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issue review
Significance of
Kapurthala In
praise of a working woman
The provincial and district bar associations have reacted strongly to the PBC declaration terming calling off of the boycott of PCO judges tantamount to accepting them as legal judges By Shahzada Irfan Ahmed A recent decision by
Pakistan Bar Council (PBC) to relax boycott of superior courts and the judges
who have taken oath under PCO has created furore among the lawyers'
community. It has decided in a 'unanimously' passed resolution that the
lawyers' fraternity would observe a complete strike of superior and
subordinate judiciary on every Thursday while on other working days only a
token strike shall be observed from 10.30 am to 11.30 am. The decision, according to PBC members, has been taken on humanitarian grounds as many litigants have suffered due to endless boycotts and lawyers are unable to earn their livelihood. But soon after the announcement, it became clear that there was little support for the decision from the lawyers' community. The provincial and district bar associations reacted strongly to the declaration, terming calling off of the boycott of PCO judges tantamount to accepting them as legal judges. The PBC is a 22-member statutory body which has representation from all the four provinces. It comprises 11 members from Punjab, 6 from Sindh, 4 from the NWFP and one from Balochistan. There was no representation from Balochistan in the meeting as Ali Ahmad Kurd who hails from the province is under detention since November 3, 2007. The PBC decision has also been rejected by lawyers on grounds that it is entitled to perform specific functions under section 13 of Legal Practitioners and Bar Council's Act. "It cannot dictate orders to the lawyers to go on or call off a strike or accept unconstitutional decisions," says Abdul Latif Afridi, President, Peshawar High Court Bar Association while talking to TNS. He says PBC was constituted a good 4 years back whereas bar a members are elected every year. Therefore, it were these bar associations that decided to launch struggle for the restoration of deposed judges and gathered under the umbrella of National Lawyers Action Committee (NLAC). Afridi specifically
condemns Dr Khalid Ranjha, a sitting PBC member, for endorsing the decision.
He says it is a shameful act on part of him to support a dictator outrightly
and at the same time talk about human rights at international fora. "I
have read his statement published in The News recently that he accepts
Justice Iftikhar as the rightful Chief Justice of Pakistan. But now he has
shown his true colour by trying to create rift among lawyers," he adds.
Afridi tells TNS his point is that all the bar associations and NLAC
office-bearers be asked to sit with PBC members and review Amid this controversy there are rumours that the Attorney General of Pakistan, Malik Muhammad Qayyum, is out to cast his usual spell. A senior advocate tells TNS on conditions of anonymity that he has heard that Malik Qayyum had asked PBC members to give two nominations each for consideration against empty slots of superior courts judges. Ex-SCBA president Hamid Khan laughs away the matter saying he can expect it from Malik Qayyum but cannot doubt the integrity of PBC members. He tells TNS that the logic given by PBC members in support of their decision may carry some weight but these gentlemen must know that we are passing through unusual times. He says lawyers were observing partial strikes even before Nov 3, but had not boycotted against the judges of the superior courts. The post Nov 3 'PCO-infected' judges have in fact betrayed the noble legal profession and deserve the treatment they are getting. "My point is as to how is it possible for us to accept them as legal judges for 5 days and not for just one day. This will create great ambiguity and severely harm our struggle." Hamid Khan is one of the PBC members who voted against showing leniency towards the PCO judges. Being a major player in judicial movement, Hamid wields great influence over the lawyers, a manifestation of which was seen in the Lahore District Bar elections that took place on January 12, 2008. Professional Group that is supported by Hamid made a clean sweep. He tells TNS that the Lahore High Court Bar Association (LHCBA) has also rejected the PBC decision and decided to hold a meeting on Feb 2 with PBC members to review the decision. Sardar Latif Khan Khosa, a PBC member from Punjab who voted in favour of the decision, tells TNS that the council had simply asked for a change in the mode of protest and not harmed the struggle of the lawyers at all. Condemning another PBC member from Punjab who opposed the decision, he says this person is simply trying to politicise the issue. "This person does not know the problems of common lawyers as his law firm has around 200 advisories and he receives millions of rupees per month in the form of retainership fees without stepping out of his office," Khosa adds. He tells TNS that many lawyers and judges had been suffering due to the lawyers' boycott of superior courts. "The situation was worse in criminal cases where people are even on death rows. As the state counsels would appear in the court, such litigants were clueless as to where to find lawyers to contest their cases," he adds. Khosa believes that arranging seminars, boycotting superior courts for limited periods and holding token hunger strikes can bear fruit. "How long will the lawyers suffer alone. Now the 160 million people should also play their role," he says. Waseem Ahmed
and Muhammad Zeeshan, exhibiting in Delhi and By Quddus Mirza For years it was thought
that a suitable job for any youngster could be at a corporate firm. A There are more options on the table now. All you do is learn miniature painting, stick to it, be prolific and exhibit in the country and abroad. Young practitioners of miniature painting in our surroundings are busy manufacturing miniatures for a world market, where this genre has been recognised as the most authentic and appropriate art expression. To work as a miniature painter has undoubtedly become an attractive course and a lucrative business in today's art market. Like any other trend, the miniature with all its hype, offers some interesting works of self expression, besides several made in response a constantly expanding market pressure. Meeting all these
challenges -- economic as well as aesthetic -- a number of our young
miniature For young students at NCA, the pattern of life is almost laid out. They have to learn the technique and traditional components of this art and then search for their individual style, so that they can present some unusual pieces to an audience that is keen on collecting miniature for its multiple (historic/romantic and practical) characteristics. This results in attempts to fabricate new imagery all the time. Either it is layers of gold on paper or the mutilated face and figure of Mughal emperor, or a different arrangement of borders around the picture plane. These tendencies are visible in the recent works of Waseem Ahmed and Muhammad Zeeshan. In his exhibition (January 25 to February 4, 2008 at Anant Art Gallery, New Delhi) Waseem has chosen certain images, which include a maze-like construction, a sheep, a wolf and a structure that is a cross between tent and an Afghani burqa. This set of imagery, in more than one way, reflects the instincts of human beings and a base dimension of their relationships. In several works, the wolf is circling outside the labyrinth in order to reach (capture) the innocent sheep in the middle. In other works, the centre of maze contains a tent-stretched with strings, suggesting the shape of a burqa clad woman's head through the upper part of the tent. For Waseem the set of
symbols, presented in the form of burqa-tent, animal and maze, offers a Strategically different, but more or less along the same lines, the work of Muhammad Zeeshan brings forth new combinations of his usual imagery. In these miniatures (viewed for a day at Rohtas 2, before the opening of exhibition on March 7 2008 at Aicon Gallery in New York) the sections of horses, fully opened lips, rats, flowers and seeds are drawn with immaculate skill and impressive rendering. Parts of animals, mouths, stems of plants and the mice, all indicate some aspects of sexual subject (usually present in his art) but two other elements are also added in a typical set of imagery. Zeeshan draws intricate lines, like the mesh of fine thread, across the surfaces of his miniatures. In some paintings these lines form the main imagery with actual holes in the paper and in others works, these marks cover and are composed on top of a recognisable visual (old miniature or a painting and print of installation view by Imran Qureshi). Zeeshan blends the painted lines and marks with the digital prints of already existing miniatures and other visuals, such as the picture of bras hanging on roadside and sign for pedestrians walk, etc. He appropriates the pictorial materials from diverse sources and converts these into his own. Besides the impressive display of skill in the art of Zeeshan and obvious content of Waseem Ahmed, the two painters appear to be in harmony with many other miniature painters. These artists, due to the expectations of the viewers and connoisseurs, are engaged in producing 'modern' miniatures. A form of art that once was regarded a subversive act (in relation to the strict rules of traditional miniature) has developed into (another) convention now. These days, it has become almost easy, predictable and likable to paint a 'modern' miniature with blank backgrounds (often white as seen in the works of Waseem and Zeeshan), thin imagery rendered in a few shades (features of new miniature, that were also visible in the recent degree show of NCA). With all these accepted norms of preparing modern miniatures, it may be more avant-garde to produce a traditional miniature today, since it is daring and difficult to reject the demands of an art market seeking new and modern version of miniature -- that is turning into a type! Kapurthala played a very important role in promoting dhrupad singing, which was the major form of vocal music for the past four centuries in Northern India By Sarwat Ali Before the beginning of the
20th century the major form of vocal music in the Punjab was the Like so many other personalities, events and happenings in music the real contribution of Kapurthala too is ensconced in myth, legend and quasi history. The only source is the oral rendering of the past by the musicians who learned it from their elders. Musical knowledge, comprising of music and the life of musicians, is thus dependent to a large degree on the fables that have been passed on from one generation to the next. And from these scraps of oral sources perhaps some reconstruction of history can be attempted which may appear to be not that incredible. Ustad Ghulam Hasan Shaggan's grandfather Bhai Ata was greatly influenced by one Mian Mehboob who was from Kapurthala. Even some of the asthais that Ustad Shaggan sings of his grandfather Bhai Ata have been dedicated to his ustad Mian Mehboob Ali. While defining his style Ustad Shaggan often stressed that his gaiki is a combination of Kapurthala and Gawalior. His grandfather Bhai Ata learnt the kheyal gaiki from the shagird of the Gawalior Gharana, Ustad Banne Khan but was also influenced by the Kapurthala gaiks who were also his mentors. But who were these Kapurthala gaiks and ustads? Kapurthala, we know was a princely state that came into existence when Punjab was attacked and devastated by the armies of Nadir Shah and Ahmed Shah Durrani. And like the other states became increasingly stronger as the central empire with its court in Delhi became weaker. There is no reason to doubt that the state developed such a significant system of patronage that a whole school of singing was attributed to it. It is also known that some scions of the erstwhile ruling family are still into the business (now it is really a business) of patronising classical and even other types of music in India. It is also a known fact that Kapurthala played a very important role in promoting dhrupad, which was the major form of vocal music for the past four centuries in Northern India. The association of Kapurthala with music it appears has many facets and that many streams had flowed into the mighty river of its musical tradition. Kapurthala has a very rich rubabi tradition. The most formidable oral source attributes Guru Nanek to have asked Bhai Firanda of Kapurthala to design and construct a sturdy rubab to withstand the rigours of his udasis -- religious journeys. It is also said that Bhai Mardana was also taught the same rubab by Bhai Firanda. Jassa Singh, the founder of Kapurthala state, was himself a musician, trained in the recital of gurbani and kirtan. It is said that Jassa Singh in his youth had sung kirtan and gurbani to Mata Sundari, the wife of Guru Gobind Singh who had appreciated it greatly. Then there is a reference to dhrupad and Sufi master Sain Ilyas who tutored a set of celebrated disciples. Perhaps Sain Ilyas was a descendent of Chand Khan, Suraj Khan the legendary dhrupad players from the 16th/17th century. One Rehmat Khan, a musician from Sialkot, also became a disciple of Sain Ilyas and then went to Baroda and was associated with the state for a long time. Maula Baksh was a royal singer at Baroda and Rehmat Khan married his daughter Khadija. This grand merger of the two traditions was a significant happening for music. Inayat Khan who was a disciple of Sain Ilyas had married an American, Ora Ray Baker who went on to pass the musical knowledge to her daughter Noor Inayat. Noor later joined the British Secret Service; she troubled Hitler and was shot dead by Hitler's army in 1944. Noor Inayat was the famous Mata Hari. It is said that after the reign of Bahadur Shah Zafar, Mir Nasir Ahmed was brought from Delhi to Kapurthala around 1858. When Bahadur Shah Zafar was being sent to exile Mir Nasir was spared and brought to Kapurthala by Kunwar Bikram Singh. Mir Nasir's two sons Mir Kallan and Mir Rehmat Ali became distinguished musicians. They also played the Been and Sursinghaar. This Mir Nasir could be the famous beenkar who was the shagird of the legendary Ustad Behram Khan of Jaipur but it is difficult to confirm because other than the oral reference there is no other source available. . Mir Rehmat Ali also learnt music from Ali Muhammed who lived in Calcutta. He travelled all the way to Calcutta after seeking permission from the Maharaja because he wanted to be enriched by the training of Ali Muhammed who was a close descendant of Tansen. Bhai Ata was a disciple of Mian Banney Khan and he learnt music from him. After the death of Bhai Ata, Bhai Lal came under the guidance of the same Mian Mehboob Ali who was basically a sitar player from Kapurthala. From the line of Mian Mehboob, Ustad Fateh Ali Khan sitar nawaz had been a prominent sitar player as indeed is now his son Nafees Khan. Many musicians like Bhai Ata, Bhai Lal and Tufail Niazi migrated to Pakistan and other great musicians like Ghannaya Lal, Nathuram, Shankar Das and Murari Lal are no longer remembered in their own city/country. With the downfall of the princely states the centres of patronage shifted to bigger cities like Bombay, Delhi and Calcutta which are basically the centres of marketing music commercially. Kapurthala may have lost its significance but many singers who trace their ancestry to the city have kept the name of the place alive. This also calls for a more concerted attempt at documenting the history of our music, the system of patronage, the great masters and the gradual development of the forms. Dear all, It has been a month since the assassination of Benazir Bhutto, but she is impossible to forget. The more I think of her, the more I regret not appreciating her more when she was around. Of course she still evokes
strong reactions in people -- from the adoring to the venomous. There Apart from these more rabid elements, I think everyone now realises she was really something of a national asset and it is sad that we have lost her. As a journalist who worked in Pakistan through the post-Zia 'return to democracy' years, I now realise how vicious the vilification campaigns against her were and just how much disinformation about her and her government was spewed by official quarters. She spoke often of a 'shadow state' controlled largely by ISI and though we liked to think of her as overly paranoid, I do not think she was ill-informed. What I regret really is that now that she is gone, there is no longer a gutsy, determined woman occupying centrestage in the political arena. There is no strong woman in the male chauvinist arena of Pakistan's politics. There is no longer somebody there who can talk about (in her inimitable, rather endearing Urdu) politics in as matter of fact a way as she can talk about bringing up young children. As a working woman myself, I appreciate now that BB was a bit of a trailblazer. She combined marriage and a young family with a very demanding career. She had her first child less than two months before the November 1988 elections and she worked all though her pregnancy. Then she had her second child while she was actually prime minister and carried on working soon after. This in itself set a precedent -- there was no concept of a Pakistani PM going on maternity leave before this! She carried on through all sorts of adversity and after her second government was dismissed by the 'enemy establishment' and her husband was imprisoned she did stick it out in Pakistan for a while, attending countless court hearings, taking her children to jail to visit their father, trying to hold things together. I can now sort of understand why she finally left Pakistan for that self imposed exile; one could see the odds were stacked against her and the welfare of young children was probably a major factor in her decision. I know there is much
criticism of her 'opportunism' but the fact of the matter is that she was a But Benazir Bhutto is gone now. And it is a loss not just for her supporters, and the working class who believed in her promise of a better tomorrow but also for those in Pakistan who needed a voice for liberal and progressive concerns. And it is a sad loss for women like me who want to prove that we shouldn't have to choose between career and family, but can balance both. Just by being centrestage, BB made the point that we can do it. 'Aap ki behan' -- just by her very presence and persistence -- proved that point for us women. Best Wishes Umber
Khairi
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the decision.
"We will accept whatever they decide unanimously."
multinational bank, an international telephone company or an accounting firm
were supposed to ensure financial stability and guarantied good future
prospects, both in terms of marriage and social status.
painters are exhibiting their works globally, most recently in New York and
New Delhi. An exhibition of new miniatures by Waseem Ahmed is being held at
the Anant Art Gallery in New Delhi. The solo exhibition of Muhammad Zeeshan
is planned for Aicon Gallery in New York. Both artists studied at NCA, taught
miniature for some period at Hunerkada College of Visual and Performing Arts
in Lahore, before joining their alma mater. The two artists have already
earned recognition for their level of skill and specific imagery.
clear clue to his content: man's desire to reach and control the other sex
and his beast like behaviour in this pursuit. However, not completely content
with his symbolic vocabulary of animal world, in a few works, the sheep are
replaced with beautiful naked women to be found at the end of the
search/struggle. The link of woman and wolf is explored in another work,
where the animal reaches the red apple from a tree -- reminiscent of the
original sin.
dhrupad with four centres: Talwandi, Haryana, Kapurthala and Sham Chaurasi
serving that cause admirably well.
will be those who paint her as a sort of Joan of Arc, while there will be
others who fairly foam at the mouth when they describe her as an
opportunistic and corrupt megalomaniac.
politician and much of politics is about spotting an opportunity and
exploiting it to your advantage. Many women were upset when she made the
white dupatta part of her political uniform. They viewed this as a cop-out
and a concession to regressive mullah elements. I don't habitually cover my
head, but I now understand that she did the right thing and that it was a
wise decision because it took into consideration Pakistan's existing social
mores and accepted cultural protocols.