SO THIS IS NIGER

Of dead donkeys and electrocutions

“WE have The Bomb. Its maker is in our safe custody. We have the means to bombard the other side of the world. We are impregnable.”

”Right now, in this greatest city of this great Republic, I am marooned as was McCullogh of MacMurchada. I am surrounded by Moat Mary, by Moat Bogra and by Moat Feroze Nana. These moats are filled with sewage water.

A little donkey lay dead yesterday morning at the side of Moat Nana, electrocuted by a fallen wire.” Writes my friend Ardeshir Cowasjee with heavy sarcasm in his weekly column.

I am sure that you’ll think it strange, as I do, that this poor Islamic state can afford to build an atomic bomb but can’t provide even the most basic amenities for its citizens. 

There have only been a few inches of rain over the past three weeks but the damage to Karachi has reached apocalyptic dimensions.

Surprisingly after days and days of patchy internet connections I am on-line again.

Completely bogged down at home and with only a week to go before I’ll leave Pakistan and with more rain hanging in the sky I am getting bit worried whether I will make it to the airport.

Said the ancient proverb: Unhappy is the land whose only happy inhabitants are the pious and the corrupt.

Posted by: Lewana at August 20, 2006 20:34 | link | comments (6)
karachi, of dead donkeys and electrocutio

Pakistani Minister gets it right - at last

Just when you thought that in the ‘Land of the Pure’ - or was that rather the ‘Land of the Poor’ no one really cared for the plight of the majority of its citizens, at long last a minister in the Pakistani Government gets it right.

“Federal Minister for Ports and Shipping Babar Khan Ghouri on Wednesday said that the Karachi Port Trust Fountain, the world’s second largest, had been built by the government for the poor people of the country who could not afford to visit Switzerland for rest and recreation.

No kidding, Mr Ghouri?

How many Pakistanis can afford to travel overseas unless they belong to the few percent of affluent citizens of this country? The real poor are struggling to get one square meal a day.  They don’t have any spare money for the bus to the beach of Clifton to admire a fountain that has been mostly out of order since its inauguration a few months ago.

Posted by: Lewana at August 17, 2006 21:56 | link | comments (1)
pakistan, karachi, islam politics pakistan, islam politics

Breakfast on Lake Tanganyika

If you are a globetrotter there must come a day when you pack up your life and prepare to transfer to another city or continent on this globe.

Perhaps globetrotter is not quite the word. You are being send to a country not necessarily of your own choice and before you know it you are committed to start all over again.

You search the Internet for information about that new country you are going to work and live in for the next three years or so. You begin writing numerous e-mails to friends all over the world pumping them for useful insider information.

You may feel a twinge of dismay at having to refresh your rusty French language skills after years of polishing your English. But being a true globetrotter you accept it with poise and some nonchalance even when you learn that you’ll have to exchange the threats of Dengue fever with a particularly vicious strain of malaria.

The preparations for a new tour of duty can be delightful or frustrating but they are never boring. It is fascinating to learn via google news that those residents and several ministers of the Burundian capital Bujumbura cleaned up their city on Saturday on the orders of President Pierre Nkurunziza.

While recently Karachi’s badly maintained drainage system completely collapsed, Karachi’s roads and foot paths filled with filthy and stinking water that was caused by a few light monsoon showers, the entire population of Bujumbura was cleaning the streets and gutters of plastic bags and rubbish. Or so the Burundian mayor, Celestin Sebutama claimed.

You learn with amazement that during that operation traffic in Bujumbura was banned under the supervision of hundreds of policemen while Karachi’s policemen did what they usually do: fleecing hapless drivers for bribes.

Miracles seem to happen after all. Burundian President Nkurunziza and several ministers set an example in two working class districts by personally giving a hand in the clean-up drive while at the same time the mayor of Karachi City Nazim Mustafa Kamal visited Karachi’s central business district. The area is still inundated with sewerage since the first few rain drops fell three weeks ago. Mr. Kamal ordered “the preparation of an area map within two days so that a permanent solution to this problem could be found out.” you learn from an article in a local paper.

Suddenly you consider yourself fortunate that the count-down has begun but you are not ready yet to travel with clear plastic bags.

Posted by: Lewana at August 16, 2006 00:12 | link | comments (3)
travel, africa, breakfast on lake tanganyika

A Taste of Sharia Law

A recent study “What do Muslims living in Great Britain really want” by Channel 4 Television in Great Britain found that a third of those polled would like to live under Sharia Law in their adopted country. Almost a thousand Muslims of varied ages, both male and female were interviewed in this survey.

“Pakistan Zindabad, Pakistan Zindabad. I have heard these words countless times on TV but have hardly witnessed it in real life because I live abroad. Last year, with my whole family, (I) came to Pakistan for the first time to meet my relatives and to see my motherland. When I reached here I was delighted to see what Pakistan was like” writes Saima Ilahi.

And a little later Saima relates how she found by chance her own grandmother begging in the streets of Karachi.

When she asks the beggar woman about her family the old woman explained that she hadn’t seen her three sons for thirty years. “Since 30 years I haven’t seen a glimpse of them. They sold my house and didn’t even think for once what will become of me or where I will live.”

As the young woman relates her “feel-good story” she does not ask the obvious question that hit me in the first place.

Why were her sons allowed to sell the family house without her consent?

So much for reality under Sharia Law.

Posted by: Lewana at August 12, 2006 16:38 | link | comments
pakistan, karachi, a taste of sharia law

Urgent help needed

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Rukhsana Khalid needs to renew the American passport for his sixteen year old daughter but he obviously has a problem with ‘disproportionate’ passport regulations by American authorities.

He writes in his letter to the editor of the Dawn: “I would like to know how Muslim American women, inside or outside the US, fulfil this requirement when they renew their passports. I would also like to request the American consulate to let me know if there is any provision for ladies who do not wish to have their picture taken with their head uncovered. What choice do we have? Is there anyone who can help me?”  

Talking about choices:  Why would Mr Khalid want to spend money on an expensive ticket to the USA if his daughter could live perfectly covered under a head scarf here in Pakistan?

 

Posted by: Lewana at August 06, 2006 22:40 | link | comments (1)
karachi, urgent help needed