Dna issue 111

C M yk

Sunday, 17 - 23 January, 2016 i issue 111 i Pages 16 i rs 30

TURBULENT INDIAPAK RELATIONS

COMPROMISING THE CORRIDOR?

AND THE NEW NORMAL?

POTHOLES IN CPEC?

OPiniOn: Arif Nizami

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Cover story this week

STIRRING UNNECESSARY CONTROVERSY COver StOrY: Mian Abrar

Page 06

THE GORAKH CHRONICLES: PARADISE FORSAKEN FRUITS OF SERVITUDE, AMONG OTHER THINGS travel: Bilal Saeed

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Pages 06-08

WHY HAS CPEC THE IS PML-N REALLY HASN’T THE PRIME MINISTER ARE THE CHINESE BEGINNING ‘GAME-CHANGER’ SUDDENLY FAVOURING PUNJAB PROMISED PRIORITISING THE TO WORRY ABOUT THE PACE BECOME SO CONTROVERSIAL? OVER OTHER PROVINCES? WESTERN ROUTE BEFORE? OF PAKISTANI PROGRESS?

C M YK

Sunday, 17 - 23 January, 2016

EdiTorial

Dedicated to the legacy of the late Hameed Nizami

Arif Nizami Editor

Aziz-ud-Din Ahmad

Shahab Jafry

Joint Editor

Associate Editor

\

Asher John

Sajid Khan Lodhy

Chief News Editor

Op-ed Editor

The Pakistan Stock Exchange

Lahore – Ph: 042-36375963-5 Fax: 042-32535230 Karachi – Ph: 021-35381208-9 Fax: 021-35381208 Islamabad – Ph: 051-2287273 Fax: 051-2818125 Web: www.pakistantoday.com.pk Email: editorial@pakistantoday.com.pk

The CPEC windfall Will we benefit?

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heRe are two broad ways of looking at CPeC. one is that it was a project long in the making.

Successive Pakistani governments had appreciated its potential, and when the Chinese initiative finally came Pakistan was naturally recognised as an essential corridor for the greater new Silk Route Project. of course, it would be too much to say that PML-n was simply lucky to be in office at the time. But there is also another view, the PMLn’s view, which portrays the Corridor as the ruling party’s brainchild. It is almost as if the project would be incomprehensible if the nleague had not come to power, and the $46b bonanza is, in fact, its gift to the nation.

There is more truth in the first assumption than the

second, to say the least. In ways CPeC came at a good time for the ruling party; just when it was struggling to justify a soft economy under a supposedly business friendly government.

But in other ways the Sharifs must be credit for going after it with vigour, at least on the surface. Yet their own personal footprint on the project is increasingly also becoming a cause for concern.

Internal political confrontation – especially about the prime minister keeping his word about routes, etc, and shares of provinces – has now begun disturbing the Chinese, not just the local opposition. Beijing is now worrying that Pakistan might not be able to meet some crucial deadlines. And, again, since Pakistan is but one part of the overall project – albeit an integral part – falling behind

There is more truth in the first assumption than the second, to say the least.

In ways CPEC came at a good time for the ruling party; just when it was struggling to justify a soft economy under a supposedly business friendly government. But in other ways the Sharifs must be credit for going after it with vigour, at least on the surface. Yet their own personal footprint on the project is increasingly also becoming a cause for concern.

the curve here can disrupt progress in other countries, which will not be without diplomatic fallout. The ruling party must immediately remove any ambiguity regarding the project. Provinces’ concerns must be addressed and the impression that the prime minister only keeps his close kitchen cabinet in the loop must be shed. Unless these steps are taken immediately, Pakistan might emerge the big winner from the Corridor as is being portrayed. g

Da’ish casting a long shadow

Quantifying progress

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oW that capital market gurus are done patting themselves on the back – for having realised the long dream of a unified stock exchange – it is worth seeing what the exercise is capable of achieving.

The main purpose, of course, was to put ownership and operations of capital markets into private hands, improving efficiency while, more importantly in our case, trimming down the leverage large brokers have held over the market for far too long. And while integrating the three exchanges is a necessary step in that direction, it works only when it is treated as one step, which means congratulations should be kept to a minimum till real private ownership is achieved, at least, and powerful brokers are seen restricted in their influence.

The litmus test of every marketrelated move is the market itself.

Interestingly, this was not the only surprise Mr Market had to price in during the week. And it would not be fair to say that the recent arrests of senior management of a very resourceful leading brokerage did not cause any ripples, although the hiccup was not nearly of the magnitude one would associate with such a move in normal circumstances. And since the integration was seemingly originally intended to control influential brokers who could disrupt the market – or threaten to disrupt it – at the slightest hint of transparency, the initial reaction has not been discouraging, to say the least.

A lot more still needs to be done. Transparency is the foremost concern whenever international investors look for markets to park their funds. And capital markets need to be all the more up to scratch in times of political uncertainty, especially the type of troubles Pakistan has with militancy and extremism. Equity market efficiency can still be ensured, provided there is transparency and a wellorganised management system.

A lot more still needs to be done. Transparency is the foremost concern whenever international investors look for markets to park their funds. And capital markets need to be all the more up to scratch in times of political uncertainty, especially the type of troubles Pakistan has with militancy and extremism. equity market efficiency can still be ensured, provided there is transparency and a well-organised management system. The local bourse has managed to attract outsiders even in times of mayhem.

It can naturally do a lot better if its own practices are improved. g

Unite to fight the demon

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hen terror visited Indonesia last week after a lull of seven years, a selfassured administration was badly shaken. The attack underscored the need for constant vigilance against the most blood-thirsty and at the same time most resilient and resourceful of all the terrorist networks.

Despite being under constant hammering from Russian, American and French fighter planes, Da’ish continues to spread its tentacles across the globe. During the last few months it has launched attacks in Libya, Lebanon, France and Turkey. nearer home it has left its footprint in Bangladesh. In Afghanistan’s nangarhar province the network’s radio station “Voice of the Caliphate” broadcasts in Pashto spreading its message of violence in adjoining districts. Last week Da’ish targeted Pakistan’s consulate in Jalalabad. Later its Afghanistan branch attacked the ARY office in Islamabad. early this month the Punjab law minister told media that about 100 volunteers had left Pakistan for Syria and Iraq to join Da’ish while 42 Da’ish supporters were arrested in Punjab. Days before a Da’ish terror cell was busted by the province’s Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) in Sialkot. In Lahore a number of women were reported to have recently travelled to Syria to join the network.

India has so far remained immune from Da’ish

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A realisation is growing in India that individual efforts by countries cannot meet the challenge posed by Da’ish and time has come when countries should set aside their differences and unite to fight the demons.

attacks. Several Indians have however been nabbed abroad for recruiting for Da’ish or trying to join the terrorist group. Last month, three people in India were arrested by Maharashtra’s Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) while attempting to join the outfit. The network’s flags have also appeared in Indian controlled Kashmir. A realisation is growing in India that individual efforts by countries cannot meet the challenge posed by Da’ish and time has come when countries should set aside their differences and unite to fight the demons. The recent willingness shown by new Delhi to improve ties with Pakistan is indicative of the thinking. While individually each country has its own specific mechanisms to fight terror which it needs to strengthen, the Da’ish threat would require much more coordination on a regional level. g

whiteLies Apollo

For feedback, comments, suggestions and, most importantly, tips, contact us at whitelies@pakistantoday.com.pk

Keeping up with the Kayanis The brothers of former Army Chief Ashfaq Parvez Kayani are in the news of late, for all the wrong reasons.

One of them, Amjad Kayani, keeps pleading on TV how humble a life he is leading in Rawalpindi, but Kamran Kayani, the real man behind the scene, is away from the scene.

Amjad, a retired brigadier himself, told reporters at a press conference that their famous brother had nothing to do with their construction business.

But we all know the drill. had Kamran not been the army chief’s brother, how did he get all those huge contracts, especially since his competence otherwise was such that he couldn’t even complete the construction of a single road near Lahore’s new airport? g

********** The media-obsessed PML-N keeps shaking things up in that department. The media management office in the prime minister’s secretariat is currently being run by Maryam Nawaz Sharif, who is looking at all matters. The office also seems to be doling out favours by way of foreign trips and exclusive access to favourable pundits.

Inside reports suggest that MD PTV Mohammad Malick is on his way out of the organisation. As is, he has already been cut down to size by bringing in Ata-ul-haq Qasmi as the organisation’s chairman. g

C M YK

Sunday, 17 - 23 January, 2016

opiNioN

Turbulent india-pak relations

And the new normal?

based on their flawed ideologies for far too long.

Ironically last Wednesday — the day the government clamped down on JeM – a suicide attack by the TTP on a polio centre in Quetta claimed 15 lives. Similarly the same day Da’ish launched an abortive suicide attack on the Pakistani consulate in Jalalabad, killing seven security operatives.

It is time that Pakistan, for its own sake, flushes out not only its badlands but also the heartland of terrorists of all shades. In the south of Punjab — where Maulana Masood azhar and his cohorts are based — terrorists belonging to banned The writer is Editor, Pakistan Today. He outfits have had a free pass. can be reached at arifn51@hotmail.com The military leadership wants to launch a Rangers-led operation in Punjab similar to the ongoing operation in Sindh. hankfully the proposed Reportedly the Punjab government is “Comprehensive Bilateral dragging its feet on the facile plea that if Dialogue” process has been properly equipped and trained, its counter salvaged from the debris of the terrorism department is quite capable of brazen terrorist attack on the handling the job.

Pathankot air Base. according to the Sadly enough our leadership — military Indian external affairs ministry and khaki — has arisen to the challenge spokesperson, the proposed bilateral talks only after the chickens have already come have been rescheduled with mutual home to roost. Even though a bit late, our consent and will resume “sometime in the leadership now seems to be aware that near future.” terrorism has to be rooted out in all forms This is a clear departure from the past. and across the board in order to save It seems post narendra Modi’s brief Pakistan. stopover in lahore late last month to meet The army chief General Raheel Sharif Prime Minister Sharif, relations between has vowed that 2016 is the year to take out India and Pakistan are no longer hostage to all terrorists. he is walking the talk and acts of terrorism ostensibly perpetrated by leading by example. The military under non-state actors him has outgrown the distinction made hitherto between the so called good and bad terrorists.

The PMl-n, the ruling party at the ‘A break from the past, it is federal level and in Punjab, till recently becoming increasingly clear that avowedly had a soft corner for jihadi the military and civilian leadership elements. The federal government not too long ago was overly keen to open talks with are on the same page on resuming the TTP, and Interior Minister nisar ali the long stalled dialogue process khan almost sounded like their apologist.

Thankfully, all that has hopefully with India’ changed for the better. But unless a zero tolerance policy is not followed through Whenever there was a thaw in the with vigour, counterterrorism efforts will offing between the two neighbours in the come to naught. uS President Barack past, cross border-terrorism would scuttle Obama delivering his last State of the the process before it would have even union addresses before his term ends begun. The november 2008 Mumbai november this year has, ominously, carnage, skirmishes on the line of Control claimed that terrorists infested states like (lOC) in kashmir and now the Pathankot Pakistan will face instability for decades. incident were part of this familiar pattern.

Our leadership relying on the resilience The mother of all such incidents of the Pakistani people should prove the however remains the kargil incursion. world wrong. But this is not going to While nawaz Sharif was welcoming his happen with half hearted short term Indian counterpart atal Behari Vajpayee measures guided by a flawed security on a sojourn to lahore in february 1999, paradigm. army chief General Pervez Musharraf was The world is fast changing. and if we do busy planning his putsch on to the kargil not change with it we will be condemned to heights. the cesspool of perennially failed states: In this context now the security the likes of Iraq, libya, and afghanistan. agencies taking into custody banned Jaishhopefully, postponement of a e-Muhammad (JeM) chief Maulana comprehensive dialogue process with new Masood azhar, his brother Maulana abdul Delhi will prove to be brief. But judging by Rauf along with a dozen other fellow the turbulent history of Indo-Pak relations, activists is a game changer. a strongly there could easily be many a slip between worded and empathic statement issued by the cup and the lip. the prime minister’s office following a The Indian ministry of external affairs meeting of senior civilian leadership and spokesman, making a clear break from its the top brass last Wednesday is like a past practice of engaging in a blame game, breath of fresh air. has welcomed Islamabad nabbing the JeM a break from the past, it is becoming chief and his cohorts. new Delhi has also increasingly clear that the military and promised to facilitate a Special civilian leadership are on the same page on Investigation Team (SIT) formed by resuming the long stalled dialogue process Pakistan to visit Pathankot. however the with India. Implicitly, Pakistan now views SIT’s mandate and access to information terrorism perhaps more will be decided later by seriously than India as an new Delhi. existential threat. and here lies the rub.

‘India wants Pakistan to act nevertheless, the according to details now on the “actionable manner in which the soemerging the Pathankot called banned jihadi incident is being intelligence” it has outfits till the recent past in the Indian provided on the Pathankot portrayed were able to operate with media as an inside job. incident. By the same impunity says volumes India wants Pakistan about the state’s resolve to act on the “actionable count, it should be willing (or lack of it) to deal with intelligence” it has to share vital information such elements with an provided on the iron hand. These groups Pathankot incident. By with the Pakistani SIT’ have been spewing hatred the same count, it should

Arif NizAmi

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be willing to share vital information with the Pakistani SIT. Perhaps, by virtue of a little nudging from outside powers and allies, both new Delhi and Islamabad have been persuaded to act maturely for the sake of their respective enlightened self interests.

Diplomatic moves in the past few weeks are unprecedented if judged in the backdrop of the turbulent and often volatile history of relations between the two adversarial nations.

The only constant are the hawks on

both sides of the divide and militants who have thrived on spreading their hate ideology guided by their obsessive desire to sabotage even a modicum of a thaw no matter what the cost. The Pathankot incident in this scenario was something not entirely unexpected.

The mature manner in which both India and Pakistan have handled its aftermath, in many ways, is the new normal. But we will have to keep our fingers crossed to see whether it proves to be more permanent or merely a flash in the pan? g

www.pakistantoday.com.pk 03

C M YK

Sunday, 17 - 23 January, 2016

opinion

Humayun GauHar

Through the eye of a needle While corruption stalks the land, our clueless government has been conned by India

The writer is a political analyst. He can be reached at: humayun.gauhar786@gmail.com

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y son Muhammad Ali and I got to talking about corruption. I took the conversation seriously because he is only 27 and it is vital that the right values are instilled in him so that he can be a good world citizen. There is no dearth of people who mislead the young: “Principles are all very well,” they tell them, “but grab all you can when you have the opportunity. Those who don’t are fools.” The message is loud and clear: “Corruption is intelligent; honesty is stupid. The few honest are those who never got the chance to be dishonest, not because they are intelligent.”

Welcome to the darkness of and justice, kindness, moderation, ‘democracy’ – dishonest, rigged, mercy and forgiveness, our duties sham. We have no electricity here towards God and His creations in Pakistan’s capital for the last and you will find peace, which you four hours and counting. Our will be able to take with you to ‘democracy’ is an insult to your grave, leaving behind your democracy. Time to change bank accounts, real estate and Shehbaz Sharif’s name. How about gold for they will be of no use to ‘Dracula: Prince of Darkness’? you in the next world for you will I know that today’s world has not be able to impress God or got so corrupt that the right bribe your way to Heaven. In fact, values are no longer the yardstick more than necessary wealth is of of success. Now the universal no use to you in this world either, yardstick of ‘success’ is money unless you spend it in looking and wealth to the exclusion of after humanity. morality or anything else. Success But do people listen? The is when a person does not hate history of humankind since Jesus himself. Success is being able to is littered more with people trying look at one’s face in the mirror. to become rich any old how than Success is to have self-esteem. people who look upon money to Success is being able to go to meet essential worldly needs only sleep at night with peace of mind. while saving a fair amount for a Success is knowing that one is rainy day and not accumulate it feeding one’s family and meeting beyond those needs, sometimes their genuine needs honestly. so much as to be buried under it I reminded Ali again of Jesus without using some of it for the Christ’s admonition as related in good of humanity except as a Matthew, public relations Chapter 29 Verse exercise as 24 in the New ‘If corruption is the source diversion to International camouflage of one’s wealth it is Version of the corruption by ungodly and so bad that Holy Bible. proclaiming Other versions their such people will not be too carry the benevolence. able to go to the kingdom same the verse: Such people “I tell you help the poor of God, which is Heaven, again, it’s easier free food, which is perfect peace that with for a camel to go education, one finds in God only’ through the eye healthcare, of a needle than housing, for a rich person daughters’ to go to the Kingdom of God.” marriages and what have you and The words “I tell you again” then let their benevolence be shows that Jesus had to say it widely known. When time comes again and again to din the to go through the eye of a needle message into people’s heads, that many stand up to proclaim their they should stop worshiping the munificence. It might help them Golden Calf that symbolises in going through the eye of the unlawful and immoral wealth in worldly needle, but not the divine its various forms and needle. Then they shall know, for manifestations. Later, God God is all knowing. They will have repeatedly gave the same to desperately depend on Him message in the Holy Quran. being all merciful, all forgiving, Being rich is not bad in itself: which depends on their the question is how one has got intentions and compulsions rich. If corruption is the source of behind their deeds, which only one’s wealth it is ungodly and so God. They will hear about their bad that such people will not be deeds from their skins, tongues able to go to the kingdom of God, and other organs and senses. which is Heaven, which is perfect Actually, they will start getting peace that one finds in God only. their dues in this world for God It’s not without reason that the says that wrongdoers and tyrants word ‘Islam’ means peace. Follow will not be able to find an inch of its fundamentals and principles land to hide in. based on adl or balance, equity Corruption of all sorts stalks

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not only our land but the entire world too. Look at Turkey’s Erdoğan whose family was buying oil on the cheap from ISIS and thus covertly helping it while overtly waging war against it – hypocrisy that kills and leaves one aghast. Now the terrorist inferno has started engulfing Turkey. It will be worse for Erdoğan because he peddled Islam to acquire power.

But the most amazing is the land of the pure that we call Pakistan that has tried to embarrass Jesus by making it possible for the corrupt to go through the eye of a needle.

Obviously, since we have as our finance minister a self-confessed money laundering expert.

Pakistan’s government in desperate need of money has announced that a corrupt person can now pay only one per cent of his or her ill-gotten wealth as ‘tax’, turn black into white and go through the eye of a needle to what they think is heaven. When they get there they will discover much to their discomfiture that they have entered the kingdom of Satan, not of God, where total absence of peace awaits them – that is hell. Then they will know that not all their wealth can save them. And they will find illegitimate rulers there too who conned them into believing that after ‘whitening’ their money they would enter God’s Heaven. A dreadful fate awaits them all.

That’s not all. Our government floated Euro Bonds at huge interest rates but we don’t know for sure who or what purchased them. But whoever did can now sit back and enjoy a neat ‘legal’ income for ten years, higher than they would get from any deposit account, thank you very much.

Could it be, perchance, that a lot of the Euro Bonds were purchased with Pakistani corrupt money, a lot of it by our rulers? Of course God knows, but we will discover it one day as well when this government is done and dusted.

The word ‘Darnomics’ has been ‘Darlaundering’ – our finance ministry is a shop called ‘Snow White Launderers’.

As God says, the corrupt will not find an inch of ground to hide in on earth except, if they are lucky, a grave, but there is no

appearances sake except when the Rangers investigate the big corrupt. The danger is that after some time people wielding near unmitigated power are in danger of getting attacked by the corruption virus themselves – the glitter of gold. Now with Saudi Arabia on the skids Middle Eastern safe havens for charlatans, rascals and freebooters are in danger of evaporating.

Where will they go? They better start looking for other havens that will have them else they might go to the kingdom of Satan the wrong way – feet first, not through the eye of a needle but a tunnel of fire.

A few individuals notwithstanding, collectively our politicians are a gang of witches who cook up lethal brews. They are not implementing the ‘National Action Plan’ against terrorism properly or totally to save themselves from the wheels of God. Recently this Conclave of Losers, ugliness personified, met to demand a piece from the ChinaPakistan Economic Corridor pie without regard to feasibility. All they have is to look at the map of the Corridor and see the network guarantee. Ask Dr Asim Hussain of road and rail links all over who cannot find an inch of land Pakistan in every province and to hide his shame in. Ask former area. It covers everyone. What can army chief General Ashfaq Parvez one do when surrounded by Kayani and some generals before morons like this? It is like children him. They too cannot find an inch fighting over inheritance from of ground to hide their shame in. their dead mother. They are trying It has just started because Nawaz to turn the CPEC into another Sharif made his habitual ‘mistake’ Kalabagh Dam that has become as of appointing an honest general dead as a dormouse. as army chief, the ‘wrong’ one for In just a few hours Indian him. He may have only nine Prime Minister Modi turned the months left in office, but nine tables on our clueless rulers with months is a long time my friends, his unannounced ‘sudden’ visit to long enough to produce a child.

Lahore. In a trice he turned his More power to General Raheel image from mass murderer to Sharif’s elbow. May the force be moderate peacemaker in the eyes with him and may he not be of the world: ‘comprehensive’ seduced by Satan’s glitter of gold. talks on all issues would resume Such world-class corruption in January at foreign secretary has been begotten by a corrupt level. Then a few days later system that throws up stupid and followed a most convenient corrupt rulers. It has got so bad attack, the Pathankot attack on an that desperate people are selling Indian air base, though for once their bodies to keep their souls some Indian media have started together with saying that it them. was an inside Prostitution has job. Now India ‘A few individuals become the is again setting notwithstanding, fastest growing the agenda for collectively our politicians ‘peace’ talks: the profession in a state that talks are stalled are a gang of witches who blasphemously indefinitely but cook up lethal brews. They now only calls itself ‘Islamic’. We terrorism will be are not implementing the know the on the agenda ‘National Action Plan’ punishment we before against terrorism properly ‘comprehensive are getting on earth but how talks’ can begin. or totally to save bad will it be in Cornered, we themselves from the the Hereafter I will have to shudder to comply, wheels of God’ think. Gun especially with a runners, drug leadership dealers, land grabbers, spoiling for ‘normalisation’ with kidnappers, assassins, human India for selfish reasons. traffickers, brothel owners, Kashmir, the real issue that is at buyers of public office have the core of all our problems has overrun this land of the ‘pure’. faded far into the international Ours is a kaleidoscope of multihorizon. This is what happens in coloured corruption. the blink of an eye when clueless We have deficit upon deficit. moronic leaders are confronted Our clueless rulers suffer acute with a clever wily leader. Serves intelligence and morality deficits them right, indulging in the kind that that cause unmitigated of showmanship that they did in suicidal stupidity that in turn Lahore. Our prime minister causes fiscal, trade and all sorts of should break from his irrelevant deficits. Government will find that international jaunts and consider such perfidious laws and actions paying a sudden visit to Pakistan will still not fill the chasm between as well. earnings and spending. The I’ve made my point. Now let message is reiterated: it pays us pray that our moron begetting hugely to be corrupt in this system that in turn begets ‘Islamic’ state as long as it is big corruption bites the dust if corruption. Only the poor and Pakistan and its people are to be small corrupt get punished for saved. g

C M YK

Sunday, 17 - 23 January, 2016

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the tube

uch like the rest of the commentariat, ARY’s Rauf Klasra also subscribes to the blame-only-the-politicians school of punditry. It is very difficult not to, because that is a commodity that sells most in the local marketplace for ideas.

In this vein, it was interesting to see him being called out in the past on social media, for the difference in his coverage of the foreign visits of the prime minister and the army chief. For the former, he always whips out a calculator and starts crunching the numbers on how much the trip would have cost, boarding, lodging and all. however, when it came to the army chief’s trip to the uS – an unsolicited trip, said the Americans – Klasra was far more muted about how much it cost the exchequer.

In all other matters, this attitude of holding back criticism when it comes to the military might be all well and good, but it becomes complicated when one wants to seek meaningful debate on the war against terror. Klasra, going by appearances, seems to be genuinely against militant organisations on a personal level. You see the problem. he has, for whatever it is worth, tried to push the envelope. In the aftermath of the Pathankot incident, he was one of the very few talking heads on TV who suggested the idea that perhaps the ball is in Pakistan’s court regarding the placation of the Indians’ reservations. he also asked why the united Jihad council’s claim of responsibility wasn’t followed up on.

Sometimes, he can go a bit further, as online readers can see in the clip below.

On this ARY programme, he played a recent (2016) clip of former ISI chief (former cOAS?) Gen Ziauddin Butt, where the latter talked about jihadi organisations as assets and as a “line of defence.” he said that these individuals were well-trained and would be of use if “God forbid, we are attacked.”

On the programme, retired AVM Shehzad chaudhry dismissed Butt’s views as relics of the past; that the army had changed much since Butt held sway.

Well, chaudhry just might be right and it is hoped he certainly is. But Butt not only outranked chaudhry many times over, but was also from the army, not the air force, thereby much better clued on the issue at hand. he headed the ISI itself. The very same views have been related by other ISI chiefs as well, most famously by General Asad Durrani on Al Jazeera.

The continued, uninterrupted presence of banned militant organisations in the country casts some doubt on the deep state’s supposed paradigm shift. Even if we argue that the cancer of fundamentalism cannot be routed out in one fell swoop, there is still the question of outright support to the Afghan Taliban.

These are all questions that need to be answered by the military itself and for that, we need meaningful debate. The coverage of the ongoing war on terror should not be limited to news anchors feverishly reading out ISPR press releases like automata.

media watch

Necessary questions Well, the issue was discussed in the Senate recently, where the secular PPP suggested doing away with it, to which the JuI-F’s Senator hamdullah replied that the suggestion was coming from the same party whose members didn’t even know Surah-e-Ikhlas.

This was, of course, a jab at former Interior Minister Rehman Malik’s faux pas when he couldn’t recite that bit of scripture in public. hamdullah went on to quip that even the Bollywood actress Sushmita Sen knew how to recite the Surah in question.

the one that was never aired Pound-for-pound, the country’s best political satire show is Khabarnaak. Yes, Azizi might get some guffaws and the slapstick artists at Mazaqraat might get something right once in a while, but it is the Geo show that has become the gold-standard of late.

The irrepressible Mir Mohammad Ali, who won a Presidential Pride of Performance last year, is the fuel of the show. The variety show might have other plus points, but as Aftab Iqbal’s dud of a new show over at Express illustrates, it is Mir who has that “it” factor that keeps the spark alive.

And his cerebral matter is not limited just to his mimicry but the whip-smart oneliners he shoots off while he is in character.

The range of his characters is amazing.

Asif Zardari, Nawaz Sharif, Imran Khan and Khwaja Asif you might have expected.

Shashi Tharoor, Jawaharlal Nehru, Mahesh

Bhatt, Antonio Inoki you might had not. And that is not to mention the Devil himself.

With the affable Naeem Bukhari hosting the show now, it is a far more entertaining watch.

Which brings us to the topic at hand.

Now Mir does a pretty mean Imran Khan impression. And once, he had performed as Imran Khan while another mimic (not nearly as talented as him) channelled Reham Khan. But Geo had cooked for its viewers a particularly interesting episode, the comedic motherlode, so to speak: the real Reham Khan appearing with Mir’s Imran Khan.

A teaser trailer made it online, which online viewers can see below.

Mir was in his element but it was Reham Khan who stole the show. Not only was she confident but she also showed a measure of comedic timing of her own.

Alas, the episode was never to be aired.

Some inside reports say that the PTI had personally asked the Geo management to kill the episode, while others say that the management had decided this on its own.

After all, the channel did get into the PTI’s bad books for much, much less (reporting, along with all other channels, that the party had lost the ‘13 elections.)

Now if only one had access to the vault over at Geo’s archives... g

everything’s better with a little Sush In the aftermath of the royal rumble at the council of Islamic Ideology, where Maulanas Ashrafi and Sherani did the whole dast-ogareban routine, there has been much debate on the need to have the council in the first place.

Though such views have always been a talking point for the liberals, this time, the conservatives chimed in too, if only to say that the present dispensation should be done away with. www.pakistantoday.com.pk 05

C M YK

CovEr story: CoMProMIsING tHE CorrIDor?

Potholes in CPEC?

Stirring unnecessary controversy

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ven before the project has vocal supporter, pitching it to its South matured, wrangling has set in Asian partners at several forums in recent over “your share, my share” years. Bangladesh is another supporter, as it among the political elite of gives it a cost-effective trading route to the Pakistan about the Chinaregion’s two largest economies. However, Pakistan economic Corridor (CPeC). Such Indians are complacent though. unnecessary controversies can jeopardise India-China trade has shot up the prospects of the $46 billion project. The exponentially, and China became India’s squabbling over the pie-share can even lead largest trading partner in 2012. The to a diplomatic gridlock between the ‘allconsumer market of both countries and weather’ friends — China and Pakistan. their production capabilities in It seems as if the ‘cat fight’ is largely for complementary sectors means that the securing business interests. We are always potential for deepening trade is still good at proving to the world how enormous. mismanaged we are on national issues.

Cost-effective access to the huge Indian Dancing to the tunes of ‘nationalism’, we market is a major incentive for China. The played with the Kalabagh Dam. We also project also gives it access to Bangladesh tried to stir a controversy over the Diamerand Myanmar. Bangladesh is a 150 million Bhasha Dam. Since both those projects were large consumer base, while Myanmar’s 60 related to water sharing, the million are emerging from controversy was economic isolation. Add to comprehensible. this India’s 1.2 billion and ‘Cost-effective access now we are doing the one sees the numbers China to the huge Indian same again by creating accesses with one single market is a major unnecessary controversy over corridor. the much-awaited and desired China has almost incentive for China.

CPeC. On one hand, we have developed the road network The project also gives in Yunnan, almost to the the so-called ‘nationalists’ who have time and again Myanmar border. A Chinese it access to failed to serve their people engineering company is also Bangladesh and better but now are making upgrading its stretches Myanmar’ noise over the CPeC – just to within Myanmar. stir ethnic sentiments among But the onward-markets masses as sanity is always the to which these corridors give first victim of ethnicity. On the other, we access are also important. Gwadar was built have to deal with the ambitious Sharif family, to enable China’s access to the Middle east who want to keep their hands full with the for oil and trading, by using the land route. lucrative CPeC projects.

This shows that China sees value in land-sea Since there are grants, preferential and transfers. even BCIM can serve as a gateway commercial loans are involved in CPeC, for onward-transit of Chinese products into there is a dire need to complete these the Indian Ocean, SAARC and Middle east projects within agreed upon timelines. markets.

Pakistan needs to understand that the Goods can be shipped from CPeC is a pilot project of the One Belt and Kolkata/Haldia in India or One Road vision of Chinese President Xi Chittagong/Mongla in Bangladesh to Jinping. We don’t know the fact that the onward countries, as long as the modalities CPeC needs early implementation so as of duty-free access and recordings are other phases of the road could be started. If worked out. Moreover, the BCIM corridor we don’t deliver on connecting Kashgar with can also be inter-connected with India’s Gwadar through CPeC, China may turn Golden Quadrilateral national Highways to towards India to help connectivity through enable the goods’ transfer to India’s western Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar to seaboard to the ports in Gujarat or Mumbai. connect Kunming with Kolkata.

That would minimise shipping freight costs Sourajit Aiyer, an Indian columnist, has for Middle-east bound goods almost an interesting analysis over the two comparable to that from Gwadar. corridors – the CPeC and BCIM. I am using One needs to look at the geography a chunk of the article for my readers: involved, and the investments needed for The BCIM Project is a multi-modal that terrain. economic corridor. China has been its most Yunnan is in proximity to the developed

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provinces of Guangdong and Hubei in institutionalisation of decision-making southern/central China. So goods can move regarding CPeC implantation. point-to-point from China’s industrialised So if this $46 billion jumps to $66 regions to South Asia much faster. In billion, the number of projects would be the comparison, the Karakoram highway to same. In case of delays, the Pakistani nation Pakistan is reachable only after traversing would bear the brunt in terms of loan several thousands of miles through scarcepayments. There is another possible developed Xinjiang, Tibet and Qinghai. scenario that the total number of projects is BCIM does not have the severe reduced but the cost may still escalate. This mountainous terrain of the Karakoram since would also leave its strategic partners this route geographically bypasses the thinking twice before banking on it in terms rougher sections of the Himalayas, except of future strategic planning. for around India’s Manipur-Assam It is time for political elite to learn how provinces or Myanmar’s Shan province. issues can be settled on the table. One The Kashgar-Gwadar corridor involves should not only hold responsible the extensive tunnelling and upgrading of the opposition for stirring the controversy over highway, which would be more time and CPeC projects. The blame needs to be capital intensive than construction over a shared by the ruling party itself. smoother terrain. The $18bn tunnelling deal While opposition parties are raising was signed during Prime Minister Sharif’s questions over ambiguities in the CPeC 2013 trip to Beijing, but the project itself plan, it seems that neither the opposition would be time consuming to complete. nor the cabinet ministers involved with the The planned scope of economic activity $46 billion project have been taken on possible on the BCIM is significant, when board completely. compares the investments involved in the We need to understand that $46 billion projects. BCIM is not just about trading is mere a seed-money and more investment goods between four countries. It would also would soon be on the way to help modernise facilitate power distribution via interPakistan. no province or part of the country connected grids into power-deficit would be left underdeveloped once CPeC Bangladesh and energy-consumer China, becomes operational. hydrocarbons, gas and oil movement from Politicians and bureaucrats involved in resource bases in Myanmar/Bangladesh, CPeC are concerned that it is being used for mineral, ore and coal movement from the political mileage by Prime Minister nawaz provinces of Jharkhand, Odisha and West Sharif and his core family members. Instead Bengal for industrial projects in Myanmar of pushing forward CPeC as a national and China. project aimed at achieving strategic goals even the planned scope of the Kashgarfor the future of the country, the flagship Gwadar had been extended to include rail project was kept under wraps, which network, oil pipelines, optic-network, triggered doubts and concerns. industrial units, apart from trade. Trade This resulted in questions raised by not from Gwadar port is still largely centred only the leaders of the allied parties of the around importing Middle east oil, even Pakistan Muslim League-nawaz (PML-n), after the Chinese took control the members of treasury of it in 2013. benches also share the same There is a significant concerns.

‘We need to opportunity for the network The suspicions over understand that $46 to facilitate deeper PakistanCPeC are not limited to the billion is mere a seed- opposition only as some China trade or Middle east-China trade, but it ministers also view the money and more would really depend a lot on control of close Sharif aides investment would the construction in the over all CPeC projects with Karakoram stretch. soon be on the way to mistrust. Moreover, China is looking to invest opposition’s lawmakers are help modernise approximately $500 billion of also getting jittery over how Pakistan’ its approximately $3 trillion the federal government is forex reserves into overseas concealing CPeC details. projects over the next five CPeC implementation is years. A major chunk of the approximately becoming a major challenge for Pakistan $100-300 billion can be possibly expected and China. Despite some messages of for India for its railway infrastructure and concern sent from China into Pakistan, industrial parks. nobody wants to disturb nothing has changed on ground. The the hand that feeds it, and this feeling is energetic and prudent Chinese Ambassador mutual between India and China now.

Sun Weidong has been very active in visiting now Pakistan has to decide whether it Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and Balochistan can allow it’s bickering to jeopardise CPeC. and meeting politicians to understand their Pakistan needs to understand that China doubts and concerns. developed its part of CPeC around one and However, since the federal government a half years back. has almost lost vigour and zeal to meet the A new economic city named “Kashi” has opposition and address their concerns, it is been established on modern trends near old about time for the ambassador Mr Sun Kashgar involving billions of dollars. China Weidong to put his foot down and open the is developing airports, bus terminals and doors of his embassy for all the railway stations there to enable trade stakeholders. g through CPeC. We need to know that the world doesn’t Mian Abrar heads Pakistan like controversies in economic planning. We Today's Islamabad Bureau. He has need to learn how to rise up to welcome the a special focus on countermega projects under CPeC. Unnecessary terrorism and inter-state relations delays and hiccups in implementation can in Asia, Asia Pacific and South even affect the mutual trust and the capacity East Asia regions. He can be reached of the Pakistani government in the eyes of at hussainmian@gmail.com the Chinese leadership. There is a need for

C M YK

Sunday, 17 - 23 January, 2016

‘While there is no denying the strategic significant of CPEC for Pakistan at the state level, its successful implementation only remains a dream’

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ONTROveRSy continues to whirl around the China Pakistan economic Corridor (CPeC), a recently signed Sino-Pak agreement that promises to inject more than $46 billion worth investment in Pakistan to build an economic trade corridor. For Pakistan, this proposed corridor is not only important for economic reasons but for other strategic reasons as well: Pakistan has managed to convince China about the operational viability of this project amidst multiple challenges ranging from unstable internal security to national movements, which threaten its viability. This kindles a hope that there still remains a geographical importance of Pakistan that it once claimed, and Gwadar, which arguably is the pivot of this entire project, can be transformed into an economic hub. however, all of this is only possible if there is internal unity amongst all political stakeholders, which unfortunately has evaporated from the scene, putting entire project in jeopardy.

If implemented successfully, it has potential of transforming Pakistan into a thriving economy.

According to officially released data, more than 25,000MW electricity will be added in the national grid system through different energy related projects.

A portion of this investment will focus on reforming the transportation system in breadth

C for controversy in CPEC Sort it out while there’s still time and width of Pakistan. Besides, there are numerous other projects focusing on economic developing economic zones in different regions. historically, Pakistan has observed bitter inter-provincial relations in addition to horrid central-provincial relations. From the questionable accessions of the Kalat state to inclusion of Sawat and other states in Pakistan, the provinces have always recorded their grievances against prejudicial treatment of centre towards their provincial subjects.

The current government has only been pushing an already existing wedge between different provinces as far as questions related to equal development and share of resources is concerned.

Prevailing controversy over the CPeC is a glaring illustration of this chronic problem which has only undermined Pakistan’s development.

While the minister for planning and commission, Ahsan Iqbal, has repeatedly said that the CPeC is a national project, all provinces – except Punjab – have raised hue and cry for not getting the promised due rights. In this regard, Baluchistan has remained in the public eye. And rightly so: in the recent APC, Baluchistan opposition maintained that major part of the energy projects under CPeC were transferred to Punjab.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) has also raised concerns in this regard. venting out his frustration, the KP chief minister

recently warned the federal government that CPeC could only be completed over their dead bodies if they were denied their due share. Rather than seriously addressing the raised concerns, Ahsan Iqbal in response argued that the KP government didn’t represent itself properly during the stake holders meetings and had sent only parliamentary secretaries.

China, which is known for keeping matters of strategic importance away from the public eye, has also raised concerns about this unending controversy regarding routes and rights of smaller provinces. A spokesperson for the Chinese embassy in Islamabad recently gave a statement urging all political parties to bridge their differences. Moreover, while China has called for the development of least economically developed regions on priority basis – which are part of the CPeC – the current government continues its selective development which, by and large, only benefits one province. Such concerns by the state that is directly investing billions of dollars into this project will only play into the hands of forces that do not want to see the revival of Pakistan’s economy, which can actually transform Pakistan into a major South Asian power The government’s complete indifference towards smaller provinces’ concerns has united all opposition parties – something

that rarely happens in Pakistan.

The western route of CPeC has been the focal point of all controversy. The previous meeting of the all parties conference (APC), which took place in July last year, ended with government’s promise of building the western route on priority basis, which benefits Baluchistan and KP. Implementation of this route remains futile: while the prime minister inaugurated the western route a few weeks ago, in the recent APC all opposition parties maintained that actual map of the route has been altered.

Moreover, government has further deepened the controversy by brining the status of GilgitBaltistan into question, which has weakened Pakistan’s position on the Kashmir issue. While this effort was to provide legal cover to the multi-billion dollar project, this has generated new debate; if Gilgit-Baltistan was part of the Kashmir region or not. historian Dr yaqoob Khan Bangash recently argued that the people of GilgitBaltistan acceded to Pakistan by will, and the Pakistani state should acknowledge their efforts by granting them full-fledge citizen status. The government has opened another Pandora’s box as there appears no viable solution to how the current government will formally incorporate disputed regions into Pakistan without creating further tensions.

As mentioned before, Gwadar, which is the centre piece of this development project, remains a neglected area on its periphery while the port is claimed to become a future economic hub.

Ahsan Iqbal has, on various

occasions, claimed that a number of projects listed under CPeC would transform this port into a leading world class port city for traders and tourists. however disparity is visible from the division of projects in the area.

Moreover, locals claim that their lands are grabbed illegally and are not being compensated for properly.

The ruling party has also run into intra-party divisions on this matter: Iqbal Zafar Jhagra, a leading N-league political figure from KPK, has decided to support the stance of the provincial government against his own party’s stand.

While there is no denying the strategic significant of CPeC for Pakistan at the state level, its successful implementation only remains a dream, as it has run into controversies and disputes before it could even begin properly. If the government is serious in CPeC’s implementation, it needs to address all outstanding concerns attached with it. Running around them these issues will only create another Kalabagh Dam out of it. g Umair Jamal is a graduate of the School of Government and International Affairs, Durham University.

He is a research fellow with the Centre for Governance and Policy. He regularly writes for various media outlets. He can be contacted on Twitter: @UJAmaLs.

CPEC – too much politics, too little action

Air of uncertainty

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he ruling party is famous for its lukewarm attitude towards major political issues. And the China Pakistan economic Corridor (CPeC) is no exception. Because of its handling of the project, PML-N is risking turning this ‘game changer’ into another national controversy.

The gravity of the situation can be gauged by the recent statement of Chinese embassy in which it urged the political parties of Pakistan to sit together in order to resolve the growing controversy over CPeC amicably. The Chinese embassy said that the Corridor is in the best interests of the people of both the countries and unnecessary controversy over the project may jeopardise this venture.

It is unfortunate that a project which brings a potential economic windfall to the country is being marred by internal political dissension even before it has started. The smaller provinces have expressed reservations over the allegedly changed route of CPeC and said that they are not being awarded their due share in this project. In order to support their arguments, the other provinces have said that only the chief minister of Punjab knows all the details of the project and the centre is not sharing any information with other federating units of the country. An All Parties Conference (APC) was called by the prime minister last year on May 28, 2015 and it was agreed to construct the western route first. Today, all the parties have shown their concerns and even the political

allies of the government have warned it of grave consequences over the change of the route. APCs have been organised in the federal capital to highlight the changes in the routes and demanding transparency in the project. Only under intense pressure did the government promise to go back to the western route first.

A Baloch nationalist leader Sardar Akhtar Jan Mengal of Balochistan National Party (BNP) organised a Multi Party Conference just few days back in Islamabad, in which more than twenty political, religious and nationalist parties participated. The speakers hailing from different parties criticised the clandestine attitude of the government and accused it of stealing the actual facts.

“The government would be unable to call the Balochs to Islamabad if our reservations over CPeC and Gwadar are not removed”, warned by Akhtar Mengal, whose government in the province was removed by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in the 90s. Two federal ministers also attended the conference and tried to appease the participants but both were unsuccessful.

The provincial amir of Jamaat-e-Islami from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK), Mushtaq Ahmad Khan, told DNA that 84 percent of CPeC is being invested in Punjab while KPK is getting only 1.4 percent. he said the western route is more beneficial for both the China and Pakistan because of its low cost and the people of smaller provinces would also get better employment opportunities by its construction. “The Federal Minister of Planning, Development and Reforms Ahsan Iqbal met our ministers during his visit of KPK and the meeting ended on a bitter note as he could not address our concerns”, said Khan. he went on to say that the prime minister must honour his promise of constructing the western route first. he said his party is not against this project but the government’s attitude has forced the party to express reservations.

Senator Shahi Sayed of Awami National Party (ANP) told DNA that we are part of Pakistan and it is our right to demand our share from the state. he said that there are tens of thousands of opportunities of cheap electricity in KPK as the region is abundant with the natural resources.

“The government is inaugurating the projects sanctioned in previous regimes and trying to claim them as part of CPeC”, he added. “It seems like Punjab is the whole country as the lion’s share is being awarded to it. It is my right to protest when someone dares to snatch my bite”.

According to Sayed, there are no two opinions regarding the importance of CPeC but the government must defuse the air of uncertainty over its route and ensure the share of smaller province.

Mr Ahmad Nazir Warraich, who has worked on the ethno-national politics of Pakistan and teaches the subject at Civil Services Academy Lahore, told DNA that CPeC is an economic project for the uplift of the economy of both the countries but not to develop the underprivileged parts of Pakistan. he was of the view that everyone tries to invest in safer places and so is the case with the CPeC. “Unfortunately, it seems as if PTI, judging by Pervez Khattak’s statements, is fast becoming an ethnic political party, rather than being a national party, representing the interests of all four provinces and the country at large”, he deplored. According to him, it would be unfortunate if CPeC is shelved due to Khattak’s defiant behaviour.

“CPeC must not become another Kalabagh Dam due to the growing controversy over it as this would be detrimental for the national interest of this country”, he concluded.

CPeC is the biggest investment of a country in another country and the prime minister must intervene to resolve the reservations of other provinces. g Hassaan Ahmed is a staff member. www.pakistantoday.com.pk 07

C M YK

Sunday, 17 - 23 January, 2016

Cover sTory: CoMProMIsING THe CorrIDor?

A Corridor that unites or divides?

‘While a number of people have seen this as needless provincial squabbling, and mere ‘provincialism,’ one can also view it in a positive light — that of the chief ministers being concerned about the development of their provinces’

It’s in the prime minister’s hands

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he China-Pakistan economic Corridor [CPeC] has been fraught with controversy since the get go. After its launch last year, several questions have arisen as to its modalities—the road route, terms of the loan, effect of Chinese penetration, etc.

The foremost question concerns the land route. Several options have been discussed but it is still not clear which route is going to be adopted.

Concerns of KP and Balochistan Commenting on the issue, acclaimed historian and political commentator Dr Yaqoob Khan Bangash told DNA that “Controversy over the route has led to anxiety in the provinces of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan as they do not want to be left behind in the development projects”.

“While a number of people have seen this as needless provincial squabbling, and mere ‘provincialism,’ one can also view it in a positive light — that of the chief ministers being concerned about the development of their provinces”, he said.

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan also fears that it would harm the unity of the provinces if the federal government didn’t address the concerns of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan before launching the much-publicised $46 billion China-Pakistan economic Corridor (CPeC).

“PTI is in favour of the CPeC project, but we would never like to damage the unity of the provinces,” said Khan.

Khan added that PM Nawaz had announced on May 28, 2015 that the western route of the project would be built first.

“But now we can clearly see that he has deviated from his previous stance,” he added.

“The western route would cost lesser as it is 300 kilometres shorter but the PML-N leadership had created misunderstandings regarding the different routes of the Corridor,” Khan said, adding that “there is only one route and that is the western route, which was originally supposed to pass through KP, Punjab and Balochistan along with establishment of industrial zones and oil and gas pipelines. however, the PML-N leadership is now trying to misguide the people.

Pakistan is not a golden sparrow where China would like to spend too much money”.

Quite obviously since CPeC is a huge undertaking and all provinces want an equitable share in it; hence it is but natural that they will quarrel over it.

Therefore, what the federal government needs to do is to mediate between them and lead them to realise and develop those projects which fall in their

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respective provinces and enable them to achieve their potential, according to Dr Bangash.

Balochistan National PartyMengal (BNP-M) arranged an all-parties conference On January 10, 2016 to discuss the reservations of Balochistan regarding CPeC. After the conference it was demanded that the Baloch should not be considered a minority.

“People of Gwadar must be provided with basic facilities of life. Local people should be given priority in the development projects. Fishermen should be given alternate jobs,” the declaration stated.

BNP-M Chairman Akhtar Mengal told the conference that Balochistan should be given its due share in the CPeC project.

“The rights of natural resources and sea ports of the province should be handed over to the Balochistan government,” he demanded.

Kept in the dark Since it is shrouded in secrecy, CPeC seems a more strategic than economic project. In strategic matters, Pakistan as a state has always tried to keep smaller provinces out of the loop.

Political Analyst Raza Rumi was of the opinion that as we are witnessing, CPeC implementation is being impacted by key issues of Pakistan’s governance.

First, the culture of nontransparent decision making. “The information flow from the government has been patchy to say the least and it needs to make its plans public and involve all key stakeholders,” said Raza, adding that a related and secondary issue is that of federalism.

Pakistan is not a central state and the powers of provinces have increased in the recent past.

Therefore, it is difficult to bypass them especially in the age of mass media. State capacity is the third challenge. The capacity to plan in a democratic, inclusive manner is still a work in progress.

Rumi thinks CPeC has the potential for altering the way the state works. The optimistic view is that we may learn to improve our development planning processes.

Perhaps the most immediate concern is that the constitutional

body - the CCI -is not being used to steer CPeC related decisions.

“That forum will result in a better agreement between centre and the regions thereby leading to better implementation of CPeC, other than strengthening constitutionalism in the country,” said Rumi.

Agreeing with Rumi, political analyst Nusrat Javed said, “The communication strategy that the government adopted to promote this idea was faulty from the word go.”

Khan shared that the memorandum of understanding (MoU) on CPeC was signed in January 2013, but there was still ambiguity about the project. he complained that the PML-N leaders and the federal government had kept them in the dark.

“The federal government was reluctant to show the copy of the agreement,” Imran Khan claimed.

All-parties conference on CPEC A meeting of the heads of all the parliamentary parties chaired

by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to address their concerns over ChinaPakistan economic Corridor (CPeC) on Friday ended with a consensus to form a steering committee comprising chief ministers of four provinces. The steering committee will meet every three months to review progress of the project.

Appreciating the announcement Dr Bangash said, “The move of the prime minister in creating a steering committee of all chief ministers is certainly welcome in this regard. however, the committee must not end up as a squabbling venue, but should become an opportunity for chief ministers to learn from each other and cooperate on development projects.” he added that the prime minister should also use this committee to ensure that all provinces have an equitable share in CPeC projects so all parts of Pakistan grow as a result.

Federations are historically very hard to manage since the government always has to play a careful balancing act in ensuring that it treats all constituent units equitably, since dissent is very

easy to sow and very hard to contain. In the current scenario, some people have erroneously compared the treatment of the smaller provinces to that of east Pakistan.

While on the face of it there might be some similarity, in reality it is comparing apples and oranges. east Pakistan was more populous and earned a much larger share of foreign exchange than West Pakistan, and hence it was rightly angry that neither was its greater population being given the due democratic representation and nor was a proportionate share of development money being spent in the province; neither is the case in present day Pakistan.

That said, the federation needs to take all provinces along while developing CPeC. Dr Bangash added that while all CPeC projects look good on the face of it, and will lead to development in the country, we must be cognizant of its effects on our state and society. With such a large project practically handled from Beijing we are surrendering a large part of our sovereignty to a foreign government.

“Already we have leased Gwadar to China, and CPeC will ensure greater control and penetration of the Chinese in Pakistan,” Dr Bangash said.

“With India on one side, Iran on the other, and a volatile Middle east, CPeC has more strategic implications than we have realised and therefore we must first study its impact before going head on with it. Properly managed CPeC will help Pakistan, but unchecked it will make us beholden to a foreign country more than places were during the colonial period. ” The recent all parties conference is a step in the right direction, but we need more debate on the topic so lawmakers and the people know more about it and own it after deliberation. In Pakistan we often get scared of public debate, but in a democracy — if we are to ever become one — it is the only way forward, said Dr Bangash.

CPEC funding Furthermore, a large part of the CPeC money is not grants but loans, which, as we often tend to forget, we have to one day repay

‘In the absence of internal clarity on the Pakistani side, CPEC always runs the risk of remaining an ‘idea’ that could never be materialised because the ‘potential gains’ may not be allocated fairly between provinces’ with interest. There has yet been little discussion as to the affordability of such an investment and our ability to repay it without a debilitating impact on our economy. The Pakistani people are already under a mountain of debt and increasing it without thinking is going to ruin us further in the long term.

Agreeing with what Bangash said, political economist Shahram Azhar said that there are two sides to the problem. The first aspect has to do with the internal politics of Pakistan; with any project that has stakes as high as CPeC does (it is estimated at $2.1 billion for the current year) there is, without a shred of doubt, a lot of “rentseeking” activity.

To add to this, there is an enormous level of mistrust — and not without good reasons — between the centre and the provinces in Pakistan regarding the distribution of the gains from the whole project.

“This is also why the IMF has recently asked the Pakistani government to make the disbursements as transparent as possible,” said Azhar.

The second reason has to do with China; as you may know, Chinese growth is slowing down, and is creating ripples not just in China but also the rest of the world. In general, but especially in these circumstances, for any investment to be fruitful, the ‘investor’ must have ‘security’.

Unfortunately, CPeC will have to run through Gilgit-Baltistan, which is still a disputed territory between the two neighbouring countries (Indo-Pak). A solution to this problem is therefore connected to the larger story, and hence CPeC, he added.

In the absence of internal clarity on the Pakistani side, CPeC always runs the risk of remaining an ‘idea’ that could never be materialised because the ‘potential gains’ may not be allocated fairly between provinces — as has been the case throughout Pakistani history. however, Khan opined that it is the responsibility of the prime minister and his government to inform the people of Pakistan that the Chinese were giving a loan of $46 billion, not making any investment, to Pakistan and the entire nation would be bound to return it.

“The whole nation has to return the loan so the money should be spent as per the aspirations of the people of all the provinces,” he demanded. g Hassan Naqvi is a Lahore-based journalist who covers politics, economy and militancy. He can be reached on Twitter at: @Hassannaqvi5

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Sunday, 17 - 23 January, 2016

opinion

Status of Gilgit-Baltistan Another hurdle in the way of CpEC

Aziz-ud-din AhmAd The writer is a political analyst and a former academic.

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he reports about the government mulling a provincial status for GilgitBaltistan have evoked a strong response from the AJK assembly and a section of freedom fighters in Indian controlled Kashmir.

For over sixty years the people of GilgitBaltistan have been denied fundamental rights including an elected administration, independent judiciary and rights provided by the constitution to the people of Pakistan. Islamabad would have happily continued to maintain the status quo. It transpires now that the region’s present status as a disputed territory is seen as a hurdle in the way of foreign investment. That makes a big difference for the policy makers.

At the time of the Partition the region had been a remote and nearly inaccessible part of the Dogra-ruled state of Kashmir. It was forcibly made a part of Kashmir by the British and sold to the Dogra ruler Gulab Sigh in 1846. earlier Gilgit-Baltistan had comprised a number of feuding principalities which, despite internecine warfare, had common trade and people to people contact on account of geographical contiguity. It was in 1842 that one of the local chieftains sought the help of a Sikh army from Kashmir against his opponent. The area soon came under British control who then ceded it to the Kashmir state under the Treaty of Amritsar.

Gilgit-Baltistan had remained a part of Kashmir state for only a century. There was little trade between the region and Kashmir and even less people to people interaction.

Besides distances the language barrier was another divisive factor. The languages spoken by the vast majority in Gilgit-Baltistan included Shina, Burushaski, Khowar, Wakhi and Balti while those living in Jammu and Kashmir spoke Kashmiri, Gojri, Pahari and hindko.

The people in the Kashmir Valley had lived together for thousands of years and thus developed a sense of nationhood. Other factors that contributed to the feeling included a common language, common heritage and culture. Kashmiris had little in common with those living in Gilgit-Baltistan.

Despite the arrangement foisted by the British, resentment against the forced merger continued to seethe in the region.

Unlike AJK, which was wrested from the Indian control by local Muslims with the help of raiders from Pakistan, the Gilgit-Baltistan region was liberated through an armed struggle of the local people supported by the Gilgit Scouts and the Muslim officers of the Dogra army. On November 1, 1947, just three months after Partition, Gilgit-Baltistan became a republic and 15 days later announced accession to Pakistan.

The request for accession was however not accepted by the government of Pakistan on account of the new situation in Kashmir.

Under extreme pressure from the events in Kashmir India had agreed to referendum in the state. The leadership of both Pakistan and Azad Kashmir were certain that the majority of those living in Kashmir state would support accession to Pakistan when the referendum was held. It was considered useful to keep Gilgit-Baltistan a part of Kashmir as its votes would be useful in the referendum.

A section in Pakistan’s establishment argued that the Maharaja had handed over the control of Gilgit-Baltistan to Britain on lease, and since Pakistan was the legal heir of the British Raj, it automatically obtained jurisdiction over these areas. In the end, however, the Government of Pakistan decided to keep Gilgit-Baltistan a part of the disputed Kashmir.

While proper administrative and legislative set ups were established in Indian controlled Kashmir and AJK, the political and administrative affairs of what came to be known

as the Northern Areas were managed under the black law called Frontier Crimes Regulations (FCR). The FCR empowered the Political Agent to act both as the chief executive and the final court of appeal. The local population was s denied a democratic setup with a representative government and independent judiciary. The population continued to be deprived of the rights and privileges enjoyed by citizens of the Azad Jammu and Kashmir.

The successive military establishments were little bothered by the absence of human rights and democratic freedoms in the Northern Areas.

The opening of the KKh provided the enclosed region a small window of opportunity.

Thousands in search of jobs and education travelled to big cities in Pakistan like Karachi and Lahore. They brought back new ideas and raised the consciousness of the local population.

The Agha Khan Foundation meanwhile played a significant role in transforming the life of the people. The literacy rate increased and the educational standards improved. There was also an improvement in agriculture.

The Supreme Court took notice of the absence of basic human rights in the Northern Areas while hearing a petition in May 1999.The court gave the government six months to ensure the establishment of an elected administration and independent judiciary and provision of all basic rights enshrined in the Constitution of Pakistan.

Following the verdict, half-hearted steps were taken to devolve power to the local level. What continued to act as a deterrent was the historical connection of these areas with the disputed state of Kashmir. Despite the socalled reforms like the Gilgit-Baltistan (empowerment and Self Governance) Order 2009, the territory continued to be administered by the Ministry of Kashmir Affairs and Northern Areas (Kana) through a powerless Gilgit-Baltistan Legislative Assembly (GBLA).

In September 2012 the GBLA approved a resolution demanding provincial status for Gilgit-Baltistan, which was immediately opposed by AJK government.

The division of Kashmir into two parts had strengthened Kashmiri nationalism on both sides of the LoC. There was also an opinion now that Kashmiris should be also offered the choice for an independent Kashmir along with the conventional options of being either a part of Pakistan or India. Like all nascent nationalist movements attempts were made to widen the definition of Kashmiri nation by including other ethnic sub-groups and regions connected with Kashmir even if for a short while or forcibly made a part of it. GilgitBaltistan, along with areas ceded to China during the border settlement, were claimed by the nationalists to be a part of Kashmir.

The people of Gilgit-Baltistan are attracted to Pakistan because of the market connectivity, jobs and educational facilities available in the neighbourhood.

Over the last six decades Kashmiri nationalists have failed to make inroads in the region because they have never raised their voice against the injustice being done to the region nor sought to bring Gilgit-Baltistan even to the level of AJK. This indicated a lack of interest in the region. Kashmiri political parties have therefore failed to strike root here.

The Kashmiri nationalists are however vociferously opposing the demand to upgrade the status of the region. Yasin Malik has opposed the move on the ground that it will jeopardise Kashmir cause. “Delhi will then have a political and moral right to integrate Kashmir with India,” he argues.

The same argument forms the basis of The August 13 resolution passed by the AJK Assembly. how to reconcile the interests of the people of Gilgit-Baltistan with those of the Kashmiri nationalists?

There is a way to deal with the issue. Let the government hold a referendum in GilgitBaltistan giving the population two choices of either remaining a part of Kashmir or joining Pakistan. The referendum has to be thoroughly fair and transparent. The government should invite foreign observers to monitor the exercise. India is not willing to hold a referendum in the areas of Kashmir under its control. Pakistan should have no fear of it. g

Violent sufis: Growing Barelvi extremism And the threat that will come

unconditional support for Qadri, especially by Barelvi groups, led the country’s policy makers and thinktank’s into asking themselves a hard question – is extremism limited only to Deobandi and Salafi groups? Or has this ideology penetrated into the otherwise peaceful Barelvi sect as well?

Director Pakistan Institute for Peace Studies (PIPS), Amir Rana, says, “There are a few issues over which the Barelvi clergy becomes intolerant – The writer is a journalist based in blasphemy is one of them.”

Islamabad. He focuses on human he believes that there are violent rights issues, social problems, tendencies among all ideological and more. He can be reached at: groups – especially the religious ones. umeraliasghar5@gmail.com, and on Twitter at: @iamumer1 either Amir Cheema or Mumtaz Qadri, Barelvis have championed those who killed or got killed in the name of N the blistering heat of May, the honour of the Prophet (pbuh). thousands had gathered in hanif Qureshi, in a speech, openly Saroki, a village off Grand Trunk threatened Salman Taseer who was Road near Wazirabad to attend accused of having committed blasphemy. his funeral. high on emotions “What good is your life if it does not and sweating furiously, people bade serve the Prophet (pbuh)?” Qureshi last farewell to Amir Cheema. asked a charged crowd, as they vowed A Textile engineering student, to sacrifice their lives for the honour of Amir had attempted to enter, armed the Prophet (pbuh). with knife, the office of German paper “The punishment for the blasphemer Die Welt and kill its editor, Roger is death and the one who supports the Köppel for publishing blasphemous blasphemer must also be condemned to caricatures of the Prophet (pbuh). death,” he said while challenging Taseer While awaiting his trial, he was found to visit Rawalpindi without his security. dead in his prison cell, hanging from a With such violent inclinations and a noose made from his clothes. dark past, hanif Qureshi appears While a suicide note was found and frequently on talk shows, posing as a sent to the Foreign Office of Pakistan, ‘moderate’ cleric.

Cheema’s family accused the German “It has become a regular practice in authorities of torturing him to death.

Pakistan that people looked upon for his death created a huge outcry in narrative building are the ones Pakistan as far-right parties protested responsible for anarchy in the society”, his death, calling him a ‘ghazi’ and lamented research analyst and ‘shaheed’. archivist Aamir Mughal.

10 years since his death, Cheema is The common belief is that the celebrated as a hero in the local ideology of takfir is limited only to folklore and described Deobandi and Salafi as the honourable man groups –which Mughal who chose death over differs with.

‘His death created a the insult of his “The Barelvi text is huge outcry in Prophet (pbuh). full of fatwas like any Pakistan as far-right A mausoleum has other sect. When it been built on his grave comes to the power and parties protested his with funds collected by domination of their death, calling him a Tanzeem Ahl-esect, every group has Sunnat, a local Barelvi grown the tendencies ‘ghazi’ and ‘shaheed’’ organisation. People to apostatise others, from all over the which has affected the country visit his shrine regularly to pay common masses,” Aamir Mughal added. their respects. having attained the The ideology of takfir is rooted status of a ‘saint’, his death anniversary deep in the Barelvi sect as it dates back is celebrated as ‘Urs’, with people to their spiritual founder, Ahmed Raza paying tribute to his ‘bravery’.

Khan Barelvi. he wrote a book, Although celebrated by all sects, Hussam al haramain consisting of his Cheema holds a special importance for fatwas, said to be endorsed by ulema Barelvis, who manage his shrine. of Mecca and Medina. In this book, he Cheema was killed in 2006 when held Deobandis for not giving Prophet protests against the Danish papers for Muhammad (pbuh) the due respect publishing caricatures of Muslims’ and thus accused them of heresy.

Prophet were going on. Protest and While Deobandis and Salafis are resentment for the caricatures had actively involved in militancy, Barelvis become a part of national discourse as seem disconnected with jihad. newspapers and TV programs were full Journalist and author of book ‘Call for of debate and opinion about the issue.

Transnational Jihad: Lashkar-e-Taiba’, Cheema was unanimously celebrated Arif Jamal explains this phenomenon. as a hero, who defended Islam. his “Deobandi, Salafist groups and JI parents were interviewed regularly on became radicalised during the Afghan national TV channels with the host of jihad. Saudi Arabia was matching one morning program welcoming her dollar for every American dollar to parents emotionally, praising Cheema finance the jihad in Afghanistan. While for having ‘done the job excellently.’ the Americans had no sectarian 10 years on, a lot has changed. preferences, the Saudis made sure that The national discourse on Pakistan did not let any Barelvi and blasphemy was moulded back in 2011 Shi’a Muslim group to get involved in when the then Governor Punjab, the jihad in Afghanistan,” Jamal said.

Salmaan Taseer was killed by his own Amir Rana is of the opinion that guard over the allegations of having Barelvis are prone to violence and have committed blasphemy. been involved in such activities in the Belonging to Rawalpindi, Mumtaz past. “There were some organisations Qadri was reportedly provoked into like Sunni Jihad Council involved in killing Taseer by a Barelvi cleric, Mufti Kashmir but they were on a much hanif Qureshi. smaller scale,” he said.

In his fiery speeches, Qureshi had called for the death of Taseer. The Continued on page 12...

umEr ALi

i

www.pakistantoday.com.pk 09

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iNterview: iqbaL Zafar Jhagra

PML-N has thiNgs uNder coNtroL All set for CPEC

by MiaN abrar

o

rdinarily, it would be difficult to find too many governments that would come under fire for projects like CPEC. The Corridor is, after, all set to change the destiny of the entire region. Pakistan, especially, will overcome not just its insufficient growth problem, but also energy issues, and issues like foreign investment, trade and tourism, etc, will no longer be problematic. yet PMl-n has managed to come under heavy criticism regarding this project as well. KP and Balochistan are up in arms, the issue of which-route-first still causes anxiety, despite the government’s repeated assurances, and the prime minister still prefers to keep his close kitchen cabinet in the know as opposed to parliament and the rest of the country as well.

The alarm, unfortunately, is no longer just shared by the opposition in Pakistan. lately our Chinese friends have also, finally, broken their silence about concerns surfacing in Beijing.

They are anxious about the political bickering, to say the least. The Corridor is an essential part of China’s greater Silk route Project, but it is still just one part. and it is not as if the Chinese do not have alternatives.

So why, then, the footdragging on such an important issue? DNA talked exclusively to iqbal Zafar Jhagra, PMl-n secretary general, about CPEC and the party’s position on other crucial matters.

10 www.pakistantoday.com.pk

Question: Keeping in view so much wrangling between political parties over the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), do you think Friday’s meeting chaired by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif helped redress concerns of all political parties? Also, the Chinese have recently expressed concern about CPEC related political problems inside Pakistan, and urged that we overcome them as soon as

‘On Friday, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif himself invited political leaders at the PM House and told them that the western route was priority numberone for the government’ possible. Why have such problems lingered so far?

Iqbal Zafar Jhagra: let’s agree on one thing first, that CPEC is in the interest of the future generations of both China and Pakistan. all political parties strongly believe that CPEC is a game-changing initiative, which is the key for economic development and uplift of the status of the people across Pakistan. So one needs to understand there is no difference among political parties about CPEC.

yes, there were some doubts and concerns among political parties, especially from KhyberPakhtunkhwa (KP) and Balochistan, about the western route and the location of related projects. The federal government has been seriously working in recent past to address these concerns.

However, during recent weeks, political parties from both the provinces expressed concerns regarding their share in CPEC. initially, an all Parties Conference (aPC) was held at the Governor House Peshawar to help remove the misunderstandings. later two more aPCs were held by Jamiat Ulema-e-islam (Fazl) and Balochistan national Party-Mengal (BnP-M). The PMl-n attended all these wellattended meetings. We gave detailed briefings to present a holistic picture of CPEC. On Friday, Prime Minister nawaz Sharif himself invited political leaders at the PM House and told them that the western route was priority number-one for the government. The meeting was attended by representatives of all political forces who sat with the prime minister and shared their concerns and reservations. The premier has satisfied all the parties that the four provinces would be given their due share in CPEC. He also promised to redress their grievances. He told the politicians that the federal government would fulfil

reasonable demands of all political parties. during the meeting, the political parties desired the prime minister to head the parliamentary committee to look into the projects related to CPEC and ensure amicable distribution of the fruits among the people of the four provinces. The premier assured the meeting to consider their proposal. it was also decided that the committee would meet every three months and monitor the smooth implementation over the

‘There is going to be a major breakthrough in relations with our neighbours in year 2016 in comparison to what we had in 2015’ commitments made by the prime minister himself. all the political parties were satisfied and they reiterated their support to CPEC, saying that it was the key to the transformation of the country into a stable, economically developing and secure destination for investors of the world.

The prime minister told the political leadership that CPEC was a game-changer not only for Pakistan but for the entire region.

This outcome is a good message for the people of Pakistan and China.

Moreover, the world needs to understand that minor differences between political parties are the beauty of the democratic system. Such differences are weeded out through dialogue, which is the strength of a democratic dispensation.

Q: The Chinese investments will require sovereign guarantees, which experts say will push the foreign debt component to the $90b mark. That, in turn, will require exports to grow at least 50 per cent in the next four years. What do you think about these figures?

ZIJ: look, such figures are shared by economic experts from time to time. However, the federal government has its own team of experts headed by Finance Minister Senator ishaq dar to carve out plans to achieve set targets. Under the minister, Pakistan’s economy has improved a lot and international monetary monitors have been issuing reports, appreciating Pakistan’s gains on the economic side. now Pakistan’s economic achievements are recognised by the World Bank as well as the international Monitory Fund (iMF).

The economic stability will help Pakistan achieve favourable policies from the world’s strong economies and the foreign investors are now coming in hoards to benefit from Pakistan’s transforming economy.

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Sunday, 17 - 23 January, 2016

Q: The senior PML-N leadership is criticised for keeping a close kitchen cabinet where all important matters are debated. Other than a selected few, even senior ministers are not given much attention in the party setup. And even parliament is ignored for important decisions. Why is there such a perception?

ZIJ: This premise is totally baseless and has no legs to stand on. Such false claims often harm the democratic dispensation in a country. Such propaganda is aimed at harming the country’s image and also the institutions which have started to perform again.

The PML-N led coalition government is taking all necessary steps to help stabilise the economy and strengthen democratic institutions.

Now everyone in Pakistan admits the fact that the government has delivered on almost all fronts. Even opposition leadership acknowledges the achievements of the prime minister, who led from the front in a crisis situation and got the country out of financial turmoil.

In the recent past, Pakistan was facing the serious threat from terrorism and political instability.

The country fought a war against terrorists by launching the Operation Zarb-e-Azb. The prime minister put fight against terrorism as number-one priority of his government.

Now the terrorists are on the run and we have almost cleansed the Pakistani soil of them. The war goes on still though.

Moreover, on the political front, the prime minister wisely handled the sit-in staged by the opposition and amicably the government diffused the situation.

On the economic front, I have already shared the achievements of the PML-N government and now the foreign investors and financial institutions are aiming to invest in Pakistan.

Another challenge Pakistan faced was the scarcity of energy.

The prime minister had promised to the nation to put energy crisis as his top priority.

When PML-N formed the government, energy issue became its top priority.

CPEC would greatly help alleviate the energy crisis as 83 per cent projects under it are to generate energy. We plan to add at least 10,500 megawatts to the national grid by 2018. So we would be out of the woods by then, making sure that we have surplus energy to help boost

economic growth when the PML-N government ends its five-year term.

Q: There is chatter that a Karachi like Rangers operation is on the cards in Punjab. Yet the provincial PML-N leadership is opposed to such a course, even though it has not been able to move at all against militant dens, especially in the south. How do you see things proceeding?

ZIJ: You know that the terrorism threat is a major challenge not only for Pakistan but for the entire region. Recent attacks in India, Pakistan and Afghanistan have again reminded us that the terrorism is a grave challenge for all the states of the region.

However, the Punjab government over the past eight years has proved its ability to deal with the menace of terror successfully. The Punjab government of Mian Shehbaz Sharif has shown its ability to thwart nefarious designs of terrorists.

However, having said so, let me tell you that Punjab has taken all necessary steps to ensure no place for terrorist outfits and a secure and safe place for the people at large. I would go to the extent that whenever needed, the

Punjab government can seek assistance from the security forces. At least these are our own law enforcing agencies – whether these are Rangers or the army itself, whenever required, they can be called in aid to the civilian government to ensure safety and security of the people of Punjab.

Q: Dialogue with both Afghanistan and India are at crucial stages, yet there are setbacks in both. How do you see the two progressing in 2016?

ZIJ: Let me tell you that there is going to be a major breakthrough in relations with our neighbours in year 2016 in comparison to what we had in 2015.

Especially, there is a significant improvement in relations with Afghanistan. One needs to understand that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif believes that peace in Afghanistan means peace in Pakistan, and peace in Pakistan and Afghanistan is peace in the entire region. So we are going all out to help secure the Afghan peace process.

Moreover, our relations with India have also improved a lot and a new trust building process has set in. Pakistan and India share a history of diplomatic fallouts and border skirmishes mainly due to the unresolved

issue of held Jammu and Kashmir.

Under the United Nations resolutions, India was bound to hold plebiscite in Jammu and Kashmir, which has still not materialised. However, recent interaction between the two prime ministers has yielded positive results. We witnessed some negative signals from India in 2015 as border skirmishes and public threats were made from across the border. Even the attitude of Indian Prime Minister Modi was not friendly towards Pakistan.

Despite provocative incidents in India, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif during the past three years has observed restraint and diplomatic channels have been used to remove misunderstandings. We strongly believe in sorting out issues through dialogue rather than using force.

The positive attitude of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif compelled premier Modi to revisit his Pakistan policy. I strongly believe that friendly relations between Pakistan and India can greatly help stabilise regional security. If this region is stable, no one can stop fast economic growth in the South Asia region, which has great potential for economic development. g www.pakistantoday.com.pk 11

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Sunday, 17 - 23 January, 2016

travel

the Gorakh chronicles: Paradise forsaken Fruits of servitude, among other things

Bilal Saeed The writer is a freelanc columnist.

“His fierce brown eyes follow every move his prey makes, as he lurks in a dark corner, crouching amidst scrubs and bushes. His victim stands no chance, for he is a master of the chase, his agility unmatched and his resolve unmerciful. He’s poised to move, ready for another unabashed kill – the Valley of the Wolves was not a stranger to his antics.”

W

hAT may sound like a scene from the next season of the Game of Thrones is actually a tale of a glorious past. Gorakh hill, once a battle ground hosting active pursuit of herds of deer by cheetahs, has now become a sordid piece of land, courtesy the hunting proclivities of the feudal lords residing in the area, where all that remains in the name of wildlife are snakes, rabbits, mongoose and an occasional Gila monster lizard. Personally, I had a singular encounter with our furry friends - an emancipated bird trying to eke out a living in the extremely barren, but surprisingly humid, environs of the summit of the 6,500ft hill. however, the flora of the hill is truly spectacular.

From miniaturised silver palms

to stunted olive trees, one feels overwhelmed in the natural barren beauty, a truly out-of-the-body experience that transcends the paradigm we are accustomed to as our environment. Add to it the frigid weather and eerie silence, and the place is truly breathtaking, a solitary sanctum away from the loud horns and broken silencers of the city. I can only imagine the beauty of the stark white landscape when it snows in December.

Staring out while the morning was still young, past the bumpy road to hyderabad that was riddled with potholes and patches, we found comfort in the highway to Dadu, comparable to international infrastructure by all standards.

Occasionally cruising up to 180km/hr, the surreal scenery made for a pleasant drive.

Mountains that were submerged under water millennia ago and in every possible hue ensconced us. however, the dryness of the area did not afford us the luxury to truly enjoy the scenery and it all became pretty vapid soon. Passing by vast and verdant fields of chilli plants, cauliflower and tomatoes, we reached Dadu to embark upon the second part of the trip to a small town called ‘Johi’ which would take us to a small outpost called ‘Johi Chando’, where we would park our car at a gas station, leaving for the 56km trip up the mountain in an outfitted Suzuki Potohar jeep (with a 2,000cc diesel engine).

The road to Johi Chando was a ride to hell due to its atrocious condition. There were speed breakers that looked like perfectly camouflaged rattlesnakes sleeping

‘From miniaturised silver palms to stunted olive trees, one feels overwhelmed in the natural barren beauty, a truly out-of-the-body experience that transcends the paradigm we are accustomed to as our environment’ on the road, and we always seemed to hit them, resulting in a rattling jump and an axle breaking thud (we kept our fingers crossed throughout that 21km journey).

The trip to the summit of the mountain went by quite quickly since the concentration and the diversity of the mountains had visibly increased and we were entranced by the winding road upwards, and the rapid change in weather that ensued.

Once we reached our destination, the hotel did give a semblance of a nice cottage retreat, but on closer inspection, it was surrounded by garbage, the infrastructure was crumbling, and though amenities were available, there was no hot water (despite there being gas and water available).

As the locals put it, General Musharraf took personal interest in this area and whatever it is today, however meagre the development, it is only because of his efforts. he even laid a 55km long water

pipeline to bring water to the area.

Not only that, he bought Rs50m worth of Oleander flower plants and thousands of water storage tanks to turn the desert into a colourful paradise. Sadly, the commencement of the plantation process coincided with the toppling of his government, resulting in confiscation of the expensive plants and tanks by the local waderas for sale in the open market. Ironically, a local managed to retain five plants which he planted in the area, which are thriving since then as a vivid testament to what could have been.

The plot thickens. Rumour has it that some Chinese entrepreneurs offered the MNA, who is also the chairman of the GhA, an offer to build a proper road all the way to the mountain top, with such superior quality that it would enable even bikers to cycle their way up. The cherry on top, the deal promised no toll tax for 10 years.

The offer was refused, as ostensibly, he had some vested interests in keeping the area underdeveloped. People who don’t want to see this area developed have gone as far as precipitating the perception that Dadu is chock full of dacoits who will block your car and whisk you away for ransom. I did not. All my friends who have visited the area echo the same sentiment as me. The people there are extremely friendly and respectful of visitors, as tourism is a lucrative form of livelihood for them. Two brothers, who run the only hotel on the hill, have invested their own savings to accommodate visitors, and amongst other things, have a cook that probably makes

Violent sufis: Growing Barelvi extremism ...continued from page 09 Arif Jamal believes that Pakistan followed the same policy of patronising only Deobandi and Salafist groups in Kashmir and thus the Barelvi groups died out soon.

From showering rose petals to protesting his death sentence, Barelvis have campaigned excessively in favour of Mumtaz Qadri. The Supreme Court of

12 www.pakistantoday.com.pk

Pakistan has recently rejected Qadri’s mercy petition to which these groups have responded furiously.

While speaking at a rally in favour of Qadri, one Barelvi leader praised the country’s military chief, Gen Raheel Sharif, while demanding a ‘fair and just’ trial for Qadri from Sharif.

During the recent Milad processions, pictures of Gen Raheel Sharif could be seen on banners. Some of them even had his

face placed alongside the shrine of the Prophet (pbuh).

“Barelvi leaders pose as pro-army and pro-state, unlike Deobandis or Salafis. They want themselves affiliated with the army, thus giving an impression that everything they are doing is lawful,” Amir Rana added.

With Qadri to be hanged soon, govt expects a backlash from these groups.

Aamir Mughal calls for a ban on theological debate on TV. “Religious debate

the best food in the world. he just would not stop bragging about the fact that he knows 150 recipes and has a Facebook page. Apart from that, there is an abundance of labour willing to help you every step of the way, whereas the 150+ formal employees hired by the GhA are nowhere to be found, all ghost employees, earning salaries from the comfort of their homes.

The sun sets quickly at this height, and soon it was pitch black. The generators roared into action as the electricity comes at four-hour intervals. There were no stars on the sky, inscrutable, since in this darkness and pollution free environment one would expect to see the entire universe and experience a feeling of unparalleled catharsis. But I drew my inner calm from the silence all around; frightening, but intense enough to force me to introspect, and marvel the wonders and vastness of God’s creation. It is a miracle in the first place indeed to experience snow just four hours from the humid and sizzling hot weather of Karachi. I may never visit this place again, but it has found a place in my heart. Without prejudice, I pray that the spirit of patriotism that Punjab shows in everything that they do trickles down to Sindh as well; the feeling of ownership and an obligation to leave something for their progeny.

We committed the cardinal mistake of not eliminating feudalism when India did in 1948, and now are reaping the bitter fruit of servitude and despondency that is so evident on everyone’s face here in rural Sindh. g

is not for the masses. It will lead to chaos in a diverse society like Pakistan. There are so many different interpretations of religion that once started this discussion will knock on doors of every household, leading to severe repercussions.”

Arif Jamal believes that growing radicalisation among the Barelvi youth in the wake of Mumtaz Qadri’s case poses a great threat.

“There is every reason to believe that Barelvi groups will become more violent with the passage of time. As Barelvis are in majority in Pakistan, they will pose bigger threats when they become violent,” he said. g

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Sunday, 17 - 23 January, 2016 LiTERaRy MEn and MaTTERs

syEd afsaR sajid

The writer is a Faisalabad based former bureaucrat, poet, literary and cultural analyst, and an academic.

He can be reached at afsar.sajid@hotmail.com

E

jAz Rahim is a celebrated English language poet from Pakistan with some twenty verse collections to his credit. heroism and love are regarded as the elemental constituents of his verse. his credentials and exploits as a brilliant academic, a conscientious civil servant, a dedicated quasi-political celebrity, and a distinguished poet are verily remarkable, nay enviable. Added to that is his catholicity of tastes and interests, and an amiable temperament.

Ejaz Rahim’s spouse Nazie Rahim, herself a scholar and an adept connoisseur of the arts, has recently brought out a selection from his poetry titled The Best of Ejaz Rahim which has readily engaged the attention of the literary circles not only for the innate appeal of the selected material but also for its introduction couched in a language of love and unaffected estimation.

Anwar Dil is a noted scholar of the English language and literature having expatriated to the Us in the early Nineteen seventies. Presently he is based at the Alliant international University, san Diego, California (Us) as its Professor Emeritus. he published his essay on how he saw him (ER) and his poems in the shape of a book titled Ejaz Rahim and His Poems – An Appreciation, on the eve of inauguration by Ejaz Rahim of the 2013 international Education Week, under the auspices of Confucius institute and University of Toledo (Us) where the latter had been invited to also read his widely acclaimed poem I, Confucius. The two works form the subject of this review.

books/fiLM & TV

‘Behind my poem’ Ejaz Rahim and his Poems – an appreciation Ejaz Rahim and his Poems – An Appreciation Author: Anwar Dil Publisher: Intercultural Forum, San Diego, California (US)/Dost Publications, Islamabad.

Pages: 240; Price: US $30; Rs475/-

The best of Ejaz Rahim The Best of Ejaz Rahim Selection: Nazie Rahim Publisher: Dost Publications, Islamabad.

Pages: 231; Price: Rs490/-

Anwar Dil has sought to explore the person and art of Ejaz Rahim in this book as a thoughtful researcher. he has succinctly but quite lucidly reviewed fifteen of his verse collections in the light of a plethora of diverse critical judgement on them assimilated through difference sources. This is about the first part. in the second part, the author has included the text of sixteen poems of ER with a view to acquainting the international readers of his poetics. These poems are purported to ‘reflect ER’s devotion to cross-cultural understanding and universal values for human excellence’.

The book also bears facsimile of some photographs that add to

Rafiq EbRahiM The writer is a freelance writer and novelist. His short stories and articles are mostly humorous and are published in leading newspapers and magazines in Pakistan, USA and other countries. He has also written three novels.

T

its readability. it would be instructive to conclude this appraisal with Khwaja Masud’s erudite critical view of ER’s person and poetry: ‘Ejaz Rahim is preeminently successful in providing us with genuine poetry which steers clear of the scylla of abstractionism and Charybdis of naturalism, and is a harmonious combination of the Apollonian and the Dionysian as all great art is. …

ER’s poems are composed of the stuff of eternity. ….. Undoubtedly the reader discovers in his verse an unending quest for meaning in a world where everything is in constant flux, where the pace of history is bewilderingly fast. ER is one of the true poets of the present generation.’

his much-awaited shahrukhKajol starrer surprisingly falls flat on the celluloid; and one wonders what an established film-maker like Rohit shetty was doing while directing the flick. Dilwale has nothing notable to offer. A poor script, marred by lifeless comic antics, artificiallooking characters, a middle aged romantic pair and too many dons – one, Boman irani, a comic one – their sons and daughters, is what Dilwale is all about.

The story is about multiple dons – Vinod Khanna, Kabir Bedi, Boman irani and a few more and their sons, shahrukh Khan and Varun Dhawan; daughters, Kajol and a pretty new girl – all of them making a mess on the screen. Kali (shahrukh) after indulging in a number of shoot-outs suddenly reforms into an owner of a car garage that repairs cars and also modify them. he loves his brother Varun (who in

Nazie Rahim has put together her choice of ER’s poetry from nineteen of his published verse

collections viz, The Dreaming Clay Jar; The Imprisoned Air; Cactus in My Throat; Bits and Pieces of the Moon; Floating Landmarks; Suspended Animations; I, Buddha and other Poems; Door, Lock and Key: My Poems to Motherhood; Moon Rising with Mavera Poems; Not Poems but Arrows; Between the Kaaba and the Karakorams; Safwat Ghayur and other Poems; Snapshots of an Earthquake; I, Confucius and other Poems; Dear Maulana Sahib and other Poems; Poems and Portraits; Through the Eyes of the Heart; Roots at the Edge; and That Frolicsome Mosquito, Our Universe. ER’s latest verse collection Carnage in December is, however, excluded from this list as it was not yet published when Nazie Rahim’s was compiling her selection.

Noted American poet Archibald MacLeish’s concluding lines in his poem Ars Poetica, ‘A poem should not mean/But be’, as quoted by ER in the prologue to one of his books Roots at the Edge, poignantly translate the thematic ambience of his (ER’s) poetry. The poet in ER excels at coalescing, as it were, the figments of his fertile imagination with the unseemly actualities of life which unlike a metaphysical conceit would not intrigue or encumber the reader’s mind to prevent him from comprehending his poetic phraseology or syntax. his myriad themes speak eloquently for the rich variety of his experience and prosodic dexterity. here, the compiler has extracted 5-6 poems at an average from all of his nineteen verse collections. in the same collection viz, Roots at the Edge, the author assumes that ‘i see life as a physical order but also as a moral framework. For me the human condition embraces both dimensions simultaneously’. so decay, loss, pain, and extinction are the seminal concerns of the poet in his verse. All along, therefore, he seems to be trying, in the line of his prototype MacLeish, to resolve the enigma, and paradox

too, that a poem should be ‘motionless in time’, leaving ‘memory by memory the mind’ —finally tending to equate itself to ‘not true’. What is not true to fancy is actually true to the poetic mind capable of perceiving the truth through the pellucidity of reason.

A few excerpts from the selected poems will illustrate the point: Pain and suffering/Reduce mountains/To rubble – Nearby/The starving Buddha/sits brooding/in the calm composure/Of a rock Only a thin line/Divides/Commitment from indifference/Words cease/To flow swollen waters/Leave behind/inverted banyan trees – so many landmarks/Float amidst the tumult/Of a flood We who are ruin-deaf/Delude ourselves to think/We are listening/Across Taxilas of time.

Things that truly count/Are expressions of love/The resplendent Karakorams/Are a token of God’s radiance/Gifted to the world/But the walls of Ka’aba reflect/Man’s craving for the One/Beloved We dig up old skeletons/And let fresh fires/Consume them/As insurance against/Future confessions. it’s not our eyes/But hearts that are astray/if they discern nothing/Beyond nothingness/Not even/The bloom of the orchids/When violets decay.

But a verse – a verse/Must mean something/in love’s terse/spark of utterance/Like the twitter of a bird Existence is a glimmer/At the margins/Of emptiness Nazie Rahim correctly avers that ‘the experience of joy and renewal through art cannot blot out the existence of pain and suffering in the external world’ as this world ‘still has the power to shake the entire tree of life with gusts of doubt and a deep sense of loss.’ in effect ER’s perception of life is not entrenched in any dream or hallucination; instead it is rooted in humanism which owes its sustenance to anthropology, philosophy, psychology, sociology, ethics, and to a certain degree, aesthetics also that account for the artistic ambivalence, as alluded to by the Compiler in her introduction, characterising the bulk of ER’s poetic output. g

Marred by lifeless comic antics A case of fading glory reality is not his brother, but that doesn’t make any difference), and caters to his every whim. Varun, meanwhile, falls in love and performs silly comedy to win the girl, who turns out to be Kajol’s younger sister.

Kajol and shahrukh are separated, the former thinking the latter to be a real enemy as a result of the clash of the dons. Fights and hollywood type of actions, including car chases and gun fights follow. After fifteen years the couple meets each other. During all these years Kajol believed that it were shahrukh and his father who started the fight with her father and his men and killed her father.

The misunderstanding is at last cleared; and the movie comes to a welcome end.

As regard the performances, shahrukh looks impressive only in the scenes in which he has a dark stubble on his face, looking like a mature and kindly person. As a young lover, he fails miserably. he appears as if he has been forced to be romantic. The lipstick on his lips makes him look haggard; his face is in most scenes covered by a cap and hair covering his forehead, and dark glasses shielding his eyes. in this film, shahrukh Khan

has given one of his worst performances.

Well, it is time for Kajol to say goodbye to romantic roles. she has grown in proportions and has almost lost her Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge magical touch. she stands out only in the sequence which shows her a true gun-smart daughter of a don, frustrating shahrukh’s plan of smuggling gold. shahrukh-Kajol jori, once outstanding, now seems to be a faded-glory.

All others have done their bit roles in a likeable manner, spoilt when trying to be comic. Musical score is just average, and not even the dance and song number performed by the lead players in a costly location like iceland appeals.

Rohit shetty may be a recognised director, but this time he has failed to do any impressive scene from the poor script. if the lifeless comedy was taken out of the film, the result would have been tolerable.

That way the director could have focused on whatever positive aspect he could have picked from the script. The only thing that deserves merit is the camera-work and the angles and lenses the photographer has

used, particularly in iceland. sorry to mention, but Dilwale doesn’t deserve even a star ranking. At the most, because of the presence of shahrukh Khan and Kajol, let me give it one star. g www.pakistantoday.com.pk 13

C M YK

Sunday, 17 - 23 January, 2016

heritage

Samadhi of ranjit Singh – a sight of religious harmony The majesty and glory

Nadeem dar The writer is a professional heritage photographer and can be reached at: nadeemdar@hotmail.com

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aharaja ranjit Singh was born in 1780 in Gujranwala. he was named ranjit Singh by his father Mahan Singh, the Sikh ruler. ranjit Singh had his first taste of battle when he was hardly ten years old. It was Sahib Singh Bhangi (they were called bhangis as they use to drink ‘Bhang’ all the time) of Gujarat (a town in Punjab, now in Pakistan) who refused to pay tribute to Mahan Singh and his estate, and was attacked by him. Mahan Singh died in 1792 when ranjit Singh was only 12 years old. Being too young to manage the affairs of the state his mother raj Kaur became his guardian. ranjit Singh learnt riding and shooting in early years of his life. as per Sikh history, it was july 7, 1799 when victorious

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ranjit Singh entered Lahore. On april 12 1801, ranjit Singh declared himself Maharaja of Punjab. ranjit Singh, the one-eyed Sikh ruler of the Punjab (ruled 1801-1839), considered himself the heir to the Mughal Empire. among the people he was known as Sher-e-Punjab (lion of Punjab). he not only followed many of the customs of the Mughal court, but also built buildings utilising elements taken from Mughal monuments. historic accounts state that even though he had conquered the citadel of the Mughals, he is said to have never seated himself on the throne in the Fort.

The Samadhi I am writing about is the mausoleum of the same popular Sikh ruler, Sher-ePunjab. It is located near the Lahore Fort and Badshahi Mosque in Lahore and banks upon the only existing Mughal era gate, the roshnai Gate. Its construction was started by Maharaja ranjit Singh’s son, Kharak Singh, on the spot where ranjit was cremated, and was completed by his youngest son, Duleep Singh, in 1848.

The Samadhi is a beautiful blend of hindu, Sikh and Muslim architectural styles. It has gilded fluted domes and cupolas and a complex railing round the top. The front of the doorway has images of Ganesh, Devi and Brahma, the

‘The Samadhi is a beautiful blend of Hindu, Sikh and Muslim architectural styles’

hindu deities, cut in red sand stone. The dome is heavily decorated with Naga (serpent) hood designs, a rich and fitting tribute to hindu craftsmanship.

The wood panels on the ceiling are covered with stained glass work and the walls have rich floral designs. The ceilings are decorated with glass mosaic work. Maharaja ranjit Singh’s ashes are contained in a marble urn in the shape of a lotus, sheltered under a marble pavilion inlaid with pietra dura, in the centre of the tomb. The Maharaja does not lie alone there.

Surrounding him, in smaller knob-like urns, are the ashes of four sati queens (burned alive on the pyre with their husband) and seven slave girls. The ashes of two pigeons, burnt while flying over the pyre, also have their place in the Samadhi.

This Samadhi was originally built on eight pillars. Due to depreciation of the building over time cracks appeared in the pillars. The British government, under the orders of Sir Donald Macleod, late LieutenantGovernor of Punjab, erected thick iron rings around all the old

pillars and raised eight additional pillars. The entire building is now supported by sixteen pillars.

There are indications that some of the material used in the construction of this building was taken from the Mughal buildings, especially the Fort. The large marble door frame of the main entrance the Samadhi, ornamented with pietra dura work, corroborates that it has been taken from the Sheesh Mahal of the Lahore Fort. Similarly, about 21 other marble door frames at different places in the building apparently also came from some other Mughal buildings in the Fort. This is also proved by the fact that while building the hazuri Bagh pavilion, Maharaja ranjit Singh got many pieces from jahangir’s tomb in Shahdara.

In the same complex are the Samadhis of ranjit Singh’s son Kharak Singh and grandson Prince Nau Nihal Singh who had built the haveli Nau Nihal Singh now known as Victoria School.

The possession of this place is with the Evacuee Trust Board.

The ensemble, which also has the Shrine of Guru arjan Mal - the fifth Guru of the Sikhs - is not easily accessible to the public and is not a tourist site. One has to route through several permissions and security checks before entering this complex. Within the site it now has arrangements for hosting innumerable Sikh Yatrees

‘It should be a tourist site, so that people from all religions can visit it as they visit the Data Darbar’ (pilgrims) coming from India and other countries on their religious days. In my opinion, it should be a tourist site, so that people from all religions can visit it as they visit the Data Darbar or any other Muslim shrine.

Within the enclosure of the Samadhi long bearded Sikh priests will be found reading the Granth, or the Sikh scriptures, over which is reverentially waved a fan of peacock feathers, an emblem of sanctity. The sitar, so fondly heard

by Nanak from his faithful disciple Mardana, is played and sacred hymns, describing the deeds of their gurus, are sung with fervour.

The Samadhi is a religious place of Sikh visitors. after partition of 1947 the place is a must visit site for the ‘yatrees’.

Throughout its presence, the placement of this Samadhi shows the level of tolerance and religious harmony among the people of Pakistan. The prayers are going on at the same time, and I have never seen any conflict between the mosque and the gurdwara.

What else can be the best example? g

C M YK

Sunday, 17 - 23 January, 2016

heritage

Neevin Masjid – the 8th wonder One of a kind

tania Qureshi The writer is a media professional and can be reached at: taniaq29@gmail.com

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his mosque, twenty-five feet below ground level, was all decorated for the Rabi’ul-Awwal month’s activities and it added more beauty to it. i was welcomed by the imam of the mosque and he was kind enough to let me photograph the place. he also narrated stories about the establishment of the mosque, which made my trip more interesting. This was my trip to the Neevin Masjid. The entrance of the mosque is from the Lohari Gate (one of the thirteen gates of the walled city of Lahore) going towards the Naya Bazaar inside Chowk Matti. it is small doorway that leads you to the twenty-six-stepped stairway

which takes you down to the ground level of the mosque.

While roaming around inside the mosque, i was constantly thinking about the water drainage and what would happen in the monsoons. The same i inquired from the imam of the mosque, a nice gentleman. Despite being twenty five feet below ground level, there has never been a complaint of sewerage or drainage of water system, the imam of the mosque told me. That’s another wonder of this mosque. The imam said that it’s not a miracle or some unseen force controlling the water; rather it was the mechanism with which it was constructed. he added that two wells or maybe water tanks were constructed underneath the floor called “gharki” in local language.

These are functional since the establishment of the mosque for almost more than five hundred years now. The water used in the mosque for ablution, toilets and even the rain water goes into those wells and is dispersed from there and the system is functional without any problem. Yes, he said that the mechanism itself is a wonder and no one could ever figure it out. i wish we had similar mechanisms to save us from over

‘Despite being twenty five feet below ground level, there has never been a complaint of sewerage or drainage’ flowing roads during the monsoon season. Well, why can’t the government work on similar mechanisms in the places that are flooded during the rainy season?

Anyhow that’s just another question i will write about soon.

Coming back to the topic, let me tell you that as far as i have read about it, this mosque is one of a kinds in the world and no other similar example is so far found even in the sub-continent. it has an open courtyard on the western side of which lies the mosque prayer chamber. The mosque is small in size but nobody doubts it grandeur. i think it’s a must-visit site. The mosque has a three low domed structure with as many openings on its face. The mosque of the Lodhi period was constructed by Zulfiqar Khan who served the Governor of Lahore, haybat Khan, in 1460s and it is said that the mosque was built in

the same years. historic accounts

by Dr Abdullah Chughtai states that the Mosque was built on the foundations of an old temple and the structure and ground level was not changed. he established his argument by epitomizing different temples which were constructed below the ground level in ancient times. The other Mosques seen in Lahore like Wazir Khan, Golden Mosque, saleh Kamboh Mosque or even the Badshahi Mosque are either on ground level or on a raised masonry.

As per historic accounts it is claimed that there were two mosques of similar kind. Amongst the two Neevin (low-level) Mosques, the one situated inside Yakki (Zakki) Darwaza has completely been erased from the face of the earth to give way to a modem structure of a mosque of the late 20th century. however this mosque still exists, whereas changes have been made to its original fabric.

Unlike other mosques, the Neevin Masjid underwent no change during the sikh or British rules. The use of Badshahi Mosque, sonehri Mosque, Mariam Zamani, Moti Masjid and many others was changed during different rules, but the sanctity of

‘Unlike other mosques, the Neevin Masjid underwent no change during the Sikh or British rules’ Neevin Masjid was never harmed in any era. The possession of the mosque is with the locals of the area and they gather funds for its maintenance. The mosque is not a tourist site, but can be developed as the imam is too hospitable and has a comforting personality. Not many people know about this wonder inside the walled city. This mosque also affirms the footprints of the Lodhi Dynasty in Lahore, as does the tomb of Malik Ayyaz for the Ghaznavid rule. This mosque should be enlisted among the Monuments of Lahore, as it is so far ignored. We don’t find much information about it on the web or in many books either. The authorities should take the initiative in maintaining it and to bring it on the list of monuments.

Though the façade and building décor have been changed, still the water mechanism and its depth from the street level is not less than a wonder. g

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C M YK

Sunday, 17 - 23 January, 2016

SATIre

TELLING IT LIKE IT ALMOST NEVER IS khabaristantoday@pakistantoday.com.pk

This world is temporary; KP, Balochistan to get western route in afterlife: Maulana Ahsan Iqbal

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Lahore Our Mullah COrrespOndent

peaking to reporters at a press conference in Raiwind, Maulana ahsan iqbal said that this world was a temporal, ephemeral construct and it was no more real than the bubbles on a brook of water.

“This dunya is but a fleeting memory of the seemingly tangible,” said the Maulana. “it is on the afterlife that i would like to convince the political parties of kp and Balochistan to focus themselves.”

“My friends from the anp, pTi or however many you are: do you think you will live forever? Do you think any particular road will stand the upheaval of the Day of Judgment?” asked iqbal, with an emotional fervour. “no, it is only the afterlife where you can get what you really need.”

“The western route shall indeed be built, but not by the mortal hands of pakistani labour, nor is it going to be designed by some Chinese engineer,” he continued. “But, it is going to be brought into existence by the Creator Himself.” answering a question about what kp and Balochistan can, indeed, expect in this life, iqbal replied, “Well, this world is not going to be all hardship. We can hope that the next Coke Studio has at least three artists from both these provinces.” g

PCB fines Afridi, Ahmed Shehzad for excessive PDA

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Lahore

Our pda pOliCe COrrespOndent

He pakistan Cricket Board (pCB) on Saturday fined national T20 team captain Shahid khan afridi and batsman ahmed Shehzad for inappropriate and excessive public displays of affection (pDa).

“The Board takes these things very seriously,” read out a

Match-fixing allegations: Amir took money to perform well at NZ T20

circular issued by the pCB. “given how many people were watching, it was absolutely inappropriate to indulge in the same.”

“The pCB is liable to lose some of its ad royalty,” the circular continued. “Because the broadcast rating was immediately bumped up to pg-15, which severely curtailed the total number of viewers.” g

New ZeaLaNd Our MatCh-Fixing COrrespOnding

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n shocking new accusations made by a newspaper in new Zealand, it is alleged that Mohammad amir, the oncedisgraced pakistani pacer, is back to his match-fixing ways again.

“We have proof, solid proof,” read the editorial of the New Zealand Enquirer, “that amir took money to

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perform well at the T20 against the kiwis.”

“The devious plan did not work at first, with him almost getting kane Williamson caught,” said Fred Smith, sports editor of the New Zealand Enquirer at a press conference. “But they still managed to bring to fruition this unsportsmanlike business by taking the wicket of Matt Henry and maintaining an economy of 1 for 31 from four overs.”

in reply to a question about whether the Enquirer had an leads on who had organised the match-fixing, Smith replied in the affirmative, taking out a piece of paper from a file.

“The name of the mastermind who paid him to perform in this match is a shadowy organisation by the name of the pakistan Cricket Board.”

“Seriously, when will this boy ever learn?” g