You have to have a way of keeping these things from being more numerous and it will be very likely that some day something will go badly wrong and I will not have to explain why. But today I do have to explain why, because the younger generation has no memory of the non proliferation reasoning.

Q: Going back to 1998, when India went nuclear, some of us were in favour of restraint and we, of course have little interaction with our Indian counterparts but our friends in the relatively open Middle Eastern society who do interact with them, detected a not so subtle change in the Indian community's attitude after their new found status, and consequently, within a week people like us also became unanimous on the nuclear issue; this is where we believe the US did not play its role. How could the US have helped?

Dr. Jones: The US offered Pakistan F-16s in much larger numbers and other things too if Pakistan took a decision to not go nuclear. This was not at the public level. The US actually tried to buy Pakistan off.

Q: Then why not try to buy India off?

Dr. Jones: India was not ready to be bought off. It was determined to impose a new perception of its status on the rest of the world.

Q: Who would India target? Pakistan? China? Certainly not the US?

Dr. Jones: Well, India has programmes that have an inherent capacity to target the United States. Inter-continental Ballistic Missiles (ICBMs) could target anywhere. Although they have not come into material reality in India yet and there are folks in the US military community who worry about Indian ICBMs and say that maybe it's not such a good idea to let this happen. But those systems do not exist yet and that would require a different kind of intervention; you could hope that with diplomatic and other initiatives we could dissuade India from creating things of that sort. You can look this up on the internet, type in Surya, which is basically the name that was earlier on given to the idea of a very long range ballistic missile in India. You know, in India sometimes things take forever to materialise. They have been working on a nuclear submarine prototype since 1982; we are 25 years beyond that and they still have not succeeded. But they are likely to succeed eventually.

Q: Moving on to something that keeps cropping up in most conversations nowadays, the word 'terrorism', how would you define terrorism?

Dr. Jones: Individuals or private groups using violent force to achieve their political ends, for example in the name of religion, as often occurs in this region. Take away the word 'religion' and you have a more abstract version of the definition of terrorism.

It is where people use violent force to create fear (terror) in order to achieve political objectives. Terrorism is where people go outside the political system to impose their will. Usually this means a small minority imposing its will on the majority. It is most clear when it operates against ordinary people who are not combat people.

Q: So would you say that Pakistan has done enough on terrorism?

Dr. Jones: I think it has, to date but maybe it is now falling behind the challenge. The challenge is growing from the revolutionary push of the reconstitution of the Taliban to try to take power in Afghanistan by armed force and intimidation and some of these resources are coming from Pakistani soil and Pakistanis are involved. So in a sense, that has to be dealt with.

Q: Is that pure inference or a known fact?

Dr. Jones: I know it. I do a lot of research on this. It is also being declared as a fact by those who make U.S policy; their views are changing in that direction. Just in the last few months, for example the agreements that the Pakistan Government negotiated in South and North Waziristan, (that was in September/October) were supposed to help check the support in Pakistan for the Taliban. But by November/December, reports from the White House and in the testimony by intelligence agencies in Congress, show that there is a real sense that Pakistan is not yet succeeding in doing what it now needs to do in that area. It is actually a very difficult challenge and the most effective approaches may not yet have been tried. Shahid Javed Burki wrote an op-ed in a national newspaper that points to what really could be a sensible direction forward, which is a combination of economic, military and security law and order approaches in the Pashtun tribal areas where much of this support for the Taliban occurs. The FATA and the tribal economy are now anachronisms. Healthy nation states need something different. The question is how do you get there?

The development approach, economic resources , schools , health, education, which will be partly resisted, partly accepted, partly some people will really want it, but if that is done I think it will alter the conditions of being able to get people there to resist the Jihadi tendencies surrounding them. These current jihadi tendencies against Afghanistan are not supported by all the people throughout the whole region there. There are the outposts of militancy. But they are supported by some of the people there because fighting outsiders is the way things have been looked at. Some people say that the tribal areas do not want any development; it is a problem that they do not want it as much as some other areas do because it unsettles tribal traditions, especially Pakhtunwali. However, change is coming. The movement of the Pushtuns into the wider Pakistani economy, and many of them working overseas in the Gulf has changed the expectations of what will be done in their region.

They no longer expect to keep just things as they are; they are open to sensible development, water projects expanded cultivation opportunities, other mercantile opportunities. One related problem is that drugs are likely to be one of the easiest things to pursue for livelihood in the farm economy. The economic initiatives are not easy to get political support to make them work that way; it is tough but I think the US government is likely to be open to looking at it that way, if that is also the way that Pakistan authorities are eager to proceed. I do not think it can be done without military and security involvement. People engaged in terrorism have to be stopped and people who are engaged in basically educating people to be terrorists, unless they change their ways, have to be cut down when they take up arms. You have no choice. It's like bandits; it's an anachronistic behavior, no longer part of what is acceptable. FATA is going to become healthy and whether it can do it effectively on its own is doubtful but at least there are forces there working on it and by the way the development efforts in Afghanistan will be much more effective and substantial if these Taliban attacks were not taking place. They are simply cutting the NGO humanitarian and economic development efforts to shreds.

The End

Images Courtesy of: http://tomnichols.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/IAEA-LOGO.jpg
http://downloads.unmultimedia.org/photo/medium/239/239305.jpg
http://www.cdi.org/issues/testing/PakiNukeMap.gif
http://cache.boston.com/resize/bonzai-fba/Globe_Photo/2010/10/04/1286239859_1343/539w.jpg

VIEW: Signs of Our Time

2011-12-28T01:50:00.004+05:00

Old Old Piece Published May 10, 2007 The POST

Imran Khan's Karachi Jalsa turned to yesteryear's idols to liven up the proceedings....

It is the 1980s.
Sounds of music emanate from a garden where some youngsters strum a guitar to the amusement of a small captive audience of neighbourhood children perched on the wall, the best seats in the house. Some years pass; destiny fashions this unlikely albeit glamorous hobby into a career; a pop icon emerges with the phenomenon of Vital Signs, one of the most recognisable and well-loved hit songs of that time and a fan base ranging from admiring youth to stern-looking aunties. As the Signs rejuvenate Pakistani pop culture, their wholesome image and evident musical genius quickly establish them as a class act. Music flourishes despite the stifling media policies and good songs with great musicians surface to define the 90s.

Now that music is fast becoming endangered in some areas of Pakistan, some former advocates of this vocation have crossed over to the other side of reason, leaving their legacy highly vulnerable. The implications of such radical shifts, the derivative risks and farcical charges against an art form make for an intriguing study. In a group, and later as a solo act, front-man Junaid Jamshed was the most vocal! of his group, whose candour and charismatic personality captured the imagination of the nation.

The youth looked up to this group, especially Junaid, as a role model who displayed none of the airs of a celebrity or the stereotypical lifestyle usually associated with Western pop/rock culture. Vital Signs effectively bridged Western standards with Eastern conservatism and the blend appeased all but the hidebound traditionalists and confused moralists. Music and the musician seemed to get on well together, which is why the breakup of Junaid's musical relationship, when it came, was hard to fathom and even harder to accept for the legions of devoted followers.

Today, Junaid denounces his past life and undermines, nay, condemns his former profession - the same profession through which came something more lasting than wealth from any amount of endorsement deals, through the respect of a nation, renown both at home and abroad and admiration of peers. In fact, casting aspersions on his musical past makes it appear like it was Crystal Meth and not music he was promoting.

Does he still regard the Signs music as worthy or their work to be a noble endeavour that evoked patriotism, conserved the musical/cultural heritage, uplifted this nation and gave us some of the finest songs? Would he now concede that his past devotion to music and observance of cultural norms attested to love of country and not frailty of character? The public's disappointment stems not from renouncing fame and fortune but denouncing the music that brought honour, not disgrace, songs that touched many and earned accolades along the way. This says something for the kind of work the Signs did, with music that was profoundly patriotic, facetious yet poignant, stirring the spirit of nationalism and the effervescence of spirit.

Aging pop stars/celebrities do eventually reach a place where they seek fulfilment away from the glitz and glamour of show business. This is perfectly understandable. The good news is that the power of celebrity positions it very well to bring the positive change they seek in their society. Celebrities elsewhere manage to reconcile their quest for salvation with their work. Hence we saw our Fakhar-e-Alam successfully rallying the nation after the October 8 earthquake, rock star Bono promoting his 'One Campaign' to eradicate poverty, and even the likes of Shakira with a 'Fundacion Pies Descalzos' (Barefeet Foundation) for her country's impoverished children. Music and art are professions much like engineering, architecture, politics, medicine or cab driving; both can bring renown and also lead to infamy. Personal choices play a role in how professions are tackled. Who do you suppose would be recommended access to the Pearly Gates â€” a crooked architect/politician/engineer or the honest musician or cabbie?

Part of the myth about religion is that it is an obdurate philosophy that suppresses expressions of humanity by binding the soul in rigidity of norms which define right and wrong and insist on conformity to this bleak notion. The true spirit of our belief, however, lies in rejecting the radicalism of ideals. Know that the faithful are recognised by good deeds, not by dress code alone. It is merely a symbolism and nothing more. By itself, it does not reflect the strength of character or force of conviction. There is no confusion in this religion. Clear cut diktats will tell what is prohibited, logic will support these assertions, and the heart will accept them as right.

Now, to take a detour believing that no other road leads to God, salvation only lies in renouncing the world, associating art with vice, asking the flock to do the same will further widen the chasm between extreme interpretations and the new found concept of 'modern enlightenment' Careless comments and condemnation of the finer things of life can only fan the flames of bigotry, which are becoming harder to extinguish as it is. The young generation must realise now that they do not need to give up a respectable life for an acceptable afterlife. That religion must never infringe upon reason is a given and while reactionaries try to re-sculpt societies, only the presence of genuine role models can truly establish that rationality of theological beliefs is, in reality, at par with progress.

This is not a comment on the changing priorities or the determination of which path is most rewarding. It is, however, about protecting the intellectual property rights that foster balanced development of civilised societies. All societies do hold the right to artistic expression within defined boundaries and, therefore, must stand up somehow to counter this cross-pollination of radical concepts.

'All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing' - Edmund Burke.

Images Courtesy of: http://j4jumpy.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/Sings-640x480.jpg

http://www.imran.com/pakistan/music/pakipop/pics/humtum.jpg

http://www.j4jumpy.net/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/vitalsignsband-3.jpg

BOOK REVIEW:Inside the Pakistan Army: A Woman’s Experience on the Frontline of the War on Terror

2011-12-10T12:39:00.000+05:00

Published in Daily Times / Saturday, December 10, 2011

Reviewed by Afrah Jamal

Author: Carey Schofield

First Abbottabad, then Admiral Mullen, and now the BBC — whispered allegations against the Pakistan Army have picked up pace. Thus far it has been unable to build an effective counter against the barrage of accusations headed its way. Thus far it has watched its credibility plummet and the problems mount. That the military’s weakened standing can be attributed to a series of unfortunate events — some of their own creation, others beyond their control, have left their image tarnished. Even the fact that a Pakistani checkpost recently came under NATO fire and suffered heavy casualties did little to alter the negative perception.

Carey Schofield, the author of Inside the Soviet Army, who admits to having spent seven years studying the Pakistan Army, is off to vindicate her hosts. Since she does not practice the military’s customary caution, her findings add a bit of colour to their staid monochromatic narrative.

These days the Pakistan Army is not just subjected to embarrassing questions regarding foreign aid or their affinity for shiny hardware. While the fate of their precious tax dollars and Pakistan’s ability to safeguard its nuclear assets keeps the world up at night, in between these musings allies find time to question the Pakistan Army’s commitment to the war on terror. This gives the media pundits and policy makers plenty of reasons to endlessly stalk the military and poke holes in its testimony.

The writer has a backstage pass to the corridors of (military) power, which allows her to paint a compelling picture of the brave men (the women somehow did not make the cut) who have led the charge over the years. This pass takes her through the inner sanctums all the way to the frontline, but even such a high vantage point may not always permit a 360-degree view — a fact she readily acknowledges.

The story, from inception to the army’s constant evolving structure through the regional wars and occasional stand offs with its eastern neighbour and exploits in GWOT (Global War on Terror), however, is laid out in vivid detail. Groomed for combat, forced into leadership and now caught in the international crosshairs, the book clarifies the military’s core message that seldom makes it to the front. The source of its power for instance, which turns out to be “its institutional culture”, where individuals are “grouped together not by social background or religious fervour — but bound through service and regimental loyalty and friendships”. Such an arrangement is common to the armed forces. In theory, this should form a natural bulwark against any hate mongers out to exploit divisions.

When someone labels it as the “most effective organ of the state”, she eagerly embraces the sentiment and proceeds to demonstrate exactly how this fighting force of 550,000 strong came to be and why it occupies the top of the totem pole. As for the accusations that fly back and forth across the Durand Line, the book turns around to focus on the challenges of fighting an insurgency and the perils on the field, and leaves the simmering resentment between Pakistan and its allies well alone.

That this fractured relationship overshadows all progress has become increasingly evident. The book does not exonerate the army by seeking evidence to the contrary, offers no theories, but lets the charges of duplicity (spoken and unspoken) hang in the air and mildly argues that when CENTCOM blamed the CIA for the mess, the CIA turned on its ally and arranged deliberate leaks to the media ensuring that “Pakistan was at best ineffective and at worst actively assisting the enemy”.

Consequently, when operational information is leaked to the Taliban, the Pakistan Army points to the ISI but this line of inquiry is left un-pursued. Interestingly enough, she blames the ISI for allowing the impression of omnipotence to arise and the civilians under contract with this service for bringing the directorate into dispute. She goes on to argue that “whenever anyone had to deal with the Taliban, even on the fundamental foreign policy issues,” in the past, the “ISI was consulted so its ownership of the relationship was strengthened”. As for Osama’s hidey hole — the incompetence angle resonates more than the complicity story partly because of the sheer number of variables involved in sustaining such an elaborate cover-up. The book also offers portraits of key players like Musharraf, Faisal Alavi and ‘Colonel Imam’ (kidnapped and murdered earlier this year).

There are some important points in the army’s favour and Carey graciously brings them out: how 15 Frontier Corps (FC) rescued trapped American troops from Mogadishu, Somalia (1993), an event featured in the movie ‘Black Hawk Down’(2001) that neglected to mention the role of the Pakistan Army, how the ISI’s ‘intel’ helped apprehend the London bomb plotters, etc. Many of these revelations are timely; knowing that the million dollar bounty the Pakistan Army collected was spent setting up “a welfare fund for injured army personnel and their dependents” helps draw some fire away. She does see General Kayani, “who has no close friends and fewer enemies”, as a man who overstayed his welcome.

But just when the readers might actually begin to warm up to the army-walas, they are blindsided by the ugly twist. Major-General Faisal Alavi’s mysterious murder at the hands of ‘persons unknown’ prompts her to devote an entire chapter to his memory as a silent indictment of the shadowy presence found standing at the periphery.

Not dwelling on military misadventures of yore can be liberating. Of all the commentaries out there — and there are many — Inside the Pakistan Army is the most generous one yet. Given Pakistan’s embattled status, these sketches offer some basis for comparison when the next sensational story breaks.

Pentagon; Pp 352; Rs 1,395

Image: http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51n09sk9tsL._SS500_.jpg

VIEW: A Base for an Eye

2011-12-06T15:39:00.007+05:00

Written 29 Nov 2011..Published 06 Dec 2011 in GEO NEWS BLOG

This week’s episode of ‘Homeland’ (TV serial) bears remarkable resemblance to events that transpired halfway across the world along the Durand line. In the drama, civilians are accidentally shot by officers while in pursuit of a wanted suspect and though there are witnesses who can testify to the contrary, the official story insists that the suspect fired first. In real life, ISAF led by Afghan Special Forces in hot pursuit of insurgents mowed down a Pakistani check post eerily echoes that very claim regarding the predawn raid which, were it not for their statement, reinforces Pakistan’s image as a wronged partner instead of the usual ‘janus-faced’ ally.

Admittedly, a very steep price has been paid for altering the perception with the lives of more than two dozen Pakistani soldiers who perished in an ISAF attack on 26 November 2011. Yet, even in a straightforward case like this – and no one contests the border violation – even when Pakistan is the wounded party – and it was – opinion makers continually challenge its credibility. Somehow we are culpable. Somewhere, we have sinned. The only facts undisputed in this scenario are that ISAF was involved and Pakistan suffered heavy causalities. The rest is a garbled blend of speculation, innuendo, and strategically applied whitewash.

Despite local resistance to the idea of a blunder, fratricide is easier to rationalize than voluntary manslaughter. A massacre of the kind that occurred that day may not have much justification in Pakistan’s eyes but it does have precedence. In Operation Medusa 2006 two US A-10 Thunderbolts accidentally strafed NATO forces in Afghanistan. A British convoy mistook Afghan police for Taliban insurgents and called in a US air strike. Human error remains a factor, advancements in technology notwithstanding. Military men chalk it up to ‘fog of war’ and when they do the term used is involuntary manslaughter; the perpetrators are charged with criminal negligence and appropriate action is taken.

Through their own assertion this has been the ‘deadliest’ border violation to date; other foreign media outlets classify it as their ‘costliest mistake’. The sudden switch from ‘friendly fire’ to ‘self defence’ abruptly changes that narrative in favour of NATO. The ambiguity surrounding the incident makes it possible for the stakeholders to seek the nearest most convenient exit from what is in fact an untenable position. Afghan Special Forces called for NATO air support after reportedly coming under fire from the Pakistani side of the border. That NATO refused to heed the Pak Army’s pleas and persisted with the attack for one and a half hour is worrisome.

If ISAF & Afghan forces were lured into a fire fight by Taliban – as some papers now claim, then their decision to continue the attack shows how much the lines between enemy combatants and allied forces have blurred. When it comes to drone attacks against alleged HVT’s (High Value Target) many accept the argument of collateral damage however grudgingly because these are the undeniable side effects of war. Granted that from the air every moving object is a potential target and fire fight situations are ripe for errors. Nevertheless, the failure to pull back in time meant that the soldiers on the Pakistani side who were caught off guard did not stand a chance against the incoming fire. It is easier to forgive a mistake than to ignore a cover-up and till the results of the investigation come in; the latter story will fuel our frenzied imagination.

It may be too soon to rush to judgement but not too soon to take a stand. Pakistan does not have much leverage left at this point. As many head off to lodge their protest at NATO’s facebook page, the state has demanded the return of Shamsi base and suspension of NATO bound oil supply for the proverbial ‘Eye’. Owned by UAE and used for mounting predator strikes till 2003, the strategic importance of Shamsi is now called into question and analysts no longer consider this air field as a primary launch pad for drone attacks. They believe that the allied show is poised to go on with or without Shamsi. UAE’s demand on the other hand, that the Americans be allowed to continue the use of the base is ill timed. And presumptuous. And a little bit insulting.

And yet none of the above actions imply that the cooperation is over. The Pak-US relationship runs on deception, distrust and disenchantment – especially on the public front. Privately Pakistan provides implicit support for drone strikes within its territory and has developed a high threshold for international meddling. This is why Pak military does not take on the intruders from the Western borders and pools its intelligence sharing apparatus. This is why the coordinates of the Pakistani check post that came under attack by ISAF were likely shared with the allied counterparts; to avoid the risk of fratricide. That the partnership has survived Osama, Raymond Davis and most recently, Admiral Mullen’s disdain for his Pakistani counterparts speaks for its resilience. And the high cost incurred in keeping it running – well that just gives grist to the ever efficient anti American mill.

America’s crusade and Pakistan’s jihad supposedly run on parallel tracks but are motivated by a different endgame. It is highly probable it will survive the recent allied adventurism. And when it does, the rules of engagement on both levels (political & military) must be reassessed. But even under different parameters, the core philosophy remains the same – the annihilation of extremism in all its forms. Pakistani’s who have relegated the United States to the enemy camp should not forget that ‘enemy of thine enemy’ (Taliban/Al Qaeda) is still an enemy no matter whose banner it claims to carry. Americans who openly question their ally’s commitment and frequently write off its losses (both civilian and military) need to watch where they are going. This alliance, bruised, battered or busted and badly mishandled on both sides may be the only thing keeping them on track for the scheduled exist strategy.

Dedicated to the Martyrs of Pakistan’s 26/11

Image courtesy of: http://pakistanmediawatch.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Shamsi-Airbase.jpg
http://www.1000flags.co.uk/ekmps/shops/1000flagsuk/images/nato-table-flag-2598-p.gif
http://dunyanews.tv/news/2011/November/11-26-11/news_big_images/51976_69925116.jpg
http://l.yimg.com/fv/xp/aap/20111127/20/1613221877.jpg?x=400&sig=LU16eXr_tArXzLIREYlZrw--
http://pakistanexaminer.com/wp-content/uploads/1305799129_641.jpg

Theatre Review: Karachi The Musical ‘Haar Na Mano’ (Don’t Give Up)

2011-11-30T15:36:00.004+05:00

Published in Daily Times Wednesday, November 30, 2011

By Afrah Jamal

Though Karachi of the shiny flyovers, sprawling malls and violent impulses has been billed as the star, the one with the Spartan tastes, colourful khokas – and, of course the violent impulses steals the show. That tough neighbourhood with the dusty streets and a no-go sign hung at the gate – that is Lyari; home to odious bandits, obscure boxing coaches, soccer aficionados and predatory politicians. Folks might say there is little of value in this wilderness. But for a brief moment, they will greet this troubled piece of land with a hearty cheer instead of an involuntary shriek thanks to a sweet musical extravaganza that welcomes them aboard its famed boxing clubs and, by default the dreaded hood for a show and tell.

Lyari, in its latest incarnation serves as the backdrop of a new stage play that recently concluded its three-week run at the Karachi Arts Council. Nida Butt & Hamza Jafri’s brainchild - ‘Karachi – the Musical Haar Na Mano’ proceeds to dress the restive heart of the city in festive shades making it fit for company. A bracing trip through the mean streets of town to explore its boxing scene inevitably goes through the underworld. The green boxer from out of town – a disheartened coach living in the past – the wicked don with his wicked, wicked ways - these form the outer perimeters of a classic tale.

Because a love of sports binds all together in an unholy trinity – the play noisily pounces on Lyari’s passion for boxing to drown out the disconcerting sound bytes. The director’s decision to line up some tried and tested themes – courage determination, redemption, faith, only to toss them in the vortex generates the requisite compassionate tone. The audience yanked from its comfort zone, is hustled along quickly to the ring where the true action lies and then thrust in the midst of a tug of war. By the time they realize that this version has been sanitized for stage, they will be knee deep inside no mans land, breathlessly watching punch drunk citizens prepare for the ultimate fight.

According to a local newspaper, one man who runs a boxing club and helped the cast acclimatise found the depiction a tad sensational for his taste. That bandit with the bounty on his head – the one who aspired for the Senate seat and was hailed as a local celebrity; now that was sensational. His glowing epitaph delivered by well respected public figures – again sensational. The saga looks tame when compared to Lyari’s real life shenanigans. The musical sidles up to these outrageous looking charges but then veers off to explore a more promising lead that opts for ‘family drama’ over ‘family’ drama. The team’s biggest achievement is perhaps that by taking down the customary barricades they allow both sides to bond with the lovable underdogs over, of all things - a round of boxing.

Now boxing – real or imaginary may not be everyone’s cup of tea. Nida Butt’s direction elevates it to an art form worthy of the yelps of delight that were reportedly overheard. One does not need to be a die-hard fan to share the adrenaline rush. Or be from Lyari to relive its recurring nightmares. The echoes of terror are fairly widespread. Maybe this is one of the reasons this tale resonates, because for all their differences – the same brutal strain runs throughout the city.

While it is impossible not to dwell on these violent tendencies however, before anyone spirals into darkness, the play enlists the help of the city’s indomitable spirit to pry apart its soulful centre from the malevolent gatekeepers. Which means that the most jarring notes from the hood have been toned down. Without being lightweight, the writers’ employs irreverent humour and a brisk pace to keep audiences engaged. Using some nimble footwork this carefully crafted comedy allows tragic undercurrents to seep unchallenged but retains its playful tone and upbeat mood. Seen through a romanticised haze, this artist’s rendition softens some of the rough edges infusing a whiff of fantasy and a bit of forced glamour to partially mask but not completely suppress Lyari’s deadly urges. Whatever is visible does not apologise for its grotesque features. Nor does it hide its true nature.

Nida Butt is an old hand at theatre. This happens to be her first attempt at an original production that relies on Urdu. This simply told story quietly ensures that the message ‘Don’t Give Up’ resounds across both the hood and suburbs. Live singing and dancing is a high wire act and a rich musical score, near perfect casting and an engaging narrative arc proffer a convincing counter argument to advocates of bigotry. From the smouldering opening montage that shimmers with intensity to the buoyant finale that ripples with hope – Lyari is ‘the’ place to be this year. Karachi the Musical Haar Na Mano takes its bold voice on a nationwide tour in 2012.

BOOK REVIEW: Instant City: Life and Death in Karachi

2011-11-12T12:49:00.002+05:00

Daily Times / Saturday, November 12, 2011

Reviewed by Afrah Jamal

Author: By Steve Inskeep

This is ostensibly the “story of a single day in Karachi’s life” — a city that remains in a violence-induced stupor for the most part of the year now. The choice of the day is perplexing since it happens to be the Ashura (10th day of Muharram) incident circa 2009 when a bomb ripped through a procession and ensuing violence ripped apart the community. High-profile tragedies like the one chosen to be this book’s centrepiece have complex backgrounds, and unresolved endings. Isolating a single bloodcurdling note from a lavish production can be restrictive. Here, however, life and death are constants — one brings the city’s narrative to a standstill but also spawns multiple plotlines — and as the writer will demonstrate, not all with tragic beginnings.

Steve Inskeep is the host of NPR’s ‘Morning Edition’ and recipient of the 2006 Robert F Kennedy journalism award. His quest, it appears, is to understand a city through its violent history where death is a recurring motif and resilience is the base colour. This unorthodox approach invites readers inside the epicentre of an ethnically torn heartland, to a venal world where many might fear to tread and few would want to. It helps unearth the different faces of (political, religious, ethnic) terror and the numerous challenges of living in an instant city — viewed as being “stable in a massively unstable way”.

His debut novel takes advantage of this convoluted design to explore an unstable compound in various stages of development — the Karachi that could have been had General Ayub Khan’s specially imported Greek planner prevailed and the Karachi riven by divisions — in the clutches of land grabbers and political thugs.

But other sounds filter through — whispering about the city’s early dreams based upon a “scientific study of human settlement” and the present day nightmare inspired by some dystopian novel. Some emanate from the former mayor’s “office full of dreams” — rush past the airport road once envisioned as the “Champs Elysée of Karachi” and now a signal-free corridor and fall into silence upon seeing its unrealised grand ambitions gather dust. Others reveal the intricate make-up of an instant city showing how “everything that makes it vibrant also makes it violent” while admitting that “swift disorderly growth creates room for corruption and organised crime”.

The Karachi that Steve Inskeep encounters with its witch’s brew of problems, obfuscating officials and rich heritage thrives in the midst of this horror. The jump back in time to the city’s “short but crowded past” — combined with a striking cameo courtesy of its murky underworld is topped off with a generous mention of the city’s irrepressible spirit and its spiritual centre.

In this compassionate group portrait of thirteen million odd citizens, one can find the peculiar characteristics shared by the typical Karachi-wala living on the edge and governed by fear — that of finding amusement in the grimmest of circumstances.

This intense study builds upon the oft repeated tale of power and perfidy, mixing pathos and sly humour to eviscerate, empathise with, divine, and contemplate. The stories featured here underscore the threats to the world’s rapidly growing metropolis Steve refers to as a listening post that can take in a global conversation.

There have been other incidents before and since the Ashura bombing — enough blood and gore to cripple any infrastructure -- but the writer circles back to that one day searching for interconnecting tales of murder and mayhem to delve deeper into the very heart of darkness.

While seeking the pulse of a modern city with medieval leanings, he stops to find irony in the fact that “half the inhabitants...of a nation founded by a lawyer live in the realm of the extralegal”. And, to discover what the post-partition drop from 51 percent Hindu to 2 percent really meant for a city that became less stable as it became less diverse.

Instant City pays homage to the common man, its architects of change idly walking past the ones of destruction. This then is a tale of two Karachis. Sadly, only one of them shows promise.

Penguin Press; Pp 304; Rs 1,195

VIEW: Year of The Faiz

2011-10-29T13:05:00.003+05:00

By Afrah Jamal

Published in Daily Times / Saturday, October 29, 2011

“For the saddest epitaph which can be carved in memory of a vanished freedom is that it was lost because its possessors failed to stretch forth a saving hand while there was still time” — George Sutherland.

A bit of art to rebuild an ancient potter’s village, a sampling of prose to challenge the established order, a simple vision used as ballast to steady a foundering ship — when all three intersect, the ripples can create an alternate timeline. Setting aside 2011 as the year of Faiz has opened a doorway of possibilities.

Several months ago an open call was issued to interpret Faiz Ahmed Faiz’s poetry through visual art. A specially designed A4-sized paper was the chosen medium of expression. This ambitious project was part of the ongoing centennial celebrations to honour a legendary poet. A few weeks ago that vision took the form of ‘Postcards to Faiz’ and was unveiled at Frere Hall, Karachi — a city where he spent many a day.

Faiz and his collection of ‘poetry with a purpose’ were recalled to serve as a mentor to the new generation who brought his most memorable verses to life. There was a nobler side to this charming little proposal that went beyond ending a nation’s prolonged estrangement from culture. This was reflected in the stirring speeches given by admirers, echoed in the sumptuous interpretations mounted on the panels, and witnessed in the determined faces leading the charge. The wall was not just a sentimental showcase for Faiz — it was an intervention to preserve the narrative of rationality in a polarised society.

The exhibit forged a connection between art and prose — a fusion that was to fuel a silent movement of change. Entries came from far and wide including the Fine Arts School within the local central jail. Around 150 artists (students and professionals alike from across the country and beyond the borders) came up with a compelling version of political/social transformation mined from his works. Arresting the downward drift remained the ultimate theme; the extension of a cultural lifeline to empower the disenfranchised became a valuable side effect.

The nation was entreated to join in the celebration of true genius. But this was also a contest — accompanied by a (not so) silent auction. Those who walked away with a piece of art would be assisting in the rehabilitation and reconstruction of the flood-affected village of Yarak (near D I Khan). Saving the potters was said to be in “keeping with the spirit of Faiz who touched upon the symbiotic relationship between people and culture”.

While being urged to rescue one heritage from Mother Nature’s wrath, extricating another from man’s careless hands was also indicated as a priority. Though the display was held in Gallerie Sadequain inside the freshly reopened Frere Hall (described somewhere as the best preserved monument of the British Raj) on the eve of its 146th anniversary, the need for restoration was deeply felt all around. Faiz, as the man credited with the creation of the Pakistan National Council of the Arts (PNCA) and Lok Virsa, the National Institute of Folk and Traditional Heritage, would have shuddered at the state of neglect.

Nukta Art magazine and the Progressive Writers Association are doing their bit in fashioning a world where progressive ideas bloom and disparate voices speak in sync — a world that values culture as a necessary bulwark and a vital aspect of diplomacy. By fortifying such structures, many hope to outwait the coming storm.

Rumana Husain (founder/senior editor Nukta Art, founder-editor Aye Karachi) engaged youth from far flung areas and madrassas in the dialogue and in a few cases helped write the first chapter in their artistic education. For some it was a first visit to Frere Hall; for others a first encounter with Faiz. Such events set up a striking contrast between the wealth of talent and a dearth of understanding in the hopes of rectifying such imbalances.

The Faiz Art Award ceremony marked the end of the six-day event. Some of the art work is still available for sale with Nukta Art. That a man forced to endure incarceration and self-exile — a man who had his patriotism questioned and his loyalties tested has been enshrined in yet another Hall of Fame is a remarkable twist of fate.

Saleema Hashmi, Faiz’s daughter, often wondered about Faiz’s bond with his fans and family to figure out which was stronger and came to the comforting conclusion that both parties were treated on an equal footing. The connection was never lost but perhaps with time it got a little frayed. Reviving that link has been an important part of the process; redirecting the torrent of creative energy away from the fiery shores remains an ongoing struggle. The year-long celebrations are coming to a close. Whether this is acknowledged as a means to escape a waking nightmare, appraised for its enriching effect or treasured for its raw appeal, ‘Postcards to Faiz’ is a sweet notch on the cultural belt.

The writer is a freelance journalist who blogs at http://afrahjamal.blogspot.com. She can be reached at afrahjh@hotmail.com

Home | Editorial

A Book, a Social Networking site & 2 Photographers

2011-10-15T18:41:00.001+05:00

BOOK REVIEW: Dou Rukh / By Arif Mahmood &Tapu Javeri
Published in Daily Times / October 15, 2011
Reviewed by Afrah Jamal

Two of the people in the room strive for the same, elusive goal — to crystallise intangible fragments of the soul, to craft safe harbours for frenzied energy; to coax secrets out of ciphers. They may wander the same planes but have different agendas. And only when they are done plumbing the depth of human emotion can the rest experience a world draped in shadow and light.

Their separate ideologies run parallel in Dou Rukh (two sides) — a coffee table book that showcases the work of two giants — Arif Mahmood and Tapu Javeri and the exhibition of original photographs that accompanied the launch. With 16 willing subjects — 18 if one counts the cameramen who posed for the shoot, and more than 30 images, these two collaborators briefly transform an ordinary surface into a veritable pantheon.

A Twitter invite wrested from Tapu Javeri can enable one to access the star-studded opening night extravaganza and witness the portraits come alive — starting with the mysterious lady on the cover. A few words from Arif Mahmood can help clarify the complex forces at play.

Arif is an award-winning Karachi-based street photographer with a slew of shows and publications to his credit. Tapu Javeri is a dominant force in the world of fashion and art photography. Pushing boundaries is his favourite pastime — according to an old interview.

Their objective, one learns, is not to document Jekyll and Hyde in action, which come to think of it is an equally fascinating endeavour, but to help the audience gauge the men behind the camera and their differing techniques. Together, these maestros have settled upon a simple theme — crafting two versions of the same story to stage a spectacle using the same ingredients, which is why one subject shows up twice.

The personalities chosen include veterans from the arts — some are already legends in their field, others are on the ascent. Dou Rukh offers something besides the ‘most wanted’ from celebrity-ville. A chosen few outside of showbiz make the cut. The social worker might feign indifference to the socialite but both will find themselves sharing the same space. As both mosaics overlap and diverge, pairing revered icons with beloved stars lends that perfect inimitable flavour.

IVS gallery featured the actual photos displayed side by side to provide an immediate sense of their whimsical style and distinctive artistic sensibilities. The book has been divided in two portions. The blank page preceding each image is for effect — says Arif.

But that picture hanging next to the monochromatic portrait of the qawwals — Farid Ayaz and Abu Mohammad by Arif Mahmood gives one pause. Has an exquisite piece of art lost its way? How does Tapu’s (odd looking) rendition relate to Arif’s (clear-cut) vision? “If you see the exhibit,” says Arif helpfully, “then you will get it” — forcing one to confess that they did, they have, and it did not help. Tapu Javeri’s delirium-inducing piece gets approving nods but continues to confound. One could have spent a lifetime trying to decipher its meaning. But there is no need to tax the poor overworked brain. The magicians are more than willing to reveal their secrets. It is just a face — blurred — a brilliant symphony of motion.

Shakeel appears happy that the hitherto undiscovered aspect of his character has been so effectively rendered. This duet is merely a vessel to serve up the contrasting colours and savour ephemeral sentiments. Whether it is the fraught subtext of Tapu Javeri’s Shakeel or the colourful flamboyance that is Arif Mahmood’s Marzi, Dou Rukh leaves a lingering sense of wonder in its wake.

Markings; Rs 1,200

(Original) Down the Rabbit Hole….with Our Lady of Alice Bhatti / By Afrah Jamal

2011-10-02T13:32:00.002+05:00

slightly Mutilated version Published in Daily Times

The evening is a blur. Nothing works. Neither the mike - nor the trusty recorder. When the electricity bails – no one is really surprised. Karachi is here for a chance to witness M Hanif’s trademark irreverence, sample some delicious irony and get copies of his new book - ‘Our lady of Alice Bhatti’ - (and perhaps a dog-eared ‘Case of Exploding Mangoes’) signed in the bargain. So what if the world keeps collapsing around them.

M. Hanif - an award winning author who also served as the head of BBC Urdu service is here for a book reading/discussion/interrogation. Unlike his highly acclaimed debut novel - ‘The Case of Exploding Mangoes’ – which features a military academy and a high profile cold case (President Zia’s crash) - this one is not drawn from memory. Hanif pleads guilty to being a cadet once. He denies being a nurse.

Apparently he changed his mind about interviewing a real caregiver for fear of her forever looking for a faithful rendition of a nurse’s life. Hanif has not met Teddy’s of the world either unless one counts the scary encounter with a wretched body builder, at the mention of whom the lights, as if on cue - go out.

He reads an excerpt that hurls readers down the rabbit hole - all the way to downtown Karachi. Anyone familiar with Hanif’s writings will not be deceived by the demure looking cover or ‘Alice Bhatti’s’ seemingly harmless premise. This wordsmith is capable of unleashing a devastating tsunami with just a few brutal strokes from a world fashioned out of grainy images and stray bits of conversation.

‘…Alice Bhatti’ features at least one familiar face from Hanif’s literary past. Muneeza Shamsie - writer and critic extraordinaire who presides over the session wants to know about this cameo appearance by a character from his first novel. He is delightfully vague. Could it be nostalgia that prompted this sudden interest in time travel - a yearning to explore an old, forgotten character arc or a maybe it is just ploy to fill a void? He cannot (or will not) commit himself.

The session provides an unexpected insight into the author’s writing process. How Alice refused to behave till he changed her name - how he did not know where the story was set because for the longest time the character had not left the room. While his book may not deliberately set out to make a political statement but he insists on staying true to the politics of the characters.

‘Would he like to read from his book some more’, Ms. Shamsie wants to know. He would not. He then turns to the audience on a sudden whim - or so it seems (he had done this before in Islamabad & Lahore) wondering if they were okay with him sharing something from his Urdu collection. They jump at the mention of Urdu. ‘Why Defence needs Sharia’ is wickedly funny piece written some years ago when Swat was under the influence of one Maulana Fazl Rahman and his cohorts. Rehearsed or otherwise, an unexpected detour to satire-ville is a welcome distraction. Listeners only shriek when someone reveals a crucial bit of plot from ‘Our Lady of Alice….’ But otherwise the evening is a success.

Memorable moments from the event have been duly captured on film and a requiem for the lost audio file has already been held. Attendees will remember that there is a waft of mischief in the air. That both Hanif and Muneeza were good sports during the ‘can you hear me now’ game. And that no nurses were harmed during the making of this book. It is best to forget the mike which has a mind of its own – a mind that goes ta tum, ta tum ta tum, prompting the guest of honour to wonder if he could keep pace with the beat. Maybe he could. We will never know.

BOOK REVIEW: The Good Muslim / Author Tahmima Anam

2011-09-17T12:09:00.002+05:00

Daily Times / Saturday, September 17, 2011

Reviewed by Afrah Jamal

They call it a debacle for a reason.

Once the victory lap is over — the drumbeats of war lie silenced, the voices of protest are stifled — new questions arise. Can a landscape of fear be used to stage a new production of hope?

The sequel to A Golden Age is set in the immediate aftermath of the 1971 Indo-Pak war. The map of the subcontinent has been hastily rearranged — a new country has staked its claim on the spot where once stood East Pakistan.

Thirteen years on there are no thanksgiving celebrations.

Tahmima Anam takes a brooding look at the horrors of war and the price of peace through the eyes of Maya and Sohail — siblings who played their part in carving out a fresh national identity. One is a crusading doctor newly returned home and the other, a former warrior, has replaced arms with the Book. The story is centred on a fraught homecoming and a fractured relationship.

It is the early 80s and they have been estranged for several years. While Sohail is slowly being consumed in a religious fire, Maya’s emotional journey takes a circuitous route through purgatory; one second she struggles with her faith trying to circumvent the new barriers that surround her home, next she embarks on a rescue mission parting the veil between liberal and fundamentalist forces. Tahmima furnishes the scene with rich characters to offset the bleak moment of creation and its tragic consequences.

The book jumps back and forth between different time frames to explore the murky aspects of religion, politics, and morality, drawing energy from the remnants of a 40-year-old secessionist movement that left deep imprints on the land. Survival, redemption, desperation, injustice are the centrepieces while unsettling images of the carnage hover in the background. The primary focus of this cultural tour is not on what they won but what they lost.

Bringing that era back to life posits many challenges. History will be recalled and depending on which side is being represented, it will be used to vindicate or incriminate the participants. The post-war period continues to suffer from the aftershocks — it harbours a deep resentment for a retreating army that cannot be assuaged. It bristles at its own inadequacies. It trembles for the fallen women. The sorrowful murmurs of its shameful past are amplified while places that continue to reverberate with their echoes are revisited.

The ending feels a little contrived but Tahmima skilfully keeps readers occupied with questions: what turned Sohail away from the world; is the nation ready to acknowledge their unwanted legacy of war; how much can be salvaged from the fiery cauldron of hate?

These sombre memories strike a chord because of the presence of characters carried away on dangerous tides of religion at a time when madrassas were not on the radar and fundamentalism had not attained a hold over the region. The ideological strife between Sohail and Maya reflects a deeper more pervasive problem that holds resonance in these troubled times. The radical Islam depicted here however has yet to develop the terrifying capabilities that could engulf the globe. In the early days, only those who stand too close get burned. The sole casualty of Sohail’s obsession will be his own kin.

'The Good Muslim' takes a winding road lined with shell-shocked freedom fighters who crusade against inner demons and a nation’s desperate struggle to reclaim lost souls — both converge in a countryside continually blighted by allusions to war. Maya labels her newly acquired land as a fast acting country — “quick to anger, quick to self-destruct”. There is talk of ‘prisoners of war’, about whom she thinks were “released, put back into their uniforms and sent home to Pakistan adding how no sorrys were exchanged. Anointed by the hand of forgiveness, they would grow old without shame”.

Her critical self-examination captures the misery at home but carefully sidesteps the troubling role its own played in the war crimes. Such elisions upset the balance. The book, which is the second part of a trilogy, is both an ode to the living left to tend the scorched earth and a wake for the dead.

Harper; Pp 304; Rs 995

BOOK REVIEW: Playing with fire: Pakistan at War with Itself / By Pamela Constable

2011-09-05T12:13:00.001+05:00

Daily Times / Monday, September 05, 2011

Reviewed by Afrah Jamal

“So this is where your people retreat from fundamentalist kind?”

It was not, but to the nice American perhaps that golf course appeared like a sanctuary in a land riven by violence. While it is true that every day something new drives a stake in this illusion of security, that day — at least — there was not a single fundamentalist in sight.

Today, such private islands are under threat alongside everything else. Pamela Constable, foreign correspondent and former deputy foreign editor at The Washington Post, puts the nation under intense scrutiny, identifying the war for Pakistan’s soul “with one set pulling it forwards towards a modern international era, the other back toward a traditional and ingrown world”.

Her new book knits disparate elements of Pakistani society extracted from various testimonies into a grotesque tapestry littered with bloodcurdling tales of injustice and violence. Segments from crisply titled chapters — Hate, Khaki; Talibanisation; Honour; Siege — read like a dystopian novel where a society is slowly being unravelled by its own prejudices and “where no cause (is) too noble to subvert, no beneficiary too humble to cheat and no martyr too scared to exploit”.

A smorgasbord of issues like social injustice, intolerance, corruption, and class warfare are served up with relish. Some, like terrorism, are given ample coverage in the media. Others that touch upon the inherent bigotry or gender politics get sidelined by security issues. Here she moves from stately corridors of power to the saintly looking houses of worship — already fractured before the Taliban made an appearance; where people are shown to be complicit, squandering away their hard won freedom in a hundred different ways — collectively caught in the crossfire.

This rendition generates a mix of fear and loathing — with some pity thrown in for the common man caught in a vice. The upper crust, which cannot carry out a polite conversation for more than a few minutes “without the host/hostess interrupting to order about some servant or the other to do tasks they are perfectly capable of performing themselves” invoke her contempt. Her point is that “these requests, no matter how politely framed, no matter how genteel the patron, reinforces the gulf of class and place that has long kept Pakistani society stagnant and stratified instead of allowing it to become dynamic, creative and diversified”. She adds a chorus of voices to her own like Roedad Khan’s who believe that a major obstacle to democracy “is not the anger, frustration and religious activism of the poor but the passivity, silence and cynicism of the elite”.

About the diversity she fixates on the contrasts between the women from different backgrounds that in her opinion “are so stark that women of Pakistan truly might as well be living in several different nations and centuries”. About the bosses she speaks of Washington and Rawalpindi (home of the army) in the same sentence, while Islamabad (the Presidency) recedes into the background.

Then there are the Taliban whose behaviour, according to her, is not that far out of line. Why? Because Pakistanis are accustomed to living with a brutal police culture, “a domestic spy apparatus that used slander, lies and espionage techniques as political weapons, topped with a ‘tradition of tribal codes that mandated harsh punishments for moral offences’”. This argument is repeated ad nauseam. “There is very little liturgical space between the demands of the Taliban and calls by other conservative Sunni groups for a total Islamic state,” she adds. Citing a poll that shows 80 percent of the population in favour of harsh punishments drives the point further home. Yet, many would argue that were this true then the outrage at the infamous Swat video would not have sent the army to liberate Swat; or kept religious parties at bay (so far).

But at the same time it is hard to deny the disturbing trends where “an accusation of blasphemy — however vague and unsubstantiated — has the power to sweep away reason and objectivity even among officials charged with enforcing law and administering justice” or the closet Taliban mindset that allows the real deal to thrive. Or the fact that the sole noble laureate Abdul Salam, an Ahmedi, is seldom mentioned and whose achievements she insists “were an embarrassment and a glitch in the official narrative that Ahmedis are enemies of Islam — infidels to be avoided, mistrusted and despised”.

There are minor corrections — August 14 is Pakistan’s Independence Day and not its Defence Day. True, Karachi is home to a “volatile mix of criminals, business mafias, political shock troops, Islamic sects, militant factions and warring ethnic enclaves” but to state that Afghan migrants fleeing invading Soviets built the city is a stretch. The sole comfort in this miserable scenario — the writer does not think Pakistan is a failed state;: fake yes; failed no — agreeing with Roedad Khan’s assessment that it is “one that has means, opportunity but no moral values/political will to use them”.

For her the single greatest political achievement in this nation’s entire 64-year existence will be “ensuring that an unpopular corrupt and indifferent leader stayed in office for his full term”. For Pakistan’s sake, one hopes she is wrong. The book sums up 64 years of mistakes, misdemeanours and masquerades and delivers it with merciless precision. The one person who comes out with his dignity intact is Edhi — a man who she says “has always perched from an unassailable perch on the lowest rung of the ladder; who “runs far more than an ambulance service”. In her words, “It was a philosophy of life.” Fortunately, there are many such voices of reason. They just tend to get lost in this din.

Random House; Pp 352; Rs 1,495

Urdu BOOK REVIEW: Karachi Halwa Aur Badayun Ke Pairay / By Imrana Maqsood and Amra Alam

2011-08-20T05:58:00.003+05:00

Daily Times / Saturday, August 20, 2011
Published under the title: Back from the Future

The two people present at the book reading session that day are from the small town of Badayun. And they are afraid — afraid that the new generation might find it difficult to relate to their experiences. Or that they might get spooked by the choice of language (Urdu) — or fail to appreciate the underlying message. As the evening commenced, it became increasingly clear — such fears were unjustified.

Though they parted company with India some 50 years ago when their family migrated to Karachi, Pakistan — a part of Imrana Maqsood and Amra Alam stayed behind in their beloved Badayun. The other part grew up to be a successful playwright and an equally successful children’s book author. Karachi Halwa Aur Badayun Ke Pairay is a slim little concoction based on their sweetest childhood memories. That their most treasured effects lie scattered over two sides of a hostile border does not lessen the yearnings. Granted, the world they once knew seems alien, but its precious cargo of cultural values continues to fascinate.

When the cravings return, the sisters take their faded impressions out for a spin in their old hometown and narrate stories of being accosted by obliging ghosts and gracious residents at every turn. Luckily, they got an opportunity to walk down the streets of Badayun one more time, taking away a few lovingly selected fragments of memory for keepsake. Traces of their past selves linger on in the alleyways. As they near the site where they spent their formative years, the present dissolves into the past; faint echoes of their laughter get amplified. A lost era is slowly being brought back to life. The glimpses may be fleeting but their impact is lasting.

When they stop to marvel at places like Maqsood Lodge, time stands still — when they summon those that have become part of history, they are overcome with emotion. In this condensed version of events Badayun appeared to exist in a bubble. The aftermath of a tsunami that swept through the land seemed to pass it by leaving two little girls who go by the handle of Immo (Imrana) and Paro (Amra) free to embark on flights of fantasy uninterrupted.

Though there is a sense of profound grief, which struggles to reach the shore, the writers manage to keep their musings light taking care not to stray too far deep into darker territory. Instead they invite their readers to their old haunts to share the euphoria, to revel in the simplicity of the period and to savour the tranquillity unbroken by the seasonal changes. Delightful little anecdotes about family and friends illuminate their memory lane. The plotting is non-linear — the most remarkable aspect of their journey is perhaps the discovery of how sands of time that eroded trust between the generations have left certain bonds forged all those years ago untouched. Their old neighbourhood remembers them well; strangers leap up to lend a helping hand.

When Badayun began to receive an influx of migrants from Pakistan, it was their father who helped resettle them. Soon winds of change will force this family to head out into the unknown. Karachi — the ‘Promised Land’ in this scenario has a smaller cameo and a curiously weary feel. Here, despite their changed circumstances, the adventure seeking spirit of Immo and her co-conspirator Paro lives on.

Imrana jokes that one cannot turn over a rock without stumbling over either a poet (Shakeel Badayuni was an oft visitor in their household) or a writer. As the title suggests, it is also renowned for its confectionary. Both Amra (Chief Editor SUNTRA magazine/Co-Editor Aye Karachi) — the award winning children’s books author and Imrana with whom she has collaborated on 15 television serials, are far too modest. They deserve a place on Badayun’s wall of fame just as much as those poets/writers hidden under random rocks.

That they are drawn to the places where both have such deep roots is expected; as is the fact that a child’s vantage point shows this home at its best. Karachi Halwa Aur Badayun Ke Pairay, with its special blend of humour and pathos sallies forth to conquer hearts and minds. There is no room for shadows in their idyllic sounding childhood. None will board the Sentiment Express.

Ferozesons Pvt Ltd; Pp 128; Rs 395

An Old Piece: Research! No Plagiarism....

2011-08-12T17:00:00.009+05:00

Sana Bucha's article (Jul 17 2011) 'When Incredibles Sulk' vs. The Economist (14 Jul 2011) : 'Pakistan and America In a Sulk'. Not everyone agrees that this is a case of plagiarism even though it seems pretty clear-cut. Am posting an old forgotten piece inspired by a similar case (several in fact).

As the debate on what constitutes ‘Plagiarism’ rages on amongst many, clearly the line between ‘research’ and plagiarism appear to be blurred. That the plagiarized piece is subject to copyright and demeaning to self and publication when discovered seldom affects the ‘amoral’ or will never deter an ‘immoral’. Perhaps some do not recognize it as a crime. There are several types of plagiarists; Ignorant, indifferent and irresponsible. They commit unintentional plagiarism in their ignorance, through indifference do not cite sources and because of negligence alter the content by paraphrasing wrongly. While a lot can be found on this subject on the internet, yet here I am, once again, giving close encounters of my own with the plagiaristic kind and you would be surprised how many of these lurk out there. The good news is that oftentimes they are easy to detect with the simplest of strategies, our own version of detection software.

When faced with a flawless piece of writing, listening to the warning bells helps for there may be a genuinely good writer out there (who will, no doubt be mortified to know that his/her writing has been subjected to such scrutiny) but 5 times out of 10, it is a smug plagiarist as a quick Google search will verify. The internet may have made the plagiarizers' life easy but detectors and fact checkers can not complain either. Most Plagiarists do not take the time to change more than a few lines of the content and this is how you get them, by typing in the suspect lines. Sometimes, it is not always the newbie who is plagiarizing but a well known veteran and I do not envy the person who gets to confront them.

And they called it ‘Research’

Surprisingly, persuading an otherwise intelligent person that plagiarism is not research is harder than it seems. Consider an article discovered to be plagiarized from not one or two but several websites. In a bid to avoid absolute condemnation of an otherwise keen writer, h/s was informed diplomatically that the ‘sample’ sent in was good and h/s should send in the real piece now. His reply: Sample? That was my ‘research’. ‘Research’ in their world could be cutting from one website and pasting it onto MS Word.

A word of advice; do not kid yourselves. We know research and that was not it. Research is there to assist in the development of original ideas or to back up ‘your’ viewpoint with appropriate citations.

When one fellow was told to rework a piece, he went and massacred said piece by reshuffling all sentences, putting what came after commas before. The result made the poor editors hair stand on end. Yet another went to Wikipedia, cut the webpage onto word and sent it in; an entire webpage means the blue underlined thingies (links) were still there. When asked to rework with citations, back came a reply, ‘sorry no can do, do not have the time’. The article was on the merits of Ramzan by the way. I suggest that if you have taken the trouble to cut and paste, take a few seconds more and type in taken from…. at the end’. Why mislead the editor? It is their job to find you out and if they are any good at it, be warned that they will. Folks may get by with this cavalier attitude towards life in some universities, but they will find the going hard in the real world. Instructors are not always out to get you but good editors are. For if they do not, foreign newspapers come out of nowhere and threaten their publication and credibility with nasty lawsuits.

The End

Fwd: http://pakistanmediawatch.com/2011/07/22/culture-of-plagiarism-at-jang-group/

BOOK REVIEW: Broken Republic - Author / Arundhati Roy

2011-08-06T13:29:00.003+05:00

Daily Times / Saturday, August 06, 2011

Reviewed by Afrah Jamal

A local writer once recounted a story where he happened to be on a mailing list that was bombarded by dozens of kindly e-mails from an Indian peer. They were all roughly the same, each disparaging his — the writer’s — (imperfect) nation, its military missteps, defective political/social setup, extremist hideouts; anything and everything was fair game. The one-sided exchange continued till, one day, the writer from the imperfect nation diverted the conversation to a little known resistance movement called the Maoist insurgency.

The emails stopped.

Someone else, having taken a random combination of words such as challenging the writ of the state, unrest in the tribal areas, military operations, insurrection, IEDs, peace talks, collateral damage and fundamentalists, typically designed to decode the blueprints of neighbouring insurgencies, has unexpectedly used it to open the portal to India’s raging Maoist/Naxalite rebellion.

Arundhati Roy’s new book, Broken Republic, is a collection of three essays (2009-2010) dealing with this live-wire issue causing occasional sparks within India. Her new counter-narrative serves to eviscerate the official storyline and promises a rag tag bunch of rebels their five minutes of fame. Roy, who goes off the beaten path, calmly facing down charges of sedition, obscenity and treason, returns with evidence of corporate greed and political misdemeanours. She then proceeds to serve up stories featuring Naxalite oppression, determined to kindle the flame of moral outrage among conservationists and human rights activists across the globe. Since she is an internationally acclaimed voice of India — an oft repressed, Booker Prize winning, wonderfully eloquent, highly controversial one at that, with a history of taking on unpopular causes — the message tends to get amplified.

Here she is scouring the jungles for ‘ammo’ to launch a devastating strike against the world’s biggest democracy. The plight of a rag tag militia, if done right, makes for an effective weapon. Big bad mining corporations, indigenous people armed with bows and arrows fighting for survival complete with a lone crusader marching to a funereal score. This is the compelling stuff summer blockbusters like Avatar are composed of. India’s conundrum has been reduced to a simple formula. “To get bauxite out of flat topped hills, to get iron ore out from under the forest floor, to get 85 percent of India’s people off their lands and into the cities, India has to become a police state; the government has to militarise and to justify that militarisation it needs an enemy.” And the discomfiting notion is that the Maoists are that enemy.

The reason these raging insurgencies are allowed to fly below the western radar is because, according to one analyst, they do not threaten the global world order. Perhaps this is why Pakistan lands at number 12 on the list of most failed countries while India remains comfortably perched at 76.

In the second essay, as Roy recounts her time spent running with the resistance, her caustic political commentary cuts through the picturesque democratic facade giving a sobering assessment of the Indian state’s anti-Maoist campaign design and implications of continuing its toxic struggle. The recurring motif is not that of the nation’s triumphant entry into the superpower club but its costly misadventures on the domestic front. The forest dwellers however get a fair hearing. Their grievances, according to this version, are legitimate and their cause is just. They are made to look quite benign up close. And when the state tries to argue otherwise, it finds the constitution blocking its path.

There is enough gallows humour to take the edge off. She wryly observes that when the government begins to talk of tribal welfare it is time to worry, adding that the need to displace a large population for dams, irrigation projects or mines inevitably precedes talk of giving them the “fruits of modern development”.

The plot keeps taking surprising twists and turns. Welfare projects assume sinister shapes when shown in the backdrop of impending operations. And, while India’s marginalised community members are getting a trendy new makeover, “corporate fundamentalists” (yes fundamentalists), show up without spin doctors standing in the shadows of what has been described as “a massive paramilitary force armed with money, firepower, media and the hubris of emerging superpower”. She depicts a nation that has let slip the dogs of war in places that are “homeland to India’s tribal people and dreamland to the corporate world” and “is willing to shoot, starve, lay siege to and deploy its armed forces in self-defence against the poorest citizens”. But the Maoists, despite the fancy trimmings, are not completely off the hook. Though she is on a first name basis with a few comrades, she does not deny their history of violence or lack of direction.

Generally, an Indian-held mirror manages to capture a reflection of cross-border terrorism or an unfortunate neighbour allegedly caught in the act of exporting terror. Roy’s illustrated guide to India replaces the beautiful illusion of security with a replica made of fear, misery and doubt crafted in its own backyard.

Ushba Publishing International;

Pp 220; Rs 1,000

BOOK REVIEW: On China By Henry Kissinger

2011-07-23T13:05:00.004+05:00

(No Chinese feathers were ruffled during the making of this book)

Published in Daily Times / Saturday, July 23, 2011
Published Under the Title: The new Peking order
Reviewed by Afrah Jamal

July 1971 is an eventful month for Nixon’s National Security Advisor (at the time referred to as a Secretary of State in everything but the title). He disappears from Pakistan, resurfacing in Peking and no one is the wiser. He manages to keep at least one of the two secret servicemen in the dark about the (earth-shattering) nature of his whirlwind trip. The secret mission to China, undertaken at Nixon’s behest, marks the beginning of a beautiful (!) “period of strategic cooperation” that has somehow passed numerous stress tests, withstood serious setbacks (Tiananmen Square) and seemingly insurmountable obstacles (Taiwan).

Archived issues of TIME magazine reveal that this former Secretary of State (1973-1977) was once hailed as “the American magician” by the Egyptians and labelled a “superstar” by Belgian and West German newspapers. Others simply dubbed him the “miracle worker of the Middle East”. Admittedly, some latter day historians have been more reserved in handing out accolades.

On the 40th anniversary of what was then seen as his greatest coup, Kissinger observes in Beijing that China — as the world’s largest creditor stands “on the cusp of the next world order” — a position once occupied by the US in 1947. His new book coolly assesses the four decade-old Sino-American relationship as “co-evolution” and not “partnership”, addressing the challenges posed by China’s growing stature amid proclamations of “peaceful development” (formerly ‘peaceful rise’) and the US’s need to retain both its “competitiveness and its world role”.

But On China goes beyond the intricate foreign policy manoeuvres or ‘fancy footwork’ needed to keep that relationship afloat or why, for that matter, the US felt it needed to do so in the first place. It draws upon conversations with four generations of Chinese leaders to show how these warriors perform on an intellectual battlefield.

Here, readers not only get to hear the fascinating back-channel story of Kissinger’s hush-hush visit, they untangle four millennia of China’s history to appreciate “Chinese statecraft of accomplishing long-term goals from a position of relative weakness”. Kissinger has logged enough time fencing with Oriental minds to be able to break the Chinese Cipher without recoiling at its propensity for promoting domestic anarchy or clamouring for ways to rewrite their core philosophy. He recounts his more illuminating experiences of Chinese-style diplomacy. Who knew that “hospitality, ceremony and carefully cultivated personal relationships could be used as tools of statecraft”?

Between weathering many storms (some of its own creation), managing the barbarians (outsiders), recalibrating society on a whim and sending the Soviets into a paroxysm by exaggerating their ability to survive a nuclear strike — Red China has been slowly inching its way towards a new power bloc. The leaders responsible for overseeing an imperious China’s “century of humiliation”, managing its period of diplomatic isolation and putting it through the throes of the Cultural Revolution are meant to sway the audience with their exquisite diplomatic stagecraft and enigmatic prose. Deng is seen “conducting affairs with aplomb and self-assurance with which Chinese leaders seem naturally endowed”. Zhou has been described as a quintessential cold warrior who would have won the approval of American conservatives. Even when Kissinger admits the difficulty in summing up or comprehending “Mao’s elliptical and aphoristic comments”, he praises him for leaving behind a unified China, “clearing away the underbrush for reforms never intended by the Chairman, having taken a war-wracked country, manoeuvring it between competing domestic factions, hostile superpowers, an ambivalent Third World and suspicious neighbours.”

This China is not afraid of taking on a bigger adversary but has no hegemonic designs, is willing to wait for a lifetime for what it considers its rightful property and every once in a while does the phoenix routine. One marvels at the spectacle of invoking strategic principles from a millennium old event. Yet knowing that they can turn into aggressors just to prove a point (Indo-China half war) can be a tad disconcerting.

In Kissinger’s view, “The China of today — with the world’s second largest economy and largest volume of foreign exchange reserves is a testimonial to Deng’s vision, tenacity and common sense.” He goes on to add that this was “achieved at horrendous cost by relying on the tenacity and perseverance of the Chinese people, using their endurance and cohesion, which so often exasperated him (Deng), as the bedrock of his edifice”.

He reminisces about the US’s initial contact where “neither side had an illusion of changing the others basic convictions” adding that “it was precisely the absence of any such illusion that facilitated our dialogue”. Sino-American rapprochement is shown as having started “as a tactical aspect of the Cold War”, eventually becoming “central to the evolution of the new global order”. Every so often Kissinger slips back into an advisory role, arguing that a reward for this rapprochement “would not be a state of perpetual friendship or a harmony of values but a rebalancing of global equilibrium that would require constant tending”. He also offers helpful insight into the potential direction of Chinese policy described as “a composite of ideology and national interest”.

If China’s stealth rise threatens the established order, it makes sense that the White House roving emissary of yore would respond to these tectonic shifts preferably without disturbing the old order he helped craft. On China provides a comprehensive tour of the Chinese mainland marking the deep impression left by the Kissinger-era diplomacy and setting the tone for upcoming foreign policy matches.

The Penguin Press;

Pp 586; Rs 1,895

BOOK REVIEW: The Wandering Falcon / Author: Jamil Ahmad

2011-07-02T11:55:00.002+05:00

First Published in Daily Times / Saturday, July 02, 2011

Reviewed by Afrah Jamal

Jamil Ahmad’s debut novel is ostensibly about a boy and a stretch of land. At first glance, there is nothing special about Tor Baz. Is he the hero? He seems strangely absent from a major part of the narrative, so not a hero in the traditional sense of the word. If this is a coming of age story, the star billing must go to a land that has become a near permanent fixture on the western world’s radar.

Written sometime in the early 1970s and published in 2008, The Wandering Falcon is a fictional piece of work that charts a slow meandering course through the lawless frontiers. Undercurrents of danger have always coursed through its veins but recent events have bestowed a more menacing look and feel to the wild west of Pakistan.

Jamil Ahmad has a special insight into the ways of the tribes. As a Pakistani civil servant, he has served in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan for several years. By converting his acquired wisdom into an anthology of short stories, he provides a window into the heart and soul of a primitive system where honour and respect are the buzzwords while honour killings/revenge remain the unfortunate by-products. But, as he is quick to point out, it is not all bad. The prose may be simple but the subject matter is anything but.

The writer manages to fit complex patterns into confined spaces. Using Tor Baz (the black falcon) sparingly allows a wider cast of characters to come forward and take centre-stage. Readers enter the perilous world of the Mehsuds, described as “wolves” in “The Kidnapping” for they hunt in packs, which makes lone hunters like the Wazirs “the leopard”. The matter of fact statement that winter signifies a time of “raids, robberies and kidnappings” and that “in neither community is any stigma attached to hired assassin, thief, a kidnapper or an informer” (page 86) gives one pause.

This is an interesting observation given Greg Mortenson’s (of Three Cups of Tea fame) now disputed claim of being abducted in Waziristan. According to this book, these people pride themselves on playing the perfect hosts to abductees and guests alike.

But it is not just their famed hospitality or long-lasting blood feuds that are given prominence. The book keeps a tight focus on the human element in a way that is designed to trigger an empathetic reaction by a simple change of perspective. Tragedies like “A Death of Camels” resurrect forgotten ghosts going back in time to witness how the new demarcations along the Pak-Afghan border endangered the nomads’ way of life. “A Point of Honour” observes the grim fate that awaits a group of simpleminded Baloch and takes a swipe at the state machination responsible for exterminating “a little of the spontaneity in offering affection, and something of their graciousness and trust” (page 34).

While the stories touch on constants like honour, revenge, loyalty, friendship, oppression and betrayal, they move steadily towards darker territory past the social stratification where marginalised sections of tribal society make their troubling debut. A woman is killed in the name of honour in the beginning and another is traded for opium and a hundred rupees in a later scene. Both “A Pound of Opium” and “A Sale Completed” plunge headlong into the abyss where women are sold into marriage or worse. Their hardiness and courage is given due attention and the spectacular injustice somehow gets upstaged by something called tradition.

As for Tor Baz, he is present at the outset where a couple of elopers take refuge at an obscure military outpost and stays in sight as a young boy. Readers pick up his trail when he resurfaces as a young man in a bizarre world where informers advertise their business and settling disputes could mean going head to head in a battle of wits where wounded pride is the sole casualty.

Till the end, the protagonist remains on the periphery. He, like the land, is an enigma. And not being tethered to a single tribe means that he can weave his way in and out of no-go areas with ease. But he ties the seemingly disjointed portions of the book together, whether it is the story of a sardar who goes by the rank of a general (not a real general) with a son “the colonel”, again with no real claim to the title, or a mad mullah/clever conman/mentor who wanders the pages concocting an intricate plan involving German promises and British gold. Each story turns out to be a beautiful link forming an ancient chain carefully preserved in time.

The past ten years have wrought a radical change in the tribal makeup, rendering formerly inaccessible regions unrecognisable. Now viewed as militant sanctuaries, still inhospitable but inaccessible no more, for the words within these pages provide the most authentic portrait yet of these ungoverned places. The Wandering Falcon that had been waiting for 38 odd years to see the light of day has finally risen. At 78, Jamil Ahmad has written a tale that is both timeless and given the current state of affairs, timely.

Penguin Books;
Pp 181;
Rs 795.

BOOK REVIEW: Pakistan: Beyond The ‘Crisis State’ / Author: Maleeha Lodhi

2011-06-18T11:29:00.002+05:00

Published in Daily Times / Saturday, June 18, 2011

Reviewed by Afrah Jamal

Published under the title: 17 Reasons to Hope

“History will be what we make it. If we go on as we are, history will have its revenge and retribution” — from the movie, ‘Good Night, & Good Luck’

A region known for most “terrorist sightings”, a place feared for harbouring medieval mindsets next to progressive thinkers and a nation shunned for having an affinity for nuclear toys. By turns a cautionary tale, an indispensable ally and an international pariah, Pakistan does not fit into any mould — for long. But its name crops up whenever things go awry.

Pakistan: Beyond the ‘Crisis State’ is a compilation of articles put together by Maleeha Lodhi that countermands the grim prognosis. When Ms Lodhi, who has served as Pakistan’s ambassador to the US and UK, acknowledges that “resilience has been part of Pakistan’s story from its inception, obscured by the single issue lens through which outsiders have viewed the nation,” she has already rounded up the architects of a counter-narrative.

This book, she explains, is the product of a “virtual” conference (in cyberspace) — the voices featured within are bold, imaginative, at times humourous, (where need be) scathing — and, more importantly, powerful enough to carry over the din.

The names need no introduction. They are our nation’s leading historians, award winning journalists, diplomats and scholars who, with their grasp of Pakistan’s complex history, come forth to respond to the criticism — spoken or otherwise, the challenges — short and long term — and hidden dangers both internal and external.

Luminaries such as Shuja Nawaz, Zahid Hussain, Ayesha Jalal and Ahmed Rashid, to name just a few, give Pakistan some much needed context — be it historical, political or religious. They join others in taking on a range of issues that plague society, from its derelict state of the economy, spectacular energy crisis, sorry state of education and eroding sovereignty to its recent history of violence, ill conceived military adventures, the rising spectre of extremism, foreign policy issues and mounting security and governance challenges, in the light of seminal events from the past 64 years.

This parallel storyline has been created keeping regional complexities in mind. Mohsin Hamid’s comforting piece, ‘Why Pakistan will survive’, dwells on the many admirable qualities of this land, providing the perfect rebuttal for those who claim to have heard the ‘fat lady’. He says faugh to the extremists, observing that, “theocracy will not work”. Why? Because “we are too diverse to agree on the interpretation of religious laws”. He comes to the heartening conclusion that the “Taliban cannot win”. He further adds that “false nationalism will not work; we are too diverse to believe it”. Maleeha’s own piece scrutinises Pakistan’s governance failures, identifying five scenarios that range from bleak to optimistic; they can break the stalemate and salvage the future or watch it spiral out of control.

Bold reforms are needed to improve an aging infrastructure and shaky foundations, and the contributors bring imaginative solutions that ensure Pakistan’s longevity by attempting to reset its self-destruct button. Ziad Alahdad appraises the energy deficit, pushing a five-stage process (IEP — Integrated Energy Planning Process), a concept introduced in the 1970s. Dr Ishrat Husain brings out his eight pillars of good governance destined to thrive given a proper environment. Others keep it simple: support taxes, they say, because, apparently, “Pakistanis pay a pittance (10 percent of the GDP) compared to other nations”, and raising it by just a fifth means a gain of Rs 300 billion a year.

In some areas, the proposed business model asks for a system reboot. In others, it can survive with a little tweaking. Either way, their manifesto is worth exploring. These findings have added significance in the wake of recent events where Pakistan’s once powerful establishments have begun to show signs of the strain.

When they talk about the future of nuclear policy, they can envisage both scenarios, one where Pakistan repeats the “cold war nuclear experience of arms control and CBM with stakeholders” and the other where “a radical right-wing government in power wields nuclear assets as an ideologically based power instrument instead of as a security tool”. When they shift to military matters they argue that, “Pakistan’s defence lies in a smaller, highly mobile powerful military relying on nuclear, conventional weapons system with the capability of delivering a damaging riposte.” While scrutinising the army viewed as an entity “that protects its interests at the cost of national interest”, they dismiss the fearsome ISI as a counter-intelligence entity “that operates at behest of government, civil/military aligning with whatever centre of power is deemed more powerful or supportive of its functions”.

Drawing upon this collective wisdom helps readers understand the Pakistan of today in light of its foibles — both past and present. In Ms Lodhi’s words, “The prism of terror and extremism has deflected attention away from the strength and stability of its underlying social structures which have enabled the country to weather national and regional storms and rebound from disasters — natural and manmade.”

This book carries 17 viewpoints that show what Pakistan beyond the crisis state might look like provided it can align the projected vision with reality. It provides 17 reasons to hope.

Oxford University Press;
Pp 391;
Rs 895

VIEW: SPOOKS in the Dog House

2011-06-09T11:30:00.005+05:00

(Published in SHE Magazine June 2011)

7 years ago, Tim McGirk of TIME wondered if ISI could help find Bin Laden. In a way they did.

Pakistan’s decision to share a critical piece of information sealed Osama bin Laden’s fate. But the hand that dealt the fatal blow was American. The Inter-Services Intelligence – (ISI), never popular to begin with, has seen its credibility plummet since 2nd May 2011. Other services have come into their share of criticism but trying to ascertain Pakistan’s top spy agency’s role in this fiasco can be a daunting challenge. In one day they were checkmated by an ally, became suspects in a crime, forced to be spectators of their own show and put on public trial.

Over the years, visiting American scholars have expressed incredulity at ISI’s inability to locate bin Laden given the agencies reach (deep) and reputation (fearsome). While they may be convinced in their minds of ISI’s duplicity, its head, Lieutenant General Shuja Pasha has pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of incompetence. Still bad!

That Osama had been ‘discovered’ hiding in plain sight in Abbottabad came as a great surprise. That the audacious raid was conducted by US Navy SEALS and not by Pakistani authorities was a source of greater consternation. While the air space violation did not sit well with the masses, bin Laden’s proximity to Pakistan’s equivalent of West Point academy sent military men into a paroxysm.

The world rejoiced. Pakistan, however, was mortified. Since then ISI is in the doghouse. And everyone has been busy trading theories. ‘ISI knew all along’ tops the list while ‘they were caught napping’ is a close second. A third postulates that they were in on it with the Americans the whole time.

The stigma of a spectacular intelligence failure is hard to bear but the alternative is worse. This piece takes apart the complicity theory while examining ‘incompetence’ & ‘collusion’ charges on the side.

Finding Osama, who had been eluding capture for close on ten years, was not a ‘one agency’ show. President Obama has hinted as much when he touched upon the help extended by Pakistani Intelligence in nabbing the object of a decade long man-hunt. Osama bin Laden had gone off the digital grid…no cell phones, no internet, and no chatter.

He was a ghost.

The old trail had gone cold and the first bread crumb of the new trail was handed over to the CIA by the ISI. This valuable clue ultimately led them away from tribal belt along Pak-Afghan border straight to bin Laden’s lair.

It started a year ago when ISI intercepted a phone call made from a cell phone in Nowshera. The first red flag, for them was that it was in Arabic; an even bigger flag was that it was coded. ISI, which operates without a voice databank for most wanted al Qaeda members, is concerned more with containing the spread of local Taliban. Without an army of code breakers and analysts at their beck and call, their analysts are at a serious advantage. CIA’s primary concern, on the other hand remains the annihilation of Al-Qaeda.

It was the CIA then who found one of Osama bin Laden’s trusted couriers at the other end. From that moment onwards, all suspicious calls intercepted by ISI from the same source were shared with their American counterparts. The last call originated from the compound in Abbottabad, which is how the place came on CIA’s radar. According to one report, their ‘advanced voice matching apparatus’ helped them reach bin Laden’s compound.

And so, CIA took the lead employing a combination of humint (human intelligence), electronic surveillance and satellite imagery. ISI was kept in the dark. Perhaps, a fear that Al Qaeda sympathizers within the agency might tip off Osama thus compromising the mission prompted them to cut out their principal ally. ISI’s reputation as a double dealing agency is enmeshed in American psyche. Or maybe they wanted all the glory. Who knows?

Was Pakistan aiding and abetting a terrorist mastermind when CIA had eyes on the compound for months? If so, it is pretty sloppy work for a premier intelligence agency. One analyst argues that if Osama bin Laden was in ISI’s custody, his safe house would have been at a more secure location. Abbottabad may be regarded as a virtual garrison town albeit one without strong ground and air defence network and its vulnerable points have become embarrassingly obvious.

Many reason that ISI may have deliberately let CIA and Obama’s administration take full credit in the hope that it will receive financial windfall and support from a grateful Obama administration in the process. Others wonder if fear of retaliation from Al Qaeda made them cave in to their allies demands. The collusion theory which suggests that ‘Operation Neptune Spear’ carried out by CIA with full knowledge of ISI has glaring flaws. Whatever their motivation, ‘discovering’ Osama in the remote areas of the tribal belt would have been more sensible - and far less embarrassing. That and the fact that Pakistani media (allegedly with ISI’s blessings) ‘outed’ the local CIA station chief points to a breakdown of cooperation.

ISI has been called many things, (most of them unflattering) but should suicidal be added to this list? By opting to take a back seat in this operation, it has gained even more notoriety. A unilateral strike inside a sovereign territory has set a dangerous precedent whereby neighboring states with real or imaginary grievances might seek to emulate the American model. Pakistan has been busy sending clear signals that the repercussions of a similar transgression by an enemy state would be severe.

ISI does not get off easy, however, and have been hauled up in Parliament to explain how this Al Qaeda leader spent 5 years under their very nose. Osama could not have survived for as long as he did without a support network in Pakistan including secret Al Qaeda and Taliban operatives, their sympathizers or even some renegade ex intelligence officers and men.

Of course, some insist that this ‘cave to million dollar compound’ journey never happened and that bin Laden was killed years ago. And that the Americans saved this scoop for a rainy day. This does not explain why Osama’s family members, and Al Qaeda, verify the kill now. Or why Bush, handed Obama a victory for that matter.

There may have been collusion – in the beginning, complicity at the lower end and incompetence all around. But there was also betrayal.

ISI Image taken from: http://www.isi.org.pk/
Compound Image from: http://www.geoeye.com/CorpSite/gallery/detail.aspx?iid=377&gid=20

VIEW: An Inconvenient Truth — According To A Little Bird —by Afrah Jamal

2011-06-04T12:19:00.009+05:00

I've already acknowledged the bravery of our men in 'You Can't Handle The Truth'..so...

Daily Times / Saturday, June 04, 2011

Some new information surfaced immediately after I hit the send button on my first piece ‘You can’t handle the truth?’ (Daily Times, May 30, 2011) — information that casts new light on the events of May 22, 2011 when an indeterminate number of men stormed a naval airbase and targeted its prized assets. I say indeterminate because none of the officials seem to agree on a number.

This new information holds answers to some key questions — motive (why target the Navy?), the mystery surrounding the downgraded number of attackers (not 12) and determining who was really responsible for security on that fateful day when a surgical strike paralysed an entire base. Incidentally, it could be a brief extension of the same light the slain journalist, Saleem Shahzad, was trying to shine on the PNS Mehran tragedy.

A recent headline, ‘Navy blames PAF for security lapse’, may have deflected some criticism from the Navy but the death of Saleem Shahzad has pushed them right back into the unforgiving glare of the media spotlight. There is more to the Mehran disaster than meets the eye.

It began when a Navy man was court-martialled when his ties to an extremist faction were ‘discovered’. His ‘friends’ warned the Navy against taking further action against the traitor, adding that they would rue the day. It was a very specific threat and aircraft were mentioned.

Now this version of events matches, to a degree, a report published by Saleem Shahzad who recently broke a story in Asia Times Online, exposing “sizeable al Qaeda infiltration within the Navy’s ranks” — only his analysis of the PNS Mehran saga goes deeper. It also provides a motive for these attacks, which he claims were “a reaction to massive internal crackdowns on al Qaeda affiliates within the Navy”.

Pursuing this line of inquiry can be hazardous for the health. Yet, the presence of potential al Qaeda loyalists within the Navy necessitates a re-examination of the ‘breach’ story. Two days after this report, Mr Shahzad disappeared and his subsequent death has given his final words added weight. The Pakistan Navy, which is currently in the process of exorcising its demons, took a bold stand against extremism and, as a consequence, has suffered from a serious blowback. Both these versions lean heavily towards an al Qaeda hit, and bolster the inside job theory. One of them holds the Navy accountable for its actions or lack thereof in this matter.

The brave men who died that day were facing multiple challenges. The first perimeter was breached not by four, six or 12 but by more than a dozen attackers. The first breach, as the Navy keeps insisting, was in the portion that fell under the PAF jurisdiction and hence was their responsibility.

In the Navy’s own words: “They were prepared but not specifically for Mehran.” People may well ask, why ever not? According to a report, there were more than 30 aircraft in the naval compound that day. Airbases generally have three layers of ground defences — the outer ring (walls/barbed wires/lights/cameras covering the entire outer perimeter), the inner ring (armed patrols, dogs, fortified bunkers) and, finally, point defence (each armed guard defending an individual aircraft). After the first line was ostensibly breached, was the second line in place? There is no mention of guards amongst the deceased. At what stage did the point defence guards spring into action?

The Navy had been forewarned, yet it was not forearmed. The bird has pointed to a strong likelihood of this being an ambush led by 20 or so men, some of whom might have been renegades from within the naval ranks. It is a damning number that squares with the odd behaviour of the prime minister who, when pressed on disclosing the true figure, mysteriously declared that some things cannot be shared with the media. That and the fact that a Navy man initially registered an FIR against 12 people — a Freudian slip perhaps?

One can see why the Navy has been hesitant in owning up to this as it would mean that a large number escaped or melted back into the ranks. Either way, this has been a major setback. The presence of a rift within begs the question of whether any amount of defensive measures can withstand an attack that comes from inside? This new knowledge gives rise to a new set of fears — fears that military men might want to address quickly.

They might also want to take a look at official naval accounts, which have done nothing for their image: “The terrorists were so well-trained in guerrilla tactics at night that they remained unharmed despite thousands of bullets being fired at them by naval and allied forces.” There is more: “For the sake of your imagination, I would say it was such an intense, swift, well-trained, and precise attack worthy of famous Hollywood movies such as Rambo.” One is tempted to quote another Hollywood flick (Thor): “You made my men look like minimum wage mall cops.”

Granted, May 22nd was not our finest hour. Yet the people do not seek to pull down their defenders for sport nor do they doubt their resolve. Saleem Shahzad may have been viewed as someone who dared to encroach upon sacred turf (national security) but his quest to identify major faultlines within institutions once thought to be invincible could only lead to ‘better security and introspection’ as someone wisely pointed out.

EVENT: It Happened This Morning..

2011-06-02T16:07:00.008+05:00

I dont react to crank messages as a rule,but when this morning i get a 'Good Morning Afrah' at 7am....7am!!! from a strange number, i smsed back asking who it was.

NO Response.

So i called & someone said hello then went silent...freaking out that they knew my name (& could spell it) I wondered (was it isi sending a warning shot (heaven forbid) on my navy story) & then took a childish & ineffective stand by texting 'who is this...coward, ans or i'll report u'. False bravado on my part.

How was I to know MM Alam had just learnt 2 text..

VIEW: You can’t handle the truth? —By Afrah Jamal

2011-05-30T09:34:00.010+05:00

(Sequel coming NEXT hopefully)

Daily Times / Monday, May 30, 2011

The guard is on edge. He sits up warily as a small car pulls up by the PAF Museum. But it is just some good Samaritans who hesitantly walk over to the stone slab to deposit a bouquet. The tribute is for the martyrs of the PNS Mehran tragedy who have given their lives protecting their base just a few hours earlier. The onlookers are moved. A media man leaps up with his camera.

This little show of solidarity came at a time when the Pakistani nation needs major reassurances. A handful of men who can storm a major naval aviation base, take out its main surveillance capability, inflict heavy casualties and hold up the entire garrison for more than 16 hours not only challenge the military’s omnipotent status, they play havoc with its image.

While this is not the first attack on Pakistan’s armed forces, it is the first of its kind. There is a wave of sympathy for the fallen, buried under an avalanche of criticism for the top brass. Not just because they failed to thwart the attack but because they mishandled its aftermath.

Military men generally avoid wasting time mourning; instead they show resilience, value discretion and do not welcome criticism. During such a crisis, they tend to close ranks. They are basically men of action. But after the PNS Mehran tragedy, they also need to be men of reason.

The Defence Committee of the Cabinet (DCC), said to be the highest national body on security-related issues, “expressed full confidence in the ability and the capacity of the armed forces and law-enforcement and intelligence agencies in meeting all threats to national security.” How nice. The media does not mirror their confidence.

Breaking into a military base is not supposed to be this easy. These places are heavily guarded at the best of times and in view of the deteriorating security situation remain on a near constant state of (yellow, orange and red) alert. The security around naval areas had been tightened further, especially since they seem to have been placed on a hit list since last month. The Navy’s procedures do not distinguish between visitors and residents. Even the pizza delivery guy’s privileges have been revoked.

While Pakistan’s military is putting up a brave face, the leadership is considering a pre-emptive strike policy against terrorist bases within Pakistan. But in their haste to assuage the public’s fears they have miscalculated the extent of their displeasure. For our military establishment, balancing ‘need to know’ with the public’s ‘right to know’ may be a new terrain but it needs to be conquered swiftly.

They can begin by admitting that it was a security lapse for a start. Even if it was not a SOP (Standard Operation Procedure) lapse, denying the breach ever occurred or shifting the responsibility on a fellow service men merely aggravates an already bad situation. The discrepancy in the number of attackers (oscillating between 6, 10 and 12) has added to the confusion.

Google Earth shows that PNS Mehran and PAF Faisal Base share a boundary wall. It is entirely possible that they came through the Faisal Base side but trying to pin the blame on a fellow service weakens all three. Engaging in blame games at such a critical juncture is counterproductive and what is worse, it makes the enemy very happy. There is a general consensus that this may have been an inside job besides being a massive intelligence failure.

The armed forces tend to live in a perpetual state of war and frequently undergo drills that recreate such scenarios. Some have adapted to the changing nature of warfare and utilise breaking in teams that envisage terrorist attacks, hostage taking, and suicide/car bombings during peacetime alongside enemy action by air raids during war. And yet, the walls were breached with frightening ease. What went wrong? Now, with the watchful eye of the media upon them, cover-ups would be unwise.

Meanwhile, people stand by helplessly as the foreign media terms this as a “brilliantly executed strike” that made the armed forces look “sadly amateur” (‘Unsafe Pakistan: Wishful thinking’, The Economist, May 26, 2011). They would like to set The Economist straight. Their only consolation is that by successfully rescuing the 17 foreign nationals, Pakistan narrowly avoided an international incident. But it is still a national tragedy.

The truth is that the attackers were neither better armed, nor better trained than the men they were confronting. Their sole advantage was that they had the element of surprise, had come prepared to inflict maximum damage, were on a one-way mission, and had darkness as an ally. Their prey, on the other hand, had to cover a large area while treading carefully lest they set off potential trip wires. Their job could not have been easy.

The commandos prevailed in the end but not before the terrorists had achieved their objective. Both the destroyed P-3C Orion patrol aircraft will be replaced. The loss to prestige will be harder to salvage from the wreckage. The military needs to rehabilitate its image. They need allies. For that all three services must be on the same page. Putting their house in order is the next logical step and while an inquiry will determine the extent of complicity, the way they handle this situation will shape the way Pakistanis perceive them in the future.

The plume of smoke was visible till 2am. Standing in front of the PAF Museum gate less than 24 hours later one cannot see any sign of the mayhem. But everything has changed. The guard, having given the harmless bunch of flowers a thorough once over has returned to his post. After today, nothing can be taken for granted.

BOOK REVIEW: Invitation By Shehryar Fazli

2011-05-14T12:27:00.005+05:00

Daily Times / Saturday, May 14, 2011

Reviewed by: Afrah Jamal

“Cabarets, conspiracies and a couple of crazies.” It is the early 1970s and Pakistan is in transition. The air crackles with energy; the land sizzles with intrigue. The significance of this time will not be lost upon readers. Islamists were still searching for a foothold; democracy beckoned; and Pakistan was about to lose its East Wing.

Anyone casually trawling through the streets of Karachi now will find little trace of its once vibrant nightlife. Back then it was not a ‘safe haven’ — just a haven.

Shehryar Fazli’s generation may have missed the excitement but his protagonist will return to his native country — and land atop a pit of vipers. It will be a fraught homecoming.

The author thinks the nation has yet to get over what happened in December 1971. He feels connected to this juncture in time as a moment when Pakistan could have gone a different way — and that they let this opportunity slip away.

Here are the building blocks of an epic. Here are the makings of a tragedy.

His protagonist, a newcomer to the city, is flawed and unsympathetic, the secondary players’ claim to moral high ground is laughable and the situation is dire. A novel set in pre-prohibition Pakistan lends itself to a wider array of possibilities. A glorious chapter in our history was drawing to a close. And the coming days would transform the landscape. Some beloved landmarks and attractions (Mayfair the open air theatre, trams, cycle-rickshaws) as Asif Noorani observed in an article ‘Saddar of the fifties and sixties’ had already vanished before the onset of the 1960s. The rest, like floor shows and bars, were near extinction.

The end was near.

The story opens with Shahbaz, back from exile to settle a property dispute on the eve of democracy where he befriends one Ghulam Hussain — a Bengali taxi driver. He traverses the seedy underbelly of Paris and later Karachi. Along the way he encounters an eccentric aunt, Apa — a crusty old lady (who, he admits is straight out of real life), a shady (retired) Brigadier — who happens to be Z A Bhutto’s crony, an obliging escort and two goons from the Jamaat-e-Islami (the same)!

He will make a rash promise to Ghulam Hussain, willingly enter the rabbit hole and form alliances of convenience. Here bitter regret is an unmistakable subtext; with that a heightened sense of dread mixed in with euphoria.

Fazli admits that there are three Karachis: one that has survived, one that he never saw and one that crept through the backdoor while he was time travelling to the early 1970s. Through this mix of historical fact with fiction, he still hopes to have captured the spirit of the time. Despite some inaccuracies, he insists that the outrageous cabaret scene is a faithful representation.

Invitation has been described by Kamila Shamsie as Karachi-Noir — a term that Fazli concedes adequately represents the desolate moral landscape. Those who lived through these times are in for an uncomfortable reunion with their past selves. Fazli chooses to focus on the ugly rather than the beautiful by casting Shahbaz as a co-conspirator instead of a detached observer. Despite the occasional moments of levity, the characters are humourless and trapped in limbo.

Through Shahbaz, Shehryar can barge into areas where conservative writers fear to tread, riding roughshod over cultural sensitivities. He defends his choice of using explicitness as a tool to explore characters, claiming that unlike others, “he would have felt awkward ignoring this aspect of life”, adding that avoiding it would have meant leaving a “literature with gaps”. Shahbaz’s free and easy lifestyle that leaves little to the imagination raises some questions in the reader’s mind. “I am compelled in this company to say that this is not an autobiographical book,” was the author’s sheepish reply. Making the main character a cad is a bold move but in spite of the author’s claim, the book could have done without the crudity.

This is Shehryar Fazli’s debut novel and in this case one can judge a book by its cover. The image of a cabaret dancer’s torso says it all. Invitation is an audacious attempt to lure readers away from the darkness and send them hurtling towards oblivion. Like Shahbaz, they will walk away from this experience forever changed.

Tranquebar; Pp 385; Rs 995

VIEW: Faisal Shahzad — the (un)true back story

2011-04-30T13:22:00.009+05:00

By Afrah Jamal

Published in Daily Times / Saturday, April 30, 2011

The visiting media (excavation) team who rifled through Faisal Shahzad’s past had hit a brick wall last year. Because he is a naturalised American citizen and the son of a senior Pakistani air force officer, the foreign press must have been just as baffled as their Pakistani counterparts. And since they found little of value in these archaeological expeditions, they gave their terrorist a back story to go with the popular narrative. Putting up the failed Times Square bomber’s upbringing on trial alongside his present probably made it easier to explain this anomaly. If the world they fabricated out of fantasy and myth appeared alien to Pakistanis back home, it is probably because it was.

Faisal, who went through the system without triggering red flags, was depicted as a zombie being drilled in violent Islam and fed anti-western lies as a child, getting in and out of fancy cars followed by a trail of nannies, raised with hate in his heart and murder firmly planted in his subconscious.

To many of us it seemed like they just plopped Mr Shahzad in front of a green screen and ran the standard issue background. But he should not be let off that easy. Fortunately, these fanciful versions can be countered with some cold hard facts. Take for instance the claim that, “Mr Shahzad’s generation grew up in a Pakistan where alcohol had been banned and Islam had been forced into schools and communities as a doctrine and national glue.”

They got the alcohol part right. That is about all.

The New York Times (NYT) asserted that “his school, located on a military base, taught the same rigid curriculum — with an anti-western slant and a strict form of Islamic studies — imposed nationally by General Zia” (‘For Times Sq Suspect, Long Roots of Discontent’, NYT, May 15, 2010).

Wrong again.

It is not just the foreign press that went off course. A week earlier Professor Hoodbhoy had suggested the same thing: “He typifies the young Pakistani who grew up in the shadow of Ziaul Haq’s hate-based education curriculum. The son of a retired air vice marshal, life was easy ...but at some point the toxic schooling and media tutoring must have kicked in” (May 8, 2010).

Had they actually seen this hate-based curriculum/toxic schooling with an anti-western slant and a strict form of Islamic studies in action, they would have been sorely disappointed.

Students ended up believing, among other things, that Pakistan won the 1965 war, that India did not like us very much and the world did. And something about ancient civilisations. Did it have a distinct pro-Pakistan slant? Yes. Did it promote a vicious brand of Islam commonly associated with madrassas? Absolutely not. Besides, Pakistan was fighting a covert war with the allies during Zia’s tenure, so anti-westernism was not an issue. Not then.

‘Outdated, ineffective, insipid, boring’ — there may be a ton of adjectives to describe the educational system but ‘hate-based’ and ‘toxic’ would not be one of them. (These two words do fit the post-9/11 environment though). Several others had gone through the same bland process and come out sane. Faisal’s old neighbours did not see anything for the simple reason that there was nothing to see; ditto for old classmates.

The Pakistan Air Force is known for its liberal outlook and moderate stance and its education system, while not perfect, does reflect these values. The media, on the other hand, was state-controlled till the 1990s and did project a lovely biased view of the world. The 1980s generation was treated to images of innocent Kashmiris getting brutalised by ‘those Indians’. But mostly they watched dignitaries arriving or leaving on a daily basis. It would be years before they would get to see both sides of the coin or be free to challenge the old order.

The same NYT article that ‘demonised’ Faisal’s schooling also touched upon his spoiled brat status. “As the son of a senior military officer, Mr Shahzad was swaddled in privilege, tended to by chauffeurs, servants and armed guards in an insular world made up almost exclusively of military families.”

True. And false!

The world they refer to is insular and in the 1980s and 90s without cell phones and internet it was even more so. That being said, these walls kept politics and fundamentalism from seeping in but did not prevent its inhabitants from reaching out. Not only were they exposed to a more cosmopolitan lifestyle, they also held a broader worldview.

And contrary to popular belief, military life is not an all expense paid trip to wonderland. The privileged lifestyle depicted in the newspaper accounts makes it all seem so ‘feudal lordish!’ Military families are not born with silver spoons. These perks come with a price.

This is not the Upper East Side. Life in the armed forces is generally perceived to be a joyride for families but while it may end on a high note it certainly does not begin with one. I cannot deny the chauffeurs, servants and armed guards. They come with the house, but only for the top echelon. No doubt the final stretch is comfortable but these people have paid their dues off camera.

Yet none of this had any bearing on the events of May 1, 2010. Faisal, who is currently serving a life sentence, spent more than a decade in the US. When he turned, it was in spite of, not because of his sheltered background and American education. He represents the new face of terrorism.

BOOK REVIEW: Inside WikiLeaks: My Time with Julian Assange at the World's Most Dangerous Website By Daniel Domscheit-Berg with Tina Klopp

2011-04-23T12:28:00.001+05:00

Published in Daily Times / Saturday, April 23, 2011

Reviewed By Afrah Jamal

A leaked video, allegedly of ‘the most dangerous man in the world’ on the dance floor is doing rounds on the internet these days. As Assange himself will tell you, “Nothing is sacred anymore.”

Those who picture WikiLeaks — the whistle-blowing website — as an impregnable fortress with Julian Assange its modern day warrior casually brandishing incendiary matter will also find Julian’s accomplice busily stripping away its veneer of invincibility and with that, its founder’s credibility.

The duo is known for upsetting the global applecart of secrets and lies and if the truth is ‘out there’, it is because of one Julian Assange and Daniel Domscheit-Berg who put it there. From secret US military intelligence documents and diplomatic cables to contents of Sarah Palin’s private emails and handbooks from Guantanamo Bay, first American fraternity and Scientology, Assange & co are in the business of making governments squirm.

Now the hermitically sealed universe of WikiLeaks (WL) (initially composed of two men and one server), like the material it publishes, is no longer classified. But Assange, a gifted hacker, known outlaw and notorious whistleblower, who is central to the WL plot, serves more as a human piñata in a new tell-all book by Daniel Domscheit-Berg.

This is a story of two people who believed in the same principles of transparency but had very different ideas of how to go about it. On one side stands Julian who “had a discerning eye for material that could be used to exert political influence”. On the other is his estranged partner, who shows how WL “was acting irresponsibly, playing a risky game with sources’ truth and supporters’ donations.

Daniel, who broke away from the WL orbit to form OpenLeaks.org, which he insists is not a publishing platform or a rival to WL, but an equal contender offering secure submission, where the sources choose the recipients, was unceremoniously dismissed and charged with “disloyalty, insubordination and destabilisation in times of crises”. Switching into full disclosure mode, he prepares to take down his partner as he recounts their tragicomic escapades in the backdrop of their unravelling partnership.

Inside WikiLeaks invites the world to witness Assange’s crucifixion alongside Daniel’s coronation as the shiny new king of his own kingdom. ‘The world’s most dangerous website’, where the magic happened amid childish bickering and duelling ideologies, is scary to behold.

The writer offers useful insights detailing the level of security taken to ensure the anonymity of the source and submissions; “sources remained untraceable even for the WikiLeaks team-mates”. They are coupled with titbits about their modus operandi, how they gave accounts to someone who was not interested in handling finances or chat rooms to those not concerned with personally influencing public opinion, etc. There were times when they tricked the people who wanted documents removed into authenticating them instead. Any evidence of ownership voluntarily given also ended up on the site next to the offending document. Informants did not fear lawsuits but WL welcomed them, he gleefully notes.

His initial impressions of Julian are kinder: “I knew he cared as little as I did that we could have earned far more money selling our talents to businesses.” The goodwill does not last long: “It was easy sharing our lack of success but hard for Julian to allow success to be credited to both.” Some of Daniel’s criticism stems from the fact that WL became a global political player ending the pledge to be neutral which, he stresses, was their most important principle. Julian, “who mentally transformed innocent plane passengers into State Department spies”, evolves as a caricature of a villain. “The rumours that he was being followed originated from his overactive imagination,” he declares, “giving him the aura of someone in dire peril, increasing the collective anticipation of every leak.”

His partner’s personal and professional conduct is called into question on numerous occasions. At one point he wonders if WL has become a religious cult where the guru is beyond question and there was no room for internal critique. He also admits that both of them were guided by Google searches and a gut feeling for authenticating documents. Mistakes were rare, but he hastens to add that he can think of none for which he alone was to blame. Daniel later sabotaged the WL operation by taking away its submissions platform. His defence: “Children shouldn’t play with guns.”

Assange, as the villain of the piece does not disappoint; he is the cad who takes Daniel’s Ovaltine and half his food. He is also a petty troublemaker, a superior ass, a nightmare guest, a charlatan suffering from foot in mouth disorder “with a free and easy relationship with the truth”. And, as Mr Schmitt (the unfortunate feline) will testify, definitely not a cat person. The litany of charges covers everything under the sun from Julian’s philandering ways and financial irregularities to his miserly tendencies. Daniel, as the victim/saviour takes the halo and most of the credit.

As an origins story, it delivers the requisite thrills and chills, from the first appearance of stress fractures till the final break. And while their first homegrown leak may have been Julian’s fault (when he inadvertently exposed 106 donor names), the final one that comes from a former insider leaves a lot of scorched earth in its wake.

Publisher Jonathan Cape; 304 pages; Rs 950
Available at Liberty Books

MAGAZINE REVIEW: Introducing ‘Aye Karachi’ - Karachi’s first quarterly bilingual city guide and features magazine

2011-04-09T12:16:00.006+05:00

Published in Daily Times / Saturday, April 09, 2011

By Afrah Jamal

T2F may be a popular hunt but it was not easy to find; not without a GPS enabled phone, a knowledgeable Karachiwala or both to lead the way, which is ironic, since that day, it was to be the venue for the launch of a “city guide and features magazine”.

‘Aye Karachi,’ a brainchild of Rumana Husain, has been five years in the making. ‘Aye’ is not a nautical term (as in ‘Aye Aye Capn’) but an Urdu word formed by combining the letter Alif with a Yay (‘O’ in English); this means that the region’s first quarterly, bilingual city guide and features magazine has nothing to do with pirates and everything to do with Karachi.

Described as a quarterly portrait of the city, ‘Aye Karachi’ is more than a city guide – and serves to fill a void that few realised even existed. This need was first identified by Rumana when she noticed that while major cities of the world boasted of their own magazines, the commercial hub of Pakistan was forced to make do without any. She set out to correct this oversight with an ambitious project which is Karachi-centric, bilingual (Urdu and English) and most importantly – free!

Karachi – a sprawling metropolis with its frantic pace of development and multi-ethnic sensibilities continues to astound (and, in some cases confound). It pulsates with a vitality that is exhilarating, if a little overwhelming. Keeping up with the changing dynamics of this magnificent city means composing a symphony which can hit multiple chords while staying true to an overarching vision.

That vision has been brought to life by a powerhouse team that includes Founder/Editor Rumana Husain, who already heads ‘NuktaArt’ (a biannual, contemporary art magazine as its co-founder / Senior Editor), Amra Alam (SUNTRA magazine Chief Editor) and Shammi Jameel Hussain (Advertisement Coordinator) without whom – Rumana admitted, this would have remained just a concept. Amra Alam (Co-Editor), who has penned numerous award-winning children’s books and collaborated with her sister (Imrana Maqsood) to write 15 serials for different TV channels, is in charge of the Urdu part of the magazine.

The team insists that this decision to pay homage to the metropolis with a publication that strives to be accessible to everyone does not threaten to knock existing players off their perch. Au contraire ‘Aye Karachi’ is set to be distributed in places “where people are likely to congregate, like banks, prominent hospitals & clinics, salons, cafes, hotels, gyms clubs, airport and all public and private libraries, including educational institutions”.

In the inaugural issue, a substantial section has been devoted to listings – bookshops, health/beauty centres, Wi-Fi hot spots, travel agencies, eateries and a compilation of websites specific to Karachi. Rumana adds that the lists will be continually updated in future editions based on feedback received. The remaining sections cover heritage, personality, eating out, sports, technology, entertainment, street fashion, fiction, events etc.

In 2010, Rumana Husain’s coffee table book ‘Karachiwala – a subcontinent within a city’, endeavoured to capture Karachi’s diversity and now with ‘Aye Karachi’ comes the opportunity to expand the narrative even further.

BOOK REVIEW: Conversations with Myself

2011-03-26T21:09:00.001+05:00

Published in Daily Times / Saturday, March 26, 2011

Reviewed by Afrah Jamal

Mandela is known for playing two distinct roles in his lifetime. One was as Prisoner 466/64 on the infamous Robben Island (now a UN World Heritage Site); the other was becoming the first president of a democratic South Africa. He received worldwide accolades for making both performances memorable. Since 2009, July 18 has been declared the Nelson Mandela International Day for freedom, justice and democracy.

Mandela — described as an “obsessive record keeper”, can now add another chapter to his extensive legacy; one that will give the world an opportunity to use his own words as the key to decipher his original message. Conversations with Myself is a compilation of private papers, prison letters, speeches, taped conversations with a fellow prisoner (Ahmed Kathrada), excerpts of interviews given to TIME magazine editor Richard Stengel, and a draft of an unpublished sequel to his autobiography. They have been put together by Verne Harris — Project Leader (Nelson Mandela Centre of Memory and Dialogue). President Obama, an ardent admirer (one of many), has been chosen to write the foreword.

These documents provide useful insights into the life of a visionary who served a 27-year sentence, helped unite a land once torn by apartheid and demonstrated the healing power of reconciliation. Mandela ‘up close and personal’ cuts an impressive figure who hastens to push aside the halo many would like to confer on him. Since this is an unrehearsed presentation, it gives the world a unique opportunity to get reacquainted with one of the greatest icons of the present century, on his turf. His most remarkable characteristics (integrity, honour, magnanimity) take centre-stage while lesser known traits emerge from the shadows.

It is an extraordinarily moving portrait of a man shown to bear his heavy burden with ease: “....only the flesh and blood behind bars, I remain cosmopolitan in my outlook, in my thoughts I am as free as a falcon” even as he makes eloquent arguments asking for release. Yet Mandela the man is fallible, he pleads guilty to lesser charges — of harbouring secret prejudices, of uncertainty, admitting that he always sees the good in others. Within these pages he confesses to battling with DDD (debility, dependency and dread). He is humble, claiming to be unworthy of penning his life story: “What a sweet euphuism for self-praise the English language has evolved! Autobiography.” He is proud, refusing to allow outsiders inside his private world.

Mandela the father yearns for his family; the freedom fighter in him gets frustrated watching good people sacrifice lives “on the fiendish altar of colour hatred”; the Wiseman counsels his kin not to harvest bitterness.

His concern for his family looms large in the narrative as he writes heartfelt letters to his children filled with beautiful passages where his optimism struggles to cut through the hopelessness knowing that these words might never reach their destination. He continues to fight for his rights with the only tools available, finding humour in the most desolate of places. At one point he dreams of inviting the magistrate to dinner while wryly observing the fact that paying for the said dinner could well pose a problem.

Including Mandela’s prison correspondence provides an acute sense of his suffering. He dwells on his harrowing ordeal and details the “abuse of authority, systematic persecution”, which he concluded were officially sanctioned. Despite the grim circumstances, somehow the underlying message remains hopeful. The word ‘vengeance’ is missing from his vocabulary and he tries to sow the seeds of forgiveness in his family members. Throughout his ordeal he remains convinced that “the floods of personal disaster can never drown a determined revolutionary, nor can the cumulus of misery that accompany tragedy suffocate him.”

He offers similar words of encouragement to his wife, also imprisoned: “Those without a soul, no sense of national pride and no ideals to win can suffer neither humiliation nor defeat; can evolve no national heritage, are inspired by no sacred mission and can produce no national heroes or martyrs.”

One second he is the Sun Tzu of guerrilla warfare elaborating on the tactics used as a freedom fighter, or holding forth on the qualities of a good leader, and the next moment he can hardly contain his disappointment on missing a Tracy Chapman and Manhattan Brothers concert. Equally interesting are his thoughts post-imprisonment that spell out, among other things, ways of dealing with fellow humans: “One tends to attract integrity and honour if that is how one regards those with whom one works,” adding that “public figures need to accept the integrity of other people until there is evidence to the contrary”. One last surprise: this Mandela uses a Garfield the Cat personalised notepaper.

It is all in here — the humour, the heartbreak and the hope. These are the pillars of Mandela’s life’s work from prison to presidency. These are the makings of a great leader. The cost of doing things the ‘Mandela Way’ has been high but so have the dividends and he remains a source of inspiration for many.

Farrar, Straus and Giroux; Pp 480; Rs 2,500

BOOK REVIEW: Witness to Life and Freedom: Margaret Bourke-White in India and Pakistan

2011-03-12T11:56:00.003+05:00

Reviewed by Afrah Jamal
Author: Pramod Kapoor

Published in Daily Times / 12 March 2011

Margaret Bourke-White came to India to “bear witness to the fall of the British Empire”. Partition was still a year away and her lens, set aglow from its dying embers was trained towards the brewing conflagration that was to set the region ablaze. Margaret, who has been called the “finest woman photographer of her time”, was commissioned by LIFE magazine to cover the “exchange of population”.

Pramod Kapoor, founder/publisher Roli Books, came across a selection of historically significant photographs taken by Margaret in Pakistan and India and decided to weave them into a fresh narrative. Witness to Life and Freedom reopens an old chapter adding facets of the freedom struggle seen from a unique vantage point. These, together with previously unpublished images taken over two years (1946-1948), chronicling the death and destruction left in the wake of partition amplify distant shockwaves from a traumatic past that was shunted aside to make room for (what was to be) a better future.

Margaret’s biographer Vicki Goldberg notes that these images are her most sustained body of work “offering a kind of stately, classical view of misery, of humanity at its most wretched, yet somehow noble, somehow beautiful”. Rare glimpses into the past, fleeting though they are, bring with them an acute sense of loss.

Margaret Bourke-White (1904-1971) described in The Digital Digest as a “trailblazer in twentieth century photojournalism” has impressive credentials and a series of firsts before her name — she was among the first wave of photojournalists taken on board LIFE magazine and her work was featured on LIFE’s first cover. She is also credited to be the first female photographer to cover war (during WWII), and was on the scene of a freshly liberated concentration camp.

The book charts the course of Margaret’s extraordinary career using snippets from her own books and her biographer’s words to showcase the pioneering spirit that calmly walked besides migrating convoys even as death was reaping the souls of people somewhere around the bend. This section is not for the faint-hearted.

Also included are some iconic images of the men who led the movement and Ms Goldberg projects specific characteristics on M A Jinnah, Pakistan’s founding father, and Gandhi, the Indian idol. About one she will declare, “Margaret composes an icon for a secular saint, humble, meditative, graced by light and accompanied by his symbolic spinning wheel much as western saints are accompanied by their emblems.” This would be Gandhi. The other she dismisses as a leader “whose features were as sharp as the creases in his western business suit” and attempts to cast him in as unflattering a light as possible. She casually throws in some provocative lines (“we shall have India divided or we shall have India destroyed”) and concludes, “Jinnah fulfilled the first part of his vow and came close to fulfilling the second”.

Margaret’s own words mirror the bias and seem to imply that the killing fields of Calcutta as a result of Direct Action Day 1946 (when Muslim League’s peaceful protests turned deadly) were part of a premeditated plan when she notes how Jinnah’s press statement “was in the form of a monologue delivered in an icy voice — a forecast of the fiery events to come”. Add to that the sight of him lashing out in “his flat chilled monotone” and the sketch is ready. But it is a poor likeness.

Suddenly, a man of peace known for taking up a principled stance becomes a disturbing footnote in the most important production of the 20th century, while Gandhi gets star billing. Were these words taken out of context or invented? Asif Noorani, who reviewed this book for another newspaper (December 5, 2010 edition), calls out Ms Goldberg for misquoting Mr Jinnah. But, in the end, the camera’s unerring eye turns out to be the most reliable witness. The images convey the triumph and tragedy and while death is the reigning theme, the indomitable human spirit provides the central storyline.

Roli Books; Pp 142; Rs 995
Available in Liberty Books

BOOK REVIEW: Women and the Weight Loss Tamasha

2011-02-26T10:41:00.004+05:00

Published in Daily Times / Saturday, February 26, 2011
Title: A play-book for losers
Reviewed By: Afrah Jamal
Author: Rujuta Diwekar

Master: “You are free to eat.”

Po: “Am I?”

Master: “Are you?” — Dialogue from Kung Fu Panda (2008)

Po, the Kung Fu Panda, doubted his mentor/master much like readers will doubt a nutritionist guru when she hands over an exclusive pass to eat and, yet, maintain a strategic advantage in the fight against fat.

They need not.

A thriving industry feeds off of ignorance about weight-related issues. And when health and happiness become collateral damage in the mad dash for the finish line, it is time to alter the game plan.

‘Nutritionist to the stars’ Rujuta makes this lonely trek to the promised land a joyful experience where food is not the enemy, and learning the art of making better judgment calls is on the menu. Since she labels the struggle with weight loss a tamasha (spectacle) at the very outset, readers know this session will be unlike any other.

Most of her advice is subcontinent-specific and, as the title suggests, women-centric. The rest is good old-fashioned common sense combined with conventional wisdom offered on an unconventional platter. In it are strategies customised to fit desperate women of all shapes and sizes from their teens to adulthood and beyond, only this time without reckless disregard for the stealthy changes that occur throughout a person’s lifecycle or social pressures that dictate the course of their journey.

She will propose a plan where deprivation and starvation are unwelcome, that has room for minor violations and shows ways to avoid major ones. “It is perfectly normal to eat more on some days and less on others,” she announces, adding that, “a meal plan is a guideline not a law that cannot be broken”. In this (curious) scenario, weighing machines do not exist — “they are never accurate and are bad indicators of health, fitness and beauty” — working out for more than an hour is not recommended and carbs can sit on the same table without triggering alarm bells.

She is persuasive, entertaining, creative and compassionate; what is more, she understands the mysterious forces that govern the lives of modern day women and factors in the million little things that threaten to knock them out of orbit. Her book takes both physical and cultural limitations into account when it walks them through the complex maze of family, career and commitments, elevating this from a simple lesson in weight loss to a crash course in life.

It puts a stop to bad habits like maniacally counting calories, seeking dangerous short cuts to fitness-ville or attempting to score nutritional value out of fat free/low fat substitutes. Suddenly, health takes precedence and weight loss is simply an interesting side effect. A vital shift of perspective that removes the focus from losing weight and puts it on re-gaining mastery over one’s life makes all the difference.

The way the obstacle course has been set up, there are different sets of hurdles positioned at unexpected junctures. Her research is designed to convince those confounded by weight-related issues, enamoured by new fangled diet/fitness trends or haunted by health problems to take a moment for self-evaluation. She writes up citations for bad behaviour brought on by social conditioning, misinformation or poor judgment to prevent the next person becoming a cautionary tale.

Here the target is improving physical/mental/emotional health. This much-needed intervention takes real life examples, actual diet recalls/evaluations allowing readers to take the initiative and devise personal recalls “based on current lifestyle and challenges”. Once inside, they find four strategies of wellbeing dealing with food, workout, sleep and relationships that leave them enlightened, empowered and inspired.

There is happy news that “the body alters the moment eating and exercise habits change”, indisputable facts like “sleep cannot be compensated for on weekends”, sad truths that “walking does not qualify as an exercise unless it is progressive” and helpful tips such as “anything more than a 60 minute workout leads to a loss in muscle tissue, lower metabolic rate and less fat burning capability”.

She has an interesting theory about how the past can come back to haunt us, in a good way. She asserts that “those with a history of keeping fit find getting back to original fitness levels that much easier”, adding that “detraining occurs within three weeks so going without exercise for longer is not recommended”.

Even when one is sceptical about certain recommendations (adding ghee to the diet), one cannot argue with the logic that drives her arguments. Readers will find themselves not only relating to the people featured in these pages but also eager to embark on a new journey and embrace a better lifestyle. Rujuta’s book may have been endorsed by a celebrity figure but the roadmap will guide anyone who chooses to listen to their destination of choice. And leave them free to eat!

Westland; Pp 420; Rs 395

BOOK REVIEW: Kasab, The Face of 26/11

2011-02-12T11:48:00.005+05:00

Published in Daily Times / Saturday, February 12, 2011

Reviewed by Afrah Jamal

Author: Rommel Rodrigues

November 26, 2008 was India’s 9/11 — or so they say. It was the day 10 gunmen held one city hostage for over 60 hours. A day that sent accusations flying across the border, and the fear of something deadlier being traded saw the international community scrambling for cover. India was breaking news for days. Pakistan also made headlines around that time but not for the same reasons.

They caught the perpetrator. Ajmal Kasab is exhibit A in the case against the country of his birth. What little is known about Kasab (the name literally means butcher), beyond his nationality (Pakistani) and vocation (deadly pawn) comes from a hastily complied sketch leaked to the media in the early days of the attack. The rest came from following the trail of breadcrumbs, obligingly left behind, that led to Pakistan — a nation viewed as both the donor and recipient of terror.

When Rommel puts himself in the shoes of the lone survivor of the death squad for a walk down memory lane, it is not for the view but the forlorn hope of finding skeletons in his neighbour’s closet. Using a wide angled camera, he pans into neighbouring Pakistan, the village where Kasab was born, the streets he traversed, the contacts he made, the secret dreams of handling weapons he harboured and the moment when he graduated from petty thief to hardened jihadist.

This excursion into Kasab-land is to understand what goes into the making of a “deranged fidayeen jihadi”. It is clear that had he not been reeled in by the Lashkar-e-Tayyaba (LeT), Kasab’s criminal tendencies would have found another outlet — albeit a less dramatic one. The writer collates the evidence, piecing together the life of a murderer from the cradle to the (court assigned?) grave to give readers their first inkling of the violent elements that operate below their nation’s radar.

The incredibly detailed recreation of life in a terror boot camp run by the LeT and its ilk (some masquerading as relief centres) claims to give an unimpaired view of the breeding grounds of home grown terror. He has padded his research with stories of disenfranchised youth, driven by poverty into the arms of waiting jihadist organisations.

Rommel has a vivid imagination. His interpretation of events turns a monster’s life around to serve as a springboard to launch an inquiry into the phenomenon of cross-border terrorism. But he proceeds to take several swipes at Pakistan without subjecting India to the same scrutiny. Meticulously researched though the book may appear to be, it begs the question: what is the true source of the author’s intel? Which part is pure speculation and which is grounded in fact? In an interview given to Mid Day, the writer claims that second-hand information has been validated by experts and sources, yet the lack of footnotes/references is troubling. Which is why, at times, this reads like fiction based on a cocktail of facts and a liberal dose of speculation that stops short of breaking new ground.

The book follows the official script, challenging Pakistan’s defence of the ‘non-state actor’ and implicitly questioning its claims of independent terrorists misusing territory by first introducing retired army officers on the LeT’s premises and later placing serving ones at the scene. But his own description of events that point to contempt harboured by “the army of the privileged holy warriors” (as the radicals like to call themselves) for leaders and the military alike does not support such an alliance.

While the world tuned in to a long drawn out stand off and what appeared to be a lack of adequate response despite an advance warning by the CIA, the writer takes a more scenic route wilfully ignoring the law enforcement’s ineffectiveness and using RAW’s supposedly exceptional intelligence work to cover up their Blue Water Navy’s unexceptional role in countering terror.

Kasab, The Face of 26/11 claims to have surprising insight into its neighbour’s contribution to extremism but not when it comes to the state of its own homeland security. It sets out to establish the humane treatment meted out to the captured prisoner in a handy narrative, which serves to vindicate the Indian justice system. Human Rights Watch would love that part. And, when it talks of 576 incarcerated Indian fishermen, it suffers from a sudden onset of amnesia, forgetting their Pakistani counterparts languishing in Indian jails, some for decades.

The horror is magnified, as is the menace, and this insider look will stoke the paranoia. The book ends abruptly, a bit like the journey of the principal character. This nifty piece of detective work gives Kasab a plausible back-story but fails to account for the forces at play that allowed them to fearlessly wander the streets of India unchallenged without triggering red flags all over. In about 10 days the perpetrator will be sentenced by Indian courts. The book is just one more nail in Kasab’s pre-ordered coffin.

Penguin; Pp 276; Rs 595

Links to Posts about PAK Armed Forces (Mostly PAF)

2011-02-06T21:02:00.016+05:00

Book Review: Cutting Edge PAF

WOMEN in the PAF: AN ENSEMBLE CAST by Afrah Jamal - Appeared in HILAL (Pakistan Armed Forces Magazine) Feb 2010

PAF: Both Sides of the COIN Published In HILAL(Military Mag) Jan 2010

What makes a Fighter Ace? MM Alam

Book Review: Three Presidents and an Aide - Life, Power and Politics by Ambassador Arshad Sami Khan SJ Appeared in Daily Times 9 Jan 2010

EVENT: It Happened This Morning..
VIEW: You can’t handle the truth?

Book Review: Milestones in a Political Journey By M Asghar Khan PUBLISHED IN DAILY TIMES 23 JAN 2010

Sajad Haider Saved my Life - i think. UNPUBLISHED (so far)

Book Review: FLIGHT OF THE FALCON Story of a Fighter Pilot by S. Sajad Haider PUBLISHED In Daily Times 16 Jan 2010

VIEW: A BASE FOR AN EYE (PUBLISHED IN GEO NEWS BLOG)

VIEW: SPOOKS in the Dog House (Published in SHE Magazine June 2011)

VIEW: An Inconvenient Truth — According To A Little Bird

VIEW: Faisal Shahzad — the (un)true back story

No More Sitting Ducks - Taking a Chapter from the 1980s Playbook

BOOK REVIEW: Secret Daughter: A Novel

2011-01-29T09:53:00.010+05:00

Author: Shilpi Somaya Gowda
Reviewed By: Afrah Jamal
Published in Daily Times /Saturday, January 29, 2011

“East is East & West is West” and strange things happen when the twain set out to meet.

Secret Daughter mixes compelling drama with daring social commentary to create a powerful narrative that speaks a universal language. First time author Shilpi Gowda’s summer job volunteering at an Indian orphanage provided the inspiration for this fictional tale. This is a story of origins — alternating between themes of abandonment, alienation, female infanticide and cultural identity.

This ambitious venture juggles multiple storylines with dexterity in a well-choreographed performance with a plot that takes 21 years to develop. It goes back and forth between a poor Indian couple living a life of quiet desperation half way across the globe and a rich American-Indian pair living the American dream. The couples are polar opposites in every way but they have been bound together by a daughter. American Somer and Indian Kris are doctors whose meet-cute is typical that takes an unexpected turn when they adopt a child from an Indian orphanage. Birth parents of Asha are victims of circumstances who make questionable choices (they hail from a society one where one is burdened with a girl but blessed with a boy) and lead unremarkable lives. Yet the book keeps them in sight, to establish the sacrifices made by the birth mother, to watch the father chase mirages of a good life in the ‘big city’, using them as a conduit to stream all the negativity and misery surrounding the forsaken. These two represent the nameless, faceless majority standing on the sidelines whose dreams have been swallowed by the abyss.

Shilpi Gowda’s thought-provoking novel is not a black and white portrait that is content with assigning traditional roles or promoting stereotypes. The mother-in-law does not come with a broomstick, the brute will redeem himself, and the underdogs will get a chance to shine.

Shilpi has cast a wide net. A lot of cultural debris gets caught up. It serves to illustrate some critical social issues: the unadorned truth about life on the streets in a third world nation, how little girls are disposable and glittering cities harbour dark secrets. The book exposes the social chasm that exists within the Indian society, which the poor are unable to bridge. Other third world nations can relate to it. She even manages to give India’s infamous slums a major role in a way that the keeps the readers interest from flagging. Surprisingly, none of this encroaches upon the individual stories running in parallel.

Both the father and the adopted daughter are carriers of a dual identity and their story is propelled forward by a different set of parameters. Kris, who distanced himself from his roots suffers from bouts of nostalgia seeking refuge in memories of home. At one point Somer’s natural horror of an alien culture and her unnatural resistance keeps raising the invisible barriers and end up becoming a direct cause of familial angst. Asha’s curiosity about her birth parents and heritage provides an ideal opportunity to bring forth the contrasts between her life of privilege and the one she narrowly avoided.

The writer, born and raised in Canada, builds a bridge over the two worlds that allows both sides to cross over and celebrate (not fear) diversity. This is a beautifully crafted masterpiece by a gifted narrator who has embedded complex themes into a simple story in a way that makes it entertaining and educational at the same time. Despite its grim beginning, tidy little ending and raw imagery, it is a timeless tale that stands apart for its easy narrative style, insightful observations and unflinching portrayals.

Aside from a graphic scene of miscarriage, the book stays in PG-13 territory. While it deconstructs the mysticism surrounding the eastern culture, at its core lies a heartfelt story that strives to heal the breach between East and West. Secret Daughter is already a bestseller and has earned rave reviews in the international arena. It will be released in Pakistan in February 2011.

Published under the title: Family Matters
Reprinted in The News Today
Posted in SouthAsianMediaNet
Quoted in Shilpi Somaya Gowdas Website
Reposted on Shilpi Somaya Gowda's Facebook

William Morrow; Pp 352; $ 17.99

BOOK REVIEW: The Scorpion’s Tail — The Relentless Rise of Islamic Militants in Pakistan and How it Threatens the World

2011-01-16T00:56:00.004+05:00

Published in Daily Times /January 15, 2011
Reviewed By Afrah Jamal
Author: Zahid Hussain

The realisation that something had gone terribly wrong dawned on Zahid Hussain in the summer of 2007. To him, the siege of the Red Mosque in the heart of Islamabad demonstrated how much Pakistan had been knocked out of alignment since pledging allegiance to the US’s new war. The ensuing showdown, which he terms as the “deadliest battle with militants since President Musharraf joined the US led fight”, raised a giant red flag impossible to miss. Extremism had come knocking on the capital’s door. He ended up making the noxious fumes sweeping across the land (and its carriers) the subject of his next book.

The Scorpion’s Tail — The Relentless Rise of Islamic Militants in Pakistan and How it Threatens the World confines itself to the insurgency part of the equation. It sifts through mounds of data in an attempt to pinpoint the core weaknesses of counter-terrorism policies devised to root out terror that have only ended up sowing fresh seeds of discontent. As it retraces the footsteps of a nation in denial to one in turmoil, readers are made to analyse the past nine years frame by frame and identify the numerous errors of judgement that have weakened the state’s writ, leaving the region exposed to a toxic ideology.

Award winning journalist and correspondent for the Wall Street Journal, The Times of London and Newsweek, Zahid Hussain uses his extensive knowledge of the region to run through a checklist of things Pakistan needs to do if it wants to come out with its sovereignty intact. Since some of these tactics (peace deals, etc), used to counter the extremist threat, have failed on a spectacular scale, he readily picks them out of a line up.

The idea of a countryside dotted with training camp facilities might appear incredible from afar till one factors in the terror summits being held out in the open by 2004, the fall of Swat and the steady rise in terrorism. It started when scattered remnants of past mistakes came together to form a cohesive network that threatens to turn ordinary people into monsters overnight. He shows how Pakistan was allowed to become a haven for a motley crew of vagabonds whose old job descriptions might have bewildered some since they included a former chair-lift operator from Swat, a housepainter from the US, a graduate student from Quaid-i-Azam University, and the Faisal Shahzads (failed NYC bomber) of the world.

The writer inserts a history lesson to explain how an alien ideology that runs counter to the foundations of this state has managed to secure a foothold. He divides the blame evenly between the US leadership and Pakistani top brass for missing the signs that the militants were evolving into a “tightly woven constellation”. “The key flaw,” he argues, is that the strategy in the fight against insurgency has failed to account for the groups’ ability to regenerate. Insurgencies after all are built to withstand conventional military might.

He recaps the events of the past couple of years, focusing on the advent of terror in this region, the reach of extremist forces and the limitations of the security services, marking off shocking instances where regional bureaucrats played host to the most wanted. Also included are the underlying causes that spur a local insurgency and what happens when the imported remedies fail to cure local problems. He returns to the Red Mosque as the moment that led to the “loosely affiliated Pakistani Taliban groups into forming an official alliance” and President Musharraf’s catch-22 where neither appeasement nor action appeared to work.

Most people are familiar with the Taliban’s loathsome practices but they might be surprised to learn how militants managed to sway some women, convincing them to take girls out of schools. As common people complained of being pursued by predators in the sky, Zahid uncovers the story of the predators on the ground, recounting horrific stories of child suicide bombers snatched from madrassas. Those who continue to cast extremists as patsies or unwitting pawns can take another look at the Taliban or al Qaeda mission statement, watch a sample from their reign of terror and the fearful toll it has exacted.

Dousing flames of intolerance with firepower alone may not always be wise and the author concludes that “political settlement is the only endgame”. Since its publication, another chapter has been added where an outbreak of religious intolerance threatens to devour the minorities and moderates alike. Zahid Hussain presents an updated map, highlighting political quagmires and religious minefields, that illustrates how waging a successful ‘hearts and minds’ campaign calls for fighting on multiple fronts.

Published under the title: Resident Evil

Free Press; Pp 244; Rs 1,195

VIEW: The man who made a desert bloom — Afrah Jamal

2011-01-01T15:39:00.009+05:00

Published in Daily Times
Saturday, January 01, 2011

“O Lord! We have crash-landed!” was Hafeez Khan’s first reaction when his aircraft touched down in what appeared to him the middle of nowhere. The plane was one that could land on unprepared surfaces, which is just as well since there was nothing remotely resembling a proper airstrip at that time in Abu Dhabi. Awaiting him was a king with a dream, a desert starved for greenery, and a dusty blueprint of a future that appeared far-fetched. Today, three things strike first time visitors to the beautiful city of Al Ain — tree lined avenues, roundabouts and the absence of tall buildings. Al Ain, which is the other city in the state of Abu Dhabi, in the past bore an unfortunate resemblance to a gigantic sandbox.

It was not that long ago and Abu Dhabi state had just struck it rich with black gold. But no one could mistake any part of the Trucial state of the 1960s for the ‘garden city of the Gulf’. Khan may have felt that he had stepped back in time but his real task was to help usher in the future. What the king probably needed was a magician. He got the next best thing. Pakistani horticulturist Hafeez Khan soon learnt that he was an integral part of the future mapped out by Sheikh Zayed. This was despite the mournful tidings received from the community of international agriculture experts who did not think anyone could ever make this desert bloom; the land itself, which had remained a blank and inhospitable canvas since time immemorial, seemed to echo their scepticism.

He must have cut an impressive figure at the time with his university degree and a surname Khan, which the natives automatically assumed made him a direct relation of Ayub Khan — the then president of Pakistan. Al Ain alternatively made a startling impression on the young Khan. “There was nothing there. Nothing!” He repeats to quell the “but surely” rising in anyone’s mind. Times were different; life was difficult but, he adds, Pakistanis were respected.

Abdul Hafeez Yawar Khan, originally from Pakistan, was studying in Beirut at the time. H H Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan (1919-2004) was the first ruler of the state of Abu Dhabi and later President of UAE. Reportedly, “members of the Al Nahyan family” have ruled since the beginning of the 18th century, “longer than any other ruling dynasty in Arabia.” Khan, who came out to help change a city’s fortunes, had originally packed for a year. Half a century later, he is still there.

Al Ain — the birthplace of the Sheikh — was destined to become a model city. When asked how long it took him to achieve this miracle, he replied with a faint twinkle in his eyes: “I’m still at it.” Khan is a gracious host and a veritable treasure trove of the city’s modern history. He fondly remembers the king who had a grand vision of turning Al Ain into an Eden and no qualms working besides his subjects to help propel his dreams faster. Khan who can easily pass off for an Arab now, knew no Arabic then and he and the king communicated through an interpreter. Till one day the king paid the interpreter to flee, forcing Khan to learn the language — fast.

He is eager to show off his adopted city and explains its many idiosyncrasies. Al Ain, unlike its sister city of Abu Dhabi, is vertically challenged because its ruler decided that there was enough space to grow horizontally instead of upwards. Khan muses over his late friend’s love for greenery that bordered on obsession; such was the king’s enthusiasm that in many cases the trees came first, the roads after. And then there is the saga of the poor sinking donkeys that led to a very important discovery. While selecting their flora, they had not catered for the fauna — grazing wild beasts. When the offending wild beasts were banished to the outskirts of the town, word got round that they had started to sink. The king acted on Khan’s information and subsequent digging at the site of Jabel Hafeet Mountain revealed a fresh water spring.

Finding Mr Hafeez Khan, who is now a UAE national, is not difficult. He continues to stay in the same compound, in another house built right next to the original one. He has seen many firsts, starting with his home which was the first concrete house ever built in the city, and a lovingly tended eucalyptus tree — the first ever planted by his old friend — the king — in 1962.

Visitors get to see both the tree and the historic driveway frequented by his king and rulers of other states.

“They went straight from camels to Cadillacs,” he observes. It is hard to reconcile present day UAE with the medieval living conditions that existed just four decades ago. In their haste to enter the 20th century, Al Ain — the second largest city of Abu Dhabi — got its first luxury hotel Hilton in 1971 but camels remained the primary mode of travel.

Khan helped complete the king’s original quest and conquer the desert. He is fiercely loyal to the man who put his country on a fast track and immensely proud of what they managed to accomplish together given the challenging environment and desolate terrain. They left lasting footprints in the sand. Now his (Khan’s) daughter cheerfully carries on her father’s mission.

BOOK REVIEW: Beautiful From this Angle

2010-12-25T12:25:00.009+05:00

Reviewed by Afrah Jamal
Author: Maha Khan Phillips
Published in Daily Times / Saturday, December 25, 2010 / Title:
Couture served with a side of scandal

Attend a decadent party in the city, document a rural tragedy and dupe a bunch of “angrez” — it is all in a day’s work for the characters created by Maha Khan Phillips. Her debut novel features Pakistan dressed up in couture and served with a side of scandal. This is fiction based on (rarely acknowledged) facts that alternates between rural and urban settings — merrily creating waves in one and unabashedly finding dirt in the other. Using such a varied palette enables her to draw on a wide range of complex themes that are useful in expanding the stage, which looks like a catwalk in the beginning.

The writer takes present day Pakistan — a hub of violence and an increasingly misunderstood region — and draws a composite that will jolt, repel, confound and overwhelm. She has embedded an unvarnished account of Karachi’s nightlife complete with the underground party scene and all that it entails, within a narrative that lures the curiosity seekers but stirs things around to force more urgent issues to the fore. She will also tiptoe past the political underbelly and, at the same time, hit all the notes in vogue — from the mullah and military to fundamentalism and feudalism. Somewhere in this mix are the privileged, happily settled on an oasis of calm, and the poor, living off their scraps.

Her principal character, Amynah, pens a (delightfully indiscreet) gossip column, ‘Party Queen on the Scene’, that “dishes the dirt on the bold, the beautiful and the downright ugly” while trying to come up with a (truly dreadful) “oppressed woman’s novel”. One of Amynah’s cronies has been reeled in by some Englishman and asked to set up a “mock Islamic terrorist training camp on the Waziristan border for Z-list English celebrities” for ‘Who Wants to be a Terrorist’ — a campy reality show for London’s Channel 4.

Monty Mohsin, the smarmy celebrity producer would be aware of the perils of sending wannabe terrorists to the heart of terror land in real life. The fictional world is supposedly operating under the same constraints. But, in the book, duplicity is the name of the (media) game, mastered to perfection on both sides of the fence where the Montys of this world always have a solution. Meanwhile, the oppressed woman is wending her way through the narrative guided by the “Party Queen’s” best friends. The situations depicted here are inspired by real life but taken to ridiculous extremes. Still, the writer makes this ludicrous sounding premise look and sound utterly convincing.

Since Maha provides access to an exclusive club after taking away the filters generally used whenever Pakistan is mentioned, the book is a bold and irreverent trek through (traditionally) forbidden territory that, at times, can be uncomfortable to watch. The book does not bother with niceties and maintains a ceaseless stream of mordant wit to take down whatever or whoever gets in the way. A lot of innocent (and some not so innocent) bystanders get in the line of fire; socialites who hide Marie biscuits in Marks and Spencer tins to serve to “folks who don’t know the difference”, journalists dressed for combat who lap up horror stories about this region and have an exaggerated sense of danger and, finally, the West’s rallying cry for “find that Osama” and the locals who join in the chorus hoping to make a buck.

For all the clever plotting, it is stifling to be in the company of these characters and difficult to root for their success. Set against a backdrop of violence, Beautiful From This Angle is a blunt instrument that silently mocks the culture of benign neglect. Its breezy prose evokes gallows humour, its glossy finish tries to cover up the bitter aftertaste. It does not play safe, nor does it care to conform.

This is a small book that moves at a frantic pace and mines the countryside for every bit of local colour that can challenge stereotypes and yet still convey that keen sense of danger that has become a part of everyday life. Sensitive readers would be appalled by the language — profanity, like drugs and alcohol, flows freely, and some of these characters will happily check little things like morals and integrity at the door. This will give those Karachiites who go through life wearing blinders or blindfolds (or both) a severe culture shock. The jaded, however, might appreciate the candour.

For Maha Khan Phillips, completing the novel was a course requirement from City University London. Since then she has penned a children’s novel The Mystery of the Aagnee Ruby. Beautiful From This Angle may not speak to everyone but it knows how to make an entrance.

Penguin; Pp 240; Rs 495

2 Pix from Liberty Books/Sarah Haris's Fb Page

VIEW: Houbara Bustards: dead birds walking? — Afrah Jamal

2010-12-11T17:22:00.008+05:00

Published in Daily Times / Saturday, December 11, 2010
Published in SHE Magazine Jan 2011

Experts disagree over the exact date when the houbara bustard might join the ranks of the spectacled cormorant, caspian tiger and woolly rhinoceros — but most agree that it is probably headed that way. The houbara has been projected as an aphrodisiac — endangered, protected, doomed — in need of conservation and on the fast track towards extinction. Because, come winter, when Pakistan gets ready to host one class of migratory birds, it also prepares to welcome several dignitaries from neighbouring Arab countries. The houbara comes for the climate; the Arabs come for the houbara. Armed with permits and falcons, visiting Arabs proceed to hunt in designated areas and, if tabloids are to be believed, their sole interest in the sport lies in what the poor bird’s meat contains and not the hunt itself. The tabloids would be surprised to learn that while the royal hunters’ main motivation is the thrill of the sport, the houbara’s preservation is also their major concern. As for the aphrodisiac part, it is not true.

The houbara is under attack on multiple fronts. The birds are endangered not just because of falconry but also due to domestic abuse (illegal netting, trapping and poaching) as well as natural causes. In the netting, trapping and shooting of game birds, the odds are heavily stacked against the prey while the opposite is true in falconry. Only a very agile and well-trained falcon can take down a houbara, which has a better than even chance to escape unscathed. It is this challenge that has made falconry a noble sport, fit for royalty. The houbara may be many things — it is moody, scares easily and is picky about mates (takes three to five years to settle down again). And yes, it is coveted as a game bird, but the hunters vehemently deny that the bird is sought after for its alleged aphrodisiac properties, insisting that for them falconry is more than a sport — it is tradition.

Recently, a very small passage in a local daily was devoted to the environment and wildlife conservation efforts in Pakistan on the UAE’s 39th anniversary on December 2, 2010 that quoted HH Sheikh Zayed (President of the UAE) as saying, “Whatever we take from nature, we return to nature.” The negative aspects of the hunt get annual coverage but the UAE would, for once, like to highlight the positives, beginning with their role in conservation.

According to a report, the UAE is the first country to have initiated measures to protect the endangered houbara bustard; hunting may be their passion but conservation is their foremost concern. If the houbara bustard becomes extinct, their centuries old lifestyle dies with it and they see themselves as one of the principal stakeholders in ensuring survival of the species.

That the houbara has been hunted to extinction in their homeland — the deserts of Arabia — make them empathise with their hosts. The UAE government is funding studies to successfully breed houbaras in captivity and overseeing efforts to have them released in the wild. They have established an ultramodern houbara breeding facility in their own country where houbara chicks are raised and later released into the wild, validating their leader’s claim. Besides, in a conscious effort to conserve the houbara population and prevent over-hunting, the royal dignitaries ensure that the number of hunting teams accompanying the entourage is limited and each hunting party is given a small quota of birds that they cannot exceed during the entire season.

The UAE dignitaries who visit Pakistan for falconry spend a colossal amount of money during their stay. What may appear as frivolous expenditure actually helps stimulate the local economy of one of the poorer regions of Pakistan. They have made sizeable investments in social welfare projects like housing schemes, hospitals and communication networks besides providing other facilities in places like Rahimyar Khan, Larkana and Cholistan, which are their annual haunts.

Some conservationists stock up on ammunition using bleak statistics, hoping to jolt the government of Pakistan into action and persuade hunters to give up their vocation. The same reports paint the Arabs as reckless, indifferent, inconsiderate and above the law. If such tirades continue, the UAE royals will take their hunt elsewhere. UAE, which has been described as “the single largest investor in Pakistan”, has deep ties to the land and its people and their annual trek is out of love for the host country as much as their fondness for the sport. For years, they have roughed it out in the desert, shared their kills with the locals and, of course, brought in much needed revenue — a lot of it. For them, the allure lies in being able to relive the Bedouin lifestyle and stay in touch with their roots.

While the UAE has taken concrete steps to preserve and promote the houbara bustard population, Pakistan must continue to ensure that laws that ban illegal hunting and trapping are strictly implemented. Or else, the houbaras are dead birds walking.

Images taken from
http://image02.webshots.com/2/0/91/20/167909120BLnYkK_fs.jpg
http://desertislands.files.wordpress.com/2009/12/155048houbara.jpg

BOOK REVIEW: How Starbucks Saved My Life: A Son of Privilege Learns to Live Like Everyone Else

2010-11-27T16:54:00.004+05:00

Reviewed by Afrah Jamal / Author: Michael Gates Gill
Published in Daily Times / Saturday, November 27, 2010

Starbucks had more than coffee on the menu the day Michael walked in. A company that claims its mission is to “inspire and nurture the human spirit — one person, one cup and one neighbourhood at a time”, was about to offer him a choice of lifelines along with their standard latte. And the man who once hobnobbed with poets, writers and political bigwigs and jet-setted around the globe, happily ensconced in his armour of wealth and entitlement, was going to accept both.

It is not every day that a former creative director of J Walter Thompson (JWT) who has a Yale education and leads a charmed life steps down to take the place of a Starbucks barista only to find that it was actually a step up in life. As ludicrous as this sounds, How Starbucks Saved My Life insists on turning the classic rags to riches story on its head.

Michael is someone born with a silver spoon in his mouth (he is the son of New Yorker writer Brendan Gill), who discovers the secret to happiness only after he crosses over to the other side of the divide doing work that, according to him, would have appalled his entitled and arrogant self. Knocked off his comfortable perch at 53, he fell a long way down, losing balance upon re-entry.

This is the story of how a fallen star who lived for work and let his true priorities go astray found his bearings in a famous coffeehouse that offers its guests (there are no customers) a rich experience, and its partners (as every employee is called) a nurturing environment.

Starbucks, an international coffeehouse chain that welcomes all new partners with coffee sampling and coffee stories is the unexpected star that upstages the mighty JWT. JWT, which is the “largest advertising agency in the US and fourth biggest in the world” is the one in need of an image makeover before this saga ends.

Working as a barista might not be everyone’s cup of tea (or coffee), but it proved to be an ideal “pick me up” for one Michael Gates Gill. Michael, or Mike as he is now known, recounts his adventures, first as the king of advertising and later as a pawn in the service industry. He reminisces about the past when his cloak of invincibility was still intact and he seemed to have a firm grip on things, yet, upon closer examination, he notices that his supposedly picture perfect life was riven by fault lines. Pondering over his background that “put him on an upward escalator reserved for those few affluent, properly educated, well spoken, well dressed peers who would never stop ascending”, he acknowledges that he would never have left voluntarily. He uses the book to condemn not just the soulless corporate machine that evicted him after 25 years of loyal service but also his lifestyle choices responsible for driving a wedge between him and his priorities. After being escorted out of JWT, he recalls how missteps were greeted by a cheering squad, fear was the driving force and clients loved to see them trip up.

At Starbucks, on the other hand, he finds that “both partners and guests agreed that everyone deserved to be treated with respect and dignity”, which is a far cry from the Fortune 500 companies he had encountered that “spent lots of money and time writing and publishing high sounding mission statements and never practised the corporate gobbledygook that they preached.”

Mike observes that his superiors at Starbucks have no problem serving subordinates, “turning the traditional corporate hierarchy upside down”. He discovers benefits at every turn, working with people who never order but request and is pleasantly surprised when guests appear to show genuine concern about partners.

The writer happens to be the original Mad Man (reference to the AMC show Mad Men about an advertising agency on Madison Avenue set in the 1960s) and bears an uncanny resemblance to its lead character, Don Draper. He does not pretend to be an innocent bystander at JWT and, afterwards, mentions that as he moved past an old colleague, he was also “moving beyond other remnants of his past more arrogant self”. He admits to his own failings (as a family man) and pleads guilty to harbouring secret prejudices; this is not just an angry rant against a corporation that left him out in the cold.

Every now and then Mike takes a break from ripping apart JWT and entertains with vignettes from their vault. Through the book he can take down his old company without worrying about lawsuits and endorse Starbucks without being dismissed as a PR man. In 2011, Tom Hanks will don the green apron to play Mr Gill in the movie adaptation of How Starbucks Saved My Life.

Gotham; Pp 272

BOOK REVIEW: Spycraft: The Secret History of the CIA's SpyTechs, from Communism to Al-Qaeda

2010-11-06T16:12:00.007+05:00

Wallace, Robert (Author) and Melton, H. Keith (Author)
with Schlesinger, Henry R. (Author)
Foreword by George J. Tenet Former Director CIA

Reviewed by: Afrah Jamal
Published in Daily Times / 06 Nov 2010, under the title: I Spy With My Little Eye

Some in the intelligence business have been dismayed to find that they have been using gadgets relegated to spy museums long ago. As agencies operating under the espionage banner usher in a new era of covert warfare, asking the public to admire their enterprising nature may not be wise. Getting the agencies to set aside their secrecy clause long enough to admit to their past may not be possible.

The ‘top gun of OTS’ CIA’s Office of Technical Service have been engaged in a battle of wits for half a century and their stories are worthy of attention. An insider’s look at the world of espionage especially OTS or ‘America’s Q’ and its fearsome capabilities besides being a cause for concern for rival agencies is a chance to observe ‘history in the making’ through the eyes of bit players deployed on the technological frontlines.

Ripple effects of an American intelligence failure can be felt all over the globe - ditto for intelligence manipulation. OSS (Office of Strategic Studies) even when it was lightly dismissed as the ‘bastion of aristocrats and bankers’ during WWII had its fingers in several covert pies across Europe, the Middle East and Asia; its successor has been cast in a more sinister light.

Stanley Lovell(credited with playing the role of the dreaded Professor Moriarty of the OSS) who also wrote about technical aspect of intelligence in another book ‘Spies & Stratagems’ and initially considered the idea of subversion to be un-American, would go on to oversee the creation of a clandestine arsenal for use by ‘soldiers of underground resistance movements, spies and saboteurs’.

Now Robert Wallace, a former director of OTS gives away what were once valuable trade secrets and are still deemed classified by CIA given that all but three chapters of his (originally approved) manuscript ended up on the cutting room floor so to speak. While the fast evolving capabilities may have rendered technology that was considered revolutionary for its time obsolete, spooks, being spooks are reluctant to part with expired blueprints.

Wallace, a career intelligence officer finally managed to get the document past censors (making voluntary changes) all the while insisting that this is a non inflammatory history lesson. He claims to have lifted the cloak of secrecy surrounding the CIA and its operations without demonizing the agency or the President or leaking classified information for that matter. CIA can agree to disagree here.

Devices with built in spy capability are ubiquitous now so T-100 mini camera / pen series or BUSTER the infant texting device are no longer the star attraction; but the ingenuity (and cunning) that went into perfecting tradecraft, and the bold initiatives launched under technological constraints are. This is a detailed guide to Uncle Sam’s intelligence strike force launched against communism with a few tantalizing glimpses into their efforts in the ongoing anti terror campaign against the Al-Qaeda.

The remarkable story of OTS - ‘the organization that did not just make magic, it made magic on demand’ has its share of ‘Mission Impossible’ moments with more than a few ‘Get Smart’ situations thrown in. Deciding to recruit feral cats by bugging them to spy on an Asian head of state in the mid 1960’s appears to have the stamp of Maxwell Smart (from the classic spy comedy) yet the ‘Acoustic Kitty Project’ was an all too real albeit failed experiment. But the value of intelligence provided from behind the Iron Curtain by a senior Soviet military intelligence officer, Lt. Col. Oleg Penkovsky, (featured in a book ‘the Spy who Saved the World’) that supposedly ‘led to American denying Soviets a foothold in Western hemisphere’ cannot be questioned. Nor can the Soviet’s ability to repay the favour.

It gives readers a fair idea of the Soviet paranoia, the risks CIA agents ran operating right under the ever vigilant KGB’s inquisitive nose and the challenges techs (technicians) encountered bringing in a silent technological revolution as they struggled to match (and eventually overtake) the brilliance of their counterparts. Whether it is applying the dramatic Skyhook technology recently featured in Dark Knight – the movie, equipping a helicopter with night vision capability and quiet mode or using a jack in the box head to ditch surveillance and applying covcom(covert communication) to establish links with U.S. POW prisoner of wars in North Vietnam.

The book delves into the Q’s inner sanctum sharing operational details and imagery leading readers to fully appreciate the arcane world of ‘shadow warriors’, the transformative effect of emerging technology and the role (good) intelligence plays in gaining that decisive edge over adversaries. ‘Spycraft’ takes place in a universe where the nerdy Q saves the day with a dash of bravado, a pinch of guile and a smidgen of savvy.

BOOK REVIEW: The Cricketer, The Celebrity, the Politician Imran Khan, The Biography / Author: Christopher Sandford

2010-10-23T15:44:00.007+05:00

Reviewed by: Afrah Jamal
Published in Daily Times / Saturday, October 23, 2010

Someone recalls seeing the ‘legend’ from a distance once at a duck shoot. An Imran Khan sighting generally sent mortal men, women, children and tabloids into frenzy.

Not here.

As this chap sheepishly admitted, “a fighter pilot’s ego will rival that of a highly sought after cricketing legend”.

And so Imran remained seated in the car seemingly oblivious to the trio while they stayed rooted to the spot pretending to gawk at the ducks. No duck has stolen Khan’s thunder before or since. Imran Khan’s popularity can be gauged by a passage that claims that dignitaries from other Commonwealth countries reportedly asked to see two things, one of which was our great Khan and the other was the Khyber Pass.

Over time, Imran Khan would go through several transformations, moving effortlessly between international phenomena, ‘dream catcher’, ‘good Samaritan’ and ‘King of hearts’. He would come to be recognised as one of the greatest all-rounders in the history of test cricket, “who led the national team to become the best and most bellicose side in the world notwithstanding its internecine rows”.

The task of finding the real Khan has fallen to Christopher Sandford — biographer to the stars. He brings Pakistan’s chequered cricketing history to life in his ‘book of revelations’ by following a man who commanded the respect and adulation reserved for superstars; a man who has lived under the harsh glare of publicity without getting singed for nearly four decades. And a man accurately defined as the figured head of a sporting renaissance, which had direct and dramatic results on national self-confidence.

Sandford’s previous subjects have ranged from music stars like Sting, Mick Jagger and Kurt Cobain to acclaimed directors like Roman Polanski. His decision to add “the unquestioned tsar of Pakistan cricket” comes at a time when Imran is re-sharpening his tools for political office.

Other self-portraits are available in the market such as The Autobiography and its sequel, All Round View, but biographers are not touch up artists. Although a word in the original title of this book that nicely summed up Khan’s off screen antics as a ‘player’ has been toned down to a more sedate ‘celebrity’, the content has not. Judging by the comments on the internet, the book has already created quite a stir by apparently hinting at a possible (brief) liaison between Pakistan’s — now deceased — female ex-premier and the cricketing giant while both were at Oxford. The writer, however, opines that the two were nothing more than “good friends”.

Imran of yore, seen here, complacently sipping milk in a British pub while getting ready to ascend the rickety ladder to success, cuts a dashing figure. He was not only perceived as the sole architect of wins but also the chief cause of riots as the flamboyant front man of the Pakistani cricket team known for his colourful lifestyle who eclipsed his team-mates.

His friends and foes come forward to pay glowing tribute to “the world’s most creative and hardest working bowler who never stopped thinking about his game”. In Sandford’s words, he provided a firm hand on the tiller along with runs and wickets and put the steel in his team. On duty he is described as a “joyless, single-minded leader who expected one to live up to his own high standards”. Then there is the “benevolent dictator” who “came to enjoy loyalty if not always the unbridled affection of his men in a way hitherto unknown in his country’s 30 years of test cricket”.

When faced with match fixing charges, he wagered all the money from other conquests to ensure a win and would own up to at least one ball tampering charge, stubbornly arguing that “seam doctoring was an ancient technique” and that all great bowlers were guilty of sharp practices.

Revisiting Imran’s old stomping grounds with Sandford is a rare treat. He has a keen eye and a ready wit jumping in to correct misapprehensions or challenge Khan’s memory. He charts the meteoric career trajectory of the man by referencing all aspects of his life — from the good and the bad to the terribly awkward.

The book spends a fair amount of time on the field, which the cricket enthusiast will find invigorating. The rest will be distracted by the bits exposing the Pakistani domestic cricket scene as a world where cricket was far from being a ‘gentleman’s game’ given the “on field exchange of pleasantries with numerous references to the players parentage and to their female relatives”.

The writer erroneously believes that Pakistan’s 1992 World Cup win might have catapulted Imran straight to the presidential office. Let us just say that the local political scene suffers from an inherent design flaw where the term ‘fair and free’ seldom goes with elections. Imran — the cricketing giant — emerged as a unifying symbol for his country once; his debut as a politician has many categorising him as a polarising figure. A lot has changed since the time he was dubbed a lady-killer to the moment he stood accused of sympathising with lady-killers. This Imran is busy dispelling the impression that he is a Taliban apologist. Neither Imran is controversy-free. Both are featured in the book.

HarperCollins UK; Pp 384; Rs 795

BOOK REVIEW: Who Assassinated Benazir Bhutto / Author: Shakeel Anjum

2010-10-09T18:43:00.001+05:00

Reviewed by - Afrah Jamal

It is not every day one finds the author of a book about murder himself implicated in a triple homicide. In our part of the world, however, it could simply mean that the ‘suspect’ was too snoopy for his/her own good or simply stepped on some VIP’s toes. Fortunately, it was the latter case here (he fell out with the Islamabad police) and an exonerated Shakeel Anjum shakes off the stigma of a murderer and dons the garb of a detective. He is, after all, a crime reporter who has been associated with a local English daily for a long time and has clocked 32 years in the arena. This provides him with the requisite credentials to dive into the deep end but it may not necessarily give him groundbreaking investigative journalistic powers to ferret out the truth about Benazir’s assassination. Yet, this is exactly what the author claims to have done.

The purpose of the book is ostensibly to unveil the ‘real’ culprits of a high profile political assassination caught on camera, by taking it apart — one frame at a time. It will revisit the scene of the crime from every conceivable (and some inconceivable) angle to determine what he calls the “causation of death”. At the time of the incident, the international media was rife with speculations; some wondered about a possible low-level military involvement, others looked towards the northwest, trying to pin down militant outfits. The local media mirrored the mood, adding a few spicy details of their own; but a good portion of their time slot was devoted to hypothesising about how the victim died (lever or gunshot). Though the militants topped the list of suspects while shadowy hands were a close second, the case was never satisfactorily resolved despite the intervention of foreign experts and swearing in of the deceased’s own party.

The primary controversy at the time centred on the ‘cause of death’. The writer leads with this line of inquiry, probably because of the contradictory statements issued by the authorities in charge. Scotland Yard ruled death by lever (head injury as a result of the explosion) and a local expert from the Joint Investigative Team, Major (retd) Shafqat discredited the theory while his team sided with the Yard. This gentleman (referred to here as an FIA forensic expert who has no parallel in the subcontinent) happily accuses Scotland Yard of ‘result fixing’, to match the government-sanctioned verdict.

Since the shooting preceded the bomb blast, covering up the possible existence of a bullet wound served no purpose and it did not impact the search for ‘who’. The presence of a concealed sniper could have justified the frenzy, but the shooter stood in plain sight. The book, however, frets about this ‘how’ and uses the controversy as a springboard to launch bizarre theories. The writer’s take on the lever/gun situation will confound many but his argument that creating such doubts was a ploy on the government’s part to hijack the PPP’s sympathy vote will floor all.

While he tries to arrange all facts meticulously, bravely declaring that “it is not hard to make a hypothetical conclusion that clearly indicates who was behind this bloody assassination”, he falters in his quest. All he really does is add to the list of suspects instead of whittling it down while accusing all three governments of being complicit in the cover-up; these include the PML-Q, the interim set-up, and the PPP.

Because the crime scene was compromised, suspects annihilated, an autopsy prevented and obvious security lapses witnessed on each side, many like him will hesitate before putting some obscure militant organisation on the stand. The writer is right to be concerned with the odd behaviour of the investigative bodies, but he has not mastered the art of objective reporting. Consequently, even if there is any idea worth pursuing here, it requires a salvage crew with the patience of a saint to retrieve it from under the pile of scrap.

It is probably the first time a sentence like “pulling cosmetic rabbits out of a grinning bag” will be seen anywhere and hopefully it will be the last time a CIA director is quoted saying words like “slain dead” with a straight face. It should also be the only time a book like this is allowed to assassinate the English language, what with its appalling grammar, absurd headings (‘Yarders findings disbelieve’), misspelling, poorly worded/incomplete sentences and repetitive paragraphs. But, in some later edition, even when all these horrific mistakes are corrected, a book that vacations in conspiracy theory land, backtracking to retrieve old ideas, retelecasting them ad infinitum, ad nauseam, brings on spatial disorientation.

The only relief comes in portions not concerned with crime solving that reproduce an interview with the deceased given at the Academy of Achievement (Washington DC), documents the global reaction to the murder and draws parallels with the Hariri assassination (the Lebanese prime minister).

In the end, the real culprits need not worry. There is a vacant lot next to two other high profile assassination cases: Prime Minister Liaquat Ali Khan (1951) and President Ziaul Haq (1988). And they are still pending.

Published in Daily Times (Saturday, October 09, 2010)under the title: A collection of whodunits

Dost Publication; Pp 290; Rs 495

BOOK REVIEW: Mehdi Hasan: The Man & His Music/ Compiled & Edited by Asif Noorani

2010-10-02T15:06:00.007+05:00

Published in Daily Times / Saturday, October 02, 2010 / under the title: National Treasure

Reviewed by Afrah Jamal

(Thanks to Asif Noorani Sahib for the words of encouragement & Liberty Books for the signed copy)

A quick perusal of Mehdi Hasan’s life will reveal that he was anointed the ‘Emperor of Ghazals’ and ensured that the earliest foundations of Pakistani music would also be the strongest, that his voice easily broke through the cultural barrier and that he was a mechanic before he was a legend. Anyone desirous of taking a closer look at the musical maestro who dominated radio, television and film and ruled the local airwaves for several decades would have been disappointed.

One man, however, will lament the fact that “no book, good, bad or indifferent, on the greatest exponent of ghazal gayeki (singing) of the late 20th century is available in Pakistan or elsewhere”, before setting out to correct this grave oversight.

Those lining up for a proper biography of our national treasure can settle for the next best thing in the form of a quick sketch heavily tinctured with nostalgia. Mehdi Hasan’s extraordinary career has now been transferred to canvas with a few masterstrokes in Mehdi Hasan: The Man & His Music.

Asif Noorani pays homage to a living legend in a now familiar format that invites members of the Mehdi Hasan fan club (contemporaries, journalists, actors, composers, writers, etc, from both sides of the divide) to come and reminisce with him about an exceptional artist and his phenomenal legacy. He adds rare images, a letter from the former Indian prime minister, a poem and excerpts of old interviews, along with a list of Hasan’s best known work to make this exercise more enticing.

Trying to fit a mega star’s extensive achievements into a petite little volume can be challenging. But this is the second time such a technique has been used. An insouciant approach — first tried with a cricketing legend (Shahid Afridi) — still manages to capture the essence of the subject.

Over the years, Mehdi Hasan’s music has dazzled the subcontinent, constituting an important pillar of the cultural bridge. He quietly conquered the Pakistani music scene with a steady flow of musical hits from the 1950s till the late 1990s and can be credited with hundreds of film songs and ghazals. Incidentally, Noorani sahib disagrees with the singer’s royal sobriquet and points out that his contributions have not been restricted to just one genre (ghazal) and he has explored both classical and semi-classical sides, including kaafis, film and folk music.

Praised for precision and lauded for professionalism, some try to explain the inexplicable effect the singer’s voice appears to have on those ignorant of the language but who were still carried away. One reasons that this may be because of a “voice that transports them to a world where meaning becomes subservient to the magic of the words”, adding that this voice comes as close as it is possible to a state of sama (trance). Another raves about his exceptional abilities and incredible range.

Mehdi Hasan: The Man & His Music relives the glorious days while dwelling on his craft; how he would compose in real time and frequently improvise in front of a live audience; how he could manipulate the meaning of the verses by knowing which word to stress and possessed a deep understanding of Urdu poetry; why he never sounds monotonous (because of extensive training and drawing inspiration from other ragas) when others of his generation do.

The sentimental journey into Mehdi Hasan land comes with two audio CDs, one of which features ghazals (live versions) as the compiler is convinced that Mehdi Hasan is best heard when ‘live’. Asif Noorani had the unenviable task of selecting a few stellar performances from many outstanding numbers but he also has the privilege of preserving the precious legacy. He explains that only six tracks could be included to retain the integrity of the ghazals (he refused to snip away originals) while 14 film numbers, a kaafi, an Urdu translation of Heer and a thumri are crammed in the second disc. Noorani sahib has recently compiled/edited a coffee table book on Shahid Afridi (Boom Boom Shahid Afridi) and previously co-authored Tales of Two Cities with Kuldip Nayar.

There are instances where the book lapses into Urdu and it would be helpful to include translations. Snippets of information provided within offer tantalising glimpses of a gifted boy who once performed for the Maharaja of Baroda while inches away from earning a title of his own, a singing sensation at the apex of his career, and an ailing man who is done playing national hero and suffers like the rest of his subjects at the hands of the KESC. Mehdi Hasan may have been silent for a decade but the subcontinent continues to reverberate with the exquisite sounds from a bygone era.

Available at Liberty Books; Pp 80; Rs 695

Can be ordered from Desi Store

VIEW: Just Say No…. to IDP’s? - MQM's IIIrd Strike (June 2009)

2010-09-27T20:57:00.005+05:00

Unpublished piece

A strike call to protest the IDP’s arrival in Sindh, issued by virtual unknowns – JSQM, had been set for 25 May 2009. MQM’s initial support and subsequent withdrawal late Sunday night (24 May 2009) came too late for the strike to be called off – but in time for them not to ‘strike out’ completely. In baseball terms, however, this would be MQM’s third strike. First a deposed judge (barred for bringing in Marching lawyers); recently a fiery Cricketer turned politician (barred for bringing a peace rally) and now displaced people (barred for unwittingly bringing excess baggage of the Taliban).

As compassion and aid pours forth from all over the world for victims of Pakistan’s biggest humanitarian disaster, this very public display of hostility is bewildering. MQM reps were hauled in by talk show hosts to explain. Glib talking politicians nimbly danced around, careful not to admit wrongdoing, loathe to take responsibility, yet, eager to defend their flimsy pretext for lending support, ultimately, denying having given any. It was not pretty.

To MQM, Karachi is not a logical choice. No arguments there. A nationwide dispersal of the displaced is not an ideal scenario. Settling them near their home is obviously preferable. Can IDP’s be stopped from wandering far and wide especially if they do not have relatives to take them in? Not according to the three C’s we generally abide by - Constitution and Common courtesy!

MQM also sees sinister designs in this move. Other provinces share Sindh’s apprehensions about letting the IDP influx spread. Other provinces did not take it out on their people or allow City life to be paralyzed, public property torched or innocents murdered in the guise of a Strike that never was. While, the danger of infiltration and fear of de-stability is all too real, the rest of Pakistan has accepted these risks. The discovery of a Taliban commander living among IDP’s at the beginning of the exodus, capture of 23 suspected Taliban in subsequent days hiding in plain sight in other IDP camps and possibility of more having merged with fleeing residents in the ensuing confusion proves that this is not an irrational fear. With the arrival of IDP’s, security will be an issue. Ethnic divide could widen. And they may decide to stay on. Even so, these are insufficient grounds for keeping them out. Protecting Karachi is an admirable sentiment. At the cost of serving Pakistan is less so.

The concern for this city’s security is touching but unnecessary. Karachi is no stranger to violence. It may not have been hit by terrorists as often but bullets start flying at the slightest provocation. Such is the fickle nature of things here. If this little charade was meant to scare off poor wandering IDP’s from flying South, it failed. This has only steeled Karachi’s resolve to play host.

Sindh eventually bowed down - albeit with bad grace.

And so, IDP’s are Southward bound, perhaps driven by poor condition of camps elsewhere or attracted by better job prospects. But it is unlikely that they will find either at the so called Dubai of Pakistan. The new camps will not be any different. They could even be worse. And we are in recession. For all the talk about the IDP’s sacrificing their present for our future, no red carpet treatment awaits them in camps anywhere. Unbearable heat, mismanagement and now a frosty reception does. There are just too many of them. And, the nationwide call for ‘all hands on deck’ has been slightly muffled by other calls with less than noble agendas.

Image1 from: http://pakistanidps.files.wordpress.com/2009/05/idp_camps_hubs-small.jpg
Image2 from: http://www.foreignpolicyjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/unhcr_idp_camps_swabi_afp-300x168.jpg

BOOK REVIEW: Estranged Neighbours: India - Pakistan (1947-2010) By General K M Arif

2010-09-25T17:08:00.005+05:00

Reviewed by Afrah Jamal

Published in Daily Times 25 Sep 2010 under the title: Dreaming of an elusive peace

General Arif admits that he is a “soldier by profession and peacemaker by choice”. The peacemaking side hastens to the battlefield to clear the air and maybe mend some fences while the soldier in him is ready to launch a verbal offensive. He does intend to bury the hatchet but not before evaluating the number of times this hatchet has been wielded in the past by the powerful nation of India against a flailing state of Pakistan. There is a third side — that of the pragmatist who intends to bring Pakistan back in alignment with its stated polices.

South Asia is frequently in crisis mode and Estranged Neighbours studies the inherited problems, shared dilemmas, post partition woes and regional complexities faced by both nations. General Arif witnessed the partition, was President Ziaul Haq’s chief of staff and spent nearly 40 years in the army. He got a front row seat in the coup d’état staged by Zia and observed the crumbling pillars of democracy up close and personal. But here he is a staunch supporter of democratic principles and values the freedom of the media, even going so far as to devote an entire chapter to media paradoxes and suggesting that citizens be allowed to observe both sides of parliamentary debates and not just be fed the approved sound bytes.

His latest book defines new parameters but prefers to cover old ground — a lot of it. The writer examines all the problems faced by Pakistan, hurdles cast by India and the opportunities lost by both. The general also offers advice to resolve the persistent water, energy, security and economic crisis and help change Pakistan’s political culture, referred here as a relic of colonial past. He quotes multiple instances to show that the overarching fear of Indian aggression is not irrational and as many instances to demonstrate that failure to address domestic problems poses an even graver threat to national security.

Dredging up the past and focusing on India’s hegemonic desires serves an important purpose: it allows him to demonstrate that Pakistan has not been sent into paroxysms of paranoia and makes it easier to explain away its obsession with shiny new military hardware and nuclear toys. It also tries to take the heat off the one that is always in the hot seat by dragging another’s skeletons out in the open while clarifying Pakistan’s position on Kashmir — South Asia’s personal nuclear flashpoint.

But past sins are easier to prove than present misdemeanours and it is difficult to determine if there is any evidence of enemy clandestine activity that will actually stand up in court. Pakistan has found it harder to convince the world of Indian involvement and the charges of sabotage ‘reportedly’ carried out by Indian agencies and ‘financial, material and political support extended to local dissidents’ mentioned in the book do not appear to affect the international community. India, on the other hand has gotten better at this game of ‘spy catching’.

The list of grievances against India is a mile long including cutting off Pakistan’s water, money, hardware, slicing off a chunk of its territory, starting the nuclear arms race and secretly harbouring the hope that partition was a temporary condition. He is equally voluble when it comes to British treachery and the inequitable division of assets. Pakistan’s side includes trying to ‘free’ Kashmir, initiating Operation Gibraltar and allowing weak statesmanship to endanger its national interest. At some point he will call both nations ‘blameworthy’ but the bulk of the blame is laid at India’s doorstep while the majority of ire is directed at Pakistan. This trust deficit has not sprung up overnight but while the book tries to prove its biggest neighbours intent hostile, the responsibility for the downfall of local institutions is all laid at Pakistan’s doorstep.

It begins with an accusatory tone and ends on a hopeful note. Whatever hurdles have been created by the ‘devious’ neighbours and/or unreliable allies, even the general cannot deny that present day Pakistan has gambled and lost some of its prestige and most of its recent troubles are self-inflicted. He calls his country a wounded nation hurt by friends and foes, riddled with injuries of insult, neglect and arrogance inflicted by dictators and democrats; judges and generals; bureaucrats and the media.

General Khalid Mahmud Arif, a recipient of Nishan-i-Imtiaz and SBt, is the author of Working with Zia: Pakistan Power Politics, 1977-1988 and Khaki Shadows: Pakistan Army 1947 to 1997 and is the co-author of three more books. Estranged Neighbour has been laced with a heavy dose of history and shows why the animosity has lasted as long as it has. It is a handy guide for academics and history buffs.

Dost Publications; Pp 339; Rs 595

BOOK REVIEW: Dead until Dark /Author: Charlaine Harris

2010-09-19T21:28:00.004+05:00

Reviewed by Afrah Jamal

All the books in the Southern Vampire Mystery series have the word ‘dead’ in the title, a female lead with moxie as the protagonist, a mystery at the core and the un-dead community as its star attractions. The media is saturated with vampires these days but instead of dying from overexposure, this proves that they are stronger than ever.

Charlaine Harris adds another dimension to an old tale, tweaking the mythology to imagine a world where vampires have risen again. This time they have a stake in society instead of the other way around and no longer need to skulk around in the shadows or hunt humans for that matter. Freshly recognised, at least in the US, out of the coffin, into the open, teetotaller vamps owe their new found freedom to the Japanese whose alternative nourishment plan involves synthetic drinks.

These un-dead run true to type with their fangs, drinking problem, ruthless nature, immortality, fear of splinters and inability to hold down a day job (the word ‘sun’ still translates to ‘extra crispy’ in the un-dead dictionary). While humanity will always be seen as a tasty treat, even the living dead cannot discount the importance of good PR, which is why they are trying to play nice by ‘mainstreaming’ in an attempt to blend in and live the dream.

This premise captured the fancy of screenwriter Alan Ball who developed the Sookie Stackhouse series for television. HBO’s ‘True Blood’ just ended its third (grisly) season and has been picked up for a fourth. The TV script is not completely faithful to the books and characters done away with in the series are alive and well onscreen. The gruesome Southern Vampire Mysteries, like its television adaptation, cannot be classified under ‘wholesome’ entertainment.

Though vampires are the principal attraction, the relationship between two misfits — a telepathic barmaid called Sookie Stackhouse who is not exactly the belle of the bar and tall, dark and very dead Bill Compton — newest resident of Louisiana — is central to the first book. The story is told from Sookie’s perspective, a spirited narrator who is refreshingly blunt, occasionally witty and consistently entertaining. She can come across as a teenager at times, instead of a strong willed woman in her mid-twenties, but perhaps this is due to her social status or lack of a degree or both.

Citizens fear the mainstreaming vampires and the seemingly harmless barmaid; vamps for obvious reasons and Sookie for her ‘gift’. Despite her supernatural connections, or perhaps because of them, she has a flair for getting into scrapes.

The story begins a few years after the vamps came out and while the world is done reeling from the aftershocks of this earth-shattering revelation, the ultra-conservative Deep South has not. That the un-dead can now walk among the living is an interesting departure but the living do not have to like it. Former bad guys are trying their best to be law-abiding citizens (second class citizens, but still). Humanity is making an effort to be tolerant of the newest members of society and society is having a hard time accepting their pledge at face value. Neither is succeeding very well. If all this sounds familiar, it is because human history is replete with instances of bigotry and worse.

Harris’s creations have a dual purpose. They serve as metaphors for minorities, and stand in for bloodthirsty monsters. Like any other minority, their specie is regarded with suspicion and faces discrimination but, like all good monsters, they hold the power to turn the tables any time. Vampires, whether they are underground indulging in their favourite pastime or out in the open playing politics, are still vampires. And humans are still paranoid creatures who are easily spooked. Both species have a great capacity for evil. The writer magnifies the horror as she lets fear of the supernatural stew together with the baser instincts of mankind to release the noxious fumes of intolerance and draws parallels between the real and fictional worlds.

In Sookie’s universe, all the supernatural beings have converged in one place and familiar characters from myth/legend/folklore show up from time to time giving a richer feel to this macabre set piece (and vampires some competition). For all its light-hearted demeanour, the never ending Bill-Sookie-Eric drama or the depiction of vampire politics and power play, darkness permeates every aspect of the series. These books are unsuitable for the young adult section.

The New York Times’ bestselling author Charlaine Harris is an established crime fiction writer and has penned other mysteries like the Harper Connelly and Lily Bard series. Dead until Dark has won the Anthony Award for best paperback mystery, 2001. The tenth Sookie Stackhouse mystery titled Dead in The Family came out this May and there are three more to come.

Daily Times - Site Edition Saturday, September 18, 2010

Published under the title: Playing for high stakes

Ace Books; Pp 326; Rs 495

BOOK REVIEW: Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief / By Rick Riordan

2010-09-04T12:14:00.006+05:00

Published under the title: Of gods and men
Reviewed by Afrah Jamal

Olympian gods and goddesses are not the best role models; their moral compass is frequently out of order and no one dares suggest they get it fixed. The (stormy) age of the gods was great while it lasted but it is over. Rick Riordan reawakens the gods, gives them another shot at (eternal) life with a brand new home, creating a new legion of heroes and heroines in the process. He then combines all these elements to launch his fantasy series making mythology the centrepiece and family values the essential pillars of his newly redesigned universe.

How do these extinct entities fare in a (literary) world already overrun with vampires, witches, werewolves and wizards? Set in the present day, Riordan’s young adult fantasy novel tries to survive the onslaught of other supernatural beings by giving neglected Greek gods a clever makeover. The original Mount Olympus is still in Greece. Olympus, however, has been relocated. Their gods and goddesses currently reside above the modern day US while their half-human, half-god offspring live below — most of them in blissful oblivion of their divine origins or hero status.

Demigods running around in Manhattan saying, “Oh my gods”, being stalked by monsters and going on dangerous expeditions just like their predecessor Hercules is an intriguing premise. Except that readers coming off J K Rowling will be immediately struck by young Percy’s resemblance to his British counterpart.

If Percy Jackson feels like an extension of planet Rowling, it is probably because the major threads holding the plot together appear to have fallen straight out of her wizarding world: a regular child, special abilities, a training camp for half-bloods, a destiny. The similarity is strongest in The Lightning Thief, and subsequent books might touch upon Garth Nix’s Abhorsen accidentally before falling back on Greek legends, but they try very hard not to encroach too obviously upon Rowling territory. They do not always succeed but they do try.

Percy is the American narrator with a droll sense of humour who follows the traditional path of a Greek hero. He is a special case, not just because he has attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and dyslexia but also because he suffers from a “divine” condition. One of his parents happens to be a god and he is not the only demigod in the neighbourhood. (The term ‘exclusive relationship’ seems to be missing from the god dictionary; ergo the rising demigod population). Now if one has ADHD and dyslexia combined, they may or may not have descended from the gods but all descendents of Olympians share this problem.

The gods, on the other hand, have exchanged their togas for pinstriped suits but they are the same immortal, (if a little careless) vengeful beings. As the title suggests, Zeus, King of the gods, is missing a lightning bolt — the one he used to pose with (see old pictures). And unless it is returned, he and Poseidon will go to war and that would be a pity, especially since the divine headquarter is now in New York City, atop the Empire State Building.

Why New York one might ask? As Chiron, the centaur (former trainer to Hercules), helpfully explains, the heart of fire or Western civilisation has never been stationary and now rests comfortably in the land of the free.

The book is about Percy’s thrilling escapades, at camp and in the real world and monsters from ancient Greece drop by occasionally to prevent things from becoming too boring. This particular demigod will get a quest, discover his true lineage, embrace his destiny, etc, etc. But, as a mortal, he speaks like any disaffected teen, goes to a private academy for troubled children in upstate New York, and tries to deal with parental issues. The quests become more serious with each passing year and usually the fate of the world hangs in the balance. This is a who’s who of Greek mythological creatures from the highly acclaimed Medusa, Chimera and Cyclops to less well-known Empousa (vampire demon) and the Kampe. Now, many of them had already been vanquished by Greek heroes of yore but they have (considerately) returned for an encore performance, because monsters never truly die.

Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief is the first of five books. It was a New York Times Notable Book for 2005 and won the Red House Children’s Book Award. The series leans heavily on action, is fast paced but not very lengthy. The movie version that had a slightly longer title (Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightning Thief), took liberties with the plot, casting an older boy, editing out major characters and basically rewriting the entire ending.

Percy Jackson’s adventures conclude in Book Five and Rick Riordan has already moved on to Egyptian mythology. The demigods are not quite ready to leave and Olympian adventures will continue in a spin-off called The Lost Hero, out by October 2010.

Published in Daily Times - Site Edition Saturday, September 04, 2010
Penguin; Pp 400; Rs 425
available at Liberty Books

BOOK REVIEW: Committed: A Sceptic Makes Peace with Marriage / Author: Elizabeth Gilbert

2010-08-28T15:22:00.004+05:00

Committed picks up where the international bestseller Eat, Pray, Love left off. Elizabeth Gilbert is still travelling but not solo — on a quest but not for the same reasons. The last time she went into exile to Italy, India and Indonesia, it was self-imposed and involved food and spiritual enlightenment. The latest one to Southeast Asia, however, has been brought on by circumstances beyond her control and is about facing her deepest fear head on.

The title of this memoir may be Committed but Elizabeth has not gotten over her dread of matrimony. She has been committed to the institution of marriage before and has no interest in going back. Thus far she has successfully evaded capture and is determined to do anything — anything at all to avoid “going through that apocalypse”. Details of that particular ‘apocalypse’ can be found in the pages of her previous book — Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman’s Search for Everything across Italy, India and Indonesia, recently turned into a major motion picture starring Julia Roberts.

While she is content to be in a long distance relationship with a foreigner, her government, sadly, is not. And so Elizabeth Gilbert is “sentenced to marry”. By the US Department of Homeland Security no less and unless she complies, the US will close its doors to her man. Permanently. Suddenly, she is forced to come to terms with her scary marital history and make peace with the idea of marriage.

It gets worse. Soon, any American interested in marrying an outsider will have to undergo an FBI investigation. Thus begins an agonisingly long wait and an obligatory return to a nomadic life. Elizabeth uses this unexpected break to her advantage, raking through her private history and public records to determine “what this befuddling, contradictory, and yet stubbornly enduring institution of marriage actually is”.

As their travels take Elizabeth and her fiancé off the beaten path, she will make a solitary journey armed with the works of eminent matrimonial scholars to better understand her “inherited assumptions, the shape of her family’s narrative and her culturally specific catalogue of anxieties”. She argues that she must be vigorously persuaded because matrimony has not always been kind to women. This involves extensive time travelling to explore the primitive notions about marriage and divorce. Turns out that marriage was not always considered sacred even within Christian tradition, (they resisted for at least 10 centuries) and this discovery alone allows her to stop stringing together the terms sin and failure with divorce and finally let herself off the hook.

Elizabeth, who has been watching the women in her family “adapt, adjust, glide and accept”, is painfully aware that her advantageous childhood has been built on the ashes of her mother’s sacrifices. She comes across some alarming statistics claiming that a long, happy, healthy, prosperous existence awaits married men who are the sole beneficiaries of this union.

She will also embark on parallel journeys to decipher the modern interpretation of marriage while closely examining its evolutionary nature, which she believes actually ensures its survival. This is nice because it really needed to change. In Europe, a nasty practice known as ‘coverture’ forced women to renounce their legal rights and property, “doubling a man’s power as his wife’s evaporated”. She further observes that combined with the strict anti-divorce policies of the church, marriage became an institution that entombed and erased its female victims — especially among the gentry. Trace amounts of this troubling ruling could be detected as late as 1975 and prevented married women (like Elizabeth’s mother) from opening checking accounts or taking out loans without their husband’s written permission.

While she wanders through the pages of history, learning new facts (apparently, even a seagull that supposedly mates for life has a 25 percent divorce rate) and putting the marriages of her friends and family on the stand, Elizabeth must also introduce marital customs of distant lands. This is a part travelogue, after all. In the hills of northern Vietnam, for instance, reside the Hmong, convinced that it does not matter whom one marries “and with rare exceptions, one man is pretty much the same as another”. Their depressing worldview has held them in good stead thus far.

The writer, on the other hand, duels with her deep seated insecurities and reveals the sort of marriage she is likely to have — “wifeless, motherless and husbandless” — which simply means that neither would be obligated to fulfil the traditional role of housekeeper or breadwinner. It also means that she will proudly defend the decision to join an “Auntie Brigade” instead of enlisting in the “Mommy Corps”. Members of the exclusive brigade will be pleased to learn that they are in great company — Tolstoy, Capote, Lennon and the Bronte sisters, all raised by doting aunts.

Elizabeth freely admits that the point of the whole exercise is just to talk herself into tying the knot. And this leads to an elaborately crafted, highly illuminating, (delightful) discourse between a sceptic and western marriage.

First Published in Daily Times under the title of 'For better or worse' 28 Aug 2010

Reviewed by: Afrah Jamal

Viking Adult;
Pp 285;
Rs 1,150

Available at Liberty Books

BOOK REVIEW: EAT PRAY LOVE: One Woman’s Search for Everything Across Italy, India and Indonesia /Author: Elizabeth Gilbert /Reviewed for Liberty Books Blog by: Afrah Jamal

2010-08-28T13:15:00.008+05:00

Click Here for Review of EAT PRAY LOVE: One Woman’s Search for Everything Across Italy, India and Indonesia

A magazine assignment took a 30 something woman from NY to Bali where a ninth generation medicine man prophesied her return. She keeps her appointment because he said she would but also makes fresh plans; putting her old life on hold, signing up for an extreme religious experience in India and enrolling in language courses in Italy – because she realized she should.

‘Exhausted by the cumulative consequences of a lifetime of hasty choices and chaotic passions’, Elizabeth Gilbert will leave the ruins of her former life (nasty break-up & all) and head out into the wilderness for some very unusual R&R. Her spirits demand an instant pick me up and a dramatic makeover.

This voyage of self discovery requires that she take a year off, trading in the comforts of home for the comforts of Europe and the discomfort of the third world. Somewhere in another book she has described her foray into the unknown as ‘an experiment with solitude and self accountability’. Most people seeking spiritual rehabilitation probably would not have plotted such an elaborate course to enlightenment. Most people might also have had some trouble lining up eager publishers willing to purchase their book about these experiences beforehand. Moreover, they would think twice before taking their private demons out for a public walk.

Elizabeth is different. Not only does she provide an unflinching portrayal of her post break-up self but she also allows readers to accompany her on a retrieval mission starting from the dreary base camp littered with the debris of wrecked relationships all the way to the summit. And she still manages to make most of it sound funny, which is remarkable.

Here is someone struggling to find her way back, first through food, then with meditation and finally with love and more meditation. She engages in conversations with the Almighty, herself, her mind, invisible dead Guru’s, visible Balinese healers etc. She falls head over heels with a pizzeria in Naples and makes friends with people who have names like Luca Spaghetti (no offence intended). She talks to herself in a notebook, and the notebook talks back.

Indonesia is about learning to ‘hold steady in this chaotic world’ from the good Balinese – global masters of balance. Italy is simpler. The closest Elizabeth gets to art is in the ‘National Museum of Pasta’ which is fine since she just intends to savour their ‘beautiful food’ and rich language. India is, of course reserved for that all important transcendent experience (that will ‘transport her from portals of the universe’ taking her to the centre of God’s palm). At every terminal she checks in demons along with her baggage. After each stop, she summons a new-found spiritual discipline to vanquish these unwelcome travel companions.

A wonderful assortment of friends, family and well wishers are stationed throughout bringing basket loads of humour, advice and insight. There will either be a Richard, Elizabeth’s Texas Yogi – helping her become more anchored or Iva, her Lebanese friend back home, who comes with ‘an Iva-only Bat-Phone to the universe & an open-round-the-clock special channel to the divine’ making her understand the mysteries of the world.

An article called ‘The Muse of the Coyote Ugly Saloon’, chronicling Ms. Gilbert’s experiences as a bartender became the basis for ‘Coyote Ugly’ – the movie. And now the quest for divine communion and Italian food that drove her halfway across the world is the basis for another.

ISBN: 9781408810101

No of Pages: 382

Price: Rs. 695

Available at Liberty Books

BOOK REVIEW: THE POWER BY RHONDA BYRNE Reviewed for Liberty Books Blog

2010-08-23T13:39:00.005+05:00

Review posted here : ~~The Power~~

Reviewed by: Afrah Jamal

Like Po the Kung Fu master wannabe discovered in ‘Kung Fu Panda’ – there is no secret ingredient, so shall the readers. The power that has created such frenzy lies in one word.

Rhonda Byrne believes everyone has power over their circumstances, and yet their lives careen out of control. Throughout history, anyone with a good life has, knowingly or unknowingly, used the ‘Power’. The rest are oblivious to its life changing potential and mope around sadly.

The premise here is simply – if you want something – it is yours for the taking; health, wealth, happiness, career, successful relationships – all yours.

Finding this power does not require any major suspension of disbelief. Ancient records attest to its existence. It manifests itself in the form of inexplicable moments like a charmed life, that incredible comeback, a miraculous recovery, an unexpected stroke of good fortune. Those who have seen it in action may know it by different names – will power, faith or serendipity.

For Ms. Byrne it is simpler. The secret that the world has been waiting with bated breath to hear is the love that resides within each of us.

Wait what? Love! At first the revelation comes across as a bit of an anticlimax. All the secrecy, that incredibly moving you tube video, the label announcing that this is the ‘handbook to the greatest power in the universe’ – that was about l’amore?

Rhonda does not refer to love in vague terms but equates it with other forces of nature like gravity or electromagnetism. Their existence is indisputable and love happens to be in the same category but is far more formidable.

This love is not just a feeling but a positive force, the only one of its kind and governed by laws of attraction which happen to be the most powerful laws in the universe. Properly harnessed, it can give complete control over every little aspect of life. She assigns extraordinary powers to emotions. ‘Positivity’ begets ‘positivity’, and vice versa.

Apparently, this is science and not some kind of voodoo. “Whether your thoughts and feelings are good or bad, they return as automatically and precisely as an echo”. She asserts that such emotions have magnetic frequencies and this magnetism attracts everything towards you. Feelings also determine the polarity of this field (good feelings = positive frequency of love), attracting people, events and circumstances that happen to be on a similar frequency. Job (3:25) backs her on this. “For the thing that I fear comes upon me, and what I dread befalls me”.

It is like that old adage “you are what you eat”, only here “you are what you feel” and what you feel is what you get. Taking feelings off auto pilot is therefore recommended because reacting to the negative with bad feelings attracts more negativity. She then takes it further – one can have anything just by visualizing it. “Imagine it, feel it, receive it.” Personal experiences follow on the heels of this startling observation.

This sounds suspiciously easy. One just has to be happy and give happiness to receive happy things, and by occasionally wishing peace and goodwill for mankind, ones hearts desires will magically appear at the door?

Well, yes. And no.

There is a process. Using ‘The Power’ calls for engaging with the Universe and making it a part of every day life requires major adjustments. One must take hate, greed, envy, malice, irritability, despair, doubts & insecurities out of business and put love in charge.

This is not the first time Rhonda Byrne has made such claims. A few years ago she came across a secret that had been passed on through centuries. Sharing that knowledge in her bestseller (appropriately named ‘The Secret’) made her an instant phenomenon. That knowledge has reportedly transformed tens of millions of lives across the globe. ‘The Power’ unearths patterns in seemingly random events adding another layer to the tale.

As for financial security that everyone craves but not everyone gets – her analysis is that majority of the worlds’ wealth is in the hands of a few percent and redistributing the money will not alter this ridiculous fact. Money will find its way back to a select few who magnetize it back to them. “The force of love moves all the money and riches in the world and it moves it according to the law.”

The solution? “Change the way you feel about money, the amount of money in your life will change. The better you feel about money, the more money you magnetize to yourself”. Apparently desire for money is not enough. Money will stick only if it is not being repelled by ones insecurities. Constantly worrying about it is a repellent. Generosity is always nice.

Her guide to getting career, relationships or health back on track advocates letting love dictate terms instead of other emotions. She is joined by historians, prophets, philosophers, scientists, poets and playwrights who appear to have some inkling of the Power’s potential.

So if people were to subscribe to this notion, they would go around being nice to everyone – all the time. They would stop complaining and be grateful for every little thing. They might get their dream house, job, spouse, car, horse, life simply by willing it. They would be able to manipulate their age and take control of their health by reprogramming their bodies. Jet lag, for instance would be a thing of the past. Mind over matter would always be in style. Sporadic acts of kindness would be the rage. Man would be one step closer to finding salvation.

‘The Power’ promises to help everyone who has a rendezvous with destiny, keep their appointment just by changing their outlook.

Available at Liberty Books

Published Date: 17/08/2010
Format: HardBack
ISBN: 9780857201706
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
No of Pages: 270
Retail price: Pound £ 14.99
(Rs. 1,872.40)
Price: Rs. 1,495.00

BOOK REVIEW: Bridging Partition: People’s Initiatives for Peace Between India and Pakistan Edited by Smitu Kothari and Zia Mian with Kamla Bhasin, A H Nayyar and Mohammad Tahseen

2010-08-22T16:26:00.004+05:00

Published in Daily Times Aug 21, 2010

They have been locked in a near permanent state of confrontation for six decades, stopping only to make feeble overtures of peace to pacify onlookers. These 63-year-olds have great reserves of animosity left over from 1947. They renew their peace pledges often but test each other’s patience daily. And they get flustered easily, which makes them the two most predictable nations in the neighbourhood. When they are not exchanging words, they are exchanging fire. If nothing else, cyber armies from both sides have been seen invading ‘enemy’ websites. With their history of violence and a tendency to overreact, many wonder if Pakistan and India can ever break the pattern and maybe, just maybe, consider the merits of peace instead of dreaming about the spoils of war.

Both nations have a rich culture, an admirable stockpile of weapons to wave in each other’s face and unresolved issues dating back to partition. They are similar in many ways with an appalling record of skipping greys when it comes to relating history, a selective memory and an embarrassing tendency to get carried away at arms expos. Each of them has made great strides over the years in developing that stockpile at the expense of the poor while making sincere looking attempts to heal the breach.

Their citizens, on the other hand, have made greater strides in cultivating relationships and devising creative little ways of bridging the divide. People are weary of the perpetual stand off while the world is just plain scared.

This is a thought provoking collection of essays by prominent social activists, scientists, journalists, scholars and military men from both sides who declared peace on their respective neighbours a few decades ago. They are not alone and introduce readers to likeminded individuals who feel the need for some intervention and have taken it upon themselves to exploit the strengths and shared heritage to bring their people closer. These brave souls engage in candid discussions, freely admitting their collective faux pas. This frankness gets some into trouble with their own.

Since the 1990s, such forces have ‘defied the divide’, actively seeking an alternate lifestyle to the one thrust upon them by their political representatives. Beena Sarwar equates these attempts to streams “nourishing the land — heading towards a river, skirting obstacles, being replaced by others when they dry up, effective in strengthening the peace movement but still counting upon the political will to succeed.” A former head of the Indian Navy continues to believe, much to the dismay of some, that they need a new approach to convert the traditional confrontation method to one of cooperation and convergence. Here are individuals who have their own interpretation of the ‘greater good’.

Mubashir Hasan, founder member of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) and the Pakistan-India Peoples’ Forum for Peace and Democracy (PIPFPD) calmly states that the ruling elites from both sides are genuinely afraid of peace breaking out between them. Apparently, the status quo benefits vested interests and both nations cannot seem to coordinate their peace talks; when one is willing, the other is not.

The states’ priorities may have gotten a little mixed up on the way to the negotiating table. Their people, however, have proven to be surprisingly committed to the idea of peace. Citizens have been battling prejudices, blasting away propaganda, tearing down walls of distrust and establishing neutral zones to engage each other in meaningful dialogue. They also have a formidable arsenal of their own and are not afraid to use it. Their combined assault has yielded results in the form of ‘India Pakistan Soldiers Initiative’, allowing retired senior military men and their wives to meet with their counterparts in 1999 and 2000 for instance. Other peace networks like ‘Pakistan Peace Coalition’ (1999) and ‘Coalition for Nuclear Disarmament and Peace’ (2001) have been active in both countries while civil society initiatives, coalitions and single-issue organisations provide requisite platforms to foster ties. They have made remarkable progress in crossing borders through performing arts and mobilising the common man. Sandeep Pandey and Sanat Mohanty share memories of the peace march from Delhi to Multan (2005) that describe moving scenes witnessed at every turn of their historic journey.

One learns of the challenges that lie ahead for peace brokers and the obstacles they have to overcome trying to pitch their peace plan to the sceptics. These essays also examine the benefits of ‘waging peace’ ranging from economic prosperity (by allowing corporate sectors a stake in each other’s economic pie) to regional stability (demanding a South Asian nuclear weapons-free zone).

Though their attempts are continually thwarted, the citizen diplomacy movement can take heart; Bridging Partition asserts that their contribution has helped shape policies and build networks that change lives and perspectives. Visa restrictions notwithstanding, they have managed to get their message across, reaching out to mend fences and construct a durable framework that does not fall apart every time there is some little ‘incident’. There is no shortage of goodwill needed to keep Operation Peace going.

Published under the title: Waging peace — Reviewed by Afrah Jamal

BOOK REVIEW: The Last Sunset — The Rise & Fall of the Lahore Durbar Author: Amarinder Singh

2010-08-14T20:41:00.004+05:00

Published under the heading of Lahore Durbar in free fall

Reviewed by Afrah Jamal

After the Mughals exited, but before the British arrived, the Lahore Durbar was presided over by Maharaja Ranjit Singh Bahadur, affectionately known as the ‘Lion of Lahore’, who makes a brief appearance in Amarinder Singh’s narrative, but leaves a lasting impression on his history.

Ranjit Singh, who has been described in the book as a great man and an outstanding military commander, was a mass of contradictions. For instance, he was against the death penalty but not averse to robbing widows, believed treaties were meant to be broken but treated the vanquished with kindness, and thought nothing of inviting guests only to divest them of their most prized possession — like the Kohinoor diamond. He may have spent the better part of the day leading military campaigns, yet he did not always harbour territorial designs and is said to have waged a war on his own governor for a horse. A beautiful Persian horse, but still a horse.

The Lahore Durbar, in Ranjit Singh’s time, constituted what is now Pakistan (minus Sindh and Balochistan). He is perhaps best known for putting the Sikh army on the map and, of course, his love for empire building. The Last Sunset... studies the rapid deterioration of the empire forged by a ruler who combined “cunning, treachery, ruthlessness with diplomacy and military might” to carve out a glorious kingdom, a formidable army and a reputation to match. In the brief but dramatic portion devoted to his life, the writer manages to capture the grandeur of his court (decadent lifestyle and all) and the fickle nature of alliances from multiple perspectives.

It would take just 10 short years for this Durbar to fall apart. The principal portion of the book focuses on major military campaigns between the Sikh and British troops in the post-Ranjit era, as the empire he had so painstakingly built with the help of the much admired Sikh Khalsa Army, raised on European lines, began to fray around the edges. Soon the soldiers, considered to be “the finest material in the world for forming an army” by W G Osborne, military secretary to the governor general of India, would be pitted against the British (1845-46 and1848-49), the court was to become the epicentre of political intrigues (led by a royal) and Punjab would finally be annexed to the British territory.

Amarinder Singh is from the royal family of Patiala. He was ADC to GOC-in-C, Western Command,in the 1965 war between Pakistan and India and later served as a member of the Parliamentary Defence Committee. His previous books include Lest we Forget: The History of Indian Army from 1947-65 and A Ridge Too Far: War in the Kargil Heights 1999. This Maharaja-turned-soldier-turned-politician records the glorious beginning and not so glorious ending of Ranjit’s Lahore in this meticulously detailed account, cramming maps, order of battles with military strategies and tallying British accounts with what little is known of the Sikh side. He also examines Ranjit’s army that had become the de facto ruler of his state after his death and the conspiracy hatched from within to cut it down to size.

He exposes the cold-blooded role played by the regent — Her Highness Maharani Jinda Kaur (Queen Mother) — as she sent her soldiers into battle ostensibly to defend the kingdom. Faked intelligence was used (which works every time) to rile up the unsuspecting troops, who became convinced that the British Army was coming after them. It was a dangerous gamble but the Maharani hoped to come out as a winner. The Sikhs lose, she gets to stay on as regent; they win, she becomes even more powerful. According to the writer, this was a calculated move designed to clip the wings of a powerful army (a familiar complaint in this part of the world) and strengthen her tenuous hold in the bargain. He notes that though the Sikhs were decisively beaten in the four battles of the war, “but for the regent, her wazir, C-in-C and a mad British officer, Lord Gough’s defeat was near certain”. While the Maharani courted the British and connived against her state in the first war, the blame for the next major conflict is placed at the British doorstep. The author asserts that the Governor General of India Lord Dalhousie simply used the Multan revolt as a pretext to carry out his expansionist plans and intended to “do away” with the Lahore state long before the second Sikh war.

The story concludes with the annexation of Punjab in 1849 and the epilogue continues the story of the exiled Maharaja Duleep Singh and his mother, the resourceful Maharani. The Last Sunset... is the tragic saga of a Durbar in free fall, starting from the first Anglo-Sikh war, where Lahore escaped annexation by the British but came under their supervision, to the second, where the British found themselves in the untenable position of both governing and attacking the Durbar.

Roli Books; Pp 344; Rs 1,395

Available at Liberty Books

Published in Daily Times - Site Edition Saturday, August 14, 2010

BOOK REVIEW: Building Social Business: The New Kind of Capitalism That Serves Humanity’s Most Pressing Needs By Muhammad Yunus with Karl Weber Reviewed by Afrah Jamal

2010-08-07T12:37:00.004+05:00

Published in Daily Times Aug 07, 2010

In the early 1970s when an academician from a third world country came across the victims of a moneylender, he did what good Samaritans usually do in such circumstances: he took charge, paid off their small loan, securing a temporary release. Then the academician did something many probably would not have done. He decided to put the affected community members (residing in rural Bangladesh) in charge and sought a permanent end to their financial woes. Since the only government-sanctioned weapon needed to combat this menace (banks) flatly refused to help (and the good Samaritan was neither a millionaire nor a magician), he decided to forge one on his own.

That a paltry sum of $ 27 could make such a difference in 42 lives caught in the moneylenders’ net led to the development of an intriguing concept, one that advocated that extending a financial lifeline to those deemed to be non-creditworthy makes good business sense. So, under the direction of academician-turned-humanitarian Muhammad Yunus, the first Grameen Bank was set up.

A financial institution that introduced the concept of micro-credit, lending tiny sums of collateral-free loans to destitute families (mostly women), does more than simply bail them out of trouble. This was a bank for the poor and owned by the poor, giving them a real shot at life and setting them up with economic opportunities in the bargain, besides of course putting the exploitive members of society out of business.

Muhammad Yunus’s work was not finished; other problems beckoned him and he made it his life’s mission to change the foundations of a useless system, one social business at a time. Muhammad Yunus, now a veteran, has a new vision and in “Building Social Business.....”, he looks back at past achievements and ahead at future possibilities. But first he sets out to explain his precious concept to the mystified public, who are hearing the term for the first time.

A social business model is devised with a twist; it does not recognise the traditional lines set by conventional businesses, and takes profit out of the company equation. Except for the profit part, a social business is just like any other business and modelled on the same principles. But, as Muhammad Yunus will tell you, it is very different from other charitable institutions.

He goes to great lengths to differentiate between charities, cooperatives (co-ops), NGOs, foundations or the corporate social responsibility side (CSR) of businesses and his pet projects. A social business is self-sustaining, the needy are the sole beneficiaries, and anyone can be a social businessman; starting small is encouraged, research is imperative, and “impatience” can be a virtue. Also, social benefit and profit are compartmentalised; the twain shall never mix and the poor take all.

One man has made a sustainable business model that quietly challenges the established ways of doing business. It already has a global seal of approval, having been emulated all over the world. He admits that his idea does not signal the end of profit maximising businesses, but widens the playing field, giving “new options to the consumers, employees and entrepreneurs and raising social awareness among the business community”. Where other systems have come close to crashing or, in the case of developing nations, failed on a spectacular scale, Yunus can put his string of successes on display for those shopping for new ideas.

After the successful field-testing of financial services, he branched out and partnered with other companies to launch projects like Grameen Danone (offering nutritious food products), Grameen Veolia Water (solving the arsenic laced water supply problem by providing clean drinking water), and Grameen Healthcare, while creating jobs in the process.

Social business has many admirers: Adidas, BASF, Intel, Otto GmbH are some of the major players involved with Grameen projects. But it has not always been smooth sailing for the banker to the poor. He includes the lessons learnt from his 40 years experience, and takes aspiring social business owners through the steps of not only building a successful business, but also rebuilding society in the process. He also leaves behind a nice little template for motivated individuals ready to take their first idea for a spin.

Yunus may be an astute (social) businessman, but he also has a savvy side. He is quick to point out that working for any social business does not mean lowering one’s standards, for they offer employees competitive salaries and benefits; it simply means not profiting from the poor. Social business owners normally step in where governments fear to tread. The global ambassador of the poor teaches humanity how to take their natural altruistic impulses forward properly. M Yunus has a Nobel Peace Prize 2006 (shared with Grameen Bank) to show for his efforts, and is already playing around with the building blocks of a new poverty-free world order.

Published under the title of : Business with a catch —

PublicAffairs; Pp 256; Rs 1,795

BOOK REVIEW: 'The New Anthem - The Subcontinent in its Own Words'

2010-08-02T18:55:00.007+05:00

Reviewed for Liberty Books

The oft ravaged Subcontinent has been through a silent revolution. Deep below the churning waters, past the shifting sands, under the staggering weight of century’s old bias and primeval beliefs, resides a wellspring of concentrated energy.

The freshly inducted members from the South Asian literary hall of fame tapped this reservoir and have been pushing boundaries with their fiery prose for years. They have been hailed for their refreshing new voice and scintillating style. ‘The New Anthem – The Subcontinent In Its Own Words’ is a literary cocktail compiled by Bangladeshi author – Ahmede Hussain to showcase a galaxy of new-born stars.

22 writers, with a shared past have left a profound impression on South Asian literature. Their sentimental trek across time stops often to relay the exotic beauty of the land, stripping away layers of history to reveal its true character. These disparate sounds, striving to he heard above the usual din bring the Subcontinent to life.

One is accosted by the regions turbulent history over and over again. This particular memory lane is full of sobering thoughts. Both ‘Cyclone’by Khademul Islam and ‘The Fragrance of Cuticura’ by Amitava Kumar bring back that feeling of oppressiveness. ‘The Barber Lover’, and ‘Laila and Leela’ play with the spiritual while Carl Bloom takes readers down ‘The Alley’ forcing them to confront the ugly side of life in his adopted home.

Wistful voices from the Diaspora also join in the chorus. They explore a range of emotions, breaking away from tradition and cheerfully launching into the realm of political incorrectness. Liberalism creeps in stealthily in ‘The Straight Path’ by Bengali-American writer Abeer Hoque; the price of rebellion is paid in Rachael Khan’s grim tale -‘Foreign Exchange’.

The rest of the composition is equally compelling – if a little bewildering. Altaf Tyrewala can get rid of unwanted babies but not the voices in his head while Razia fences unsuccessfully with the new cook in Kamila Shamsie’s ‘Surface of Glass’.

These samples demonstrate the collective wealth of the region introducing us to writers who are about to embark on their first major literary expedition alongside those who have already arrived.

Pakistan, India and Bangladesh still have some bitterness leftover. Ahmede Hussain’s new book is unconcerned with the (excruciatingly) slow pace of recovery and finds something to celebrate from each nation. Their spirited new anthem is in keeping with the changing reality.

Book: The New Anthem: The Subcontinent in its Own Words
Author: Ahmede Hussain
ISBN:9380032455
ISBN-13:9789380032450, 978-9380032450
PAGES: 336
Price: Rs: Rs. 750
Available at Liberty Books

Liberty Books Blog