Khuda ka liyae became the first Pakistani movie to be screened in India in several decades. I have had several Indian friends and colleagues approach me and discuss this movie. Having strong feelings about this movie, I decided to put pencil to the paper or keyboard to MSWord and share my feeling with my Indian friends.
I watched this move back in December while I was in Peshawar and to be honest I was not impressed. This is propaganda work by a Musharaf supporter doing his best to put all the blame for Talibenization problems in Pakistan on the Pushtuns (Pathans, as many Indians would say). Make no mistake; I have great respect for Mr. Shoaib Mansoor, maker of the movie. He is certainly one of the top TV producers in Pakistan but I think that’s the key phrase here, “TV producer”. Big screen seems to be an altogether different ballgame at least in Mr. Mansoor’s case.
I observed that Mr. Mansoor kept no secret of his political inclinations and agenda. From the start of the movie the whole story was fincitonalized with events which never happened. I have never heard of beard-wearing bike-riding gangsters tearing down a concert stage...
It appears to be a good development but I hope this really works out. Unfortunately the militants had gotten so strong in Swat valley that it would not have been wise to keep pursuing the military campaign that Mush had started.
Swat militants are different then Waziristan Taliban with there own leadership and distinct "taste". They predate the original Taliban movement of Afghanistan to the early 90s when Molloan Sufi Mohammad started the Tahrik-e-Nifaz-e-Shariat in this area. However, I remember that movement being much wider then just Swat. It had spread all across Malakand Division (Dir, Shangla, Swat, Chitral, Malakand) and also to Kohistan and Battagram districts of Hazara division.
Note that the current leader of the militants in this area, Maulana Fazlullah (AKA Radio Mullah), is the son-in-law of the aforementioned Sufi Muhammad.
Western media is also putting a spin on the promise of imposing Sharia in Swat area, the fact is that the gov of Pakistan had actually already agreed to doing that back in the 90s. Besides, for the most part like any Pushtun abode, this is a very conservative area to begin with, so any sharia law implimentation prmises are not going to change...
As the Afghan war enters into what may be its final days, and the international community begins discussing its next steps, Americans will be learning more about the warrior people known to the British as Pathans, and more correctly nowadays as Pashtuns. Most of the Taliban were Pashtun -- as is the new interim leader of Afghanistan, Hamid Karzai, to whom Mullah Muhammad Omar, the Taliban leader, has ceded power. The Pashtuns number upwards of 20 million, and their squat stony villages straddle the Durand Line that nominally demarcates Pakistan from Afghanistan, where Pashtuns form the largest ethnic group. These are the fighters who inspired reams of fearful and admiring verse from Rudyard Kipling, the sharpshooters blessed with perfect sight who picked off the soldiers of the British Raj. But the Pashtuns also produced one of the most remarkable pacifist movements of the 20th century.
British officers were so impressed by Pashtun valor that in 1847 they created a Pashtun force, the Corps of Guides -- its emblem was crossed sabers over the slogan ''Rough and Ready'' -- that was soon celebrated in the Indian Army....
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Fall of Musharaf
February 21, 2008
Genghis Khan is said to have once said that the wisest ruler is the one who makes more friends than enemies while one is at the height of one’s power. God knows how well Genghis Khan followed his own rules but General (RETIRED) Pervaiz Musharaf certainly seems to have been unaware of this golden rule of the great Khan.
Was it just me who was amused at the reconciliation offer of Mr. Musharaf to PPPP and PML-N.? He for sure did not show anyone the same courtesy while he was all in all. In a span of a few months he has gone from a paper hero to a practical zero. It all started with Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudary. To distract people from the CJ and his problems, the whole drama of Lal Masjid was orchestrated. Too bad for the other main character of Lal Masjid soap, Ghazi brothers, they thought that there founder and God Father ISI was just kidding around but they are not the first ones to be double crossed by Musharaf. NOW Sheikh Rashid and other PML-Q leaders are coming out and sounding their displeasure with Mush’s handling of Lal Masjid.
Salamona everyone. So the Election Day is approaching fast and InshAllah this Monday voters are going to polls to determine which party is going to run Pakistan (of course after the CIA, World Bank, IFP, AB, ISI etc.). Although, unfortunately I won’t be able to vote in the election but I think I have done a fair bit in the election campaign to at least feel better. I worked on the campaign of Tariq Hameed Khattak in Nowshera where his constituency covers my village and Arbab Najeebullah covering our Peshawar residence. Also, while baba (my dad) was out of the country for Hajj I made some preliminary arrangements for Asfandyar Wali Khan’s proposed invitation to our hujra in the village. Although I must admit, nothing beats putting a stamp right next to your choice of candidate, I wish the elections were held on the original planned date in January, I would have certainly been able to vote then.
But over the last few weeks I, like many others, am beginning to question the integrity and fairness of the forthcoming elections. Pakistani politics have been complicated even by the mere standard that they ARE politics. For years our beloved president...
This past Satuday a suicide bomber killed over 30 innocent people who were taking part in a local ANP meeting at Nahqi, Charsadda. Today at least 13 more people were murdered in another suicide attack on a ANP convoy in North Waziristan. This is a very sad episode in the on-going lawlessness in the province of Pukhtunkhua. ANP is a party that has always spoken against use of violence for any purpose. ANP takes its roots from the non-violent Khudai Khidmatgar Movement.
Targeting a gathering in a Pushtun hujra is of high interest here. For those of us who are familiar with Pushtun society in general and the workings and manners of a hujra in particular know that a political gathering in a village is usually attended by people of all walks of life having diverse political affiliations. It is not uncommon to see a handful PPP supporters attend a PML gathering or bunch of ANP loyalists attending a JI gathering. The reasons are because it is the responsibility of the village dwellers or “mallat” (subsection of a village or clan) to show respect to the visiting political leaders. I...
This is a sad episode in the ongoing lawlessness in the province. The whole episode seems to be a kidnap attempt gone bad. The story does have a happy ending though with all the childern being realeased without any harm.
“There is nothing surprising in a Muslim or Pushtun like me subscribing to the creed of nonviolence. It is not a new creed. It was followed 1400 years ago by the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) all that time when he was in Mecca”-Ghaffar Khan
Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan (1889-1988) was a Pushtun/Pathan/Afghan political and spiritual leader who took on the task of transforming the violent Pushtuns of Afghanistan and Western Pakistan (then part of British India) into a nonviolent peace brigade to fight the British colonial occupation. He was a lifelong pacifist and a devout Muslim. He was affectionately known as Badshah Khan (written as Bacha Khan in Pushtu), the King of Chiefs, and Frontier Gandhi. Bacha, in his native Pushtu language literally means the king and this title is given to someone who sacrifices his life for the benefit of the people, and indeed Ghaffar Khan was one such man. Unfortunately very few people outside of the sub-continent know about the life and legacy of Ghaffar Khan.
In the wake of 9/11, the 2003 attack on Iraq, continuing violence in rest of the Middle East , Afghanistan, Kashmir, Darfur and other places, we must recall Ghaffar Khan and his more...