|
|
|
|
 |
 |
   |
review Journal of
literary worth Zia
Mohyeddin column
#####The
Way of the World: By M. Mumtaz Ali The Way of the World is a
stunning, well-researched book by the Pulitzer Prize winning journalist, Ron The book depicts the declining moral authority of the US in the face of global challenges like the war on terror and nuclear proliferation. In a distinctive narrative fashion, Ron Suskind focuses on key issues like the misuse of power by the White House, the government's disregard of Western fundamentals of justice and humanity, and the losing battle over the hearts and minds of Muslims around the world. The book revolves around characters from divergent backgrounds, all of whom are affecting, one-way or the other, how the world is moving forward. Ron Suskind tries to point out that US cannot win the war on terror with just its military might. It has to do more towards nation building and human contact. He quotes senior diplomats like Wendy Chamberlain, the former Ambassador of US in Pakistan at the time of 9/11, saying that the American public don't understand how alienated the rest of the world is. According to her, establishing control over territory using armies is a losing game in this era. It is important to have people to people contact, rather than having it on the level of governments alone. The book is sharply critical of the US misadventure in Iraq and reveals controversial details of how the White House and the CIA fabricated justifications for going to war. Senior officials of US intelligent agencies admit how CIA got in contact with Saddam Hussein's foreign Minister, Naji Sabri, a French paid spy, who affirmed that Iraq had no chemical and biological weapons. The head of CIA, George Tenet, delivered this information personally to president Bush, who dismissed the same as misinformation. The CIA New York station, under direct pressure from Washington, particularly the office of vice president, Dick Cheney, fabricated the intelligence report and added a wholly contradictory paragraph, which stated that Saddam did possess chemical and biological weapons. The concocted report was then sent to the British Prime Minister, Tony Blair, in order to convince him to ally with the US in the war against Iraq. Ron Suskind interviewed M16's former Chief, Sir Richard Dearlove, who admitted that M16 had established a secret contact with the head of Iraqi Intelligence Service (IIS), Tahir Jalil Habbush, who also confirmed that Saddam had no weapons of mass destruction. George Tenet again passed the information to President Bush and Condoleezza Rice. Rice after reading the report said to Tenet "What the hell are we supposed to do with this." A senior-most official of US intelligence who was involved in the whole Habbush operation, Rob Richer, confirms all this to Ron Suskind in the book. He further confirms that when the war became inevitable, Habbush brokered a deal with CIA and M16 in exchange for valuable information. Publicly, Habbush is still on the list of most wanted men with a $1 million bounty on his head, but he, in fact, got $5 million from CIA account, and is currently resettled in Jordan under surveillance of the Jordanian secret services. The most exploding and controversial revelation in the book is about a forged letter written by Habbush on the instructions of the White House after the invasion of Iraq. It was backdated to July 1, 2001, and was a fake official communication between him and Saddam Hussein. It said that 9/11 ringleader Mohammad Atta got his training for the mission in Iraq, thus showing to the world that Saddam and al-Qaeda had operational links, something the vice president's office had been pressing CIA to prove as a justification to invade Iraq. The said letter was handed to Ayad Allawi, Iraq's first head of government, who passed it to a British journalist of the Daily Telegraph, Con Coughlin. An article was published in the Sunday Telegraph on December 14, 2003, revealing the contents of the letter, in an attempt to influence US citizens and the world at large that Saddam had links with al-Qaeda. The story was picked up by US media, CNN and NBC included, and was sold to the American public. Ron Suskind claims that such an action by the US government violated the law governing CIA according to which "no covert action may be conducted which is intended to influence United States political processes, public opinion, policies, or media." Such a statutory violation of misusing an arm of the government has the potential of impeachment proceedings against the White House. After the publication of the book, the head of CIA, George Tenet, and senior intelligence official, Rob Richer, have refuted the claim of Ron Suskind made in the book regarding the fabrication of Habbush's letter. The controversy surrounding the Habbush letter is growing in the US with each passing week and the House Judiciary Committee of US Congress has started investigating the allegations. The book revolves around different people including an impoverished Afghan boy, Mohammad Ibrahim, who lands in US under a student exchange programme sponsored by the American Councils for International Education, and spends a year with typical American families. The dilemma faced by him in experiencing the American lifestyle, which often contradicts his conservative, religious and war-torn childhood spent in Afghanistan, and the impressions he leaves on the American families about the culture of the East are ways of moving forward in this age of conflict and clash. The book simultaneously narrates the story of a bright young Pakistani, Usman Khosa, the son of a senior Pakistani civil servant Tariq Khosa, and nephew of the judge of Lahore High Court, Justice Asif Khosa. He graduated from Connecticut College and works at an International economic consulting firm, which is situated just a block from the White House, Washington. He is striving to make a career in US, and is influenced by American ideals but his faith is shaken when one day, while walking to his office, he is singled out by the security agencies, hushed up in an SUV to an interrogation room, and grilled for hours by intelligence agencies. What led to his short detention was his being present at the wrong place at the wrong time. The account of Al Ghizzawi in the book, prisoner 654 at Gauntanamo, mentally and physically broken, is horrifying. He was working in Afghanistan as a baker when arrested by the US forces and transported to Gauntanamo as a suspected illegal enemy combatant, where he is treated in the most inhuman and despicable manner. A military tribunal at Gauntanamo declared him innocent and a non-enemy combatant but a review tribunal convicted him on the same evidence. His lawyer, Candace Gorman, his only contact with the sane world, fights for justice against the forces of the unjust legal system of Gauntanamo, which has been specifically built to deny justice to its detainees. The book also makes startling revelations about the power sharing deal brokered by the Assistant Secretary of States, Richard Boucher, between Musharraf and Benazir Bhutto. It narrates the conflicts within the US government as to who is to be favoured amongst the two with Dick Cheney and Bush leaning heavily towards Musharraf while the State Department trying to fit Bhutto in the equation. It also reveals that the National Security Agency (NSA), being wary of Bhutto's intentions over power sharing, had wiretapped her telephones. In one such eavesdropping, NSA found Bhutto making a call to Bilawal and telling him about the secret bank account numbers. Such material has the potential of being used at an appropriate time, if Bhutto detracts from the role chosen by the US government. The book criticises the US government for undermining a democratic leader like Bhutto at the cost of a dictator and even claims that Bhutto was abandoned by the US in her last days. Overall, the book is fascinating and addictive. It is a must read for all those desirous of having a closer look at the clandestine workings of the White House and intelligent agencies. It outlines the issues of lesser credibility of US around the world, influence of vice president over the flawed policies adopted by Washington, and the importance of winning the hearts and minds of Muslims by way of human contact rather than firepower. According to Ron Suskind, the true way of the world is to understand each other's values, defining human progress together, and making sure that everyone moves forward. Journal of literary worth Symbol
-- Quarterly By Altaf
Hussain Asad Ali Muhammad Farshi has a
few books of poetry to his credit. He also writes critical essays on poetry Farshi likes to keep his magazine away from useless controversies. He does not believe in sensationalism to increase the number of readers. Symbol is fast becoming one of the best magazines of the country. The title of the latest issue of quarterly Symbol captures one's attention. You find yourselves browsing through the contents of the magazine. The editorial lays stress on writing grammatically correct Urdu. According to Farshi, more attention needs to be paid to Urdu grammar and efforts made to evolve a grammar that is acceptable to all. His editorial is a timely reminder since most literary magazines continue to write flawed grammar. Instead of furthering the cause of Urdu, these journals are only damaging the language. Many of them have become tools of public relationing, facilitating incompetent editors to find a place in the literary fraternity. A section has been devoted to Jorge Luis Borges -- one of the finest writers of our times. Ali Tanha has written a piece on his life. It is a good essay for those who might not be aware of the literary stature of Borges. Mahmood Ahmad Qazi and Asim Butt have done a remarkable job by rendering the stories of Borges into Urdu. This section is really a treat for the readers. The section devoted to nazms boasts of some big names. Wazir Agha, Satya Pal Anand, Gulzar, Abrar Ahmad, Farrukh Yar, Hamida Shaheen, Samina Raja, Ali Muhammad Farshi and many others have offered their nazms. Those by Farrukh Yar, Ali Muhammad Farshi, Abrar Ahmad, Hamida Shaheen and Shahzad Nayyar are really exceptional. Saqi Farooqi took the literary world by storm with his autobiography Aap Beeti Paap Beeti. His bold stance created quite a rumpus in the literary folds. Excerpts of his autobiography are reproduced here . Muhammad Umar Memon translates western fiction with a brilliance that is hard to come by. His Urdu translation of Kundera's The Unbearable Lightness of Being has also been reproduced in the present volume. Javed Anwer, Raza Mael and others have translated nuggets from poetry of other climes. The ghazal section includes Saqi Farooqi, Samina Raja, Shahid Zaki, Hasan Abbas Raza, Afzal Gohar, Anjum Saleemi, Salim Kausar, Adil Mansuri, Akbar Hameedi etc. Among these Shahid Zaki, Afzal Gohar, Samina Raja and Hamida Shaheen stand out. Hamida Shaheen is perhaps the most original female voice in Urdu poetry exhibited though her two books. She does not believe in using the crutches of hollow publicity to pocket laurels and prefers to remain a recluse. The section on criticism offers a variety of good essays. Dr Zia ul Hasan, poet as well as critic of good standing, takes a critical look at the modern Urdu nazm with special reference to technique. His prose is pulsating as well as scholarly. Nizam Siddiqui has written a detailed essay on Qurratulain Hyder and her novels. Dr Ahmad Sohail's essay on translation needs to be studied by all those who plan to translate anything into Urdu. Khalid Fayyaz explores the psyche of a character of Qurratulain Hyder. Nasir Abbas Nayyari judges critic Kalimuddin Ahmad in his writeup. The prose-poetry portion offers us a lot of food for thought. Salim Shahzad, Naheed Qamar, Abrar Ahmad and a few others come out with their creative pieces. The section of stories is a mixed bag. It has good as well as average stories. Rasheed Amjad, Khalid Fateh Muhammad, Mahmood Ahmad Qazi edge past all the other writers. More emphasis nees to be given on this section as it is not up to the mark. In the section on book reviews, Farshi reviews the novel of Hamid Shahid while Pervaiz Perwazi writes a good piece on Saqi Farooqi's autobiography. Shahzad Nayyar has reviewed a novel of Zia Hussain Zia. Nasir Abbas Nayyar critically looks at the new book of Shanwar Ishaq. There are also book reviews by Parveen Tahir, Shafi Hamdam, and Iftikhar Mughal. Instead of publishing flattering letters, Farshi has introduced a section where serious readers give their opinion about the previous issue of Symbol. One finds in this section the opinion of the likes of Hamidi Kashmiri, Abrar Ahmad, Muhammad Kazim, Ziaul Hasan, Shahzad Nayyar, Shaheen Mufti, Jamil Azar etc. The
present issue has literary value and worth and Ali Muhammad Farshi needs to
keep it up.
Zia
Mohyeddin column The other day I heard one of our ex-test cricketers -- and an ex-chief selector of our cricketer team -- being interviewed on one of our foremost television channels. He was asked what he planned to do now that he had retired from his exalted post in a corporation. "I shall be writing my autobiography," he answered, rather self-consciously. He had better heed the advice my favourite satirist, Miles Kington, once gave to those who were planning to write their autobiography: "Put a lot of people in the index." In case the ex-test cricketer is perplexed I can explain to him why it is so necessary. People of any celebrity at all look at the index of a new autobiography, first to see if they are in it. If they are, they buy the book and the word starts getting around and you have a good chance of getting into the best-sellers list. And even if they are not in it, they might still buy the book if there are other star names in the index. What you have to ensure is that a big celebrity pops up on every third or fourth page. It doesn't really matter whether you know them or not; the important things is that they are in the index. Mind you, you must be careful not to include those celebrities whom the readers have forgotten. It is no use writing about the lunch you had with John Major because nobody remembers who John Major was. Let me show you the way to go about it. You are writing about your visit to Italy so you begin your chapter: "I arrived in Rome in the middle of August. It was an exceptionally hot summer. I was, of course, used to such heat, but the Italians kept mopping their brows and shouting 'Mamma Mia' to each other" (this would show that you know Italian as well). "In the evening I went to my favourite restaurant 'Bertolucci' on Via Vanetto but was told that the entire restaurant had been booked for a dinner in honour of Cassius Clay, Mohammad Ali as he came to be known later on..." and there you are, Mohammad Ali and Cassius Clay are both in the index. And not just Clay. You can have Frank Sinatra, Gorbachev, John Lennon and -- why not? -- Gina Lollobrigida. When asked whether his book would contain some startling revelations, the ex-test cricketer demurred and said it would reveal many things, but more than anything else, it would contain some very useful material for young and budding cricketers. That wouldn't do, I am afraid. The first thing our ex-chief selector has to learn is to spice up his life-story. If he doesn't, his autobiography would soon find its way to the 'Bargain Books' counter, at the back of the book store, which has books (all marked £1 each) with titles like I FLEW FOR THE NAZIS with a broad band or the cover saying, CONFESSIONS OF HITLER'S ACE PILOT by Herman Von Kleinz, and MY LIFE OF SHAME by Suzy Wong, HONG KONG'S MOST NOTORIOUS MADAME. Older people write memoirs; younger people write Stories (The Ian Botham Story; The Gaza Story). Politicians, when out of politics, (Tony Benn, Michael Foot) create 'Diaries'. It's only people like the Archbishop of Canterbury who write autobiographies. All their books usually have an opening price of £25.95 but they soon get relegated to a bargain store at £2 a copy, within two weeks. One of the reasons I haven't 'done' my autobiography is that I haven't known a lot of famous people; I mean the right kind of famous people. The ones I got to know now belong to the KNOCK KNOCK game. Whenever I tell anyone that I knew John Arlott quite well, he looks at me with a pained expression and says, "John who?" The soundest part of Kington's advice is that it so no use writing your autobiography unless you have seriously offended some of the celebrities you have known. Your life-story, he warns, only ever gets mentioned in the media if you offend someone. Then they interview the offended person and you get a lot of free publicity. This is why I hesitate to write the story of my life. It's a shame, but I don't think I have seriously offended any one of the renowned personalities that I have come across. Come to think of it I did offend, though unwittingly, one towering celebrity: Abul-Asar Hafiz Jallundhry. The translation of his title, Father of Efficaciousness sounds pompous and absurd, but our literary culture is full of such epithets. It would be kinder to translate it as The Most Effective. I have no idea as to when this title was bestowed upon him and by whom, but ever since childhood, I have never seen his name written without the epithet, Abul-Asar. Hafiz Jallundhry, our unofficial Poet Laureate, was a prolific poet who had composed a voluminous work, Shahnama, glorifying Islam. But he was a popular poet as well and his songs and ghazals had a great appeal for the public. During World War II he had been appointed as the Director of Publicity Songs by the colonial government of India. His songs edifying the romance of enlistment with the British Indian army earned him the title of Khan Bahadur. He wasn't happy about it because he was hoping for a knighthood. He had a puckish wit and a vast reservoir of risque stories with which he regaled his friends and cronies in private gatherings. His private persona was that of a jovial clown, but his public persona was that of a man saddened by the iniquities of the age in which he lived. Thus it was that he appeared on the stage when after a laudatory introduction I called out his name. (He had agreed to be a guest on my television show, thanks to the ministrations of Ibn-e-Insha, aided by that self-proclaimed maverick of film journalism, Ahmed Bashir). I asked him how long it had taken him to write our highly Persianised National Anthem. "Abul-Asar does not take time once he decides to do something," he said rather acidly, reminding me in no uncertain terms that I had committed a cardinal sin by not mentioning his title while introducing him to the audience. It was a salutary lesson for me never to think that creative people were less priggish about their honorifies and titles than other mortals. I offered my apologies to him after the show, but he remained in a huff. I learnt from some friends years later that he had felt that I did not know how to show respect to my elders. Time is short. The ex-test cricketer had better get cracking with his list of high-profile celebrities that he now plans to offend.
|
Suskind. It was at number three on The New York Times bestsellers list in
August, 2008 and has immediately sparked worldwide attention and controversy
for its explosive material.
and fiction. With time he is gaining the reputation of a dedicated editor.
Each issue of Symbol is adding up to his reputation as a master editor. The
latest issue is also bound to come up to the expectations of its readers.
Edited with precision, it is almost error-free.