There is a school at the back of the Punjab Secretariat, Chishtia High School, which will be the first to go if the planned expansion of the Secretariat goes ahead. We call schools 'Maadar-e-Ilmi', mother of knowledge. Shouldn't we protect it? On the one hand the chief minister is spending millions on education and on the other, the government's threat looms large over an established institution. Institutions should be made, not destroyed.

This school caters to the population of Sham Nagar, National Town Sanda, Rajgarh, Krishan Nagar and Islampura. Children come from as far as Shibli Town, Bund Road, Shera Kot and Siddiq Mohalla opposite New Khan Adda on Bund Road. At present the students' strength here is 500.

Government boys schools are already few in the city. The next government school is at Chauburji and there is talk of moving Chishtia High School to Khazana Gate where already two schools are functioning. The school will surely lose students because most of the children won't be able to go that far. Senior educationists fear that the government will merge Chishtia High School into Khazana Gate School in a year's time and it will lose its identity. I asked the concerned Director Education and he says he knows nothing in this respect.

Why I have chosen to write on the school is because we have seen schools being demolished to make way for District Government bus adda on Bund Road and make a school elsewhere in front of the CIA police station. In 1992 when Nawaz Sharif was the chief minister of Punjab Islamia High School Bhhati Gate had to forego its land for the expansion of Data Darbar. And now we hear of plans which threaten Chishtia High School. We cannot let go off another school.

Millions of rupees were spent on the restoration of Tollington. Why? Because it is a heritage. Isn't this school a heritage. It is as old as this country and has produced thousands of professionals. Tollington was a market, this is a school. There are more reasons to save it.

There was much hue and cry over the proposed expansion of Secretariat a fortnight back by the people who will be affected if the plan is executed. There is no news from government quarters but apprehension among the people is very much there. They want a commitment from the government that it will not displace them, do nothing at the cost of the people who have voted it to power.

Abdul Rasheed Qayyum who remained headmaster of the school for 12 years from Nov 1973 and retired as DPI Schools Punjab, pleads, "Please don't destroy the school. The school's name should remain there. It will be grave injustice to the people if the school is removed from here. I will lie on the road if they try that," he says in an emotionally charged voice. He says the school had 30 kanal ground in addition to constructed area of the school. Sheikh Masood Sadiq, the then Finance Minister allotted that land to Family Welfare Centre in 1962-63. It was the school's hockey ground. During Qayyum's tenure as headmaster the school came at par with Central Model School and students' enrolment in the school rose to 1300.

A teacher at the school says, "I never saw a child coming on a car here in 20 years. Only poor people's children come here. The fee here is Rs. 6 only. We receive children in Class 5 who don't know how to read and write and enable them to pass with flying colours."

The school was founded in Amritsar before the partition. At the time of the partition its founder migrated to Lahore and got this land in claim which is at present 17 kanal, 13 marla and 102 sq/ft to be precise. The same year the building was established. On 1.10.1972 Bhutto nationalised the school along with other private schools. The school and its land went to the government.

Famous Punjabi poet Arif Abdul Mateen taught in this school. Students who rose to prominence and of whom I came to know, are Dr Tehseen, Nazim Salim, collector in central government, national hockey players Muneer Dar and Tanveer Dar, former MNA Farooq Amjad Mir, Dr Abdul Majeed Awan, former principal of Government College, Lahore and Abdul Hameed, ex-vice chancellor Punjab University and now in Board of Directors of Ali Institute of Education. Sheikh Sahab changed the roof of a whole block in the school, I learnt.

In front of the school is a ground called Baba Ground. The school space is mostly filled with concrete structures so where do the children play - in the Baba ground. The ground is the only one for a huge population of the area, no less than 6-7 lakh. More than half of the ground has been cordoned off with barbed wire and is being used as a parking lot. Baba Ground was once aligned with Chishtia High School. It was in this ground that Saeed Ahmad Khan, Khan Muhammad, Imtiaz Ahmed, fast bowler Mehmoodul Hasan and test cricketer Yunus used to practice.

Chishtia High School (CHS) cricket team has been on 2nd position in Lahore District in 2006-2007. At CHS a boy got first prize in 100meters race in Lahore District which houses a population of eight million. CHS secured first position in Tennis and 3rd position in Karate last year.

Former prime minister Nawaz Sharif who is known to love cricket and is a cricketer himself, very well knows the importance of having a ground without which cricket cannot flourish.

In 1991 when Mian Muhammad Azhar was the governor of the Punjab, he turned it into a park-cum-ground, made a jogging track and two pavilions which now remain locked because it became a den of criminals at one time, a local disclosed. Some plantation was also done here.

At the entrance of the park there is a signboard that reads "Site for MPAs' hostel." Baba Ground has belonged to many. One wonders why the MPAs need this place to have a hostel. They have one opposite Punjab Assembly, Pipal House is also theirs and now they need a third place. That's asking too much. The government should extend the existing MPAs' hostel next to Punjab Assembly and spare the ground - let it remain with the people.

Famous cricketer Salim Malik who came from a crowded city and played in Lahore's Minto Park says, "There are already few grounds in Pakistan. Taking away a ground which is meant for the people is being very unfair to them. How can a public ground be used as a parking lot? Nowhere in the world does this happen."

Chairman Cricket Board Ijaz Butt whom TNS contacted, agreed that saving grounds wherever they are, is important if we want cricket to flourish and more talent to come forward. He says, "We would be keen to maintain the grounds." There is a request to the government to let it remain with the people.

If you take a round of the area around Chishtia High School and Baba Ground, you will find Irrigation workshops lying abandoned for seven years on the road where Sir Shadi Lal, former chief justice once lived. A World Bank project was being carried out here. The funding has stopped now so there is no work there. One plot has become a junkyard and the other lies abandoned. Machinery worth millions have rusted. I wonder if the government can use this space for car parking. Baba Ground and Chishtia High School can be spared for this purpose. Let's hope for the best.

-- Saadia Salahuddin

What are we, the accidental bipeds, doing to ourselves? Not more than specks of dust in historical time and space, we are so good at creating hierarchies among our wretched selves. The Indian believes he is better than the Pakistani, the Israeli is against the Palestinian, the Occidental against the Oriental, the rich versus the poor, and the literate versus the illiterate. And the lesson seems to be that if you are powerful and have no fear of repercussions, just go for the jugular.

Those who are not powerful are not concerned with justice either. They are waiting for their chance to go for the jugular. It is a war of all against all. No holds barred. The velvet gloves are off. The pretences are unnecessary. The bloody game of dominance is on. There are no ethical imperatives or prescriptions valid anymore. The killer takes it all. Most of the time, the killer does not even have to kill. He or she has to just demonstrate the capacity to kill. Show a weapon or advertise the sheer size of your army and you don't need to go and kill. If you are pretending at civility or living in peacetime, your dominance depends on your capacity to threaten violence. The bigger our bomb, the greater our chances of enjoying long-term peace. Or so goes the logic of realpolitik. The sad thing is that it seems to work.

If it is a war of all against all, then what is the place of morality in the world? How to be moral in the war zone is the question? The answer is tricky if relativism is all you see around you. The life of one Israeli, one Briton, or one American is more precious than hundreds of Palestinians, Afghanis, Pakistanis, and Iraqis. That is what the newspapers tell you while reporting accidents. If a newspaper headline reads "200 passengers die in a plane crash including 2 Americans," what are you supposed to think? The 198 humans are part of the anonymous pulp of humanity but the two Americans are going to create a posthumous crisis for the diplomatic and political world.

What the operational logic of this world tells you is: become as important as possible if you want your life and death to be counted. Otherwise, your life and death are not even newsworthy says the logic of homo hierarchicus. Some evolution theorists argue that this hierarchical logic is so hardwired in our brain that it affects the way we select our companions, mate, and procreate. We want life for ourselves and death for others/strangers. This simple logic, of survival even at the expense of the death of the other, informs our friendships, loyalties, and our hatreds at personal as well as state levels.

And next to all this brutal logic of the world is the power of those who cannot directly threaten us. They use manipulation to ensure their survival. The producers of guilt. The preachers. Those who have no direct power to produce anything life-sustaining or life-threatening use humans to extract value by offering invisible punishments or pleasures. The advertisers of an unreal world. The seducers. The manipulators. But their message is the same as the creator of the bomb. Be seduced by our promises or you are doomed. A recent report published by Survival International tells us that all promises of progress by any superior civilisation yield little progress for the selected few and disease and death for the majority. And so goes the logic of the drone. Get seduced by our advertisements or get ready to die. Or, if you can, acquire the power to kill us. The heart of the world is actually a bullet.

• Exhibition: Water Colour Paintings by Dr. F.D Toor at Alhamra, The Mall from Mon, Jan 26 to Sat, Jan 31. The gallery remains open from 9am to 7pm.

• Exhibition: A tribute to old Lahore. Paintings of the old city by Dr. Ajaz Anwar at Contemporary Art Gallery, Lahore Museum till Saturday, Jan 31.

• Talk: Meet Business Legend Hussain Dawood at Royal Palm Country Club on Sat, Jan 24 from 5:30-8:30pm. Fee for members: Rs 500, non-members: Rs 1500. Visit www.tie-lahore.org.

• Exhibition of Japanese Calendars at Alhamra Art Gallery from Tuesday, Jan 27 to Thursday, Jan 29. The exhibition has been organised by the Pakistan-Japan Cultural Association.

• Bazm-e-Tariq Aziz at Alhamra Hall I, The Mall on Jan 27 from 4pm-8pm. Organiser: PTV.

• Talk: Dr. Arfa Syeda Zehra will speak at Model Town Library on Thu, Jan 29 at 5:30pm. Organiser: Lahore Arts Forum (Leaf).

• Puppet Show every Sunday at 11am at Alhamra Arts Council, The Mall.

• Chicago Theatre Festival at Alhamra Hall II, The Mall from

Mon, Jan 26 to Sat, Jan 31.

Here is a glimpse of how the PTCL works. I am a resident Link Road Model Town. My telephone number 042-5830969 was found dead on Dec 7, 2008. A complaint was lodged in PTCL's complaint cell and we were told that the phone was disconnected due to non payment of bill. We told the PTCL staff that the phone was operating one way due to non payment earlier but then we paid the bill on Dec 1, 2008 and the receipt with the office the same day. The officer at the office of Model Town M Block said that "by tomorrow, Dec 2, your phone will be unlocked." It was, but only for four days. The phone was disconnected, again.

The PTCL staff said they could not find any record of payment on their computer. The next morning the PTCL staff again said it was because of non payment of bill. We again showed the photocopy of the submitted bill to the officials. The manager came out and asked the reason of the noise. He said may be we were experiencing the problem because of the under-construction road which is near your area leading to a fault in the cable. We were assured the problem would be resolved the next day.

Five days later, we received a new bill along with disconnection notice for non payment of bill. We paid the new bill for the phone to be operative without further waste of time. We again went to the PTCL office; this time again no one registered the complaint and gave a new date.

The mystery still continues even after two months. We were told by the line man that we could take the V-PTCL in just 1200 rupees by giving an application, copy of ID card and a copy of bill, as compensation from company. Next day, all the required documents were given but after two days they were sent back saying that the application is from a female and they can't issue a connection to a female applicant. The series of arguments started again and now they have agreed to issue a V-PTCL phone to the affected customer in the coming week.

-- Ayesha Khaled

Colonial remnants

In the olden times, city walls were constructed around the towns as a means of defence and protection to the citizenry against adventurers. Huge gates at strategic points in the wall provided limited entrance. For instance the ancient wall of the city of Lahore had twelve giant wooden gates, only a few of which still exist in form. They are Lohari and Bhaati gates. This city's boundary wall itself has not stood up to the vagaries of time and to the urban expansion. Only a few remnants of it can be located. Usually close to the foretasted city wall gates were constructed watch towers in which constabulary was billeted for city defence. In the process of city growths and changes in defence strategies, most city walls fell to disuse and to ultimate demolition. Scavenging of the fortification wall bricks and masonry became a full time profession for some. In colonial era, in the Indo-Pakistan subcontinent the watch towers also fell to disuse. But utility of some of such structures shifted towards their usage as mounts for big clocks to exhibit time to public, not many of which possessed personal watches in those days.

Tower like turrets atop public buildings were also constructed for mounting the time clocks. Where tower structure could not fit the building architecture the recesses in front cascades were made to mount the clocks. Owners of some private mansions adopted this trend also to exhibit their class. Whatever the arrangement for mounting the clocks, the structures were still called the clock towers. The clock towers also acted as internal land marks of the cities. The use of clock towers as prominent land mark dates back to medieval times when sundials were constructed atop the towers. The first striking clock was constructed in the mid twelfth century near the Umayyad mosque in Damascus by the Mesopotamian engineer Al-Kaysari!

Lahore does not possess a traditional city centre clock tower although it has many buildings which exhibit big clocks on frontal tops or on turrets. The most charming clock tower of Lahore adorns the Government College (now Government College University) main building. It was built around 1860 AD. One of the faces of the hexagonal attic of the tower adorns a period clock facing the college main gate. Very rarely now do the weather beaten hands of this clock move due to lack of maintenance of the clock work. The last time the clock hands moved was at the centenary celebrations of Government College in 1964 and now they remain stuck at 11.O'clock. The clock work can be reached through a staircase inside the tower shaft (about 50 steps) and on to the attic in which pigeons – hundreds of them nest and must have contributed to the damage to the clock movement. The beautiful clock tower, rising over the gothic style main building of the college and keeping guard over the civil lines of Lahore is an architectural style piece of the city.

Within a radius of one kilometre Government College University clock tower there are a few other buildings in which big clocks are mounted to public view. The General Post Office on The Mall has a mini tower built atop its front side profile in which a clock is mounted facing the Lahore High Court building. Though this tower is a minion in comparison with the Government College clock tower, its construction still categorises it as genuine period architect. The clock tower was designed to act as a public time indicator at a busy passage way and crossing since the colonial days of Lahore. Another government building in the vicinity having a clock atop in public view is the office of General Manager (Phones) near the Civil Secretariat. But this does not possess any architectural or time keeping features to admire. The city Railway Station on the precincts of the old city, which may well be called Lahore's thirteenth Gate and which sees thousands passing through it daily, has a rectangular tower aboard the main entrance way in which huge clock is mounted. The Fatima Jinnah Medical College situated on the Queens' Road is another government building which is donned by a rectangular clock. And, Sheikh Zayed Hospital has a tall rectangular tower built, it seems, exclusively for the purpose of mounting a clock.

The clock towers and clock turrets in Lahore are remnants of colonial times or immediate post-colonial era architecture of the city. The hands of many of the clocks mounted in or atop these towers do not move by the hour, nor their chimes, if they do produce any, are audible to the passing public due to noise in which these buildings are now immersed. Also the general public by and large possesses wrist watches or other time keeping devices and do not need time keeping through the high perch mounted clocks. They are the remnants of the forgotten past – keeping a watch in silence over the passing public which is oblivious even to their existence.

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Draw-ing Room

Eliza Gluckman, an experienced curator in Asian Contemporary art, once stated "A single pencil-mark on a flat plain marks the beginning of space. From this point the world can be interpreted in infinite ways." Following this quote Sanam Taseer, daughter of Salmaan Taseer, one of the business-tycoons of Pakistan and currently also serving as Punjab governor, has come up with an idea to interpret contemporary and modern art gallery to promote a softer but strong and liberal image of Pakistan through establishing an art gallery.

The gallery, set up a couple of weeks back in a renovated house previously used by a trust near Alhamra Cultural Complex, has opened its first showcase "Eight"– the work of eight contemporary artists.

The gallery is not first private art gallery in the city but first of its kind with the pure objective to promote bold and strong image of Pakistan by highlighting contemporary and modern art.

"We will display the work of contemporary artists because my family has a strong feeling that there is need to paint progressive and strong images of Pakistan, a country which is already under terror threat," said Sanam Taseer. She wants the gallery to be a symbol of a vibrant and creative society.

She said, "We know we are a small art gallery entering in learning phase but we will continue to chase our goal, also seeking foreign collaborations." She said the gallery would try to arrange exhibitions in foreign countries to portray a better image of the country. She said art work from Pakistan is not only popular in the Middle East but also other countries. She believes that showcasing of art in foreign countries will promote the art and culture of Pakistan. "We are trying to do this all ourselves but we have great support of the artist community," she further said.

The first showcase of the Drawing Room presents some bold and modern images of eight contemporary masters. The showcase "Eight" is a dynamic exhibition of artists striving for new forms of expression. It explores history, memory, mystical symbols used in different liberally mixed mediums with broad techniques. The "Eight" includes work of RM Naeem, Ali Azmat, Jamil Baloch, Ahmed Ali, Ali Kazim, Mohammad Ali Talpur, Quddus Mirza and Akram Dost Baloch.

Moreover, TNS also learnt from Punjab government's Alhamra Art Centre officials that a couple of new art galleries would also open in the city in coming months. "Shehla Saigol is renovating and reopening the Lahore Art Gallery, which was quite famous in the past," Zulfiqar Ali Zulfi, deputy director Alhamra Art Centre told TNS, adding, "Another new gallery is scheduled to open in Gulberg by Saira Sheikh in a month."

Currently, he said, there are 11 major art galleries in the City and three government-owned art galleries catering to as many as 10 million population of the provincial metropolis. While some two dozen small art galleries are also functioning in different parts of the City, privately.

Zulfi recalled that the trend of opening private art galleries is not that old. "Opening private art galleries started a decade ago," he said, adding, "Mostly the private art galleries are business oriented." This has also become a lucrative business for those who want to run it, purely, on commercial basis. He said the opening of art galleries was a healthy sign in the realm of art.

Commenting on the opening of Drawing Room, Quddus Mirza, a noted artist and art critic, welcomed the step with the hope that it would promote artists' work and encourage new artists. "It's good that the art situation in Pakistan has started changing and galleries with specific aims and points of view and separate identities are being opened," he said, adding, "To promote a certain kind of work is now good addition in the provincial metropolis." He said Canvas art gallery in Karachi and Ali Imam's gallery have been exhibiting specific work. However, Quddus hoped that such galleries should promote new artists. "Many new art galleries do not promote new artists and continue to exhibit the work of senior and recognised artists which is not fair enough."

He further said that for promoting new themes and point of view, also like contemporary art, one needs to be fair and clever. "Fair in the sense that one should be clear in his point of view and clever in the sense that one should know how to keep this work up." He urged the new gallery to promote young artists. He said galleries should not only focus on selling their exhibited work but also give exposure to new and young artists.

Ahmed Ali, academician and artist, has some different view. He is for prompting and exhibiting art for the art's sake. "The general trend has become to invest in the gallery, do business and run it purely on commercial basis. We should also see the benefits of art and the gallery should be a source of exposing the work.

"In last 10 years, the art galleries have done good business - from thousands to millions of rupees, which is business but not a service to art. It is also mentionable that sometimes contemporary art focus is changed and galleries try to mint money by exhibiting political-art work by following the issues in media," he said, adding, "What needs to be portrayed is real art of that country and its internal realities." It seems that time has passed when art was exhibited for art sake. It is also good that new galleries are opening and there should be hundreds of art galleries but the investors are not experts and they should not play artist's role, he said, adding, "this may be an artist's romanticism." He hoped that the Drawing Room would try to serve the art for art's sake.

vaqargillani@gmail.com