Royal tombs in a shambles

Royal tombs in a shambles

Dawn Editorial

Sunday, 24 May, 2009

It seems that the Taliban are not the only ones who have little respect for national heritage.

Mughal Empress Noor Jehan (d. 1645) was prophetic when she composed the epitaph for her own grave. It runs thus: ‘Pity us, for at our tomb no lamp shall light, no flowers seen/ No moth wings shall burn, no nightingales sing’. What she did not foresee was that a similar fate would befall the nearby tombs of her brother Asif Khan and husband Emperor Jehangir at Shahdara.

Officers describe deadly Pakistan attack

The assault on security force buildings in Lahore that left 27 people dead and more than 250 hurt was carried out by gunmen who fired at police before their explosives-laden van detonated.

By Alex Rodriguez

Reporting from Lahore, Pakistan — Officers guarding Pakistani police and intelligence agencies saw the gunmen jump out of the white van that had stopped at their gate.

Time To Bring Mullah On Board

The horrific tragedy in Lahore has done little to either bring the country together. There is the usual condemnation; people voice their anger, especially if they are in front of the camera or talking to a reporter. The talking heads on television channels repeat the same mantra – India with the help of Israel and America wants to destabilize Pakistan because of its nuclear capabilities, etc. In other words, nothing new in analyzing the causes and no effort to actually examine internal facts that might be a cause of suicide bombings or terrorists acts in the country.

Third attack in Lahore – terror regime continues unabated

It was the third attack in three months in or near Lahore, the capital of Punjab, Pakistan’s most populous province. The bomb left a crater eight feet deep and a vista of flattened concrete and destruction. Dozens of vehicles were crumpled like paper and broken glass filled the street. The dark pink brick building of the Rescue 15 ambulance service collapsed and emergency workers dug through the debris to try to find survivors.

Lahore suicide blast kills 21, injures 300

 

LAHORE: The suicide car bomb blast at Rescue-15 building adjacent to CCPO Office killed 21 people and injured over 300 others here in Civil Line area on Wednesday. The injured have been shifted to different hospitals of the city where medical aid is being provided to them. President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani has strongly condemned the blast. http://thenews.jang.com.pk/updates.asp?id=78771

It’s time for Lahore’s 6th Critical Mass Event

Date: 31 May 2009
Time: 5.45pm (till about 7.30pm)
Place: Zakir Tikka intersection, Sarwar Road, Lahore Cantonment

Critical Mass is about having clean cities that provide mobility and accessibility. Critical Mass is about clean transport. Critical Mass is about putting public good over private interest. Critical Mass is about making friends. Critical Mass is about reclaiming public space. Critical Mass is about showing a man on a cycle is the same as a man in a ten lac car. Critical Mass is about democracy.

Critical Mass is not an organization. It is an idea. It is about making a statement. Everyone in Lahore knows how bad the traffic is. Critical Mass Lahore is a step towards making our city clean and taking our streets back.

Critical Mass is an idea. Make it yours.

What do I need to participate in a Critical Mass Event?

All you need is a road-worthy cycle and an sense of fun. Buy, beg, borrow or steal a cycle if you have to, but join the Mass.

Where and how else to Critical Mass Events take place?

Critical Mass events are typically held on the last Friday of each month in cities all over the world. For information about Critical Mass Lahore, be at Zakir Tikka at 5:45pm this Sunday 31 May 2009 or visit the Critical Mass Lahore Facebook page. Important: Be on time!!!

Making prophesies

By Intizar Husain [DAWN]
Sunday, 24 May, 2009 | 11:38 AM PST |

//

Ajoka’s silver jubilee has come at a time when the age-long tussle between the liberal tradition of Islamic culture and the ultra conservatives has turned into an open battle. — APP/File Photo

We are, in fact, living in times foretold by the esteemed story writer Ghulam Abbas in his short story ‘Hotel Mohenjodaro’. Ajoka Theatre did well to start its silver jubilee celebrations with the performance of this prophetic story-turned-play on the stage of the Lahore Art Council.

The splendours of Anarkali (Lahore)

Thanks to Isa, I have found this video. A must see for all those who can understand Punjabi and appreciate the nuances of Lahore and its magic. The poem is entitled Tu ki janay bholiyae majay anarkali diyan shanan. This is a humourous poem in an earthy tone using folklore.

Future generations have to be saved from Taliban

* PPP rally welcomes military operation in troubled areas of Swat

* Similar rallies staged in major cities of Punjab

Daily Times Staff Report

LAHORE: The Taliban are the enemy of Pakistan, and we have to save the coming generations from their clutches, said the participants of a rally arranged by the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) on Friday.

The rally, organised to condemn the Taliban insurgency and express support for the army, started from Nasir Bagh and ended at Faisal Chowk in front of the Punjab Assembly building. Several PPP leaders, political workers, and the general public participated in the rally.  

ADP’s Latest Blog Entry: The Great LUMS Trip Day 1

Posted by Raza Rumi

Read this crisp, fresh and youthful perspective on a blog entitled Koolmuzone: Pakistani Underground Media. The real Lahore lives beyond the cliches of terrorism and media-cooked crisis. I am cross-posting this as the readers would get a flavour of the youth and their interaction with myriad facets of Lahore.

The fact that I had so much to blog about usually puts me in denial of how much I have to blog about. The result is I don’t blog. But here I have forced myself to go back to writing and give you the account of our concert at LUMS. Last weekend ADP were booked to play at LUMS University’s 10 Year Re-Union of their Music Society. Now we got the gig mostly because Omar Khalid is a favorite son of LUMS and he seems to have this legendary reputation there as an extraordinary musician. The kind of awe that OK inspires in LUMS freshies is pretty surprising to me. No doubt OK is an extraordinary musician. But as we all know, he is mostly a choot. Anyway, I was pretty sour-grapes because for once I wasn’t hogging all the attention, and for some reason everyone in LUMS seemed to assume that OK was the lead singer of ADP.

K. K. Aziz on Lahore

Chapati Mystery has published this enchanting post on Lahore. We are cross posting for our readers. Raza Rumi

K. K. Aziz, 82, one of the most renowned historian of Pakistan, is gravely ill in Lahore. He is one of those cherished individuals who dare speak truth without the fear of consequence. He acted as the nation’s conscious for a long while [See especially, The Pakistani Historian: Pride and Prejudice in the Writing of History (1993)]. I am currently reading the second volume of his autobiography and I thought, I’d share this little bit about Lahore from his introduction. Speedy recovery, Professor Aziz.

From the 1920s onwards, perhaps even earlier, Lahore was the most highly cultured city of north India. From here appeared the largest number of Urdu literary joundals, newspapers, and books and two of the

Envoy visits Lahore Fort

The NEWS reports:

US ambassador Anne W. Patterson has stressed the need to protect shared cultural heritage.

She paid a visit to the Lahore Fort to mark the completion of Alamgiri Gate, another US-funded conservation project.

“Every time I come to the Lahore Fort, I am amazed by its magnificent architecture”, said Ambassador Patterson after she was received by Punjab Archeology Department director Shahbaz Khan.

First Gurmukhi course concludes

By Ali Usman

LAHORE: The graduates of the first Gurmukhi Certificate Course were awarded certificates on Wednesday after the completion of the course at the Punjab Institute of Language, Art and Culture (PILAAC).

The Gurmukhi Learning Certificate Course – the first course of its kind in Pakistan to teach the Gurmukhi script of Punjabi commenced at the institute last month. Some 35 students were registered for the course, of which 21 qualified the final examination. Gurmukhi is the universal script used for writing Punjabi, and is quite close to the Hindi script. In Pakistan, the Shahmukhi script (also called the Persian script by some) is used for writing Punjabi.

Lahore bids farewell to a hero who was fighting a war for Pakistan’s survival

Daily Times reports:

 Major Abid laid to rest

 * Lahore corps commander lays floral wreath on behalf of COAS

 LAHORE: Major Abid Majeed, who was martyred while fighting the Taliban in Nazarabad area of Matta tehsil, was laid to rest at the Army Ground, Shaudha Graveyard, with full military honours. The body of Major Abid reached Lahore on Tuesday. 

His family considered his martyrdom a sacrifice for the country and the will of God. They urged the people to support the army against anti-state elements in the ongoing operation in the country’s north. He was buried with full army protocol. Lahore Corps Commander Lieutenant General Ijaz Ahmed Bakhshi and other civil and military officers attended the funeral prayer. The corps commander laid a floral wreath on the grave on behalf of Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Ashfaq Kayani. Abid was supposed to celebrate his 34th birthday on May 25.

No change in police culture

By Arshad Dogar

 The Investigation Wing of Lahore police is using ‘conservative’ methods of interrogating ‘criminals’ despite the government’s tall claims of reforming the department.

 A weekly review of the performance of Investigation Wing of Lahore Police reveals that it has absolutely failed to provide relief to robbery victims. In a rare example, however, police recovered booty and arrested dacoits within one month. Majority of cases are pending with the investigation police for many years and victims had become tired of paying ‘fees’ to investigation officers (IOs) which sometimes exceed the victim’s actual losses.

Saray Jahan Mein Dhoom Hamari Zubaan Ki Hai

* Mahmood has written Urdu in Persian and Roman English scripts in an overlapping design

LAHORE: Tongue in Cheek – artist Shoaib Mahmood’s latest exhibition opened at the Drawing Room Art Gallery on Monday. The artwork, a reflection of what the artist has seen and observed in society, delighted art enthusiasts with its imagery and artistic beauty.

Mahmood has used two statements that have been ingeniously written in his artwork: ‘Saray Jahan Mein Dhoom Hamari Zubaan Ki Hai’ (Our language is popular in the entire world) and ‘Urdu Europi Zubanon Ki Yulghaar Mein Jaan-e-Balab Hai’ (Urdu faces extinction because of the domination of European languages).

Young Pakistanis Take One Problem Into Their Own Hands

LAHORE, Pakistan — The idea was simple, but in Pakistan, a country full of talk and short on action, it smacked of rebellion.

A group of young Pakistani friends, sick of hearing their families complain about the government, decided to spite them by taking matters into their own hands: every Sunday they would grab shovels, go out into their city, and pick up garbage.

A tale of two cities

By Sonya Rehman & Khaver Siddiqi 

‘It was the best of times, it was the worst of times…’ Charles Dickens’ literary masterpiece, A Tale of Two Cities, begins with these words. Though the novel has a theme of self-sacrifice and resurrection, the starting line of the novel can be applied here in Pakistan to two of its largest and most prominent cities — namely Karachi and Lahore.

 Indeed both cities have seen the best and the worst of times as far as the music industry’s concerned. But how do these cities relate to one another? How does their music combine and form the modern music scene as we know it?

 The music that originates from the Punjab is as intricate as its historic architecture. Lahore, the ‘garden of the Mughals’, has seen a myriad of melodies, genres, and vocals alongside a variety of musical instruments (both new and old) over the past few decades.

Vanishing villages of Lahore

Salma Mahmud writing for The Friday Times mourns the past magnificence of Lahore’s little hamlets

‘Nothing can be more sublime or more heart-rending than the sight of these wrecks of departed glory. They convey at once to the mind how transitory and unstable worldly eminence is. Those palaces are now in ruins, which were once the residences of the vanquisher of Banda Bahadur Bairagi, and his son the reconciler of the fierce Nadir Shah, where with all the pomp and pride of viceroys they sat giving orders to their umerah and officers.’ Thus, in 1892 or thereabouts, wrote the eminent historian of Lahore’s past greatness, Khan Bahadur Sayad Mohammad Latif, as he stood amidst the shattered domes of Begumpura. He was viewing the destroyed remains of a once wealthy and powerful suburb of Lahore, which was founded in the 18th century by Abdus Samad Khan Daler Jang, and named after his senior wife Nawab Begum Jan, also called Nawab Begum Kabir.

Dancing in Lahore

‘Lahore is a city that has to fight for its cultural survival. The growing influence of the Taliban, although hundreds of kilometres to the north-west, has been mirrored by a more insidious, creeping attack on culture throughout the country. On Jan 2, the bullet-ridden body of Shabana Gul, a dancing girl, was dumped in the centre of Mingora, the north-western district of Swat’s main town.But the growing cultural conservatism has had more subtle reverberations.In December, Lahore’s High Court barred the graceful and elaborate dancing girls, who first developed in the Moghal courts 400 years ago, from performing in public, on the grounds that they were too sexually explicit.