Adil Najam
[UPDATE: Unfortunately the story of Gulab Singh has not been a pleasant one since the great start that this post originally reported on. Current, and still evolving details, here.]Â
A few days ago a reader sent me a link to a BBC story about Dr. Gulab Singh Shaheen who has been inducted into the Pakistan Punjab traffic police and has become a celebrity on the roads of Lahore where he is quite literally stopping the traffic as Lahoris stop to embrace and greet him.
I felt real good about the continuation of this trend towards reintegrating minority communities who have been systematically sidelined in the past, and even more about the wonderful reception Lahore is giving to Sub-Inspector Gulab Singh. And, of course, my fascination with traffic cops is well known to ATP readers (here, here, here, here, and elsewhere).
However, I hesitated because I wanted an on the ground confirmation. That came today from the Lahore Metroblog (yes, in general, I have more respect for the three Pakistani Metroblogs than for BBC!).
(By the way, I am intrigued by the fact that he is a homeopathic doctor since we had earlier carried another post and video report on the Khalsa Dawakhana and Hakim Sarbir Singh; of course, Sikhs have a long history in what is now Pakistan – here and here – but I wonder whether and why this community has a particular focus on traditional medicine studies).
visionary blind beggars, people who sell cure for all diseases etc.
