Hum Khayal - Issue #4

HUM KHAYAL

Partners In Thought

Volume 1: Issue 4, Summer 2015

A Habib University Publication

About The Cover

The cover has been conceived using the five colors of Yohsin, designed in the shape of a globe. Yohsin is not just a concept, but it’s a living breathing entity which represents life itself. The notion behind it is that every aspect of human life revolves around the five pillars upon which Habib University was conceptualized, that is Respect for humanity and life itself, Passion in everything one does, to live one’s life in Service of others, have appreciation for Beauty in every shape and form, and perform every action with Excellence. These values are what give life the colors that we see. This is Yohsin. This is Habib University.

CREDITS Hum Khayal Partners in Thought Volume 1, Issue 4, Summer 2015 Executive Editor Wasif Rizvi Editor Sibtain Naqvi Design & Publications Furqan Ahmed Contributing Writers Saba Mirza Dr. Tim Spracklen Dr. Oliver Faust Prof. Muqeem Khan Rab Nawaz Rina Saeed Khan Dr. Hasan Ali Khan Dr. Nadya Chishti-Mujahid

“Hum Khayal� is produced twice a year by the Office of University Relations,Habib University, and we reserve the right to edit submissions. The views in the magazine are of the contributors and do not necessarily reflect opinions of the editors or official polices of Habib University. No part of this magazine may be used or reproduced without the written permission of the Office of University Relations,

Table of Contents

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CLIMATE CHANGE IN PAKISTAN

by Rab Nawaz Living and learning in Pakistan from the mangroves to the mountains.

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Inbox

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Editor’s Note

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Unfolding Yohsin

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Establishing a Center of Excellence

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Straight from Abroad

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Partners In Profile

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Living and Learning in Pakistan

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In focus

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Faculty Update

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Space for Culture and Art

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Highlights

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Construction Update

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Media

COLORS OF YOHSIN

by Saba Mirza Details how the concept of yohsin is translated into colors that are intertwined in the space philosophy of the Habib University campus.

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SURAJ KUND

by Dr. Hassan Ali Khan.

A lost icon in the hagiography of Shah Shams in Multan.

INBOX I browsed through your magazine, Humkhayal. Brilliant!

My congratulations for this fine production.

Dr. Pervez Hoodhboy, Chair of Departments of Mathematics and Physics at Forman Christian College, Lahore

Thank you for sending this issue. It looks great! The articles look wonderful and informative. The layout is beautiful! The magazine looks so good! You do produce a quality publication.

Dr. Indira Nair, Vice Provost for Education Emeritus, at Carnegie Mellon University

I am quite impressed with the quality of your magazine Ham Khayal. Congratulations!

Dr. Suhail Zubairy, Professor of Physics and Munnerlyn-Heep Chair in Quantum Optics Institute for Quantum Studies, Texas A&M University

I just read the magazine (Hum Khayal) and realized that Habib University’s brand is heading in a very good direction; congratulation to you and all there.

Prof. Muqeem Khan, Associate Professor in Residence, Communication Program, Northwestern University, Qatar.

We value your feedback and welcome your comments, although we may need to edit them for length. Share your thoughts by emailing at sibtain.naqvi@habib.edu.pk University Avenue, Off Shaharah-e-Faisal, Gulistan-e-Jauhar, Karachi-Pakistan.

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THE FROM

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It gives me great pleasure to introduce the fourth issue of Habib University’s magazine titled Hum Khayal (Partners in Thought). Hum Khayal is an initiative by Habib University and aims to create a means for sharing ideas, stimulating intellectual discourse and disseminating knowledge about Pakistan with national and international audiences. At the same time, it shares the journey of Habib University while highlighting the role of individuals and institutions that have been involved in its creation.

This issue is very special as it heralds the commencement of Habib University’s full operations. It has been an exciting journey that started from the idea of formation a world-class university to bringing it to life. On the way we formed partnerships with leading international institutions, hired the finest faculty from around the globe, developed a world-class curriculum and build a state-of-the-art campus. In all this we were guided by the University’s leadership and our partner institutions which include Texas A&M University at Qatar and University of California, Berkeley. Now we stand ready to welcome our first cohort of bright young scholars who will begin their own journey on August 20th, 2014.

T O R SIBTAIN NAQVI, EDITOR

Hum Khayal is comprised of certain permanent sections that touch upon the various themes related to Habib University and Pakistan. Unfolding Yohsin delineates the philosophy Habib University is prescribing to and the influence it has on the University’s various aspects while Partners in Profile features individuals who have made substantial contributions towards the project. Straight from Abroad provides space to international academics, practitioners and researchers to contribute their thoughts and ideas, and present their research. The localized segment, Living and Learning in Pakistan, focuses on sharing interesting information about the city that the University is located in.

In this issue’s Unfolding Yohsin section Saba Mirza touches upon the design sensibilities of Habib University’s campus and how the color scheme reflects the different elements of our philosophy of Yohsin. In Establishing a Center for Excellence Dr. Tim Spracklen expounds on the role of research in higher education and while Dr. Oliver Faust talks about Big Data and its ubiquity in today’s world. Dr. Muqeem Khan has contributed for the Straight from Abroad segment and writes about the confluences of knowledge and the blurring on lines between design and technology.

The Living and Learning in Pakistan part features three interesting articles. Two of them are on climate change and writers Rab Nawaz and Rina Saeed Khan highlight the reasons and impacts of global warming and changing weather. The other piece in this section is by Dr. Hasan Ali Khan who has written a passionately detailed piece about the religious and cultural aspects of the shrines of Multan and its lost heritage. The In Focus section puts the spotlight on an icon of Pakistan, and in it Dr. Nadya Chishti-Mujahid written about the work and legacy of Bapsi Sidhwa, Pakistan’s famous novelist.

Rounding it off are the news and update sections which bring the readers up to speed about the various exciting events and milestones that have been achieved by Habib University and its different teams and showcase the progress on eclectic fronts.

We would like to acknowledge the encouraging responses and suggestions that we received regarding the previous issue of Hum Khayal, and look forward to receiving some more candid feedback this time. Your suggestions and feedback are greatly appreciated and will help us in enriching the magazine.

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Unfolding Yohsin

Colors of Yohsin Details how the concept of yohsin is translated into colors that are intertwined in the space philosophy of the Habib University campus.

- Saba Mirza

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E very hum an being’s worth is in their

YOHSIN Excellence . passion . Respect . Beauty . Service

“Every human being’s worth is in their Yohsin”

As looked upon from the Jauhar Chowrangi Road, the main entrance of Habib University stands boldly clad in grey and purple. The vibrant purple that comes to Habib University is inspired by the philosophy of Yohsin, notice is the undersurface of the University’s auditorium. a multidimensional concept The color stands for service emanating from a saying by Imam Ali, one of the sages of at Habib University. As scholars at Habib University, the world and of Islam. students must pledge to Yohsin, which means begin their journey of thoughtful self-cultivation, knowledge embedded in a presents an alternate worldview where the worth of spirit of service to their communities and the world a person is measured by at large. The only other their quest for excellence, entrance to the institution on appreciation for beauty, passion for learning, respect University Avenue, which is a pedestrian bridge into the for people and nature, and Habib University Library, is service to humankind. The also painted the same vivid philosophy not only resonates within us at Habib purple. The University University, it has appealed to exemplifies the values it audiences across the globe, hopes to inculcate in its students, and plans to open with leading international this library to the public in its liberal arts institutions welcoming us and exhibiting spirit of service to the surrounding community. The willingness to engage with auditorium too will be open us. for public lectures and events.

Yohsin is an integral part of each and every aspect of the While the auditorium University and features underside wall wears purple, prominently in its physical identity as well. It is depicted the larger anterior is painted grey to showcase the ethos vividly through the use of of respect, with distinct colors, one for each aspect of Yohsin--purple for sideways-glancing windows service, grey for respect, red overlooking the city from both the library and the for passion, blue for administration office block, aesthetics, and yellow for encouraging students and excellence.

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staff to reflect and engage with the city at large. Unlike colonial structures, where main buildings were far removed from their entrances to create a sense of distance and superiority from their surroundings, the Habib University building stands close to the main road, with a drive through for vehicles and a walkway for pedestrians.Inside the university, a pathway runs through the campus, beginning at the auditorium and spilling sideways into classrooms, labs, library, faculty pods and admin blocks. It is on this Central Street that the other colors of Yohsin make splashes along the way, weaving the tale of Habib University’s scholars’ journey of self-cultivation from service to excellence.

The entrance to the library from within the university, which happens to be on the left of Central Street, is painted a flamboyant red. A universal symbol of fiery zeal, the color personifies the passion that must accompany the student’s quest for knowledge. And what space other than the library would satisfy this undying love for knowledge, critical thinking and inquiry, whether through discussions with fellow students in group study corners or in silent

contemplation at individual work stations amongst plethora of books on history, philosophy, literature, etc.

At the exit of the library, a beautiful café gleams artistically in sky blue with a black ceiling. The blue walls signify aesthetic and beauty, a color extensively used in nature, with all its hues reflected in the sky and the sea. This is the place to relax, to let creativity flow through bustling conversations over coffee and food, to beautify ideas, to splash colorful highlighter marks over readings and to add the last artistic touches to well-thought-out projects and assignments.

Towards the right end of the Central Street begins the wall of excellence. Painted in regal golden-yellow, the wall stretches from the academic court to the open-air amphitheater, which is where all graduation ceremonies of the University will be held.

The golden-yellow hue signifies excellence, marking the zenith of thoughtful self-cultivation. It is here where a scholar’s journey at Habib University culminates, a journey which will prepare him or her for impactful engagement with the world beyond.

Yohsin is part of Habib University's physical spaces as well, and has been depicted vividly through the use of distinct colors, one for each aspect of Yohsin--purple for service, grey for respect, red for passion, blue for aesthetics, and yellow for excellence.

Purple – Service “The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.” – Mahatma Gandhi

Red – Passion “Your reason and your passion are your rudder and sails of your seafaring soul.” – Khalil Gibran

The color purple signifies service at Habib University and features prominently in the University's brand identity. To highlight Habib University’s overarching commitment to service, purple is featured at both the campus entrances—one a pedestrian bridge leading onto the library, the other the face of the auditorium. Both these spaces will serve to disseminate knowledge through the years to the University community and beyond.

Passion is represented by red, a universal symbol of fiery zeal. Passion at Habib University means an utmost devotion and commitment to learning, and fervently acting upon one’s dreams and aspirations. There are splashes of red throughout the campus to inspire students to pursue their dreams with full vigor. For instance, the students’ entrance to the library is painted red to show a learner’s quest for knowledge.

Grey – Respect “Without feelings of respect, what is there to distinguish men from beasts?” – Confucius

Yellow – Excellence “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit.” – Aristotle

An extensively used color in the edifice, grey represents respect at Habib University. Whereas black and white represent a stark dichotomy of biases and prejudices, grey stands for tolerance and acceptance of diversity and plurality in viewpoints and ideas as well as openness to dialogue.

Excellence is represented by yellow—the color of gold, which is a sign of brilliance all over the world. Yellow is also the color of the emerging sun. Yellow is not only part of the University logo, but also occupies center stage at the campus. The yellow wall of excellence stretches from the academic court to the amphitheater, where future graduation ceremonies will be held, showing the completion of a student’s journey from service to excellence.

Blue – Aesthetics “Let the beauty we love be what we do. There are hundreds of ways to kneel and kiss the ground.” – Rumi “Let the beauty we love be what we do. There are hundreds of ways to kneel and kiss the ground.” Rumi Aesthetics is represented by blue, the color that is most dominant on our planet. Originating from the sky and reflected on earth, it is pervasive yet elusive. Aesthetics at Habib University means to do whatever we do with grace while appreciating beauty in all its forms. At the campus, blue will feature prominently at the atrium where it will be offset by the natural light streaming in from the sky lights.

Saba Mirza is a former journalist and graduated from Mount Holyoke University with a degree in International Relations.

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Establishing a Center of Excellence

Why is research important to

Habib University?

Addresses the need for quality research at universities.

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rofessor David W. McLaughlin, Provost at NYU recently wrote, “A great university produces, preserves, and transmits new ideas, insights, and knowledge.

Its basic research activities promote and nurture scientific progress, develop artistic and creative expression, and sustain an informed democratic society and its political life.”

Paul Horn, his Senior Vice Provost for Research, added, “The modern university has a dual mission: to educate its students and to discover new knowledge through

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By Dr. Tim Spracklen

scholarship….The quality of the research enterprise is what truly distinguishes a great university, permitting it to draw in the most talented scholars and the top students.”

So why is research important to Habib University and, more importantly, to Pakistan? Let’s look at some stark and disturbing statistics from an article entitled ‘Economic Growth (2008-2012)’, published in the Herald Tribune in November 2012, which listed the economic growth of several countries that are Pakistan’s neighbors during the period 2008-2012.

India – economic growth – 7.8% Bangladesh – economic growth – 6.8% Sri Lanka – economic growth – 6.1% Pakistan – economic growth – 2.9% Unemployment in Pakistan is 42% higher than in India Salaries in Pakistan are 20% lower than in India

The Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2012-13 does not rank any Pakistani University in the top-400 institutions world-wide. The UN places Pakistan’s best University at 1,677th on the world list of Universities.

Pakistan is ranked 124th out of 144 countries in the ‘Global Competitiveness Report 2012’ published by the World Economic Forum. Why should this be? David E. Daniel the President of UT Dallas said recently, “A disproportionate fraction of new companies, jobs, and economic vitality are – and will be – concentrated in cities and regions where the creative genius of great research universities converges with the business and societal ingredients that fuel creativity, innovation, entrepreneurship and new business development.”

So, am I suggesting that Pakistan doesn’t have great research universities? Let others say it for me! A report entitled “Higher Education in Pakistan” from the ‘The World Bank’ and Harvard University suggested: Pakistan currently has no framework of higher education that can match up to the rest of the world.

There is no standard of research in the country in hard sciences or social sciences.

Knowledge is passed by rote and memorization in an endless loop from teacher to student to teacher. Teachers do not engage in or tolerate critical thinking.

The Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2012-13 does not rank any Pakistani University in the top-400 institutions world-wide. The UN places Pakistan’s best University at 1,677th on the world list of Universities. Only 5% of Pakistan’s young

people go to into tertiary education – one of the lowest rankings in the world (from the UN Report on Higher Education.)

So, what can we do about this? How can we fix the problem? – By making Habib University a research-led University for both postgraduates and undergraduates! I would like to suggest that all the world’s greatest universities are ‘research led’ and that, as Paul Horn said, it is the research enterprise that truly distinguishes such universities. Just to name a few – Stanford, Berkeley, MIT, Cambridge, Oxford and, when I mention those names, you immediately think of the Universities and the phenomenal impact they’ve had on the local economies – there would be no Silicon Valley if it wasn’t for Stanford and much of the biotech industry surrounds Cambridge University.

“The culture of enquiry-based, independent learning in a world-class research environment should be at the heart of the (undergraduate ) student experience.”

“Research-led learning actively engages students in their learning experience, encouraging them to pursue new knowledge and to develop the independence of thought, critical thinking and entrepreneurial skills and ability to handle uncertainty and new problems – personal and professional skills that are integral to the graduate-level jobs that develop a country’s economy.”

“A substantial and growing body of evidence points to the benefits of fostering a research-led learning environment in higher education institutions.”

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“

This is exactly the model that Habib University is following and it will be the first University in Pakistan to adopt such an approach. Research-led learning goes well beyond ‘Project-based’ learning, where the ‘project’ is frequently an arbitrarily conceived activity. In contrast, at Habib University, undergraduate students will be actively involved – right from their Freshman year – in ‘real’ research projects being undertaken by Faculty – for example designing an Earth’s Resources Satellite.

A great university produces, preserves, and transmits new ideas, insights, and knowledge.

Its basic research activities promote and nurture scientific progress, develop artistic and creative expression, and sustain an informed democratic society and its political life.

“

I believe that great research universities will play a dominant role in Pakistan’s future for several reasons. Prosperity and economic vitality are, and increasingly will be, concentrated in a relatively few places in the world where discovery and innovation dominate. The great research universities are magnets for talent and innovation and for this reason they may well be Pakistan’s most important institutions.

It will be the individuals and countries that out innovate the others that will secure prosperity. As always, new technology will replace old technology and new jobs will replace obsolete jobs. It will be the smart, creative, inspired risk takers who will create the new jobs and secure economic vitality.

Creativity, innovation and the kind of discovery that produces new businesses and great jobs will develop in cities with great research universities. I believe that great research universities will be Pakistan’s most important institutions and we aim to make Habib University pre-eminent amongst them.

Dr. Charles Timothy Spracklen is the Dean for Research and Continuing Education at Habib University. Dr. Spracklen possesses over four decades of teaching, administrative and consultancy experience in academia and various international non-profits and government organizations.

Professor David W. McLaughlin, Provost at NYU

My emphasis.

The ‘Russell Group’ is a loose conglomeration of the best UK Universities – Oxford, Cambridge, Edinburgh etc. The name came from the fact they used to meet in the Russell Club in London.

3 My insertion.

1 2

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04

Establishing a Center of Excellence

Exciting times

Challenges and opportunities of big data Talks about the challenges and opportunities in Big Data.

Y

By Dr. Oliver Faust

es, we are living in exciting times where technology progresses with accelerating speed.

The engineers of tomorrow need to keep pace with this development in order to be successful. This challenge opens up new opportunities for skilled professionals who can operate smoothly in the social environment. Therefore, my thesis is that, contrary to popular assumption, technological progress and mechanization improves and widens job opportunities for fresh graduates with technical degrees. One prerequisite for this success is an education that focuses not only on technical content but also on deeper questions about need, limitations and implications of physical problem solutions. In this article, big data serves as an example based on which challenges and opportunities of new technology are discussed.

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Introduction

The old drivers of technology continue to push forward while new drivers come online. An old driver of technology is Moore’s law which states that the number of transistors on integrated circuits, within the same space, doubles approximately every two years. That implies, processing resources get smaller, more energy efficient and most important of all, they get cheaper. This process started around 1965 and since then it has brought about the internet and the mobile phone revolution. Both of these revolutions add something distinctive to the raw processing power of integrated circuits. In case of the internet it is of course the network component, which enables it to send data from one corner of the world to the next in the blink of the eye. The benefits for the population at large are tremendous, instant communication and distribution of information. The mobile phone, as a technology stands on top of the internet, by adding mobility to the network and raw processing power. Mobile phones are everywhere and there is no need to introduce them further. We should focus on the future of technology, because this will undoubtedly influence our life as well. Welcome the new drivers from the field of big data handling and automated decision making.

Let me demonstrate the pervasive power of these technologies with an example from a seemingly unrelated field: health care. More specifically, diabetes related problems on the eye, which are traditionally diagnosed by optometrists. However, during training this optometrist cannot look at all the evidence. Due to time pressure, his or her studies will be restricted to a small number of textbook cases and subsequently it is training on the job. These restrictions do not apply to computing machines. With the help of big data handling and automated decision making

the computing machine can acquire diagnostic knowledge, which eclipses the abilities of a human expert. Now standing on the shoulder of this new technology: Consider a scenario where a nurse uses a mobile phone like device to take a fundus picture of the retina in the eye of a patient.

The quality of this picture is analyzed in the mobile device and only the best images are sent to a datacenter. In this datacenter, big data handling and automated decision making technology comes up with a diagnosis. This diagnosis together with treatment advice is sent back to the nurse. Such systems are within reach and it just takes sufficient will to implement them. Once implemented, these computer aided diagnosis systems will bring quality care even to people living in remote areas.

All these smart and networked machines, will they make humans redundant? Machines diagnose both men as well as machines and decisions are made without human intervention. On this question we can get some answers from the past: the internet created jobs and the same goes for the mobile phone as well. However, key for success in the job market is the right skill set. Big data requires fast networks and huge storage capabilities. This infrastructure must be planed, built and maintained. These activities will create a demand for bright young minds with degrees in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. Furthermore, big data handling and automated decision making is a very creative pursuit. The human brain is the best instrument to find meaning in the data. Therefore, there will be a large demand for skilled data analysts who can make sense of the data and subsequently instruct machines to mimic this process via artificial decision making. The following text introduces the concepts of big data and smart machines.

Understanding these concepts is a prerequisite for success in this exciting field.

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Methodology

Let me start this section with a provocative statement: Books, made from paper, are unimportant for science and technology! To be clear, this is a statement about technology, i.e. books made from paper, and not a statement about content.

Content gets ever more important in terms of content creation, distribution and storage. However, from a big data perspective, this content is a resource that needs to be exploited with technique and methodology. This technology comes from the area of artificial intelligence and fuzzy logic. The methodology should provide a blueprint on how to use these techniques to answer questions and make decisions.

The consequent application of Moore’s law results in near limitless data storage and cheap computing. This demands a paradigm shift away from data storage and simple search processing towards information processing and data analytics. In the past, the concept of data analytics was modeled on processes that happen in the prefrontal cortex of the human brain. The best example, which illustrates the connection to the human brain, is the name of the oldest concept for algorithmic decision making: Artificial Neural Network. In this algorithm, nodes are called neurons and these neurons are organized in layers, where the outputs of the neurons in one layer form the inputs to the neurons in the next layer. So, data can flow through this structure and all the neurons will manipulate the data. This manipulation aims to extract a specific answer or indeed the manipulations lead to a specific decision, for example, whether or not an image of a retina shows signs of diabetes induced changes.

these weights are not calculated according to a preconceived equation or law, like the Newton’s famous law of gravity.

The Artificial Neural Network parameters are learned in a process called supervised learning. This supervised learning is similar to a tutorial situation where a student studies a set of questions and the instructor gives feedback on how successful the questions were answered. The act of learning, together with the instructor feedback, causes chemical alterations in the brain.

Therefore, it is necessary to revert back to empirical science to select the best classification algorithm. In other words, we learn what the best classification algorithm is by trial and error.

Selecting the best algorithm by trial and error is a relatively recent concept and it requires access to a whole eco-system of algorithms together with The Artificial Neural Network access to cheap and plentiful models these changes by updating both weights and bias processing resources. Currently, these processing resources are within the neurons. To stretch the analogy between human and not the problem, they are getting cheaper and at the same time machine learning even further, more potent. we can consider an exam

The Artificial Neural Network models these changes by updating both weights and bias within the neurons. situation. During such an exam, a student gets asked a question which is similar, but not the same as the questions studied during the tutorial. The exam marks should give an indication on how well the student is able to extrapolate and apply the learned concepts to new questions. Similarly, for artificial decision making, such tests are also constructed and the accuracy, sensitivity and specificity of the trained algorithm is tested.

For big data analytics, these performance measures are very important, since they allow us to As such, the data manipulations compare different decision making algorithms. This is of an Artificial Neural Network are nothing special, because the necessary, because the performance of a specific neurons contain only simple classification algorithm changes activation functions together with different data and different with a multiplicative weight and decision scenarios. In general, it an additive bias. However, the is a very difficult problem to way in which bias and weights are obtained is special, because determine the optimal classifier 16

for a given question, which has to be answered based on a specific data set. Furthermore, even if it would be possible to determine the specific classifier, such a solution would directly oppose the ideas of learning and fuzzy decision making.

image directly to the classification algorithm, because such algorithms accept only data vectors with up to 15 dimensions. In other words, the fundus image must be compressed in such a way that it is represented in up to 15 numbers. This compression is a challenge.

From this discussion it is clear that technique and methodology just push the labor to a higher level which requires more skill.

Indeed this is new work, which becomes only feasible because of the technology that enables big data. This is a clear case where technology increases the amount of work and as a direct result creates jobs. Success in these new jobs requires the right skill set and a consequent application of big data ideas.

The ability to store and retrieve information from paper is not anymore an essential skill, because it goes against the idea of computerized information processing and automated decision making.

Conclusion

Technology is never the enemy, especially not for job opportunities. Technology opens up opportunities, yes The restriction lies with the opportunities to improve lives. classification algorithms We have to overcome the themselves. Complex questions historic prejudices against might have a number of possible technology. The good intention answers. For example, a simple of relieving humans from labor is binary question is: Does the very much visible in the name of fundus image show signs of the tools, such as ‘computer’ diabetes retinopathy? The originally a person who corollary question is more computes mathematical tables difficult: If it shows signs of and robot – the slave laborer. diabetes retinopathy, to what Once this is understood, we can stage did the diabetes look optimistically into the future, retinopathy progress? The a future where we will have reason for this increased much more data from our complexity comes from the fact environment, which helps us to that there are more than two make sense and reflect on our possible stages, which means own behavior. that there are more than two possible answers.

Dr. Oliver Faust is Associate Apart from the difficulty of Professor, Electrical Engineering answering multiclass problems in Habib University’s School of correctly, there is also a problem Science & Engineering. Dr. Oliver with the input. An artificial Faust has been actively involved decision making algorithm in science, research and higher cannot take complex input data education since 2001 and has a directly. For example, it is not PhD in Electronics, University of possible to feed the fundus Aberdeen, Scotland.

Mobile phones are everywhere and there is no need to introduce them further. We should focus on the future of technology, because this will undoubtedly influence our life as well

Establishing a Center of Excellence

“H

owdy" is the official greeting of Texas A&M University (TAMU) and between August and December 2013, I heard it quite often. I was at TAMU's main campus in College Station, Texas for the Fall 2013 semester in order to co-teach a course and I got a pleasant taste of things to come right upon my arrival on campus.

After enduring a trans-continental flight with my infant daughter followed by a two-hour shuttle ride from Houston airport to the TAMU campus, I was looking forward to putting up my feet in our apartment. Luckily, we were able to count on the administration’s timely support, and I was soon in a cozy place which was to be our home for the semester.

Throughout my four-month stay in College Station, I received similar cooperation—from

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people driving us to the mall or Social Security Office to loaning us their car for errands. At the Computer Science department, my host department at TAMU, people were equally warm and things ran equally efficiently. Of course, supporting all of this is the intelligent use of IT. When I needed access to new labs, at the back end, it was simply a matter of updating a database that the card scanners at the door read from.

Students use their cards to pay at university dining services and the bill is credited to their account online. All procedures are listed simply and clearly online so that one is well prepared when going to the relevant office. HR policies and other orientation material that I was obliged to be familiar with were provided as online presentations followed by quizzes that I could take at my convenience, and for which I got regular reminders as the deadlines approached. All course information was conveniently available at

By Dr. Waqar Saleem

howdy.tamu.edu, and I cannot tell you how many times a day I consulted the bus schedules at transport.tamu.edu!

It was heartening to see that despite being in the oil capital of USA, TAMU gave significant thought to its environmental impact and to promoting awareness of the same among its students. The Office of Sustainability gives out free plastic bottles to students at the beginning of the semester which can be filled at dedicated bottle-filling stations across campus, thus reducing the use of disposable plastic bottles.

Biking is encouraged—bikes can be rented very cheaply, there are stands outside every campus building to park bikes, and there are bike fixing stations on campus. You can find separate bins for waste and recyclables, as well as solar compactors. Offices have motion sensing lights that switch off automatically when the office is unoccupied. TAMU even produces its own electricity, and through its

membership in Association for Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE), is constantly optimizing its energy practices.

TAMU is a huge campus with over 150 programs and more than 50 thousand students. In my first few weeks, I was disoriented by the sheer number of events happening on campus.

“

What struck me the most about students at TAMU was their level of maturity.

They were used to working independently.

In my course, students came up with an idea for a game, chose the tools to implement that idea, and then went ahead and developed the game.

“

A Trip to TAMU

While tracking them is relatively easy—most of them are listed at calendar.tamu.edu—deciding which ones not to attend is not!

Some of the events I ended up going to include a magic show, a talk on Internet culture in China, an Eid dinner held by TAMU's Pakistani Students Association, several get togethers at the University Residence, an Ethics workshop, a talk by a Pixar representative, and even the burning of a mock dorm room (carried out by the fire department to educate about fire safety).

Since my return, I am often asked how the students and the department there are different from here. What struck me the most about students at TAMU was their level of maturity. They were used to working independently. In my course, students came up with an idea for a game, chose the tools to implement that idea, and then went ahead and developed the game. For many students, this required learning a new game development tool from scratch, putting in many hours doing online tutorials and, when

problems occurred, poring over forums searching for solutions.

They took all of this in stride.

Generally, not only were students confident with high level tools and learning new ones when necessary, they knew exactly what they wanted from their courses. Some of my students did not hesitate to tell me that they were switching to the other section of the course as there were too few students from Visualization Studies (Viz) in my section and a major reason for them to take the course was to work with Viz students.

At the department, the walls were lined with posters showcasing the research of the faculty. Almost all faculty was actively engaged in research such as parallel programming, computer architecture, information management, emergency informatics, brain networks, geometric modeling, and digital libraries. There were research groups within each department, each with its own lab populated with graduate students. I even met a sophomore undergraduate who

had done a research internship over the summer on a project that compared different versions of the same text, e.g. different editions or translations, to automatically spot and visualize the differences. He was very excited and intended to spend his subsequent summers doing more research internships.

Some PhD students I met had gotten their initial motivation to do a PhD through partaking in such research internships themselves.

Research being so important to the faculty members, it was not surprising when I observed the close bonds some faculty members had with their graduate students. Because of their research, they would meet almost daily and have frank, sometimes brutally harsh, discussions on ongoing projects. The research supervisor became more of a friendly mentor—the mentor would take their students out to lunch, know details of their personal lives, secretly worry about their academic and research progress, and give them advice and support on

their career efforts. And of course, everyone is on a first name basis with each other.

Some of the takeaways for me from my experience at TAMU regarding pedagogy and academics are a renewed belief in the capacity of students and the importance of active research engagement for faculty. Students are capable of a lot more than they usually give themselves credit for—faculty has to help them discover their own potential. And being active in research adds an extra dimension to a faculty member's pedagogy. Students are inspired by such teachers and seek to spend more quality time with them, thus ending up as their graduate students and research assistants.

Dr. Waqar Saleem Assistant Professor, Computer Science School of Science & Engineering, Habib University.

His area of focus is Digital processing and management tools for 2D and 3D shape repositories.

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The Future Straight From Abroad

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am perplexed as to where animation and interactive technologies will end up.

Digital world is becoming closer to real and human interaction with the machine is becoming more transparent. I do believe that pretty soon, a whole new world of 3D interactivity and holography will come into being.

It will not take long before the line between fake and real starts blurring and almost total realism is achieved through computer graphics. Indeed, gaming has already become very close to an interactive film, with gamers often playing roles in their own narrative throughout the course of the game. Therefore, the time is not far when we start to see interactive cinema or entertainment gadgets with

I constantly think about the technologies in our future and one thing is for sure—we will not be interacting with keyboards, mobile pads or I am also certain that one day touch screens. We might be we would even be able to using our beta brain wave to change our emotions by direct and interact with changing body chemistry through simulation. Even today, machines soon. I think this is the future and it is coming soon. if you find yourself taking You can see and touch your roller-coaster rides through computers today; a time will virtual reality equipment, your come when computers might glands will start pumping be sewn into your clothes; you adrenaline into your body system. The time is not that far may get your very own copy of when we would be able to smell Encyclopedia Britannica tattooed on your arm. We will a fragrance through the computer. We would also sense certainly experience other sorts of problems and challenges by the wind in our hair, hear the then. The digital divide and waves, feel the moisture and smell the sea, finding ourselves other challenges might come in the way, which may segregate a in a boat while watching a social structure. movie or some other form of interactive experience. holographic “Synthespians," computer-generated actors, around us.

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Dr. Muqeem Khan

Therefore, the future belongs to this part of the world. We have fresh ideas with a new outlook and there is no holding back of perspectives

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Total Realism

What should we do?

We will be flooded with zillions of tools and gadgets in our personal, social and professional lives and they will increase every day. We will need interesting gadgets and applications to channelize our emotions and social decisions in our future daily life.

We will have to train ourselves to select something important from these tools and applications. I am sure this is going to be a great skill going forward. We should learn to be discernable so we can understand easily and quickly what is right and what is not.

We have to be like a sponge, trying to learn whatever comes our way and reminding ourselves continuously that we know nothing. We will have to be practitioners of this philosophy and consider ourselves continuous knowledge seekers rather than experts. We will have to prepare ourselves to absorb many things in a short amount of time. But what is important is to ensure that we do not change ourselves.

Pakistan

The minds which shape the way the world moves are getting younger all the time and I truly believe that the next wave of change will come from people younger than us. I also expect many new ideas to come from Pakistan and other developing economies as they can look at things with a fresh perspective.

I was delighted to find such great interest in animation and emerging technologies in Pakistan, and was particularly pleased to find that young minds seem especially talented and enthusiastic in this area of digital realm. Therefore, the future belongs to this part of the world. We have fresh ideas with a new outlook and there is no holding back of perspectives. The younger generation is keen to showcase their thoughts, emotions and dreams.

I believe that the young minds in Pakistan are amazingly creative. They find various creative platforms as segments where they can carve their tales beyond all cultural taboos and inhibitions.

What makes a successful practitioner I like the Sanskrit word ‘kalaa, which suggests unity among all human arts, skills, sciences, and techniques. These are all mediums of expression and I find them rewarding because I can express myself in different manners and moods. Yes, they are indeed all interrelated. As technology changes on an almost daily basis, I think everybody has a responsibility to keep up with the latest technological innovations and emerging theories across all domains of the liberal arts and sciences, including natural sciences, humanities, and social sciences. I strongly think that a creative individual should be searching, isolating, managing and manipulating the methodologies of multiple knowledges. Success does not come easily. For that, you must learn to challenge your limitations and broaden your horizons of imagination. Above all, you must be a

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non-conformist, not inclined to follow the professional lines determined by our society.

Pursue your dreams and turn them into reality. My favorite quote is, ‘A winner never quits and a quitter never wins .'”

First, you will have to learn how to learn rather than what to learn and enjoy the learning process; I am talking about every genre of knowledge that you are encountering formally and informally. Emerging technologies and applications are still mere tools and we should not ignore mental development and nourishment to go with thinking and problem-solving skills that are the genuine foundations of all creative and fresh work. For me, the most important tool is the brain. followed by the hand, pencil and paper. I always try not to let tools win over mental prowess when teaching my students. It is the content that

sets apart the best from the rest. I always tell my students that I can teach you Microsoft Word, but it will not make you a Shakespeare! I also tell them that you may learn Photoshop, but that will not make you a Leonardo da Vinci. These are just different forms of pencils and pen on your drafting table.

It is the user’s knowledge and choice when to use either of them.

If you really want to make it big in any discipline, start by conducting research regarding that particular field and even related fields. Try and ascertain what it is all about and where it is headed instead of jumping into it blindly. Try asking existing professionals in the field. Then analyze yourself, understand your attitudes and imagine yourself in that discipline for several years. Ask questions such as whether you would be comfortable with extended

working hours. Once this is done, issues regarding your future and its direction will be deciphered automatically.

Dr. Muqeem Khan is an Associate Professor in Residence for the Communication Program at Northwestern University, Qatar.

As a visual effect artist, Dr. Khan’s motion picture credits with Walt Disney and Square USA are “Deep Rising”, “George of the Jungle”, “Flubber”, “Armageddon” and “Final Fantasy”.

Success does not come easily. For that, you must learn to challenge your limitations and broaden your horizons of imagination.

Above all, you must be a non-conformist, not inclined to follow the professional lines determined by our society

in

Partners Profile Dr. Beena Ahmed & Dr. John Keyser

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Dr. Dependable

All Hail the Aggie

While it could have been possible to create Habib University’s School of Science and Engineering without Dr. Beena Ahmed, it was certainly easier having her on board throughout the process. Right from her first interaction with Habib University she proved to be one of our most dependable allies. In our early days we did not have faculty on board and to help us design the curriculum we called upon personnel from our partner institutions to guide us. She was among those who responded to our requests with gusto and later took part in the Science and Engineering Curriculum Design Workshop held in Texas A&M University, Qatar (TAMUQ) last year. Due to her experience in studying in Pakistan and being aware of the

dynamics of the country, Dr. Ahmed was able to understand our needs and what the engineering school required.

She was of invaluable help throughout the review process and the current curriculum bears her imprints all over it. Dr. Ahmed was also part of the panel that interviewed applicants for Habib University’s School of Science and Engineering and many of the current has been screened by her. Thus, she has played a dual role in shaping Habib University’s School of Science and Engineering and for this and her unstinting support she has our complete gratitude.

Dr. Beena Ahmed is a Lecturer in Texas A&M University, Qatar in the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department. She has a Doctorate of Philosophy from University of New South Wales.

“Howdy!” came the friendly voice from the speakers. It belonged to Dr. John Keyser who was on a conference call with the School of Science and Engineering faculty to discuss the curriculum which was going to be reviewed a few days later by a number of experts from our partner institutions. Dr. Keyser was among the people coming for the workshop but we wanted to get an early start to the formal proceedings. Dr. Keyser had re-designed the computer science curriculum at Texas A&M University (TAMU) at College Station and we wanted to get his thoughts on our work.

In the course of the ninety minute con-call we discovered a committed academic but also a dedicated partner whom we called from the United States to

attend the workshop. In spite of a tight schedule he managed to take out time for us, time that was sandwiched between two important engagements and even gave a presentation at the workshop, the only one given by a non-Habib University faculty member. His critical feedback and deep insights helped us immensely and allowed us to explore new avenues in the computer science curriculum. In a short while, Dr. John Keyser has proved that distance and time are merely concepts and no bar to forming a deep and meaningful partnership.

Dr. John Keyser is Professor and Associate Department Head for Academics in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at Texas A&M University. He has a Ph.D. in Computer Science from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

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Living and Learning in Pakistan

Climate Change from the mangroves to the mountains Devastating changes

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an exhaustive example and there are many more emerging from the cities and the peri-urban areas that I have not touched on.

Climate change affects nearly every walk of life, every sector and almost every economy in Pakistan. Along the coastline, fisher communities are facing more climatic events such as cyclones and sea storms.

Added to this are the knowledge that changes in sea surface temperature may be result not only in the migration patterns of fish but may even affect their ability to spawn and reproduce. Man- made and climatic disasters together are really affecting coastal communities who live only centimeters above the sea in

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thousands of people from the some of the most harsh and remote creeks of the Indus precarious conditions in Delta is no easy feat.

Pakistan. Previously they were able to predict the sea storms and extreme weather events, based on their traditional ecological knowledge. Now, however, they are unable to predict the storms and they are often at the mercy of the events, often losing their lives as they try to reach land before their boats are smashed apart.

People in the creeks don’t fare any better. Their flimsy houses are no match for the sea storms and they lose their life's possessions in a matter of minutes. Coordinating relief efforts for these people is extremely difficult. Though there are plans in place, access to the coast during a cyclone is almost impossible and evacuating

When the floods came, there was no chance of saving anything.

Houses, agriculture land and other assets were washed away.

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akistan is a regular visitor to the top ten list of the German Watch Climate Change publication.

For the last few years we have been on this list, especially for countries most affected by events driven by climate change. Of course, 2010 was the big year for Pakistan, in terms of climate change, with the floods bringing havoc to large swaths of the country. To demonstrate the effects of climate change I have taken three communities from different parts of Pakistan, the coastal, plains and mountains, and have demonstrated how climate change, coupled with poor governance and weak resilience systems affects people of the country. It is by far

By Rab Nawaz

in Pakistan flood plain is not called a flood plain for nothing. It has a history of flooding and it was a prolonged drought and careless cum criminal planning by land developers that caused the damage. For many years the flood plain remained dry and parched. A false sense of security and, quite frankly, greed resulted in hamlets and hamlets being developed on the katchi or flood plains of the Indus. When the floods came, there was no chance of saving anything. Houses, agriculture land and other assets were washed away. Poor maintenance of the embankments also contributed to the destruction. Either they Unfortunately, most of the damage caused can’t really be weakened over years or were attributed to climate change but intentionally broken to divert the to weak governance. The Indus water away from some areas.

Life for the inland communities is not as dangerous but there are still very prone nonetheless.

The 2010 flood was described as a slow tsunami. A wall of water, originating from the Himalayas made its way down the Indus, destroying everything in its path. One could only get a true picture by flying over the area. What once was fertile land was submerged in meters of water. The water stayed around for weeks, not giving any respite to the dislodged communities who were left out open in the scorching Pakistan summer, vulnerable to dehydration and disease.

Still, the fact remains that the floods were caused by unprecedented rainfall in the mountain areas. Flash floods are not uncommon. In 1992 every bridge from Dassu to Tarbela was washed away due to heavy rains. In 2010 the rains were more unusually widespread and perhaps another factor, the forest cover, or lack of it, also played an important part of how much damage was caused. Forests and their ecosystems in the mountains play an important role in retaining rainwater.

Without these environmental services the rain runs straight off the mountain, into the river, often bring soil and silt with it, swelling rivers, breaking banks and depositing sediment in down-stream dams. Again, it is

due to deforestation of Pakistan’s mountains that have caused the damage, not the rains themselves.

In the majestic mountains of Pakistan people have scratched out a living for centuries. Living in the hostile and extreme lofts of the country they align their lives to the changing seasons.

Living a virtual hibernation in winter at the lower elevations and climbing to the top of the roof in summer when they take their livestock to the pastures.

Glaciers have played an important role in mountain ecosystems. They are so powerful that they shape mountains over years through erosion. They are the water-tanks of the country; capturing water in the cooler

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months and then letting it run into the valley as the summer temperature rise. In Pakistan, studies have shown that glaciers have decreased in mass over the recent past. This is a global phenomenon that has affected glaciers around the globe. However in Pakistan there is a looming danger in the form of Glacier Lake Outfall Flood or GLOF. The occurrences of GLOF have been around for millions of years but recently the incidences are becoming more frequent. A GLOF occurs when the dams holding back the glacier water breaks and causes a flood. It usually happens when there is an imbalance between the volume of water and the glacier. As climate change drives the mean temperatures up there is more water than ice and the natural dams burst. Fortunately in Pakistan there has not been a major GLOF for almost 100 years, however the threat is rising and communities are under the constant threat of

plains. These benefits need to be realized and tapped so that any economic loss is outweighed by an economic good of bumper crops that can be achieved Sadly, there is still an approach for many years after the flood.

There are new businesses to be that makes people thing of made out the land that has climate change as a negative phenomenon, bringing nothing become saline or new crops that already exist that can grow but destruction and gloom. In in these harsher climates. There many ways there are are fish which can survive in opportunities, and this is more many types of water both fresh so in Pakistan which has great and brackish. All these can be potential to adapt its huge introduced to help rural and agriculture systems to high urban communities not only profit crops which could be grown in the plains. Technology survive but flourish in Pakistan.

However for Pakistan to tackle has a great role to play in climate change it cannot be adapting to the changing business as usual. There needs climate, new technologies to make the use of water efficient, to be a shift in attitude and accepting climate change as a harnessing the power of the sun, the wind and the tides (the national challenge. However, Arabian Sea is one of the most that’s not to say that there won’t be regional implications. Climate powerful oceans in the world).

There are many opportunities to refugees may become more in number and spill over use the warmer nights and the international boundaries. People increased rainfall. Floods not from the rural communities to only bring water but they bring the decision makers in much needed sediment to the being washed away or buried in tons of rubble. A GLOF can have no warning and can happen anywhere where glaciers are under the threat of global warming.

Islamabad need to realize that the phenomena of climate change can affect us overnight but the real impact will happen over time, not months or years, but decades. It will happen slowly and gradually and without us even noticing. It will seep into our economies and livelihoods while we talk about the subject and one day we will realize it’s too late.

Rab Nawaz is Regional Director for WWF-Pakistan.

However for Pakistan to tackle climate change it cannot be business as usual. There needs to be a shift in attitude and accepting climate change as a national challenge.

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Living and Learning in Pakistan

No Escape From

Climate No Escape

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ast year the UN’s global body of scientists who collaborate on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) stated clearly in a report that was released end of September that global warming today is the result of human activities. The first part of the IPCC’s Fifth Assessment Report, which examines the physics of climate change, explained that: “It is extremely likely (95 per cent confidence) that human influence on climate caused more than half of the observed increase in global average surface temperature from 1951-2010”.

“new normal”; and it is already happening. Last summer heavy monsoon rains triggered major floods yet again in Pakistan.

East Africa is currently suffering from the worst drought to hit the region in 60 years. Typhoon Haiyan devastated the Philippines and the UK had to brace itself for severe winter storms and flooding.

So far there has been a global temperature rise of about 0.8 degrees Celsius since the early 20th century. Scientists are predicting a further warming between 2 and 6 degrees Celsius. The best possible option is to cap global warming at 2 degrees Celsius, which is the agreed goal in the UN led The report noted that continued international climate negotiations. If climate change greenhouse gas emissions is not stopped (which means (mainly carbon dioxide emitted from the burning of oil, coal and drastically cutting down carbon emissions globally), we are gas and deforestation) would looking at increased food cause further changes to our security problems in the South climate system. According to Asian region. There will be the IPCC, extreme weather further drops in crop yields events like storms, floods and across India and Pakistan. droughts are to become the 30

By Rina Saeed Khan

Scientists say there is going to be climate-induced degradation of the water resources, due to a growing population and the shrinking of glaciers.

However scientists say we don’t know for sure where the tipping elements are, the points of no return that accelerate climate change. This could be a change in the ocean currents, which can result in the cooling of the entire Northern hemisphere. Or it can be a change in the South Asian monsoon that affects water and food for millions of people. As global average temperatures rise, scientific models indicate that human society will suffer increased heat-related illness and death, food insecurity, water stress and spread of infectious diseases, in addition to increased climate related disasters. Developing countries like Pakistan are least prepared to cope with these negative impacts of global warming.

Some countries in the region are already becoming more vulnerable to disasters, particularly those with coastal areas where there is an increased risk of major floods and tropical storms.

Germanwatch, a NGO that publishes an annual Global Risk Index of countries most vulnerable to climate related disasters, recently listed Pakistan as the number one most affected country in the world in 2010. The indices compare loss of lives, losses in percentage of GDP, etc. In 2011 Pakistan was ranked as number three and last year’s report listed Haiti, the Philippines and Pakistan as hardest hit by weather disasters in 2012.

Though Pakistan is not a significant contributor to carbon emissions globally, it is high on the list of countries that are suffering from climate change.

Change coming into power last year they demoted the federal Ministry of Climate Change to a division, slashing its budget and staff.

economic growth in the years to come.

It is evident today that the use of hydrocarbon fuels (oil, coal and gas) since the middle of the 18th century has cost us dearly.

The greenhouse gases released by the burning of these fuels have been trapped in our atmosphere. They have formed a blanket around the planet, causing global average temperatures to rise. Scientists tell us the thicker the blanket, the higher the temperature rise.

Earlier in 2013, just before the elections, the National Climate Change Policy (authored by Dr Qamar-uz-Zaman) was launched. The NCCP identifies vulnerabilities in the sectors of water resources, agriculture, forests, coastal areas, biodiversity and vulnerable ecosystems and puts forward What the world needs is an appropriate measures relating international agreement to to disaster preparedness, capacity building, institutional strengthening, technology transfer and international cooperation. Unfortunately it has been shelved for now.

Instead of rising to the challenge of climate change, Adapting to the impacts of Pakistan is running away, but as climate change is a priority; the scientists assure us, there Pakistan needs enhanced will be no escape. In the capacity and financial vulnerable South Asian region, resources. Unfortunately, the current PML (N) led government reductions in agricultural productivity due to climate does not consider climate change could dampen change a priority. Soon after

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address the issue, under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change or UNFCCC (signed by over 192 countries of the world). But the fact is that rich countries no longer want to shoulder the responsibility of having caused climate change in the first place through the industrial revolution. While developing countries want enhanced implementation of existing commitments and agreements (Kyoto Protocol, etc.), developed countries want new agreements in which responsibility will not figure.

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According to climate advisor Dr Qamar-uz-Zaman who now works for LEAD-Pakistan, “extreme weather events in Pakistan are increasing; the super floods of 2010 affected around 20 million people in the country and in 2011, five years of rainfall fell in just 4 weeks in Sindh. In 2012, there were more floods.” In Pakistan, climate change is not a future prediction but a current reality, with devastating consequences.

Impacts include erratic monsoon rains, rising temperatures leading to reduced agricultural output, glacial floods in the mountains, seawater intrusion into the Indus Delta and extreme weather events like floods and droughts.

If we are to get a solution out of this COP we need people around the world to start putting pressure on their governments

Kumi Naidoo, Executive Director, Greenpeace International

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carbon dioxide emissions). The $30 billion promised by rich countries as climate finance to help developing countries in Copenhagen were not exactly new and additional funds; and there is no sign of the $100 billion pledged by 2020. The mechanism of “loss and damage” introduced by developing countries to protect themselves from future climate related disasters was not welcomed by rich countries.

The global climate change negotiations have currently stalled. The last UN Climate Change Conference 2013 was held in Warsaw in Poland in November and the outcome was not promising. The conference was supposed to provide a road map to a global agreement to be signed in 2015 to limit carbon emissions, but instead rich countries like Australia, Canada and Japan started back tracking out of their commitments (to cut

conference, “some countries were not allowing the discussions to happen and the US, Norway and European Union were not engaging constructively. So civil society members decided to walk out during the second week of the conference”. Around 800 people belonging to well-known green organizations such as WWF, Greenpeace and Oxfam walked out in protest, pointing out that with only two years to go, nothing was happening on the ground. “We want to bring the soul back to these negotiations, which are to continue in Peru in 2014 and France in 2015” explained Harjeet. “We were not walking away, but walking out”.

According to Kumi Naidoo, the executive director of Greenpeace International, “This is not about giving up, but is about taking the struggle to a different level. If we are to get a solution out of this COP we need people around the world According to climate expert Harjeet Singh of Action Aid India to start - in every country putting pressure on their who attended the Warsaw

governments to actually come to these COPs with a very strong mandate, which has serious levels of ambition with regards to cutting carbon.

Serious ambition too with regard to ensuring that poor countries have the money to adapt to climate change and not follow the same dirty energy pathway that rich countries followed to build their economies."

Pakistani climate expert and retired ambassador Shafqat Kakakhel pointed out that “We need to resuscitate the spirit of Rio (the successful Earth Summit of 1992); we need to go back to the drawing board and restore the principles of Rio (when the UNFCCC was first signed)… the G-77 (group of developing countries of which India and Pakistan are both members) needs to negotiate a better deal”. The future outlook does indeed look bleak for developing countries, since the principle of equity has more or less been abandoned for now but there is still hope that the

world will come together in Paris to make some sort of an agreement to save civilization as we know it from the devastation of runaway climate change.

As Kumi Naidoo explained recently: “If the U.N. climate process didn’t exist, we would have to invent it. Warts and all it’s the best option we have for a global deal to happen... Our political leaders need to understand that, firstly, nature does not negotiate, and, secondly, that they cannot change the science. The only thing that they have the power to change is the political will to make the transition that science says we need to make”.

Rina Saeed Khan is an award-winning environmental journalist. She holds an MA in Environment and Development from SOAS in London.

But the fact is that rich countries no longer want to shoulder the responsibility of having caused climate change in the first place through the industrial revolution

Living and Learning in Pakistan

Suraj Kund: A lost icon in the hagiography of Shah Shams in Multan

By Dr. Hasan Ali Khan

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ultan, the city in the middle Indus region regarded by some to be the world’s oldest inhabited, along with perhaps Damascus in Syria, was renowned in antiquity and the early medieval era for its ancient Sun temple.

Unlike Damascus and the regions to the west, Multan does not preserve any of its ancient sites, and most of the city’s surviving heritage monuments actually date to the mid-Islamic period, starting in circa 1200; among which a few until recently retained connections to its pre-Islamic past. There are many reasons for the loss of the pre-Islamic built heritage of Multan, in comparison to that of its Middle Eastern counterparts, but the main reason is invariably the continuous waves of invasions that the middle Indus region suffered, in both the pre-Islamic and early Islamic eras, which resulted in widespread destruction of the built environment. The most important pre-Islamic religious site in Multan, its ancient Sun temple dedicated to the worship of the Sun, was located on the citadel mound, next to where the shrine of the Suhrawardi Sufi Baha a-din Zakiriyya (d.1261) now stands.

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The temple’s religious value and wealth was noted by most medieval visitors to the city, including amongst others the Chinese Buddhist pilgrim, Hiuen Tsang, and Muslim historian al-Muqqadasi (d. late 10th century). Tsang described the temple in his visit in 641 as ‘a temple dedicated to the Sun, very magnificent, and profusely decorated. The image of the Sun-deva is cast in yellow gold and ornamented with rare gems. Its spiritual powers made plain to all, where men from all countries offer their prayers in the thousands at all times.’

In his history al-Muqaddimah, the 14th century Muslim historian Ibn Khaldun talks of Multan as the home of ‘the great idol.’ Not only was Multan known for the ancient temple and the riches connected to it, it was also the largest and the most prosperous city of the Indus region in the early medieval era, before Lahore and Delhi rose in rank-first under the Delhi Sultanate, and then the Mughal Empire. Incidentally, in the Islamic era, Multan’s prosperity and prominence, as reported by visiting Muslim historians, was connected to the Fatimid Empire in Egypt (909-1171), and also to its religious creed, of which it was a jazira or dominion. Khums presents (religious tithes

amounting to 20% of all income) from Multan are mentioned as being sent to Fatimid Egypt by the Arab historian al-Maqdasi, who visited Multan in 986. Mas’udi, a slightly earlier historian, who visited in 915, also wrote (in 943) about Multan’s wealth. He commented on the city’s multi-storeyed houses made of sandalwood, with visible fertility, luxury and opulence, and its coinage being fashioned on Fatimid coinage. An earlier (9th century) Persian Muslim historiographer, al-Baladhuri, in his history Futuh al-Buldan, comments on the amount of gold recovered from below the idol in Multan’s Sun temple by the Umayyads as amounting to 13200 maunds (a weight measure equal to nearly forty kilograms). The portion of the loot that was sent back to the caliph in Iraq as booty was 120000 Dirhams, while the whole conquest of Sind, including Multan, had cost the Umayyad treasury only half that amount, i.e. 60000 dirhams.

Multan’s Sun temple and its opulence and wealth is also mentioned in the Chachnamah, the most referenced history in existence of the conquest of Sind by the Umayyad armies, translated from the Arabic by a certain individual named ’Ali al-Kufi. In 1216, al-Kufi, an Iraqi who lived in the city of Uch near

Multan, under the reign of Nasir al-din Qabacha (ruled Uch from 1206-1228), travelled to Bhakkar in upper Sind (near Sukkur), to obtain the original Arabic manuscript of Sind’s conquest by the Umayyads. It was called Minhaj al-din wa al-mulk, which Kufi translated into Persian. The Arabic version however, has never been discovered. Nevertheless, the Chacahnamah talks about Multan’s Sun idol as being ‘so like a living man that Muhammad bin Qasim (Sind’s Umayyad conqueror) mistook it for one, and he drew his sword in order to strike it. In a multi-faith twist, the famous Muslim historian Ibn al-Athir (lived 1160-1233), comments on the same idol inside the Sun temple as actually being that of the Abrahamic prophet Job (i.e.

Ayyub). It appears that Multan’s religious tendencies were syncretic in pre-Islamic times, mainly based on the worship of the Sun. The famed jurist and official historian of the Fatimid empire, Qadi Nu’man (d.974), wrote of the local religion of Multan and Sind as being ‘Zoroastrian.’ Scholars have interpreted his comment as ‘implying some (level of) Hindu-Zoroastrian syncretism,’ mainly due to the Sun temple and its connection to the Iranian religion through the worship of that certain heavenly body.

Poster art from Multan, depicting Shams performing his Sun miracle after arriving in the city (at Suraj Kund).

Zakiriyya is seen (on the left), welcoming Shams with his entourage

The site of Shams’s miracle in the village of Suraj Kund in 2006 In early medieval times, the religiosity of Multan’s Sun temple pervaded not just the beliefs of local inhabitants, but also those of surrounding regions. Noted scholar of Sind Mumtaz Husain, citing from the work of the 10th century Muslim scholar Ibn Nadim (d.995) called al-Fihrist, comments on the different kinds of religious denominations that lived in the Indus region. Among them, the Aditkiya or Sun worshippers were prominent, and venerated an idol representing the Sun. This idol sat on a cart with four horses at its four corners, and held an illuminating atom in its hand. The Aditkiya believed that the Sun was the father of ether (the fifth element), and that all the angels were subordinate to him. They worshipped the idol by circumambulating it and beating drums. It is not clear if the idol in Multan’s Sun temple and that venerated by the 36

Aditkiya were one and the same, but the connection to the Sun temple is ever present in Ibn Nadim’s narrative. Barry Flood, in his book Objects of Translation: Material Culture and Medieval ‘Hindu-Muslim’ Encounter, talks about agglomerative attitudes towards idolatry, identity, and religious practice prevailing amongst the Muslims of Multan, even outside the ruling elites. These agglomerative attitudes towards religion of course had to do with the veneration of the Sun. Flood goes on to comment that during the Fatimid era in Multan, the Caliph al-Mu’izz (ruled 953-975 CE), sent a letter in 960 to the local da’i or missionary, who had converted a large number of people to Isma’ilism. He accused the da’i of fostering heterodoxy in doctrinal matters, including continued visitation to the Sun temple. Subsequently due to

But the effect of the veneration of the Sun and its influence on Multan’s spiritual heritage has remained ever enduring. In this author’s own work, the massive Shah Rukn-e-’Alam monument which dominates the old city’s skyline, and adjoins the Sun temple site, has been shown to have been ritually constructed according to the exaltation of the Sun. In addition, some old ceremonies at the shrine of Shah Shams in Multan, which tie his monument to that of the Suhrawardi Sufi Sakhi Sarwar (d.1174), buried at the foot of the Sulaiman Mountains, are arranged astrologically around the The Sun temple did eventually fall into disuse over time, until its exaltation period of the Sun, in the first month of the Indian last remaining fragments were calendar, Chetir. Similarly in destroyed in 1992 by nearby Uch, which remains iconoclastic elements from inside Multan’s religious and Multan itself, as a reaction to cultural sphere, the ’urs or the Babri mosque event in Ayodhya, a city in the Faizabad yearly death commemorations of the Suhrawardi Sufi Jalal district of Uttar Pradesh, India. al-Mu’izz’s concerns, the famed Sun temple, which contained the idol that Muhammad bin Qasim thought was a living man, and that represented the prophet Job according to Ibn al-Athir, was finally destroyed. It should be noted however that since both Ibn al-Athir (b.1160), and Ibn Khaldun (b.1332)-who called Multan the home of the ‘great idol,’ lived after the Fatimid era; the report on the late 10th century destruction of the Sun temple is either untrue, or that Multan’s Sun religion simply reasserted itself with the temple’s reconstruction.

In early medieval times, the religiosity of Multan’s Sun temple pervaded not just the beliefs of local inhabitants, but also those of surrounding regions. Among them, the Aditkiya or Sun worshippers were prominent, and venerated an idol representing the Sun is regarded by many, along with his Suhrawardi contemporary Baha al-din Zakiriyya, to be Multan’s greatest mystic. The It is noteworthy that Suraj Kund event of Shams’s arrival outside Multan, his stay, and his in Multan did have a bathing performance of a stupendous pool with alleged miraculous supernatural feat is the subject powers of healing, and that of many historic reports, but word kund here probably also there is some confusion in their meant ‘pool’ or ‘pond.’ The chronology. Nevertheless, construction of the pool at the Shams, whose name means site in Multan is relatively new, ‘Sun,’ and Multan, still ended and is associated to the Sikh up evolving together in that era. It was reportedly commissioned by Ranjit Singh’s most conspicuous of Multani governor Sawan Mal, who also religious trends, through the veneration of the Sun. Although constructed a gurdwara at the Aside from the main Sun temple, one other site in Multan site. Hence, the Multan pool in Shams’s performance of a Sun until recently retained an Islamic existence today is not nearly as miracle is frequently mentioned in the region’s oral narratives, old as that at the Haryana site. era connection to the ancient the site where this act actually An older edifice of the pool Sun worship that defined the occurred is generally not probably existed in Multan city. This is the site of Suraj identified. However, during this Kund, located in a village of the before the Sikh era. However, author’s doctoral fieldwork, with Multan’s Suraj Kund, located same name, which lies 5 kilometres outside the main city not too far from the ancient Sun the help of the Gardezi family of Multan, he identified Suraj Kund temple on the citadel mount, on the Suraj Kund road. Derryl has another claim to fame. It is as the place where Shams Maclean, in his book Religion the site of perhaps the greatest enacted his miracle. In light of and Society in Arab Sind, hagiographic event ever to have this, the word Suraj Kund in speaks of some historical been performed in the medieval Multan can also mean ‘Sun sources referring to a second hook’ in Seraiki (with kund world by a human being-one Sun temple located in Multan , literally meaning hook)-due to which is recounted in various which may well have been at the assertion of the locals that ways by the different traditions the site of Suraj Kund. In this, the site’s origins are solely Suraj Kund shares its name with that eulogise it. In fact, the occurrence of this certain event connected to Shams’s Sun a more famous counterpart miracle. Whatever the real may well have inspired the situated outside of Delhi in the embellishment of the site by the meaning of the name (in the Indian state of Haryana. The Multani context), one should not Suraj Kund complex in Haryana Sikhs. forget the old Sun temple of constitutes mainly of a water Multan, which probably endured In the early 1200s, a holy man reservoir constructed in the until the time of Shams’s arrival.

10th century by the pre-Islamic called Pir Shams al-din Muhammad (lived 1165-1276), It would not be wrong to Tomar Rajputs who ruled the mentioned above and known in assume, mainly because of the area, and the name means the mention of a second Sun Multan as Shah Shams, came ‘pond of the Sun,’ where kund temple in the city, that the story means pond or lake in Hindi. It to the city walls, in an effort to of Suraj Kund in Multan has a is invariably the product of Sun make his way into the city, to settle and preach there. Shams pre-Islamic component to it. worship in the greater Punjab was the chief da’i or missionary region, and must also have been connected to Multan’s old of the Nizari Isma’ili community, At the time of this author’s delegated from its headquarters fieldwork, in spring 2006, the Sun temple. A third lesser site Suraj Kund site consisted of a at Alamut in Iran. Shah Shams called Suraj Kund, which also al-din Surkhposh (d.1291), were traditionally organised in the month of Chetir, making them correspond with the Sun’s exaltation, in addition to the Persian New Year. In short, it can be easily argued that any story of religion and spirituality in Multan historically, no matter what its origins were, was in the end determined by two factors very Multani, namely the veneration of the Sun, and heterodox, or rather multi-faith beliefs, connected to it.

boasted a temple complex in the past, exists in the Indian state of Punjab.

small enclosure (see plate 1), with an aged tree inside it, that the villagers alleged dated back to Shams’s time. The site was venerated by the villagers, who lit oil lamps and incense in it every Thursday night, to commemorate Shams’s miracle.

They asked for the fulfilment of legitimate desires at the site, in lieu of their ritual piety and upkeep for it. The enclosure, except the walls, was obviously old, with the floor covered in oil lamp residue which seemed to date to an earlier era. The site was not well known outside the locality, and its discovery came as a surprise to some even in the Department of Archaeology, which is usually very well informed on built heritage in the area.

In 2006, adjacent to the Suraj Kund site, surrounding the central pool, there was an old gurdwara and some others Sikh era buildings. It is reported that Shams’s supernatural powers had earned him a great following in Multan, especially amongst non-Muslims. So strong was the historical Hindu and later Sikh attachment to Shams that in the Sikh Era, his shrine was reportedly changed into a gurdwara. On a visit in 1831, Alexander Burnes records that the holy book of the Sikhs, the Granth Sahib, was read in the shrine by a garanthi or Sikh priest.

Needless to say, Shams’s popularity with the Sikhs sparked the reconstruction of Suraj Kund in the Sikh era (see plate 2).

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The old gurdwara in 2006, slowly being annexed by modern buildings

after his Sun miracle, Shams gained entry into the walled city, never to be molested again

The summoning down of the Sun by Shams at Suraj Kund, through Multani oral narratives According to the folklore of Multan, Shams came to Multan with some followers after escaping from his enemies in Uch. When he reached the outskirts of the Multan, he camped at a site outside the city walls as a gesture of respect to the Sufis already present in the city; probably a reference to Zakiriyya. He initiated contact with Zakiriyya through his disciple. Zakiriyya replied by sending a bowl full of milk through his own disciple, stating that there was no room for any more Sufis in the city. In response, Shams floated a rose on the milk signifying himself, and sent it back to Zakiriyya, suggesting that he would supersede all the other Sufis of Multan. But he was turned away and refused entry. He was also denied the sale of food on the orders of the elite to dissuade him from staying on further. These events were orchestrated at the behest of the learned men and clergy.

Although he could do without food for any number of days being a true dervish, Shams was unable to obtain food for his disciple, who was just a boy. He called out to a flying dove to come down; in a more common version of the story, it was a fish that obeyed and jumped out of a nearby pond. Shams then summoned the Sun down and used its heat to cook the fish. When news of this reached Multan its elite, including Zakiriyya, came with an official entourage, begged Shams’s forgiveness, and asked him to enter the city and stay. Hence after his Sun miracle, Shams gained entry into the walled city, never to be molested again. Based on Multani oral traditions, the story of Shams summoning down the Sun is quoted with some variation, but with the same chronology, by Colonial era historians.

This act (and through it Suraj Kund) is even remembered in Multan’s religious art. A popular poster from Multan published in Frembgen’s book, Friends of God, depicts Shams’s Sun miracle, whilst recalling an uncanny similarity to Suraj Kund. Both the old tree inside the enclosure, where the devotees lit oil lamps, and the pond behind the tree, are represented in the poster (see plate 3).

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The old gurdwara in 2006, slowly being annexed by modern buildings

The point of Shams’s Sun miracle, which now lies adjacent to the mosque’s side wall

The last remaining Sikh era building, now somebody’s house

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s

During his time in the larger Indus region, the list of Shams’s performance of supernatural feats outweighs that of all other Sufis and spiritual personalities who came before or after him. They include amongst others, sailing a boat made of paper with his followers on board outside of Uch, to escape his enemies, and raising the dead child of a nobleman. But the summoning down of the Sun in Multan is by far the most remarkable story of all; for this is something unheard of even in the hagiographies of the Abrahamic prophets, or known of the avatars of the Indo-Iranian religions who preceded them.

However today, the story of Suraj Kund has changed.

In this author’s last research trip to Multan, in February 2014, he had the misfortune to retrace back the steps of his doctoral fieldwork for the first time in 8 years.

He was confronted by a different reality when he reached the village of Suraj Kund. In place of the enclosure where Shams called the Sun down stood a mosque, newly erected. The young boy from the village who accompanied the author said that the enclosure had been pulled down recently-in the last six months; even the old pipal tree had been cut down to the same effect, to make way for the mosque. Only the point where the villagers previously lit oil lamps was spared, as small niche in the mosque’s side wall. The gurdwara was gone, and the Suraj Kund pond full of rubbish, and in a state of complete disrepair. The only historical building left standing was one with some Gurmukhi or Sikh writing on it, in which a family was squatting (see plates 4, 5, and 6 for details). This was to the obvious ignorance of the Department of Archaeology, which is usually very efficient when it comes to taking care of functioning shrines, mainly due to the economic benefit that the state derives from them.

Much to the credit of the boy guide, who explained to this author that the person responsible for the mosque’s erection, probably it’s Imam with his foreign funding, had committed himself to constructing a new enclosure around the point of the Sun’s descent; the future seemed disproportionately bleak. The inhabitants of the village had become unfriendly and unwelcoming. Although this author was not told directly, the driver who drove him 1000 kilometres from Karachi to Multan, himself a good orthodox Muslim from Faisalabad, was told by some villagers that the area had been taken over by ‘Hindus’ at some point in history, and suggested to him that the destruction that ensued was legitimate. Some other villagers however, in quiet disagreement with the majority, lamented the loss of the enclosure and the gurdwara; but, as the afternoon congregational prayers ended, they discretely stopped speaking to us. On the way out of Suraj Kund, the driver uttered ‘I shall never forget this place, how can such a place be destroyed?’ The Sun still shines brightly over ancient Multan, but its Muslim era built heritage, which recalls acts and deeds that celebrate the Sun, in the likeness of its pre-Islamic past before, is slowly disappearing into the darkened mists of the contemporary era.

On the way out of Suraj Kund, the driver uttered ‘I shall never forget this place, how can such a place be destroyed?

Dr. Hasan Ali Khan is Assistant Professor at the School of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences (AHSS), at Habib University. He is an architect by initial training and has a PhD in Arts and Humanities, from the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London. United Kingdom.

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IN FOCUS

Sidhwa Revisited: an appraisal of The Crow Eaters on its 35th anniversary

By Dr. Nadya Chishty-Mujahid

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Professor Bapsi Sidhwa, the revered grandmother of post-colonial Pakistani fiction completed her unique debut novel, The Crow Eaters, in 1978.

Thirty-five years later, the book, long accepted as a major English work of South-Asian fiction, merits revisiting. The question now facing one is not how significant Sidhwa’s text is to the post-colonial canon per se (since that is a long-established point), but more one that centers on whether it is truly worthy of a place in the established, mainstream canon of English-language texts. In spite of the fine craftsmanship of Kamila Shamsie, the canny

political endeavours of Mohsin Hamid, and the amusing histrionics of H. M. Naqvi, it is neither fair nor useful to categorise either the Austenian Sidhwa or the Dickensian Rohinton Mistry alongside these more junior authors whose work still has to withstand the test of time. Indeed, Sidhwa’s entire oeuvre gained academic critical enhancement when Yale professor, Sara Suleri Goodyear, introduced the Pakistani English version of Ice-Candy Man by means of a commendatory foreword (2005). Moreover, Sidhwa’s relatively recent entry into the highly Sidhwa has a notable talent for recounting stories in the endearing, old-fashioned sense of the word—she is a pastmistress at

structuring plot, and leaves the reader privileged annals of Urdu literature was evinced by the translation of her famous debut into Urdu by the respected academic, M. U. Memon. Last year, in his Dawn review of the Urdu version, Asif Farrukhi astutely noted that “Junglewalla Sahib is amongst us again, without losing his Pickwickean gusto to chaste Urdu.”

Sidhwa has a notable talent for recounting stories in the endearing, old-fashioned sense of the word—she is a pastmistress at structuring plot, and leaves the reader yearning for more at the close of every chapter. Without revealing too much of what is arguably her finest story, one may simply summarise The Crow Eaters as the tale of a young and enterprising Parsi merchant, Faredoon “Freddy” Junglewalla, who arrives in Lahore on a tonga with a fledgling family at the end of the nineteenth-century, and makes his fortune by means of trade over the course of the next half-century. At the conclusion of his life, he leaves behind several children and a set of successful businesses; however, it is the point that he becomes something of a Parsi legend within his close-knit Lahori community that carries the day insofar as the novel’s main gist is concerned. Alternately a tender family saga and an uproariously funny social satire, the book enchants as much as it appalls. Sidhwa’s writing conveys a wonderfully earthy sense of humour. By far the most memorable character of the novel is Freddy’s larger-than-life and utterly exasperating mother-in-law, Jerbanoo, arguably one of the most vividly caricatured personae in English literature in general, and post-colonial fiction in particular.

Relatively early in the novel, Freddy burns down his shop in order to collect the insurance on it, hoping that he can accomplish the additional goal of dispensing with his mother-in-law simultaneously.

We all giggle and cheer as Jerbanoo survives, and marvel as she goes on to bury one of her grandchildren, marry off five of the others, visit London and make life living hell for the English, all the while retaining her absolute confidence in her moral and cultural superiority. Even as I cast my mind’s eye over Vikram Seth’s formidable panoply of characters in the magnificent A Suitable Boy, I can think of no true rivals to Jerbanoo. Except for Freddy, of course; but no matter how much affection we display towards him, he is never more than a runner-up to Putli Junglewalla’s loving yet outrageous parent.

The authoress herself has claimed on more than one occasion that her novel was not well-received in Pakistan on its first appearance, and only acquired acceptance as it subsequently acquired fame. It is hard to imagine Pakistan’s cultured, highly-educated, and respected Parsi community taking the novel too seriously, but since it was the first major novel written about sub-continental Zoroastrians it acquired an implicit political significance from its earliest appearance. Ironically, it is a refreshingly non-political novel in and of itself; the British Raj is generally alluded to only in passing, the status of the Parsis as a minority group is sympathetically, but only fleetingly, touched upon, and partition is mentioned only in the form of a soothsayer’s prophecies! Every one of Sidhwa’s subsequent efforts—The Bride, Ice-Candy Man (re-titled Cracking India), and even An American Brat—have far stronger political undercurrents than The Crow Eaters. And yet, for many Parsis, and by extension many non-Parsi readers, Sidhwa’s debut remains the most psychologically unsettling of her works.

Back-handed though the compliment may be, it is in the sharp conflict between reality and her perception of it that one finds the greatest evidence of her literary genius.

On the surface level, numerous Parsi customs are described so literally that were it not for their original and novel appeal to a non-Parsi audience, one may find them commonplace. In fact, navjotes, sudrehs, kustis, fish-patterns, ceremonial platforms, the significance of sacred fires, and the towers of silence, are motifs

with which many Pakistanis and Indians are familiar, regardless of their specific religious orientation. What is eminently striking about The Crow Eaters is Sidhwa’s blatant audacity in handling the abovementioned motifs for the purpose of furthering the intense dramatic and emotional agenda of her book. Freddy physically strikes one of his children for the first time in his life on the boy’s expressing a desire to marry a non-Parsi. Sidhwa explored this theme at length in An American Brat, but her approach in the later novel is “mellower,” for want of a better word. Junglewalla scandalizes his friends and foes alike when he permits people of differing faiths to look upon the face of his dead son after the final rites have been performed on the body. Jerbanoo in turn scandalizes both Putli and Freddy alike when she expresses a sincere and touching desire to be buried next to her beloved grandson, in spite of the fact that she has had a heated debate with her son-in-law early in the book about how nothing short of offering her remains to vultures will satisfy her. The first few pages of Sidhwa’s slightly maniacal sixth chapter are designed to draw attention to a death-related ritual that, in actuality, is as practical as it is darkly beautiful. The relationship between scavenger birds and human remains is ecologically symbiotic; however, Freddy regards it as macabre and Jerbanoo fantasizes about it with a reverence that deliberately borders on farcical. In all this chaos, what ultimately almost gets lost is one of the loveliest scenes of the novel—when Freddy’s wife realises with a start that, due to a shortage of proper professionals, their family friends voluntarily stand-in as pallbearers for the body of her dead son. Scenes such as this specific one underscore the authenticity underlying the novel. Sidhwa takes pains to sketch accurate portraits of her characters and succeeds; but she also succeeds, effortlessly, at depicting the moving solidarity of the Parsi community. It happens almost naturally, partly because of her skill and partly due to her personal Parsi background.

Many satirists often shy away from extreme themes such as passion and death, but Bapsi Sidhwa has never lacked courage.

Thus it is surprising that decades after writing The Crow Eaters she publicly criticized “sky burial,” a point documented by Zofeen Ebrahim in an online IPS article. But I suppose everyone is entitled to slips and errors, and I chuckle as I recall the acerbic terms in which Michael Stausberg (the world’s foremost academic authority on Zoroastrianism) once criticized the Shah of Iran’s propensity for pomp and splendor (in a book-chapter titled “From Power to Powerlessness: Zoroastrianism in Iranian History”). In point of fact, in spite of his eventual fall from grace, the late Shah of Iran was no stranger to true elegance and fineness. He demonstrated this trait at numerous occasions over the course of his regal life, such as when he inaugurated Karachi’s famous Hotel Metropole for example; a point documented in Toxy Cowasjee’s genuinely reverent article on the redoubtable Darayus Minwalla (Hamazor, 2012). So perhaps we can be generous enough to forgive Bapsi Sidhwa all her errors and audacity—she has gracefully stirred the sugar of her talent into the English literary canon.

Dr. Nadya Chishty-Mujahid is Assistant Professor of Social Sciences and Liberal Arts at the Institute of Business Administration, Karachi. She is the author of numerous articles and scholarly books (the latter published by the Edwin Mellen Press).

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Faculty Update

JAMIL DEHLAVI’S FILM WINS GLOBAL RECOGNITION Renowned filmmaker Jamil Dehlavi’s film ‘Seven Lucky Gods’ has recent been recognized globally and has received critical acclaim. It has won the Grand Prize at the Tirana International Film Festival, was named as Best Feature Film at the Canada International Film Festival, and won the Special Jury Prize at Worldfest Houston where the lead actor Nik Xhelilaj also won Best Actor and the actress Alison Peebles was nominated for Best Supporting Actress. ‘Seven Lucky Gods’ has also been nominated for Best Production Design at the Milan International Film Festival and actress Kate Maravan is in the running for Best Supporting Actress. It’s also in competition at the London Independent Film Festival and the Salerno International Film Festival in Italy where it is expected to do equally well.

Jamil Dehlavi’s award winning productions include ‘Towers of Silence’, ‘The Blood of Hussain’ and ‘Jinnah’ which narrates the life story of Pakistan’s founder Mohammed Ali Jinnah, the Quaid-e-Azam. Jamil Dehlavi has worked on various projects for the BBC, Channel Four, French Television and the Radio & Visual Services Division at the United Nations. Currently he is an Associate Professor at the School of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences at Habib University where he will be teaching filmmaking.

AWARDS AND NOMINATION Seven Lucky Gods (starring Nik Xhelilaj, Christopher Villiers, Alison Peebles, Kate Maravan, Alexandra Boyd & Vernon Dobtcheff) Grand Prize Tirana International Film Festival, Albania Best Feature Film Canada International Film Festival Gold Lion Award Barcelona International Film Festival Best Feature Film Honolulu Film Awards, Hawaii Special Jury Prize Worldfest Houston Best Actor (Nik Xhelilaj) Worldfest Houston Best Actress Nomination (Alison Peebles) Worldfest Houston Best Original Screenplay St Tropez International Film Festival Best Lead Actress (Alison Peebles) St Tropez International Film Festival Bronze Palm Award Mexico International Film Festival Best Foreign Film Nomination Phoenix Film Festival Best Production Design Nomination (Jamil Dehlavi) MIFF Awards Milan Best Supporting Actress Nomination (Kate Maravan) MIFF Awards Milan

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A SPACE FOR CULTURE & ART 26th September : Europian Film Festival

Consul General of Germany Dr. Tilo Klinner (left) speaks as Habib University’s Dr. Markus Heidingsfelder (center) and French Consul General Mr. Francois Dall’Orso (right) look on.

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With students on board and the first semester in full swing, Habib University became a prominent location on Karachi’s map. Among others, the US, French and German Consul Generals and their staff visited the campus to learn more about an institution suddenly everyone was talking about.

One of our stated objectives has been to keep Habib University open as a center for public engagement. With the University just a month old, we partnered with Alliance Française and Goethe Institute (the French and German cultural centers) to host the European Film Festival. The event was open to the public, and we proudly welcomed visitors to the Habib University Auditorium, where we screened classic French and German movies and then organized a panel discussion on World War I. The Board of Governors also reconvened for the second time for the year to review post-inauguration updates and assess performance. Key goals were delineated, and decisions made regarding the direction the University would be taking in the future.

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Keynote Speaker Dr. Gayatri Spivak in conversation with Habib University’s Dean of the School of Arts, Humanities & Social Sciences, Dr. Nauman Naqvi at 2nd Annual Postcolonial Higher Education Conference

HABIB UNIVERSITY ORGANIZES THE SECOND ANNUAL POSTCOLONIAL HIGHER EDUCATION CONFERENCE, ON OCTOBER 25, 2014

thinking for the betterment of the Habib University is a liberal arts & sciences university, offering society. interdisciplinary education in science, engineering, arts, The keynote speaker of this humanities and social sciences. conference, Prof. Gayatri It was established in Karachi Chakravorty, addressed the under the patronage of the current scenario of higher House of Habib. Committed to education in the subcontinent. providing the highest standards Speaking of this event, Nauman Ms. Chakravorty is a University Professor at Columbia University, of excellence in higher education Naqvi, Acting Dean & Founding and envisioned to be an who has also worked for Faculty at Habib University, This conference is in line with intellectual nexus for the region, feminism across the spectrum School of Arts, Humanities and Habib University’s mission of Habib University will develop the and beyond a single issue. She creating awareness about Liberal Social Sciences, said ‘It is has authored several books and next generation of scholars who important to understand the Arts education and broadening will positively impact society. A her latest includes Other Asias history and culture of our the possibilities for higher first-of-its-kind initiative in and An Aesthetic Education in ancestors in order to become education in Pakistan. The Pakistan, Habib University will An Era of Globalization. Other caring and critically-conscious conference was a platform to offer high quality programs of members of the society. Through speakers include Dr Nadeem discuss the direction and goals study in a collaborative learning Omar Tarar, Dr. Nukhbah this conference, we aim to of higher education, to fill in the Langah, Dr. Syed Nomanul Haq, environment. broaden the horizons of our gap created by the anti-colonial nationalists by limiting the scope students by enriching their minds Prof. Vibodh Parthasarathi and Dr. Nasir Abbas Nayyar. with exchange of ideas and of studies, particularly that of humanities and social sciences. discussions that develop critical The aim was to gather global scholars, thinkers, activists and writers to reflect on the current situation of higher education.

Prof. Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, one of the world’s foremost postcolonial thinker, was the keynote speaker at this conference.

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It is because the knowledge of these subjects embedded a profound connection with local contexts, cultures, histories and languages, which were considered an impediment to modernization and development.

Keynote Speaker Dr. Vali Nasr in conversation with Habib University’s Dean of the School of Arts, Humanities & Social Sciences, Dr. Nauman Naqvi

November was spent planning and delivering another major event at Habib University. We hosted a Yohsin Distinguished Lecture featuring Dr. Vali Nasr, Dean of the School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University. Dr. Nasr is a leading writer, analyst, columnist for the New York Times, and a former foreign policy advisor to American President Barack Obama.

The Yohsin Distinguished Lecture is part of the University’s commitment to stimulate discourse and create awareness about important national, regional and global matters Dr. Nasr spoke on “The Growing Role of Sectarianism in Muslim Politics, Globally and in Pakistan.” It was a singular event for the entire city, and due to the extraordinarily large turnout and interest the talk generated, screenings had to be held in spillover rooms. Many in Pakistan and abroad also streamed the event live from Habib University’s website.

YOHSIN DISTINGUISHED LECTURE FEATURING DR. VALI NASR 49

16th February: Dr. Thomas Blom Hansen lectures on “Modi and the Rise of Hindu Nationalism: A View From Bombay”.

HIGHLIGHTS

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27th of March: Ahmed Rashid delivers a talk titled “Apparatus of Jihad: The State of Play” at Habib University.

25th February: Icons of the domestic literary scene, Imdad Hussaini, Zehra Nigah & Intezar Hussain, attend the Arzu Center inauguration.

FROM 2015

8th May: Jazz maestro Bugge Westeltoft plays live in concert at the Habib University Amphitheater.

CONSTRUCT

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ION UPDATE Construction activities are ongoing as the campus nears completion. The Soorty Lecture hall is complete, as are the faculty pods, the student gym and the Tapal Cafetaria. The 14 laboratories are in their last phases of construction and there has been substantial completion of civil and interior works.

The amphitheater, an open space conducive for creative discussions and theater looks splendid, painted in Yohsin colors, as well as the Habib University Auditorium. We look forward to a successful last leg of construction work as Habib University City Campus gets the finishing touches.

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HABIB UNIVERSITY IN

MEDIA Notes

i See pp. 9, 11 and 169, in Khan, Ahmed Nabi (1983) Multan: History and Architecture, Islamabad: Institute of Islamic History

and Civilisation

ii See p.127 in Ibn Khaldun, Franz Rosenthal (1980) The Muqaddimah: An Introduction to History, volume 1, Princeton University iii iv v vi vii viii ix x xi xii xiii

xv xvi xvii

xviii xix

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Press: New Jersey See pp.340-342 in Hollister, John Norman (1953) The Shi<a of India, London: Luzac and Co. See, p. 245 in al-Baladhuri, Ahmad ibn Yahya (1902) Futuh al-Buldan, Cairo See p.196 in Kalichbeg, Mirza Fredunbeg (1900) Chachnamah, Karachi: Commissioner’s Press See p.204 in Clarke, Nicola (2012) The Muslim Conquest of Iberia: Medieval Arabic Narratives, New York: Routledge: Ibn al-Athir, vol. 4, p.539.

See ‘footnotes’ in ‘Isma<ili propaganda and Fatimid rule in Sind,’ by S.M. Stern, in Islamic Culture, vol. xxiii, no. 1-4, (1949), pp. 289-307 See p. 93. In Mumtaz, Hussain (1978) Sind: Arab Period, Hyderabad: Sindhi Adabi Board See p.42 in Flood, Finbarr Barry (2011) Objects of Translation: Material Culture and Medieval ‘Hindu-Muslim’ Encounter, Princeton University Press: New Jersey Ibid.

See p.137 in Maclean, Derryl (1989) Religion and Society in Arab Sind, New York: E.J. Brill See p.100 in Sharma, Y.D. (2001) Delhi and its Neighbourhood, New Delhi: Archaeological Survey of India Records of the various waqfs or endowments made to Suraj Kund are present in the Colonial Era District Record held at the Pakistan Studies Department at Baha al-din Zakariya University, Multan Folklore on Shams was gathered from the (family) historian of the Gardezi family, who identified the existence of the Suraj Kund site to the author. In Suraj Kund, the author subsequently spoke to the village elders about Shams, and discovered it to the place where the Sun miracle was performed (second source). The Gardezi family (archives) were also consulted by British historians when they wrote about Multan, and are considered to be the most trusted in the city. See Toynbee, Arnold Joseph (1961) Between Oxus and Jumna, London: Oxford University Press.

See p.205ff in Khan, Ahmed Nabi (1983) Multan: History and Architecture, Islamabad: Institute of Islamic History and Civilisation See p.142 in Ibid.

The Sikh era in Multan lasted from 1810-1849, but the Multan citadel was only taken by them in 1818. The Sikhs took over from the Saddozai or Durrani dynasty in Multan, the ‘administrative’ descendants of the Afghan King Ahmad Shah Abdali.

Abdali, who commanded a quarter of the Iranian king Nadir Shah Afshar’s army, declared the modern state of Afghanistan in 1747, on the latter’s death. Abdali was born in 1722 in Multan, and a swerve left from Abdali Road, on which Ahmad Shah’s birth place is marked by a water fountain in a wall, takes one out of the old city to the site of Suraj Kund, and to the location of Sham’s Sun miracle See p.282 (volume 2) in Malcolm, J. (1829) The History of Persia, 2 volumes, London: Murray Seep. 89 in Frembgen, Jurgen Wasim (2006) The Friends of God: Sufi Saints in Islam, popular poster art from Pakistan, Karachi: OUP

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