Owais Mughal

In the past we’ve had posts of Pakistani print advertisements from 1960s and 1950s. Today we’ll go another decade backwards in our continued travel of Nostalgistan in Pakistan.

Few days ago a good friend of mine forwarded me an email which turned out to be a very nostalgic collection of Pakistani print ads of 1949. I am sharing the ads here. Since then I’ve spent more than 2 hours looking at the details of these ads. For example look the ad to above right; I believe this BP factory also exists today. Karachi phone number given in the advertisement comprises of 4 digits only.

Compare this to 7 digit land line and 10 digit mobile numbers of today. Many of the companies and businesses mentioned in these advertisements still exist. These ads appeared in the Pakistan Year Book of 1949 printed by Kitabistan, Karachi.

Note that in the ad to the left, an old timer is seen drinking cooking oil with spoon – apparently it was very good for health. According to the ad, Co-Co Gold oil also rekindles one’s feelings (ehsasaat) in addition to the obvious health benefits.

Kathay Kalame

I am trying to work out which one is the greater challenge.

That there are Taliban in Swat or that the police and judiciary fall short of minimum standards.

To say that a militia of a few thousand fighters at best, is likely to run over a 600,000 strong Pakistan Army stretches creduility. Even the mighty Rustum feared taking on such odds in his own legends. That Taliban can run over Pakistan is similar to chicken little’s hue and cry about the sky losing altitude. However, absence of consequences for criminals CAN plunge the country into lawlessness.

In fact it already has and that is the clear and present danger.

Defense from external threats has always been on top of national agenda without exceptions. However, it appears that defense from internal threats, or law and order has been relegated to use in slang.

Adil Najam

The summit meeting tomorrow between US President Obama, Pakistan President Zardari and Afghanistan President Karzai could clearly be amongst the most important events on what is being called the Af-Pak front, and possibly in defining the future of the so-called ‘War on Terror.’