Beacon of light
Young British-Pakistani singer uses her talent for philanthropy
When for most of us the winter is nearly over and the earthquake in the northern areas that shook the world two years back, a thing of the past, there is someone working hard to give food, shelter, a sense of dignity and medication to those living in the torn apart mountains of Pakistan. This is Sarah Francis.

The new drugs rules, namely the Punjab Drugs Rules 2007, have been formulated in sheer violation of the Drugs Act 1976 and the previous Drugs Rules 1988, only to facilitate and promote chain pharmacies and multinational companies in the country, alleges Lahore Wholesale Chemist and Druggist Association President M Nisar Chaudhry.

These new laws have been enacted only in Punjab as other three provinces of Pakistan -- Sindh, Balochistan and NWFP -- don't find any fault with the previous rules, which are more comprehensive and applicable, he adds.

The Punjab Health Department repealed Drugs Rules 1988 on July 16, 2007, and introduced new rules without consulting any stakeholder, which is a violation of their rights, Nisar says. Earlier, the representatives of chemists and druggists of Lahore met the health officials in May 2006 and rejected the new rules.

The Punjab government had also formed a five-member committee on October 5, 2007 and asked it to discuss the new rules with representatives of chemists and druggists. The Punjab Chemist Council submitted draft amendments to the Health department the same day, but it was paid no heed, adds the association president.

Sitting in his Hajveri Medicine Market office at Circular Road Lahore (commonly known as Lohari market), Nisar Chaudhry says the Punjab government wants to facilitate big chain pharmacies in the province. A new chain pharmacy -- CSH Pharmaceuticals owned by Chaudhry Salik Hussain, son of Pakistan Muslim League President Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain -- has also entered the market. The manufacturing unit is situated at 32-km, Ferozepur Road, Lahore, under the name of CSH Pharma Valley. Another manufacturing unit, namely CSH Pharmaceuticals-North (Pvt.) Ltd, has been established at 38-A, Industrial Estate, Hayatabad (Peshawar) in NWFP. The head office of CSH -- Caring & Serving Health -- is situated on the fourth floor of Eden Towers, Gulberg, Lahore.

Elaborating his point, Nisar Chaudhry says the pharmaceutical business in the country, comprising mainly two components -- manufacturing (including import of medicines and their distribution) -- is governed by the Federal Drugs Act 1976. The Act allows provinces to make their own laws to run the business. The drug rules were formulated for the first time in Pakistan in 1988. A clause of the Drugs Rules 1988 says: "The power to make rules conferred by this section shall, except on the first occasion of the exercise thereof, be subject to the condition of previous publication." That means the Drugs Rules 1988 could not be repealed, and may be amended only under Section 44, Sub-section 2.

"In the first place, the Punjab Health Department can't formulate new drugs rules under the laws. And even if it wants to introduce a new law, it must have issued a draft law, and sought objections and suggestion on it from all stakeholders," adds Nisar Chaudhry.

"The new laws are flawed. They make no mention of a distribution system. In the earlier drugs rules, a comprehensive system for drugs distribution was laid out. Under the rules, four different licences were issued: licence for retailer, licence for wholesaler, licence for narcotics dealers and licence for a pharmacy. However, under the new rules, only two licences will be issued: Licence for medical store and licence for pharmacy."

According to these rules, the medical store licence holders will act as wholesalers and retailers at the same time. It is in contradiction to the previous rules as two categories have totally been excluded, Lahore Wholesale Chemist & Druggist Association General Secretary Sheikh M Saleem said. In Sindh, Balochistan and NWFP, no new rules have been introduced. This would adversely affect Punjab's drugs business with these provinces, he adds.

The association general secretary says under the new rules, only billionaires would be able to run their businesses. From now onwards a medical store can only be established in a 96 square feet shop, while a pharmacy must have 140 square feet covered area. The pharmacy must have an A-class pharmacist, who should be present all the time at the pharmacy when it is open. The medical store may be run under an A-class or B-class pharmacist, but they can't sell hundreds of medicines, made from 146 salts. It's strange that these medical stores can't sell these medicines even if it is being run under an A-class pharmacist. That implies the area on which of a medical store is run is more important than anything else, Sheikh Saleem says.

In his view, the medical stores have been put under various unnecessary restrictions. Now medical stores cannot sell various medicines including anti-leprosy range, anti-TB and anti-biotic injections. These stores can't sell various vaccines like rabies, typhoid, smallpox, MMR (measles, mumps, and rubella; the combined vaccine), measles, influenza, cholera, type-B vaccines etc. Sheikh Saleem says no one will be ready to open a medical store if majority of medicines cannot be sold there. He says the new rules will adversely affect small medical stores, especially B-category pharmacies.

A medical store owner at Sabzazar Main Boulevard says under the new rules one needs at least 20 to 30 million rupees to start this business, which is obviously impossible for a common entrepreneur to manage. He says CSH wants to establish its pharmacies in all the major teaching hospitals of Lahore including Mayo Hospital, Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, Lahore General Hospital and Jinnah Hospital and monopolise the business. Two of the new chain pharmacies have opened up at Jinnah and Mayo hospitals in Lahore. The third one at Lahore General Hospital will be established soon. Its branches would be set up at all district headquarters (DHQ) and tehsil headquarters hospitals throughout the Punjab province.

Usman Farooq, manager of CSH Jinnah Hospital denies allegations of monopolising drugs business by the chain pharmacy in Punjab. "It is totally baseless that CSH wants to monopolise drugs business. It won the contract for establishing its pharmacies at Jinnah and Mayo hospitals through competitive bidding. It offered the highest bid, and was therefore awarded the contract," Usman adds.

He says the new rules will regulate and check drugs business in the province effectively. Earlier, the Lohari market traders were doing this very delicate business very carelessly. They were handling medicines like toffees and candies. But now the new pharmacies and medical stores, established according to the specifications mentioned in new drugs rules, will be providing patients medicines with 100 per cent efficacy.

Punjab Special Secretary Health Capt (retd) Jehanzeb Khan says the new rules have been formulated according to the law, and the protest by drugs store owners and members of the Lahore Wholesale Chemist & Druggist Association was uncalled for and unwarranted. However, he shows his inability to provide more details saying he has joined the department only a few days back and does not know the details.

Additional Secretary (Technical) Dr Suhail Saqlain, assigned the task of handling the issue, could not be reached despite repeated efforts.

Someone late night asked me why I don't like cars. I was tired and didn't want to give a long conceited answer to a question that has been asked of me a lot of times, so I chuckled and said that it was boring.

Coming home late at night, I peculiarly think well in noisy rickshaws -- a mixture of the cold air, bumpy roads and nicotine puffs soothes one's thought process. I realised that I never had really thought about it and like all things it led me back to my childhood.

When I was very small, buses had these long distinctive musical horns and I would wait for one to go by, its shadow would flicker on our roshandaan, its noise would put me to sleep.

Since I remember, looking and listening has always been important. Walking the streets, watching with wonder and a reserved fear that always has kept me on edge. The masses of people scurrying between lanes. A sort of organised chaos, where there has always been this certain duality of purpose, no one seems to be worried about anyone else yet, at the same time, at some moment everyone looks at everyone else. Every moment away from work, I find myself drawn to the city. The streets are like a drug. It's an environment with a strange beauty which sends my senses racing.

There is no greater way to feel this than travelling on a bus. It's been a long time since I have been on one but what a feeling! Buses are a strange phenomenon, sometimes there is such an influx of human bodies, stuffed in one bus -- of hands on cold steel railings, of faces buried in each others chests of mixed body odours and paan stains -- that it's extremely hard to see outside or even in one's own self at times. Other times in bigger ones, where you can see your own feet and breathe a little, there's this quietness. There might be radio playing in the background and women talking about how the new generation is totally out of control these days but there is this look on peoples' faces, as some look outside dirty windows towards the sun or straight, with closed eyes or clasped hands, different eyes, different faces, of swaying bodies to the music of the road and to the beat of a driver's foot on the pedal. There is quietness of transition, of arriving at a destination.

There's nothing like observing human behaviour than riding on a bus, from one stop to the next, a compartment full of people is never ever boring.

The most fun is when these sales people come on board. Usually during halfway a man or a woman will step on board -- carrying small pamphlets and shiny pendants -- take a deep breath and give a long rhetorical speech which in effect tells bus passengers that all of them can either avert going to hell or have all of their problems go away, if they buy what they have to offer. It's an art form and successful, there is not one instance where somebody has not bought one of these things.

Bus rides, like children listening to someone telling a story or watching a film in a dark cinema, is a collective experience, it's a shared experience.

• Exhibition: 'Dots to Lines'. Recent prints and drawings by Imran Ahmad at Rohtas Gallery.

• Exhibition: Prints by Ayesha Kamal and Sarah Ahmed at Nairang Gallery till Feb 13. from 11am to 11pm.

• Exhibition of Raja Changez's paintings at The Collectors daily till Feb 16.

• Exhibition: Today is the last day of exhibition of Syed Mumtaz Ahmad's work at Shakir Ali Museum.

• Group Exhibition of Landscape Art at Ejaz Art Gallery till Feb 20. Artists: Abid Khan, Amjad Naeem, A.Q.Arif, Asim Amjad, Faheem Baloch, Najmi, Zara David,

Iqbal Khokhar

• Takiya at Alhamra, Gaddafi Stadium on Feb 12 at 5:30pm.

Live performances dedicated to Morning Raags. Lahore Arts Forum (Leaf) is organising in

collaboration with Lahore Chitrkar.

• Leaf's Adabi Sangat (poetry readings) on Monday, Feb 11 at 125-F, Model Town at 5:30pm, between Asr and Maghrib.

• Polo: Aibak Cup at Lahore Polo Club. Today is the last day. Timings: 10am to 5pm. Handicap limit: 8-14 goals.

Inter-district Squash Championship till Monday, Feb 11 at PSA Complex. Teams from Lahore, Bahawalnagar, Rawalpindi,

Muzaffargarh and Faisalabad are participating.

Uncertainties shroud talks about holding of Basant even for a day this year, much to the disappointment of the kite lovers. The chances, if there were any, have become grim after the tragic assassination of Benazir Bhutto and the spate of suicide attacks and bomb blasts in the country. Furthermore, the falling of Muharram (the month of sorrow and grief for Muslims) at this time made it next to impossible for the people to indulge in festivities.

Lahore, which has been a centre of this activity for ages, used to invite thousands of guests from other cities and even countries every year. In fact, it became the most well organised and funded festivals of the country due to the billions injected into it by multinationals and corporations in the form of corporate sponsorships.

The event was banned in 2005 following an increase in throat-slitting incidents due to sharp and chemical-coated twines. Kite flying with metal twine has also done huge damage to Wapda infrastructure for years but the state and private patrons of this activity would exert their pressure for this activity.

Even during the ban, the government could be convinced to allow kite-flying for a couple of days and ask the law enforcing authorities to employ strict code. But this year it seems that kite-flying will not be held even for a day.

Talking to TNS, Lahore Kite Flying Association (LKFA) President Khawaja Nadeem Wyne said that his association's point was that imposing ban on this traditional sport is not the answer. "It's like finishing the patient instead of curing his disease. My point is that the concerned authorities should tighten noose around those who have brought bad name to this noble sport," he says. The association had proposed a tentative date of March 16 for the event but the government has not yet taken any decision.

Once kite sellers in the Walled City say they have little hope of Basant being held this year. Had there been any chance the government would have announced a date by now, they say. "It takes months to prepare material for kite-flying. If they delay further it would not be possible to hold Basant in hot weather."

While the debate goes on, a major crackdown launched by the Lahore police against kite-flyers has sent across a clear message to all. Recently, Capital City Police Chief, Additional IG Malik Muhammad Iqbal, has ordered all the divisional superintendents of police to launch a massive crackdown on the people running fireworks businesses and those involved in aerial firing, kite-flying and manufacturing banned kite strings.

Pakistan Horticulture Authority (PHA) spokesman Javed Shaida tells TNS that this time Jashn-e-Baharan (Spring Festival) will not feature kite flying. Besides, the decision about allowing or disallowing this activity was supposed to come from the provincial government and not the PHA.

Zulfiqar Shah, another office-bearer of LKFA says he also thinks the government will not allow kite flying at any cost. The law and order situation is at its worst and no one is ready to take any responsibility. "God forbid if there's any act of sabotage the authority allowing this activity will have to face the music," he adds.

Zulfiqar adds that there is no existence of metallic or chemical twine in the city. If someone blames them for the damage, he is wrong. However, thick twine (tandi) is something that causes severe damage. Its other activities like aerial firing, fireworks, use of loudspeakers etc that have defaced this beautiful sport.

When for most of us the winter is nearly over and the earthquake in the northern areas that shook the world two years back, a thing of the past, there is someone working hard to give food, shelter, a sense of dignity and medication to those living in the torn apart mountains of Pakistan. This is Sarah Francis.

The young girl with eastern looks sings songs in English in a vibrant, phenomenal voice. The singer is a philanthropist. Very early in life when she was only 12, she decided to use her voice for the benefit of mankind. Sarah was in town last week where she sang before media and a private gathering.

In 2003 when she was only 13, she sang about peace and poverty to help Afghan refugee children and raised more than £12,000 through her concert and from sale of her CDs which she donated to President Musharraf for Afghan refugees. Her song 'Voice of Freedom' gained immense popularity wherein she had used M.A Jinnah's voice to convey his philosophy of 'unity, faith and discipline'.

At the age of 13 she received the prestigious 'Young Philanthropist 2003' Beacon Prize in recognition of her philanthropy. At the age of 14, she became a nominee for 'Pride of Performance Award' for her exceptional efforts to promote a positive image of Pakistan after 9/11 through her songs.

"There are two or three simple images in whose presence man's heart first opened." Sarah's heart was touched by poverty she witnessed as a child in Afghan refugee camps on her visit to Pakistan with her parents. She would ask her father for pocket money which she would give away to the poor children in the camp.

The mayor of Tower Hamlets, the place where Sarah lives, gave her civic award in recognition of her outstanding achievement. On 1st July 2004, the mayor of London gave a note of thanks to her "for making an outstanding contribution to life in London" on the occasion of London Day at the City Hall. Its not only in Pakistan and England that she is recognised. Her charity work spreads to three continents.

In 2005 Sarah went to Johannesburg, South Africa, to raise funds for African AIDS orphans. By the age of 17 she had met Nelson Mandela, Zambia's founding father Dr. Kuanda and President Musharraf who all recognised her as a role model for young philanthropists. Dr Kuanda promised to help her in forming a charitable foundation through which she can help children all over Africa. She has already raised money for Nelson Mandela's charities in South Africa.

Oxford University Press has included a piece on Sarah Francis by the title 'The Young Philanthropist' in text book in Pakistan. She calls herself British Pakistani. She formed 'The Sarah Foundation Pakistan' in 2005. 'The Sarah Foundation UK' was formed in 2006.

Last year her Foundation did relief work in flood-hit areas in Sindh. Sarah has combined her Pakistani roots with East London upbringing. She composes her songs herself and has developed her own unique style. We hope she succeeds in bringing peace and fighting poverty wherever she goes because this is what she means to do in her lifetime. Her contact address: www.sarahfoundation.com.pk