Imran: a ‘saint’ in the land of ‘sinners’!

by Hasan Mansoor
   It took 15 years to Imran Khan to become an instant hero in the heart of Punjab — the slowest of his predecessors Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif — who conquered Lahore instantly — Bhutto with his inherent charisma and Sharif with sheer satellite credentials!
   Altaf Hussain — without commenting on the style of politics his party practices — historically joins the elite club of the country’s most popular political leaders along with Mujibur Rehman and Bhutto who proved instant hits on arrival.
   Why it took 15 years to tens of thousands of Lahoris to realise that Imran Khan is the messiah — the god-sent saviour.
   The ex-cricketer had stumbled upon a favourable pitch when he pinned all his hopes to the military dictator whom now he calls the greatest curse on Pakistan.
   Yet, he does not leave the ex-general alone in his list of devils and equates him with the ‘bloody civilian’ Asif Zardari whose credentials to be an elected president are just not enough for the Punjabi powerbase to include him in the ruling list of the pure.
   The day Imran Khan started to think himself the only saint in the land of sinners, he turned his back on civilian political leaders, called all of them corrupt and made hay while the sun shone.
   Pakistan’s inherent dementia sometimes make wonders. Like the top judge who took oath on Musharraf’s first PCO now declares a curse to be one, Imran was among the first polticians who affirmed his allegiance to the General and now declares anyone who supports his ‘first love’ as a curse.
   The numbers of people who attended his rallies were notwithstanding impressive, but, as independent observers say, on many occasions, a large number of attendants belonged to the organisations, which are officially banned in Pakistan.
   Besides, a predominantly millieu of a concert in the landmark Lahore rally of last year attracted even those who witnessed the so-called Sharif revolutionary in Bhaati Gate, to enjoy Pakistan’s rock stars thrilling to the pop tunes for free.
   Critics say it took a decade to the ex-cricketer to play on a friendly pitch as he had intended to do so when Musharraf was in charge but left in a hurry when he did not see him inside the Prime Minister’s House as he was expecting.
   During those days just before 2002 elections, insiders say, Khan had been invited to Musharraf’s cozy palace, which chuffed him into bits and he saw himself in his wild dreams inside the place which was offered to the Fatty Jamali, Chaudhry Ambiguously Naught Hussain and Shortcut Aziz instead.
   But to his wildest nightmares he was told by Mushy that he had invited Im-ran just to get him meeting an elderly in the Mush family who was happened to be a fan of the I-con cricketer.
   He had never been a favourite of the voters, albeit a great televangelist and blue-eyed boy for the members of the Taliban Union of Anchorpersons. He had to hold his nerves against his very nature to make a comeback when he sees a heavenly nod, which, it seems, has just happened.
   The ultimate game masters have changed their faces, but even friendly pitches do not always offer winning results until one got to have deadly combination. This time, it seems, he has got the umpires of his own choosing, although he has been championing for the neutral umpires in cricket!
   It seems the power consortium has divided – the dominant part is still aligned with the ones, whom Taliban anchors call the representatives of the ‘liberal fascists’; the rest patronise the right-wing angels.
   The “liberal fascists” at least know each other’s status in the power hierarchy so they have no wars for turf unlike the angels where the slot of senior partner is still undecided.
   The Sharifs and Khan are justified to hit their adversaries – PPP and the MQM – hard, but at the same time they are hitting each other as well. Both know Punjab rules Pakistan; so Sharifs’ bad governance brings an excellent opportunity for Imran. The game is on!
   Both classfellows have their own strengths and weaknesses. Imran’s following swells because of all known and clendestine factors; but he has no leadership except for himself. He needs time to consolidate his strengths and makes for a strategy for next elections.
   Sharifs have a situation which demands the inverse variables altogether. They want an immediate election to materialise the most before their dwindling support base is further eroded by Khan.
   The situation has certainly get the sychophants bewildered, who are weighing options to move forward without knowing what are opportune timelines.
   Imran’s acceptance of spent cartridges in politics, his religious nuances during most of his fiery speech and presence of large numbers of religious zealots clearly show his party will have more resemblence to Nawaz League and not the PPP or the MQM.
   PML-N still fears for an exodus of ‘powerful candidates’ towards Imran, which it certainly does not want to.
   Whatever the odds, the Taliban anchors, for sure, will be the ultimate beneficiary of the situation. It makes no odds to them who loses the battle. They’ll certainly find them on the side of the winner!

Karachi musical makes song and dance of gang wars

by Hasan Mansoor
A hit musical about gangland violence in Pakistan’s largest metropolis is bidding to revive Karachi’s once-rich stage culture while shedding light on its grim addiction to violence.
Fierce sectarian and ethnic conflicts have been responsible for the deaths of more than 1,000 people this year alone and are an all-too-familiar tale to Karachi’s 18 million residents.
But the gritty realism portrayed in “Karachi — The Musical” has nevertheless provoked a huge response, playing to large audiences since it began in October for a month-long run due to finish on November 13.
It tells the story of a rookie boxer from the eastern city of Multan who comes to train at a boxing club in Karachi’s notorious Lyari neighbourhood — better known for its mafias than its sporting talent.
The ambitions of the protagonist, Saif Salaam, spark tensions between his coach and Daud Islam, a mafia don who controls the local gambling, drugs and prostitution rings and wants to thwart the boxer’s success.
With many twists and turns in the story set to a dozen songs, Daud attempts to kill Salaam, just as he had murdered another rising star 20 years earlier.
Mirroring grim realities on Karachi’s streets, the mafioso Daud is only stopped from killing the boy thanks to the intervention of another bad man — a more powerful don whose influence reaches higher into the corridors of power.
“It depicts the situation which we are facing nowadays,” said one theatre-goer, Aleem Akhtar.
“We are infested with mafias and gangs of killers and every mafia is well protected, so we can survive only with the blessings of some good bad men.”
The director of the first original musical to grace the city said that the show represented a defence against the very harshness it was based on.
“Today, art needs more support than ever in Pakistan because it is not only a reflection of the times we live in, but also of a brighter future we can create,” said Nida Butt.
“Theatre is not for the faint-hearted — it’s a labour of love, long hours and hard work that often results in more (money) spent than earned,” she added.
The once-thriving stage scene in Karachi, which was known for its opera before the partition of British India to create Pakistan in 1947, was lost largely due to the growing Islamisation of the country, say artists.
They particularly point the finger at military dictator General Zia-ul Haq, blaming him for worsening the gun and drug culture, encouraging sectarian and ethnic parties and crushing liberal forces during his 1977-1988 rule.
Art began losing its way under Zia’s predecessor Ayub Khan, they say, but it crumbled as culture became an early casualty of Zia’s regime, which nurtured religious fanaticism.
Syed Ahmed Shah, who heads the Karachi Arts Council and whose theatre is staging the production, says his organisation is the only one with a dedicated auditorium for plays and theatrical performances in Pakistan’s biggest city.
“Our resolve is to fully revive the city’s old cultural status so that it is here to stay,” he said.
“Particularly in a situation where fear and anxiety are the order of the day. Culture is the only remedy to rely on,” he said.
Hamza Jafri, who composed the original scores, said that “Karachi – The Musical” drew on the various strands of the city’s musical culture — a mix of rock opera, indigenous beats and big band jazz.
“The music is edgy, contemporary and completely inspired by our research into Lyari and the boxing gangs there. The songs talk about us, about Karachi and our lives in this city today,” he said.
But those living among the conditions depicted on stage complain they cannot see it because they are priced out of the market, with tickets costing 1,500 rupees (18 dollars) each — five times as much as a first-class cinema seat.
“I would love to watch such plays but it is getting too tough to enjoy theatre and cinema nowadays,” said Maula Bakhsh, 35, a fruit vendor in Lyari.
“We hardly feed our families because of price hikes. How can we spare money to spend on that luxury?” said Bakhsh — adding that he had to abandon his own boxing career to support his family.

AFP

65 killed in Karachi violence

by Hasan Mansoor   
Ethnic and criminal violence blamed on gangs has killed 65 people in Pakistan's financial capital of Karachi, with police the latest victims shot dead in a brazen ambush, officials said Saturday.    The government has been left struggling for solutions to the worst wave of unrest to sweep the city in 16 years as extra deployments of police and paramilitary officers appear unable to stem the troubles.    Spiralling unrest is a major source of concern in Pakistan's biggest city, which is used by NATO to ship the bulk of its supplies to troops fighting in Afghanistan and which accounts for around a fifth of the country's GDP.    The violence has been linked to ethnic tensions between the Mohajirs, the Urdu-speaking majority represented by the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), and Pashtun migrants affiliated to the Awami National Party (ANP).    Gunmen ambushed police late on Friday, sparking gunbattles in which four officers were killed and more than 30 others wounded, officials said, bringing the death toll to 65 since Wednesday morning.    The police commandos, dressed in plain clothes, were targeted in the eastern neighbourhood of Korangi, which had previously been immune from the troubles.    "These policemen were in a van going on a raid on a tip-off when they were intercepted by armed men who started firing, injuring many policemen," senior police official Shaukat Hussain told AFP.    "The police returned fire and at least one attacker has been killed."    Television footage showed injured policemen being carried by their comrades and local residents into ambulances and private vehicles heading to hospital.    "Our hospital has received 32 injured policemen, four of whom are critically injured. They all have gunshot wounds," said Seemin Jamali, spokeswoman for the Jinnah Post Graduate Medical Centre.    Karachi city police chief Saud Mirza told AFP that four policemen were killed.    Speaking after the funerals of the dead policeman on Saturday, provincial police chief Wajid Durrani said two of the attackers who fired at the police van were arrested.    "We have caught two attackers and we are interrogating them about others," Durrani said, adding that 18 people who were kidnapped on Friday had been retrieved by police.    Provincial home minister Manzoor Wasan said he could not give details about which parties or ethnic groups were involved in the violence, but said that "some 100 suspects had been arrested so far".    Witnesses in Korangi said there were pockets of intense gunfire between armed groups with ordinary people too frightened to leave home. Dominated by Urdu speakers, the area also has Pashtun, Baluch and Sindhi populations.    Karachi, currently a city of 18 million inhabitants and the country's economic powerhouse, has seen its population explode since independence in 1947.    Its neighbourhoods have been swollen by a huge influx of migrants from across the country, but particularly the deprived Pashtun northwest, looking for jobs and more recently to escape Taliban and Al-Qaeda-linked violence.    Speaking off the record because they were not authorised to release the information to the media, two security officials confirmed that 65 people had now died in violence in Karachi since Wednesday morning.    The city's worst-affected areas are impoverished and heavily populated neighbourhoods where most of the criminal gangs are believed to be hiding.    Independent economist A.B. Shahid estimated that 20 percent of the city's business was shut down on Thursday with markets closed in southern neighbourhoods to protest against extortion money demanded by criminal gangs.    Underlining the brutality of the violence, one security official said bodies of those kidnapped and killed had been stuffed in sacks before being dumped in various parts of the city.    He said the bullet-riddled bodies of four young men who worked for a mobile phone company had been found in a van with their hands and feet trussed in the impoverished Shershah neighbourhood.    "At least 20 killed on Thursday were kidnapped and tortured by armed gangsters. Their bodies were later stuffed in sacks and thrown away in different areas," the security official told AFP on condition of anonymity.    Notes had been left inside the pockets of clothes worn by some of the victims that read "Want more bodies?", the official said.    The independent Human Rights Commission of Pakistan said 800 people have been killed in Karachi so far this year, compared with 748 in 2010.