یہ وہ سحر تو نہیں

1947 کی بات ہے۔ پاکستان معرض وجود میں آ چکا تھا۔ فیض صاحب دہلی سے لاہور منتقل ہوئے تو نئے ملک کی حالت دیکھ کر دم بخود رہ گئے اور اپنے جذبات کو کچھ یوں بیان کیا:

یہ داغ داغ اجالا، یہ شب گزیدہ سحر
تھا انتظار جس کا، یہ وہ سحر تو نہیں

اجالا بیشک داغ داغ تھا لیکن تقسیم کے بعد شہر لاہور کی ادبی محفلوں کو چار چاند لگ گئے اور اس وقت جو ادب تخلیق کیا گیا، اس جیسا آج تک نہیں کیا جا سکا۔

وقت تبدیل ہوا۔ ابتدائی دنوں کا خمار ٹوٹا اور لاہور کی ادبی سرگرمیوں میں کمی آئی کیونکہ روزگار کے غم دلفریب ہونا شروع ہو گئے۔

وقت گزرتا گیا اور ادبی محفلیں کثیر تر ہوتی گئیں۔ طواف کو نکلے چاہنے والے، نظریں جھکا کر اور جسم و جاں بچا کے چلنے لگے۔ لبوں سے آزادی چھین لی گئی اور ’بول‘ کی صدا لگانے والے ملک بدر کر دیے گئے۔ پاک ٹی ہاؤس ٹائروں کی دکان میں تبدیل ہو گیا، کافی ہاؤس بند ہوتے گئے۔

اس جمود کے عالم میں لاہور ادبی میلے کا انعقاد ایک خوش آئند قدم تھا، اور امید ہے کہ اس طرز پر ہر برس کم از کم ایک تقریب ضرور منعقد کی جائے گی۔

تقریب کا آغاز معروف صحافی مظہر علی خان کے صاحب زادے طارق علی کی تقریر سے ہوا۔ موصوف نے دنیا بھر کے انقلابیوں کا ذکر کیا لیکن ادب سے متعلق کوئی بات کرنے سے گریز اختیار کیا۔

اسی دن کے ایک اور سیشن میں جناب نے سونامی پارٹی کی حمایت کا اعلان کیا جس پر وہاں کثیر تعداد میں موجود برگر بچوں نے خوشی کا اظہار کیا۔ ساری عمر بائیں بازو کی سیاست کا نعرہ بلند کرنے والوں کو سونامی پارٹی میں کیا خاص بات نظر آئی، علماء اس معاملے میں ابھی تک خاموش ہیں۔

ایک دانشور عزیزالحق صاحب نے ایسے لوگوں کے بارے میں کہا تھا کہ ’رہے ساری عمر یوپی کے نواب کے نواب اور سکھاتے رہے اہل پنجاب کو مزدور تحریک کے اسرار و رمو ز‘

تقریب میں ہمارا پسندیدہ سیشن پاکستانی فلموں کے بدلتے کردار سے متعلق تھا۔ ہم نے دیکھا کہ وقت ڈھلنے کے ساتھ کس طرح پاکستانی فلم سازوں، ہدایت کاروں اور لکھاریوں کی ترجیحات بدلتی رہیں، حتی کہ ایک وقت ایسا بھی آیا جب چنگیز خان کو مسلمان دکھایا گیا اور وہ ’اللہ کی رحمت کا سایہ‘ کہلایا۔

لاہور ادبی میلے سے ہمارا سب سے بڑا گلہ یہ رہا کہ تمام اہتمام ایک مخصوص طبقے کے لیے رہا، حتی کہ لاہور کے مہنگے ترین تعلیمی اداروں (جن میں سے ایک کا افتتاح برطانوی واسرائے نے کیا اور دوسرے کو برطانیہ کے گرامر سکولوں کی طرز پر قائم کیا گیا) کے طلباء پر ادبی میلے میں حاضری لازم قرار دی گئی۔

ان بچوں کی موجودگی کے باعث چند مضحکہ خیز واقعات بھی رونما ہوئے۔ ایک سیشن میں انتظار حسین صاحب نے جب دو چار منٹ اردو میں بات شروع کی تو ہال خالی ہونا شروع ہو گیا، اور یہ لازوال فقرہ سننے کو ملا :’چلو بھئی یہاں تو اب شعروشاعری شروع ہو گئی ہے‘۔ لاہور جیسے شہر میں اردو کا اس طرح جنازہ نکلتے، نہ پہلے دیکھا، نہ سنا۔

ایک موقع پر منٹو صاحب پر ہونے والے سیشن میں ان کی بھتیجی ڈاکٹر عائشہ جلال سے اصرار کیا گیا کہ گفتگو انگریزی میں کریں۔ مانا کہ بہت سے غیر ملکی مہمان بھی وہاں موجود تھے لیکن لاہور میں منعقد میلے میں منٹو پر بات اگر اردو میں نہ کی جا سکے تو یہ شرم کا مقام ہے۔

خورشید کمال عزیز صاحب، جو کے کے عزیز کے نام سے بھی جانے جاتے ہیں، اپنی کتاب ’تاریخ کا قتل‘ میں لکھ گئے کہ پنجاب کے لوگوں نے کبھی اپنی زبان کی قدر نہیں کی، پہلے اردو کی ترویج و ترقی کا بیڑہ اٹھایا تو کبھی انگریزی کی جانب راغب ہوئے، جبکہ حقیقت تو یہ ہے کہ نہ ہی اردو ہماری زبان ہے نہ ہی انگریزی۔ یہ دونوں زبانیں تو نوآبادیاتی زبانیں ہیں اور ہماری زبان تو دراصل پنجابی ہے۔

لاہور پنجاب کا دارلحکومت ہے اور یہاں منعقدہ ادبی میلے میں پنجابی پر کچھ نہ کچھ بات ضرور ہونی چاہیے تھی، لیکن جس طرز کا طبقہ بلایا گیا تھا ان کے ہاں پنجابی صرف انکے ڈرائیور حضرات ہی بولتے اور سمجھتے ہیں۔ وارث شاہ، بلھے شاہ، بابا فرید، منیر نیازی، استاد دامن اور امرتا پریتم کی ارواح کو اس طرح کی زیادتی پر بہت تکلیف پہنچی ہوگی۔

اردو پر دو عدد سیشن ہوئے جن میں سامعین تو ایک طرف، چند مقررین نے ہی تشریف لانا گوارا نہیں کیا۔ منٹو اور فیض کا تذکرہ تو بہت ہوا لیکن یار لوگ تو اب صاف کہتے ہیں کہ فیض اور منٹو ادب اور جدوجہد سے زیادہ فیشن کی علامات بن چکے ہیں، یا بنا دیے گئے ہیں۔

ہمیں انگریزی لکھنے والوں سے کوئی پرخاش نہیں مگر جس ملک میں ایک آبادی کی ایک بڑی تعداد آپ کی لکھائی نہ پڑھ سکے، وہاں آپ انگریز ی کی بجائے ولندیزی زبان بھی لکھ لیں تو کچھ مضائقہ نہیں۔ ہاں اگر آپ نے باہر کی دنیا کے لیے لکھنا ہے تو بصد شوق لکھیے، خیالات کسی ایک زبان کی میراث نہیں ہوتے۔

ادبی میلے کے خو ش آئند پہلووں میں بچوں اور نوجوان لکھاریوں کے لیے کیے گئے سیشن شامل تھے۔ اسی طرح ادب میں طوائف کے کردار پر ایک عمدہ سیشن ہوا۔ ادب اور خواتین پر بھی ایک سیشن رکھا گیا جس میں پاکستان میں سب سے زیادہ پڑھی جانے والی خواتین مثلاََ عمیرہ احمد کو مدعو ہی نہیں کیا گیا۔ میلے میں شریک ایک صاحب کے مطابق، جو ایک ہسپتال کی ڈسپنسری میں کام کرتے ہیں، میلے کا ماحول اور اس کے شرکا ء کسی دوسرے سیارے کے مکین لگ رہے تھے۔

کے کے عزیز نے پنجابیوں کی ایک اور صفت بھی بیان کی تھی، یعنی ’سارے جہاں کا درد ہمارے جگر میں ہے‘ لیکن اپنے علاقے اور اس کے لوگوں کی ہمیں کوئی خاص پرواہ نہیں۔

قابل عزت صحافی اور قلم کار محمد حنیف صاحب نے گم شدہ بلوچوں کا نوحہ پڑھا جو قابل داد ہے لیکن ان ہزاروں ’پنجابیوں‘ کا ذکر تک نہیں کیا جن کا واحد جرم صرف یہ تھا کہ وہ پنجابی ہونے کے باوجود بلوچستان میں رہائش پذیر تھے، ان ہزاروں معصوموں کا نوحہ کون لکھے گا؟

بہرحال حنیف صاحب نے کم از کم فوج کے پنجابی ہونے کی غلط فہمی اپنی آزاد نظم کے ذریعے ضرور دور کی اور کہا کہ ’نواب نو روز خان کو جس کتاب پر ہاتھ رکھ کر جھوٹا وعدہ کیا گیا، وہ کتاب پنجابی زبان میں نہیں تھی، اس کے بیٹوں کو جس پھانسی کی رسی سے لٹکایا گیا وہ رسی اچھرہ سے نہیں بھیجی گئی تھی، وہ راکٹ جو اکبر بگٹی کو لگا کوئی سیالکوٹ سے تیار ہو کر نہیں گیا تھا۔ فوج نہ سندھی ہے، نہ بلوچی، نہ پٹھان، نہ پنجابی، فوج تو بس فوج ہوتی ہے‘

ان تمام تلخ حقیقتوں کے باوجود ہم اپنی کشت ویراں سے ناامید نہیں اور توقع کرتے ہیں کہ آئندہ سالوں میں ادبی میلوں کے انعقاد میں بہتری دیکھنے کو ملے گی اور اجالا مزید داغ داغ نہیں رہے گا۔

Aboard the First Metro

(Published in The News on February 13th, 2013)

Public transport is an essential component of urban planning. All major cities in the world have some form of public transport system to facilitate the daily commute for their denizens. The various kinds of public transport systems include underground subway tracks, trams, designated buses and rapid transit networks.

Unfortunately in Pakistan, there is a serious lack of viable public transport in all major cities. Karachi, with a population of 20 million people, Lahore with almost half this population and other cities like Peshawar and Rawalpindi have no real (public) transport facilities for their residents.

A subway system for Lahore was planned by the previous provincial government but it had to be abandoned due to technical and political reasons. Our country does not have enough power sources to fuel a subway system efficiently. To counter the over-flooding of roads by vehicular traffic, political administrators across the country have used a similar but flawed agenda: build more roads.

In the last decade, Karachi saw its fair share of digging and paving of roads, resulting in a network of bridges, underpasses, overhead bridges and expressways. This planning was short-term and in a few more years, roads are going to be clogged again. Lahore has a different story to tell.

According to a survey conducted last year, only about eight percent of the population has access to a private automobile in Lahore. Nearly twenty percent of the city commutes by bus and 40 percent gets about on foot.

The report also highlights that collectively Lahoris take an estimated 9.8 million trips a day. For a city of nearly 10 million, this figure is less than half of other cities of comparable size. In addition nearly 65 percent of Lahore’s population lives in about 10 percent of its footprint (the areas north of GT Road and the railway station) and the remaining 35 percent of the population occupy the remaining 90 percent with a low-density sprawl.

Over the years, many attempts have been made to solve Lahore’s traffic problems. The widening of Jail Road and Ferozepur Road in the 1990s; the construction of underpasses and the widening of Canal Bank Road; and the construction of Ring Road.

All these efforts have resulted in temporary relief for a few years followed by a return of congested roads. Meanwhile, nothing has been done to improve the archaic public transport system or to make the city bicycle-friendly.

Against this backdrop, work on the bus rapid transport system on Ferozepur Road was initiated. After eight months of toil, we finally have a new transport route in the city. I attended the inauguration ceremony for the bus rapid transit (BRT) system in Lahore and got a chance to take a ride on one of the first metro buses.

During the inauguration ceremony, we were regaled with the usual technical details about the project, followed by a lengthy address by the deputy prime minister of Turkey.

It should be noted that the Turkish government helped the local government with the infrastructure for the project due to their expertise with similar projects in Istanbul. The ceremony itself was grand with more than 3000 participants, including politicians from different parties, civil society members, civil servants, vice chancellors, businessmen, members of the media and students. After the ceremony, a ride in the buses was arranged across the length of Ferozepur Road.

Despite my scepticism, I found the buses comfortable with a separate space for women and adequate standing and sitting space for male passengers.

Our buses were welcomed by cheers throughout the 27 kilometre long journey by not only the ‘PML-N faithful’ but also from people standing on rooftops and travelling in their own vehicles. I believe this is a step in the right direction and similar projects have to be started in other cities of Pakistan.

However, one of the biggest concerns with the project is the fact that people who already have vehicles will not prefer to travel on the BRT buses. There are no parking spaces near the stations and the number of people who will stop using their own cars to use this facility is negligible.

Thus, this system will cater to people who are already travelling via public transport. This hardly helps the situation since the idea should be to ensure a safe, cheap method of commute that all citizens can use.

And then there is the huge economic cost of the project. For a pilot project, the amount spent has been extravagant. Punjab’s overdraft limit has already been exceeded and after spending Rs6 billion on the sasti roti scheme and a 40 percent overdraft on the laptop scheme, this kind of spending is not advisable.

In conclusion? Whatever the merits of the BRT system, it is not economically feasible for the province. Now that work has been completed and the project has started, one can only wish it the best of luck and hope that it is successful.

We Survived Sandy

(A little background on this piece. I am visiting the United States these days as a fellow of "Emerging Youth Leaders of Pakistan" program, initiated by the Atlantic Council, funded by the Carnegie Corporation of New York. This post is a recollection of memories gained in New York, our first destination.)

Times Square

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Maine Monument, Central Park

Library of Columbia University

SANDY

Seinfeld Restaurant

Cathedral of St John

NY Skyline from Rockefeller Center

View of NY from Empire state building

We Survived Sandy

“Do you Speak Arabic?” and “Are you wearing a [suicide] vest?” were two of the questions I was asked when I told people that I was from Pakistan. It is usually said that you take some part of your country with you wherever you go and the first thing you do in another country is to confront their stereotype about you. Being in New York, that too during one of the worst storms in the history of the city, was a great experience to have. The first thing I noticed as soon as we reached JFK Airport was the large number of visitors, mostly from Eastern Europe, who were waiting to go through Immigration. I have heard nasty/creepy stories about Immigration at U.S airports but what I got was quite non-descript. No cavity search, no long interrogations, no suspicious looks or change in attitude. It was a bit disconcerting as well to know that they didn’t deem me important/suspicious enough to at least do a full body scan.!! 

As soon as we slipped out of the airport, we faced a gush of strong chilly wind which accompanied us throughout our visit. We reached our hotel after forty minutes of travelling(or sleeping, in my case) and were welcomed there by Mr. Shuja Nawaz and Huma from the Atlantic Council. After depositing our luggage in our respective rooms, we got a chance to wander out in the streets of New York. During that detour, I discovered that Cart food is considered good in New York, which is totally contrary to what we(or at least my family and medical fraternity in general) think about cart food in Pakistan. We got Shawarmas from “The Halal Guys” and later had a walk up the avenue to visit Times Square.

After our first visit of Times Square, we got addicted to it and we visited Times Square at least once daily. We got pictured on the camera feed present there, ventured up the red steps, got loads of pictures and what not.

In the preceding days, we were largely confined to our hotel due to the “Franken-Storm” named Sandy. We had two intellectually engaging sessions with Mr. Shuja Nawaz and I got to meet Prof Manan Ahmad at Columbia University. It was during the meeting with Mr. Manan that I realized where I was sitting at that time. It was the “Seinfeld” restaurant, the exterior of which was showed in almost every episode of my favorite television comedy show. It did not have the same interior design but it was nonetheless a great feeling for a die-hard Seinfeld fan to be at that particular Diner. We also got to visit Columbia University and had lunch at a nearby Japanese Restaurant. I still don’t remember what I ate that day(I was clueless while eating as well).

During the visit to Columbia, we went to witness Cathedral of St. John the divine, which is the 4^th largest Christian church in the world and probably one of the biggest Gothic churches in the world. It had an exquisite exterior and I don’t think I have ever seen a building that grand and beautiful in my entire life. We encounter a shady(albeit Silver-Tongued) character there who, apart from detailing the history of the church and its reconstruction, also pestered us with Conspiracy theories and how different “signs” had already appeared on the walls of the church forecasting the future.

Being in New York City during Sandy was both a nightmare and an opportunity to witness emergency management in a “developed” country by ourselves. Early Warnings were issued and the local government responded to the storm as well as they could. A lot of difficulties had to be faced, including power shutdowns and absence of the Subway system, which practically paralyzed the city. Many of our plans had to be shelved because of these problems but we still managed to walk around the city, as much as we could. It was a unique opportunity for us to have a firsthand experience of how a “Developed Country” responds to national emergencies and disasters. We have seen what happened in our own country in the wake of Earthquake in 2005 and Floods in 2010 and 2011. Due to effective management and early warnings, the impact of the storm was reduced and less than a hundred people lost their lives due to the storm, which does not reflect accurately the gravity of the situation. 

While we were busy confronting our own stereotypes, we also discovered how wrong so many people have been about New Yorkers. It is usually said that New Yorkers are arrogant, detached and apathetic. I confess that one week is too soon to reach any conclusion but at least for this much duration, we(or at least I) found New Yorkers to be none of the above. I had previously thought that taking so many pictures and getting people to take pictures of us or with them would be at least a bit annoying for most people, but No sir, it was not the case. We got pictures with Cops in Times Square at 11 p.m., with paramedics on Broadway at 5 in the morning and asked a florist at 6 a.m. to take a picture of our group. None of those people even displayed a smirk. A taxi driver once refused to charge some of the fellows because he was a Pakistani while a Rickshaw driver gave us good enough discount on the ride. My beard was also supposed to be a problem for me but it never was, not at the immigration, not in the city, not in any of the offices that we went. 

It is also frequently said by travelers that a city can only be truly explored if you walk through it. I have done this experiment previously and have fallen in love with parts of Lahore because of this exercise. In New York, all we did was walking. We were fortunate that our hotel was located near so many memorable places and we got the chance to explore a lot just by walking. On a personal note, I am not a big fan of pets but the amount of cute dogs I saw on the streets of Manhattan reduced some of the strong feelings I had about this issue. Initially there was some problem with food, as after breakfast we had so many options but their “Halal-ness” was not verified so we were reluctant to experiment. I am already a vegetarian so it was not a big gastronomic shock for me but for some of our fellows, it was a very difficult time. I had Japanese food for the first time which I liked, not so much the American staple diets. 

United States is supposed to be the Land of Free so the first thing that I did upon reaching my hotel was to use YouTube, which has been blocked in Pakistan for the last few weeks.
My mind couldn't stop comparisons when I saw different things in the streets of New York. Cart Food, which is shunned by most well-off Pakistanis, is considered good enough in New York. Tap Water can be used for drinking purposes, without a second thought about any water-associated illness. Thank Yous and Sorrys are much more common. No one gives you a second look, whatever your skin color or dress might be. People get out of the way if you want to get pictures of a particular place. Zebra crossings actually work and vehicles would stop for pedestrians even if the pedestrians are violating the rules. No one cuts through the line, how long that might be. No whistling in theaters. People generally follow time for meetings and excuse politely as soon as the time finishes. These few little actions may not be thought of much by people in the U.S because they have grown accustomed to them but for folks from the "developing world" (thats a misnomer), they are fascinating.   

We visited a grassroots organization working for development of under-privileged South Asian children, named SAYA (South Asia Youth Action). It was heartening to witness active community participation in helping the community itself. We also visited an office of the United Nations Organization (UNO), where we met the Chief Knowledge management office of the UN. Later that day, we visited the Rockefeller Centre and Grand Central Station, both of which are among favorite tourist destinations.

One fine morning, we decided to visit Downtown area and ended up in Greenwich Village. To our utter amazement, there was no electricity in the area, reminding us of Pakistan. We even saw a utility store which was being run under the light of a solitary candle. Most of the shops were closed and streets were generally deserted. We saw a statue of Mr. Gandhi in the Greenwich area. It was followed by a spur of the moment decision to visit the Empire State Building which was nearby. I and another fellow were among the first batch of visitors to the Empire State building that day (tours start from 8 a.m. onwards). It was an out of the world experience to be standing on top of Empire State and finding the city of New York under our feet. It was really cold up there as well but the joy and excitement were overwhelming. It was a proper “Empire State of Mind”.

We visited the offices of New York Times, one of the most widely read newspapers in the world, on 2^nd November, 2012. For an aspiring journalist such as myself, it was akin to visiting Heaven. The one thing that caught my eye apart from the exquisite interior design was the amount of books present on each of the staff's workstation. Despite being a bookworm myself (6 half/quarter-read books lying on my own side table), I was amazed. I don't know many journalists or press people in Pakistan who read such a huge amount of books (a few of them do, but they are exceptions not the rule). Douglas Schorzman, Foreign News Editor of NYT talked to us about various issues regarding NY Times. He was joined for sometime by Susan Chira, assistant managing editor for news of The New York Times. Mr. Douglas was eloquent in answering queries of inquisitive youth leaders from Pakistan and provided detailed answers. He also took us on a short tour of the News Offices. We were able to appreciate the “Open Culture” at New York Times which represents transparency on part of the Newspaper. 

To conclude our visit of New York, we got a chance to watch a Broadway Show. Two groups were formed, one of which opted for watching “The Lion King” while the other, including myself, opted for watching “Newsies”. It was one of the most exhilarating experiences of my life. No wonder the play won the prestigious Tony Award for best play. Performance of the actors was so good that one of my companions wondered if it were a 3D movie? I have seen and acted in semi-professional theater in Pakistan and have watched some good theater performances but Broadway was a different galaxy altogether. It was surreal, magical, and inexplicable, beyond the reach of words. It was the perfect ending to our Topsy-turvy tour of New York, a cherry on the top.