Town Talk
- Urdu Baithak/Sing along session every Sunday at Faiz Ghar from 5-6pm. ‘Story hour’ for children years and above. No registration or fees.
- Puppet Show every Sunday at Alhamra, The Mall at 11am.
- Ghazal Night every Friday at Peeru’s Cafe at 9pm.

The media on Tuesday May 19, showed us the five captured monsters, all imported — the ‘Talibans’ in Swat valley. All the five men were neither Pakistanis nor Pukhtuns. Who are they? And why are they here? I do not intend to get into the political situation here but if you trek up northwards, it becomes even more evident that the people of the nation are in great distress and pain, suffering and fighting for survival each day.

I talk of an area called Rustam, Sudam, geographically, the northern part of Mardan district, bordering most part of Buner district. It is home to the legendary Ajab Khan of Chargulai, who was the only one to inflict defeat on the British in the late 19th century other than the first Afghan war (1843) in the same Umbela pass through which the Pakistan army has now moved into Buner.

Sudam is a total of about a half hour trek, separated from Buner by three ranges of magnificent mountains. The people of these two towns share traditional, personal and cultural ties. Inter marriages, friendships and family relations are common between them. As a result, a lot of people have migrated to reside with the locals here. Currently, one katcha house is accommodating 80 people simultaneously. The count of those displaced and arrived, both from Swat and Buner, is approximately about 50,000 and beyond.

Having had the opportunity to visit our guests (IDP) in village Narro and Jallil, in Rustam, yesterday, I realised how closely we missed being labeled "displaced" ourselves, perhaps, very similar to the example, you could understand, of the relation between Islamabad and Rawalpindi, or maybe the Mall Road, Lahore and Defence DHA.

I met with a lot of women and families, who had tonnes of experiences to relate. They were shaken, with anxious faces and blood-shot eyes. Tired and exhausted, from stress, anxiety and fatigue, but this still wasn’t the end to their trauma and pain. Most of them had been separated from their families, like one Gulsanga Bibi, a middle-aged woman, who had arrived with two daughters but had lost her husband and two sons on the way. It had been three days and she still did not know of their whereabouts. A calm demeanour could be mistaken for temporary relief, perhaps for herself and her daughters, but her eyes spoke a totally different story of gloom and sorrow.

Another person, Nia bibi, as everyone called her, an aged grandmother, was taking refuge in a government school in Jalil, with her daughters and grandchildren. I was amazed at the dignity and grace this lady conducted herself with. She welcomed us in, smiled and followed all customary hospitality by serving tea, from the rations, given to them, despite our protests. It was only when her fellow relatives walked in from Buner that she broke down into tears, revealing her inner most trauma and anguish, they had experienced. Her sons had stayed behind to look after their home and their belongings, refusing to give up their home land, in hope of having the family return some day. Most of these men had forced their women and children to leave.

As a result, a majority of women, fifteen to twenty in number, arrived with a single man who was there to safeguard them. They told stories of how the Taliban would barge into any house, make use of the women there and more so, cut off their breasts afterwards. A family of fifteen women, among whom there was a 14 year old, beautiful girl who sat behind Nia Bibi, stared intensely with eyes sore from continuous crying and lack of sleep. She listened intently, stared at moving lips but it was quite evident that half of what she heard and saw hadn’t made sense to her yet. This, to me, seemed as though, it was the fear of some unknown possession, which came with being a young, attractive girl that is quite incomprehensible at that stage in life. All these sisters had to be sent out of Buner, to avoid any such mishap as mentioned above.

Moving a step down into village Narro, I met women from Swat. This was a family of 20- 22 people, including a few men. Most of these people had been here for four days now and were beginning to get sick with cough, fever, and indigestion and last but not the least, stress symptoms. Roshana Bibi, a young attractive mother and her sister resided there with nine of their children. The others were cousins and their children. These women had similar stories about Taliban, as those from Buner told me.

The Swatis mentioned two things more; firstly, the frequent beheading of their village folks injected deep rooted fear resulting in psychological paralysis and secondly, forced abduction and recruitment of young boys, age 11 to 22 by the Taliban, for suicidal missions. I heard stories of how young boys were forcefully snatched from their mothers, and dragged off buses, leaving them crying for each other. The army, on the other hand, was praised, in ways, for respecting the privacy of homes, unlike the Taliban. I must mention that one girl spoke of how the flogging incident, aired by our media earlier, happened and how that innocent girl was wrongly accused and viciously beaten publicly, along with a male member of her family.

These people are currently in a locality that is inaccessible to most people of the plains. No government organising, NGO or international organistion is operating here due to inaccessibility, however, some local Khans of Beroch, have set up reception camps at Rustam where they are supplying food and water, to those in transit, from where the displaced persons proceed towards more suitable accommodations. A local Khan of Narro village, with the help of family and friends, has launched a personal relief effort, where he has reached out to 450 families, of over 4000 people, within four days, with food rations that will last 14 days. This is expected to be replenished at the end of this time period. The Aitchison network and WWF (World Wildlife Funds) members from Lahore, have been especially generous, without whose help and assistance the relief would not have reached villages such as, Pirsai, Badam, Jalil Bandai and Palo Derai.  

The term "Internally Displaced Persons" IDP, is a term given to these thousands of people, it is probably a requirement to identify and categorise, on a mass scale, but if seen and interacted with on personal grounds, these are our people, like you and me. The term "displaced" is a powerful word when applied in the context of human orientation. It shakes the foundation of each one of us, if we are to experience it. Reality is; they are living it, suffering it. We, as a nation, must not forget they have been our frontline defence all these months, and probably, the reason why the streets of Islamabad and Lahore are still relatively safe. Treat them as guests, care for them, help them, and raise your voices, so we may never be in this position ever. Rise and unite to pay back our guests in return for sacrificing and saving the rest of the nation.

- Urdu Baithak/Sing along session every Sunday at Faiz Ghar from 5-6pm. ‘Story hour’ for children 5 years and above. No registration or fees.

- Puppet Show every Sunday at Alhamra, The Mall at 11am.

- Ghazal Night every Friday at Peeru’s Cafe at 9pm.

- Exhibition: Ustad Shagirdh Show. Mansoor Rahi & Hajra Mansoor with their creative students at Revivers Galleria. Tomorrow is the last day of the show. Tminigs: 6:30pm to 8:30pm.

- Exhibition: Paintings of Usman Malik titled ‘The Rejuvenation of Enlightenment’ on display at Shakir Ali Museum. Tomorrow is the last day of exhibition.

- Shoaib Mahmood’s latest exhibition at The Drawing Room Art Gallery till next Sunday.

- Public awareness programme on Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) symptoms tomorrow at Ghurki Trust Teaching Hospital.

- Free Seminar on "Introduction to Project Management" by IBM UET Lahore on 27-28 May from 8am to 1:30pm.

development

Recently, some government officials marked the 14 kilometer stretch of Multan Road from Chauburji to Thokar Niaz Baig for widening of the road from both sides. There is a lot of commotion among the traders whose businesses will be affected in case the road is widened. The.existing Multan Road is 100 feet wide. Going by the road chalking by the Punjab Communication and Works department, the road will be 164 to 210ft wide.

Around 15,000 shopkeepers will be affected directly and around 50,000 people indirectly including workers and suppliers if the road is expanded as marked, says Dr Saleem, Chairman Traders’ Union from Chauburji to Thokar Niaz Baig. "Traders’ Union is opposing the whole plan. This would be an anti-people step. They have not even negotiated with the stake holders," he goes on to say.

A trader on Multan Road Mehr Wajid at Chowk Yateem Khana says, "The property rate government has assessed is seven to eight lakh rupees per marla while it is actually 2.5 to 3 million rupees per marla. Government should assess the property on realistic ground and pay reasonable amount according to market value. The state has a responsibility to save the livelihood of the people."

Another trader here, Munir Ahmed says, "Multan Road is a highway of the past. Many bypasses have provided way to the heavy traffic and this is enough for now. There are illegal encroachments on chowks which should be removed. Why do they want to remove our personal property? The road should just be repaired instead.

Superintendent Engineer Construction Highway Ibrar Sultan says, "Government has a plan to make a 3+3 lane with an adjacent service road here. For this purpose the road will be seven meter wide from both sides. Government has a plan to make bridges and under passes at Samanabad Morr, Chowk Yateem Khana and Scheme Morr. However, nothing is final. Wasa will cooperate for drainage and sewerage for the whole length."

Fawad Hasan, Secretary Communication and Work department says, "Government is thinking of widening the Multan Road mainly because of traffic congestion and road accidents here. NesPak is preparing the feasibility of the project."

A researcher and teacher of urban design at National College of Arts Rabia Ezdi says, "Road widening is usually seen as a ‘solution’ to traffic problems but in reality it merely targets the ‘symptom’ of traffic congestion rather than its causes.

Traffic congestion on Multan Road needs traffic management solutions rather than road widening. Some of the causes of traffic congestion on this road include the mixing of slow-moving and fast moving traffic and the mixing of ‘local’ traffic which is destined for the Multan Road area with the traffic which uses Multan Road to go out of Lahore. Segregation of these types of traffic could improve traffic circulation on Multan Road. Encroachments on the road such as space used for parking, reduce ‘effective’ circulation space."

Traffic officer Saddar told TNS "There are unnecessary U-turns on the road. Road cuts are a major hurdle in traffic flow. Illegal parking outside the shops cause problems."

Multan Road is one of the busiest roads in the city which receives the north and south Punjab bound traffic apart from the regular traffic in the city. Traffic congestion is the main problem on this road. One comes across many bottlenecks here, the most prominent among them are at the Scheme Morr-Yateem Khana stretch and from Ganda Nala to Samanabad Morr. The traffic moves at snail’s pace at peak hours here. At places the road is badly in need of repair.

What makes it worse are the encroachments which nobody questions. Footpaths covered with the wares on sale at the shops lining the main road or donkey carts cover a lot of space on the main road. People on motorbikes step on the footpaths wherever they can, in utter disregard of the pedestrians. Vehicles parked in front of the plazas and shops on the main road cover space of a lane on the road. Places like Samnabad Morr, Scheme Morr, Chowk Yateem Khana, are also occupied by vendors selling different commodities on four-wheeled carts at cheap rates. They too have a sizeable market and need to be organised at places.

There are stretches of road which are broken and full of ditches because of the faulty sewerage system here. This is the Mansoora to Thokar stretch of the road.

Road widening also necessitates the demolition of existing shops/warehouses along the road. The disturbance of existing land-uses will result in their ad-hoc relocation in other areas- in turn causing disorder for the city.

For an area such as Multan Road which is one of Lahore’s industrial and commercial hubs, what is needed is an in-depth study of land-use and the causes of traffic problems. As a result of this, long-term solutions can be derived as opposed to the conventional short-term ‘assumption-based’ proposals.

Aashiq Hussain is a contented man. He is quite satisfied with whatever he earns at the end of the day. The rabid commercialisation has failed to move him to despair. He sits where his father, Faqir Hussain, started selling daal chawal many many moons ago.

Aashiq took over his father’s ‘business’ after the latter’s death and has since been catering this "very popular dish" (to quote him) for the common Lahoris who throng his roadside stall near Gumti bazaar inside Lohari Gate.

Middle-aged Aashiq inherited the hut — which he uses as his stall — from his father almost fifteen years ago. In other words, it’s his family business that has been going on for the past four-and-half decades.

"My customers are mostly poor people. I don’t charge them anything; I accept whatever they have to give me," Aashiq says, with his characteristic, no-worries air.

Aashiq admits that his rice may not be of a superior quality, they satisfy the hunger of his customers who cannot afford to have a meal even at a cheap, two-star hotel.

Of course, to attract more and more clients, Aashiq has another dish on the menu every Tuesday and Wednesday: "desi chicken!"

He also offers siri paye, but it is his daal chawal which is forever the ‘star dish’.

Aashiq cooks all these dishes himself. In the beginning, his wife would assist him but she "is not keeping well and so she cannot help me".

Since he doesn’t have a proper ‘shop’, he is also dependent on the weather conditions. The monsoon season is the most wildly destructive time period for his business. Buying a shop space is not feasible for him financially.

A lot of Aashiq’s loyal customers are the people who were regulars to the stall when his father was around. "They love the peculiar taste of my daal chawal," he says, gushingly.

According to him, the stall attracts people from all nearby areas such as Sooa bazaar and Heera Mandi, "because my food is comparatively cheap."

He recalls how, a few years ago, Shahbaz Sharif had a bowl of daal chawal at the stall. It was during the election campaign early last year when the present CM Punjab had visited the locality.

Ask him if it’s a fond memory and Aashiq whips out his picture with Shahbaz Sharif. Incidentally, the area where he sits falls into the CM’s native constituency.

Daal chawal sells pretty well the entire year. And, Aashiq has no complaints from life. In fact, he declares, he doesn’t even dream of switching to any other business — the stall is home to his memories of his father.