Pakistan Diary 17-02-14

Backgrounder:
1. Trial of Genll.(retd) Pervez Musharraf by a Special Court under article 6 of the Constitution for treason has become quite a controversy and divided the public opinion sharply. Those in favor of the trial say that an example need to be set so that in future no General dares to do such a thing. Those against the trial , say that this is nothing but an act of revenge by miffed Nawaz Sharif who was ousted and exiled by the General in 1999. People argue that this trial will not only displease and embarass the Army, but also insult Pakistan as a Nation. If Musharraf has to be tried, so should all the accomplices, many of whom are part of Government today, and also includes Army top brass and Judiciary as well.

2. Re-appointment of Najam Sethi as PCB Chief is another controversy that has caused high decibel debate in the Pak media. Najam Sethi , a prominent journalist was appointed by PM Nawaz Sharif as Pakistan Cricket Board Chairman, but had to vacate the seat following HC judgment in favor of the erstwhile Chairman appointed by AA Zardari. Nawaz Sharif over ruled the same and re-appointed Sethi once again. This has caused quite a controversy, fuelled by Imran Khan's statement that Sethi has been rewarded for the favors done by Sethi as Caretaker CM of Punjab during the General Elections. There is a rumour of an intercepted telecon in which Sethi is allegedly heard talking to PM that he has "fixed 35 punctures" which is being interpreted as fixing 35 districts of Punjab for the favorable elections.

Other News:

1. Faisal Raza Abdi, very outspoken,controversial PPP Senator who resigned recently, and Mubasher Luqman , another controversial Tv journalist well known for his show "Khara Sach" on ARY News. discussed many irregularities committed by Ex-Chief Justice of Pakistan, Justice Chaudhry, incldg the unexamined affairs of his son, Crores worth of mansion being constructed etc. Abdi also feels strongly about the reluctance of present Govt in building Iran-Pak Gas pipeline and Gawadar port link.He feels this negligence will cost Pakistan dearly.

2. Execution of 23 FC soldiers by Taliban and attack on Police Bus in Karachi have lead to suspension of peace talks with TTP. Many feel that Pak Govt is talking from a position of weakness and is not projecting its strength as a result of which TTP are talking advantage of and are making outrageous demands. It is being said that the talks are not a solution,  based on  optimistic hopes have no chance of success since they dont take into account the hard realities on ground. There is no clarity,&unity of thought even within the Govt, as well as in the Civil Society, and TTP is taking full advantage of this confusion.

3.Abdul Basit (1982 batch) who expected to be the next Foreign Secy, is instead being sent to India as the next Ambassador in March.

4. Right wing extreme, lead by Zaid Hamid is advocating that Pak should declare US as an enemy state and deal accordingly  since US is carrying out an undeclared, covert war against Pakistan by drone attacks, and covert support to TTP & RAW to support violence and turmoil in Pakistan. It is surprising that extreme rightists like ZH and Lt.Gen Hamid Gul etc. have a constituency of their own in Pakistan and many people admire them for the firebrand nationalism.

Tailpiece: If any Indian who is a Hindi movies & music buff like me observes the life of middle class Pakistanis, he cannot but wonder, how can this country be so hostile an enemy when morning to evening, they breath and live Hindi films, filmstars and film music. Hindi film music presence is so over whelming in all spheres of life includig as background music to TV programs, even News & Current affairs programs,  Talent shows like Pakistan Idol, popular TV shows like Khabarnak and Hasbehal etc. are riddled with references to and siging of Hindi film songs & there is not even an iota of hesitation. Bollywood is so much a part of their life, even more than ours in India!

Durbar- Tavleen Singh : Book Review

Tavleen Singh's new book DURBAR gave rise to great expectations because it is one of those rare books written about Rajiv Gandhi era, but sadly the book does not live up to the expectations. It is superficial and gossipy, not expected of Tavleen, it looks like a Shobha De quickie. It is more of Tavleen's ego tripping in which she claims to have become a member of the "inner circle" of Delhi Durbar; partying with the high & mighty of Delhi including the Gandhis. But this insider status of hers, does not bring out any significant inside information, buried secrets, or in depth understanding of anything.

Rajiv Gandhi era remains one of the most significant, yet, least understood periods in India's political history and leaves many questions unanswered, one of which is; Despite the overwhelming mandate of 400+ Lok Sabha Seats, why & how did Rajiv Gandhi managed to make such a mess of himself? The question has not been convincingly been answered by anybody including Tavleen Singh. Many others like Mani Shanker Aiyyar who claim to have been in his "Kitchen Cabinet" have never been able to explain it.

I have been following Tavleen right from Mid 70's when she started her journalistic career and later on became a regular reader of her weekly column. I disagreed with her sycophantic defense of Man Mohan Singh just because he happened to be a Sikh like herself & I criticised her heavily on twitter. She blocked me. But she herself in due course changed her opinion about MMS.
I still admire her a lot, especially for her gutsy & brave decision to fight it out and bring up her son as a single mother against all odds after that Pakistani politician who she fell in love with, ditched and dumped her. Today her son Aatish Taseer is a fine young man and a fine writer.

Was RG really so naive as portrayed to be? Blame is laid on his coterie of advisers, but Arun Singh was an honest,sincere and decent guy, Arun Nehru was a super smart,crafty,brilliant strategist, VP Singh was honest & politically savvy who went on to become PM, then who? I cant think of RG relying on maverick Mani, or Steno Vincent George to mess up things! RG made so many mistakes, some of which are still costing a lot, but he also made many breakthrough decisions which catapulted India straight from Bullock cart age to Rocket age which his mother could never do!

Tavleen Singh's first person account of operations against Sikh Militants in Amritsar and anti-Sikh riots in Delhi are superb.

Her account of Emergency, Sanjay Era, Indira's exile under Janata regime, the rise&fall of Janata Party, are very cursory,superficial and run of the mill. She plays down the role played by Pakistan in Khalistan movement and militancy in Kashmir.

I expected a Scholarly, in-depth research and analysis of the Rajiv era, but this book has failed to do that. The book is a quickie for the Gen-next readers who have no clue to what happened in RG times which is treated as a mere footnote in India's history which it is not.

Rajiv Era is a very important landmark in India's  socio-political history post-independence. I hope, someone someday will do justice to the era.

Indian influence in Pakistan

This may come as a surprise to many Indians who are not exposed to Pakistani TV channels, TV shows,or have visited Pakistan, that there is a great deal of influence of India in day to day lives of Pakistanis.

Exposed to Doordarshan transmission available in Pakistan for many years, many Pakistanis have come to learn and understand "pure" Hindi of AIR brand. When you see kids and women hold forth in chaste Hindi in Pak comedy shows on TV, it is a pleasant surprise.

Almost all the advertisements, whether print, outdoor or on TV are same as those in India since most of the brands in Pak also are sold in India. Anyway most of the production and post production & creative work is done in India, even if some Pakistani models are used it is rare. Most of the outdoor ads have Indian models. Shahrukh, Katrina,Kareena adorn the bill boards all over Pakistan.

The influence of Hindi film music is so widespread that almost everybody in Pakistan seems to be very well versed in Hindi film songs right from 1950- to date and film songs are used to lace TV shows, commentaries, situations, background music, and to highlight situations even in News-shows and talk-shows.In fact Aftab Iqbal , well known anchor of popular comedy show; Khabarnak, regularly features an aged,frail music aficionado  Naseer bhai, virtual encyclopedia of Hindi film music 1950-1980, who can identify any song with full details of Film, Singer, Lyricist, Music Director and lead players. The programe also features a Singer couple who perform a hit Hindi film song live, and the audience as well as the host of the show thoroughly enjoy the song. Most of the songs are Golden Oldies of 60's which even the younger generation of Pakistanis are getting to know of and enjoy.

Urdu, a beautiful and rich language which was born in India, has been neglected in India, but is the official language of Pakistan and has enriched itself by imbibing a number of Hindi words which are used by common people of Paksitan including TV journalists. Some of the oft used Hindi words are:  Janmabhoomi, Bhayanak, Kathin, Birajman, Pandit, Vichar, Samaj, Dhandli, Pavittar, Sukh-Dukh Ashirwad,Gambhir,Bhouchal,Aasha,Gath-jor, Ujagar, Hahakar, Neta, Bhashan, Janam, Hath-Dharmi, Karta-Dharta,Pujari,Shanti,Ulti-Ganga, Raag Alapna, Bandhan, Vichar, Narain, Mahaan, etc.

India's Cultural Invasion of Pakistan

There have been various TV programs on different Pakistani TV Channels discussing the undesirable/threatening influence and infiltration of Indian culture and "content" In Pakistani's day to day life, especially on TV & Films.
Talat Hussain, one of most respected  journalists on Dawn Tv did a full show on 11th July,12 on the subject and sounded so paranoid and alarmed over the cultural invasion by India!

Simple things which moralist pontificators like Talat fail to understand :

a) Indian films and film music have always been popular in Pakistan ever since partition. It is not just today.
b) Once , the normal flow was blocked by jingoist regimes,and anti-India hysteria people were starved, and soon as Video Cassettes came out as a technological revolution, plagiarisation of Indian films for Pakistani market became a big Vndustry in 80's which even started feeding Indian market!
c) Demise of Pakistani film industry, decadence and decay of TV entertainment shows vis-a-vis vastly superior content/fare offered by Indian films & TV shows which could be accessed thanks to satellite TV networks, Pak audiences got attracted to Indian films & TV shows, nobody forced them to do it.
d) With the internet revolution, now the content is universally available for anyone and everyone, there is no way, one can build fences and boundary walls to bar free flow of information and audio-visual content, Pakistani authorities or so -called conscience keepers cannot stop cultural influences to cross borders.

It is a very welcome development that this so-called " Cultural Invasion". Technology has brought people of India & Pakistan much much closer. People have been poisoned with hatred agenda by politicians,vested interests and unfortunate hostility caused by 3 wars and some unresolved disputes which have been allowed to fester.People in India who cannot watch Pak TV, watched superb TV "dramas" on smuggled video tapes. Who can forget Tanhaiyan, Dhoop Kinarey,Teesra Kinara and the whole lot! Now we watch TV shows and talk shows as well as read Dawn & Express Tribune on internet.

I watch Pak TV shows, especially the talk shows everyday for 2 hours on Internet. Similarly , Pakistanis watch Indian TV shows on Starplus & other channels accessible in Pakistan, and on internet. Of course Hindi films are super hits in Pakistan as always, now they get to see the latest bollywood hits in their swank multiplexes.

I find that so many Hindi words are used so well and so frequently by Pakistanis in their day to day lives, and they understand and are aware of many things Indian such as Hindu rituals/religious rites etc. which they never bothered to  do earlier!

Pakistan's conscience keepers should also appreciate the fact that Hindi film music today is dominated by Muslims, and many of them are from Pakistan.Almost every second hit song is copied from a Pakistani composer and sung by a Pakistani singer. Many singers from Pakistan have become super stars in India. Every second song has deep Islamist influence- there is Khuda, Rabba, Maula, etc. in every song and Sufi Music influence is increasing day by day as well as ever increasing popularity of Ghazals inspired by the Maestro Mehndi Hassan and developed by Jagjit Singh ( both equally revered and popular in India & Pakistan)

I wish Pakistani intelligentsia and conscience keepers to realise and appreciate the good effects of the India's cultural influence on Pakistan and vice versa. These things in addition to the people to people contacts will help us shed the hatred and wipe out decades old hostility and enmity for a peaceful co-existence and much closer friendly relations between the neighbors.