Bilal Zuberi

Dawn website and found myself with mixed feelings. On one hand, the picture of a young boy being taken to the hospital on a ‘thela’ was deeply troubling. Even in a city with so many public and private ambulance services, this poor family still did not have affordable access to a comfortable and safe ride to the hispital. One can only imagine the lack of such a facilities in rural areas.

But at the same time, I also thought this was an opportunity to create a human-powered ambulance that at least provided service in areas where regular ambulances were hard to locate. I am sure with local ingenuity and some more advanced mechanical research at Pakistani univeristies, an affordable, comfortable, and safe ambulatory vehicle could be designed for work in rural areas. Perhaps it could even be financed, and integrated into low-income or micro-credit eco-system.

Owais Mughal

Clicking on the photos in this article will take you to their enlarged images

Over the past few years, Chinese and Japanese characters have increasingly appeared on Pakistani public transport as decorations. On my recent visits to Pakistan, I’ve been constantly amused by these decorations and took some photos. I’ve been fortunate to have a Chinese language expert at home as my wife so we enjoy reading a lot of these decorative instructuction markings, which at times do not even make sense. Few examples are given below:

(1) I took following photo on Jan 10, 2007 in Federal-B-Area, Karachi. It shows a school van and I am very happy to announce that Japanese characters on the front also say the same. Somebody did the research beofore buying this sticker. It roughly means ‘Automobile for School’.

Adil Najam

Back in July, ATP had posted a picture of former world squash champion Jansher Khan being hauled away in a police van on charges of trespass and violent attack on a woman. Now, Moin Khan, former cricket captain and wicketkeeper, has joined Jansher in the Hall of Disgrace for beating his wife.

Shame on you, both of you. You may once have been stars. You are stars no more. And, Moin, even if you have been freed on bail, that does not absolve you in our eyes for maltreating your wife. No Sir. This is not a private matter between man and wife. This is a matter of national disgrace. But my anger at this incident is making me run ahead of the story.

So, first the news as reported in the Daily Times (17 January, 2006):

KARACHI: Former Pakistan captain Moin Khan was arrested by the Darakhshan police late Monday night after his wife Tasleem alias Shama Seher made a phone call to Madadgar 15, complaining that he had beaten her.

According to Town Police Officer (TPO) ASP Azad Khan, the police received a phone call from Seher after midnight. A police team visiting the house found Seher standing outside and Moin Khan screaming at her from within. After a struggle, Moin Khan was taken in preventive detention under Section 151 of the CrPC, the TPO said. The couple was taken to the Darakhshan police station from where Moin was taken to JPMC for a medical examination. Seher was also taken to JPMC for a medical examination later on.

“If injuries are reported by the doctors examining her or a blood test confirms that he was intoxicated, the law will take its course,” said the TPO. Darakhshan SHO Inspector Zia Rizvi told Daily Times that this was a domestic matter, “but we brought it on to the court record”. Moin was produced in a local court and was granted bail. Seher told Daily Times that Moin had been disturbed for three days. “This isn’t something new, its been like this for a while,” she added. “He accused me of being involved with his friends. I asked why he was beating me and he told me that he hated the look of my face. He said, “Tum apnay gireban me jhanko, apni shakal dekho, apna character dekho” … There’s no special reason. Things were normal but I don’t know what had happened as recently he started to get harsh after drinking. I think that Moin still thinks of himself as a young star, Seher, a showbiz person herself, said. “Cricketers have the same life … (Another Karachi cricketers) wife recently separated and got custody of the children. Complaints remain as (many) cricketers treat their wives like this. Woh apnay beewiyon ke sath is tarha ka rawaiya rakhtay hain … Is tarha kay rawaiye mein kon sath reh sakta he? The problem with (some) cricketers is that they are getting better options outside the house. Unhain ghar ki murghi daal barabar lagti he.”

Both Moin Khan and the police seem to say that this is a ‘personal’ or ‘domestic’ matter. No, it really is not. It is a social matter. A national matter.

This case catches our attention because the man is a former cricket star and the wife a former TV personality. But the story here is repeated every day and goes unnoticed and unreported. His intoxication obviously made matters worse, but the malady here is deeper than alcoholism. It is the way women are treated. The Jansher case was one example, but there have been many others that we have raised here on ATP. Wife-beating is a serious social sin and the sinners here are not only those who do so, it is also those who condone it in the name of tradition or because it is a ‘personal matter’, and it is also those of see it happening and choose to remain quiet.