S.A.J. Shirazi

Those who take their chance to cross the River Ravi from Saghian Bridge to go to Sheikhupura in the suburbs of Lahore have to pass through the flower nurseries. Also, along the road has come up a Flower Market near Saghian Bridge. After turning on Sheikhupura-Sargodha Road from the Chowk where a beautiful replica of Hiran Minar (The Deer Tower) has been made, you drive along the bumpy two-way road lined up on both sides with smoke emitting factories of different kinds: fabrics, chemicals, glass, and paper pulp. At places the pungent whiff reminds as if one is driving on Grand Trunk Road near Kala Shah Kaku. Wall chalking, religious and or commercial slogans – is another thing that one notices all along the road to Sheikhupura.

Roshan Malik and Adil Najam

(Note: I post this today from Paris, France; a place that celebrates this date – May 1, Labour Day – quite seriously. This post was first carried at ATP in September 2006, but it is still relevant, especially in the context of child labor, and deserves more attention this Labor Day. AN).

Yeh Bacha Kis Ka Bacha hai (‘whose child is this?’) is the title and the refrain line from a famous poem by Ibn-i-Insha. Most people know Insha for things like ‘Insha ji utho, aab kooch karo’ or ‘kal chodhweiN ki raat thi’ or ‘yeh baataiN jhooti baataiN haiN’. In fact, most people would not think of ‘yeh bacha kis ka bacha hai’, with its characteristically Insha simplicity, the greatest work of the poet, columnist and humorist. It is, however, a moving piece that Insha ji had written upon seeing the photo of a starving Ethiopian child during the devastating famine of the seventies.

Adil Najam

It is not as if there is a dearth of bad news in Pakistan. But bad news attracts more bad news. That is the nature of the politics of downward spirals.

Karachi has been far from calm for a very long time (here, here, here, here). Yesterday, the heat went up again. During this month of April alone there have been more than 50 targetted killings in Karachi. Yesterday, more than 30 died as more escalated public violence broke out. Today the city is reported to be paralyzed. Even though there exisits an uneasy calm in town, many wait in fear as things going even worse in Karachi will really surprise no one.