Guest Post by Fawad

Everyone seems to be talking about Imran Khan’s interview in the Sunday Observer (2 July, 2006).

It is interesting and well worth the read. The piece captures Imran’s essential persona; fiercely independent, consistently principled and completely committed but a little self-righteous and indeed somewhat politically naive.

It has to be said that, despite his muddle-headed ‘spirituality’ that sometimes brings him close to unsavory elements like the Jamaat-e-Islami, his ideas for Pakistan’s political system are fundamentally sound.

He is most insistent on an independent judiciary, election commission and accountability bureau; all institutions whose strengthening is critical for Pakistan’s democratic advancement. Despite his early support for Musharraf, he is now vehemently opposed to military’s role in government. In Pakistan, there is almost no disagreement in thinking circles now that as long as military remains the dominant force on the Pakistani political scene, democracy has little chance of taking root.

Imran’s instincts in the arena of foreign policy are reflexively anti-western and many times flawed. Of course, there is plenty wrong with Musharraf’s self-preserving genuflection to the West and a harder Pakistani line toward the west if it is in its national interest (such as free trade agreements, opposition to the roughshod execution of the ‘war on terror’ etc.) is entirely appropriate. However, Imran’s public utterances extolling local virtues and criticisms of ‘kala sahibs’ seem to me a raw reflection of his personal evolution from a playboy to a politician and not any well thought out views about the virtuous life or a hard-headed understanding of foreign policy goals and objectives.

Some excerpts from the interview:

Read Full Post

Adil Najam

This is a double bonus; the Picture of the Day as well as a fascinating story unto itself.

This photograph of a much-moustachiod policeman (endearingly referred to as a Tulla‘) was taken by manitoon (available on Flickr.com) at a Daily Times today (6 July, 2006). (Also see the ATP Picture of the Day on June 14, 2006 to better visualize what I am talking about).

It turns out that the Lahore Police is going to get a makeover. And as a first step, they will be put through a psychological test to “check which ones are good citizens.”

This according to a story in the Daily Times (6 July, 2006) by Shahnawaz Khan, which reports that a 10-point questionnaire had been prepared in collaboration with psychologists, for the purpose of evaluating the ‘good citizenship’ of Lahore cops.

[Sources said that] the DIG decided to send the proposal after the June 20 incident, in which a drug addict who killed his three daughters was shot dead by a constable in the Liaqatabad police precincts. They said that this was an initial step to improve policemen as individuals. Psychologists would announce results after a survey, on the basis of which senior officials would give policemen the ‘Good Citizen’ title, they said, adding that policemen would be given the ‘Good Cop of the City’ title in the second phase of the project. Sources said the Lahore Police would also launch a project to select the ‘Officer of the Month’ and the ‘Cop of the Month’.

So, what are the questions in this 10-question psychological test that are being considered? Read on…

Adil Najam

I had a tough time trying to decided which of Jawad Zakariya’s photographs to feature here today. I decided on this one because of the comments that were posted on this picture at Flcikr. The picture itself is of the Badshahi Mosque in Lahore, with Ranjit Singh’s Samadhi on the left, both reflected in some rain water.

I think it is a terrific picture, but many of the commentators on Flickr thought that, photographically, it would have been better if he had focused only on the mosque and removed Ranjit Singh’s Samadhi from the frame. As a photograph, it may well have been (and, in fact, he does have one of those too). But as social commentary, it would have lost its meaning. The beauty of this picture is that it so eloquently highlights something that many of us–even those of us who are from Lahore–can miss all too often: the multi-religious and religiously diverse history of Lahore.

Sitting side-by-side, these two pieces of architecture–the most glorious mosque built by the mighty Mughals and the mausoleum of Lahore’s greatest Sikh ruler–encapsulate the essence of Lahore as the multi-religious, multi-cultural metropolis that it was. Here is a captivating reminder of the social milieu in which Muslims and Islam–particularly in Lahore–developed in an earlier generation.

Jawad Zakariya is one amongst many of an amazingly talented generation of Pakistani photographers displaying their work on Flickr.com. His photographs have this ‘picture-perfect’ postcard quality to them (and not just because of the border he uses). In fact, the masthead displayed on ATP this first week of July is also from one of his photographs.

Originally uploaded by jzakariya on Flickr.com as ‘Shahi Reflection‘.