The Express Tribune Magazine - December 4

DECEMBER 4-10 2011

Intolerance, Islamophobia and the Irvine 11

DECEMBER 4-10 2011

Cover Story 18 No You Can’t The case of the Irvine 11 points towards growing intolerance towards dissent in the US

Feature 30 A Prayer for Pakistan They may be living in New York but Pakistani Christians still have their hearts in their homeland 32 Unlikely Origins The fascinating story behind Britain’s first mosque

Positive Pakistani 34 Call of Duty One man can make a difference

30

Regulars

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6 People & Parties: Out and about with Pakistan’s beautiful people 36 Advice: Mr Know It All solves your problems 40 Reviews: What’s new in books and films 42 Ten Things I Hate About: ET Blogs

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Magazine Editor: Zarrar Khuhro, Senior Sub-Editor: Batool Zehra, Sub-Editors: Ameer Hamza and Dilaira Mondegarian.

Creative Team: Amna Iqbal, Jamal Khurshid, Essa Malik, Anam Haleem, Tariq W Alvi, S Asif Ali, Samad Siddiqui, Sukayna Sadik.

Publisher: Bilal A Lakhani. Executive Editor: Muhammad Ziauddin. Editor: Kamal Siddiqi.

For feedback and submissions: magazine@tribune.com.pk

PEOPLE & PARTIES

Mahim Hussain holds an exhibition in Karachi

Samar Meh

di with Batoo

l Mehdi

PHOTOS COURTESY CATALYST PR

Iraj Mansoor with Frieha Altaf

Mathira Saima Mahmood

Kokab and Saba Ansari

Maheen Hussain and Andleeb Rana

6 DECEMBER 4-10 2011

Ayesha Omer

Jamil Baig and Uzma Baig

DECEMBER 4-10 2011

PEOPLE & PARTIES

Nadya Mistry and Nazneen Tariq

ection ll o c r e h s sari stock in Karachi n A l a e m Sham Tanaeez io r o p m E t a

PHOTOS COURTESY CATALYST PR

Guests

Bakhtawar

Areeba Habib

8 DECEMBER 4-10 2011

Angie Marshall

Saadia Sheikh

Shammeal Ansari

DECEMBER 4-10 2011

PEOPLE & PARTIES

The Women Chamber of Commerce and Industry hold the 11th Women’s Lifestyle Exhibition in Lahore

Annie Mansoor and Madiha Abrar

Photos courtesy Voila PR

Shehla Akram and Naveen

Qaisera Sheikh and Anum Aden Aamir Mazhar and Rima Farid

Amina Saeed & Bilal Mukhtar

10 DECEMBER 4-10 2011

Amna Babar

Sehyr Anis and Ayesha Nasir

DECEMBER 4-10 2011

PEOPLE & PARTIES

Ayesha Khurram and Nosheen Amir hold an exhibition in Lahore

Asad Sheikh, Huma and Nosheen Mariam Shams

PHOTOS COURTESY VOILA PR

Madiha Abrar

Mehreen Natasha Hussain and Sara Gillani

Mishal and Rabia

12 DECEMBER 4-10 2011

Hassan Ellahi

Ayesha Nasir

Ayesha Khurram with her husband

DECEMBER 4-10 2011

PEOPLE & PARTIES

Amina Saeed launches The Fashion Gallery in Lahore

Tehmina and Zunaira

PHOTOS COURTESY BILAL MUKHTAR EVENTS & PR

Ayesha

Arooj and Sara

Alyzeh Gabol

Salma and Turab

Hafsa and Noor

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Ghazala and Farah DECEMBER 4-10 2011

Aamir Mazhar, Natasha and Rima

DECEMBER 4-10 2011

PEOPLE & PARTIES

Wafa and Zara

Amna, Bilal Mukhtar and Amina Saeed

Sahar and Mariam Sobia and Sarah

Fatima and Bushra

16 DECEMBER 4-10 2011

Hira and Mrs Saeed

Minahil

DECEMBER 4-10 2011

COVER STORY

BY SHER KHAN

18 DECEMBER 4-10 2011

The prosecution of the Irvine 11 points towards increasing intolerance and Islamophobia in the United States.

Inside a small courtroom in the Californian city of Santa Ana, Palestinian-American Shaheen Nassar and his 10 friends stood tall as a six-man jury found them guilty of conspiracy.

As the verdict was announced, shouts and wails came from the

crowd of over 150 people who had gathered to watch the proceedings. The outcry was such that the judge, Justice Peter J Wilson cautioned people to control their passions or face eviction from the courtroom.

This was the culmination of a two-year trial that had riveted

the attention of American-Muslim community and civil rights groups, highlighted the increased polarisation within America

and raised questions about the very freedoms and rights that are so famously enshrined in the American constitution.

That’s because the ‘Irvine 11’, as they have been dubbed, are not

terrorists or radicals, but simple students. And they were found

guilty not of conspiring to commit acts of terror, but rather of conspiring to disrupt the speech of the Israeli ambassador to the US. Not with bombs or guns, but with words.

“We are now in the Muslim civil rights era,” says Nassar, a

first-generation Palestinian-American studying at the University of California, Riverside. Originally from Gaza, his family had

been displaced from its homeland due to Israel’s aggressive policy of operations and occupation and many of his family members

were forced to move from lands that had belonged to their ancestors for generations. Others fell victim to more recent military

operations, and were conveniently written off as terrorists or as collateral damage. Faceless victims of Operation: Cast Lead.

“My family had always tried to keep my cousins away from

politics, but my cousins were killed in the 2008-2009 bombing campaign on the Gaza Strip,” recalls Nassar with a sigh. He was

one of the lucky ones. His grandparents had left Gaza in 1948 and

19 DECEMBER 4-10 2011

COVER STORY he had lived in California since his childhood. “Their deaths had a deep impact on me; I could no

longer stay quiet about the atrocities being committed in Palestine. The reality was so very different from what was being depicted here in the US.”

Nassar’s twin pursuits of activism and academics would collide on February 8th, 2010 when the

nearby University of California, Irvine decided to host a talk regarding, “US & Israel: Relations from a Historical and Personal Perspective.” When they learned that Michael Oren, the Israeli ambassador to the US, was scheduled to speak, Nassar and his fellow activists decided to use the venue to draw attention to Israel’s actions by disrupting the speech.

As Oren began to speak, protestors stood up one by one and hurled accusations before leaving

the auditorium. “You sir, are an accomplice to genocide,” announced one protester. Having said

their piece, they were escorted out of the auditorium by security guards. It was textbook heckling, and it was hardly unprecedented. In 2009, a similar protest was held at the University of Chicago

when former Israeli president Ehud Olmert was speaking. During that event, a coalition of campus groups including Muslim, Palestinian and Human rights activists interrupted the former premier

repeatedly, finally forcing him to cut his speech short. A year earlier, Israeli President Shimon Peres

faced the same treatment from protestors at the UK’s Oxford University. In the same Californian county as Irvine, former US Vice President Dick Cheney was heckled by protestors who called him a

war criminal. Even one of US President Barack Obama’s speeches was disrupted by an AIDS activist.

No charges were pressed. No one was prosecuted.

But this time, when the 11 protesters walked out of the auditorium, they were arrested and

charged. The university, which then threatened them with expulsion, also suspended the Muslim Student Union which they accused of having organised the protest.

While pro-Israeli groups cheered the action, others saw a long-standing tradition of free speech

and protest being endangered. Traditionally, American campuses have been at the forefront of

change. From the civil rights movement to the Vietnam War and beyond, it was students who

were among the torchbearers of change, and since then, universities have jealously guarded their freedoms.

To Diala Shamas, a graduate of the Yale school of law who has worked with B’Tselem, the Israeli

Information Centre for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories and Adalah, the Arab Center for

Minority Rights in Israel, it’s a case of history repeating itself. “This is just the most recent iteration in a long history of law enforcement targeting of student groups,” she says. “In the past, it’s

been anti-war student groups, or black student groups that have been the victims to such policies.”

Nevertheless, she warns that the Irvine 11 case has deeper implications. “We should hope that this

is a one-off, extreme incident rather than the beginning of a new pattern,” says Shamas. “But re-

gardless, it is sufficient to have a chilling effect on students in general and Muslim students in particular from partaking in healthy activism.”

Increasingly, it seems that campus activism, and even heckling, is fine so long as you don’t criti-

cise Israel in the process. The unspoken taboo isn’t just limited to students though, and former US president Jimmy Carter in fact complained of great difficulty in gaining access to a number of

universities to discuss his new book Palestine: Peace not Apartheid. Well-known academics such as Norman Finklestein and Terri Ginsberg have both claimed they were denied tenure due to their open criticism of Israel.

Third-year Yale Law Student and member of Students for Justice in Palestine Yaman Salahi feels

the change can be traced to a concerted campaign to promote Islamophobia by right wing and pro-

Israeli interest groups. Citing a report by CBS news’ Max Blumenthal titled ‘The Great Islamopho-

bic Crusade’, Salahi said that there was a genuine attempt to create and promote Islamophobia in the United States. The report, which was published in December last year, explains that the ‘Islamaphobic crusades’ are an organised effort first bankrolled by Israeli and Jewish-American lobby

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groups and eventually expanded during the Obama Presidency into a right-wing effort to ‘culturDECEMBER 4-10 2011

“We weren’t prosecuted because we did something illegal,” says Nassar. “We were prosecuted because we were Muslim and because they tried to silence our message. We felt like black men in 1950s America.”

21 DECEMBER 4-10 2011

COVER STORY

Support for the Irvine 11 has come from many quarters, including Jewish peace activists who have drawn attention to what they see as blatant discrimination.

26 DECEMBER 4-10 2011

PHOTOS COURTESY OF www.irvine11.com

ally maintain’ the United States. With private donors pumping millions of dollars, the campaign, according to Blumenthal, ‘now belongs to leading Republican presidential candidates, top-rated cable news hosts, and crowds of Tea Party activists.’

Despite the odds and the spectre of permanent criminal charges on his record, Irvine protester

Tahir Herzullah refuses to remain silent. “One of the most important things to learn from the Irvine 11 case is that our community must understand that in order for any change to occur in the sta-

tus quo, sacrifices need to be made,” says Herzullah. “Complacency and consideration don’t work with people who are actively trying to put you down. There needs to be a more proactive and assertive strategy when it comes to Muslim civil rights and the Palestine issue in this country.”

Herzallah, whose family originally hails from Gaza, notes that campus debate on Palestine in-

creased after 9/11, but so did Islamophobia and surveillance. “The government, and especially the FBI, has not been an ally of [Muslim and Palestinian] student groups on campus. Just this year, the

FBI issued subpoenas and searched the homes of student activists in the Midwest in an attempt to stifle the work they do,” says Herzallah. “As for what else the state is doing, all I can say is that the state is capable of anything and the Irvine 11 case is a testament to that.”

Meanwhile in Irvine, Anila Ali, a well-known community leader and activist in the Pakistani

and Muslim community, works tirelessly to dispel stereotypes by advocating a proactive approach.

Understanding that perceptions cannot change overnight, she stresses that the Muslim community will also have to go through its own process of assimilation and acceptance.

While she feels the university should not have taken the extreme step of pressing charges and

threatening the students with expulsion, she says the protest could have been conducted in a less disruptive way.

For her, the way forward is for Muslim youth to participate more fully in civic life. Some of the

projects she is conducting include inter-faith harmony initiatives to develop better community awareness and counter Islamophobia.

She maintains that despite the stigma, negative perceptions and polarisation, Muslims in the

United States still have civil liberties and freedoms that they are otherwise denied in many other countries.

“Law enforcement agencies like the LAPD, our government, the Department of Justice and the

White House are all engaged in reaching out to Muslims in an effort to build relationships and close gaps in understanding and bring the Muslim community into mainstream America,” says Ali. “American Muslims are truly fortunate to have the protection of their civil liberties even after the monstrous crime of 9/11, which was perpetrated by so-called Muslims.”

Regardless, the question as to whether civil liberties are being protected has been up for debate.

Shaheen Nasser and Taher Hazerullah who maintain that America is their home, feel that prosecution had gone out of its way to pursue the case simply because of their ethnicity and religion.

“We weren’t prosecuted because we did something illegal,” says Nassar. “We were prosecuted

because we were Muslim and because they tried to silence our message. We felt like black men in 1950s America and even during the jury selection process some of the questions aimed at the potential jurors made us feel that we were suspect simply because of who we are, that we were criminals because of our religion and our skin tone.”

Support for the Irvine 11 has come from many quarters, including Jewish peace activists who have

drawn attention to what they see as blatant discrimination. In a statement posted on their website,

the group Jewish Voice for Peace wrote: Our young Jewish members were engaged in a nearly iden-

tical protest of Israeli policies — only the venue was larger and the target was the Prime Minister of Israel, Bibi Netanyahu. They were let off without even a mark. Their Muslim peers were tried and criminalised. What does this say about America today?

a

27 DECEMBER 4-10 2011

FEATURE

a prayer for

pakistan

BY MARIUM ABDUL-SATTAR

Arif Masih still sometimes dreams he is a teenager in Pakistan although he left his homeland 20 years ago, settling in New York where he now lives with his family of five. Every Sunday, the 53-yearold leader of the Pentecostal Church in Queens gives his mostly Pakistani congregants a sermon in Urdu. Masih is not alone in feeling a deep connection with the country he left behind so many years ago — this feeling is one

that is shared by many Pakistani expatriates living in New York City, whose identities continue to be shaped by their country of origin.

Out of 27,000 Pakistanis living in New York today, 400 are

Christians, and they are concentrated in the boroughs of Queens

and Brooklyn. Most of them, like Masih, are those who moved here in search of a better life.

“I had multiple responsibilities like taking care of my parents

and family. The money I was earning back home was not enough to take care of everybody,” he says.

Masih grew up in Gojra, the site of the 2009 riots where close to

60 houses and a church were set ablaze by a mob, resulting in the deaths of 8 Christians. But he himself led an idyllic childhood,

working on a farm and studying for a diploma at the Christian Hospital of Quetta, before moving to Kuwait and then the US, years before Gojra became a synonym for hate and murder.

Every Sunday, up to 100 congregants fill the rectangular base-

ment of the Calvary church in Queens. As the Pakistani congre-

gants of the Pentecostal church greet friends that they haven’t seen since the previous week, three men sing in accompaniment

to the music of the harmonium and tabla. The instruments are placed next to microphones, and the amplified music reverberates in the room, bouncing off the walls to find its way into the

30

hearts of those who have gathered. Later, the Pakistanis and the DECEMBER 4-10 2011

handful of Indians listen engrossed to the sermon that Masih de-

livers in chaste Urdu.

Masih, who always looks as if he is on the verge of breaking

into a smile, hopes it will remain this way at least during his

lifetime: “The service will be in Urdu for our generation. We promote Urdu,” he says proudly.

One Sunday in March, Masih and his community are remind-

ed of the situation back home when they learn of the murder of

Pakistan’s federal minister for minorities affairs Shahbaz Bhatti.

Just a few months earlier, Punjab Governor Salmaan Taseer had

been killed by his own security guard, after he called for amendments to the blasphemy law. For these expatriates, such news is

doubly unsettling because many of them have experienced some

degree of religious intolerance firsthand. It is a time to pray for the country and for their friends back home.

For Masih, life in New York is far removed from that world of

religious conflict and fear. Apart from being a preacher, he is a

nurse and is now pursuing his PhD in nursing at the State University of New York. Many congregants at Masih’s church are

US for their South Asian origin. A veteran of the US army, Anil

footsteps. He traces even the choice of this profession back to his

because they didn’t expect to see a person of South Asian descent

also nurses, and his two sons and daughter are following in his home country.

“If you look at the background of the Christian community in

Pakistan, there were not many opportunities to progress. Since Muslim girls did not come into the field of nursing, this profes-

says people were surprised at his decision to serve in the army

in their unit. “There were always stereotypes. People look at you

with doubt, like ‘Why is he here?’ But by the time I left [Iraq], I was just like everybody else.”

There are additional difficulties. The Pakistani Christian com-

sion had space that people from the minority communities could

munity in the US is so small that it is often a challenge for young

But despite the discrimination that Christians have histori-

tives in Pakistan to identify eligible singles to marry their sons

fill,” says Masih.

cally faced, and the newer spectre of religious fundamentalism,

Masih’s love for the country of his birth is still strong. A great advocate of Pakistani values and customs, he wears shalwar kameez with a traditional Kashmiri shawl and extols the virtues of

wearing Pakistan’s national dress in public to show people his

people to get married. Families frequently appeal to their rela-

and daughters to. In recent years, several young women from the community have settled down with Indians or white men from

other congregations but men rarely marry outside their community.

This close-knit community meets in smaller groups around the

roots. In the afternoon, when his youngest son returns home

city every week for a prayer meeting outside of Church. In Ridge-

Sadly, even in New York, Pakistani Muslims and Pakistani

ment to pray together. Ten people sit in the room, close their eyes

from work, he greets his father with a “Salaam.”

Christians rarely mingle. Things have started to change over the past two years though and Muslim Pakistanis in New York have

started inviting the Christian community to celebrate special oc-

casions such as their country’s Independence Day and vice versa.

Masih is reminded of his Pakistani heritage at unexpected

times. “When I send money to my family, the women at the bank

always ask, ‘Why are you always sending money to your mom?

Doesn’t your mom work?’”

“A Pakistani person would know why,” he says with a smile.

On Sundays Arif Masih’s son, Anil, drives to church with his

brother. Though he has not had to struggle like his father, life

for this second generation immigrant has not been a bed of roses either. While having to face discrimination in Pakistan for being Christian, he feels Pakistani Christians are discriminated in the

wood, Queens, the Masih family drives to their friends’ apart-

and bow their heads as they pray and sing hymns. They sit on plastic seats around a table that has three Bibles on it, all translated into Urdu. In turn, each person shares his prayer out loud.

“In Pakistan, please watch over the country. Please fix the situ-

ation there.”

“Please keep your Name alive in the country.”

“Please keep us as one again.”

“Please shower us with your blessings.”

“Please bless the country we are in now.”

“For all those who are sick, please keep the sickness away.”

“For the Muslim girl who bows her head with us in prayer,

please grant all of her wishes.”

“We pray for Pakistan, and for every family in Pakistan.”

Ameen, they say collectively.a

DECEMBER 4-10 2011

31

FEATURE

unlikely origins

Hidden behind the trees in Woking, the 120-year-old Shah Jahan Mosque continues to function to this very day

Shah Jahan Mosque Postcard, 1925 http://wokingmuslim.org/photos/

BY ROSHAN MUGHAL

The Khatib is delivering the Friday sermon and as the congregation listens quietly, a train passes by in the distance, rustling the leaves in this suburb of Woking in the British county of Surrey. Rising above

the trees, the bright green dome and minarets of the Shah Jahan

Mosque are a sight to behold in this busy commuter town. While mosques are quite a common sight in the United Kingdom, what

sets this one apart is not only the fact that it is the oldest purposebuilt mosque in the country but also that it was commissioned by a Jewish man, Dr Gottlieb Wilhelm Leitner.

If you find the idea of a Jewish man commissioning the first

mosque in the United Kingdom a bit strange, then hold on to your hats! Leitner was also instrumental in the establishment of the

University of the Punjab, right here in Pakistan. If this is news to

you, that’s largely because of the fact that history in Pakistan has always been at the mercy of politics, and is routinely distorted (or ignored) to suit agendas and ideologies.

The Shah Jahan Mosque was commissioned in 1889 by Leitner so as to

provide a place of worship for Muslim students at his Oriental Institute.

The cost of the mosque was borne by the ruler of the state of Bhopal, Be-

32 DECEMBER 4-10 2011

Shah Jahan Mosque today

The Shah Jahan Mosque was commissioned in 1889 by Leitner so as to provide a place of worship for Muslim students at his Oriental Institute.

gum Shah Jahan, after whom the mosque is named. The mosque is now a Grade 2 protected building in the UK, giving it a special status.

Built by a Victorian architect named WI Chambers, the mosque

has a traditional Indo-Saracen design, with geometric patterns and Arabic calligraphy being used for decoration. Chambers, who

wasn’t exactly well-acquainted with mosque design, is said to have

visited the Arab Hall in Leighton House, and the India Office Library for inspiration. The results speak for themselves, and Chambers is even said to have sought the help of a naval captain in order to ensure that the mosque faced Makkah precisely.

Sultan Shah Jahan, Begum of Bhopal

Gottlieb Wilhelm Leitner

British Library

The Strand Magazine Volume VII (Jan — June 1894)

The original mosque still stands today and can hold up to 60 wor-

shippers, but since the weekly congregations far exceed this capac-

ity, the mosque has also expanded to neighbouring buildings. In 2001, BBC Southern Counties Radio funded the building of a garden on the South side of the original Mosque. It now greets visitors to the mosque as they enter the grounds.

As Britain’s first purpose-built mosque, the Shah Jehan Mosque

played an important role in the establishment of Islam in the UK

and paved the way for the set up of the first cemetery for Muslims in the country. Woking’s Muslim Burial Ground was built during the

First World War as the only designated place of burial for Muslim soldiers who died at the Indian Army Hospital in Brighton Pavilion.

The Shah Jahan Mosque has become a centre for the local

Muslim community in Surrey and every year hundreds of tourists of various faiths visit the mosque. “We hope to turn the mosque into an institution for Islamic learning in the hope of

fostering peace and understanding,” said the prayer leader of the mosque, Sahibzada Nisar. a

In 2001, BBC Southern Counties Radio supported the creation of a garden built on the South side of the original mosque.

DECEMBER 4-10 2011

33 31

ADVICE

mr know it all From relationship blues to money woes, Mr Know It All has the answers!

Q. Dear Mr Know It All,

I was recently told that either my friend or I would get the pro-

My boss is a tyrant in the making. She’s lazy, inefficient and

motion for senior editor and I just can’t wrap my mind around

never comes to work on time. Then she keeps me extra hours to

but he’s wanted this his whole life. I feel that I can’t take away

she yells at me and blames me for her work not being completed

this. I decided I wanted to work for a magazine only recently,

something my friend has worked so hard for. I’m not saying that I don’t want the promotion — if I was against any other person,

I’d be completely fine and willing to crush the little bugger if I had to, but this is my best friend. I can’t deal this blow to all her

hard work and aspirations. I also fear that if I get promoted, we may not remain such good friends. Can you help me out?

To crush or not to crush

help her out with her work. If I make even the slightest error, on time, even though it’s her fault for worrying more about her beauty sleep than her job. Besides, I’m not even paid for the extra hours I put in. I can’t tell her how I feel because it will com-

promise my career progression. However, it’s irritating trying to cover her tracks. What should I do?

Bossanova

A. Life gives us plenty of choices, and you have one to make

A. It’s pretty much an established fact that the universe has a

right here, right now as well: you can either sit on your behind

something often have to watch the prize being whisked away

listen, hoping your problems will miraculously go away on their

perverse sense of humour. People who work all their life to achieve from right under their nose by someone who wasn’t even in con-

tention to begin with. It’s happened before and let me assure you, it will happen again. And again. And again… because that’s just

how things work in this big, bad world of cold, heartless corporations and out-of-line promotions! I might sound like an insensitive twit for saying this, but you feeling sorry for your friend looks

good only in theory. In real life, it wouldn’t take me (or any other

potential employer, for that matter) two seconds to write you off as a softie with too much baggage for the new job. A magazine editor is supposed to be a hotshot who knows precisely what he

wants and how to get it — there’s no room for sentiments in the

recipe for professional success. If you want to go far, you’ve got to look out for yourself first. Remember, self-control is overrated and being an adult all the time sucks. If your friend can’t handle a

little competition or, after all said and done, doesn’t want to play with you anymore because you won, it’s his problem to email me

36

Q. Dear Mr Know It All,

about. You just do your job, do it well, and screw everyone else!

DECEMBER 4-10 2011

and share painful monster-boss anecdotes with anyone who’ll own. Or, you could listen to me, stop moping and own up to your mistake of letting a negative influence bog you down like this. I mean, sure, I admit a boss-subordinate relationship has an interesting if twisted dynamic... even a top-notch suit-wearing professional sometimes can’t help but feel the urge to walk out the door when the boss walks in. Or simply wag the tail and roll

over to avoid unpleasant confrontations ensuing from unrealistic expectations. But really, how long can you go on like this? Some-

times you have to pimp your worth to be taken seriously. There’s no shame in it. Remember that you can’t let a bad supervisor emasculate you simply because she has a nameplate and you

don’t. More often than not, it is our inability to stand up for our-

selves that actively feeds the egos of workplace tyrants. So unless your job description includes a yo-ma-bitch clause, or your boss

bought you off eBay, start demanding a little respect from her.

Overcome your fear of getting fired and tell her off when she’s be-

ing unfair…and no matter what you do, don’t log another hour of

overtime without making sure you’re paid for it, because that’s just criminal!

Q. Dear Mr Know It All,

Throughout my life as a student I have been a hard worker but

I did not get the grades I wanted. Maybe my expectations were

really high ... I am not exactly sure. But I feel that I may not be going about studying in the right way. Even my teachers sug-

actly know what my way is. Please help!

Concerned student

A. If you hate your grades so much, here’s a little exercise for

you: Stop wasting your time on your usual method of study and try everything else you just listed here. Trial and error, baby — that’s the name of the game!

a

gest that one has different ways of grasping a subject — it can be through the kinaesthetic sense (where you learn only what you

wrote in your very own writing), the visual sense (photographic

Got a problem you just can’t solve? Mail us at magazine@tribune.com.pk and let our very own whiz take a crack at it!

ILLUSTRATION: JAMAL KHURSHID

memory) and the auditory sense. The only problem is I don’t ex-

37 DECEMBER 4-10 2011

POSITIVE PAKISTANI PEOPLE

call of duty

From a primary school in Lyari to Yale’s School of Medicine, Dr Junaid Razzak’s story is an inspiring one

BY MAHNOOR SHERAZEE

Think of an ambulance and the first image that comes to mind is a white Suzuki Bolan painted with a red cross. No wonder then that the Aman Foundation’s sleek, bright yellow ambulances stand out among the fume-spewing buses, noisy rickshaws, and death-defying motorcyclists on Karachi’s chaotic roads.

You must often have spotted one tearing through unrelenting

traffic, rushing the sick and injured to a hospital. In a city rife with medical emergencies, where target killings, bomb blasts

schooling at a humble primary school in Lyari, completing his

secondary education from Nasira School in Depot Lines. Not one to be held back, the hard-working student subsequently attended

Adamjee Science College where his impressive grades and un-

bounded enthusiasm won him a scholarship at the prestigious Aga Khan University Hospital (AKUH), the top private medical institution in the country.

It was in his fourth year of medical school that Razzak discov-

and road accidents are a daily occurrence, these vehicles save

ered his true calling: emergency medicine. “Fourth year is the

lished is an inspiring story which starts with an ambitious boy,

went abroad for internships, but I stayed back and spent time in

many precious lives. How this network of ambulances was estab-

38

Today, Razzak is a renowned emergency medicine expert and

the executive director of the Aman Foundation. He started his

Junaid Razzak, who rose from humble origins.

DECEMBER 4-10 2011

time when you choose your field. Most of my fellow students the emergency room at AKUH,” he says.

On the personal front, Yale was also important for the doctor

since he met his future wife there. Following graduation, the

two stayed in the US for a few years, always looking forward to the time when they would return home. “The plan was always to come back,” says Razzak. “That’s why we never bought a house, never completely settled in.”

Before they could come back, Razzak did his PhD in Public

Health at the world-renowned Karolinska Institutet in Sweden,

where he focused on the use of ambulance data for monitoring road traffic accidents. Finally, in 2005, the studious boy from

Kharadar returned to Pakistan as a successful, qualified expert in emergency medicine.

He joined his alma mater, AKUH as a faculty member and went

on to successfully found Pakistan’s first emergency medicine ser-

vice (EMS) training programme at the university. “There were many doctors who were awarded their degrees without ever ad-

ministering cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) as it wasn’t a requirement,” he reveals.

This changed when his EMS programme became a mandatory

rotation that all students had to serve. Subsequently, Razzak

went on to build and head a new emergency department. Yet, the battle was just half won. Students in the new department

faced a dilemma, similar to the one Razzak had as a student.

They were required to go to the United Kingdom to sit for their exam, otherwise they would not be considered qualified.

It was time well spent. When he saw the sorry state of emer-

gency medicine, Razzak was driven to bring about changes in the

field. He graduated from AKUH in 1994, but his interest in emer-

“We had trainees, but no exams here,” he says. “If these stu-

dents couldn’t sit for their exams here, they weren’t qualified on paper and therefore couldn’t be hired as consultants.”

Determined to remove, for others, the hurdles that he himself

gency medicine only grew.

had crossed only after many toils, Razzak collaborated with the

the philanthropic Edhi organisation and the largest volunteer

curriculum for the specialised field. The first batch for this course

In collaboration with the Edhi Ambulance Service, an arm of

ambulance network in the world, he researched and analysed

road traffic injuries and emergency cases. Edhi had a mountain of documentation for every call and every case it had handled in

the last two decades. The downside? None of it was digitised, so

College of Physicians and Surgeons Pakistan (CPSP) to organise a

was enrolled last year. Now students wanting to specialise in

emergency medicine will be able to obtain certification in their chosen field, without having to travel abroad.

“I consider this a major achievement,” he says with a smile. “I

he spent days sifting through it manually.

don’t think there is any country that requires this specialisation

turbing pattern. Gruesome injuries, often suffered by the poor-

and order situation and terrorist attacks that we face.”

The experience stayed with him, and the data revealed a dis-

est members of society, were often improperly handled by well-

more than us, with all the natural disasters, deteriorating law

At just 40, this medical expert has achieved what most people

meaning doctors, simply because of a lack of know-how. These

can only dream of in a lifetime, but he still has big plans for the

Yet, Razzak soon realised that he needed more professional

Foundation and dreams of building a world-class health facility

mistakes frequently, and literally, led to the loss of life and limb. training and specialisation courses before he could progress fur-

ther. He sat for the US Medical Licensing Exams (MLE) and had observations at the Beth Israel Medical Centre, New York, and

the Yale-New Haven Hospital, Connecticut. In 1996, his residen-

future. Razzak will shortly launch a tele-health service for Aman

in Pakistan. It seems that nothing is impossible for this inspirational doctor. a

cy and training programme at Yale University’s School of Medi-

If you know of any people who have achieved something positive, either

the State of Connecticut.

tribune.com.pk and help us share their story with the world.

cine started and in 1999, he was given the ‘Best Trainee’ award by

for themselves or for those around them, please mail us at magazine@ DECEMBER 4-10 2011

39

REVIEW

life and death, in the blink of an eye

BY MARIA WAQAR

In Instant City: Life and Death in Karachi, Steve Inskeep tries to make sense of Pakistan’s largest city. Based on extensive fieldwork, the book is divided into four parts. It opens with a narrative of Karachi’s MA Jinnah road on December 28, 2009 — the day when an Ashura procession was struck by a bomb blast and several commercial areas were set ablaze. From that starting point of gore and bloodshed, the American writer scratches the surface of Karachi’s conflicts and contradictions.

The second part of the book focuses on key landmarks of Karachi, selected strategically for delving into the history and socio-political dynamics of the port city. The third section sheds light on Karachi’s urban projects — the construction of world-class shopping malls, residential complexes and infrastructure — and the impediments they face. And in the final part, Inskeep reflects on the downside of rapid urban development after World War 2, with notes on how Karachi can improve.

What makes Inskeep a great raconteur is his attention to the most subtle paradoxes. In his often ironic observations the reader is confronted with the tale of a city which grows, self-destructs and revives only to follow the same cycle again. His work is refresh-

sucker punch

BY NOMAN ANSARI

Perhaps ‘Real Steal’ rather than Real Steel would have been a more appropriate title for this film, which regurgitates familiar elements from many genre classics, including tired clichés like the ‘estranged father bonds with son’, the ‘underdog rises against all odds’, and the ‘boy forms sentimental attachment with his robot’ themes.

Set in the year 2020, the film presents a future where humans have been replaced by robots in the sport of boxing. The irresponsible Charlie Kenton, played in an engaging performance by Hugh Jackman, is a former boxer, who has had his own robot annihilated in a fight and is left owing money to a group of loan sharks. After learning of the death of his ex-girlfriend, he is left to decide the future of their spunky pre-teen son Max (a strong performance by young actor Dakota Goyo).

To get back in the boxing game, Charlie makes an arrangement with Max’s affluent aunt and uncle: before granting them full custody in exchange for a large sum of money, he will take Max for three months. What Charlie doesn’t know is that Max is an avid videogamer, with skills in the robot boxing arena. As the film progresses, 40 Max’s life is saved by a weak yet very cute sparring robot, Atom, with DECEMBER 4-10 2011

ing because it doesn’t offer simplistic explanations. From Ardeshir Cowasjee’s lavish home to the dusty SITE industrial area, Inskeep traverses the expanse of the urban centre in his quest for answers. And he matches oral narratives with intensive secondary research from newspaper archives dating back to independence.

Yet the narrative he constructs is not perfect. Inskeep’s account of the ‘instant city’ is problematic because it gives ‘instant’ details; the book switches back and forth between several topics. The attempt to touch on a plethora of themes — landmarks, history, politics and anecdotes — results in information overload for a novice on the subject of Karachi. As the narrative moves jerkily from the crowded Saddar area to the sumptuous Boat Club, from Jamaat-i-Islami’s foundations to chaotic ethnic politics, it often lacks smooth transitions. But in Inskeep’s defence, the messy narrative reflects what the city is really like. There are no seamless shifts in the arbitrary landscape and disorderly politics of the metropolis. Karachi is, after all, simply an intriguing mess.

whom he predictably forms a bond, as he does with his father, Charlie. Eventually, skinny Atom rises to the top against the odds, standing up to seemingly indestructible robot champions.

Meanwhile, Max and Charlie form a strong relationship — the kind fathers and sons only can in movies, with Max even asking his father ‘to fight for their relationship’ at one point.

Despite the cheesy script that belongs strictly in the recycled section, the film delivers its jabs in a mostly entertaining and charming manner. This is because its more poignant scenes are scored perfectly with a strong and emotive soundtrack, but more so because it’s highly imaginative futuristic robot boxing setting makes for compelling viewing. The movie looks really good too, with a lot of the shots having a gritty futuristic feel to them. Also, its action scenes are skillfully edited and brilliantly choreographed, and make for some exciting fight segments. In the end, while this film from director Shawn Levy doesn’t quite win by majority decision, it certainly delivers more than a few haymakers. a

THE HATER

10 things I hate about ... ET blogs

1 2 3 4 5

BY HAMMAD ALI

They think they’re actually making a significant dif-

ference in the world. No, they are not. Hugh Hefner

thinks he’s advocating for women’s rights. If he is,

then I’m signing up for women’s rights as well. So no, your 300-word post on African kids makes no difference to them.

Your personal problems are not society’s problem. For a

country that is so mired in problems, you would think that the last blog you’d expect is about an “Anonymous

Lesbian”, who can’t come out in society. Seriously, how

many conversations do you have where your sexual preference really needs to be brought out in the open?

6 7

They find it perfectly acceptable to make stuff up to

support their moral arguments. How they find making stuff up moral I do not know.

If you have to write “This blog post is satirical in na-

ture” at the end of your post to tell people you’re trying to be funny, well, then you’re really not funny.

Person 1: Wanna get some food?

Person 2: Nah, I’m a lesbian.

Taking photos of poor people won’t make them any less poor. And your “Their eyes tell an untold story” descriptions won’t help them either.

8 9 10

Grammar. I know you’re not getting paid to write or anything but if you want to put forward an argument

or a case it would really help your cause if you knew the difference between ‘then’ and ‘than’ or more commonly ‘she’ or ‘he’.

The inability to take criticism. The minute you point out the fallacies in their logic, you get labelled “PTI

Troll”, “Mullah Supporter” or “Fascist” and your opinion is officially invalid.

Blogging doesn’t require skill. Thing is, anyone can

have a blog — it’s easier than making a Facebook account. Just go to Wordpress.

42 DECEMBER 4-10 2011

They confuse themselves with journalists and writers.

You’re not either, so keep your Paul Coelho-inspired philosophies to yourself. Thank you.

Copy-pasting is not blogging. Also, have you heard of

such a thing as giving people credit? If you run a photo

blog and you steal half the pictures from someone’s

Flickr account, that does not make you a blogger it just makes you a moron with no manners. a