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Archive for category PAKISTAN-LAND OF ROMANTICS & DERVISH POETS

Shukriya Pakistan – 30 November Islamabad

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Are we wrong about Pakistan? – Telegraph & Comments To Editor

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Khalid Nizami Saheb
Salam masnoon. I often say that don’t accept as the ultimate truths everything that western authors/mediamen say. They are Fasiq in Qur’anic terms: most of the time ignorant, a sizable number of them intentionally writing bad, knowing well that they are telling lies and their state of belief is questionable. The Qur’an commands: “O believers, if a Fasiq (sinner, liar, disobedient to Allah) comes to you with news, investigate, lest you harm people out of ignorance and later regret what you have done” (Al-Hujurat 49:6). This Ayat is about Muslim newsgivers and rumor-mongers. By that token I don’t have any trust of even the so-called Muslim media. They “sell” hot news and char it so that it reeks; they do never go for the truth. I know this by personal experience.
 
This tendency to accept everything from the sahib as the most right and denigrating Muslims however pious, honest, reliable they may be, was started by Sir Syed Ahmad Khan and his associates, so much so that now we often present opinions of Carlisle, Margoliouth, Montgomery Watt as testimony of truthfulness, good character and success of the Rasool-Allah, knowing nothing about the original sources of Islam and the early masters who are now insulted publicly.
 
As for Pakistan, let the Pakistanis know that with14 August 1947 as the baseline, the ratio of progress made by Pakistan is far higher than that of India, given the economic conditions and state of infrastructure inherited from the British by the two countries.
 
Present sociopolitcial situation of Pakistanis due mainly to wrong leadership it has been suffering from for decades and failure of the people to know their friends and foes; and more than that failure to know their strengths and relevance.
 
Change the perception and see the difference. It is not as difficult as people think.
 
Muhammad Tariq Ghazi
Saturday 29 November 2014
 
 
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Are we wrong about Pakistan? – Telegraph

When Peter Oborne first arrived in Pakistan, he expected a ‘savage’ back water scarred by terrorism. Years later, he describes the Pakistan that is barely documented…
 
 
 

Are we wrong about Pakistan?

 
When Peter Oborne first arrived in Pakistan, he expected a ‘savage’ back water scarred by terrorism. Years later (Feb 2012), he describes the Pakistan that is barely documented – and that he came to fall in love with
 
 
The beautiful Shandur Valley of Pakistan Photo: GETTY
By
 

It was my first evening in Pakistan. My hosts, a Lahore banker and his charming wife, wanted to show me the sights, so they took me to a restaurant on the roof of a town house in the Old City. My food was delicious, the conversation sparky – and from our vantage point we enjoyed a perfect view of the Badshahi Mosque, which was commissioned by the emperor Aurangzeb in 1671.

 

It was my first inkling of a problem. I had been dispatched to write a report reflecting the common perception that Pakistan is one of the most backward and savage countries in the world. This attitude has been hard-wired into Western reporting for years and is best summed up by the writing of the iconic journalist Christopher Hitchens. Shortly before he died last December, Hitchens wrote a piece in Vanity Fair that bordered on racism.

Pakistan, he said, was “humourless, paranoid, insecure, eager to take offence and suffering from self-righteousness, self-pity and self-hatred”. In summary, asserted Hitchens, Pakistan was one of the “vilest and most dangerous regions on Earth”.

Since my first night in that Lahore restaurant I have travelled through most of Pakistan, got to know its cities, its remote rural regions and even parts of the lawless north. Of course there is some truth in Hitchens’s brash assertions. Since 2006 alone, more than 14,000 Pakistani civilians have been killed in terrorist attacks. The Pakistan political elite is corrupt, self-serving, hypocritical and cowardly – as Pakistanis themselves are well aware. And a cruel intolerance is entering public discourse, as the appalling murder last year of minorities minister Shahbaz Bhatti after he spoke out for Christians so graphically proves. Parts of the country have become impassable except at risk of kidnap or attack.

 

Yet the reality is far more complex. Indeed, the Pakistan that is barely documented in the West – and that I have come to know and love – is a wonderful, warm and fabulously hospitable country. And every writer who (unlike Hitchens), has ventured out of the prism of received opinion and the suffocating five-star hotels, has ended up celebrating rather than denigrating Pakistan.

 

A paradox is at work. Pakistan regularly experiences unspeakable tragedy. The most recent suicide bombing, in a busy market in northwestern Pakistan, claimed 32 lives and came only a month after another bomb blast killed at least 35 people in the Khyber tribal district on January 10. But suffering can also release something inside the human spirit. During my extensive travels through this country, I have met people of truly amazing moral stature.

 
Take Seema Aziz, 59, whom I met at another Lahore dinner party, and who refuses to conform to the Western stereotype of the downtrodden Pakistani female. Like so many Pakistanis, she married young: her husband worked as a manager at an ICI chemical plant. When her three children reached school age, she found herself with lots of time on her hands. And then something struck her.
 
It was the mid-Eighties, a time when Pakistan seemed captivated by Western fashion. All middle-class young people seemed to be playing pop music, drinking Pepsi and wearing jeans. So together with her family, Seema decided to set up a shop selling only locally manufactured fabrics and clothes.
The business, named Bareeze, did well. Then, in 1988, parts of Pakistan were struck by devastating floods, causing widespread damage and loss of life, including in the village where many of the fabrics sold by Bareeze were made. Seema set out to the flood damaged area to help. Upon arrival, she reached an unexpected conclusion. “We saw that the victims would be able to rebuild their homes quite easily but we noticed that there was no school. Without education, we believed that there would be no chance for the villagers, that they would have no future and no hope.”
 
So Seema set about collecting donations to build a village school. This was the beginning of the Care Foundation, which today educates 155,000 underprivileged children a year in and around Lahore, within 225 schools.
 
I have visited some of these establishments and they have superb discipline and wonderful teaching – all of them are co-educational. The contrast with the schools provided by the government, with poorly-motivated teachers and lousy equipment, is stark. One mullah did take exception to the mixed education at one of the local schools, claiming it was contrary to Islamic law. Seema responded by announcing that she would close down the school. The following day, she found herself petitioned by hundreds of parents, pleading with her to keep it open. She complied. Already Care has provided opportunities for millions of girls and boys from poor backgrounds, who have reached adulthood as surgeons, teachers and business people.
 
I got the sense that her project, though already huge, was just in its infancy. Seema told me: “Our systems are now in place so that we can educate up to one million children a year.” With a population of over 170 million, even one million makes a relatively small difference in Pakistan. Nevertheless, the work of Care suggests how easy it would be to transform Pakistan from a relatively backward nation into a south-east Asian powerhouse.
 
Certainly, it is a country scarred by cynicism and corruption, where rich men do not hesitate to steal from the poor, and where natural events such as earthquakes and floods can bring about limitless human suffering. But the people show a resilience that is utterly humbling in the face of these disasters.
 
In the wake of the floods of 2009 I travelled deep into the Punjab to the village of Bhangar to gauge the extent of the tragedy. Just a few weeks earlier everything had been washed away by eight-feet deep waters. Walking into this ruined village I saw a well-built man, naked to the waist, stirring a gigantic pot. He told me that his name was Khalifa and that he was preparing a rice dinner for the hundred or more survivors of the floods.
 
The following morning I came across Khalifa, once again naked to the waist and sweating heavily. Pools of stagnant water lay around. This time he was hard at work with a shovel, hacking out a new path into the village to replace the one that had been washed away.A little later that morning I went to the cemetery to witness the burial of a baby girl who had died of a gastric complaint during the night. And there was Khalifa at work, this time as a grave digger. Khalifa was a day labourer who was lucky to earn $2 (£1.26) a day at the best of times. To prejudiced Western commentators, he may have appeared a symbol of poverty, bigotry and oppression. In reality, like the courageous volunteers I met working at an ambulance centre in Karachi last year, a city notorious for its gangland violence, he represents the indomitable spirit of the Pakistani people, even when confronted with a scale of adversity that would overpower most people in the West.
 
As I’ve discovered, this endurance expresses itself in almost every part of life. Consider the Pakistan cricket team which was humiliated beyond endurance after the News of the World revelations about “spot-fixing” during the England tour of 2010. Yet, with the culprits punished, a new captain, Misbah-ul-Haq has engineered a revival. In January I flew to Dubai to witness his team humiliate England in a three-match series that marked a fairy-tale triumph.
 
Beyond that there is the sheer beauty of the country. Contrary to popular opinion, much of Pakistan is perfectly safe to visit so long as elementary precautions are taken, and, where necessary, a reliable local guide secured. I have made many friends here, and they live normal, fulfilled family lives. Indeed there is no reason at all why foreigners should not holiday in some of Pakistan’s amazing holiday locations, made all the better by the almost complete absence of Western tourists.
 
Take Gilgit-Baltistan in the north, where three of the world’s greatest mountain ranges – the Hindu Kush, the Himalayas and the Karakorams — meet. This area, easily accessible by plane from the Pakistani capital of Islamabad, is a paradise for climbers, hikers, fishermen and botanists. K2 – the world’s second-highest mountain – is in Gilgit, as are some of the largest glaciers outside the polar regions.
 
Go to Shandur, 12,000ft above sea level, which every year hosts a grand polo tournament between the Gilgit and Chitral polo teams in a windswept ground flanked by massive mountain ranges. Or travel south to Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa, cradle of the Indus Valley civilisation which generated the world’s first urban culture, parallel with Egypt and ancient Sumer, approximately 5,000 years ago.
 
Of course, some areas of Pakistan are dangerous. A profile of Karachi – Pakistan’s largest city and commercial capital – in Time magazine earlier this year revealed that more than 1,000 people died in 2011 in street battles fought between heavily armed supporters of the city’s main political parties. Karachi is plagued by armed robbery, kidnapping and murder and, in November last year, was ranked 216 out of 221 cities in a personal-safety survey carried out by the financial services firm Mercer.
 
But isn’t it time we acknowledged our own responsibility for some of this chaos? In recent years, the NATO occupation of Afghanistan has dragged Pakistan towards civil war. Consider this: suicide bombings were unknown in Pakistan before Osama bin Laden’s attack on the Twin Towers in September 2001. Immediately afterwards, President Bush rang President Musharraf and threatened to “bomb Pakistan into the stone age” if Musharraf refused to co-operate in the so-called War on Terror.
The Pakistani leader complied, but at a terrible cost. Effectively the United States president was asking him to condemn his country to civil war by authorising attacks on Pashtun tribes who were sympathetic to the Afghan Taliban. The consequences did not take long, with the first suicide strike just six weeks later, on October 28.
 
Many write of how dangerous Pakistan has become. More remarkable, by far, is how safe it remains, thanks to the strength and good humour of its people. The image of the average Pakistani citizen as a religious fanatic or a terrorist is simply a libel, the result of ignorance and prejudice.
 
The prejudice of the West against Pakistan dates back to before 9/11. It is summed up best by the England cricketer Ian Botham’s notorious comment that “Pakistan is the sort of place every man should send his mother-in-law to, for a month, all expenses paid”. Some years after Botham’s outburst, the Daily Mirror had the inspired idea of sending Botham’s mother-in-law Jan Waller to Pakistan – all expenses paid – to see what she made of the country.
 
Unlike her son-in-law, Mrs Waller had the evidence of her eyes before her: “The country and its people have absolutely blown me away,” said the 68-year-old grandmother.
After a trip round Lahore’s old town she said: “I could not have imagined seeing some of the sights I have seen today. They were indefinable and left me feeling totally humbled and totally privileged.” She concluded: “All I would say is: ‘Mothers-in-law of the world, unite and go to Pakistan. Because you’ll love it’. Honestly!”
 
Mrs Waller is telling the truth. And if you don’t believe me, please visit and find out for yourself.
 
This article also appeared in SEVEN magazine, free with The Sunday Telegraph. Follow SEVEN on Twitter @TelegraphSeven

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Sachal Studio: All that jazz!

 

 

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Sachal Studio: All that jazz!

Published: February 24, 2014

Louis Armstrong once said, “If you have to ask what Jazz is, then you will never know.” Sachal Studios was born to produce the music of melody, acoustic harmony and rhythms that rock the heart.

LAHORE: It’s been three years, since Sachal Studio launched its Jazz ensemble with its cover of Dave Brubeck’s Take Five. The moment is etched into the studio’s glory. Each wall has a framed copy of the letter of the late composer Dave Brubeck, who passed away in 2012. Since the first album Sachal Jazz, and its follow-up album Jazz and All That, the ensemble has been paving the way for another phase – that of their highly-anticipated live performances.

Composer and businessman Izzat Majeed is uncompromising, and feels at home in the studio. He has very few words to say, but his search for melody and creating a creative work place, allows one to delve into unimaginable possibilities of music and art. The ensemble, which includes several veteran musicians, primarily from the ‘old film industry’, have pointed out that there has never been a platform for jazz such as this one in Pakistan. In fact, the orchestras which had been connected to the studios, whether EMI or leading film composers such as Robin Ghosh and others, never provided these musicians the opportunity to perform live. The band that debuted at the prestigious Queen Elizabeth Hall, London in 2012, is now becoming a staple for some of the biggest jazz festivals across the globe; recently they performed at the Lincoln Center, alongside Wynton Marsalis and the JALC Orchestra.

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Take Five was something that became global and after the albums we were invited to some of the pre-eminent festivals in jazz,” says Majeed. “So our year is full, and I think the important thing is that it keeps our great musicians very happy and innovative. They get to learn a lot, meanwhile we get to continue what we enjoy doing.”

This weekend they prepared for one of the few local concerts that they have performed at; Al-Hamra Arts Complex saw their performance as part of the Lahore Literary Festival. Majeed ensures that the band does not compromise on the sound and venue. The live performance rehearsals are intense and when the team gets together, it is pure magic.

A major component of the studio, composer and arranger Riaz Hussain passed away and has been succeeded by his son Najaf Ali, who leads the performances as a conductor and maintains a sense of energy amongst the ageing veterans.

“I think right now wherever Jazz is being heard, Sachal Jazz ensemble is there. We have been really successful. I mean, Jazz at Lincoln Center is considered a mecca for this music and we had the opportunity to perform with one of the top musicians in the Jazz world. We plan on moving forward, you will have to watch out for us,” says Ali.

The Jazz ensemble is an extension of the studio’s other folk and classical projects, but the success and exclusivity is something that has given many of the musicians an honour they have not experienced before. Ali explains that the studio’s Take Five track provided it with a sort of accessibility and credibility. Its albums and performances have been readily talked about through the jazz world.

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Ustad Ijaz Hussain, or Baloo Khan as he is known by, is their well-known tabla player. He says the success of the jazz ensemble has been connected to the fact that they have not compromised on their preparation and the musicians involved were the best in Pakistan at the peak of their abilities. This is about the drive to get them together and create something exciting. “Wynton Marsalis said we have a magical house, because we are doing what we have learnt over the years. It’s not about jazz, it’s about what we have learnt,” says Hussain. While the documentaries about the studio show these musicians struggling to make ends meet, Hussain points out that during his first concert in the 70s, Noor Jehan was his announcer and he had worked relentlessly with the likes of Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan since then. “We have been waiting for the time to perform and teach, because that’s the duty of an ustad. He should play in such a way that the world enjoys, but also learns about the music at the same time,” Hussain concluded.

With these live performances, the musicians are back to what they do best – bringing down a house.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 25th, 2014.

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THE REAL PAKISTAN

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http://amfunworld.blogspot.com/2011/02/10-reasons-why-i-still-love-pakistan.html

Please Visit These Great Pakistani Websites:

Articles Courtesy:

http://paksabka.com.pk/2014/03/10/be-pakistani-buy-pakistani/

http://amfunworld.blogspot.com/2011/02/10-reasons-why-i-still-love-pakistan.html

BE PAKISTANI, BUY PAKISTANI

Nadia Rafiq Butt.
Pakistan like many other countries is striving to get a positive image for one reason or the other. One can spell out a number of reasons. On top is sectarianism and extremism which has become plague for our society. Then is the law and order situation, frequency of murders and thefts and all such crimes. However, this doesn’t suggest that things are not under control. There are good people and good things to report. It must be admitted that human societies have their limitations. Freedom, justice and equality are only ideals. Total justice and peace is not humanly possible. Instead of looking at it in a negative way, one should look at those negatives with a glass half-full approach, and one should realize that spreading positivity instead of deprivation and scarcity would serve the cause better as we all hold responsibility being nationals to our homeland. Man will only remain on the right track if a mental discipline is shaped by education and if there is a fear of law, justice and punishment, in short dispense of justice without fear or favor. If a society enjoys justice and fair play it will surely portray soft image.
If our social, economic and administrative systems work reasonably and efficiently no harm can come to Pakistan. If all get justice and feel secure no one will think of any criminal activities. Every citizen must have confidence in its justice system. There can be no peace without justice and no civilized society without education. In the absence of justice and literacy no one can vision of credibility of sound reputation of the country.
Apparently Pakistan’s softer image is being portrayed by book releases, rock concerts and exhibitions nationally either internationally. Somehow we misunderstood the reality that the solution lies to the problems of country. We can somehow fix this problem by altering our international image of being naïve along with gratified and full of pride of our own culture and traditions. We have to come out of copying and competing others thereafter. If we can value our own culture and traditions showcasing higher values and norms with self-dignity only then we can gently put others on the track of respecting our culture and traditions in reciprocation. 
Pakistan is making all sorts of efforts to tackle deadly hazard of terrorism not only for its own good but for the whole world. Terrorism could only be defeated through dialogue, as it was the only way to eliminate terrorism where the outcome of using power would produce no positive results but would aggravate the situation. Unfortunately the western world is not giving Pakistan its due credit. It keeps on highlighting only those things through which the image of the country can be damaged and their national interests get served. More fuel is been added by next-door enemy India whose psychological warfare has always put serious harm to our country both nationally and internationally. But would it serve sensible if we keep waiting for due credit. Putting aside unhygienic debate of our war or others war enforced on our country and steered by our forces, political leaders should get our unparalleled sacrifices and unshaken resolve acknowledged by international world regardless of opposition’s propaganda which has been going since years and will keep going. 
Pakistan’s soft image can be portrayed through three resources i.e. culture economy and media. Pakistan is not being able to attract the western world through its historical and cultural heritage. Pakistan has great heritage from North to South. Tourism can bring a big change and can play a pivotal role. Cultural events, exchange programs, broadcasting or teaching country’s language and promoting country’s culture and society can be used as soft tools. Basant and Valentine’s Day celebrations will not help. We are in dire need of culture of tolerance in Pakistan but anything against the true spirit of Islam needs to be discouraged. Pakistan must think to start exchange programs between students. Teachers must be welcome from abroad to teach their language to young students in Pakistan and vice versa. Science and technology must be given high preferences. Helping other countries in disasters and emergency situations can prove our soft side instead of highlighting and pretending miseries in the greed of getting aid from international world. Government should stay alive to the issues of backwardness, unemployment and economic deprivation in the country and keep striving to address these through judicious distribution of resources.
People buy brands not products, this is an age old fact acknowledged by the researchers of the world. We need to develop our brand reputed Pakistan. Almost every other country is associated with its national characteristics. Italy is associated with style, Japan with technology, India with history and culture, so our efforts with branding must be guided to find our economic role. Here comes the question how we can package our self. The media particularly electronic media can play a major role. We need to have more of English news channels to have more international audience. Media has hyped bad news and have made it look like a demon.This does not mean that nothing good has happened or is happening. The only prevailing fact that bad news is more newsworthy than good news. Media has played a huge part in this feeling of desperation by mainly reporting bad news and harping on it. Calling the same idiots for discussions on prime time every day is hardly a way of finding solutions tour myriad problems. Media seems to be shunning every positive news because it is not sexy and gets no TRPs or advertising.We all know that publicity is what a company or individual receives when something prominent happens and when the notable event is good, the publicity usually attracts new client and gives the company something to brag about in future.We as a nation have to say that yes we are going through bad times and all of us in some way or other are contributors to this. Let’s all now resolve to get out of this rut by doing sincerely and honestly what our individual jobs are before we point fingers at others. We need to be more focused and targeted as generic strategies “Be Pakistani, buy Pakistani” “East or West, Pakistan is the best” will not work anymore. 

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