Adil Najam
In response to my post yesterday (‘Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts to feature in movie about Pakistan’) a few people who have not yet read the book wrote to ask that I tell them more about the book.
It really IS worth a read by anyone interested in politics or in a good thriller (this one happens to be real and not fiction)!
Instead of giving away all the surprises in the book (and the forthcoming movie), I am going to post links to and excerpts from two early reviews of the book, from some years ago.
First, from David Johnston’s review in The New York Times (May 25, 2003):
FOR most of his 24-year career in the House of Representatives, Charles Wilson was known for his abiding fondness for hot tubs, women and Scotch whiskey. His friends at the Central Intelligence Agency said, only partly in jest, that the Texas Democrat’s reputation as a roué provided a perfect cover for his great passion, the mujahedeen rebellion against the Soviet Union’s occupation of Afghanistan. During the 1980’s, Wilson used his seat on a military appropriations subcommittee to steer billions of dollars in secret funding to the C.I.A. to funnel arms to the mujahedeen.
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Tears (Originally uploaded on Flickr.com by !!sahrizvi!!).
Adil Najam
On June 12 I had written about the new Rs. 5000 note and included a picture because I thought people would like to see what Rs. 5000 looked like. Well, there are many ways to find out what Rs. 5000 ‘looks like’. One way is to consider the fact that many–maybe even most–Pakistanis make much LESS than Rs. 5000 a month in raw cash terms!
I spoke to some folks in Pakistan recently and was told that a ‘good’ cook would expect to be paid around Rs. 5000 a month (implying that a ‘not good’ one will be paid less). A driver would be paid Rs. 3000 to Rs. 5000 depending not as much on his driving as your car, and so on.
So what we have here is a situation where the monthly salary of many, if not most, Pakistanis can be paid in a single bank note. What does that say about our economy? About us as a people?
Take a minute to let the thought seep in.
Adil Najam
Not really. But even so, yes it does. Or, at least the footballs made in Pakistan do.
As the German Ambassador to Pakistan, Dr. Gunter Mulack, recently told a press conference in Islamabad: “Pakistan will almost be in every match through their footballs.” The official football used in all games of the 2006 FIFA Football World Cup will come from Pakistan (Sialkot, to be exact).
According to a report in FootballPakistan.com, as of early June Sialkot has exported over 55.8 million footballs worth more than Rs 8.5 billion, this year. And over 40 million balls worth US $ 210 million are produced annually, employing some 60,000 men and women in Sialkot. According to this wesite, at least, over 85 percent of the total production of soccer balls in the world comes from Sialkot (can anyone confirm this, please).
Football, of course, is played widely in Pakistan but is not really a sport that ignites the nation’s passions. Pakistan is ranked No. 153 in world football rankings. While it may have no effect on the country’s performance on the field, the games popularity in Pakistan is certainly getting a boost from the 2006 World Cup–especially becasue Pakistan Television (PTV) is telecasting 64 matches live from Germany.
My thanks to the blog Light Within for alerting me to this.
