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follow-up review Mapping
alien territories Well-played Outstanding!
The efficacy of the joint anti-terrorism mechanism is being put to test after the Panipat tragedy By Nadeem Iqbal Two weeks after the fire-bombing of Samjhota Express, the dust has been settling down without any concrete evidence about those involved in the gory killing of 68 people. After initial low-intensity
acrimony between Pakistani and Indian officials, future prospects for
productive investigation are pegged at the upcoming counter-terrorism meeting
being held next This anti-terrorism mechanism was established when the President Pervez Musharraf and the Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh met at Havana. As per the explanation of Pakistan's Foreign Office, the mechanism's purpose is to prevent terrorist acts in the two countries by sharing information. If Pakistan and India want to share some information with each other, they may use this mechanism. This is a two-way mechanism and both of the countries can utilise it. It is also officially clarified that this mechanism is not for the meeting between the Intelligence Chiefs. If Pakistan has some information and it wants to share that information with India or if it wants to seek information from India in that regard and vice versa, this is the mechanism through which this can be done. The two countries already have a working group on Counter-Terrorism and Narcotics and that group is part of the Composite Dialogue. The Panipat tragedy has put the efficacy of this mechanism to test particularly if both countries would collaborate with each other in identifying the culprits. So far the Indian government has not reciprocated to Pakistan's demand for its investigation agencies' inclusion into the Samjhota Express blasts probe. The Minister or Railways Sheikh Rashid had already expressed his deep consternation over Indian non-cooperation in the wake of the tragedy but vowed that the peace process would not be derailed. "The inclusion of Pakistani agencies becomes more important when the Indian media has asserted that the disaster was the result of the failure of Indian security outfits," Sheikh Rashid Ahmed said in a policy statement to the National Assembly. Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Khusro Bakhtiar also told the National Assembly that those responsible for the train tragedy don't want peace and that terrorism has no borders. 'We will raise it in the March 6 meeting with Indian officials as part of the composite dialogue." In a media briefing on Monday last (26 February) a foreign office spokesperson said that Pakistan has been assured by the Indian prime minister first in his telephone call to the prime minister and subsequently when our foreign minister met him in New Delhi that he was determined to get to the bottom of this terrorist attack and that India would share the results of the investigations with Pakistan. About the mechanism, FO spokesperson Tasnim Aslam said that this would be the first meeting of this mechanism. It is very important that we approach it with a constructive mindset. It is our expectation that the Indian side would share with us whatever progress they have made in the Samjhota Express terrorist attack investigations. An Indian external affair ministry's spokesperson has already talked about Indian investigators' interest in questioning Pakistani passengers saying that India hopes that the Government of Pakistan will facilitate this in the interest of the investigations. "It may be mentioned that 528 passengers of the train had left for Pakistan on the day of the blast itself," the Indian spokesperson added. To this the Pakistan government has replied: "There are two or three issues here. First, our people, the injured Pakistanis had already been questioned by the Indian investigators. Some of them had been very helpful in the sketches that had been drawn. Secondly, we have to be mindful of the trauma and grief the survivors have suffered. Some of them have already complained that they were subjected to grueling and incessant interrogations. If however, there is something very specific on which the Indians require the assistance of injured Pakistanis, they should contact us. We would look into it." Irrespective of these official approaches, the investigation into the Samjhota is a tricky issue. It is for the first time that a number of Pakistanis have been killed in a terrorism act on Indian land. The situation would have been different had the majority of the killed been Indians? The security lapse on the part of Indian security agencies is obvious. Therefore, India did not get much space to point a finger at Pakistan. The Pakistani side, on the other, has also shown restraint. Although there are some statements from the Federal minister for Railways that again seems aimed at preempting any Indian attempt to malign Pakistan. Talking to the media he said that Indian railways is working with least interest on the issues of the Samjhota Express tragedy. "About 18 unidentified bodies have been buried in India and for their identification 34 Pakistani nationals, assuming themselves to be their relatives, have so far left for India where their DNA tests would be conducted," the minister said. "However, the concerned Indian officials said only 15 Pakistanis contacted them for DNA tests." "If the Indian government had given us the lists of Samjhota Express passengers there would have been no issue of unidentified bodies," he said and added it seems the Indian railways is not handling the issue in a professional manner. He said since the accident Indian Railways Minister Lalu Prasad Yadev has not talked to him even once.
In his latest exhibition at Islamabad's Rohtas Gallery, Khalil Chishti presents himself as a sort of spiritual ecologist, not unfamiliar with existential angst By Aasim Akhtar Rainer Maria Rilke once defined love as two solitudes that protect, border and greet each other. Though it is a moving statement, it leaves out the fury of that greeting. It makes people sound as if they were soap bubbles bouncing off one another. Whereas in reality, each of these two is a charged field and when they meet, they give off brilliant sparks. It is not that Rilke was not involved, intensely and intimately, with other people. But he always drew back from such relationships because, for him, the final confrontation was always with himself. He knew how immensely difficult it is for us to be anything other than strangers to our own existence. To learn not to be a stranger is the burden of Khalil Chishti's exhibition of sculptures at Islamabad's Rohtas Gallery, entitled "I Love You." Trolling the sculptural
tradition of expressive and iconic depictions of the human form, and Chishti's sculptures are introspective, with their appeal spatially organised in a wandering, non-linear fashion, making the viewer intimately reflect on them rather than searching for a larger meaning derived from storytelling. As the narrative in his works is usually fragmented, transparent and manipulated, we seldom experience a picture as a whole and often as an accumulation of details that subsequently culminate in luminous sensations. The works convey an emotional intensity and urgency that capture the imagination and emphasise time's fleeting nature. He compartmentalises the space by merging the figures. Chishti presents himself as a sort of spiritual ecologist not unfamiliar with existential angst. The desire and pursuit of beauty in nature produces anxiety and a sense of helplessness -- a sublime experience visualised in timeless luminosity. As reminders of the threat of self-extinction and meditation on life and death, Chishti's works amount to a contemporary allegory of blindness: We destroy our lives and ourselves while yearning for self-attainment and peace. In his work, standing figures are dominant. Often the feet are fully fitted with toes, the feet symbolising the connection of the figures with the earth. The way these separate but interlinked sculptures are exhibited is, therefore, of utmost importance. The space between them is related to the situation in which they are observed, but also to the underlying idea. Through their positioning they become the bearers of an idea created out of the artist's observation of the world around him. Each piece creates a fulcrum at which mind and motion first fuse and then go free. But this movement is not symbolic of fleeing from anything but a vivacious centering of self. Chishti's human forms are about poise, balance and the essence of movement. They have a wonderful fluidity, great presence and stretch to them. The figures come bearing information on our human predicament usually not singly but as powerful pairs. These delightful and personable pieces are packed with humour. They depict the ultimate ordinary men and women and have those same stilted poses of complete theatrical naivety which gives them their charm. They also have the tinge of mystery and show tenderness for the commonplace. Chishti sculpts the essence of what it is to be a person, and says it all in a few gestures. His work is like an origami flower, so beautifully folded that it looks deceptively simple. His chitinous skin encompasses completely what we know inside the form. It is as if the snake has just shed its outer layer and slithered away leaving the memory of content. For a few seconds you are fooled into thinking there is substance supporting the carapace. Khalil Chishti's sculptures refer to a range of ambiguities in the human character, hidden aspects of our personality or the other sex; the relation between our anima and animus. It appears that the artist's business is to lift a corner of the veil that covers these complex aspects of the human being and to find a point of reference from where to depict it in a sculptural form. His pieces have a static, daunting presence, and they throw out an atmosphere of the eternal, one that has implications of ancient civilisations -- dark ages, totem poles, boundary figures -- such is their feeling of density and permanence. Most are imbued with an inner angst that seems to burst through the crevices of the rough surface. In coming to the extraordinary sculpture of Khalil Chishti we are at once touched by the force of his profoundly personal work. As visual witnesses to his complex forms we are compelled, through his expressive effigies, to attempt to understand and to explore the thoughts and feelings that arise and propel us further into infinite enigmas of the human condition. His unanswerable questions become our own and we are left to wander in his world of images and are made to feel uncomfortable by them. These composed pieces, sometimes in groups and sometimes solitary, are expressive of many struggles; some of which we may articulate as ambivalences, painful contradictions, indignities, unanswerable questions, fears. His are heart-rending figures in desperate plight, conveyed through huddling, squatting, the curled up, the heaving of burdens. His sad creature in foetal position appears to be waiting to be born (but into what kind of world?) His figures could either be sinking down, as in 'The Unbearable Lightness of Being' or in thrall to some heavily political oppression or trying in vain to rise from under it. His bound and squatting figures, although grouped together are isolated. Some try to carry others, as in 'The Collector' and are helpless. The means of escape are often there, but the ways out are also death traps: their burdens are filled with useless impedimenta. When seen singly they appear alone and exceptionally vulnerable, even helpless, looking at you with appealing, rather shy and self-conscious faces. When several are seen together, the figures build a strong current of enclosing group identity. Their similarity adds a quality of graceful complicity. Chishti is a relatively young sculptor who is a natural at working with found objects, such as the trash bags, in this case. He adds fine, skin-like layers which build up patches of sensitivity that intentionally or not, resemble veins and sinews. The patches could easily be static, but are not; they have freshness and fluidity -- something you cannot be taught but which is inherent in his style. Chishti's preoccupation with human existence, alienation and transience of life is starkly expressed with elements of autobiography, narcissism and obsession. In Khalil Chishti's exhibition, the artist's practice involves no power tools. It's a prosaic statement that nonetheless hints at two important aspects of his reticent art, elucidating his devotion to the handmade while also suggesting his political conscience. Both of these qualities are often rendered subservient to form in critical interpretations of his exquisitely crafted works. As is almost always the case with his sculptures, those on view evoke a peculiar mix of historical figures, such as Louise Bourgeois's 'The Arch of Hysteria' in polished bronze. The concerns about human life and the environment expressed in this exhibition are rarely addressed in contemporary art. But this newfound partisan clarity is not yet fully reconciled with the allusive ambiguity of his best works. (The exhibition will remain open till 7th March 2007)
Amal Talha Rathore's new works herald a mature approach to resolve the dilemma of living in two worlds By Quddus Mirza 'Amal Talha Rathore 2007' is written in Urdu on every new miniature currently on display at Rohtas 2 in Lahore. This short text indicates not only the name of the maker, but also reveals aspects of her personality, situation and status in the contemporary world of miniature art. Talha Rathore was trained as
a miniature painter at the National College of Arts, before she left for USA.
Since her move to New York in 1998, she has been exhibiting her miniatures in
South Asia, It was only after Talha's travel to NYC and her decision to stay in the city, that the idea of map emerged in her work. She drew her imagery on the subway maps, with the names of different neighbourhood and visible signs of important places. One can regard this way of working as an attempt to tame her surroundings by mixing traditional elements from her world (the miniature painting) with a symbol of her adopted environment (the underground train system). For a number of years, both of these elements have existed side by side in her work, and to some extent have become her identity. In her recent body of works Talha appears to be moving away from her recognisable subjects and much appreciated scheme of image making. These works, while some still painted on the maps of the city, suggest a new dimension in her art. A few elements are still related to her previous paintings, but she employs a new visual strategy while dealing with her peculiar concerns. That situation is about the dilemma of living in two worlds at the same instance. The two worlds comprise of actual space in her surroundings and the land she left behind. In her earlier works, she tried to arrive on a simple and direct solution, but the new works herald a mature approach, even though some of her paintings are not too convincing in terms of aesthetic value. These appear exercises towards an idea that is not yet fully formed. Yet in these new works, Talha has picked her visual substance from sources other than the conventional miniature painting. Her surfaces are filled with tiny visuals, which resemble the shape of cells or particles seen through microscopes. In addition, some works include large scale biomorphic forms within the composition. Often a single colour dominates the whole picture plane. Tiny and large shapes are arranged in a certain pattern in all of her works. The pattern vaguely reminds one of the Aboriginal Australians' style of painting landscapes who use similar kind of marks in order to denote their region. In fact, their landscapes are not sceneries in the sense of European art and aesthetics, in which the painter enjoys delightful views from the position of an onlooker; rather they are the maps of their territories, which they have travelled, experienced and recorded as an insider. Their way of transcribing the details of their land is analogous to the act of map making. Talha Rathore incorporates Aboriginal landscape in her new miniatures. This type of landscape is placed on top of the subway maps of New York. It seems that she has now chosen another visual language/tactic in order to control her alien environment. By taking inspiration and following the examples of Aboriginal painters, she seeks to alter the mechanical division of land with a humanistic interpretation of area. Thus, in contrast to straight lines and sharp angles (from New York Subway guide) made by a machine, her geography is demarcated in a loose and informal manner. Much like the stroll of a man in the landscape or in urban centres, who on his whims may take an unexpected turn, slow down or deviate from the original path. The line, which he makes in the course of his journey is not straight, sharp or equal in its intensity, rather it is a line that changes its direction, depth and colour. Similar kinds of lines (which can be made by recording a man's walk) are used in her work to delineate different areas. In some miniatures, the surface is covered with outlines of bricks or beehive structures -- both drawn in a lyrical manner. Likewise several paintings have small marks and strokes suggesting a mound or a pond in the expanse of red ground. In a few works, this kind of imagery echoes Tantric art, especially the 'Hundred Suns', with a white dot in the middle of black circle, that invites the concentration of the viewer. A number of other works are constructed with small motifs, painted in a pattern on dark surfaces. All of these are surrounded by the train maps. Whether it is the element of Tantric art, inspiration from the Aboriginal landscape or a glimpse of local designs, the latest work by Rathore reveals that the artist is not yet settled in her chosen country. Probably in an unconscious way she attempts to appropriate the alien environment by introducing a quirky landscape. The idea of eastern thinking and manner of describing the world is evident in the way Talha Rathore signs her name. Instead of writing in English, the artist living in New York addresses the audience by her name in Urdu. An endeavour to identify with the local people, sensibility and sensitivity, all of which indicate that Talha may be away, but art and heart are here. (Amal Talha's works are on display till March 12, 2007 at Rohtas 2) Well-played Actors lived their characters in Eve Ensler's 'Necessary Targets' performed in Karachi By Mohsin Sayeed I like play readings. Not to say that I don't like full-fledged theatrical productions, but if performed powerfully and sensitively, this form of storytelling takes me back to the days of innocence. Devoid of any fuss and frills, they force the audience imagine what's narrated to them. Recently performed in Karachi, Eve Ensler's 'Necessary Targets' was one such reading. Those of us who are familiar with Eve Ensler usually associate her with 'Vagina Monologues', her self-explanatory titled play, which whenever mentioned, still cause discomfort and ripples. 'Necessary Targets' was also about women, but it was about a different kind of women: war ravaged Bosnian women. Based on conversations with Bosnian women, the play highlights their plight, sufferings, longings, and dreams. In war-torn Bosnia two
American women descend upon a women refugee camp to help them confront their
war memories, resolve and move on. Both have their own ulterior motives. Dr.
JS Once the group sessions begin with five women in the camp, both women face a difficult situation. Initially the Bosnians are not willing to trust them since they have been through various similar helping-to-tell-your-story-to-the-world sessions. When JS decides to open the sessions with Nuna (Ambreen Butt), she softly but sarcastically asks her if she chose her because she is the youngest and most stupid. Nuna is young girl with just one desire -- to be accepted. Zalata (Ayeshah Alam),who comes across as a caustic person, bitterly observes that once the story dies, no one ever comes back. It turns out that before the war she herself was a doctor belonging to a prosperous family. Seada (Nadya Jamil), is an innocent village girl who loses her sanity after being raped, seeing her family get shot and dropping her baby. As a result of the trauma, she always holds something in her arms cradling it like a baby and remains the quietest in therapy sessions. Azra (Raheen Mani) complains about her health and wishes for death because she cannot bear being separated from her beloved cow Blossom in old age. And Jelina (Atiqa Odho) loves to find comfort in sex talk. Seduction, risque« clothes, brazen demenour, lust and wine are her armour. As sessions progress, all women come out of their shells, exteriors soften and a bond forms among them. Ensler dexterously uses all these stories to weave a more poignant tale of suffering, which is louder than exploding bombs; more sensitive than open wounds and bitter than truth. Ensler paints her Guernica which is multilayered, three dimensional and more relevant to the world. Through these stories, she emphasises that waged in any corner of the globe, war of any kind--social, political, personal or territorial has the same impact -- a devastating one. All actors involved in the reading lived their characters. Ayesha, Atiqa and Nadya are seasoned actors. Raheen is not new to Karachi stage as she performs in OGS plays. Being a graduate of NYU's Tisch School and a filmmaker, Ambreen is familiar with the craft of acting. And Munizeh is a graduate in acting and directing from Bennington Collge. While it would be unfair not to give them credit for their deep and sensitive performance, Anna Khan deserves special mention. As a debutante on stage, she was superb. Her pauses, body language and tonal expressions were far from those of a first timer. Or perhaps credit goes to Ayeshah Alam for brilliant direction. Ayeshah's choice for a stark and spotlit stage, black costumes, no movements, row-seating and reading straight from script worked in favour of the play. Yousuf Bashir's heavy, effective voice as a narrator of the scenes seemed to boom in our heads, sounding like a part of the audience collective imagination. The stress on tonal expressions immediately transported the audience to another place and time and created a Bosnian refugee camps in their heads. Directed by by Ayeshah Alam and produced by her and Yousuf Bashir Quraishi of the Artist's Commune, the play needs to step out of the Artists Commune to grow and go mainstream. Also, Islamabad and Lahore should be the next 'Necessary Targets'.
Abdus Sattar Tari and Nafees Ahmed Khan recently played together and made a great team By Sarwat Ali It is rare that the practitioners of music in Lahore get together as an audience for a single concert. In the recently held concert of Nafees Khan and Abdus Sattar, alias Tari the who's who of the musicians were seen present. Usually when some outstanding musician performs in the city the practitioners come out in droves, irrespective of their factional loyalties, not so much to appreciate but to critically evaluate for themselves the worth of the famous musician. In the last 20 odd years on quite a few occasions the musicians with a lineage and professional credentials have been seen attending concerts and paying homage to pure virtuosity. When Ustad Bismillah Khan
came to Lahore about 20 years ago he was warmly welcomed. Before him Ustad
Amjad Ali Khan on his visits to the city was extended the same treatment.
Initially when The musician community, too, had gathered to listen to Raza Ali Khan, the grandson of Ustad Bare Ghulam Ali Khan at Fort Road. It was really a gesture of owning up to the great Ustad who had to leave the city and country in unceremonious circumstances. At the same time, it was an effort to welcome the grandson back, correcting the wrong that was once committed, probing in the meantime, whether the grandson had the potential to live up to the standards set by his grandfather. On the occasion of the first concert by Ustad Raees Khan in the 1980s held in the EMI office studio on the Mall, Abdus Sattar Tari had accompanied him on the tabla. He at that time was one of the few truly promising tabla players to have emerged from the chaotic Pakistani musical environment. Right from the moment when the first note was struck, it was apparent that the concert taken as a match between two virtuosos had inspired both to demonstrate their craft to the highest degree. Virtuosity is such a basic part of music, particularly art music, that to separate it from its musical content is almost impossible. It is perhaps easier in other forms of art like poetry and painting, though in that case too, the separation is a simplistic method for proper understanding. However, in music, it lies at the very heart of an art that aspires to be the closet to pure form, especially when it comes to instrumental music where other means and crutches of understanding have been snatched away from us. The recently held concert at the Alhamra in connection with Jashn-e-Baharaan where Nafees Khan and Abdus Sattar Tari played was a good demonstration of outmatching the virtuosity of each and was a throwback to the concert held more than 20 years ago. Abdus Sattar Tari is one of the most outstanding shagirds of Ustad Shaukat Hussain. He struggled for the first few years to find proper recognition and reward. Recognition he did find but no reward so he went west to settle down in the United States where with a galaxy of other South Asian musicians he is doing reasonably well. So great are the expectations from him that the moment he sits down to accompany he is perceived as a soloist. And within no time the entire focus shifts to him as a tabla player rather than the main musician or vocalist that he may be accompanying. Nafees Ahmed Khan is a sitar player with immense potential who has been forced by the vagaries of time and circumstances to play bits and pieces on the sitar in some song compositions or even in jingles. It is very rare that he has had the occasion to play a raag according to his full potential to an audience primarily interested in assessing his prowess as a sitar player. Most of the time he is accompanying a singer, a recitation or to provide fillers as interval pieces in compositions. Nafees Khan carries a heavy responsibility because he is the son of Ustad Fateh Ali Khan, the famous sitar player who for most of his life lived in Rawalpindi waiting for an opportunity to express himself fully in the instrument that had become his identity. Ustad Fateh Ali Khan was greatly influenced by Abdul Aziz Khan Beenkaar though he was the formal shagird of Mian Mehboob Ali. He was also very adroit at playing surbahar and the reflection of its ang in his sitar playing gave it a distinct flavour. Nafees Ahmed Khan started to appear in children's programme on television at a very young age and his first public performance as a soloist was in 1972 when he played raag poorya on the barsi of Ustad Alamgir Khan outside Taxali Gate in Lahore. He was accompanied on the tabla by an artist no less than Tari Khan. Since then, he has performed as a soloist much more outside of Pakistan. One of his most memorable trips was when he teamed up with Ustads Allah Rakha, Sultan Khan and Zakir Hussain for a concert tour lasting over a month. The opportunities that he gets on foreign tours have helped him mature as a sitar player. He explores the possibilities of the modal structure at length in the alaap before setting out for an exhaustive elaboration of the raag in the vilampat lai. He then moves into the drut lai with the confidence of a sitar player who is more than competent. He has the facility to play with ease in all the registers without losing the melodic line of the chosen raag. He is particularly keen on laikari and loves to play around within the rhythmic pattern while performing as a soloist He has been also involved in designing a sitar which will be helpful for those who only accompany singers in the country. He felt the need for doing so as sitarists do not get an opportunity to perform solo and so by developing a system of chords this sitar can facilitate the vocalist. Any concert now with an eminent tabla player especially Taro should be reclassified as sitar and tabla concert rather than just a concert of sitar. Tabla is becoming less of an accompanying instrument and the concert ends up as a performance by a duo rather than a solo.
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week (5-7 March).
caricature, Chishti has previously confronted George Segal, among others. His
relation to Segal's influences is so upfront that it becomes Chishti's
content.
Europe and North America. During that period she has developed a
distinct personal style, based upon rendering small and intimate objects
using the vocabulary of traditional art.
(Anna Bertmar Khan) is a Park Avenue psychiatrist who has been chosen by
the United Nations. She is a high-flying, seemingly unbreakable, and
hard-core-with -soft exterior shrink who believes in maintaining a distance
with her patients. Melissa (Munizeh Sinai) is chosen as her assistant. Stern
and almost desensitised, Melissa's speciality of having served in conflict
zones around the world makes JS compromise on her condescending attitude.
Melissa's agenda is to collect material for her new book on the psychological
impact of war on women. The very first scene of an interview session between
the two exposes the ideological clash.
Ustad Raees Khan decided to settle down in Pakistan, his first
concerts were thronged by professional musicians who wanted to assess the
musical capability of one of the outstanding musicians from an outstanding
family of string instrumentalists.