|
|
|
|
|
 |
 |
   |
Election
here! crime MOOD
STREET
election Spirit of
times
RESPONSES TO LAST WEEK'S
Election here! Hauling of public transport started three days ahead of elections. A sea of people could be seen waiting endlessly for buses and wagons on the different bus stops of Lahore. The act of taking public transport off roads shows the administration cannot empathise with commonman.
Parents of a girl, abducted more than three months back, are running from pillar to post for her recovery despite the accused being in police custody By Saadia Salahuddin Saadia, daughter of Muhammad Boota from village Tarkhanawala, about 14 kilometres from Gujranwala, was abducted on Nov 5, 2007. The father has been running around to find her but there is no news of her ever since. According to the mother's account, the girl stitched clothes at her home. A boy of the adjacent village, Kurlakay, came to her one day and gave her cloth for stitching. She says the family had a cell phone and the girl gave that boy the number on which he could enquire before coming to collect the clothes. About a week later, the girl went out of the house on a phone call from the boy, "to hand over clothes to him" and never returned. The boy (who she thinks was Imran) had called from a public call office (PCO) hardly 200 yards from Saadia's house. All this happened between 12-1:00pm. The unfortunate and grief-stricken parents say: "The PCO person said a boy came, called the girl, told her he was coming from Gujranwala and asked her to come out. There were four men on two motorbikes. One of them made Saadia sat on a bike at gunpoint and they went away. The PCO person is mum because he is under pressure. He is the witness to our daughter's abduction." The four men nominated in the FIR registered on Feb 10 for abduction are Imran Changar, Sarfraz Gujjar, both from village Kurlakay, Malik Liaquat from Tarkhanawala, the girl's village and Arif, maternal uncle of Sarfraz. Three are in police custody. They are Imran, Sarfraz and Liaquat. "They accept that they took Saadia with them but refuse to say where she is now. They say they left the girl seven to eight acres out of the village and have no knowledge of her since then. Last time I saw her, she was talking to Imran," the mother quotes Sarfraz as saying. "Imran knows where the girl is," says a human rights activist from the area. Many people from the village suspect these boys may have murdered the girl. "How is it possible that they took the girl but do not know where she is. They very well know where the girl is," they say. It is in every way the responsibility of the police to recover the girl as the accused are in their custody. The accused, nominated in FIR number 576/07 registered on Nov 10 in police station Nowshehra Virka'n, are in police custody for 26 days now but the police has taken no action against them. In this particular case the date of abduction has been recorded as Nov 6 and not Nov 5 as claimed by the parents. How can a wrong fact be recorded in an FIR? Saadia, 16, is the eldest of five siblings. Her father earned a living by transporting goods on a donkey cart but has been unable to do any work since his daughter went missing. The family had a cow and a buffalo which they have sold and have been borrowing money from siblings and neighbours to meet the expenses. They try to reach out to any source of hope, to recover their daughter. They are ready to accept her in every way, they say. They first went to the area MPA who holds a daily panchayat for help. He would promise every day to do something but nothing happened and the poor father stopped going to him. The MPA who is contesting the polls has a good vote bank in the area from where the boys hail. The word of Saadia's abduction and that nobody was helping the poor parents to recover the girl, spread in the village and beyond. More than two months later, the accused were arrested though the police claims to have been unable to get any clue about the missing girl. The investigation officer of the case, Haji Mushtaq says the police has sent an application to Telecard headoffice in Karachi (the phone at the PCO) to get a record of the calls made on the day the girl disappeared. The policeman says the girl called the boy from the PCO close to her house and he wanted to get the number of that boy. This appears non-sensical considering that the three accused are already in police custody, agreeing they did take the girl with them. Inside sources say on condition of anonymity that the policemen have been warned by a politically powerful person in the area not to touch these 'criminals' or they will lose their jobs. The family of one of the accused has offered Saadia's parents money to withdraw the case against the accused but all they want is their daughter. They also feel very insecure as the accused come from well-off families and have backing of powerful people in the area. A case was filed in the Lahore High Court on Jan 30 in the court of Justice Tariq Shamim. Its first hearing is fixed for March 5. Human Rights Welfare Organisation which came to know of the abduction 23 days back filed this writ in the LHC and is helping the parents to recover their abducted daughter since then by holding protests and highlighting the case. The ill-fated family in Tarkhanawala has put everything at stake to get their daughter back. The family starts every day with the hope that this will be the day. Hopefully, the police will recover the girl soon because they are definitely capable of doing that. MOOD STREET My pink phone By Amara Javed Lately, I've begun to refer to myself as somewhat of a walking talking fashion faux-pas. Yes, a self-inflicted insult; so it doesn't hurt as much. I wear nice clothes, decent shoes and accessories; all in all I try to stay in the know. No one would take one look at me and condemn me for not being in the know -- that is, until I take out my cell phone. Then I become a social embarrassment. I'm guilty of having
owned the same cell phone for more than two months, yes, I've had
the same The final blow came when I learned that a fifty year old friend of my mother's just bought the same phone. To avoid the risk of being labelled an old hag with no knowledge about the latest fashion accessories (because phones are now a fashion accessory) I subconsciously try not to use my pink phone in public. The interesting thing is that I know it's all in my head. I have a hard time believing that people can actually care about what kind of phone a person is carrying. But then I take a look around me and am reminded for the umpteenth time that I live in a society which thrives on material progression more than anything else. I feel that Lahore has become dangerously superficial. As a result, children have some seriously perverted values. The upper middle and elite classes of Pakistan are not growing up in a healthy environment. Wealth and all of its attributes are leading to an increasingly shallow disposition. Believe me, older people are suffering from it too but it has a more negative effect on us. As we watch cable television, we learn about things that our American and European counterparts own and begin to covet them. We don't just covet them; we go out and buy them. And by doing so we are in some way able to emulate the lives of those living in modernised, developed countries thus becoming modern and developed ourselves. That is how it works after all. Isn't it? The growing divide between the poor and the rich isn't helping either. As the poor get poorer and the number of beggars increase everyday, the rich get richer. Instead of taking part in charity, teenagers and young adults are out spending insane amounts of money at international brand stores. Tell me, what is the point of owing a pair of jeans that cost six thousand rupees? Or a pair of shoes for ten thousand? Does it bother anyone else that the majority of this country's civilians live under the poverty line yet we cannot live without our Ipods? It's always got to be bigger and better; doesn't matter if I'm talking about houses, diamonds, cars, clothes or what you eat. It's much more in vogue to dine at a pricey restaurant than one that's not. Is this due to the quality of food? Probably not. It's due to the discrepancy in prices. There's something so pass -- about paying a measly three hundred rupees for a meal when you can pay three times as much. No one cares about the other strata of society. You know, those people; the ones who will be rummaging through trash bins looking for food. The situation just goes to show you how a superiority complex begins to breed in the minds of normal (I think) people like me. Another load on my already burdened shoulders. I honestly cannot remember the last time I met a truly ambitious young Lahori. I would like to see us focusing our energy on something a little more productive. We have to learn to set goals that go beyond buying the latest cell phone. With that attitude, I'm sure we can take our country light years ahead of where it is right now. Until then, I'll learn to be content with my pink phone. • 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 • Fourth Annual
Exhibition
for Young Artists-2008 is scheduled for April 2008. Last date for submission of art work is Feb 29. Age limit: 35 on Dec 31, 2007. Submit copy of identity card with the art work at Alhamra Arts Council, The Mall from 9am to 6pm. • Talk: Sartaj Aziz to speak on 'The wheat economy of Pakistan' at LUMS on Wednesday, Feb 20 at 7:30pm. Open to all. • Polo National Open at Lahore Polo Club till Feb 24 from 10am to 4pm. Handicap limit: 10-14 goals. • Puppet Show for Children every Sunday at Alhamra, The Mall at 11am. Fee: Rs. 5/10. • Puppet Shows for everyone every Sunday at Peerus Cafe at 3pm election No room for 'sharif aadmi' Account of a polling day down the memory lane Tomorrow is the Election Day, another parliamentary election in the history of Pakistan. While political parties and individuals seem all out to take part in it, the thought of elections always makes me stroll down memory lane. I invite you to come along. Hope this trip would provide you with some food for thought, or, at least, may bring a smile to your face. The first stop of this journey is a meeting of my village elders. Over 30 people are sitting in our baithak (in modern lingo drawing room) on charpoys and morahs (stools) and discussing some serious matter. What we children come to know from their heated debate while peeping through windows or sometimes moving around is that they are discussing the credentials of two electoral candidates as the general elections are round the corner. They are trying to reach consensus as to who they should collectively vote to power. One of them is an MBBS doctor, Ihsan Bari, and the other is a local landlord, Arshad Jatt. Dr Ihsan Bari is not unknown to us at all. He goes village to village through dusty roads in his car, examines patients of all age groups, and gives them medicines from his car, mostly free of cost. I myself got those bad-tasting syrups and tablets from him many a time. And the other person, Arshad Jatt, being a son of a local landlord, is famous for resolving local issues through panchayats, though mostly in favour of his favourites. He has all qualities of a young and tough Chaudhry. He finds no fault with entertaining his friends, who would shift cattle-heads from others' dens to other places, and 'fetch' him whosoever he wanted at his dera. I can't recall all speeches made at the panchayat but I clearly remember what was announced at the end of the meeting. "Doctor is a very good man. No doubt, he has served people of the area a lot in the past years. But he is a 'Sharif Adami', a simple fellow. He can't even speak for himself, how can he raise a voice for us in the assembly, where one has to speak very loudly. We respect the doctor, but vote should be given to Arshad Jatt, who is a macho man." And then they all go home happy and satisfied. Dear readers, come out of your deep soul searching. Our journey is going on and the next stop on the way is a speed bump, raised on the Marot-Fort Abbas Road. There is no school, no hospital, even no village around, but only farmlands. You need not ask many people about this bump, anyone travelling this road would inform you that the local PMA has got it built. Why here? Ask the MPA and he will tell you innocently: "Look these are my farmlands. My men daily come here from my village to work on these fields. But these ungrateful bus-walas won't stop here, some times saying this is not a regular bus stop, and some times only to punish them for not paying fare for this small travel. And now they are paying for it. Ever since, I have got it built, all bus-walas have to slow down here, and meanwhile my men jump out of the bus." Dear sir, don't take it as a joke. That bump could be seen still there, on that road, though its location may have changed if any other Chaudhry is elected to the assembly. And now we have reached the last stop of our journey. This is an election day and there are glimpses of a polling centre. Look there, Ghulam Farid is auctioning his vote. "Whoever would pay me more, my vote would go to that candidate," he shouts, waving his fist in the air. Representatives of three candidates show interest in his vote, and the matter settles down on a hundred rupee note. I ask Ghulam Farid, why he did such a cheap thing. "What cheap thing. These shameless candidates and their representatives won't show up till next elections if elected to power. I know they won't do anything for me after reaching the big assembly house, like in the past. Then why shouldn't I encash my vote on the spot. At least, today, my ever-ill wife and six children would have a good meal." Leave him to himself. You can't beat Ghulam Farid in arguments. Come along with me to see another scene -- a fight for food. Chaudhry's men have cooked a number of rice degs. They know it very well who has cast his vote and who has not. They prefer to feed those who have not cast their vote as yet. While insisting that they take more, they don't forget to get a promise from the 'beneficiaries' not to forget their candidate while casting their 'precious' votes. And here's the last scene of today's journey. Voters are being brought to the polling stations in tractor-trolleys. No doubt, they are in great demand. Now they have cast their votes, and going back homes, but on foot. Why? They are no more in demand at all. Spirit of times Just how have we localised the Valentine's Day... By Naila Inayat Red roses, chocolates, gifts, wheeling teenagers, red balloons adorning cars, rickshaws and a cycle (yes cycle). The day is Feb 14 -- Valentine's Day for us. The restaurants in posh areas were lit up, with colour red dominating the scene. Though love appeared to be a jarring presence in the city's politically charged air. Like much else, Valentine's Day is understood to be a fruit of 'globalisation'. And like much else, we have localised this global trend. Some say that it has been 'tailored' according to our traditions, though it is hard to figure out how. Others completely shun it and look the other way (to their utter disappointment can't miss it even then). Still others mince no words in declaring it un-Islamic. Period. So how exactly do we celebrate the Valentine's Day? "For me it is an occasion when we get together with our family. It is something like Eid or any other public holiday," says Saima, a teacher by profession. "This Valentine I sent special flowers and gift to my mother," tells Uzair, a college student. "Every year I give presents to my mom and dad because that is what this day stands for -- spreading love and being with the loved ones," says Hina, a twenty-something working woman. Not exactly in line with the spirit of Valentine's Day but we do have indigenised it, haven't we?. "The reason why Valentine's Day has become a family affair here is because that we have a closely knit social fabric where nothing is complete without the family's consent," says thirty-something Zubaida who works for a multinational company. . Youngsters think the day is for 'us'. "You should see the rush outside the girls' schools and colleges. Young boys climb the gates to catch a glimpse of their Valentine," says Sana, a college student. "Yes we have all witnessed such scenes and frankly that isn't something to be so proud of," says another student. The
FM radio channels celebrated the day by playing love songs all day (do
they ever play any Television channels ran marathon transmissions. Huma Khawaja sang the song she always does on the V-Day Dil ki Lagikuch aur bhi originally sung by Nazia Hassan but this time for a new set of audience. The ticker SMS-es, besides proving a good source of revenue for the channels, also became a source of entertainment for viewers. An interesting ones was, "I want to wish my Valentine, Barrister Aitzaz Ahsan a very happy Valentine's Day." Another read, "Especially for my Dad who is living in another country I luv u Daddy!" And yet another "Bilawal Bhutto I luv u, u r my heart and soul (H)." At least, two of the three messages went with the spirit of the times.
RESPONSES
TO LAST WEEK'S TOP 10 1. Playland, Siddiq Trade Centre 2. Joy Land 3. Lahore Zoo 4. Race Course Park 5. Bagh-e-Jinnah 6. Skating arena at Gulshan Iqbal Park on a Sunday 7. Children's Complex 8. Sindbad
9. Skyland 10. Wherever there is a movie on big screen for children To
enlist by popular vote for next week, send in your emails on top ten 'top
ten safe places' Please
email at shehrtns@gmail.com
|
|
phone for (brace yourselves) over one year. I can almost feel
people jeering at me when I take it out. It's like they're pointing and
laughing at my lack of coolness. My super-hot pink phone was all the rage
when it was released. Now it has become an eyesore. It doesn't have half
the features of a new phone; more importantly, no hip and happening person
would be caught dead carrying a phone so ancient.
'non-love' songs?) but it was the corny conversations
between the DJs and the callers that took the cake.
