S.A.J Shirazi
Setting eyes on Maqbool and his mule cart for the first time, one could be forgiven for thinking that he belongs to a working class endeavoring for survival. His shabby dress and toes peeping out of slippers too large for him, do not project an image of a contented and happy man who is fond of good animals and racing.
I first met Maqbool, commonly known as Bola Rehre Wala, at the Multan Railway Station where he works from 6 am to 9 pm every day, no holidays. He takes all the newspapers and magazines arriving at Multan Railway Station from all over Pakistan to various newspaper agencies in the city. He also takes with him any other load he may find on the Railway Station if he is free and his mule is ‘willing’. He earns six to eight hundred rupees daily out of which two hundred rupees go to the diet and care of his mule.
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Owais Mughal
It is not the first time that I’ve heard such news in the past few months. Reportedly, on Jan 19, 2009, a tribal council (jirga) near Quetta asked an accused man to walk on burning coal to prove his innocence.
The barbarism and insanity of this practice is depicted in the photograph to the right from the Associated Press of Pakistan (APP). The picture is, in fact, of the punishment being carried out. The APP photograph does not have details, but it seems that it relates to this news item in The News (Jan. 20, 2009):
Decades-old practice of walking on burning coal is still alive to this modern age in Balochistan, as a forty-year-old man on Monday walked on burning coal over a property dispute with his brother in Mastung district.
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Owais Mughal
Following photo is courtesy of Associated Press. It was taken in Beijing in 1956 on the occasion of Pakistani members of parliament’s visit to China.
Clicking on the photo above will take you to its larger size image.
Two of the leaders marked with circles in this photo are Shaikh Mujeeb-ur-Rehman and Makhdoon Alamdar Hussain Gilani. Besides the historic value there is one more very interesting feature of this photo.
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