http://tribune.com.pk Latest Breaking Pakistan News, Business, Life, Style, Cricket, Videos, Comments Fri, 12 Nov 2010 12:22:40 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 http://tribune.com.pk/story/71411/pakistans-comedians-riot-act/ http://tribune.com.pk/story/71411/pakistans-comedians-riot-act/#comments Fri, 12 Nov 2010 12:22:40 +0000 Maliha Rehman http://tribune.com.pk/?p=71411 In a particularly funny episode of Kamal Ahmed Rizvi’s comic masterpiece from the 60s, “Alif Noon”, the conniving Allan, played by Rizvi himself, convinces his befuddled, susceptible friend Nanha, portrayed by a wide-eyed, utterly lovable Rafi Khawar, that begging would be an ideal way to earn some extra cash.
And so, Nanha takes position in front of a bus stop, clad in a torn kurta and with bandages adorning his face, loudly proclaiming, “Jo de us ka Allah bhala karay, jo na de us ka fittay munh.” He proceeds to mistake a man’s wife for his daughter and another man’s daughter for his wife and gets taunted, shoved and slapped in the process. When all else fails, he decides to beg as a woman, from under the shroud of a burqa. The hilarity comes to an end in typical “Alif Noon” fashion — with people crowding around Nanha and beating him up.
The episode is a laugh riot mainly because of Nanha’s antics but it also pushes all the right buttons. It pinpoints begging, a problem that existed in Pakistan back in the 60s and continues to do so even now. In the beginning, the two friends are shown sitting together, criticising the beggars that approach them. But then, “Alif Noon” is a comedy and the moral discussion is quickly wrapped up and the plot becomes side-splittingly funny. After all, nothing tickles the jocular vein more than a sensitive satire of something that would normally make us feel very sad.
Many of Pakistan’s best comic shows have run along similar lines: tongue-in-cheek, perceptive satires of society. It’s only in recent times, with the influx of media channels and the growing influence of Bollywood, that we have had to put up with comedians delivering jokes in a Jonny Lever-inspired slapstick style. Their jokes are usually repetitive, often forgettable and borderline vulgar. We may laugh initially but really, the Pakistani audience, over the years, has been bred on a much more refined, intelligent brand of comedy.
A case in point is another drama from the 60s: Khawaja Moinuddin’s “Taleem-e-Balighan”. The long play focuses on an unruly group of adults being taught by an aged, scurrilous, impoverished master sahib (Mahmood Ali). The cast features some of Pakistan’s finest actors, including Qazi Wajid, Subhani Ba Younis and Qasim Jalali playing the roles of the wayward student body to the hilt. Master sahib enthusiastically beats up his students with his stick; his wife shouts out insults from inside the house since she can’t venture in front of ‘ghaair mard’; the butcher, who is also the class prefect, waves his knife in front of master sahib when aggravated. But amidst the nonsensical hilarity, “Taleem-e-Balighan” has a very clever script, with master sahib making frequent acerbic references to a number of issues like sectarian prejudice, illiteracy, corrupt government officials and poverty. Here’s an example: when the milkman enters, master sahib asks him why yesterday’s milk was so much better than the usual supply, to which he naively replies, “Master sahib, kal paani ke nalkay bund thay” (the water taps were closed yesterday). There are a great deal of insinuations in this play, cloaked in the guise of comedy.
As far as insinuations go, though, nobody is better at making covert wisecracks than Anwar Maqsood. In some of his most memorable work, Anwar Maqsood has teamed up with comedian Moin Akhtar and conducted uproarious, sharp-witted question-and-answer sessions. Moin Akhtar is a marvel at impersonations — in the most recent of these ventures, “Loose Talk”, he starred in almost 245 episodes masquerading as a bullied husband, a Bengali baba, an Indian poet, a corrupt police official and an unscrupulous chaudhary sahib amongst other characters. Maqsood, as the interviewer, furrowed his brows and solemnly tried to make sense of the belligerent answers given by Akhtar’s character.
The script was funny but Maqsood’s work almost always includes astute, well-constructed critiques of current happenings. Shows like “Fifty Fifty”, “Show Time”, “Aangan Terha”,? “Half Plate”, “Studio Dhai” and the “Silver Jubilee Show” are icons in Pakistani comic history. While these programmes showcased some rollicking instances of slapstick comedy, they also included a healthy dose of Anwar Maqsood’s signature sugarcoated sarcasm. “Studio Dhai”, another Anwar Maqsood-Moin Akhtar interview-based show, actually got banned for its bold script. One sequence from “Fifty Fifty”, the highly popular comedy skit show dating back to the 80s, pokes fun at the very Pakistani urge to converse in English even though we may be terrible. Called Bashira in Trouble, it is allegedly the first Punjabi movie in English, claiming that the actors took “six month-long language training courses” for the movie. The skit begins with Bashira daku bradnishing a gun at Ismail Tara, at which Tara raises his eyebrows and says in a deep Punjabi baritone, “Tach me nat Bashiriya.” And then, in another scene, Bashira’s girlfriend, played by Bushra Ansari, tells him he’s a liar at which he exclaims, “Jast you shut up.” “Fifty Fifty”, incidentally, brought some of Pakistan’s most prolific comedians to the forefront: Ismail Tara, Zeba Shehnaz and Bushra Ansari, with her uproarious impersonations of Salma Agha, Tahira Syed and Madam Nur Jehan.
Another writer who ruled PTV back in the 80s, is Hasina Moin. The dramas penned by Hasina Moin were mainly romances, with glossy, affluent characters cavorting around the city, running along the beach and carelessly dressed in Tee-jays (Pakistan’s one and only ‘fashionable’ boutique back then). Her dramas were always pure, unadulterated entertainment, the comic sequences cleverly woven into her stories with such expertise that they rendered her characters all the more lovable and unforgettable. In one scene from “Ankahi”, the heroine Sana, staples her boss’ tie to some important papers in her new secretarial job. Incidentally, that particularly scene has been replicated in quite a few Indian movies, where Hasina Moin’s happy-go-lucky concoctions are apparently quite popular.
Omer Sharif is another Pakistani comedian who has a large number of fans across the border, From his first foray onto the stage back in the late 70s, to his various ventures in movies and television talk shows, Sharif has time and again proven himself to be a comic genius. A lot of his jokes are completely spontaneous and at any given time, he will have impromptu impersonations, song parodies and jokes up his sleeve. His jokes may be audacious, but he is careful to sugarcoat them, and somehow, nobody gets insulted. Whether playing the role of a libidinous scientist in a stage drama or hosting a prestigious Bollywood awards function or interviewing a famous politician, he knows exactly how to get the crowd rolling in the aisles. In a talk show that he is presently hosting, I have watched Omer Sharif brazenly grill his celebrated guests only to have them answer smilingly. Amongst others, Mustafa Khar unabashedly answered questions regarding his multiple marriages, Sharmila Farooqi spoke frankly about her time in prison and Arif Lohar only laughed at pointed remarks about his weight. A large number of the comedians currently gracing our TV screens honed their talents under Omer Sharif’s tutelage. Performers like Shakeel Siddiqui, Rauf Lala and Sikander Sanam began their careers with Omer Sharif’s stage plays and have now been able to establish fan followings of their own.
There are many other comedians who have, time after time, made us laugh. Munawwar Zareef, with his comic timing, facial expressions and spontaneity, is one of the forerunners of Pakistani comedy. His movies, dating back to the 50s, are still a rollicking treat. And then there’s Athar Shah Khan, who gave us the goofy Jaidi in the 60s. Bushra Ansari continues to delve in comedy. She recently wrote the drama “Dolly ki Aayegi Baraat”, in which she also took on the hilarious role of a temperamental, make-up laden Faisalabadi woman with a promiscuous Chaudhary husband. Azfar Ali’s drama series, “Sub Set Hai”, portraying the cataclysmic lives of a group of Karachi-based teenagers drew in quite a few guffaws — as do Jawad Bashir and Faisal Qureshi’s occasional ventures.
A modern-day development in the realm of Pakistani comedy has been the entry of stand-up comedians who usually perform in English in front of live audiences. They sing, sometimes dance, stand on stage for an entire hour and coax the audience into laughter. The improvisational comic troupe, Blackfish, ruled the roost for some time. Now, the troupe’s creator, Saad Haroon, has launched out on his own, performing in major cities, often along with fellow comedian Danish Ali.
Still, it is the older lot of comedians that we recall most fondly and that we want to watch again and again. Quite often, I hear comedians delivering Omer Sharif’s jokes, passing them off as their own. I once asked Omer Sharif about this outright plagiarism. He just shrugged. “People recognise the jokes as my own, even if somebody else is delivering them. These comedians are passing up the opportunity to build their careers by plagiarising. I’ll just come up with more fresh material — what will they do when they run out of jokes to copy?”
They just don’t make comedians like that anymore.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 7th, 2010.
]]> http://tribune.com.pk/story/71411/pakistans-comedians-riot-act/feed/ 0 http://tribune.com.pk/story/76342/media-watch-taxing-times/ http://tribune.com.pk/story/76342/media-watch-taxing-times/#comments Fri, 12 Nov 2010 12:05:23 +0000 Ali Syed http://tribune.com.pk/?p=76342 Media watch is a daily round-up of key articles featured on news websites, hand-picked by The Express Tribune web staff.Clearly, the government has not handled the fiscal side well, allowing the deficit to mushroom by doing little to enhance revenue or cut non-essential current expenditure. Moreover, when it comes to inflation, especially of foodstuff, fuel and electricity, the casualness of the government`s approach has allowed matters to grow substantially worse than they should have been. (dawn.com)
It appears the government wishes to bulldoze the bill through parliament as swiftly as possible – perhaps hoping to stifle debate and discussion. It should be aware that this may not happen. Anger is being widely expressed in many places. While Finance Minister Hafeez Shaikh has said the cost of items of everyday use will not go up, the fact is that the tax burden on people through the GST imposition will increase markedly. (thenews.com.pk)
Both measures are extremely shortsighted, and both, especially the GST revision, have been undertaken at the behest of the IMF. One of the purposes of the GST revision, to broaden the tax base, cannot be achieved with the current taxation machinery, which is thoroughly corrupt, and will administer the revised GST in the same corrupt way. (nation.com.pk)
Once again the salaried class has come under direct fire at a time when inflation is breaking the backs of the masses. It is a wonder that the issue of tax evasion and holding to account the culprits who indulge in this practice has been shunned in favour of further taxing the already heavily taxed. (dailytimes.com.pk)
Much is understandably being made of the fact that those who approved the levy of a one-time rise in income tax rate are exempt from the payment of income tax. Agricultural landlords with an income comparable to that earned by the country’s big industrialists as well as commercial houses, a category in which the majority of PPP cabinet members including the Prime Minister and his Minister of State for Economic Affairs belong, would remain tax-exempt. (brecorder.com)
]]> http://tribune.com.pk/story/76342/media-watch-taxing-times/feed/ 0 http://tribune.com.pk/story/76339/makkah-goes-upmarket-with-luxury-hotels/ http://tribune.com.pk/story/76339/makkah-goes-upmarket-with-luxury-hotels/#comments Fri, 12 Nov 2010 11:21:48 +0000 Reuters http://tribune.com.pk/?p=76339 MAKKAH:?Sitting in the marble lobby of a luxury hotel in Makkah, Moroccan bank director Mohammad Hamdosh gets a breather from the cacophony of pilgrims bustling around the Grand Mosque in Islam’s holiest city.Millions have flocked to the city in Saudi Arabia for the annual hajj pilgrimage, a duty for every able-bodied Muslim who can afford it. But some can afford more than others, and a controversial construction boom is catering to their needs.
“Every pilgrim comes according to his means. God gave me money, so why shouldn’t I stay in this hotel?” says Hamdosh, on a trip that has cost him 12,000 Euros ($16,545). “Hajj is tiring so it’s good to have a room to rest.”
Inside the mosque, all pilgrims are equal as they circle the black stone known as the Kaaba toward which Muslims around the world turn in prayer every day.
But outside an array of towering five-star hotels have sprung up where the wealthy can bask in a 24-hour view of the Kaaba. The high-rises dwarf the mosque and the surrounding town, nestled in the mountains in the hinterland of the port city Jeddah.
It is part of a wider project to expand the mosque and bring more Muslims to the holy city for salvation, according to the writs of Islam, something Saudi Arabia sees as its duty.
Makkah has just inaugurated the world’s largest clockface perched Big Ben-style on the front of a high-rise hotel facing the Kaaba, while some 20 cranes next to the mosque herald more luxury accommodation.
The spending spree in Makkah and the second holy city Medina is valued at some $120 billion over the next decade and at present there are $20 billion of projects underway in Makkah alone, according to Banque Saudi Fransi. A square meter land in Makkah costs some 50,000 riyals ($13,333).
“If people are in a good position they should stay close to the mosque,” said Farhad Yaftali, a 25-year-old pilgrim from an five-strong Afghani business family in Dubai who paid $15,000 each. “It’s good to have a room to rest and do wudu (ablution),” he said, sipping tea in the cafe of the same five-star hotel.
The Saudi government is proud of the development, made possible by the country’s vast wealth accrued from its oil resources. The work is the latest stage in mosque expansions to accommodate pilgrims that stretch back decades.
“In the past 10 years, we’ve seen a big rise in pilgrims. This year the number of pilgrims will rise by 20 percent,” Interior Minister Prince Nayef bin Abdulaziz told a news conference in Makkah this week.
“Work to further improve the level of services to pilgrims of the House of God is continuing,” he said. Hoteliers say they expect more than three million pilgrims, maybe even four.
Makkans angry, powerless
Many Saudi intellectuals, mainly from the Makkah region, are disturbed by the government’s plans, which diplomats in Riyadh say have been approved only by senior clerics away from public scrutiny.
Saudi newspapers and Islamic blogs have engaged in some debate about the building frenzy, but no criticism comes from the top Saudi scholars who are allies to the Saudi royal family in governing the kingdom — which has no elected parliament.
“One cannot help but feel sad seeing al-Kaaba so dot-small between all those glass and iron giants,” said novelist Raja Alem, whose recent novel Tawq al-Hamam (The Doves Necklace) exposes destruction of historic areas, corruption and abuse.
“Long before Islam, Arabs didn’t dare live in the circle of what we call ‘al-haram’, meaning the sacred area (of the mosque),” she said. “They spent their days in the holy city and moved out with nightfall. They thought their human activities defile God’s home.”
The rites of pilgrimage reinforce this sense of humility before God. Men wear two simple pieces of white cloth and women avoid perfumes.
Hoteliers say the government bans some displays of luxury such as swimming pools, yet the new Makkah Clock Royal Tower Hotel will?boast two top-notch spas.
“The notion of filling Makkah’s sky line with modern skyscrapers is not only undermining the Kaaba, it is a clear material symbol of a massive cultural and social deletion the city has experienced,” said Saudi columnist Mahmoud Sabbagh.
“The replacement of the old city has taken with it centuries-long preserved traditions in academic, social, and cultural systems and mechanisms. The whole cultural paradigm has been damaged,” he said.
In recent decades many old houses have been torn down in Makkah to allow better access to the haram, making way for malls, hotels and huge underground parking areas. Locals are compensated for houses they lose.
Irfan al-Alawi, an Islamic theology professor based in London, said the Vatican would never sanction such work in its own sacred precinct.
The government should use space outside the city to build hotels, he said: “Makkah doesn’t have to look like Manhattan or New York.”
]]> http://tribune.com.pk/story/76339/makkah-goes-upmarket-with-luxury-hotels/feed/ 0 http://tribune.com.pk/story/72983/urdu-books-worth-a-read/ http://tribune.com.pk/story/72983/urdu-books-worth-a-read/#comments Fri, 12 Nov 2010 11:18:11 +0000 Maj (R) Muhammad Arif http://tribune.com.pk/?p=72983 Book: Pakistan Kion TootaAuthor: Dr Safdar Mehmood
Pages: 552
Publisher: Sang-e-Mell
Publication, Lahore
Dr Safdar Mehmood is a renowned Pakistani teacher, historian, writer and columnist. He has written a number of books on Pakistan’s history and politics. His articles are regularly published in Urdu newspapers and are highly popular.
Pakistan Kion Toota is a research-based book. The author has collected and collated speeches, articles, press conferences and interviews of all the key players who were at the helm of affairs at the time of fall of Dhaka.? Mehmood has worked very hard to unearth the facts that led to this catastrophe.
The break-up of Pakistan is such a tragedy that it cannot be compared to anything else in the history of our country. The 1971 civil war traumatised the people of Pakistan. This book is especially informative for students of History and Pakistani politics.
Book: Jahan-e-Hairat
Author: Sadar Muhammad Choudhri
Pages: 728
Publisher: Elis Publishers, Lahore
Jahan-e-Hairat is an autobiography of a retired police officer, Sadar Muhammad Choudhri, who held very important posts during his career. He is an eyewitness to some extremely important events which took place in the history of Pakistan, i.e. the fall of Dhaka and the execution of Z A Bhutto. He has work experience with almost all important political leaders/rulers.
The best part about this book is that he has not hidden anything, particularly the hardships faced by him and his family during his early life. He has also highlighted the tragedy of migration and the cruelties and brutalities suffered by the Muslims of the subcontinent. One very important lesson that readers can gather from this book is that if given the opportunity, a senior and intelligent officer can contribute towards the betterment of society and country. Since Choudhri is a witness to the fall of Dhaka, he has tried to unravel actual conspiracies. His visit to China to meet Dr Henry Kissinger is another historical event that Choudhri speaks of in this book.
Overall, the book is very captivating for those who are interested in the history of Pakistan and want to know about the ‘other side’ of politicians, maulvis, waderas and bureaucrats.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 7th, 2010.
]]> http://tribune.com.pk/story/72983/urdu-books-worth-a-read/feed/ 0 http://tribune.com.pk/story/71412/waiting-for-justice/ http://tribune.com.pk/story/71412/waiting-for-justice/#comments Fri, 12 Nov 2010 11:16:45 +0000 Sascha Akhtar http://tribune.com.pk/?p=71412 After the sold-out performances at its premiere earlier in March 2010, Waiting returned to the Southbank Centre for a special one-off performance this month.Western society underwent a transformation the day reality television was born. The question is whether society had already changed and so, by the economic laws of supply and demand, brought about the occurrence or if the television networks changed society by introducing voyeuristic programming.
Whatever the case, we now view “reality” differently. “Reality” is the new escapism. We relish the details of people’s lives in stark, gory detail and nothing else will suffice anymore. Documentaries have had a renaissance in this new thirst for the “real”. In this socio-cultural landscape, there are openings for new forms to emerge both on screen and in theatre. Waiting, is a new media production that incorporates video projections, operatic vocalising and a form of acting that is closer in relation to the art of the “docu-drama”. Victoria Brittain who is a former associate foreign editor of the Guardian, a patron of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, on the editorial board of Race and Class, and on the national executive council of Respect Renewal is the author behind the work.
Her reputation in some factions, mostly right-wingers, of the Western media is mottled, and she has been accused of being a supporter of all causes and people that are viewed to be enemies, as it were, of the Western state. One opening line of an article on an American blog reads, “Victoria Brittain has never met a terrorist, jihadist, or enemy of a liberal and multicultural society that she doesn’t admire”. In Waiting, she has assiduously gathered the stories of the wives, sisters and daughters of men who have been victims of the war on terror, after entering the UK as asylum seekers. The stories are diverse, ranging from a French-Algerian Muslim wife of a man who was kept in UK prisons year after year without trial, to a Jordanian-Muslim who, by way of Pakistan, ended up in the UK only to have her husband picked up and bundled off to Guantanamo Bay leaving her to care for five children, to an elderly English lady who started writing to Muslim detainees in a number of British jails and fell in love with one of them this way.
Each story is told by the actresses playing the women in a warm, intimate setting sitting on an armchair or at a table, with lamps illuminating their faces in the same way one would have a heart-to-heart with a friend. This personalises the stories that are interspersed with both a female soprano and mezzo-soprano accompanied by a cellist whose voices echo the emotional tone of the content of the stories. The effect is magnetic and highly engaging. Video is projected from time to time to complement a story, and the proportion of each element making up the show is perfectly in tune with the highly-charged, sensitive content of the performances.
There is a both a minimal and raw feeling to the musical accompaniment that sets off the heart-rending tales we hear from the five women. Certainly, the operatic women’s voices mirror the emotion that the audience feels for the struggles of these women.
Waiting is a commentary on many issues. It makes us face the effects of the fallout of 9/11 and 7/7 on Muslims everywhere, but also throws a light on the UK justice system. It lends a fresh perspective to the war on terror, showing us how it continues to disrupt not just the lives of individuals but whole families and communities, who continue to wait and wait for their husbands, brothers and fathers to just come home, often not knowing where they are or why they have been taken. In the words of one woman, “I have to wait…yes waiting…one-and-a-half years waiting…waiting for the phone to ring.”
Published in The Express Tribune, November 7th, 2010.
]]> http://tribune.com.pk/story/71412/waiting-for-justice/feed/ 0 http://tribune.com.pk/story/71459/mario-vargas-llosa-questioning-history/ http://tribune.com.pk/story/71459/mario-vargas-llosa-questioning-history/#comments Fri, 12 Nov 2010 11:11:28 +0000 Ammara Khan http://tribune.com.pk/?p=71459 Mario Vargas Llosa, the famous Peruvian-Spanish writer, has been awarded the 2010 Nobel Prize for Literature “for his cartography of structures of power and his trenchant images of the individual’s resistance, revolt and defeat.” A leading contemporary writer, his work has necessitated recognition of the value of reassessing history through fiction.Along with many Latin American writers, including the famous Colombian writer Gabríel Garcia Márquez (Nobel Laureate 1982), Vargas Llosa worked as a journalist before he became a writer. Like Garcia Márquez he was initially influenced by modernist writers, especially William Faulkner and his radical treatment of intricate change in time.? He wrote his doctorial thesis on Gabríel Garcia Márquez but, unlike him and many other writers from the Latin American boom, Vargas Llosa does not interlace reality with fantasy in the tradition of magical realism. His ethical obsession and general interest is politics and its impact on common people.
Vargas Llosa started his literary career at the age of 27 with the publication of his first novel The Time of the Hero in 1963 which became a big success. Now 74, Vargas has published over 30 novels, essays and plays, including Conversation in the Cathedral, Captain Pantoja and the Special Service, Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter and The Feast of the Goat.
The defining feature of his writings is the perilous struggle with an increasingly oppressive reality that is sworn to the antagonism of the individual and his efforts to synthesise or reconcile with that reality.
Vargas Llosa writes mostly in response to the crucial problems faced by the Peruvian society and how ordinary people feel about these political problems. He has primarily worked within the trends of both modern and postmodern narrative, employing the former as a tool of critique, of unraveling the corruption of the political, and the latter as the indulgence in the playful side of experimentation, turning an aspiration to reveal the hidden truth of the world to the unmistakable commitment to heterogeneity, fragmentation and difference.? Along with his narrative method, he broadened his thematic range and began to analyse the problems that are faced by everyone, irrespective of their geographical location.
Earlier on a Marxist and a supporter of the Cuban revolutionary government of Fidel Castro, Vargas Llosa noticed the disparity between social idealism and public freedom and became an enthusiast of liberalism and democracy over the years. He opposed the nationalisation of public banks in Peru at one point. Often labeled a neoliberal, he ran for the presidency of Peru in 1990 but lost to Alberto Fujimori.
An ardent reader of Sartre, Vargas Llosa delves into the essence of existence through his novels. For him, the novel represents an exploration of the possibilities of human existence through various characters and their relation to their immediate location in time. Through its great thematic range, his fiction takes us beyond the existential presence of his characters to question the very essence of history.
Along with his novels, Llosa’s non-fiction, numerous interviews and adventure into professional politics, present an accurate picture of his immediate ideological context.
His gift for seeing things from a different point of view and providing a fresh perspective on the familiar marks him as one of the best Latin American writers. Extremely rewarding to read, Llosa’s works examine the vulnerabilities of power and their impact on people. Cultural specificity and historical rootedness are the hallmarks of his writing.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 7th, 2010.
y over _? h `?(?y translator was lost in thought for a moment, rubbing disinfectant over her palms.
“These people don’t like it when you talk about contraception to the young girls,” said the doctor briskly as we made our way to the lunch room. “You make immediate enemies out of them. The most you can do is talk about spacing out the eight, nine kids that they’ll end up having.”
“But you said something to her, right at the end — what was it?”
Komal looked at me. “I asked her if she’ll have as many kids as her mother in law wants her to have. And she said yes.”
Returning from Khairpur, it occurs to me that even the greatest floods in living memory aren’t enough to hold our interest for more than a couple of weeks. Nor, for that matter, is the world that found itself washed up on our television screen of particular interest: malnourished kids with scabies, poverty, a province inured to the progress and wealth of the rest of the country. The truth is that the floods have done little to change the neglect and invisibility of millions of Pakistani women living out their lives as bad statistics on the human development index.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 7th, 2010.
]]> http://tribune.com.pk/story/71459/mario-vargas-llosa-questioning-history/feed/ 0 http://tribune.com.pk/story/76336/earthquake-jolts-quetta/ http://tribune.com.pk/story/76336/earthquake-jolts-quetta/#comments Fri, 12 Nov 2010 10:44:02 +0000 hassan.asif http://tribune.com.pk/?p=76336 QUETTA:?A 4.2 magnitude earthquake jolted Quetta and its suburbs on Friday.Medium intensity tremors were felt in Quetta and its adjoining areas causing panic among people.
The epicentre?was 70 kilometer north west of Kurkh near Quetta
Ten people are reported injured, of which four are children.
]]> http://tribune.com.pk/story/76336/earthquake-jolts-quetta/feed/ 0 http://tribune.com.pk/story/76330/govt-tables-opposition-rejects-rgst-bill/ http://tribune.com.pk/story/76330/govt-tables-opposition-rejects-rgst-bill/#comments Fri, 12 Nov 2010 10:30:16 +0000 Atika.rehman http://tribune.com.pk/?p=76330 ISLAMABAD:?The government faced firm resistance from opposition parties as the Reformed General Sales Tax (RGST) Bill was tabled in the National Assembly and senate session on Friday, at the?Parliament House in Islamabad.The Pakistan Muslim League – Nawaz (PML-N), Muttahida?Qaumi?Movement (MQM) and Pakistan Muslim League – Quaid opposed the RGST Bill in the NA while MQM senators?and?Jamaat-e-Ulema Islam?- Fazl opposed the Bill in the Senate.
Talking to Express 24/7 on behalf of PML-N, Ayaz Amir said the move to table RGST shows that the government has run out of options and is not “clear in its head” on how to mobilise resources. He said that the tax will lead to a hike in inflation because ?government is not thinking of alternatives.
“If we are in a war situation why don’t we get our loans written off?” he said, addressing the statement of the finance minister on owing debts to the United States. “In which world is the finance minister living?” said Amir, adding that the finance minister had said the loans were not to be written off since it was a “matter of respect”.
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Minister Bashir Bilour said the RGST cannot be imposed on?his province because it is already exempted from taxes for two years due to floods.
PPP MNA, Sherry Rehman said the RGST Bill, if passed, will prove very burdensome for the common man.
Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani said the Bill will be debated in the House and voting will be held to decide its fate.
Despite stiff opposition from the coalition partners, the PPP-led federal government finalised the RGST Reforms Bill 2010 and presented it in the NA and Senate sessions today.
Finance minister Dr Abdul Hafeez Sheikh presented the RGST Bill in the NA while the leader of the house in senate Nayyer Bukhari presented the Bill in the Senate.?The flood surcharge tax Bill?was also presented in?the Assembly.
The Bills have been forwarded to the NA and senate?Standing Committee on Finance. The commitees will prepare a report by ?November 22 after which the Bill will be approved in both houses on the same date.
]]> http://tribune.com.pk/story/76330/govt-tables-opposition-rejects-rgst-bill/feed/ 2 http://tribune.com.pk/story/76324/missing-prisoners-case-continues-to-linger/ http://tribune.com.pk/story/76324/missing-prisoners-case-continues-to-linger/#comments Fri, 12 Nov 2010 09:36:17 +0000 hassan.asif http://tribune.com.pk/?p=76324 ISLAMABAD:?Supreme Court Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhary on Friday declined to meet intelligence officials in private and asked them to appear in court if they wanted to share information.A three-member bench of the Supreme Court, headed by the Chief Justice, was hearing case of the 11 missing prisoners.?Justice Iftikhar said that he had not met intelligence officials in private as that would make the case non-transparent.
The Attorney General today informed the court that intelligence officials wanted to meet the Chief Justice in private to share sensitive information on the case.
The Chief Justice, however, directed the Attorney General to ask the intelligence officials to appear in court and speak before the bench instead.
The Attorney General said intelligence agencies have denied taking any person into illegal custody.
The bench has issued notices to all intelligence agencies to submit a written reply in this matter.
On Wednesday, a report presented to the Supreme Court by the?Punjab Chief Secretary?stated that the 11 missing prisoners?had been handed over to intelligence agencies.
The hearing of the case has been adjourned till November 25.
]]> http://tribune.com.pk/story/76324/missing-prisoners-case-continues-to-linger/feed/ 6 http://tribune.com.pk/story/76239/yousuf-out-as-south-africa-bat-in-first-test/ http://tribune.com.pk/story/76239/yousuf-out-as-south-africa-bat-in-first-test/#comments Fri, 12 Nov 2010 07:50:11 +0000 AFP http://tribune.com.pk/?p=76239 DUBAI:?Pakistan received a last-minute jolt when their ace batsman Mohammad Yousuf was forced to sit out due to groin injury as South Africa won the toss and opted to bat in the first Test here on Friday.The 36-year-old Yousuf was practising at the ground when he felt groin problem and was replaced by young batsman Umar Akmal.
Pakistan also included two regular spinners, Saeed Ajmal and Abdul Rehman, at Dubai Stadium, which will be hosting a Test for the first time.
Team manager Intikhab Alam said Yousuf’s injury was a recurring one.
“It’s the old injury he picked up before the one-day series last month, so we thought it’s not worth taking risk because it’s a five-day Test,” said Alam.
Pakistan has also given a Test cap to 25-year-old wicketkeeper Adnan Akmal, who replaces Zulqarnain Haider.
Haider fled to London on the morning of Monday’s fifth one-day match against South Africa, saying he had received death threats.
South Africa’s line-up includes both their spinners, Paul Harris and Johan Botha, with Dale Steyn, Morne Morkel and Jacques Kallis to share the new ball.
Pakistan: Misbah-ul-Haq (captain), Taufiq Umer, Mohammad Hafeez, Younis Khan, Umar Akmal, Azhar Ali, Saeed Ajmal, Abdul Rehman, Adnan Akmal, Umar Gul, Wahab Riaz
South Africa: Graeme Smith (captain), Hashim Amla, Johan Botha, Mark Boucher, AB de Villiers, Paul Harris, Jacques Kallis, Morne Morkel, Alviro Peterson, Ashwell Prince, Dale Steyn
Umpires: Asoka de Silva (SRI) and Daryl Harper (AUS)
TV umpire: Ahsan Raza (PAK)
Match referee: Andy Pycroft (ZIM)
]]> http://tribune.com.pk/story/76239/yousuf-out-as-south-africa-bat-in-first-test/feed/ 0http://tribune.com.pk Latest Breaking Pakistan News, Business, Life, Style, Cricket, Videos, Comments Fri, 12 Nov 2010 12:22:40 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 http://tribune.com.pk/story/71411/pakistans-comedians-riot-act/ http://tribune.com.pk/story/71411/pakistans-comedians-riot-act/#comments Fri, 12 Nov 2010 12:22:40 +0000 Maliha Rehman http://tribune.com.pk/?p=71411 In a particularly funny episode of Kamal Ahmed Rizvi’s comic masterpiece from the 60s, “Alif Noon”, the conniving Allan, played by Rizvi himself, convinces his befuddled, susceptible friend Nanha, portrayed by a wide-eyed, utterly lovable Rafi Khawar, that begging would be an ideal way to earn some extra cash.
And so, Nanha takes position in front of a bus stop, clad in a torn kurta and with bandages adorning his face, loudly proclaiming, “Jo de us ka Allah bhala karay, jo na de us ka fittay munh.” He proceeds to mistake a man’s wife for his daughter and another man’s daughter for his wife and gets taunted, shoved and slapped in the process. When all else fails, he decides to beg as a woman, from under the shroud of a burqa. The hilarity comes to an end in typical “Alif Noon” fashion — with people crowding around Nanha and beating him up.
The episode is a laugh riot mainly because of Nanha’s antics but it also pushes all the right buttons. It pinpoints begging, a problem that existed in Pakistan back in the 60s and continues to do so even now. In the beginning, the two friends are shown sitting together, criticising the beggars that approach them. But then, “Alif Noon” is a comedy and the moral discussion is quickly wrapped up and the plot becomes side-splittingly funny. After all, nothing tickles the jocular vein more than a sensitive satire of something that would normally make us feel very sad.
Many of Pakistan’s best comic shows have run along similar lines: tongue-in-cheek, perceptive satires of society. It’s only in recent times, with the influx of media channels and the growing influence of Bollywood, that we have had to put up with comedians delivering jokes in a Jonny Lever-inspired slapstick style. Their jokes are usually repetitive, often forgettable and borderline vulgar. We may laugh initially but really, the Pakistani audience, over the years, has been bred on a much more refined, intelligent brand of comedy.
A case in point is another drama from the 60s: Khawaja Moinuddin’s “Taleem-e-Balighan”. The long play focuses on an unruly group of adults being taught by an aged, scurrilous, impoverished master sahib (Mahmood Ali). The cast features some of Pakistan’s finest actors, including Qazi Wajid, Subhani Ba Younis and Qasim Jalali playing the roles of the wayward student body to the hilt. Master sahib enthusiastically beats up his students with his stick; his wife shouts out insults from inside the house since she can’t venture in front of ‘ghaair mard’; the butcher, who is also the class prefect, waves his knife in front of master sahib when aggravated. But amidst the nonsensical hilarity, “Taleem-e-Balighan” has a very clever script, with master sahib making frequent acerbic references to a number of issues like sectarian prejudice, illiteracy, corrupt government officials and poverty. Here’s an example: when the milkman enters, master sahib asks him why yesterday’s milk was so much better than the usual supply, to which he naively replies, “Master sahib, kal paani ke nalkay bund thay” (the water taps were closed yesterday). There are a great deal of insinuations in this play, cloaked in the guise of comedy.
As far as insinuations go, though, nobody is better at making covert wisecracks than Anwar Maqsood. In some of his most memorable work, Anwar Maqsood has teamed up with comedian Moin Akhtar and conducted uproarious, sharp-witted question-and-answer sessions. Moin Akhtar is a marvel at impersonations — in the most recent of these ventures, “Loose Talk”, he starred in almost 245 episodes masquerading as a bullied husband, a Bengali baba, an Indian poet, a corrupt police official and an unscrupulous chaudhary sahib amongst other characters. Maqsood, as the interviewer, furrowed his brows and solemnly tried to make sense of the belligerent answers given by Akhtar’s character.
The script was funny but Maqsood’s work almost always includes astute, well-constructed critiques of current happenings. Shows like “Fifty Fifty”, “Show Time”, “Aangan Terha”,? “Half Plate”, “Studio Dhai” and the “Silver Jubilee Show” are icons in Pakistani comic history. While these programmes showcased some rollicking instances of slapstick comedy, they also included a healthy dose of Anwar Maqsood’s signature sugarcoated sarcasm. “Studio Dhai”, another Anwar Maqsood-Moin Akhtar interview-based show, actually got banned for its bold script. One sequence from “Fifty Fifty”, the highly popular comedy skit show dating back to the 80s, pokes fun at the very Pakistani urge to converse in English even though we may be terrible. Called Bashira in Trouble, it is allegedly the first Punjabi movie in English, claiming that the actors took “six month-long language training courses” for the movie. The skit begins with Bashira daku bradnishing a gun at Ismail Tara, at which Tara raises his eyebrows and says in a deep Punjabi baritone, “Tach me nat Bashiriya.” And then, in another scene, Bashira’s girlfriend, played by Bushra Ansari, tells him he’s a liar at which he exclaims, “Jast you shut up.” “Fifty Fifty”, incidentally, brought some of Pakistan’s most prolific comedians to the forefront: Ismail Tara, Zeba Shehnaz and Bushra Ansari, with her uproarious impersonations of Salma Agha, Tahira Syed and Madam Nur Jehan.
Another writer who ruled PTV back in the 80s, is Hasina Moin. The dramas penned by Hasina Moin were mainly romances, with glossy, affluent characters cavorting around the city, running along the beach and carelessly dressed in Tee-jays (Pakistan’s one and only ‘fashionable’ boutique back then). Her dramas were always pure, unadulterated entertainment, the comic sequences cleverly woven into her stories with such expertise that they rendered her characters all the more lovable and unforgettable. In one scene from “Ankahi”, the heroine Sana, staples her boss’ tie to some important papers in her new secretarial job. Incidentally, that particularly scene has been replicated in quite a few Indian movies, where Hasina Moin’s happy-go-lucky concoctions are apparently quite popular.
Omer Sharif is another Pakistani comedian who has a large number of fans across the border, From his first foray onto the stage back in the late 70s, to his various ventures in movies and television talk shows, Sharif has time and again proven himself to be a comic genius. A lot of his jokes are completely spontaneous and at any given time, he will have impromptu impersonations, song parodies and jokes up his sleeve. His jokes may be audacious, but he is careful to sugarcoat them, and somehow, nobody gets insulted. Whether playing the role of a libidinous scientist in a stage drama or hosting a prestigious Bollywood awards function or interviewing a famous politician, he knows exactly how to get the crowd rolling in the aisles. In a talk show that he is presently hosting, I have watched Omer Sharif brazenly grill his celebrated guests only to have them answer smilingly. Amongst others, Mustafa Khar unabashedly answered questions regarding his multiple marriages, Sharmila Farooqi spoke frankly about her time in prison and Arif Lohar only laughed at pointed remarks about his weight. A large number of the comedians currently gracing our TV screens honed their talents under Omer Sharif’s tutelage. Performers like Shakeel Siddiqui, Rauf Lala and Sikander Sanam began their careers with Omer Sharif’s stage plays and have now been able to establish fan followings of their own.
There are many other comedians who have, time after time, made us laugh. Munawwar Zareef, with his comic timing, facial expressions and spontaneity, is one of the forerunners of Pakistani comedy. His movies, dating back to the 50s, are still a rollicking treat. And then there’s Athar Shah Khan, who gave us the goofy Jaidi in the 60s. Bushra Ansari continues to delve in comedy. She recently wrote the drama “Dolly ki Aayegi Baraat”, in which she also took on the hilarious role of a temperamental, make-up laden Faisalabadi woman with a promiscuous Chaudhary husband. Azfar Ali’s drama series, “Sub Set Hai”, portraying the cataclysmic lives of a group of Karachi-based teenagers drew in quite a few guffaws — as do Jawad Bashir and Faisal Qureshi’s occasional ventures.
A modern-day development in the realm of Pakistani comedy has been the entry of stand-up comedians who usually perform in English in front of live audiences. They sing, sometimes dance, stand on stage for an entire hour and coax the audience into laughter. The improvisational comic troupe, Blackfish, ruled the roost for some time. Now, the troupe’s creator, Saad Haroon, has launched out on his own, performing in major cities, often along with fellow comedian Danish Ali.
Still, it is the older lot of comedians that we recall most fondly and that we want to watch again and again. Quite often, I hear comedians delivering Omer Sharif’s jokes, passing them off as their own. I once asked Omer Sharif about this outright plagiarism. He just shrugged. “People recognise the jokes as my own, even if somebody else is delivering them. These comedians are passing up the opportunity to build their careers by plagiarising. I’ll just come up with more fresh material — what will they do when they run out of jokes to copy?”
They just don’t make comedians like that anymore.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 7th, 2010.
]]> http://tribune.com.pk/story/71411/pakistans-comedians-riot-act/feed/ 0 http://tribune.com.pk/story/76342/media-watch-taxing-times/ http://tribune.com.pk/story/76342/media-watch-taxing-times/#comments Fri, 12 Nov 2010 12:05:23 +0000 Ali Syed http://tribune.com.pk/?p=76342 Media watch is a daily round-up of key articles featured on news websites, hand-picked by The Express Tribune web staff.Clearly, the government has not handled the fiscal side well, allowing the deficit to mushroom by doing little to enhance revenue or cut non-essential current expenditure. Moreover, when it comes to inflation, especially of foodstuff, fuel and electricity, the casualness of the government`s approach has allowed matters to grow substantially worse than they should have been. (dawn.com)
It appears the government wishes to bulldoze the bill through parliament as swiftly as possible – perhaps hoping to stifle debate and discussion. It should be aware that this may not happen. Anger is being widely expressed in many places. While Finance Minister Hafeez Shaikh has said the cost of items of everyday use will not go up, the fact is that the tax burden on people through the GST imposition will increase markedly. (thenews.com.pk)
Both measures are extremely shortsighted, and both, especially the GST revision, have been undertaken at the behest of the IMF. One of the purposes of the GST revision, to broaden the tax base, cannot be achieved with the current taxation machinery, which is thoroughly corrupt, and will administer the revised GST in the same corrupt way. (nation.com.pk)
Once again the salaried class has come under direct fire at a time when inflation is breaking the backs of the masses. It is a wonder that the issue of tax evasion and holding to account the culprits who indulge in this practice has been shunned in favour of further taxing the already heavily taxed. (dailytimes.com.pk)
Much is understandably being made of the fact that those who approved the levy of a one-time rise in income tax rate are exempt from the payment of income tax. Agricultural landlords with an income comparable to that earned by the country’s big industrialists as well as commercial houses, a category in which the majority of PPP cabinet members including the Prime Minister and his Minister of State for Economic Affairs belong, would remain tax-exempt. (brecorder.com)
]]> http://tribune.com.pk/story/76342/media-watch-taxing-times/feed/ 0 http://tribune.com.pk/story/76339/makkah-goes-upmarket-with-luxury-hotels/ http://tribune.com.pk/story/76339/makkah-goes-upmarket-with-luxury-hotels/#comments Fri, 12 Nov 2010 11:21:48 +0000 Reuters http://tribune.com.pk/?p=76339 MAKKAH:?Sitting in the marble lobby of a luxury hotel in Makkah, Moroccan bank director Mohammad Hamdosh gets a breather from the cacophony of pilgrims bustling around the Grand Mosque in Islam’s holiest city.Millions have flocked to the city in Saudi Arabia for the annual hajj pilgrimage, a duty for every able-bodied Muslim who can afford it. But some can afford more than others, and a controversial construction boom is catering to their needs.
“Every pilgrim comes according to his means. God gave me money, so why shouldn’t I stay in this hotel?” says Hamdosh, on a trip that has cost him 12,000 Euros ($16,545). “Hajj is tiring so it’s good to have a room to rest.”
Inside the mosque, all pilgrims are equal as they circle the black stone known as the Kaaba toward which Muslims around the world turn in prayer every day.
But outside an array of towering five-star hotels have sprung up where the wealthy can bask in a 24-hour view of the Kaaba. The high-rises dwarf the mosque and the surrounding town, nestled in the mountains in the hinterland of the port city Jeddah.
It is part of a wider project to expand the mosque and bring more Muslims to the holy city for salvation, according to the writs of Islam, something Saudi Arabia sees as its duty.
Makkah has just inaugurated the world’s largest clockface perched Big Ben-style on the front of a high-rise hotel facing the Kaaba, while some 20 cranes next to the mosque herald more luxury accommodation.
The spending spree in Makkah and the second holy city Medina is valued at some $120 billion over the next decade and at present there are $20 billion of projects underway in Makkah alone, according to Banque Saudi Fransi. A square meter land in Makkah costs some 50,000 riyals ($13,333).
“If people are in a good position they should stay close to the mosque,” said Farhad Yaftali, a 25-year-old pilgrim from an five-strong Afghani business family in Dubai who paid $15,000 each. “It’s good to have a room to rest and do wudu (ablution),” he said, sipping tea in the cafe of the same five-star hotel.
The Saudi government is proud of the development, made possible by the country’s vast wealth accrued from its oil resources. The work is the latest stage in mosque expansions to accommodate pilgrims that stretch back decades.
“In the past 10 years, we’ve seen a big rise in pilgrims. This year the number of pilgrims will rise by 20 percent,” Interior Minister Prince Nayef bin Abdulaziz told a news conference in Makkah this week.
“Work to further improve the level of services to pilgrims of the House of God is continuing,” he said. Hoteliers say they expect more than three million pilgrims, maybe even four.
Makkans angry, powerless
Many Saudi intellectuals, mainly from the Makkah region, are disturbed by the government’s plans, which diplomats in Riyadh say have been approved only by senior clerics away from public scrutiny.
Saudi newspapers and Islamic blogs have engaged in some debate about the building frenzy, but no criticism comes from the top Saudi scholars who are allies to the Saudi royal family in governing the kingdom — which has no elected parliament.
“One cannot help but feel sad seeing al-Kaaba so dot-small between all those glass and iron giants,” said novelist Raja Alem, whose recent novel Tawq al-Hamam (The Doves Necklace) exposes destruction of historic areas, corruption and abuse.
“Long before Islam, Arabs didn’t dare live in the circle of what we call ‘al-haram’, meaning the sacred area (of the mosque),” she said. “They spent their days in the holy city and moved out with nightfall. They thought their human activities defile God’s home.”
The rites of pilgrimage reinforce this sense of humility before God. Men wear two simple pieces of white cloth and women avoid perfumes.
Hoteliers say the government bans some displays of luxury such as swimming pools, yet the new Makkah Clock Royal Tower Hotel will?boast two top-notch spas.
“The notion of filling Makkah’s sky line with modern skyscrapers is not only undermining the Kaaba, it is a clear material symbol of a massive cultural and social deletion the city has experienced,” said Saudi columnist Mahmoud Sabbagh.
“The replacement of the old city has taken with it centuries-long preserved traditions in academic, social, and cultural systems and mechanisms. The whole cultural paradigm has been damaged,” he said.
In recent decades many old houses have been torn down in Makkah to allow better access to the haram, making way for malls, hotels and huge underground parking areas. Locals are compensated for houses they lose.
Irfan al-Alawi, an Islamic theology professor based in London, said the Vatican would never sanction such work in its own sacred precinct.
The government should use space outside the city to build hotels, he said: “Makkah doesn’t have to look like Manhattan or New York.”
]]> http://tribune.com.pk/story/76339/makkah-goes-upmarket-with-luxury-hotels/feed/ 0 http://tribune.com.pk/story/72983/urdu-books-worth-a-read/ http://tribune.com.pk/story/72983/urdu-books-worth-a-read/#comments Fri, 12 Nov 2010 11:18:11 +0000 Maj (R) Muhammad Arif http://tribune.com.pk/?p=72983 Book: Pakistan Kion TootaAuthor: Dr Safdar Mehmood
Pages: 552
Publisher: Sang-e-Mell
Publication, Lahore
Dr Safdar Mehmood is a renowned Pakistani teacher, historian, writer and columnist. He has written a number of books on Pakistan’s history and politics. His articles are regularly published in Urdu newspapers and are highly popular.
Pakistan Kion Toota is a research-based book. The author has collected and collated speeches, articles, press conferences and interviews of all the key players who were at the helm of affairs at the time of fall of Dhaka.? Mehmood has worked very hard to unearth the facts that led to this catastrophe.
The break-up of Pakistan is such a tragedy that it cannot be compared to anything else in the history of our country. The 1971 civil war traumatised the people of Pakistan. This book is especially informative for students of History and Pakistani politics.
Book: Jahan-e-Hairat
Author: Sadar Muhammad Choudhri
Pages: 728
Publisher: Elis Publishers, Lahore
Jahan-e-Hairat is an autobiography of a retired police officer, Sadar Muhammad Choudhri, who held very important posts during his career. He is an eyewitness to some extremely important events which took place in the history of Pakistan, i.e. the fall of Dhaka and the execution of Z A Bhutto. He has work experience with almost all important political leaders/rulers.
The best part about this book is that he has not hidden anything, particularly the hardships faced by him and his family during his early life. He has also highlighted the tragedy of migration and the cruelties and brutalities suffered by the Muslims of the subcontinent. One very important lesson that readers can gather from this book is that if given the opportunity, a senior and intelligent officer can contribute towards the betterment of society and country. Since Choudhri is a witness to the fall of Dhaka, he has tried to unravel actual conspiracies. His visit to China to meet Dr Henry Kissinger is another historical event that Choudhri speaks of in this book.
Overall, the book is very captivating for those who are interested in the history of Pakistan and want to know about the ‘other side’ of politicians, maulvis, waderas and bureaucrats.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 7th, 2010.
]]> http://tribune.com.pk/story/72983/urdu-books-worth-a-read/feed/ 0 http://tribune.com.pk/story/71412/waiting-for-justice/ http://tribune.com.pk/story/71412/waiting-for-justice/#comments Fri, 12 Nov 2010 11:16:45 +0000 Sascha Akhtar http://tribune.com.pk/?p=71412 After the sold-out performances at its premiere earlier in March 2010, Waiting returned to the Southbank Centre for a special one-off performance this month.Western society underwent a transformation the day reality television was born. The question is whether society had already changed and so, by the economic laws of supply and demand, brought about the occurrence or if the television networks changed society by introducing voyeuristic programming.
Whatever the case, we now view “reality” differently. “Reality” is the new escapism. We relish the details of people’s lives in stark, gory detail and nothing else will suffice anymore. Documentaries have had a renaissance in this new thirst for the “real”. In this socio-cultural landscape, there are openings for new forms to emerge both on screen and in theatre. Waiting, is a new media production that incorporates video projections, operatic vocalising and a form of acting that is closer in relation to the art of the “docu-drama”. Victoria Brittain who is a former associate foreign editor of the Guardian, a patron of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, on the editorial board of Race and Class, and on the national executive council of Respect Renewal is the author behind the work.
Her reputation in some factions, mostly right-wingers, of the Western media is mottled, and she has been accused of being a supporter of all causes and people that are viewed to be enemies, as it were, of the Western state. One opening line of an article on an American blog reads, “Victoria Brittain has never met a terrorist, jihadist, or enemy of a liberal and multicultural society that she doesn’t admire”. In Waiting, she has assiduously gathered the stories of the wives, sisters and daughters of men who have been victims of the war on terror, after entering the UK as asylum seekers. The stories are diverse, ranging from a French-Algerian Muslim wife of a man who was kept in UK prisons year after year without trial, to a Jordanian-Muslim who, by way of Pakistan, ended up in the UK only to have her husband picked up and bundled off to Guantanamo Bay leaving her to care for five children, to an elderly English lady who started writing to Muslim detainees in a number of British jails and fell in love with one of them this way.
Each story is told by the actresses playing the women in a warm, intimate setting sitting on an armchair or at a table, with lamps illuminating their faces in the same way one would have a heart-to-heart with a friend. This personalises the stories that are interspersed with both a female soprano and mezzo-soprano accompanied by a cellist whose voices echo the emotional tone of the content of the stories. The effect is magnetic and highly engaging. Video is projected from time to time to complement a story, and the proportion of each element making up the show is perfectly in tune with the highly-charged, sensitive content of the performances.
There is a both a minimal and raw feeling to the musical accompaniment that sets off the heart-rending tales we hear from the five women. Certainly, the operatic women’s voices mirror the emotion that the audience feels for the struggles of these women.
Waiting is a commentary on many issues. It makes us face the effects of the fallout of 9/11 and 7/7 on Muslims everywhere, but also throws a light on the UK justice system. It lends a fresh perspective to the war on terror, showing us how it continues to disrupt not just the lives of individuals but whole families and communities, who continue to wait and wait for their husbands, brothers and fathers to just come home, often not knowing where they are or why they have been taken. In the words of one woman, “I have to wait…yes waiting…one-and-a-half years waiting…waiting for the phone to ring.”
Published in The Express Tribune, November 7th, 2010.
]]> http://tribune.com.pk/story/71412/waiting-for-justice/feed/ 0 http://tribune.com.pk/story/71459/mario-vargas-llosa-questioning-history/ http://tribune.com.pk/story/71459/mario-vargas-llosa-questioning-history/#comments Fri, 12 Nov 2010 11:11:28 +0000 Ammara Khan http://tribune.com.pk/?p=71459 Mario Vargas Llosa, the famous Peruvian-Spanish writer, has been awarded the 2010 Nobel Prize for Literature “for his cartography of structures of power and his trenchant images of the individual’s resistance, revolt and defeat.” A leading contemporary writer, his work has necessitated recognition of the value of reassessing history through fiction.Along with many Latin American writers, including the famous Colombian writer Gabríel Garcia Márquez (Nobel Laureate 1982), Vargas Llosa worked as a journalist before he became a writer. Like Garcia Márquez he was initially influenced by modernist writers, especially William Faulkner and his radical treatment of intricate change in time.? He wrote his doctorial thesis on Gabríel Garcia Márquez but, unlike him and many other writers from the Latin American boom, Vargas Llosa does not interlace reality with fantasy in the tradition of magical realism. His ethical obsession and general interest is politics and its impact on common people.
Vargas Llosa started his literary career at the age of 27 with the publication of his first novel The Time of the Hero in 1963 which became a big success. Now 74, Vargas has published over 30 novels, essays and plays, including Conversation in the Cathedral, Captain Pantoja and the Special Service, Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter and The Feast of the Goat.
The defining feature of his writings is the perilous struggle with an increasingly oppressive reality that is sworn to the antagonism of the individual and his efforts to synthesise or reconcile with that reality.
Vargas Llosa writes mostly in response to the crucial problems faced by the Peruvian society and how ordinary people feel about these political problems. He has primarily worked within the trends of both modern and postmodern narrative, employing the former as a tool of critique, of unraveling the corruption of the political, and the latter as the indulgence in the playful side of experimentation, turning an aspiration to reveal the hidden truth of the world to the unmistakable commitment to heterogeneity, fragmentation and difference.? Along with his narrative method, he broadened his thematic range and began to analyse the problems that are faced by everyone, irrespective of their geographical location.
Earlier on a Marxist and a supporter of the Cuban revolutionary government of Fidel Castro, Vargas Llosa noticed the disparity between social idealism and public freedom and became an enthusiast of liberalism and democracy over the years. He opposed the nationalisation of public banks in Peru at one point. Often labeled a neoliberal, he ran for the presidency of Peru in 1990 but lost to Alberto Fujimori.
An ardent reader of Sartre, Vargas Llosa delves into the essence of existence through his novels. For him, the novel represents an exploration of the possibilities of human existence through various characters and their relation to their immediate location in time. Through its great thematic range, his fiction takes us beyond the existential presence of his characters to question the very essence of history.
Along with his novels, Llosa’s non-fiction, numerous interviews and adventure into professional politics, present an accurate picture of his immediate ideological context.
His gift for seeing things from a different point of view and providing a fresh perspective on the familiar marks him as one of the best Latin American writers. Extremely rewarding to read, Llosa’s works examine the vulnerabilities of power and their impact on people. Cultural specificity and historical rootedness are the hallmarks of his writing.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 7th, 2010.
y over _? h `?(?y translator was lost in thought for a moment, rubbing disinfectant over her palms.
“These people don’t like it when you talk about contraception to the young girls,” said the doctor briskly as we made our way to the lunch room. “You make immediate enemies out of them. The most you can do is talk about spacing out the eight, nine kids that they’ll end up having.”
“But you said something to her, right at the end — what was it?”
Komal looked at me. “I asked her if she’ll have as many kids as her mother in law wants her to have. And she said yes.”
Returning from Khairpur, it occurs to me that even the greatest floods in living memory aren’t enough to hold our interest for more than a couple of weeks. Nor, for that matter, is the world that found itself washed up on our television screen of particular interest: malnourished kids with scabies, poverty, a province inured to the progress and wealth of the rest of the country. The truth is that the floods have done little to change the neglect and invisibility of millions of Pakistani women living out their lives as bad statistics on the human development index.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 7th, 2010.
]]> http://tribune.com.pk/story/71459/mario-vargas-llosa-questioning-history/feed/ 0 http://tribune.com.pk/story/76336/earthquake-jolts-quetta/ http://tribune.com.pk/story/76336/earthquake-jolts-quetta/#comments Fri, 12 Nov 2010 10:44:02 +0000 hassan.asif http://tribune.com.pk/?p=76336 QUETTA:?A 4.2 magnitude earthquake jolted Quetta and its suburbs on Friday.Medium intensity tremors were felt in Quetta and its adjoining areas causing panic among people.
The epicentre?was 70 kilometer north west of Kurkh near Quetta
Ten people are reported injured, of which four are children.
]]> http://tribune.com.pk/story/76336/earthquake-jolts-quetta/feed/ 0 http://tribune.com.pk/story/76330/govt-tables-opposition-rejects-rgst-bill/ http://tribune.com.pk/story/76330/govt-tables-opposition-rejects-rgst-bill/#comments Fri, 12 Nov 2010 10:30:16 +0000 Atika.rehman http://tribune.com.pk/?p=76330 ISLAMABAD:?The government faced firm resistance from opposition parties as the Reformed General Sales Tax (RGST) Bill was tabled in the National Assembly and senate session on Friday, at the?Parliament House in Islamabad.The Pakistan Muslim League – Nawaz (PML-N), Muttahida?Qaumi?Movement (MQM) and Pakistan Muslim League – Quaid opposed the RGST Bill in the NA while MQM senators?and?Jamaat-e-Ulema Islam?- Fazl opposed the Bill in the Senate.
Talking to Express 24/7 on behalf of PML-N, Ayaz Amir said the move to table RGST shows that the government has run out of options and is not “clear in its head” on how to mobilise resources. He said that the tax will lead to a hike in inflation because ?government is not thinking of alternatives.
“If we are in a war situation why don’t we get our loans written off?” he said, addressing the statement of the finance minister on owing debts to the United States. “In which world is the finance minister living?” said Amir, adding that the finance minister had said the loans were not to be written off since it was a “matter of respect”.
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Minister Bashir Bilour said the RGST cannot be imposed on?his province because it is already exempted from taxes for two years due to floods.
PPP MNA, Sherry Rehman said the RGST Bill, if passed, will prove very burdensome for the common man.
Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani said the Bill will be debated in the House and voting will be held to decide its fate.
Despite stiff opposition from the coalition partners, the PPP-led federal government finalised the RGST Reforms Bill 2010 and presented it in the NA and Senate sessions today.
Finance minister Dr Abdul Hafeez Sheikh presented the RGST Bill in the NA while the leader of the house in senate Nayyer Bukhari presented the Bill in the Senate.?The flood surcharge tax Bill?was also presented in?the Assembly.
The Bills have been forwarded to the NA and senate?Standing Committee on Finance. The commitees will prepare a report by ?November 22 after which the Bill will be approved in both houses on the same date.
]]> http://tribune.com.pk/story/76330/govt-tables-opposition-rejects-rgst-bill/feed/ 2 http://tribune.com.pk/story/76324/missing-prisoners-case-continues-to-linger/ http://tribune.com.pk/story/76324/missing-prisoners-case-continues-to-linger/#comments Fri, 12 Nov 2010 09:36:17 +0000 hassan.asif http://tribune.com.pk/?p=76324 ISLAMABAD:?Supreme Court Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhary on Friday declined to meet intelligence officials in private and asked them to appear in court if they wanted to share information.A three-member bench of the Supreme Court, headed by the Chief Justice, was hearing case of the 11 missing prisoners.?Justice Iftikhar said that he had not met intelligence officials in private as that would make the case non-transparent.
The Attorney General today informed the court that intelligence officials wanted to meet the Chief Justice in private to share sensitive information on the case.
The Chief Justice, however, directed the Attorney General to ask the intelligence officials to appear in court and speak before the bench instead.
The Attorney General said intelligence agencies have denied taking any person into illegal custody.
The bench has issued notices to all intelligence agencies to submit a written reply in this matter.
On Wednesday, a report presented to the Supreme Court by the?Punjab Chief Secretary?stated that the 11 missing prisoners?had been handed over to intelligence agencies.
The hearing of the case has been adjourned till November 25.
]]> http://tribune.com.pk/story/76324/missing-prisoners-case-continues-to-linger/feed/ 6 http://tribune.com.pk/story/76239/yousuf-out-as-south-africa-bat-in-first-test/ http://tribune.com.pk/story/76239/yousuf-out-as-south-africa-bat-in-first-test/#comments Fri, 12 Nov 2010 07:50:11 +0000 AFP http://tribune.com.pk/?p=76239 DUBAI:?Pakistan received a last-minute jolt when their ace batsman Mohammad Yousuf was forced to sit out due to groin injury as South Africa won the toss and opted to bat in the first Test here on Friday.The 36-year-old Yousuf was practising at the ground when he felt groin problem and was replaced by young batsman Umar Akmal.
Pakistan also included two regular spinners, Saeed Ajmal and Abdul Rehman, at Dubai Stadium, which will be hosting a Test for the first time.
Team manager Intikhab Alam said Yousuf’s injury was a recurring one.
“It’s the old injury he picked up before the one-day series last month, so we thought it’s not worth taking risk because it’s a five-day Test,” said Alam.
Pakistan has also given a Test cap to 25-year-old wicketkeeper Adnan Akmal, who replaces Zulqarnain Haider.
Haider fled to London on the morning of Monday’s fifth one-day match against South Africa, saying he had received death threats.
South Africa’s line-up includes both their spinners, Paul Harris and Johan Botha, with Dale Steyn, Morne Morkel and Jacques Kallis to share the new ball.
Pakistan: Misbah-ul-Haq (captain), Taufiq Umer, Mohammad Hafeez, Younis Khan, Umar Akmal, Azhar Ali, Saeed Ajmal, Abdul Rehman, Adnan Akmal, Umar Gul, Wahab Riaz
South Africa: Graeme Smith (captain), Hashim Amla, Johan Botha, Mark Boucher, AB de Villiers, Paul Harris, Jacques Kallis, Morne Morkel, Alviro Peterson, Ashwell Prince, Dale Steyn
Umpires: Asoka de Silva (SRI) and Daryl Harper (AUS)
TV umpire: Ahsan Raza (PAK)
Match referee: Andy Pycroft (ZIM)
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