Adil Najam

Darrell Hair, the controversial Australian cricket umpire who helped wreck the recent England-Pakistan Test series, may soon be standing as umpire again… possibly in a Pakistan game.

According to the Sydney Morning Herald (20 September, 2006):

DARRELL Hair’s controversial career is set for a remarkable revival when the International Cricket Council this week announces its officials for next month’s Champions Trophy in India. The Herald understands that Hair, whom many presumed had stood in his last international match after The Oval fiasco last month, will be on the umpiring panel for the tournament. The expected announcement will undoubtedly be met with anger in Pakistan. Last week, the Pakistan Cricket Board’s chairman, Shaharyar Khan, reportedly wrote to the ICC, insisting that Hair be stood down for the Champions Trophy. The Reuters news agency went so far as to report that the Pakistanis would consider withdrawing from the Champions Trophy if Hair was appointed.

Adil Najam

THIS POLL IS NOW CLOSED.

With Gen. Pervez Musharraf visiting the United States to address the UN General Assembly and launch his autobiography, In the Line of Fire, (see ATP post here) those of us living in USA are bound hear and see more of him on the media that we normally do.

Seems like an appropriate time for an ATP Poll. Previous ATP Polls have sought our readers views on women’s rights and Pakistan’s image (here), on what Gen. Musharraf should do about his future (here), and on which of Pakistan’s past leaders did the most ‘good’ for the country (here). This time we want you, our readers, to do a performance review of Gen. Pervez Musharraf’s years in power. How would you grade Gen. Musharraf’s performance in four key areas: (a) domestic politics, (b) economy and development, (c) governance and reform, and (d) foreign affairs?

In each of these four areas, you can give General Sahib a grade; ranging from the highest at A+ to the lowest at F. Following standard practice in academic grading, an A signifies ‘excellent’ performance, a B signifies ‘Good’, a C signifies ‘average’, a D signifies ‘Poor’, and an F is failing grade. Simply fill in the grades in the form below or click here to take the survey:

The intended focus of the poll is on Gen. Musharraf’s actual performance. We would love to base your assessment on what he has actually achieved, or not, in the context of the goals he and others had set for him in each of these areas. The four areas are broad, but hopefully they are conceptually cohesive. The first three encapsulate all the elements of the 7-point agenda that Gen. Musharraf has set for himself (see here):

1. Rebuild National confidence and morale.
2. Strengthen Federation, remove Inter-Provincial disharmony and restore National cohesion… through devolution of power, from the Centre to the Provinces and from the Provincial to the local governments as actually enshrined in the Constitution.
3. Devolution of power to the grass root level.
4. Revive Economy and restore Investor confidence… through stability and consistency in economic policies and economic security.
5. Ensure law and order and dispense speedy justice… improving the qualities of law enforcement agencies.
6. Depoliticize State institutions.
7. Ensure swift and across the board accountability… The process of accountability is being directed at those guilty of plundering and looting the National wealth, tax evaders […and…] loan defaulters. The process of accountability will be transparent for the public to see.

It seems to me that the first point arrives from a sum of all four of our categories. Point 4 is clearly about our ‘Economy and Development’ category. Points 2 and 3 are generally included in what we are calling ‘Domestic Politics’. And Points 5, 6 and 7 are relate closely to our category of ‘Governance and Reform.’ I felt that having a separate point of foreign affairs was important given the events of the last many years and Pakistan’s role in them. You are, of course, free to comprehend the four categories as you deem best.

A request to our readers. I have put in some effort into selecting four separate categories for assessment (moreover, I have gone through many technical hoops to get the poll to accept multiple questions). I hope you will all take the time to evaluate his performance in each category on its own merit and do so as objectively as possible.

At one level, it does not matter much; after all, this is just a silly little poll whose only real utility is our own intellectual stimulation. On the other hand, I worry about a tendency amongst some to gravitate towards extremes, to view things as entirely black or entirely white (the ‘with us or against us’ mentality), to label things as either entirely good or as entirely evil, and to viciously attack any and all who disagree. I fear that the temptation will be too great amongst Musharraf’s supporters to put all A+’s and for his detractors to put in all F’s. If you honestly believe that to be the true assessment in each category, please do so. But I hope you will not do so simply for the sake of wanting to ‘force’ one particular result or the other.

If you do want to influence the results, please, by all means ask your friends to also vote. Voting is anonymous; as it should be. This is, of course, not be a very scientific poll, but it will at least give us a sense of what this community � the ATP cohort � thinks. Do vote, but please vote only once (even if you are smart enough to beat the system somehow). This poll is now closed.

Owais Mughal

Building on the first part of this exploration, today we will focus on the Sheedi Jaat festival celebrated by Afro-Pakistanis at Manghopir and also the Sulphur Springs Public Baths.

The image to the right shows live feeding of Manghopir crocodiles circa 1870s.

Karachi has a sizable population of people of African origin. They are the descendants of those slaves who were brought from Oman to Makran in the past. Later, recurring famine brought them liberty. Every year the Sheedis, the local name for Afro-Pakistanis, gather in Manghopir area, where they erect a temporary colony and live there for an entire week with their families and dance and sing.

The week long festival is called Sheedi Jaat. The date of the festival is decided with mutual consultation among notables of the five socio-cultural groups of the Sheedi tribe each year. The five groups of Sheedi community are Lasi, Hyderabadi, Kharadari, Lasbela and Sheedis. The festival is arranged in moderate climate, thus its timings differ from year to year.