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Posts Tagged ' Lahore '
By Declan Walsh for The New York Times
Resplendent in his gleaming white uniform and peaked cap, jacket buttons tugging his plump girth, the stationmaster stood at the platform, waiting for a train that would never come. "Cutbacks," Nisar Ahmed Abro said with a resigned shrug.
Ruk Station, in the center of Pakistan, is a dollhouse-pretty building, ringed by palm trees and rice paddies. Once, it stood at the junction of two great Pakistani rail lines: the Kandahar State Railway, which raced north through the desert to the Afghan border; and another that swept east to west, chaining cities from the Hindu Kush mountains to the Arabian Sea.
Now it was a ghost station. No train had stopped at Ruk in six months, because of cost cutting at the state-owned rail service, Pakistan Railways, and the elegant station stood lonely and deserted. Idle railway men smoked in the shadows. A water buffalo sauntered past.
Mr. Abro led the way into his office, a high-ceilinged room with a silent grandfather clock. Pouring tea, he mopped sweat from his brow. The afternoon heat was rising, and the power had been down for 16 hours — nothing unusual in Pakistan these days.
Opposite him, Faisal Imran, a visiting railway engineer, listened sympathetically to the mournful stationmaster. This was about more than just trains — more than the decrepit condition of the once-mighty state railway service, Mr. Imran said. It was about Pakistan itself.
"The railways are the true image of our country," he said, sipping his tea in the heat. "If you want to see Pakistan, see its railways."
For all the wonders offered by a train journey across Pakistan — a country of jaw-dropping landscapes, steeped in a rich history and filled with unexpected pleasures — it also presents some deeply troubling images.
At every major stop on the long line from Peshawar, in the northwest, to the turbulent port city of Karachi, lie reminders of why the country is a worry to its people, and to the wider world: natural disasters and entrenched insurgencies, abject poverty and feudal kleptocrats, and an economy near meltdown.
The election last weekend was a hopeful moment for a struggling democracy, with the party of former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif winning a huge mandate amid record voter turnout of nearly 60 percent. But the voting left undecided the larger battle against popular disillusionment. In a country forged on religion, Pakistanis are losing faith. People are desperate for change — for any improvement their proudly nuclear-armed government could make, yet has not.
Chronic electricity shortages, up to 18 hours per day, have crippled industry and stoked public anger. The education and health systems are inadequate and in stark disrepair. The state airline, Pakistan International Airlines, which lost $32 million last year, is listing badly. The police are underpaid and corrupt, and militancy is spreading. There is a disturbing sense of drift.
This failure is the legacy of decades of misadventure, misrule and misfortune under both civilian and military leaders, but its price is being paid by the country's 180 million people.
To them, the dire headlines about Taliban attacks and sterile arguments about failed states mean little. Their preoccupations are mundane, yet vitally important. They want jobs and educations for their children. They want fair treatment from their justice system and electricity that does not flicker out.
And they want trains that run on time.
Peshawar: The Scarred City
At the journey's beginning, policemen wielding AK-47s guard the train station in Peshawar, on the cusp of craggy mountains that climb into Afghanistan — one of about 40 such checkposts in a city that has long been a hub of intrigue, but that now finds itself openly at war. Since the first Taliban attacks about six years ago, the city has faced a relentless barrage of suicide bombings. No place can claim immunity: five-star hotels and religious shrines, bustling markets and the international airport, police stations and foreign consulates. Hundreds of people have died.
The train system has been deeply affected. Until a few years ago, the tracks stretched up to the storied Khyber Pass, 30 miles to the west, where one of the last steam trains chugged through the tribal belt. Now that line is closed, its tracks washed away by floodwaters and too dangerous to run even if it were intact, given the insurgent violence.
The train system has been deeply affected. Until a few years ago, the tracks stretched up to the storied Khyber Pass, 30 miles to the west, where one of the last steam trains chugged through the tribal belt. Now that line is closed, its tracks washed away by floodwaters and too dangerous to run even if it were intact, given the insurgent violence.
Khyber also gave its name to the country's most famous train service, the Khyber Mail, immortalized by travel writers like Paul Theroux. It recalls the heyday of Pakistan's railway raj, when the train was an elegant, popular mode of travel used by the wealthy and working classes alike, with liveried bearers carrying trays of tea, and pressed linen sheets and showers in the first-class carriages.
But the Awami Express, which waited at the platform, had little of that old-world charm. The carriages were austere and dusty. Porters scurried about in tattered uniforms, taking modest tips from a trickle of passengers. Only one class of ticket, economy, was for sale. The train company, lacking generators, could not offer any air-conditioning.
"We are in crisis," said Khair ul Bashar, the Peshawar stationmaster, surrounded by giant levers that switch the tracks. "We don't have money, engineers or locomotives. That's why there are delays."
The decrepitude of the 152-year-old railway system has, in recent years, been attributed largely to a Peshawar native: the previous rail minister, Ghulam Ahmed Bilour. A classic product of Pakistan's patronage-driven politics, Mr. Bilour, 73, faced regular accusations of cronyism, using railway resources — money, land and jobs — to look after his own supporters. Meanwhile, service has floundered. Passenger numbers have plunged, train lines have closed and the freight business — the lifeblood of any train service — has crumbled. The last time the rail system turned a profit was in 1974.
Last year the national anticorruption agency placed Mr. Bilour under investigation; a court later jailed two of the railway's top managers. The minister avoided prosecution, and in interviews has insisted that a lack of funding was the main problem. More recently, though, Mr. Bilour has become emblematic of another aspect of Pakistani politics: the complex relationship with violent extremism.
When Peshawar erupted in deadly riots last October over an American-made video clip that insulted the Prophet Muhammad, enraged protesters attacked the city's movie theaters, including one belonging to Mr. Bilour's family. A day later, the minister made a controversial offer: he would pay $100,000 to anyone, militants included, who killed the offending filmmaker. That gesture ingratiated Mr. Bilour with the Taliban, who offered to remove him from their hit list, but deeply shamed his party, which had suffered fatal militant attacks. In Peshawar, people viewed it with irony: the Bilour cinema was notorious for showing racy films that the Taliban surely would not appreciate.
But the cinemas represented more than just Western culture; they were a rare form of public entertainment in a city that is closing in on itself.
Khalid Saeed, the owner of one of the few theaters left standing in Peshawar, the Capitol, sat in the foyer of the once-grand 1930s-era building, surrounded by tatty posters advertising old action movies. Invading rioters broke his projector and set fire to the screen, he said, but mercifully the flames did not spread.
Still, he said, he understood the frustration. "This is about religion, but it's also about poverty," he said, sucking on a cigarette. "There's so much unemployment here. Young people have nothing to do, nowhere to go. You can read it in their faces. They get upset."
The rattle of Taliban violence has created a stronger curfew than the local police ever could. Mr. Saeed said his son dared not venture out after dark, fearing attack or kidnapping. And still the militants keep striking.
"Around here, nobody knows what will happen tomorrow," he said with an air of quiet resignation. "What sort of life is that?"
In Mr. Bilour's case, the entire episode was for naught. A few months later, in December, the Taliban assassinated his younger brother, the politician Bashir Bilour. As election campaigning got under way recently, a Taliban suicide bomber nearly killed Mr. Bilour himself at a rally in Peshawar's old city. Then, last weekend, he lost his Parliament seat to Imran Khan — the former sports star who has said the government should negotiate with the insurgents, not fight them.
At Peshawar Station, the Awami Express slowly chugged out, brushing against the yawning canopies of gnarled trees and slicing through a crowded clothing market. The clattering grew faster, carriage doors swinging open and shut, as the train rumbled into the countryside. Its passengers — traders, government employees, large families — stretched out on aged leather seats.
Muhammad Akmal, a 20-year-old ice factory worker, was going home to Punjab for a wedding. "Hope to get married myself, soon — perhaps to one of my cousins," he said. Hopefully, he added, the train would not be too late.
At Attock, the train crawled over a spectacular bridge spanning the Indus River, passing under an ancient hilltop fort built by a Mughal emperor in the 16th century, now occupied by the Pakistani Army.
Sepia-toned images of sweeping train journeys occupy a central place in the Western imagination of the Indian subcontinent, from movie classics like "Gandhi" to the recent "Slumdog Millionaire." In real life, the Awami Express possessed little of that romance. The 45-year-old diesel locomotive groaned as it belched pillowy black fumes. Fine clouds of dust entered through the open windows. The carriages jerked violently on the corners.
It was not always so. Much as the American West filled out one train depot at a time, Pakistan was forged on steel rails. The state-owned train system, over 5,000 miles of track inherited from the British at independence in 1947, helped mesh a new and fractious country. Trains ferried migrants to the cities, provided a moving platform for campaigning politicians and played a role in the wars against India. It became — and remains — the country's largest civilian employer, still with more than 80,000 employees.
Today, though, decades of neglect have taken a heavy toll. On paper, Pakistan Railways has almost 500 engines, but in reality barely 150 are in working order. Most Pakistanis prefer to take the bus. Those left on the trains are often frustrated, sometimes mutinous.
Early last year, dozens of protesting passengers laid their children across the tracks in Multan, in southern Punjab Province. They were angry because a journey that should have taken 18 hours had lasted three days — and they were still only halfway to their destination.
In the train engineer's seat, Hameed Ahmed Rana, a taciturn man in a neat white shirt and a baseball cap, tugged gently on a brass handle and grumbled. The Japanese-built locomotive wheezed and shuddered. "There's a problem with the oil pressure," he said. "Not looking good."
Mr. Rana guided the train into the garrison city of Rawalpindi, headquarters to Pakistan's military, where artillery pieces poked out from under awnings. Then it pressed south, the landscape flattening as its colors shifted from stony brown to rich green, rumbling past the rich irrigated fields and orange groves of northern Punjab, the heartland of military recruitment.
Inside the train, fans hung inertly from the ceiling as the day's heat pressed in. The carriages, filling up, were acquiring the air of a village tea shop. Men smoked and chatted; small traders boarded carrying salty snacks and hot drinks; families with women pulled sheets across their seats for privacy.
The conversation, inevitably, turned to politics and religion. An argument about the merits of various leaders erupted between a Pashtun trader, traveling to Karachi for heart treatment, and an engineer who worked in a military tank plant. "We've tried them all," the engineer said with an exasperated air. "All we get are opportunists. We need a strong leader. We need a Khomeini."
A group of jolly Islamic missionaries, known as jamaats, squeezed into a long seat, offering a foreign visitor smiles, a snack and an invitation to convert to Islam. "We're not on this world for long," said Abdul Qadir, a rotund man with a gray-speckled beard, proffering a plate of sliced apple. "People have a choice: heaven or hell. So they should work toward the afterlife."
Lahore: Class and Corruption
Almost on schedule, the Awami Express panted into the grand old station at Lahore. A Hollywood movie starring Ava Gardner was shot here in 1955; today the yard is cluttered with empty freight vans.
Once the seat of Mughal emperors who ruled the Indian subcontinent, Lahore is the center of gravity for Pakistan's cultural and military elite, a city of army barracks, tree-lined boulevards, artists and chic parties. It is also the headquarters of the 152-year-old railway empire. In the 1960s, Pakistan Railways was said to own one-third of the city's land, and today the company is still run from a towering colonial-era palace, where clerks scurry between offices down polished corridors.
Up close, however, there is evidence of decline.
At the Mughalpura rail complex — a vast yard of workshops and train sheds stretched across 360 acres with 12,000 employees — workers were operating at 40 percent capacity, managers complained. Electricity cuts bring work to a halt, while entrenched unions, a rarity in Pakistan, stridently oppose any efforts to shed jobs or cut benefits. Unions blame management for corruption; managers say the unions are inflexible. Strikes are frequent.
Outside the plant gates, Muhammad Akram, a railway blacksmith, wore a tinsel garland that showed he was on a "token hunger strike," from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. The system was on the verge of collapse, he said: "It's like sitting on the edge of the sea, wondering when you will fall in."
The misfortune of the railways has, however, benefited Lahore's elite. Traditionally, the city's wealth has stemmed from the surrounding countryside, where feudal landlords live off the rents of poor peasants. For decades, the landlords have epitomized Pakistan's gaping divisions: paying no tax, treating seats in Parliament like family heirlooms, virtually a law unto themselves on their own lands. But things are changing. Of late, the landlords are being nudged aside by a new elite, one that has found a home in a gilded country club built on railway land.
The Royal Palm Golf and Country Club, a lavish facility with an 18-hole golf course, gyms, 3-D cinemas and cigar rooms, opened in 2002 at the height of the military rule of Gen. Pervez Musharraf. The club, which costs $8,000 to join, has become a showcase for new money: families that made their fortunes from property and industry, contacts and corruption.
The Royal Palm's glittering social functions, attended by men in expensive suits and women in ornate gowns, are a staple of local society magazines. The opening of a local Porsche dealership was celebrated here in 2005 with a gala dinner featuring exotic dancers flown in from Europe. Some events even offer alcohol, although guests are encouraged to drop their wine glasses when the cameras show up.
"This is a family club, and a lifestyle choice," said the manager, an architect named Parvez Qureshi, sitting in his stained-wood office overlooking the golf links.
But the Royal Palm was also built on the bones of the railways.
The rail minister at the time was Lt. Gen. Javed Ashraf Qazi, an ally of General Musharraf's and a former spy chief who leased the railway's land to a consortium of businessmen. Critics accused him of giving the land away at a sweetheart rate.
"It was not a clean deal. Absolutely not," said Nasir Khalili, chairman of the Gardens Club, an officers social club with 1,400 members that had to surrender its property.
The National Accountability Bureau, which investigates official corruption, concluded last year that the Royal Palm deal had cost the government millions of dollars in lost revenue.
It was not the first time that the military had chipped at the rail system. Back in the 1980s, the military ruler Gen. Mohammad Zia ul-Haq diverted train freight business to the National Logistics Cell, a military-run road haulage company that cornered the market for transporting wheat and other commodities. Less publicly it smuggled C.I.A.-financed weapons destined for mujahedeen rebels fighting the Soviets in Afghanistan.
"With freight gone, the railway was doomed," said Salman Rashid, a travel writer who has specialized in the train network.
One evening, a raucous concert took place on the Royal Palm driving green. Thousands of teenagers crowded onto the grass to see Atif Aslam, a popular singer, in a performance sponsored by a cellphone company. Militant violence has curtailed public events in Lahore; most take place in such cloistered circumstances.
Before a crowd of about 4,000 young people, some joined by their parents, Mr. Aslam, wearing skinny jeans and a fur hat, bounded across the stage in a sea of testosterone, fluttering vocals and crashing guitars.
To a foreigner, many posed a rhetorical question that betrayed their wounded sensitivity to Pakistan's international image. "Do we look like terrorists?" asked Zuhaib Rafaqat, a 21-year-old computer student. "The West seems to think we are. But look at us — we're just enjoying ourselves, like anyone else."
Sindh: Abiding Alienation
Charging across lush fields of wheat and cotton, the train crossed into Sindh Province, where it halted at Sukkur, on the Indus River. The Lansdowne Bridge, completed in 1889, spanned the water — one of several feats of engineering by the British colonialists who hacked through mountains, traversed ravines and cut across deserts to make a railroad in what has become Pakistan.
The railway project was foremost a tool of occupation: first to transport cheap cotton to English factories, later to move troops toward the northwestern frontier to guard against invasion from czarist Russia. Tens of thousands of construction workers died on the job, perishing in blistering summers and freezing winters, or from diseases like scurvy and malaria.
South of Sukkur, waterlogged fields mark a modern calamity: the 2010 floods, which inundated about one-fifth of the country, affected 20 million people and caused up to $43 billion in economic losses, according to some estimates. Topsoil and entire villages washed away in muddy waves, never to return.
In the Awami Express's grimy dining car, a cook named Amir Khan stirred a greasy chicken broth over an open flame, then flopped onto a stack of soda crates. He gestured to the flood-scarred landscape.
"Zardari will show this to America, so that he can get some money," Mr. Khan said with a cackling laugh, referring to President Asif Ali Zardari, who comes from Sindh. The cook wiped a mug clean, then paused reflectively. "Maybe if Benazir were alive, things would be different."
The assassination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto in December 2007 was a traumatic event for Pakistan, but also for its railways. Enraged supporters attacked 30 train stations across her native Sindh, burning 137 coaches and 22 locomotives in a sulfurous protest at the failure of the state to protect Ms. Bhutto.
Still today, the trains present an easy target for disgruntled Pakistanis. As the Awami Express pushed south, the railway police passed through the train, brusquely searching passengers and their luggage. The police increased railway security after Baloch separatists exploded a small bomb at Lahore Station last year, killing two people. More recently, ethnic Sindhi separatists have singled out the train lines for attack.
Sindh is the hub of Pakistan's Hindu population, which, like other minorities, has suffered from deepening intolerance in recent years. Stories of forced conversion of Hindu women at the hands of Muslim zealots have caused media scandals; last year some Hindu families, complaining of prejudice, left for India. But they were an exception: most Hindus remained behind, and some are quietly thriving.
At the southern city of Hyderabad, a train branch line jutted into the desert, toward the border with India. This was Thar, a desert region where, unusually, Hindus are predominant. A rural commuter service — a train with open doors and a handful of seats — ambled through irrigated farmland toward the desert. On board were farmers, small traders and pilgrims returning from a Hindu shrine, the bareheaded women adorned in gold and silver jewelry.
At the district's main town, Umerkot, the local colony of snake charmers lives in the shadow of a clay-walled fort. The chief snake charmer, wearing a bright red turban and playing a flute, entranced a cobra as it curled from a wicker basket. Later, he produced a government certificate that attested to his ability to "perform a dangerous act of passing three-foot snake from nostril and mouth."
"Half of our people are in India," he said afterward, pointing toward the desert and the border. "But we feel ourselves 100 percent Pakistani."
Karachi: The Slum Patriot
Land is gold in Karachi, Pakistan's tremulous port megalopolis: a city of migrants, filled with opportunity and danger, where space is at a premium that is often paid in blood. Political parties, mullahs, criminal gangs and Taliban militants all battle for land in the city, often with weapons. The railways offer an easy target.
Slums crowd the train lines that snake through the city, pushing up against the tracks. Migrants have been coming here for decades, seeking economic opportunity or, more recently, fleeing Taliban violence.
A short walk from Karachi's main train station lies Railway Colony Gate No. 10: a cluster of rough shacks, pressed against a slope, bordered by a stagnant pool of black, putrid sewage.
Among its residents is Nazir Ahmed Jan, a burly 30-year-old and an unlikely Pakistani patriot.
Mr. Jan, known to friends as Janu, is from the northwestern Swat Valley, where fighting erupted in 2009. After the Taliban arrived, his family fled Khwazakhela, a village "between the river and the mountain," which he described with misty-eyed nostalgia: lush fields, soaring mountains and his family's grocery store, later destroyed in fighting.
In contrast, Karachi is gritty and ugly, he acknowledged. He made his money selling "chola" — a cheap bean gruel — as he guided his pushcart through the railway slum. It earned him perhaps $3 a day — enough to feed his two infant children, if not much else.
But Mr. Jan was an irrepressible optimist. At least Karachi was safe, relatively speaking, he said. And it had other attractions.
In the corner of his home was a battered computer, hooked up to the Internet via a stolen phone line. He used it to write poetry, mostly about his love for Pakistan, he said, pulling out a sample. One couplet read:
"If you divide my body into 100 parts /a voice will cry from each one: Pakistan! Pakistan!"Mr. Jan's face clouded. He had contacted national television stations, and even the army press service, trying to get his work published, he said, folding a page of verse slowly. But nobody was interested; for now the poetry was confined to his Facebook page.
"I just want to express my love for my country," he said.
Distrusting politicians, he harbored a halcyon vision of what Pakistan could become: a country that offered justice, free education and health care, where leaders made the people wealthy, and not the other way round. "That would be the Islamic way of serving the people," he said.
Mr. Jan smiled and, clasping his hands across his chest, excused himself. He had to work. The mountain migrant vanished down the street behind his pushcart, children scurrying around him. He whistled a Pashto folk tune, his soup jostling in the cart.
From the distance came the sound of a hooting train, pulling into the station. It was surely late.
This article was reported and written before Declan Walsh's expulsion from Pakistan by the Interior Ministry on May 10.
By Jon Boone for The Guardian
Imran Khan, a leading candidate in this week's general election in Pakistan, was rushed to hospital with a skull fracture and injured back on Tuesday after falling off an improvised platform attached to a forklift truck at one of the final rallies of his campaign.
The images of the dazed and bloodied leader of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party (PTI) being rushed to hospital with a skull fracture and back injuries has added another element of uncertainty to an election that even seasoned observers are hesitating to call.
But just hours after falling from an overcrowded platform attached to a forklift truck, Khan was recording video messages from his hospital bed, urging his countrymen to vote for his party in the coming polls on Saturday.
"I did whatever I could for this country," Khan said while lying flat on a hospital bed, his neck partially restrained by a brace. He went on to urge people to vote for the PTI.
"Now I want you to take responsibility. If you want to change your destiny, I want you to take responsibility."
Earlier yesterday the 60-year-old politician had been pulled off the platform used to raise him to a stage at a political rally in the city of Lahore after one of his guards lost balance and toppled over the side.
The accident triggered a flood of concern and support on social media, where Khan already has a passionate following.
Crowds gathered outside the Shaukat Khanum hospital, a private cancer hospital named after his mother that Khan established, after he was transferred there.
When news came through that a scan had shown Khan had not suffered internal bleeding, the gathered supporters cheered and waved cricket bats, the official symbol of the PTI which will appear on ballot papers next to candidates' names.
The extraordinary twist to an already drama-filled election complicates the guessing game over how many seats the PTI, a relatively young party that has only ever held one seat in the past, will win.
Although most analysts do not think the PTI will emerge as the biggest party, Khan had appeared to be gaining momentum in recent days with a frantic schedule of back-to-back campaign events that have helped to galvanise a young, middle-class fanbase with huge numbers of supporters flocking to his events.
The more seats he wins, the harder it will be for frontrunner Nawaz Sharif, a two-term prime minister who heads a wing of the Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N), to win an outright majority or even enough seats to form a strong coalition.
Sharif's campaign was quick to respond to events, announcing the cancellation of all campaign events on Wednesday and the dropping of all ads attacking Khan. The country's interim prime minister, Mir Hazar Khan Khoso, also expressed concern over Khan's injury and wished him a quick recovery.
Khan's political rallies have been full of energy but also chaotic at times, with security guards powerless to prevent the PTI leader throwing himself into heaving crowds despite the terrorist attacks that have cast a shadow over the election.
In 2007 the former prime minister Benazir Bhutto was killed after she was attacked by militants. The incident helped her party, the Pakistan Peoples party (PPP), ride to power on a wave of sympathy.
The runup to the elections has been marred by near-daily violence by militants targeting candidates and their election offices.
On Tuesday 12 people were killed and more than 40 injured by a suicide bomb attack on a candidate for Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam, a rightwing religious party, in the north-western province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Later in the day a roadside bomb killed another five people, including the brother of a PPP candidate standing for the provincial assembly.
So far more than 100 people have been killed by the Taliban's campaign of violence, largely directed against candidates standing for secular parties that back army operations against the militants.
Khan believes the Pakistani army should withdraw from the tribal regions bordering Afghanistan and resolve the conflict through negotiations. He has also been an outspoken opponent of the US drone programme targeting al-Qaida and Taliban militants in northwest Pakistan.
Some of Khan's supporters, pictured left, took the accident as a good sign, citing the example of the 1992 cricket World Cup, in which Khan led Pakistan to victory despite suffering acute pain in his shoulder.
"Imran Khan won 92 World Cup with a shoulder injury, this time he'll win Elections 2013 with a head injury," said one Facebook commenter.
Dr Mohammed Shafiq, who treated Khan after the fall, told Geo News the former all-rounder had received seven stitches to a 15cm wound in his head, but expected him to recover. "He is fully conscious and he was complaining of backache," he said. "He is fine, but he must have some rest for one or two days."
"Imran Khan wants his supporters to remain peaceful and united, and he says he will soon be among them," his sister, Rani Hafiz Khan, told the Pakistani ARY news channel. According to a recent poll by the Pew research centre, 60% of respondents viewed Khan favourably. However that figure was slightly down on a year ago, and now Khan is slightly outranked by Sharif.
The election will mark a historic transfer of power from one democratically elected government fulfilling its full term to another, something that has never happened in Pakistan's history.
Dave Brubeck died yesterday. Here is a tribute to his classic Take Five by Pakistani orchestra and musicians from Sachal Studios in Lahore, Pakistan. RIP Dave, Love, Pakistani Musicians.
By Zia ur-Rehman and Salman Masood for The New York Times
Fire ravaged a textile factory complex in the commercial hub of Karachi early Wednesday, killing almost 300 workers trapped behind locked doors and raising questions about the woeful lack of regulation in a vital sector of Pakistan's faltering economy.
It was Pakistan's worst industrial accident, officials said, and it came just hours after another fire, at a shoe factory in the eastern city of Lahore, had killed at least 25.
Flames and smoke swept the cramped textile factory in Baldia Town, a northwestern industrial suburb, creating panic among the hundreds of poorly paid workers who had been making undergarments and plastic tools.
They had few options of escape — every exit but one had been locked, officials said, and the windows were mostly barred. In desperation, some flung themselves from the top floors of the four-story building, sustaining serious injuries or worse, witnesses said. But many others failed to make it that far, trapped by an inferno that advanced mercilessly through a building that officials later described as a death trap.
Rescue workers said most of the victims died of smoke inhalation, and many of the survivors sustained third-degree burns. As firefighters advanced into the wreckage during the day, battling back flames, they found dozens of bodies clumped together on the lower floors.
One survivor, Muhammad Aslam, said he heard two loud blasts before the factory filled first with smoke, then with the desperate screams of his fellow workers. "Only one entrance was open. All the others were closed," he said at a hospital, describing scenes of panic and chaos.
Mr. Aslam, who was being treated for a broken leg, said he saved himself by leaping from a third-floor window.
Hundreds of anguished relatives gathered at the site, many of them sobbing as they sought news. Some impeded the rescue operation, and baton-wielding police officers tried to disperse the crowd but failed.
"If my son does not return, I will commit suicide in front of the factory," one woman shouted before news cameras as relatives tried to console her.
The death toll rose quickly. By evening, the Karachi commissioner, Roshan Ali Sheikh, said that 289 people had died, most of them men. The provincial health minister, Sagheer Ahmed, put the toll at 248, which he said was the number of bodies accounted for at major hospitals. The number was expected to rise further.
In the shoe factory fire in Lahore, 25 people were reported killed and dozens wounded. Officials said that blaze had been set off by a generator that caught fire and ignited chemicals stored nearby in the factory, illegally located in a residential neighborhood. Most of the victims were men under 25.
The fires immediately revived long-running questions about the regulation of Pakistan's manufacturing sector, centered in Karachi, and of the vital textiles industry in particular.
Textiles are a major source of foreign currency for Pakistan, accounting for 7.4 percent of its gross domestic product in 2011 and employing 38 percent of the manufacturing work force. Pakistani cotton products are highly sought in neighboring India and form the backbone of a burgeoning fashion industry that caters to the elite. President Asif Ali Zardari's government has often called on the United States to drop tariff barriers to Pakistani textile imports, which it says would be preferable to traditional aid.
But the industry suffers from weak regulation, characterized by lax oversight and corruption. Business owners often put profits over safety, workers' rights advocates say.
On Wednesday evening the police raided the home of the owner of the Karachi factory, Abdul Aziz, who appeared to have gone into hiding. According to an online business information service, his company, Ali Enterprises, manufactured denim, knitted garments and hosiery and had capital of between $10 million and $50 million.
His nephew, Shahid Bhaila, the chief executive officer of the company, was also being sought for questioning. The police said both men had been placed on the exit control list, barring them from leaving the country.
The Muttahida Qaumi Movement, the most powerful political party in Karachi, announced three days of mourning. The city electricity company said it would cancel all outstanding bills for the families of those affected as a good will gesture.
The cause of the fire remained unclear. Geo News, the largest news channel, speculated that it had been started by extortionists, reporting that Mr. Aziz had previously faced a demand for a shakedown payment of more than $100,000, which he refused.
But others said an electrical fire was more likely. Wali Muhammad, a former electrical inspector, said that most accidental fires are caused by short circuits in equipment. But since 2003, he said, inspectors had been forbidden by law from visiting factories in Karachi and Punjab; it was not immediately clear why.
"This is criminal negligence," he told Geo News, referring to the ban.
Another mystery surrounded the locked factory doors. Some survivors said the exits had been shuttered to prevent workers from slipping out early; others said it was the consequence of a recent break-in.
A majority of the garment workers came from Orangi Town, a poor working-class neighborhood in Karachi. Seventeen of the victims came from the same street, local news media reported.
The factory building suffered severe structural damage in the blaze, and officials feared it would collapse on rescue workers during the day.
While many distraught family members set up camp near the factory, others moved between city hospitals, seeking news of loved ones. One man said he was looking for his cousin, who earned $70 a month as a cashier. "He's still missing. I'm afraid he may have been working in the basement," the man said.
The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan called on the government to mount an immediate investigation. "The head of the firefighting operations in Karachi has noted that the factory was dangerous, flimsily built and had no emergency exits," said Zohra Yusuf, chairwoman of the rights group. "Why did all of that escape official attention earlier?"
Workplace safety is guaranteed under Pakistan's Constitution, but labor leaders say that government oversight has crumbled rapidly in recent years, along with a general decline in governance.
Sharafat Ali of the Pakistan Institute of Labor Education and Research, a labor rights group, said that 151 workers died in accidents in 2011. The state was partly responsible for the deaths, he said, because its civil servants "silently and criminally allow violation of laws and regulations established to ensure health and safety provisions at work."
By William Dalrymple for The Guardian
It is rare these days to read any good news coming out of Pakistan. It is rarer still to read good news concerning matters of religion. However, in one week two stories seem to show that Pakistan is for once bringing the force of law to bear on those who abuse religion to provoke violence against minorities.
Last Sunday Mohammed Khalid Chisti, the mullah who had accused a 14-year-old Christian girl, Rimsha Masih, of blasphemy, was himself arrested and charged with the same law. The turnaround took place after the muezzin of his mosque gave evidence that he had framed the girl and falsified evidence. More remarkable still, the far-from- moderate All Pakistan Ulema Council came to Rimsha's defence, calling her "a daughter of the nation" and denouncing Chisthi: "Our heads are bowed with shame for what he did."
On Tuesday an even more unexpected event took place. Malik Ishaq, the leader of the banned Sunni terrorist group Lashkar–e-Jhangvi, which is accused of killing hundreds of Shias, was arrested on his return from a fund-raising trip to Saudi Arabia. Lashkar operates quite openly in Lahore despite being officially banned; yet on this occasion Ishaq was immediately brought to court. There he was accused of involvement in more than 40 cases in which 70 people have been killed. He now resides in Kot Lakhpat jail on 14-day judicial remand.
When Pakistan was created in 1947 as a homeland for Indian Muslims, its clean-shaven, tweed-jacketed, spats-wearing and pork-eating founder, Muhammad Ali Jinnah, made sure the constitution of his new country provided the right for all its citizens to profess, practise and propagate their religion: "You may belong to any religion, caste or creed," he said in his first address to the constituent assembly of Pakistan on August 11 1947. "That has nothing to do with the business of the state. In due course of time Hindus will cease to be Hindus and Muslims will cease to be Muslims – not in a religious sense, for that is the personal faith of an individual – but in the political sense as citizens of one state."
It was Zulfikar Ali Bhutto who started the rot. In 1974 he bowed to pressure from the religious right and had the country's small Ahmedi minority declared non-Muslim. The situation became worse still in the 1980s with the military coup of General Zia. Zia was responsible for initiating the fatal alliance between the conservative military and the equally reactionary mullahs that led to the use of Islamic radicals as part of state policy. At the same time Zia started tinkering with the law. He introduced the Islamic punishment of amputation for theft, and established the Hudood ordinances of sharia law, which asserted that the evidence of one man was equal to that of two women, and made any sex outside marriage a punishable offence for women. Rape was to be punished with the public flogging of the female victim as well as the perpetrator.
Between 1982 and 1986 Zia introduced radical changes to Pakistan's blasphemy laws – the notorious sections 295 B and C of the penal code – prescribing life imprisonment for anyone who defiles a copy of the Qur'an and death for insulting or criticising the prophet Muhammad. Because there is no strict definition of blasphemy, and virtually no evidence above the word of the accuser is needed to bring a guilty verdict, the laws have often been exploited by individuals with grudges against innocent non-Muslims. In 1988 Bishop John Joseph of Faisalabad publicly committed suicide to protest against the laws; and although no one has yet been executed under the statutes, an estimated 1,200 to 4,000 blasphemy cases have been filed. The number of cases has multiplied in recent years, and the result is often prison sentences of three years or more.
Christians are widely derided in Pakistan; most are descended from "untouchable" converts who still perform the most menial tasks: cleaning the sewers and sweeping the streets. There has been a steady stream of attacks on the community, most bloodily in the murder of 16 Christians at a church in Bahawalpur in 2001. But it is not just Christians who have suffered. Hysteria about blasphemy has also been used to target Hindus, Sikhs, Ahmadis and Shias. In addition to formal convictions, there were at least 34 extrajudicial killings of people accused of blasphemy between 1990 and 2010. Of those, 15 were Muslim, 16 Christians, two Ahmadis and a Hindu. Indeed it is the Shias, not the Christians, who have suffered the brunt of the violence meted out by Lashkar–e-Jhangvi.
The high-water mark for religious intolerance in Pakistan was reached last year when the former governor of the Punjab, Salman Taseer, and the only Christian minister in the government, Shahbaz Bhatti, were both shot dead for suggesting that the blasphemy laws should be reviewed. Last week's turnaround seems to represent a dawning realisation that things had gone too far – that a descent into mob violence was imminent. "There has been some genuine remorse on the right," Pakistan's leading human rights lawyer Asma Jahangir told me. "They realised a line had been crossed."
This is certainly good news, but it is only a beginning. Rishma remains in custody and Malik Ishaq has yet to be convicted. "I am not optimistic that the laws will be repealed," says Jahangir. "In fact, you cannot even discuss it." While politicians such as Imran Khan have bravely called Rishma's arrest "shameful … against the very spirit of Islam", neither he nor any other major political figure has called for an outright repeal of the blasphemy laws. Nor, given the fate of Salman Taseer, are they likely to any time soon.
And as long as the laws remain on the statute books, cases like these will continue to occur, and major injustices will continue to be perpetrated on all of Pakistan's religious minorities.
By Aakar Patel for Firstpost
India and Pakistan have a reciprocal relationship. If one does something to the other, send back a spying diplomat for instance, the other imitates this and also sends one back. One country's visa regime mirrors the other's. We would rather harm ourselves by an act that is imitative than let the other side get away.
The world sees this behaviour as childish, perhaps rightly.
India acted maturely in opening up trade unilaterally a few years ago. This is why the shelves of Thom's Cafe and Bakery, where I shop for groceries in Bangalore, are filled with Shan Masala boxes.
Now an opportunity exists for Pakistan to take the lead.
Islamabad should open up its borders and give Indian tourists visas on arrival. The same conditions under which Indians are allowed into Sri Lanka and Nepal and Bhutan. A quick stamp on the passport and that's it.
Vast crowds of Indians will come to Pakistan.
Sikhs on pilgrimage to Nankana Sahib and to see Ranjit Singh's masoleum (totally empty when I went there 10 years ago) next to Lahore fort.
Hindus who want to see the Indus, after which their country is named, and their faith. Muslims and Hindus who want to visit Pak Pattan, Data Saheb, and the shrines of Rukn-e-Alam and Bahauddin Zakariya.
Pakistanis will be amazed by how many Hindus worship at Muslim shrines. Punjabis will come and see the cities of Lahore and Pindi, of which they have only heard about from their grandparents. India's wealthy Sindhi community will come to Sukkur, Hyderabad and Karachi.
Three Muslim communities – Memons, Bohras and Khojas – have their headquarters in India. They have family ties to Karachi and also business interests that will benefit from regular visits.
Deoband and Nadwa scholars can exchange views with Pakistan's ulema.
The package tour business, which is big in India, will bring in large numbers who might see a Pakistan different from the one in their imagination. College and school excursions, which are also big in India, will find new venues to take their students to.
Bollywood will be interested in new settings to shoot, and access to the cities will open up plot-lines.
As an intelligent piece in The Friday Times a few years ago noted, Indian tourists will blend in, dress modestly, not expect too much, be at home with the food and do shopping on a healthy scale.
The exchange rate of the Pakistani Rupee, whose value is a little over half that of the Indian Rupee, will give them a bigger budget than they have at home.
The Hindu middle class, especially Bengali and Gujarati, are adventurous travellers and will not be easily put off by a couple of bomb blasts as westerners will. Because Indian women are not secluded, whole families will come, especially if non-airplane routes such as road and rail are opened. Pakistanis will not be threatened by middle aged Indian men and women with squealing kids about them.
It will not be possible, given the mischief in Mumbai and in Parliament, for India to freely let Pakistanis enter. So reciprocality must not be expected immediately. But that shouldn't be seen as a problem.
Pakistan has already accepted a break in the tit-for-tat relationship. Pakistan's cricket team is likely to play in India while there's no chance that India's players will come to Pakistan. No other cricketing nation is willing either and so it's not about Indian obstinacy in this case. Just the circumstances, which can be altered by a little wisdom.
It's a profitable opportunity for Pakistan to benefit economically, improve its image as a safe place and normalise relations with India. Three things gained while nothing is lost.
Pakistan should open itself up to Indians without waiting for reciprocity. And it should do this in self interest.
As Reported by The Hindustan Times
"Pehchanon ji ye kaun hai" (guess who this is), is what Surjeet Singh often hears, as he relaxes on a cot in the sweltering summer heat on a farm in this Punjab village. Surjeet, 69, now plays this 'guessing game' several times a day, ever since he arrived in his native village last week, after more than 30 years of incarceration in Pakistan.
"There are several people from villages and other places coming to meet me despite the heat. Sometimes, my family members ask me to guess who a particular person is. Most of them look so different and older, just like me. It is hard to guess every time and then I try to identify them by their names. I can re-collect some names though," Surjeet Singh told IANS with several people sitting around him.
"Ye budhi kaun hai (who is this old woman)?" was a question Surjeet popped in Punjabi to his relatives as an elderly woman came to meet him. He was told that she was a relative and he gave her a warm hug.
Surjeet wears a pair of white kurta-payjama and slippers as he wanders through his daily life and receives scores of visitors or meets them around his village. He returned home Thursday to a tumultuous and teary welcome from family and friends.
Among the visitors Saturday was Gurbaksh Ram, a fellow prisoner in Pakistan who returned to India in June 2006.
"I was with Bapuji in the Lahore jail for several years. I was released in June 2006 after, spending over 20 years in Pakistani jails. When I read about his return, I wanted to meet him," Gurbaksh told IANS.
Among the visitors were two Sikh gentlemen who asked if he could recognise them.
"I am Bhai Singh and he is Vikar Singh," one of them said. Surjeet had a hearty laugh as he hugged the taller Vikar Singh and remarked: "Ehh taan baba baneya phirda hai (he has become an old man)."
Besides the people who knew him from over three decades back, there are others who come to him with hope to hear about their own missing ones.
"Some people get their files and photographs of missing family members who are believed to be in Pakistani jails. They show him (Surjeet) the photos to know if he has met that person in Lahore jail," one of his relatives said.
"He is very happy to be back in his country and among his family members and friends. Even though we were forced to sell our old house (where Surjeet lived) and land, this new house is lucky for us as it has brought him back," Surjeet's wife Harbans Kaur said.
"In the (Pakistani) jail, he had some facilities like regular power supply which is not available here. He is back now and my tension is over. I will put the entire responsibility on him. He will take charge of things," Harbans Kaur, who supported her children in adversity after Surjeet went missing in 1982, said with a smile.
Surjeet languished in Pakistani jails for over 30 years after being arrested on charges of spying there. He was sentenced to death but the sentence was later commuted to life imprisonment.
Surjeet was released from Lahore's Kot Lakhpat jail early Thursday and made the road journey in a prison van to Wagah, on the Pakistan side of the border, before walking into India at the famous checkpost.
As Reported by Delcan Welsh for The New York Times
The Supreme Court dismissed Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani on Tuesday, drastically escalating a confrontation between the government and the judiciary and plunging the political system into turmoil.
Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry declared that Mr. Gilani's office had been effectively vacant since April 26 when the court convicted him on contempt charges because he refused to pursue a corruption case against President Asif Ali Zardari, his superior.
Although the decision is unlikely to topple the government, many viewed it as the product of a grudge-driven tussle between Mr. Zardari and Justice Chaudhry, with the prime minister caught in the middle.
"The court has been gunning for the prime minister for a long time," said Najam Sethi, a veteran political analyst. "Clearly there is a lot of politics in this."
The order left Pakistan in a state of constitutional uncertainty, with the cabinet effectively dismissed. The court instructed Mr. Zardari to "ensure continuation of the democratic process" — words widely interpreted as an order to arrange the election of a new prime minister.
Legal experts said Mr. Gilani could not appeal the decision but that he may continue in an interim role until a successor is chosen. It was unclear what impact the decision would have on troubled negotiations with the United States to reopen NATO supply lines through Pakistan into Afghanistan.
As word of the ruling spread, Pakistanis held their breath for reaction from the ruling Pakistan Peoples Party, whose top leaders held an emergency session at Mr. Zardari's house. Television stations reported that the party had agreed in principle to accept the court's ruling, but a final decision was not expected until later Tuesday.
Shahbaz Sharif, a senior leader of the opposition Pakistan Muslim League-N Party, which instigated the court action, hailed the decision. "It upholds the supremacy of the law and the Constitution," Mr. Sharif said.
But it calls into question the validity of all executive decisions made since April 26, including the passing of the federal budget. One commentator said it "opened a massive legal can of worms."
Speculation swirled about the identity of a replacement prime minister; among the names circulating were those of the foreign minister, Hina Rabbani Khar, and various stalwarts from the party's electoral heartland in Sindh Province and southern Punjab.
Any candidate, however, will need the approval of the P.P.P.'s coalition partners — smaller, ethnically centered parties based in Karachi, Lahore and Peshawar, who are likely to seek fresh concessions from Mr. Zardari in exchange for their votes in Parliament.
The court decision advanced the likelihood that general elections, scheduled to take place by next spring, could be brought forward.
Equally, however, Mr. Zardari may wish to first resolve some of the governance failures that have marred his government's reputation, notably widespread power outages and system failures that have continued for years. The court decision coincided with street agitation in Punjab, the country's most populous province, where rioters burned buildings and clashed with police in several cities on Monday and Tuesday to protest power outages.
"Law has become subservient to politics, but this government had it coming. It has been singularly inept," said Mr. Sethi, the analyst. "They had six months to anticipate the power crisis, and now it is upon them."
In dismissing Mr. Gilani, the court chose the strongest option. It could have referred Mr. Gilani's case to the Election Commission of Pakistan, which could have taken up to three months to adjudicate the case.
It comes at the end of a tumultuous week for the court itself. Last week, a billionaire businessman made explosive accusations in court and in the media that he had given $3.7 million in kickbacks to Justice Chaudhry's son in order to swing several cases his way. The furor over those accusations, centered on the judge's son, Arsalan Iftikhar, is now likely to fade as the country grapples with its latest political crisis.
Mr. Gilani's dismissal stems from longstanding demands by the court that Mr. Gilani write a letter to the authorities in Switzerland to seek to reopen a dormant corruption investigation into Mr. Zardari's finances that started in the 1990s.
Mr. Gilani refused, arguing that he was unable to do so because the president enjoyed immunity from prosecution. And the prime minister signaled long ago that he was ready to be dismissed or face prison in the case.
After Mr. Gilani was convicted on contempt charges on April 26, the speaker of Parliament examined calls for his dismissal from public office. The court intervened after the speaker, who is a member of the ruling party, ruled that Mr. Gilani should not be dismissed.
"What will happen to independence of judiciary if speaker or Parliament tries to scrutinize judicial rulings?" Justice Chaudhry said on Tuesday. "No one can undo a court verdict except a court of appeals."
By Aakar Patel for FirstPost
The first time I came to Pakistan, I was taken aback at how good some of the infrastructure was. The airports at Karachi and Lahore were small, but they were efficient and well designed. I think my host told me the Japanese had built one or both of them, and those airports were a very different thing from the ones I had just taken off from in India.
This was when the government made the airports and as with all things the Indian government takes up, our airports were clumsy and barely functional. But a few years later this changed. Today the airports at Mumbai, Delhi and Bangalore are pretty good. They're not world class (nothing in India can ever be), but they are not embarrassing as the earlier ones were.
The differences that I had thought were significant turned out not to be so.
This led me to think of how similar we were as nations. Not in the sense that Mohd Ali Jinnah meant. I think it is fairly obvious that the character of India and of Pakistan is different when we observe their constitutions. India's secularism is fundamentally Hindu in its nature. Pakistans constitution is Islamic by design and in appearance.
Though this is an important aspect of nationhood, however, it is only one aspect.
What I mean is how we are one nation in all the negative aspects. Our neighbourhoods and streets are among the most shameful in the world, because we are selfish and blind to the concern of others. Delhi's drivers are as terrible as those in Lahore (and the women of Delhi and Lahore would concur on the behaviour of the loutish men of those cities). Half of us are illiterate and the half who are literate don't really read much. The comments sections of Indian and Pakistani websites are the most dreadful in the world, without qualification. Hateful and pedantic, the product of minds who are only functionally literate. We think time will bring some big change in our society but it isn't easy to see where this change is going to come from.
I know of few other nations where people would not be embarrassed at the thought of keeping servants. Few cultures would be so unaffected, so uncaring of privacy to not mind the constant presence of the servant in the house. I am not even talking about the bestial manner in which we treat them, because every reader of this piece, whether Indian or Pakistani already knows what I mean.
We divide ourselves into nations based on things like which animal the other eats or does not eat. The outsider probably sees no difference between us, and rightly.
We produce very little of meaning to the outside world, and it is tough to think of what our contribution is to the nations from whom we take so much. In science and technology we have nothing to offer the West, despite the boasts of Indians that we gave the world Arabic numerals and zero (I agree with that; we have given the world zero).
Pakistanis stake claim to Islams golden age. Daily Jang columnist Hassan Nisar often takes up this point. He says that the Arabs laugh when Pakistanis owns Islams achievements. What aspect of the conquest of Spain or the scientific revolution in Baghdad did Punjabis and Sindhis participate in?
To the world we are one people in that sense.
My friend Col Iftikhar, from Musharrafs batch in the Pakistan Military Academy, said he discovered this horrifying fact when he went to Mecca a few decades ago for Haj. He met some Saudis, one of whom asked him where he was from. Lahore, said Ifti. Where's that, the Saudi asked (this was in the 70s). Pakistan, said Ifti proudly. Where's that, the puzzled Saudi asked. Ifti took out a map and pointed. Ah, said the Saudi to his friends, he's Hindi.
Our problems are so primitive that they should make us stop and repair ourselves immediately. But they don't seem to affect us at all. Our media carry on like we are normal people. Reading the militant bombast of the strategic affairs experts in the newspapers of these two nations, the outsider would never suspect that these were two nations unable to even keep their public toilets clean.
By Maha Mussadaq for The Express Tribune
Tears gushed down Supreet Kaur's face as she stared at the shrine of Punja Sahib and prayed for less stringent border controls so she can visit Hassan Abdal every year for Baisakhi. The three-day festival ended on Friday.
Wiping her tears with her veil Kaur said that her 'mannat' — a prayer that she hopes will be answered by visiting the shrine this year — is that people around the world live as one and all borders become porous. "I want the world to live in harmony and peace. So far all my prayers have come true and I am sure this one will as well"
Supreet was not the only one to wish for easier access to the shrine. Thousands of pilgrims who came for Baisakhi prayed for a change in visa policy for Sikhs so that they are able to visit the shrine any time of the year. Some pilgrims complained about acquiring a letter of invitation from either family or friends in Pakistan for their visa.
Rajpal Singh said that it was unfortunate that many Sikhs could not visit Pakistan because of the restrictions. "Both governments should devise a verification system so that Sikhs can cross the border for religious rituals. Even a permit would be fine," Rajpal added. "I want these restrictions to come to an end so we can visit other shrines in Pakistan, such as Baba Buleh Shah's," Supreet said.
Baisakhi is an annual event which holds a very special place in the lives of Sikhs. The day marks the beginning of the new solar year. It also marks the formation of Khalsa (the pure one). Sikhs believe that it was on this day in 1699 when the tenth Sikh Guru, Gobind Singh declared all human beings as equal.
On Baisakhi, traditions of Gurus were compiled by Sikhs. Guru Granth Sahib was established as their eternal guide and the holy book. Punja Sahib is one of the three holiest shrines for Sikhs because of a large rock bearing an imprint of Guru Nanak's hand or punja, founder of the Sikh religion. Sikhs swim across the stream, making a wish as they touch the imprint.
Due to security fears, Sikhs could not leave Punja Sahib without permission. Some 3,000 Rangers had been deployed by the Punjab government in and around the premises.
Approximately 8,000 Sikhs came to Punja Sahib this year for the annual Baisakhi festival. Singh said that he was extremely satisfied with the arrangements and was happy to see the hospitality of the Pakistani government. However, Major Singh, 67, said both governments should improve facilities offered to pilgrims, including operational bathrooms and lights in trains.
Thousands of pilgrims were accommodated inside the gurdawara like every year. A huge portion of Punja Sahib is still under construction but most pilgrims were satisfied with the rooms provided.
Approximately, 2,300 Sikhs travelling from India have been accommodated in more than 400 rooms in Punja Sahib. Paramjeet Singh laughingly said just sleeping under a shade at Punja Sahib is more relaxing than any other place in the world. "It's not about my physical needs; I am spiritually satisfied."
Business opportunities
A large number of men and women had set up their stalls at the back of the gurdwara. Hindu vendor, Inder Kaur had come from Sindh to sell jewellery made in Mumbai. He said merchants make approximately Rs25,000 in three days. "I love shopping here because they sell items such as clothes or even bindia that we do not get in Pakistan," said Kalvinder Kaur, who was buying bangles from Inder.
By Sebastian Abbot for The Associated Press
One of Pakistan's most notorious extremists mocked the United States during a defiant media conference close to the country's military headquarters Wednesday, a day after the US slapped a $10 million bounty on him.
"I am here, I am visible. America should give that reward money to me," said Hafiz Mohammad Saeed, referring to the fact that the bounty was given to a man whose whereabouts are not a mystery. "I will be in Lahore tomorrow. America can contact me whenever it wants to."
Analysts have said Pakistan is unlikely to arrest Saeed, founder of the militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba, because of his alleged links with the country's intelligence agency and the political danger of doing Washington's bidding in a country where anti-American sentiment is rampant.
Saeed, 61, has been accused of orchestrating the 2008 attacks in the Indian city of Mumbai that killed 166 people, including six American citizens. But he operates openly in Pakistan, giving public speeches and appearing on TV talk shows.
He has used his high-profile status in recent months to lead a protest movement against US drone strikes and the resumption of NATO supplies for troops in Afghanistan sent through Pakistan. The supplies were suspended in November in retaliation for American airstrikes that accidentally killed 24 Pakistani soldiers.
Hours before Saeed spoke, US Deputy Secretary of State Thomas Nides met Pakistani Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar in the nearby capital, Islamabad, for talks about rebuilding the two nation's relationship. In a brief statement, Nides did not mention the bounty offer but reaffirmed America's commitment to "work through" the challenges bedeviling ties.
Increasingly 'brazen' appearances
The US said Tuesday it issued the bounty for information leading to Saeed's arrest and conviction in response to his increasingly "brazen" appearances. It also offered up to $2 million for Lashkar-e-Taiba's deputy leader, Hafiz Abdul Rahman Makki, who is Saeed's brother-in-law.
The rewards marked a shift in the long-standing US calculation that going after the leadership of an organization used as a proxy by the Pakistani military against archenemy India would cause too much friction with the Pakistani government.
This shift has occurred as the US-Pakistani relationship steadily deteriorated over the last year, and as the perception of Lashkar-e-Taiba's potential threat to the West increased.
Bounty backfire?
The US may be hoping the bounty will force Pakistan to curb Saeed's activities, even if it isn't willing to arrest him. But the press conference he called at a hotel in the garrison city of Rawalpindi on Wednesday was an indication that is unlikely, and the bounty may even help him by boosting his visibility.
At the hotel, located near the Pakistani army's main base and only a half hour drive from the US Embassy in Islamabad, Saeed was flanked by more than a dozen right-wing politicians and hardline Islamists who make up the leadership of the Difa-e-Pakistan, or Defense of Pakistan, Council. The group has held a series of large demonstrations against the US and India in recent months.
Some in the media have speculated the movement has the tacit support of the Pakistani military, possibly to put pressure on Washington.
"I want to tell America we will continue our peaceful struggle," said Saeed. "Life and death is in the hands of God, not in the hands of America."
Denies involvement in Mumbai massacre
He denied involvement in the Mumbai attacks and said he had been exonerated by Pakistani courts.
Pakistan kept Saeed under house arrest for several months after the attacks but released him after he challenged his detention in court. It has also resisted Indian demands to do more, saying there isn't sufficient evidence.
The bounty offers could complicate US efforts to get the NATO supply line reopened. Pakistan's parliament is currently debating a revised framework for ties with the US that Washington hopes will get supplies moving again. But the bounties could be seen by lawmakers and the country's powerful army as a provocation and an attempt to gain favor with India.
Origins in the Kashmir dispute
Saeed founded Lashkar-e-Taiba in the 1980s allegedly with ISI support to pressure India over the disputed territory of Kashmir. The two countries have fought three major wars since they were carved out of the British empire in 1947, two of them over Kashmir.
Pakistan banned the group in 2002 under US pressure, but it operates with relative freedom under the name of its social welfare wing Jamaat-ud-Dawwa — even doing charity work using government money.
The US has designated both groups foreign terrorist organizations. Intelligence officials and terrorism experts say Lashkar-e-Taiba has expanded its focus beyond India in recent years and has plotted attacks in Europe and Australia. Some have called it "the next Al Qaeda" and fear it could set its sights on the US
* Associated Press writer Asif Shahzad contributed to this report from Islamabad.
By Aryn Baker for Time
For a 3-year-old who has yet to master the use of the personal pronoun, Elmo is a whiz at foreign languages. Already fluent in Chinese, German, Hindi, Spanish and Arabic, among others, the fluffy red icon has just picked up Urdu, the most common language in Pakistan. At a time when the U.S.-Pakistani relationship is at its worst in more than a decade, Sesame Street — the quintessential American children's television program — has burst onto the Pakistani scene in a flurry of fake fur, feathers and infectious ditties about the letter alef, or A.
With its background of ripening wheat, banyan trees and a center stage that features a village snack shop overflowing with exotic fruits and vegetables, the set of Sim Sim Hamara, as it is called in Pakistan, may seem far removed from the urban street scene familiar to most Americans. But the lovable Muppets, child actors and messages of tolerance are pure Sesame. And they have all been brought to life in Pakistan with the help of a $20 million, five-year grant from USAID.
Developed in 1969 by TV producer and early-childhood-education advocate Joan Cooney, Sesame Street was designed to tap the addictive qualities of television to bring early literacy education to American preschoolers. The "quaint" American streetscape, as Cooney then called it, has since grown into the "longest street in the world," with more than 20 unique programs worldwide, according to Sesame Workshop's senior vice president of global education Charlotte Frances Cole. Some features dubbed segments lifted from the American version; others, like Sim Sim Hamara, which means Our Sesame, are created in partnership with local production teams to reflect native culture. In Pakistan, Big Bird and Oscar have been replaced by a self-involved crocodile and a donkey with rock-star ambitions. "Children have to be able to recognize their environment and their friends if they are going to learn," says Faizaan Peerzada, who directs Sim Sim Hamara from a studio just outside the city of Lahore. "So we had to give Elmo Pakistani citizenship."
On a tour of the workshop where the show's Muppets are made, Peerzada, a master puppeteer with more than 40 years of experience directing educational puppet shows for Pakistani children for the Rafi Peer Theatre Workshop, slips his hand into a limp, feathered pocket of gray felt. Even without eyes, the unfinished puppet springs to life with the mannerisms of an owl, swiveling its head to listen as Peerzada expounds on Sim Sim's potential with evangelical zeal. Underfunded and neglected for more than 30 years, Pakistan's education system is in a parlous state. The recently released Annual Status of Education report in Pakistan reveals that nearly 60% of school-age children can't read, or even do basic, two-digit subtraction problems. For a country where 35% of the population is under the age of 14, the consequences are enormous.
"As a nation, Pakistan has failed its children," says Peerzada. If Sesame Street brought the joy of learning to generations of American preschoolers, why can't it help teach Pakistan's 66 million children under the age of 14 how to read? he asks. "Our children deserve this. All children deserve this," he says. Obviously a television program that airs twice a week can't compensate for missing teachers and limited school access, but it's a start. "To me, Sim Sim Hamara is a gift to Pakistani children, and a window into homes that might think their children are better employed in the fields than at school," says Peerzada.
Like the original, Sim Sim Hamara is a half-hour-long program divided into skits, song segments and celebrity appearances designed to appeal to a wide spectrum of Pakistani society. The Muppets caper with live actors on a set that combines features recognizable across the country, a kind of Pakistani Main Street that doesn't stand out as belonging to any particular region. A dhaba, the ubiquitous snack-and-grocery shop that is the center of any Pakistani community, stands in for Mr. Hooper's store, and is manned (or womanned) by a heavily made up Muppet auntie who anchors the show with amusing lessons about manners, safety and healthy eating. In an effort to promote tolerance in a country marked by ethnic divisions, the Muppets' skin colors range from brown to pale orange.
Most striking, however, considering Pakistan's male-dominated society, is the lead character, Rani, a 6-year-old female Muppet who captains the cricket team and who is passionate about science and reading. In a country where only 22% of Pakistani girls complete primary school, Rani is a model of female empowerment. But it doesn't stop there. The rest of the show's characters encourage Rani's quest for knowledge — "Where does the sun go every evening?" was a recent one — modeling acceptance of women's progress for a wider society. "You are not just teaching little girls that they can have dreams," says Sesame Workshop executive vice president Sherrie Westin. "You are also teaching boys that it's O.K. for girls to have those dreams."
Of course progressive values in one culture can be interpreted as transgressive in another. Sim Sim Hamara has the added burden of being sponsored by the U.S. in a country where American meddling is viewed with increasing hostility. For that reason, the program's authors have had to broach sensitive issues with subtle creativity. One recent segment opened with a despondent Baily, the would-be rock-star donkey, who decided he would never sing again because someone told him it would make him grow horns. "This is how we get at the idea of mullahs who are against singing," explained one of the producers. The skit ended with the appearance of one of Pakistan's most famous rock stars leading the whole cast in an uplifting song about believing in your self, entitled, fittingly, "Faith."
Teachers who see it as a way to promote literacy at home have praised Sim Sim Hamara, as do children who have never really had a program to call their own. "I find that those who regularly watch Sim Sim Hamara know more about health and body parts and their functions," says Islamabad school principal Masart Sadiq. "They get lots of ideas about careers, which they discuss with their teachers too." Aniqa Khan, a 12-year-old from Rawalpindi, says she now wants to be a pilot, like Munna, Rani's 5-year-old Muppet co-star. "He is excellent at math, which inspires me to spend more time on math."
So far, and against fears in a country where the assassination of a governor accused of blasphemy was celebrated in the streets, there has been no negative response to Sim Sim Hamara. "I think my biggest fear was that the program would be misunderstood before it even aired," says Peerzada. "People might have thought it was some kind of brain-washing project. But at the end of the day, all we are doing is teaching a child to count."
The same could not be said of reactions to the program in the U.S., where Fox News in October dubbed Sim Sim Hamara a boondoggle for Elmo and conservative commentators quickly took up the cause. But as Sesame Workshop's Westin points out, $20 million pays for a lot more than Elmo's Urdu lessons and a plane ticket to Pakistan. It covers a state-of-the-art studio, high-definition digital-video equipment that won't be obsolete in a few years, and the foundations of an educational institution that, if all goes to plan, will provide Pakistani children with the basic-literacy building blocks that have been the mainstay of early-childhood education in America for more than four decades. Current estimates say that Sim Sim Hamara is reaching more than 3.5 million Pakistani children who have no other access to preschool education. "This is a smart investment," says Westin. "Early-childhood education is one of the most effective ways to build stability in any country. An investment like this is not only going to benefit Pakistan, but our children as well. If we can help to create a more peaceful world, that is a benefit to all of our children." And that sounds like something Elmo would love, in any language.
Pakistanis for Peace Editor's Note- We commend this great project by the United States government and the USAID program. The $20 million grant and this educational program will not only help the children of Pakistan who are not provided an adequate educational system by their own government but a program like this goes a long ways in the betterment of ties between the United States and Pakistan and leaves a lasting legacy for the area's children for years to come.
By Surojit Gupta for The Times of India
Trade ties between India and Pakistan are expected to get a boost as New Delhi reaches out to the business community across the border, starting Monday to assure them about the positive impact of normal trade ties. Commerce minister Anand Sharma will undertake a rare journey to Pakistan, leading a large delegation of senior officials and top businessmen as the two hostile neighbours take baby steps to normalise trade and economic relations.
The private sector led by industry chambers has put up an "India show", in Lahore and Karachi – the first ever trade exhibitions from India where over 100 exhibitors are participating. Firms representing pharmaceuticals, textile, gems and jewellery, chemicals and petro-chemicals are showcasing products.
The move is a follow up to the efforts to normalise trade ties. The Pakistan government announced granting of Most Favoured Nation (MFN) status to India in November last year. But, criticism from a section of industry in Pakistan has forced Islamabad to take measured steps on the issue. But, officials said they were optimistic that by the end of 2012, the transition to full MFN status would be complete.
Officials said they will launch outreach programme to assure businessmen in Pakistan that Indian goods will not swamp the Pakistan market if trade is normalised. "We will tell them that there are enough trade safeguards measures to ensure that Indian goods do not flood the Pakistani market. Let us first liberalise trade and see the impact," said a senior government official.
Pakistan allows exports to India but has a positive list of 1,938 items which are officially allowed to be imported from India. Latest data shows that formal trade between India and Pakistan rose to $2.7 billion in 2010-11 from $144 million in 2001, while informal trade including third country trade is estimated at $10 billion, according to a Ficci status paper. "I have no doubt in my mind that bilateral trade, which currently stands at $3 billion, can be raised to $10 billion if trade through third countries (Dubai, Singapore and Central Asian countries) is channelised into direct exchange between the two countries," said R V Kanoria, president, Ficci.
The government has undertaken a series of measures to increase bilateral trade. There is a move to open a second gate at the Attari-Wagah border, which is expected to increase the number of trucks crossing the border to 500-600 daily from 150-200 at present. Pakistan has agreed to remove restrictions on the number of commodities traded by the land route once the infrastructure in Wagah is ready, while both countries have agreed to avoid arbitrary stoppage of goods at ports. Suggestions have been made for opening up of an additional land route at Monabao-Khokhara Par on the Sindh border for faster movement of goods.
"We are taking significant steps to improve the border infrastructure. India has invested nearly Rs 150 crore to develop infrastructure at the Integrated Check post near Attari," said a senior government official. He said the visa regime for business travel is also expected to be liberalised soon with multiple entry visas for 10 Indian cities, along with exemptions for police reporting. The formal announcement is expected to be made soon. Talks to expand trade in petroleum products are progressing, while efforts are also on to start negotiations for trade in electricity between the two nuclear-armed neighbours. Both sides have agreed on grid-connectivity between Amritsar and Lahore, which would pave the way for trade of up to 500 MW of power.
Trade experts said they were optimistic about the latest moves and said the effort will go a long way in helping faster regional integration. "The positive spin off for normalisation of trade is enormous. Pakistan has given signals and India now needs to take the initiative. Normalisation of bilateral trade relations will help in putting much of the political bickering on the backburner," said Biswajit Dhar, director-general at Research and Information System for Developing Countries, an economic and trade thinktank. Experts said there was huge potential for forging joint ventures between Indian and Pakistani companies in sectors such as information technology, fish-processing, drugs and pharmaceuticals, agro chemicals, chemicals, automobile ancillary and light engineering.
Pakistanis for Peace Editor's Note- The best chance of peace between India and Pakistan can only be achieved through trade and normalization of ties. The India Show at the Lahore International Expo Centre Feb 11-13 will go a long ways to bridging the gap and move us closer to achieving peace one day, which is the best scenario for both nations long term.
By Sebastian Abbot for The Associated Press
For decades, archenemies Pakistan and India have engaged in a dangerous nuclear arms race. Now they're also competing in a more cheerful forum. The outcome will be mouthwatering curries and soothing Sufi ballads, not violent conflict.
The fractious neighbors are going head-to-head in a pair of reality TV shows that pit chefs and musicians against each other. Producers hope the contests will help bridge the gulf between two nations that were born from the same womb and have been at each other's throats ever since.
But so far it hasn't completely worked out that way. The top Pakistani chef on the cooking show, which is called Foodistan, quit the contest early. He accused the judges of bias toward India and is threatening to sue. The producers denied the allegations.
Pakistan and India were founded in 1947 following the breakup of the British empire. They have fought three major wars, two of them over the disputed territory of Kashmir.
The TV shows do not try to hide or brush over this painful history. They make light of it.
"Now the world's greatest rivalry is going to get spicier," said co-host Ira Dubey during one of the early episodes of Foodistan, which first aired in India on Jan. 23 and will be shown in Pakistan starting in mid-February.
Her counterpart, Aly Khan, said the aim of the two teams "would be to grind the opposition into chutney, to make them eat humble pie, to dice them, slice them and fry them on their way to culinary glory."
Eight chefs from each country were scheduled for individual and team competitions over 26 one-hour episodes, with the winner authoring the first Foodistan cookbook and receiving a trip to three cities of his or her choice anywhere in the world.
There is significant overlap in the cuisines of both countries, as there is in language, music and culture. Pakistanis and Indians both love curry, kebab and biryani – a spiced rice dish. But they often use different ingredients, and dishes can also vary from one region to another within the same country.
Pakistani dishes often include beef, which is not eaten by many people in majority Hindu India for religious reasons. India has more vegetarian dishes, and the food is often cooked with ingredients like coconut milk that are rarely found in Pakistan.
Many Pakistanis and Indians have missed out on enjoying the varied tastes of the other country because mutual enmity has made cross-border travel difficult.
"Even though they are neighbors, Indians don't know what Pakistani food is like and vice versa," said Mirza Fahad, a production assistant at India's NDTV, which developed Foodistan. "It was long overdue to get to know each other's foods."
During the first cook-off on the show, filmed in New Delhi, the judges gave four chefs from each side two hours to prepare a biryani, curry, kebab and dessert. Each of the three judges gave the team's meal a score out of 10.
The judges loved the Iranian-inspired fish biryani cooked by the Pakistanis, their chicken kebab stuffed with figs, olives, bread and mango chutney, and their shahi tukda – a dessert of fried bread soaked in hot milk with spices. They scored 21 out of a possible 30, losing points because a dish of chicken in shalimar curry was a tad chewy.
The Indians ended up winning the first contest by one point with a menu that included chicken tikka with truffle cream, cheese kofta in a tomato and water chestnut curry, lamb biryani and phirni – a sweet rice pudding that they topped with strawberry granita.
The captain of the Pakistani team, Mohammed Naeem, executive chef at the Park Plaza Hotel in Lahore, alleged the judges didn't have enough knowledge of Pakistani food and were destined from the beginning to pick an Indian to win.
The judges included a British chef, an Indian food critic and a Bollywood actress of Pakistani and French descent.
Another member of the team, Akhtar Rehman, a chef at the Marriott Hotel in Islamabad, said concerns about the judges were fairly widespread on the Pakistani side, but Naeem was the only one to quit.
It remains to be seen whether the music competition – Sur Kshetra, or Musical Battlefield – also will spark ill will.
The contest, which is being filmed in Dubai, is scheduled to air in Pakistan and India starting in mid-February, said Mohammed Zeeshan Khan, a general manager at Pakistan's Geo TV, which is developing the show.
"Music can unite people across borders and bring them closer together," said Khan.
The competition will include teams of six musicians from each country between the ages of 18 and 27. The teams will be mentored by two well-known pop singers and actors, Pakistani Atif Aslam and Indian Himesh Reshammiya. They will compete across a range of genres, including jazz, pop, rock and qawwali – traditional Sufi Muslim ballads that are popular in both countries, said Khan.
The grand prize is still being worked out, but Khan said the winner can claim to be "the new musical icon for the subcontinent."
|« Jun


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February 22nd, 2012
No one enjoys listening to crying children while they're dining out, and parents are no exception.
Mindful parents - and there are many of them - know the drill when it comes to eating out with children. They stick to family friendly restaurants, know the signs of an oncoming outburst and won't hesitate to scoop up their children at first wail. That is if they decide to take the kids out in the first place.
Those parents wish restaurants didn't need to publicly state policies for dealing with unruly children or even ban them outright. They shudder when the media shines a spotlight on establishments that go that route; the controversy gives parents a bad name.
February 22nd, 2012
Buy me some peanuts and Cracker Jack and...on second thought, I'll just have a brat and a Miller Lite.
For millions of allergy sufferers across the country, someone else's snack can mean a deadly attack. Now one more major league team has been added to the roster of baseball parks offering dedicated peanut-free seating at some games.
The Milwaukee Brewers announced in a press release that there will be a 100-seat peanut-controlled area at Miller Park for games on Monday, May 7, Thursday, July 26 and Friday, September 14, with tickets available for pre-order starting March 1 at Brewers.com/peanutcontrolled. Because the entire venue will not be peanut-free, those seated in the area will be required to sign a waiver.
February 22nd, 2012
Sink your teeth into today's top stories from around the globe.
February 22nd, 2012
Being waited on hand and foot now comes at an affordable price in Tokyo. A new butler-themed cafe in the Japanese capital is proving a hit with young females in search for a relaxing afternoon, an English lesson and just as importantly the chance to interact with friendly foreign men.
Shibuya's "Butler Cafe" in the heart of the city has surroundings that bring to mind a Victorian grandmother's sitting room, with classical music, ample accents of lace and more hearts and roses adorning the furniture than can possibly be counted.
February 22nd, 2012
While you're frying up some eggs and bacon, we're cooking up something else: a way to celebrate today's food holiday.
Looks like it's going to be another tequila sunrise because today is National Margarita Day!
Grab yourself a cold glass of this cocktail, drop in a lime wedge and with a little imagination, you could be on your favorite beach!
A margarita is essentially tequila mixed with orange-flavored liqueur and lime or lemon juice with salt lining the rim of the glass. You can slurp it down shaken with ice, on the rocks, blended with ice into a frozen slushee-esque sipper or straight up.
February 22nd, 2012
Pssst! Got a sec to chat?
We are utterly thrilled when readers want to hang out and talk – whether it's amongst themselves or in response to pieces we've posted. We want Eatocracy to be a cozy, spirited online home for those who find their way here.
Consider the daily Coffee Klatsch post as your VIP lounge – the primary comments thread for readers who'd like to chat about topics not related to the articles we're running. That way, everyone knows where to find each other, and each post's comments section remains on topic.
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subset: commoncrawl


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The 18 year old murderer of a San Antonio Yellow Cab driver has been arrested!
Derrick Wayne Hunt, Jr was arrested at his apartment, yesterday evening. He surrendered, peacefully. San Antonio Police had been searching for him for several days in the shooting death of 49 year old John Dexter.
He wasn't talking to the media without a lawyer being present and he maintains his innocence. I hope that Mr. Dexter's family can find closure and peace now that his murderer has been caught.
*Footnote: My daughter tells me that he graduated from her high school, last year!


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Services for Aubrey Middleton McPhail will be held Saturday, at 10:30 a.m., at Collinsville United Methodist Church in Collinsville, with the Rev. Ennis Hyman and the Rev. Alan Randall officiating. Burial will be in Hamrick Cemetery with Robert Barham Family Funeral Home in charge of arrangements.
Mr. McPhail, 94, of Collinsville, died Wednesday, Aug. 10, 2011, at Silverleaf Manor surrounded by his two sons. His wife of 48 years, Rosalyn Blanks McPhail, died in 1988. Mr. Mac, as he was affectionately known, owned and operated McPhail Food Center in Collinsville. He was born to the late Clauren Thedford McPhail and Elizabeth Middleton McPhail in Brookhaven. He attended Copiah -Lincoln Junior College and State Teacher College, now the University of Southern Mississippi, on football scholarships. He received a B.S degree in biology in 1938. Subsequently, he taught biology and chemistry, and coached football and basketball at Silver Creek and Pachuta. With the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, many teachers, including Mr. Mac, were drafted. Upon notification of the draft, Mr. Mac joined the U. S. Navy and was accepted into Officer's Candidate School at Columbia University in New York City. He graduated from OCS as a commissioned naval officer. During his three and a half years in the Navy, he served aboard ships operating along the eastern coast of the United States, the Caribbean and South Pacific. As a Lieutenant (j.g.), he served as Communications Officer on PC 1234 and later as a Lieutenant, he was the Executive Officer on PC 1549. He was honorably discharged from the Navy in 1946. After leaving the Navy, Mr. Mac returned to Collinsville and joined Mr. Lamar Clay in operating Clay and McPhail Food Center. After the death of Mr. Clay in 1968, Mr. Mac continued to operate the store as McPhail Food Center until he retired in 1981. He spent his retirement years hunting, fishing, and operating his farm. In addition, he served three terms as president of the Collinsville Bass Club, president and founder of the East Mississippi Scottish Society, and one semester, taught a non-credit course on Scottish history at Meridian Community College. He was also a charter member of the Collinsville Lion's Club.
Survivors include his son, Mark and his wife Wanda of Collinsville; son, William (Bill) and his wife Eleanor of Burke, Va.; son-in-law, Dr. J. B. Stroud of Thibodaux, La.; grandchildren: David McPhail and his wife Jenny of Oxford, Haley McPhail Davis and her husband Patrick of Jackson, Morgan McPhail Vitart and her husband Matthew of Jackson, Katharine McPhail Scala and her husband Josh of Black Mountain, N.C., William McPhail II of Burke, Va., Jody Stroud and his wife Robin of Lake Charles, La., and Josh Stroud of Thibodaux, La.; great-grandchildren: Logan McPhail, Grayson and Finley Davis, Ella Katherine, Anne-Hartley, and Mark Toxey Vitart, Grady and Myles Scala, and Reagan and Cooper Stroud; and two sisters: Mrs. Marvel Gartman of Houston, Texas, and Mrs. Verna Mae Smith of Natchez.
He was preceded in death by his wife, Rosalyn Blanks McPhail; daughter, Bettye McPhail Stroud of Thibodaux, La.; and two brothers: Hartwell McPhail of Clinton, and D'Non McPhail of Indianapolis, Ind.
Pallbearers will be James A. Boatner, Donald Belvin, Dr. John Clay, Dan Clay, Josh Stroud and Tommy Hitt.
Honorary pallbearers will be Billy Harold Smith and Donnie Scrivner.
The family would like to extend a heartfelt thank you to the administration and staff at Silverleaf Manor and Sta-Home Hospice for their loving care during Mr. McPhail's time there.
In lieu of flowers, the family asked that donations be made to the Collinsville United Methodist Church, P. O. Box 85, Collinsville, MS 39325 or Hamrick Cemetery, c/o Mr. Rod Hitt, P. O. Box 106, Collinsville, MS 39325.
Death Notices
Aubrey Middleton McPhail
Services for Aubrey Middleton McPhail will be held Saturday, at 10:30 a.m., at Collinsville United Methodist Church in Collinsville, with the Rev. Ennis Hyman and the Rev. Alan Randall officiating. Burial will be in Hamrick Cemetery with Robert Barham Family Funeral Home in charge of arrangements.


text: November 4, 2008: a day that will go down in history. The day Exhibit A (Transformations) was featured at DJBooth.net. Well, OK, the electing-our-first-African-American-president thing may slightly eclipse Jay Electronica's first Booth feature, but the track was still pretty damned dope, as was Mickey Factz' recent freestyled … Read More


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Retired Gen. David H. Petraeus, the former CIA director and commander of coalition forces in Iraq and Afghanistan, will speak in Duke University's Page Auditorium on Wednesday, Sept. 11. Petraeus will deliver the Ambassador Dave and Kay Phillips Family International Lecture at 6 p.m.
The event is free and open to the public, but tickets are required at tickets.duke.edu ($6 processing fee), or in person at the Duke Box Office (no fee). Tickets will be limited to one per person. Parking is available in the Bryan Center garage for $5.
Petraeus served 37 years in the U.S. military, earning numerous honors and rising to the rank of four-star general. His military service includes commander of coalition forces in Iraq and Afghanistan, and commander of the U.S. Central Command. He then served as the director of the CIA for 14 months, where he focused on global counterterrorism efforts, establishment of the Economic Security Center and increasing investments in human capital.
Petraeus, a West Point graduate, earned an master's degree in public administration and a doctorate in international relations from Princeton University's Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs.
Peter Feaver, Duke professor of political science and public policy and director of the Duke Program in American Grand Strategy, will host the discussion.
"General Petraeus is one of the most celebrated military leaders of our time," Feaver said. "He has played a key role in the wars of the past decade and has the strategic vision to help us understand the challenges of the next decade. We are very fortunate to have him speak to us at this pivotal time in American national security."
Petraeus is now chairman of KKR Global Institute and a visiting professor of public policy at the City University of New York's Macaulay Honors College. He is also a Judge Widney Professor at the University of Southern California.
The event is sponsored by the Duke Program in American Grand Strategy and co-sponsored by the Sanford School of Public Policy, Triangle Institute for Security Studies and the Duke Office of Global Strategy and Programs.


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Tiny little clues lead to great big fun.
To create clues, try the following, or use your own funny riddles: 1. I like to bark and chase a stick. Draw a picture of me and hang it up quick. 2. I'm thin and long and colored red. I'm tied around the ponytail on a little girl's head. 3. I've got five points and twinkle in the sly. Cut me out of tinfoil and put me up high. 4. Although my name rhymes with stupid, I'm as cute as can be. Cut my shape out of paper and hang me on the tree. 5. I'm made of two letters and stand for a hug and a kiss. If you hang my picture on the tree, you just can't miss.
Set up a Valentine's tree centerpiece on the dining room table; a small bare branch held upright in a jar of marbles or stones works well.
Write clues on small pieces of paper for items that the kids must find or make of paper and hang on the tree. Then tie the clues onto the branches of the tree.
When the kids come back with the last item, have small gifts waiting under the tree.


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The Daily Star
---- — Jane Eyre Garlick
ONEONTA — Jane Eyre Garlick, 79, a longtime Oneonta resident, peacefully passed away Thursday, Jan. 16, 2014, at the Bassett Medical Center in Cooperstown.
A full obituary will be published at a later date in The Daily Star.
Arrangements are pending at the Bookhout Funeral Home, Oneonta.


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LP Jingle Qube Percussion InstrumentSku #H80902000000000 LP H80902 DWBC Shakers https://www.esnapw.com/rses/ESnapServlet?MerchantNumberSent=63655
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