Tuesday, January 17, 2006
Has Pakistan lost its manhood?
"J'accuse"
ROEDAD KHAN
Those who hold power and shape the destiny of others should never be judged in a moment of misfortune or defeat. If seen as a corpse hung by the feet, even Mussolini could arouse some pity. They must be judged when they are alive and in power. At the heart of leadership is the leader's character. He must always walk on a straight line. Honour and probity must be his polar star. People will entrust their hopes and dreams to another person only if they think the other is a reliable vessel. His character - demonstrated through deeds more than words - is at the heart of it. Mr Jinnah never misled his people even when they wanted to hear something gentler than the truth. "You could take his word to the bank", as the old saying went. If a President has credibility, nothing else matters. If he hasn't, nothing else matters. General Musharraf lost credibility on Thursday, December 30, 2004, when he reneged on his promise to give up his post as Chief of Army Staff and doff his uniform. When a man thinks he can get away with denying his own words even though there are thousands of witnesses and a video record, he clearly believes he can get away with murder. A few days after the 1999 coup, Musharraf's spokesman, Brig Rashed Qureshi (now Major General) insisted that, "while others may have tried to hang on to power, we will not. We will make history". Musharraf agreed. "All I can say", he assured a television interviewer in January 2000, "is that I am not going to perpetuate myself - I can't give any certificate on it but my word of honour. I will not perpetuate myself". That was six years ago! General Musharraf is not thinking in terms of Pakistan and her honour. Surrender rather than sacrifice is the theme of his thoughts and speeches. The tide of capitulation has swamped even the gesture of defiance. The lack of virile reaction has now become a cloying helplessness. 58 years after independence, are we really free? Are we masters in our own house? Is our sovereignty untrammelled? We lost our independence and sovereignty when we capitulated, said yes to all the seven demands presented, at gunpoint, in the form of an ultimatum, by Colin Powell, the US Secretary of State. "It looks like you got it all", a surprised Bush told a triumphant Colin Powell. No self-respecting, sovereign, independent country, no matter how small or weak, could have accepted such humiliating demands with such alacrity. Our government executed a U-turn, disowned the Talibans and promised "unstinted" cooperation to President Bush in his war against Afghanistan. Pakistan joined the "coalition of the coerced". There were no cheering crowds in the streets of Pakistan to applaud the decision to facilitate American bombing of Afghanistan from US bases on Pakistan soil. Musharraf had to choose between saying No to the American Diktat and shame. He opted for collaboration. Thus began Pakistan's slide into disaster. We would have suffered if we had said No. But that is a little matter. We would have retained something which is to me of great value. We would have walked about the world with our heads erect. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif defied President Clinton and carried out a nuclear explosion. The Turks said No to the Americans and refused to allow them transit facilities. The Iranians are under tremendous American pressure, but are courageously guarding their nuclear facilities. In stark contrast, under American pressure, this administration stripped Qadir Khan, the founder of Pakistan's nuclear weapons programme, of everything - his freedom, his honour, his dignity, his self-respect, his name, his fame, his unprecedented services to Pakistan; and, to sharpen his humiliation, made him appear on national television to confess to his crime! The lesson of history is that nations which went down fighting rose again, but those which succumbed to pressure, sold their honour, surrendered tamely, and capitulated, were finished. Examples abound. This is the darkest era in the history of Pakistan since 1971. The independence of Pakistan is a myth. Pakistan is no longer a free country. It is no longer a democratic country. American military personnel cross and re-cross our border without let or hindrance. They violate our air space with impunity, kill innocent men, women and children in Waziristan and Bajaur. To please the Americans, General Musharraf has deployed over 60,000 troops in the rugged tribal area and is fighting a proxy war against his own people. He has handed over more than 700 so-called Al Qaeda militants to the United States as his contribution to the American war on terrorism. More than 500 soldiers, the flower of our army, have died fighting Wazir and Mahsud tribesmen. For what? Six years after General Musharraf took over, Pakistan has turned cynical and has jettisoned the last vestiges of idealism on which the people had hoped the nation's polity would be based. October 12, 1999 will go down in our history as another day of infamy, another sad milestone on the downward path. Life flows placidly downstream. We were a nation founded on laws and rules. What has been done is essentially to throw away the rule book and say that there are some people who are beyond the law, beyond scrutiny, totally unaccountable. People are filled with anger and angst. If you believe in democracy and rule of law and sovereignty of the people, you would not be anything other than angry, living in the current day and age. Of course, some people are happy under the present system. The rich are getting richer. For the rest, life is nasty, brutish and short. It is like an open prison. You get complacent because of the comfort. They give you just enough to make you happy. The Farewell address of George Washington will ever remain an important legacy for small nations like Pakistan. In that notable Testament, the Father of the American Republic cautioned that "an attachment of a small or weak toward a great and powerful nation dooms the former to be the satellite of the latter". The strong might have interests and objectives that could be of little real importance to the weak; but once the latter submitted to acting the role of a satellite, it would find it no easy task to avoid being used as a tool by the strong". George Washington highlighted the dangers inherent in an unequal relationship between a very strong nation and a weak nation and the folly of a weak nation succumbing to the belief that "real favours" would flow to it from the strong partner. "It is folly in one nation", George Washington observed, "to look for disinterested favours from another...it must pay with a portion of its independence for whatever it may accept under that character". No truer words have been spoken on the subject. If you want to know what happens to an ill-led and ill-governed, small country, ruled by a military junta which attaches itself to a powerful country like the US, visit Bajaur and the graves of the 18 innocent men, women and children killed by our "American allies". Nuclear Pakistan lies prostrate and has lost its independence. It cannot protect the life and property of its citizens. It cannot prevent the violation of its airspace. Why? Because it is now virtually an American satellite and is portrayed in American media as a 'retriever dog'. Pakistan has lost its manhood, its honour, its dignity, and its sense of self-respect on General Musharraf's watch. "O what a fall was there my countrymen"!Here in Islamabad there is nothing but the nauseating stench of resignation. With everyday passing, the tide of hope recedes, revealing the unpleasant mud that the souls of slaves are made of. 'The best lack all conviction while the worst are full of passionate intensity'. An evil spirit hangs over Pakistan. Is it our destiny that there must always be darkness at high noon, that there must always be a line of shadow against the sun? We need people who will stand up and say: Enough! Enough! This is not acceptable in the 21st century. Why is the better sort of the nation so silent today? Why have the intellectuals adopted 'the genre of silence'? Why is there no outrage? Why is there no loud protest? "Where are the men to be found who will dare to speak up", as Voltaire said. The creative intellectuals have been driven to ramshackle ivory towers or bought off. The legal profession has lost its integrity and has nothing left of its former power but its rhetoric. Show me an educated man with a silver spoon in Pakistan today, and I will show you a man without a spine. So when will somebody pose a finger at General Musharraf and say: "J'accuse"?
ROEDAD KHAN
Those who hold power and shape the destiny of others should never be judged in a moment of misfortune or defeat. If seen as a corpse hung by the feet, even Mussolini could arouse some pity. They must be judged when they are alive and in power. At the heart of leadership is the leader's character. He must always walk on a straight line. Honour and probity must be his polar star. People will entrust their hopes and dreams to another person only if they think the other is a reliable vessel. His character - demonstrated through deeds more than words - is at the heart of it. Mr Jinnah never misled his people even when they wanted to hear something gentler than the truth. "You could take his word to the bank", as the old saying went. If a President has credibility, nothing else matters. If he hasn't, nothing else matters. General Musharraf lost credibility on Thursday, December 30, 2004, when he reneged on his promise to give up his post as Chief of Army Staff and doff his uniform. When a man thinks he can get away with denying his own words even though there are thousands of witnesses and a video record, he clearly believes he can get away with murder. A few days after the 1999 coup, Musharraf's spokesman, Brig Rashed Qureshi (now Major General) insisted that, "while others may have tried to hang on to power, we will not. We will make history". Musharraf agreed. "All I can say", he assured a television interviewer in January 2000, "is that I am not going to perpetuate myself - I can't give any certificate on it but my word of honour. I will not perpetuate myself". That was six years ago! General Musharraf is not thinking in terms of Pakistan and her honour. Surrender rather than sacrifice is the theme of his thoughts and speeches. The tide of capitulation has swamped even the gesture of defiance. The lack of virile reaction has now become a cloying helplessness. 58 years after independence, are we really free? Are we masters in our own house? Is our sovereignty untrammelled? We lost our independence and sovereignty when we capitulated, said yes to all the seven demands presented, at gunpoint, in the form of an ultimatum, by Colin Powell, the US Secretary of State. "It looks like you got it all", a surprised Bush told a triumphant Colin Powell. No self-respecting, sovereign, independent country, no matter how small or weak, could have accepted such humiliating demands with such alacrity. Our government executed a U-turn, disowned the Talibans and promised "unstinted" cooperation to President Bush in his war against Afghanistan. Pakistan joined the "coalition of the coerced". There were no cheering crowds in the streets of Pakistan to applaud the decision to facilitate American bombing of Afghanistan from US bases on Pakistan soil. Musharraf had to choose between saying No to the American Diktat and shame. He opted for collaboration. Thus began Pakistan's slide into disaster. We would have suffered if we had said No. But that is a little matter. We would have retained something which is to me of great value. We would have walked about the world with our heads erect. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif defied President Clinton and carried out a nuclear explosion. The Turks said No to the Americans and refused to allow them transit facilities. The Iranians are under tremendous American pressure, but are courageously guarding their nuclear facilities. In stark contrast, under American pressure, this administration stripped Qadir Khan, the founder of Pakistan's nuclear weapons programme, of everything - his freedom, his honour, his dignity, his self-respect, his name, his fame, his unprecedented services to Pakistan; and, to sharpen his humiliation, made him appear on national television to confess to his crime! The lesson of history is that nations which went down fighting rose again, but those which succumbed to pressure, sold their honour, surrendered tamely, and capitulated, were finished. Examples abound. This is the darkest era in the history of Pakistan since 1971. The independence of Pakistan is a myth. Pakistan is no longer a free country. It is no longer a democratic country. American military personnel cross and re-cross our border without let or hindrance. They violate our air space with impunity, kill innocent men, women and children in Waziristan and Bajaur. To please the Americans, General Musharraf has deployed over 60,000 troops in the rugged tribal area and is fighting a proxy war against his own people. He has handed over more than 700 so-called Al Qaeda militants to the United States as his contribution to the American war on terrorism. More than 500 soldiers, the flower of our army, have died fighting Wazir and Mahsud tribesmen. For what? Six years after General Musharraf took over, Pakistan has turned cynical and has jettisoned the last vestiges of idealism on which the people had hoped the nation's polity would be based. October 12, 1999 will go down in our history as another day of infamy, another sad milestone on the downward path. Life flows placidly downstream. We were a nation founded on laws and rules. What has been done is essentially to throw away the rule book and say that there are some people who are beyond the law, beyond scrutiny, totally unaccountable. People are filled with anger and angst. If you believe in democracy and rule of law and sovereignty of the people, you would not be anything other than angry, living in the current day and age. Of course, some people are happy under the present system. The rich are getting richer. For the rest, life is nasty, brutish and short. It is like an open prison. You get complacent because of the comfort. They give you just enough to make you happy. The Farewell address of George Washington will ever remain an important legacy for small nations like Pakistan. In that notable Testament, the Father of the American Republic cautioned that "an attachment of a small or weak toward a great and powerful nation dooms the former to be the satellite of the latter". The strong might have interests and objectives that could be of little real importance to the weak; but once the latter submitted to acting the role of a satellite, it would find it no easy task to avoid being used as a tool by the strong". George Washington highlighted the dangers inherent in an unequal relationship between a very strong nation and a weak nation and the folly of a weak nation succumbing to the belief that "real favours" would flow to it from the strong partner. "It is folly in one nation", George Washington observed, "to look for disinterested favours from another...it must pay with a portion of its independence for whatever it may accept under that character". No truer words have been spoken on the subject. If you want to know what happens to an ill-led and ill-governed, small country, ruled by a military junta which attaches itself to a powerful country like the US, visit Bajaur and the graves of the 18 innocent men, women and children killed by our "American allies". Nuclear Pakistan lies prostrate and has lost its independence. It cannot protect the life and property of its citizens. It cannot prevent the violation of its airspace. Why? Because it is now virtually an American satellite and is portrayed in American media as a 'retriever dog'. Pakistan has lost its manhood, its honour, its dignity, and its sense of self-respect on General Musharraf's watch. "O what a fall was there my countrymen"!Here in Islamabad there is nothing but the nauseating stench of resignation. With everyday passing, the tide of hope recedes, revealing the unpleasant mud that the souls of slaves are made of. 'The best lack all conviction while the worst are full of passionate intensity'. An evil spirit hangs over Pakistan. Is it our destiny that there must always be darkness at high noon, that there must always be a line of shadow against the sun? We need people who will stand up and say: Enough! Enough! This is not acceptable in the 21st century. Why is the better sort of the nation so silent today? Why have the intellectuals adopted 'the genre of silence'? Why is there no outrage? Why is there no loud protest? "Where are the men to be found who will dare to speak up", as Voltaire said. The creative intellectuals have been driven to ramshackle ivory towers or bought off. The legal profession has lost its integrity and has nothing left of its former power but its rhetoric. Show me an educated man with a silver spoon in Pakistan today, and I will show you a man without a spine. So when will somebody pose a finger at General Musharraf and say: "J'accuse"?
Sunday, January 15, 2006
Sheikh Yasin Mungla passes away .......
Obituary: Mohammed Yasin Sheikh (1926 - 2005)
Mohammed Yasin Sheikh, son of Mohammed Amin Mungla, passed away on Sunday, November 13th 2005 (11th Shawwaal) in Fremont, California, USA. Mohammed Yasin was born on 4th of February 1926 in Narowal (near Lahore), Pakistan. In his college years, he contributed towards establishing Pakistan and was awarded the status of Mujahid-e-Pakistan by Quaid e Aazam - Mohammed Ali Jinnah.He spent his early years in Lahore and then in Karachi running a textile business.
In 1953, he moved to Nairobi, Kenya and joined the Police Service. Later he transferred to GSU, Kenya. Whilst in Mombasa, Kenya he became more interested in Islam and started to devote more time to promote original Islam, as taught by the Ahlul Bayt a.s. During his years in Kenya, he travelled to remote villages and sought opportunities to help the indigenous populations and invite them towards Islam. He moved from Kenya to California in 1990.
Throughout his life, he supported Islamic organizations and sent donations all over the world. He offered seed money to the unfortunate to start small businesses. At the time of his death, he was contributing towards building a school in Pakistan for the needy. During his time in California, he wrote to all 50 US Governors and to Presidents all over the world, promoting Islam.
As one brother mentioned in his condolences:“His spirit of waking the neighbours early in the morning for Fajr prayers, his extreme attachment to Imam Khumayni and the Islamic government, his extreme concern for the native African Shi'as, his constant distribution of useful Islamic literature, and his active role as a travelling muballigh - all reflected the purity of this great man whose luminous personality will never leave our memories.”
Till his last breath, during short bouts of consciousness in his hospital bed, he was heard remembering Allah. He constantly recited the Kalema, Ayatul Kursi, Ayatul Mulk and the verse:
قُلْ إِنَّ صَلاَتِي وَنُسُكِي وَمَحْيَايَ وَمَمَاتِي لِلّهِ رَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ Say. Surely my prayer and my sacrifice and my life and my death are (all) for Allah, the Lord of the worlds; Ayah 162 of Surah Al-Anaam.
Mohammed Yasin Sheikh was laid to rest in Hayward, California, USA and is survived by his wife Mumtaz Sheikh d/o Khurshid Ali, three sons, a daughter, and 15 grandchildren.
His family requests that if he was indebted to anyone in anyway to please contact them at awsheikh1@yahoo.com for reimbursement.
Please recite Sura Al-Fatiha for his thawaab.
Mohammed Yasin Sheikh, son of Mohammed Amin Mungla, passed away on Sunday, November 13th 2005 (11th Shawwaal) in Fremont, California, USA. Mohammed Yasin was born on 4th of February 1926 in Narowal (near Lahore), Pakistan. In his college years, he contributed towards establishing Pakistan and was awarded the status of Mujahid-e-Pakistan by Quaid e Aazam - Mohammed Ali Jinnah.He spent his early years in Lahore and then in Karachi running a textile business.
In 1953, he moved to Nairobi, Kenya and joined the Police Service. Later he transferred to GSU, Kenya. Whilst in Mombasa, Kenya he became more interested in Islam and started to devote more time to promote original Islam, as taught by the Ahlul Bayt a.s. During his years in Kenya, he travelled to remote villages and sought opportunities to help the indigenous populations and invite them towards Islam. He moved from Kenya to California in 1990.
Throughout his life, he supported Islamic organizations and sent donations all over the world. He offered seed money to the unfortunate to start small businesses. At the time of his death, he was contributing towards building a school in Pakistan for the needy. During his time in California, he wrote to all 50 US Governors and to Presidents all over the world, promoting Islam.
As one brother mentioned in his condolences:“His spirit of waking the neighbours early in the morning for Fajr prayers, his extreme attachment to Imam Khumayni and the Islamic government, his extreme concern for the native African Shi'as, his constant distribution of useful Islamic literature, and his active role as a travelling muballigh - all reflected the purity of this great man whose luminous personality will never leave our memories.”
Till his last breath, during short bouts of consciousness in his hospital bed, he was heard remembering Allah. He constantly recited the Kalema, Ayatul Kursi, Ayatul Mulk and the verse:
قُلْ إِنَّ صَلاَتِي وَنُسُكِي وَمَحْيَايَ وَمَمَاتِي لِلّهِ رَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ Say. Surely my prayer and my sacrifice and my life and my death are (all) for Allah, the Lord of the worlds; Ayah 162 of Surah Al-Anaam.
Mohammed Yasin Sheikh was laid to rest in Hayward, California, USA and is survived by his wife Mumtaz Sheikh d/o Khurshid Ali, three sons, a daughter, and 15 grandchildren.
His family requests that if he was indebted to anyone in anyway to please contact them at awsheikh1@yahoo.com for reimbursement.
Please recite Sura Al-Fatiha for his thawaab.
Bollywood film star from Narowal
Kidar-nath Sharma was from Narowal.
The One and Lonely Kidar Sharma (An Anecdotal Autobiography]/edited by Vikram Sharma. New Delhi, Bluejay Books, 2002, 256 p., (pbk). ISBN 81-87075-96-1.
"Kidar Sharma was born in village Narowal, Punjab in the first decade of the last century. He had always been attracted to the world of entertainment, giving his first performance as a harmonium player in 1915. While graduating he wrote and performed in Punjabi stage plays and completed his maters in English.
"He started his career in 1932 when he joined new theatres in Calcutta as a backdrop screen painter and poster painter for B.N. Sarcar.
"He has been called a star maker and has given the film industry such great stars as Raj Kapoor, Madhubala, Geeta Bali, Mala Sinha (Hindi Films), Bharat Bhushan, Ramola and Tanuja to name a few and has been instrumental in giving the film industry music directors like Roshan, Snehal Bhatkar, Khan Sahip Jhande Khan, Buloo C. Rani and Jamal Sain.
"Some of his important films include Chitralekha, Armaan, Vish Kanya, Gauri, Mumtaz Mahal, Bhanwra, Chand Chokari Dhanna Bhagat, Duniya ek Sarai, Jogan, Neel Kamal.
"His other films include Shokhiyaan (Jamal Sain introduced as music director), Neki our Badi (in which he also starred), Bedardi, Thes Gunal, Mehkhana, Pehla Kadam, Sehme Huae Sitare, Pyase Nain, Fariyad, Bheegi Palken, Kaliyan, Rangeen Raten and Chora Chori.
"In 1958, he was asked by the international producers Shaw Brothers of Singapore to come and direct movies for them.
"He even made short films for Doordarshan including Aise Log Bhi Hote Hain, Kagaz Ki Nao, Ham Honge Kamyab, etc.
"His other contributions include his first book of poetry entitled Panchhee which was autographed by the greatest Indian poet Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore. He has written most of the songs sung by the great K.L. Saigal including: Balam aeo baso more man mein, Maia kya janu kya jadu hai, So ja raj kumari, so ja, Dukh kay ab din beetal nahi, Panchhi kahye hot udas and Kahun kya as niraas bhaye.
"Kidar Sharma's all round genius has included scripting, dialogue, directing, lyrics and the deep appreciation of the total and auditory impact that cinema truly is.
"He breathed his last on 29 of April 1999." (jacket)
Return to Cinemas / Films of India Catalogue
The One and Lonely Kidar Sharma (An Anecdotal Autobiography]/edited by Vikram Sharma. New Delhi, Bluejay Books, 2002, 256 p., (pbk). ISBN 81-87075-96-1.
"Kidar Sharma was born in village Narowal, Punjab in the first decade of the last century. He had always been attracted to the world of entertainment, giving his first performance as a harmonium player in 1915. While graduating he wrote and performed in Punjabi stage plays and completed his maters in English.
"He started his career in 1932 when he joined new theatres in Calcutta as a backdrop screen painter and poster painter for B.N. Sarcar.
"He has been called a star maker and has given the film industry such great stars as Raj Kapoor, Madhubala, Geeta Bali, Mala Sinha (Hindi Films), Bharat Bhushan, Ramola and Tanuja to name a few and has been instrumental in giving the film industry music directors like Roshan, Snehal Bhatkar, Khan Sahip Jhande Khan, Buloo C. Rani and Jamal Sain.
"Some of his important films include Chitralekha, Armaan, Vish Kanya, Gauri, Mumtaz Mahal, Bhanwra, Chand Chokari Dhanna Bhagat, Duniya ek Sarai, Jogan, Neel Kamal.
"His other films include Shokhiyaan (Jamal Sain introduced as music director), Neki our Badi (in which he also starred), Bedardi, Thes Gunal, Mehkhana, Pehla Kadam, Sehme Huae Sitare, Pyase Nain, Fariyad, Bheegi Palken, Kaliyan, Rangeen Raten and Chora Chori.
"In 1958, he was asked by the international producers Shaw Brothers of Singapore to come and direct movies for them.
"He even made short films for Doordarshan including Aise Log Bhi Hote Hain, Kagaz Ki Nao, Ham Honge Kamyab, etc.
"His other contributions include his first book of poetry entitled Panchhee which was autographed by the greatest Indian poet Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore. He has written most of the songs sung by the great K.L. Saigal including: Balam aeo baso more man mein, Maia kya janu kya jadu hai, So ja raj kumari, so ja, Dukh kay ab din beetal nahi, Panchhi kahye hot udas and Kahun kya as niraas bhaye.
"Kidar Sharma's all round genius has included scripting, dialogue, directing, lyrics and the deep appreciation of the total and auditory impact that cinema truly is.
"He breathed his last on 29 of April 1999." (jacket)
Return to Cinemas / Films of India Catalogue
