Internship opportunities with Citizens Archive of Pakistan

The Citizens Archive of Pakistan (CAP), a Karachi based NGO, has just opened its doors to Lahore! CAP is a renowned educational institution and cultural heritage center dedicated to preserving and commemorating the country’s history. As part of this initiative, CAP’s Oral History Project has become its calling card- a symbol of the willingness to welcome the memories of the people as valid archival material and to recognize individuals from diverse communities as makers of history. Since the project’s launch in 2008, CAP has collected over 500 hours of interviews with people from every rank and file of the country, including collections of Quaid-e-Azam’s funeral, life in refugee camps, social events and interactions, the Pakistan movement and life in Pakistan’s major cities before and after partition.

Unexplored heritage

by Haroon Khalid

Many historians believe that original city of Lahore is not the walled city of today but in fact the locality of Ichhra a few kilometres from the area. Various evidences are shown to prove this thesis, one of which is that the oldest Hindu temples exist in the locality.

Right now we would not delve upon the already established evidences but would try to look at new traces that can shed some light on the history of the city. In popular myths and legends it is believed that the city of Lahore originates in antiquity. A popular myth is that this city was founded by one of the twin sons of Sri Ram and Sita, Lahu whereas the other son established the twin city of Kasur.

Bradlaugh Hall: A symbol of a revolution

by Haroon Khalid

From 1900 till 1947, for almost half a century the famous Bradlaugh Hall of Lahore situated on the Rettigan road, remained a symbol of Revolution for the entire British India. Charles Bradlaugh, Lala Lajpat Rai, Maulana Zafar Ali Khan, Ajeet Singh, Bhagat Singh, and Jawaharlal Nehru all towering figures of their times have been associated with this hall. What should have been preserved as the museum of political revolution in Lahore lies in shambles near the University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences today. There is a huge lock on the entrance of the hall placed there by The Evacuee Trust Property Board (ETPB). The gloomier aspect is that not many people of the city today are aware of the political, cultural and social significance of the Bradlaugh Hall. There are a few people who are actually aware of its existence.

Rettigan road in the late 19^th century was occupied by massive British bungalows. This was the elite section of the town. Charles Bradlaugh, an English Parliamentarian, advocate of Indian freedom from the British yoke, bought a piece of land here. Bradlaugh unlike his fellow British conservatives belonged to a different school of thought. He was one of the most famous atheists of his time who refused to take the oath on Bible when elected in the Parliament. He was also one of those Parliamentarians who advocated that the Indian people should be allowed to choose their own fate; in the Parliament. His resolution was accepted.

Hindu mythology cartoons

Punjab govt goes after Hindu mythology cartoons.

According to the 1998 census, 1.6 per cent of Pakistan’s population is Hindu.

Eminent artist and former principal of Lahore’s National College of Arts Salima Hashmi questioned the decision to form a committee for this purpose.

“Why doesn’t the government make a committee to know the root cause of militancy and why doesn’t it set up committees to find reasons of young children becoming suicide attackers?” she questioned.

Hashmi said that in India the number of Muslims was greater than the number of Muslims in Pakistan, so if Muslim children in India were not affected by mythology cartoons, why would children in Pakistan be affected? Hashmi told The Express Tribune, “Isn’t there anything constructive that they can work on? Why waste time on setting up such committees and inquiring into such matters which are not pertinent in the current situation?”