That Bloke In The Big Smoke

Sachal Studios is a new orchestra from Pakistan that's apparently "causing some excitement in the world of jazz" according to the BBC. The video above illustrates why and if you like that, there's more on Spotify.

"USA! USA!" is the wrong response. I think that article pretty much sums it up for me. Celebrating death is not civilised behaviour. But don't get me wrong, Usama bin Laden was an evil, evil man. And maybe I'm in a minority, but I would've rather he be put through a fair trial and incarcerated for the rest of his life. It might even have diminished the passion for reprisal attacks by his followers to a manageable level. And y'all know I'm not religious but I heard this on the radio today and it struck a chord: ‎"Do not rejoice when your enemy falls, And do not let your heart be glad when he stumbles." -Proverbs 24:17 (New American Standard Bible)

Nicholas D. Kristof thinks education can solve the world's problems. He's only partially right but it's still worth a read. (via my sister)

It is exactly 63 years since the Raj ended and exactly 23 years since my family set foot in Muscat for the first time. Fittingly perhaps I have chosen today to return to the land of my birth. And to mark the former occasion, something different, naturally from The Guardian:

"India's racist visa rule is an irrational response to the tragic attacks in Mumbai in November 2008 [...] Under UK, European and international human rights law, suspicion of potential to commit a crime must be based on an individual's own conduct, not on their racial or ethnic origin. India should apply the same security check to all British citizens applying for visas. If the check reveals no cause for concern, the visa should be issued. Being born in Pakistan, or the child of a person born in Pakistan, is not a crime, nor evidence of predisposition to commit terrorist acts in India."

Robert Wintemute is Professor of Human Rights Law at King's College. 171 comments and counting. No surprise there, really! Jai Hind?

My dad wrote me an email today describing his pain at seeing the images that emerged from Lahore earlier this week. In March 2004 he was in the city to watch the fifth and deciding ODI between India and Pakistan. He described how his friend and him spent hours before the match walking around the area where the attack took place (the big roundabout) and how painful it was to see the images of it repeated all week long. At the time when we toured Pakistan, it was our first Test series there in fifteen years and came at a time when others had refused to travel there. The camaraderie generated by the series was unprecedented for a series between the two countries and has never since been repeated. It seems unlikely that it will ever be repeated. How lucky my dad was to be part of it. How sad it is things have turned this way. It will be a long, long time before we see another game at the Gaddafi Stadium.

Benazir Bhutto was assassinated today. Rather timely that I brought in my antenna to make use of the new digital TV we received at work as a Christmas gift from the management. We were tuned into Sky News for most of the afternoon. Her death should not come as a surprise to anybody. I couldn't believe she survived the attack in October. Since July this year, this marks the latest in a long list of suicide attacks that have taken place in the world's most dangerous country. Here are the more prominent ones:

July 14 - 24 killed (Suicide car bombing, North Wazirstan)
July 15 - 45 killed (Ambush & Suicide Bombing, NWFP)
July 17 - 16 killed (Suicide bombing, Islamabad)
July 19 - 52 killed (3 suicide bombs in 3 towns)
July 27 - 13 killed (Suicide bombing, Islamabad)
Sept 04 - 25 killed (2 suicide bombs, Rawalpindi)
Sept 11 - 16 killed (Suicide bombing, NWFP)
Sept 13 - 15 killed (Suicide bombing, Islamabad)
Octr 19 - 139 killed (Suicide bombing, Karachi [Benazir's arrival])
Octr 25 - 21 killed (Suicide bombing, NWFP)
Novr 24 - 15 killed (2 suicide bombs, Rawalpindi [eve of Nawaz Sharif's arrival])
Decr 17 - 10 killed (Suicide bombing, Kohat)
Decr 21 - 41 killed (Suicide bombing, Mosque in Northwest Pakistan [Eid prayers])
Decr 27 - 16 killed (Suicide bombing, Rawalpindi [Bhutto assassination])

Since the Red Mosque incident in July, more than 600 people have been killed. How many more people need to die in vain?

He who helps him knowingly and willingly is an infidel like him.

"A poll earlier this month suggested the Pakistani president was less popular in his own country than Bin Laden." -The Beeb :)

No cartographical conspiracy here

"There is no surer way for The Economist’s Asia section to cause offence than to publish a map. Angered most often, to judge by its actions, is the government of India. Our maps that include the disputed territory of Kashmir show it carved up into Indian, Pakistani and Chinese areas of control. Every time we print one, every single issue of the magazine distributed in India is defaced with an official stamp. Some readers in India seem to suspect us of malice: perhaps we publish such maps purely to irk the authorities and add to the overtime earnings of the hard-pressed stampers. Farther east in Asia, a Japanese diplomat recently went so far as to accuse The Economist of condoning the use of force in international affairs. The truth is more benign..." -The Economist

Exactly 10 years ago, my family and I were celebrating India's 50th Independence Day in Jaipur. Exactly 60 years ago, India got its Independence from the UK, and broke-up into three parts: West Pakistan, India, and East Pakistan. Twenty-four years later, in 1971, East Pakistan became its own nation-state, Bangladesh. Two of the three are celebrating their Independence from the British this week; yesterday Pakistan, today India. And even though all three parts have been Independent from the British for the same length of time, there couldn't be greater contrast in their progress since then (or lack thereof in the case of two of them).

Yesterday, President Musharraf focussed on terrorism in his Independence Day speech, while India's first, and newly elected female President, Pratibha Patil, focused on spreading the benefits of economic growth to all. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, went a step further and said "the best is yet to come" and made concrete promises about eradicating "malnutrition within five years". Poor Mushie, he was reduced to defending his foreign policy motives ("I see everything from Pakistan's point of view. Now if Pakistan's point of view suits America, all right.") and re-assuring his people that America would not attack them ("I am 200% sure that these [comments] are neither at official nor at government level"). 200%!


The two greatest men of Pakistan and India, Muhammad Ali Jinnah and Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi. It is ironic that the two English-trained lawyers who fought for two different great causes, originally came from the same area in Gujarat, India.
Though Indians may not look favourably upon the founder of Pakistan, Muhammad Ali Jinnah, and his fight for an independent Muslim state, (though he was hardly a practising one himself!), I am quite satisfied with the fact we Partitioned. Imagine if the people and politicians of modern India, would've had to deal with all those extra Islamic extremists in Pakistan and Bangladesh? Thank you very much, but I think we've got enough problems of our own... internal terrorist threats included, but I'd argue that none of them are as grave as the problems that affect our neighbours. At least with Naxalite rebels and ULFA extremists, you can negotiate an economic and political solution. But with Islamic extremists, it is much more difficult to negotiate a settlement when the Quran is non-negotiable.

The fact that India has only a Muslim minority, makes it all the more difficult for Islamic extremists within India, to rise-up with popular support. 60 years ago, the Muslims in Greater India did have the popular majority in two parts of the country and got their piece of the pie. Though ironically, they were inspired and led to this freedom by a secular, pork-eating, wine-drinking, non-Urdu-speaking, non-religious moderate leader, Jinnah. But just because Jinnah didn't practise Wahabism, didn't prevent him from fighting for the rights of his religious community. My hope is that Indians will one-day recognize the fact, as I have come to see it, that Jinnah was actually a great leader who fought for a worthy cause, but without intending to, contributed to the creation of a monster. Not enough is written of it in mainstream history books, but the fact remains, Jinnah was ultimately inspired to fight for an independent Muslim state in South Asia because of Atatürk's success in uniting and modernizing a poverty-ridden, outdated Muslim society in nearby Turkey. Even today, President Musharraf extols his ambition to lead Pakistan back to the future by following the example of Atatürk. Unfortunately for us Indians, and now even the world (since 9/11); Jinnah died of TB in 1948, a year after Pakistan's independence. Jinnah would've been Pakistan's Nehru. An idealistic statesman, committed to establishing a modern democratic state, but without a clue about economics.

I admit, this is an extremely simplistic analysis, and ignores Jinnah's role in "encouraging" Afghan rebels to invade Kashmir, immediately after Independence. This led to the First Indo-Pakistani War (of 1947), the Kashmiri Maharaja's cry of help to Indian Prime Minister Nehru, and the subsequently controversial, Instrument of Accession (to the Indian Union), in October 1947. It also ignores the worrying dictatorial methods of Jinnah, both during the fight for Pakistan, and upon his elevation to Governor-General at Independence. And there are obviously many more reasons why Indians can harbour negative feelings against him, but I think it is better to draw conclusions based on what has also happened in Pakistan since Independence. In that light, it is obvious that however much trouble Jinnah might've directed at India, it would've been in our interests for him to have modernised and de-extremised his Islamic-majority Pakistan. That is how we should judge history. Not just by what happened then, but also by how things have turned out, (and could've been). It is ironic then, that Musharraf also draws parallels to Atatürk's Turkey today, just as Jinnah did more than 60 years ago. We Indians may not like Musharraf for his perceived hatred towards secular, non-Islamised India; but as I said about Jinnah, Mushie is our best bet to modernise and control Pakistan's extremism. But unlike Jinnah, he doesn't just have dictatorial tendencies... he is a dictator!

On that rather bittersweet note, I'd like to congratulate both India and Pakistan on their 60th anniversaries. India-Pakistan Zindabad!