JULY 29-AUGUST 4 2012
Cover Story 20 Aftermath
What would be the fate of Karachi if an earthquake were to strike this densely populated city?
Feature
33 Still Re[a]d Shamim Manzar talks about the similarities between Urdu and German, Marxists and the future of Urdu literature
37 The Road Less Travelled East of the Pezu Mountains, lies an unknown hill station getaway called Sheikh Badin
Positive Pakistani
37
41 A Fistful of Flour
Parveen Saeed’s Khana Ghar provides a hot meal to the poorest of the poor for just Rs3
41
Regulars 6 People & Parties: Out and about with Pakistan’s beautiful people 44 Reviews: If two is company, is three a crowd? 46 End Of The Line: A special public service message from the badwagon
44
4
Magazine Editor: Zarrar Khuhro, Senior Sub-Editors: Batool Zehra, Zainab Imam. Sub-Editors: Ameer Hamza and Dilaira Mondegarian. Creative Team: Amna Iqbal, Jamal Khurshid, Essa Malik, Maha Haider, Faizan Dawood, Samra Aamir, Sanober Ahmed. Publisher: Bilal A Lakhani. Executive Editor: Muhammad Ziauddin. Editor: Kamal Siddiqi. For feedback and submissions: magazine@tribune.com.pk Printed: uniprint@unigraph.com
PEOPLE & PARTIES
Natasha and Bilal
Huma and Kooni
Metro Cash & Carry Pakistan celebrates its sixth anniversary with a fashion show in Lahore
Fia and Lauren
Sophiya Khan
6 JULY 29-AUGUST 4 2012
Xille and Sadaf
Mehwish, Rifah and Imdad
Gia Ali and Babloo
PHOTOS COURTESY BILAL MUKHTAR AND EVENTS
Sabina Pasha
JULY 29-AUGUST 4 2012
PEOPLE & PARTIES
Ash Khan
Rimisha
Sadaf Mughal launches her music video “Fanaa” in Lahore
Gohar
Samra and Noor Khan
8 JULY 29-AUGUST 4 2012
Haider and Zain
Ayesha
Meha
PHOTOS COURTESY DESTINATION EVENTZ
Sadaf
JULY 29-AUGUST 4 2012
Faiza Samee
Al Karam in collaboration with Faiza Samee present their Eid lawn collection in Karachi
Iraj
Beenish and Rushna
10
Beenish and Rukhsana
Areeba Habib JULY 29-AUGUST 4 2012
Sana Khan
Farah Khan
PHOTOS COURTESY CATALYST PR
PEOPLE & PARTIES
JULY 29-AUGUST 4 2012
PEOPLE & PARTIES
Wardha Saleem Zhalay Sarhadi
Anum Puri
Nadia Baloch
Zeba
12 JULY 29-AUGUST 4 2012
Fawad Umer and Zainab
Anoushey
Mehreen Syed
PHOTOS COURTESY CATALYST PR
Meher Kamal
JULY 29-AUGUST 4 2012
PEOPLE & PARTIES
Mehreen, Aliha and Ayesha
Dr Sadia Javaid launches Invision, hair and skin care centre, in Lahore
Natasha Javaid and Fiza
PHOTOS COURTESY BILAL MUKHTAR AND EVENTS
Dr Sadia Javaid
Saira and Maira Sophiya Khan
Amna Kardar and Bilal Mukhtar
14 JULY 29-AUGUST 4 2012
Juggan Kazim
Bilal, Sabina and Khalid Sulman
Hamza Tarrar and Salma
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COVER STORY
Matte Painting: Jamal Khurshid
20 JULY 29-AUGUST 4 2012
The real faultlines in Karachi are not ethnic, political or social. They exist deep beneath the surface, undetectable to the eye but moving inexorably towards a disaster of unimaginable scale BY ZEHRA ABID
Every time her children come back into the house, Zareena bathes them. She is convinced that any exposure to the outside world will make them dirty. If her husband and children so much as sit on her bed, she feels compelled to change the sheets. And then there are the bad days when she is awake all night, reciting the Quran and crying uncontrollably. 21 JULY 29-AUGUST 4 2012
COVER STORY Zareena was in Karachi on October 8, 2005, but most of her
family was in their hometown of Battagram. Of the 4,500 people that died in Battagram alone as a result of the 7.6-magnitude
Before an Earthquake:
als and support those left behind. Six years later, she still suf-
• • • •
years of treatment her condition has significantly improved.
•
physical and psychological — of the worst earthquake to ever
• •
earthquake, eight were her family members.
After the disaster, her husband took her back to her shattered
hometown, where there was little to do but help with the funerfers from post traumatic stress caused by her loss, although after
There are many, like Zareena, who still carry the scars — both
strike Pakistan. In all, over 73,000 people perished in that disas-
ter and years later — regardless of what part of the country you’re in — there is panic every time a tremor is felt, no matter how
slight. What if it happens again, we wonder? What if it happens
•
urban centre?
•
cal features that so hampered rescue and relief efforts also kept
•
hit by a quake. That would not be the case if an earthquake were to strike a more urban area.
• •
town of Dalbandin in Balochistan, Karachiites felt strong trem-
•
where we live and what if, this time, it happens near a major Consider this: in the Kashmir earthquake, the very geographi-
the overall death toll lower than if a more built-up area had been
In January this year, when a 7.2 earthquake hit close to the
ors despite the fact that Dalbandin is 400 kilometres from Karachi and that the epicentre was 80 kilometres underground. It
was then that the idea of this story emerged, when The Express Tribune office was shaken by the tremors and it once again struck
•
Build an emergency kit and make a family communications plan. Fasten shelves securely to walls. Place large or heavy objects on lower shelves. Store breakable items such as bottled foods, glass, and china in low, closed cabinets with latches. Fasten heavy items such as pictures and mirrors securely to walls and away from beds, couches and anywhere people sit. Brace overhead light fixtures and top heavy objects. Repair defective electrical wiring and leaky gas connections. These are potential fire risks. Get appropriate professional help. Do not work with gas or electrical lines yourself. Install flexible pipe fittings to avoid gas or water leaks. Flexible fittings are more resistant to breakage. Secure your refrigerator and gas appliances by strapping them to wall studs and bolting to the floor. Repair any deep cracks in ceilings or foundations. Get expert advice if there are signs of structural defects. Be sure the residence is firmly anchored to its foundation. Store weed killers, pesticides and flammable products securely in closed cabinets with latches and on bottom shelves. Locate safe spots in each room under a sturdy table or against an inside wall. Reinforce this information by moving to these places during each drill. Hold earthquake drills with your family members: Drop, cover and hold on.
us how vulnerable this city is if the unthinkable were to actually happen.
Karachi, with a population of approximately 20 million peo-
ple, sits near the convergence of the Eurasian, Arabian and In-
often and knows there is hardly anyone listening. “It’s the same
mic disturbances.
with an air of resignation.
dian tectonic plates, making it an area particularly prone to seis“The three plates are also moving at different speeds,” warns
But despite losing faith in Karachi’s people, he still explains,
meteorologist Karam Khan of the Pakistan Meteorological De-
once again most patiently, how precarious the situation is in the
a major earthquake or a tsunami, since the plates are in the sea.”
there is no such thing as a disaster management plan.
partment. “If one suddenly slips or goes backwards, there can be
It’s happened before: over 50 earthquakes of magnitude 8 and
city. Building laws are violated in most structures, he says, and
“Disaster management means that when a disaster occurs
above have been reported in around 75 years along the coastline
there is a system that does something about it,” explained de
1919, 1943, 1945 and 1956.
thing even when there is no disaster. We cannot even resolve ba-
of Pakistan. Of these, four were accompanied by tsunamis, in “If there is an earthquake in Karachi like that in Japan last
year, this city will be flattened. The buildings would collapse,
Souza. “But here we have a government that does not do anysic problems such as those of electricity, water and traffic.”
For its part, the Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) is
the billboards will fall down, the road structure will be destroyed
doing what it can to inform people of any tremors in a timely
de Souza, an engineer and a human rights activist who is part of
signs of age and neglect, but inside the department itself is an air
and ambulances will not be able to reach survivors,” says Roland the NGO SHEHRI. Pausing to let his doom-laden words sink in,
22
six people who listen to you, otherwise nobody cares,” he says
he continues: “Have I scared you enough?” I reply that he has.
At 60, de Souza has lost heart. He has said these things all too
JULY 29-AUGUST 4 2012
manner. The old, yellowing walls of the department show clear of enthusiasm and energy. The Tsunami Early Warning system established here in 2008 works by the second, measuring seismic activity in more than 200 stations across the world.
CHINA Gilgit NW Frontier Peshawar FATA
Gilgit Baltistan
ISLAMABAD
Kashmir claimed that, while Pasni, Ormara and Gwadar were at high risk for tsunamis, Karachi was relatively safe. Unfortunately, I was
In d u
s
Punjab Lahore
INDIA
els is questionable,” says Khan. “Different models can give different results and I myself have run models that give very dif-
ferent results. It is difficult to estimate the damage in advance
Quetta
PAKISTA PAKISTAN
told that this may not be the case. “The accuracy of such mod-
Punjab
but sometimes a tsunami of merely a few centimetres can cause
widespread damage because of its momentum. The worst case
scenario would be if a tsunami occurs because of an earthquake of magnitude 9 or more.”
Balochistan Balochista
Pakistan can predict a tsunami around 13 to 14 minutes before
it occurs. The early warning system also calculates the height of a wave and the area expected to be affected. For seismic activity
Karachi
Sindh
on land, the warning time is still only between three to four minutes — the highest margin technology has been able to achieve so far.
With the UNDP’s funding, the meteorological department has
set up tsunami warning centres in Gwadar. “Residents have been
trained on how to act in times of a disaster. There are emergency
drills in which there is a warning signal and people rush to evacuation points,” says Engineer Ataullah from the PMD. “We want
to establish such stations in Lasbela, Thatta and Karachi, but it all depends on funding.”
Karachi’s coastline, however, has no evacuation points. “It is
the job of the local disaster management and municipal authorities to establish high places for evacuation and educate people on what to do in times of an earthquake,” says Ataullah.
But warning is only part of the issue, and even if the maximum
warning time is given in the case of an earthquake it is doubtful
that any of Karachi’s residents will be able to find a safe place. If When tremors are recorded in any part of the country, within
such a place exists at all, that is.
“I don’t know what will happen to areas such as Gulistan-e-
two minutes an SMS is sent to relevant organisations, including
Jauhar. It’s very densely populated and I think 99% of the build-
details about the magnitude, time and place of seismic activity.
will be evacuated in case of an earthquake,” warns chief meteo-
news channels, and within eight minutes faxes are sent with
The extent of damage caused by an earthquake depends on its
magnitude, the distance of the affected area from the epicentre
ings there are not earthquake-resistant. I do not know how they rologist Muhammad Tauseef Alam.
But apartment buildings and plazas keep coming up, and you
and the depth of the epicentre itself. Since the epicentre of the
would be hard-pressed to find a single builder who even knows
age despite tremors being felt in New Delhi and as far as the Gulf
ings do not have any precautions for earthquakes. The most re-
Dalbandin quake was not in a populated area, there was no damstates. Still, panic spread when news media reported it as a 7.2 magnitude quake, nearly at par with the 2005 quake. What the
media perhaps did not understand was that the depth of the epicentre is of crucial importance when it comes to expecting how
what earthquake protection is all about. “Most apartment buildcent apartment building we made is on Khayaban-e-Bukhari (Defence Phase VI) and it is not earthquake-resistant,” admits contractor Aqil Hussain.
It’s not as if the laws don’t require such measures. After the
much damage the quake will cause. “If the depth of the earth-
2005 earthquake, further seismic provisions were added to the
says Khan.
US Uniform Building Code.
quake is more than 30 kilometres, there will not be any damage,” Karachi, being situated on the coastline, also faces a threat
from tsunamis. While researching this story, I came across a re-
search report by a meteorologist named Humeira Hafeez which
Pakistan Building Code 1986, making it compatible with the 1997
Of course, there is a huge gap between legislation and imple-
mentation. “Every law and provision that stands in the way of
(Continued on page 26)
JULY 29-AUGUST 4 2012
23
COVER STORY people making a quick buck is violated,” says de Souza.
Zia Jaffery, a member of the Sindh Building Control Author-
ity’s (SBCA) committee on dangerous buildings, says buildings
need to be constructed under strict supervision to ensure that the approved plan is followed.
Around 150 buildings in Kharadar, Mithadar and Lyari have
been declared so dangerous that even a tremor measuring 2 on the Richter scale can bring them down, he says. “People living in
dilapidated buildings in Karachi’s old city areas must be evacuated immediately and the buildings demolished,” he adds.
But de Souza says it’s not just about the old buildings. “They
want to demolish buildings only to evict tenants, who usually live on a pagari (tenancy) system. You cannot demolish build-
ings without supporting the building adjacent to it because the
foundation then becomes weak,” he says, reading out a clause
from the Karachi building and town regulation planning 2002.
“At least two buildings have collapsed because the buildings next to them were demolished without giving adjacent buildings the necessary support.”
De Souza also disagrees with the SBCA listing only a few hun-
Protecting yourself from an earthquake: Dos • Drop down onto your hands and knees (before the earthquake knocks you down). This position protects you from falling but allows you to still move if necessary. • Cover your head and neck (and your entire body if possible) under a sturdy table or desk. If there is no shelter nearby, only then should you get down near an interior wall (or next to low-lying furniture that won’t fall on you), and cover your head and neck with your arms and hands. • Hold on to your shelter (or to your head and neck) until the shaking stops. Be prepared to move with your shelter if the shaking shifts it around. Don’ts • Do not run outside or to other rooms during shaking: The area near the exterior walls of a building is the most dangerous place to be. Windows, facades and architectural details are often the first parts of the building to collapse. • Do not stand in a doorway
dred buildings as dangerous, saying that the real number is in the thousands.
Then there are the new structures which have been made in
violation of the building code with no earthquake-resistant measures incorporated into their design. “Most developers are of the
‘hit-and-run’ type and the SBCA is too lax in ensuring implementation of the law,” he says.
However, Engineer Nasir Ali, who works at the structural en-
gineering firm, Bilal and Mushtaq, says the new high-rise struc-
tures are in fact earthquake-resistant, citing the MCB Tower and
The Mall (formerly known as Sofitel Towers) as examples. He is careful in the words he chooses, correcting me and saying that there is no such thing as “earthquake-proofing.”
The impact of an earthquake, he explains, is directly propor-
tional to the weight of the buildings, so in high seismic zones we make very light structures with spaces in between.
Still, such measures are being taken in only a handful of build-
ings, and there is no doubt that in the case of a significant quake, Karachi’s beleaguered rescue services will be pushed beyond breaking point. While Karachi may pride itself in being home to the largest volunteer ambulance service in the world, it will need
more help than Edhi sahib is able to provide if the tectonic plates collide.
“We have a huge population and if there is a massive disas-
ter such as an earthquake, we will only be able to cater to 25% of the population,” says Edhi spokesperson Anwer Kazmi. This, of course, is assuming that nothing happens to the charity itself.
Overall, there is no coordination between the various ambu-
26
lance services and, in case of any major event such as a bomb
blast, there is more chaos in the city when all ambulances rush JULY 29-AUGUST 4 2012
Once the earthquake shaking stops: • Check the people around you for injuries; provide first aid. Do not move seriously injured persons unless they are in immediate danger. • Check around you for dangerous conditions, such as fires, downed power lines and structure damage. • If you have fire extinguishers and are trained to use them, put out small fires immediately. • Check your phones to be sure they have not shaken off the hook and are tying up a line. • Inspect your home for damage. • Make sure everyone in the family knows where the main outlets of electricity and gas are situated in your house so that they can be shut off after the quake. • Be prepared for aftershocks. These secondary shockwaves are usually less violent than the main quake but can be strong enough to do additional damage to weakened structures. • Open cabinets cautiously. Beware of objects that can fall off shelves. • Stay away from damaged areas unless your assistance has been specifically requested by police, fire, or relief organizations. • Be aware of possible tsunamis if you live in coastal areas. These are also known as seismic sea waves (mistakenly called “tidal waves”). When local authorities issue a tsunami warning, assume that a series of dangerous waves is on the way. Stay away from the beach.
to the same site.
take extreme measures to secure food, water and shelter.
says it does not help in the case of a disaster. “There is too much
“anarchy” in Karachi if an earthquake occurs. “There is no such
While Kazmi agrees on the need for a centralised system, he
chaos at that time,” he says with an air of experience.
Dr Seemin Jamali is all too familiar with that chaos. The depu-
Security analyst Ikram Sehgal has no doubt that there will be
thing as disaster management here. It’s a joke.”
When asked to explain, he continues: “at the moment there
ty director of the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical College (JPMC) has
is no local government. With local governments at least there
have done so.
Only the army would be able to control the rioting that would
worked at the emergency ward for 21 years — the only woman to “No matter how well-equipped you are, how many doctors
and nurses you have, it’s never enough for the emergency ward,
was some authority, but now there is a free-for-all situation. occur. We saw what happened the day Benazir Bhutto died.”
Raja Tariq, the Station House Officer at Shara-e-Noor Jahan,
which has 800 to 1,000 patients coming in every day.” JPMC,
is even more candid. “The Karachi police are unable to control
medical care, has 100 beds in the emergency ward that can be
napping for ransom and street crime. How will it control riots
one of three public hospitals in the city which provide tertiary increased to 150 when necessary. If that’s the case on a ‘normal’ Karachi day, imagine what it would be like in case of a disaster.
Historically, one of the greatest dangers in a post-earthquake
scenario is from fire caused by broken gas mains and downed
electrical wires. In the case of such an event occurring in Kara-
everyday disasters in the form of target killings, extortion, kidin the aftermath of a natural disaster?” Pointing out that Karachi is awash with weapons, he says that most criminals and terrorists are better equipped than his own men. “The police itself are a victim of disaster,” he says.
For its part, the National Disaster Management Authority has
chi, it seems the citizens will have to tackle major blazes on their
left the matter to the local and provincial disaster management
understaffed, with one station catering to an average of 1.3 mil-
and district management authority self-reliant,” says Ministry
own. Karachi’s fire brigade and rescue department are grossly
lion people. “We have 22 fire stations in Karachi, with a total
team of 777 firefighters,” says Chief Fire Officer Imtiaz Afzal at the Karachi fire brigade and rescue department headquarters.
There are usually three or four fire tenders at every station, but
authorities. “The only thing we can do is to make the PDMA of National Disaster Management Secretary Javaid Malik. “We are working to improve their capacity and give risk-insurance to vulnerable communities,” he adds.
While the disaster management authorities seem clueless,
sometimes there could be two or even one. Afzal says shortage of
well-known columnist and long-time Karachi resident Ardeshir
upgrade their system. The last time they bought new fire tenders
a disaster commissioner who should supervise all emergency
funds provided by the Sindh government does not allow them to was in 1997.
“Our staff is well trained, but we need at least 300 more fire-
Cowasjee has a concrete plan. He says the city is in dire need of services, including fire engines, ambulances and rescue teams. “The Disaster Commissioner of a city needs to be a very senior
men and much more equipment,” says Afzal.
government official (say grade 20 or 21) so that he can get other
brigade, where the only colours on the dilapidated building are
hore, he has to be a man dedicated to the job, and not someone
The lack of funds is apparent at the headquarters of the fire
the MQM’s red, white and green.
But Azim Siddiqui, managing director of the Sui Southern Gas
Pipelines, claims the situation in Karachi may not be as bad as one might think. “In many places in Karachi, we have polyeth-
officials in the city to perform. In cities the size of Karachi or Lahandling it as an additional responsibility,” says Cowasjee. But he cautions that choosing the right man for the job is of utmost importance.
“He will have the difficult task of getting emergency service
ylene pipelines which are not as susceptible to damage as metal
agencies (under-funded, badly manned, and inadequately re-
When asked about a contingency plan, just in case, he says:
stitutions in the country) to plan ahead, conduct regular prac-
pipes,” he explains.
“You really can’t have one for something like this. There is really
not much you can do if gas pipelines burst after an earthquake, except to repair them as quickly as possible. Because of the fre-
quent gas pipeline explosions (by militants), our repairs system has become very good — better than that in other countries,” he claims.
sourced) and military groups (the best organised and funded intice drills, prepare contingency strategies and the like. He will have to set up a fool-proof communications system, and involve universities, NGOs, business houses, CSOs and other private
groups in creating a disaster master-plan like the one being developed in Turkey, another earthquake-prone country.”
Will this ever happen? Given the track record of our succes-
But apart from collapsed buildings and fire hazards, another
sive governments and the institutional incompetence that
io, many (and possibly well-armed) groups will take the opportu-
shaken out of our slumber the day after the unthinkable takes
danger is from the people themselves. In a post-disaster scenar-
nity to loot and even ordinarily law-abiding citizens may have to
plagues Pakistan, the greater likelihood is that we will only be place. If then.T
JULY 29-AUGUST 4 2012
27
FEATURE
still re d Shamim Manzar, the language department head of Karachi’s Goethe Institute, talks about similarities between Urdu and German, Pakistan’s idealist Marxists and the (still) bright future of Urdu literature
In a time when unashamed self-promotion has become not just acceptable but expected, Herr Shamim Manzar’s humility is striking. In an age when writing epitaphs for Urdu literature is de rigueur, his optimism for the future of the genre is heartening.
BY JIBRAN KHAN
literary circles for his German-to-Urdu and Urdu-to-German translations as
“Why would you want to interview me? I’m an old man, what do I know?”he
says before I even begin to put my first question to him. I beg to differ.
Born in Karachi on December 25, 1955, Manzar is among the few Pakistanis
who can speak fluent German. After completing a Masters in International Re-
lations from Karachi University, he went to Germany for a two-year training programme and joined the Goethe-Institut in 1987.
Over the years, his grasp on the language has made him well-known in Urdu
well as his original fiction work. His first book, titled Tanhai Ka Ek Din, was pub-
lished in 2003 and is a collection of his Urdu short stories. Five years later, he published his first novel titled Zawaal Se Pehlay and is now working on his as yet unnamed second novel.
“I wish I could spend more time with my family and work on my novel. I’m JULY 29-AUGUST 4 2012
33
FEATURE so sick of these conferences,” complains Manzar, as he apologises for making me
wait a few minutes before he could talk to me. A veteran in the field, he is preparing to attend a conference in Munich, Germany and had been on the phone working out the details.
As the interview progresses, we discuss his love for German literature and he
mentions Hermann Hesse, Heinrich Böll and Uwe Timm as some of his personal favourites, explaining how their style has influenced him to write his first novel.
The novel starts off in a hospital where the protagonist is paralysed with brain
haemorrhage. As he stares at his surroundings, he is constantly reminded of his days as a young Pakistani Marxist in the late 1960s. Confined to his bed, he is
haunted by the loss he felt when many of his comrades abandoned him as time went by.
“Things were a lot better back in those days [the 60s and 70s],” he reminisces, as his eyes light up with enthusiasm. “We were sort of idealists in those days and our idealism was to reach the destination assigned by Karl Marx, but this dream never came true.”
The novel, as he narrates it, is a surreal journey for the reader. Memories con-
verge together, blurring the line between the past and the present, questioning the very existence of being. These are common traits in all of Manzar’s work.
“He has been staring at the ceiling for too long now. Any form of interference will disturb his
serenity any moment. He is constantly listening to the ambience of his surroundings but all the sounds are now converging into a single entity and are piercing into his brain... ‘It is red, it is red… Asia is red now’,” he writes in Zawaal Se Pehlay.
As he shares some fond memories of his youth and his revolutionary past, it
appears to me as if this novel is more than a little autobiographical. As if he has
drawn on his own life as a young Marxist in Pakistan for inspiration. “Things were a lot better back in those days [the 60s and 70s],” he reminisces, as his eyes
light up with enthusiasm. “We were sort of idealists in those days and our idealism was to reach the destination assigned by Karl Marx, but this dream never came true.”
The Marxist dream may not have materialised, but something positive did
come out of the entire experience for Manzar. It was during this time that he developed an interest in literature and the German language.
As he takes quick sips of tea, he tells me about the structural similarities be-
tween the German and Urdu languages. “When I translate, I don’t feel any dif-
ficulty because the structure of German language is very similar to the structure
of Urdu language, so I can describe quite easily the feelings of the character,” he explains.
“In German and Urdu, you can interchange or place the verb any way you want
while in English, that is entirely impossible,” Manzar says.
In 2010, he translated Friedrich Schiller’s epic play The Robbers into Urdu, and
in 2012, he went on to translate a selection of Faiz Ahmed Faiz’s poems into Ger-
man. This feat has earned him a quite a respectable position among the Urdu literati.
As he plans more translations, Manzar says that translation of Urdu works,
particularly into English, is one way that Urdu literature can be preserved.
“The future [of Urdu literature] is very bright but there is a problem. [Works of]
Pakistani writers are not being translated to foreign languages. This is why their fame never crosses borders,” he says.
When I ask him what compels him to continue writing in Urdu, despite the
lack of reach, he insists it is not about fame. “I’m not keen on becoming famous
or anything … the question is why do we write? Maybe we want to say something but we can’t say it, maybe we are scared of saying it or speaking about it, so we
34
use the pen,” he concludes.T JULY 29-AUGUST 4 2012
FEATURE
the road less travelled
Fancy paying to spend a night in a century-old British prison? Then the Sheikh Badin hill station is the place for you! TEXT AND PHOTOS BY DANIAL SHAH
Tucked away to the east of the Pezu Mountains, a two-hour drive from Dera Ismail Khan, lies Sheikh Badin — a hill station that could serve as a proverbial oasis in the midst of the largely arid terrain of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.
I discovered this hidden getaway while on a family visit to DI
Khan. My cousin, who would often venture out to Sheikh Badin on a bike — there are no paved roads on the last leg of the journey
— suggested that we take a day trip there. And, the very next day, we were on the road.
The resort lies at an altitude of 1,400 metres above sea level,
and to get there the two of us took the Indus Highway from DI Khan to Peshawar, reaching the foothills of Pezu some two hours later. The road beyond the Pezu foothill has been inaccessible to
vehicles other than motorcycles and four-wheelers, and locals seem to prefer travelling either by foot or on the sturdy 70s’ Toyota jeeps that serve as public transport.
From the foothills of Pezu, we hired a four-wheeler that took
us up the rough and steep incline in about an hour before finally
hitting a winding path that we trekked on foot. As we ascended
the steep slopes, the city down below became a distant sight and the hot city wind turned pleasant and cool.
Going by the place’s name one would imagine that it lies
somewhere in Sindh (since its name is the same as the district of
Badin), but it has nothing to do with our southernmost province.
It is said that the hill of Sheikh Badin was named after Hazrat Bahauddin Zakariya, the great sufi saint of Multan who travelled
37
to this town in order to preach Islam. Others believe that the hill JULY 29-AUGUST 4 2012
FEATURE
is named after Pir Sheikh Bahauddin, whose tomb is built on the
Upon reaching the cool hilltop, I discovered that it has only one
er, the name was shortened from Sheikh Bahauddin to Sheikh
100 years ago. It comprises a few rooms with a vista view of the
name closely resembling it.
Pezu Mountains from a charpoy laid out in the veranda. Antique
hilltop and attracts devotees from the vicinity all year round. Lat-
Badin. And so a place that has nothing to do with Badin got a Sheikh Badin is perhaps not on the radar of domestic tourists,
who instead flock to the Northern Areas for a vacation. But the
British, who were known not to have let any hill station go unused, spotted this unlikely town and promptly set up shop. They
arrived at Sheikh Badin somewhere around 1861 and set up a can-
tonment to entrench their presence. It is said that the station did
rest house, known as the Daak Bangla, which was built more than
mountains, but I opted to take in the breathtaking view of the furniture and other accessories are still in use but in a rather
decrepit condition. There is only one shop set up by a local that
sells cold drinks and snacks, not surprisingly at double the usual price. Drinking water is difficult to find, so it is advisable to take your own.
But perhaps where Sheikh Badin beats every other tourist des-
not have a water supply at the time, but the British weren’t going
tination in Pakistan is in offering you your first-ever (hopefully)
built four small reservoirs with channels of mountain stream
cells for a night’s stay or camp out in the lawn by paying a small
to let such a small detail deny them a hill station. They promptly
water feeding into them. And to chill their drinks for the es-
sential summer retreat experience, they converted a well next to the pools into an ice storage facility. Apparently, they also came up with some 19th century technique of filtering the water, but that’s been lost to antiquity since.
The present-day town, however, is somewhat underdeveloped.
lock-up experience. Fancy that? Tourists can actually rent prison
amount to the local caretaker. And they can take their pick from among six small and four large cells, and a jailor’s room — all still in reasonable condition!
I learnt on the journey that there is wildlife in a nearby jungle
that includes leopards, jackals, wolves, pheasants and partridges. Locals say that the jungle is being developed into a Sheikh
Badin National Park. But would the animals still be there when the park is completed? We’ll have to keep our fingers crossed.
Animals aside, Sheikh Badin is sparsely populated, with only
25 to 30 houses, one primary school for boys and girls and four
mosques. They do not have paved roads, hospitals, secondary schools or other basic amenities. The oasis town of Paniala lies in the southeast, while a cement factory is located in the west. Locals complain that the factory spews out pollution that is damaging the local environment and will eventually affect the little tourism that there is.
While the remote little town charmed me, it was saddening
that such places are not given priority for development and pro-
motion by the tourism ministry despite their potential as major tourist destinations. Hill stations in Pakistan are mostly synonymous with Murree or Bhurban, places that have an infrastructure in place to receive and accommodate thousands of domestic
tourists every year. Sheikh Badin needs improved infrastructure too, in order to popularise it among tourists. There is news that
the ministry is planning to build a carpeted road and a Pakistan
Tourism Development Corporation motel in Sheikh Badin, along with a chair lift facility from the village of Paniala. But given the
government’s record in delivering services, these promises are
38
best not to be taken seriously. In the meantime, the jail awaits. JULY 29-AUGUST 4 2012
REVIEW
three is a crowd BY NOMAN ANSARI
You’ll probably need to have a cocktail yourself, and a strong one at that, to get through the dull second half of Cocktail. It is a pity, because the first segment of this Bollywood romantic comedy film from director Homi Adajania is fairly energetic, interesting, and well acted by its two female leads. The flaws, along with the usual genre clichés, which seem to follow any next-gen targeted Bollywood picture, are easier to swallow in Cocktail than in other similar films. This is mostly due to the initial strength of the narrative, which at first has some punch. Unfortunately, the fizz wears off in the film’s latter stages where Cocktail tastes overly familiar, and a little too sugary. The film is based in London, where Veronica (Deepika Padukone) a rich young girl who parties hard befriends Meera (Diana Penty), a traditional Indian girl who is in England for the first time. The two meet when Veronica finds Meera crying after learning that the husband she came looking for in England, Kunal Ahuja (Randeep Hooda), was a deceptive con artist. After listening to her story, Veronica offers Meera a place in her home to stay, and the two form a strong friendship in spite of their contrasting personalities. This is where Gautam Kapoor (Saif Ali Khan) enters their lives. Gautam, an IT professional who spends his spare time womanising, is the victim of a prank by Veronica after Meera tells her about an incident she had with him when she landed in England. Things move forward when Gautam and Veronica become involved, with both of them looking for a physical relationship without any strings attached. And when Gautam’s mother (Dimple Kapadia) surprises him with a visit, he presents Meera to her as the person he is interested in rather than Veronica since he expects Meera’s more traditional demeanour to appeal to his mother. Eventually, Gautam’s mother and Meera start to bond with each other. This is where the twist occurs and the film takes a predictably Bollywood turn into masala territory: Gautam and Meera start to fall for each other, while Veronica, who had never been interested in a traditional relationship, begins to question the depth of her own feelings for Gautam. Cocktail features some visually pleasing cinematography, including some fine shots of the London nightlife, as well as Cape Town, South Africa. Unfortunately, the film’s other aspects don’t quite match some of the fine visuals it has to offer. If you are a fan of Bollywood, you’ve probably had this concoction before which, while not awful, needs to be sent back to the barkeep for those looking for something special.
44 JULY 29-AUGUST 4 2012