Adil Najam
Every time I read one of Shirazi’s wonderful posts I am reminded of the fact that even though Pakistan is still a predominantly rural entity, the voices that speak about it are nearly entirely urban. Not surprisingly, we tend to speak about Pakistan in a mostly urban idiom, with a dominant urban bias, and using a strikingly urban imagery.
There is , of course, nothing wrong with the urban vernacular. It is, after all, the lived experience and felt reality of so many of us. However, there is something striking — and disturbing — about the near absence of the rural voice (Shirazi notwithstanding). This was not always so. An earlier generation of urban Pakistan was still very connected to the rural landscape; they were themselves rural migrants and understood the smells, the tastes, the sounds and the touch of rural Pakistan.
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Adil Najam
Like so many others, I consider Abdul Sattar Edhi to be amongst the greatest Pakistanis. Indeed, a great human being. A giant amongst men.
At ATP we have written about him often – and just writing about him and recalling his contributions is inspiring. In particular, we did a series of posts on Edhi sahib back in 2007, beginning with two Quiz posts (here and here) with some excerpts from his biography (if you have not seen these, I would highly recommend them) and culminating with our now long-standing search for testimonials on Abdul Sattar Edhi for the Nobel Award. Over time, of course, there have been other posts on Edhi Sahib: Some written in desperation and sadness, and others in awe and inspiration.
Today, we write to share a new essay on Abdul Sattar Edhi which, I think, does do justice to this “living saint” as the article describes him. It is worth reading – not just because it might tell you something new about Edhi Sahib, but because it might help us discover a better part of our own self.
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Adil Najam
If you put this question – What is the Weather in Pakistan Like? – into Google Search, the top hit you get is a site called Answers.com and their answers is: “The weather in Pakistan is very hot especially in the summer but as it comes to September to about December it’s like living in the north pole!!” Maybe you have a better answer. If you do not, these interesting graphics from WeatherSpark.com might help.
Average and Recent (2010) Weather in Islamabad
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