Our declining values

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   48.                                         Our declining values

The upper part of the second paragraph of my article “Where is the Pakistani media taking us ?” I had posted the other day  said  “nude beaches in Islamic Pakistan ? Same-sex marriages here ? Shocking . I am forecasting the future  if we permit the  media , the advertisers and MNCs to lead us by our noses . But remember all  media owners that this evil will also enter your houses .”

  One of my young readers remonstrated that same sex couples deserve to enjoy the same human rights as the rest of us.  Whom they love and marry is their business and they are answerable to their Creator for their choices not to us.

I did not answer him because if he believes in it so be it . I need not argue with him . I am not an Islamic scholar  nor one of  Oliver Cromwell’s Puritans. However I am an old fashioned man with old fashioned ideas and values . My values taught me that the world was created with the purpose to promote goodness and to eliminate evil in it .

Forty years ago , a (late) dear friend told me that  he entered the lounge of a late bureaucrat’s house , he found a young lady , his daughter , reading a steamy book “ The Carpetbaggers” .She kept on reading it but she made it a point to show him .  A couple years ago , my family and I went shopping to Rawalpindi Cantonment . A young lady dressed in a see through material got out from an elegant car and unabashedly entered into a nearby shop . Again a couple of years back , a famous female ill clad model was picturised  for a TV advertisement .

My young reader will argue that they had every right to do as they pleased . However there is a catch here , a clash of values . More than a century , a Englishman , named Rudyard Kipling , wrote his famous lines

“East is East .West is West

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The twain shall never meet “.

 That the west from where my young friend borrowed these ideas , is a home of many good and decent norms of living which are alien to the people of Pakistan . For eg. few people there shirk their work there . Here officers go unannounced leave to go to a religious congregation .

 Divorce although permissible is looked down in Islam . But it is being exercised in Pakistan at a drop of a hat . I am quoting the words of an eminent Islamic scholar , Mufti Muhammad Zubair , that each day at least five  hundred divorce cases are filed in the Karachi courts . Blank divorce deeds are available at the courts . 

The discussions between values are not limited to the sexual mores . Pakistanis often discuss the looting the exchequer and the extravagant living standards of the politicians and of the high and mighty of this poor land . However every way one looks one meets with falling standards from the top downwards . This week was particularly disgusting when one heard tales of the buying and selling of men and women desirous of becoming senators and suitcases of money moving from one to another . These are the  people who wish to be law makers for the rest of 180 million .The American  Senate was supposed to be a House of the wise .  It was Nawaz Sharif who set the trend of buying legislators in the 1990s .

The west has acquired the habit of teasing the world Muslims . Two months ago , it was Charlie Hebdo cartoons . Ironically it were the members of the  Pakistan Parliament , which Imran Khan alleges had cheated him , who brought a demonstration against the publication . Those were followed by a number of demonstrations in many cities for perhaps a week . That was all . However those who have read about the life of the Holy Prophet (Peace and Blessings of Allah be upon him ) and the hardships he and his steadfast Companions had to undergo would share with me that he prayed for Divine Mercy for all including his sworn enemies at all times . However we have forgotten his message of love . On the contrary , we are deviating from his message and killing each other in the name of Allah and Islam .

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Making a house in Pakistan is a pain in the neck . Promises and deadlines are never abided to . Electricians , plumbers etc  besides  craftsmen leave the work unfinished with money paid in advance .

The other day , an elderly gentleman , once my senior in Cadet  College ,Hasan Abdal , living in the USA , sent us a piece of news that dog meat was being sold in Pakistan . I replied to him that not only dog meat but meat from dead animals , dog meat and meat from donkeys are being sold  .

The Muslims are meant to rise above all rest of the nations and not fall into the depths of degradation . Our forefathers , once they embraced Islam, never looked back . They occupied the central stage in conquest of places , in Mathematics , Science , Astronomy , Astrology . I would be ashamed  to face the Holy Prophet (Peace and Blessings of Allah be upon him ) with such deeds .

Mahfooz ur Rahman

Islamabad

March 7, 2015              

ON PLEASING GOD AND MAN

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47 .                       ON PLEASING GOD AND MAN
A colleague of ours was much devoted in an effort to please God . But simultaneously he was much devoted to please man. Ever so often before  or during a meeting ,  he entered my office ,borrowed my prayer mat and busied himself in his devotions to the Almighty . We have no concern with that . That is between man and His Maker.
However , he was given to please man , an art  which I honestly lacked . In one year , my boss observed that  I was ‘ honest , straightforward and upright’ in my Annual Confidential Report . This observation was discussed among a group and the consensus that that would adversely affect my career . And that what happened in the long run . I remained in the same grade from 1982 till my retirement in 2005.
On one occasion, after having a brush with my boss , a dear friend from School days , Mr. Arshad Nasar , advised me to invite him to dinner . We invited him and his wife one evening . We also invited a very fine gentleman , Dr. Ikram Mohyuddin and his Dutch wife , a splendid pair. However ,the dinner was a fiasco . The boss went in to discuss the mode of dresses the female of the species in Europe wear .
The next morning , the boss was remorseless when I remonstrated for his behaviour the previous night . On the contrary , he lodged a complaint that he had an acute diarrhea .
Thus ended my venture of inviting bosses  to meals . 
 I intercede with one of my friends who was the SSP in Rawalpindi for a police official to be posted to his hometown near
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Rawalpindi . I was asked to do so by my dear friend , Muhammad Faheem. I forget doing this favour till my PA , Rafiq, announced a visitor . He was the same man carrying a box of sweatments for me . I told that I do not entertain such gifts . But he was so insistent that I told him that in that case the box may be given to my staff . He  again appeared some months later carrying the same gift announcing that he had a newly born son.  A very dear friend , Tariq Ikram . was sitting with me .I  gave the man the same reply . When he departed , I asked Tariq what was the  purpose of his  coming and carrying gfts for me . Tariq relied in the negative . I said ‘ Future Investment’. 
   Well ,  on the eve of the meeting of the Selection Board  in which his name may be considered, this colleague of ours went to meet his secretary  at his home carrying with him a basket of sweatments (mithai) for him . However , much to his misfortune , the Secretary was not game : he had many such encounters in his career . He gave my colleague a thorough drubbing  and left him licking his wounds.
Eventually , he was promoted.
Mahfooz ur Rahman
Islamabad
November 11, 2012 

On Cleanliness Part II

On Cleanliness Part II

Mrs   Ambareen Asif Qureshi  , M/s Faheem and Khalil Sufi thank you so much  for both your appreciation for my  choice of subjects to write upon and your critical comments . Indeed I deeply  value your critical comments   . Mrs  Qureshi told me to remain focused. .Indeed , I have failed to establish a plausible link between cleanliness and Islam . But I am pained to see  the fair name of Islam  irresponsibly harmed .  

 Mr. Faheem had offered detailed assessment .

”This is an important subject. You deserve compliments for raising awareness among reading public on this vital issue of public importance and public policy.

Having said that, I am afraid religious beliefs have nothing to do with it In my modest travels abroad ,.I have seen non-Muslim as well as Muslim colonies as being dirty and filthy. At the same time I have seen both Muslim and non-Muslim localities as being very clean. I am sure you also share this observation. Like me you must have visited cleanly kept mosques in affluent areas and not so cleanly maintained mosques in areas where economically less fortunate people abode. So in addition to cultural values of hygiene and cleanliness of individuals and society, it is a question of their economic affordability or economic depravity which determines their cleanliness standards.

What are the reasons that areas in Islamabad where affluent people live are clean compared with slums where poor live? Availability of public funds and enforcement by authorities and payment of taxes/ service charges by the residents are some factors. If in Germany, authorities were able to enforce their administrative powers, why does not the same thing happen here? Is general public making the job of garbage collectors easier by not littering or making it more difficult by littering all over.

Having said that, I have been to not a rich Islamic country where most people were poor. But they were very clean and their localities were clean. May be their individual cultural and spiritual values taught them so or, may be enforcement by authorities for cleanliness was effective.

Authorities at the local levels have to be proactive to ensure cleanliness. They should not hesitate in imposing fine or other punishments if they notice violators, however influential they may be. If local authorities fail to carry out their duty, then local public reps/ political institutions should ensure compliance. If they also fail, then public should elect new reps who can ensure that. “

The linkage between cleanliness and Islam has been explained in the first paragraph of my essay on cleanliness . But this is primarily a social sector . In the opening remarks , I had written “ Why are we so unclean ?” I think that  remaining clean or dirty is  a mental attitude no way connected to any religion . For instance , Khalil had referred to untidy kitchens and bathrooms of the very rich  where the work is done by the servants.     In the fifties, public bathrooms were built in various parts of big cities of Pakistan  . But the experiment failed because of poor literacy rate , . However , they are very neat and tidy public bathrooms in each locality in  the west , even in shopping centres . These are run on  charges using the facility . And the charges are nominal so that none minds it .

My view is that a few people in the country really care about the environment where the community lives . A mosque is suitably maintained regardless of the wealth of the community .However , when it comes to communal hygiene , doubts arise. I agree with Khalil that we concentrate more on our drawing rooms , dining rooms and bedrooms . But we neglect our kitchens and bathrooms .After my first trip abroad , I began to notice it whenever I had a chance to see others kitchens and bathrooms .

Sectors such E7 , the entire  F sectors , I-8 , the Blue Area are by no means poor . Yet I notice garbage spilling out from the bin . Only the residents of such localities are indifferent to it . Garbage is  also being heaped between Bahria Town and the Airport .  It   , including the hospital waste,  is heaped near the main gate  of the Government Services Hospital (Poly Clinic) .When my  deceased children were admitted to either PIMS or the Children’ Hospital ,I had a chance to experience water dripping from the ceiling of the bathrooms or to see nasty remarks written on the doors of the bathrooms of the latter hospital  .

Mr . Ejaz Naik , the then Secretary General , Planning Commission , while presiding a meeting in which a case for  the construction of  thirty bathrooms for the police barracks  was being considered quipped “ we don’t need so many bathrooms . The whole of Pakistan is a large public toilet .” A similar feeling was expressed by a lady member of the Commission .  Addressing the officers attending the NIPA Course ( including yours truly ) ,she said that when we abuse , we describe the whole female  anatomy . Our parks are littered . Nawaz Sharif’s Park ,  Rose and Jasmine Park , Lake View Park . We maintain our personal hygiene . But when it comes environmental hygiene we take no interest at all . Instead of helping the authorities we tend to belittle the little work they do.

On a study trip to the city of Basel , a female guide introduced us to the city in these words . “ On my left is old Basel while my right is the new Basel . The new Basel has money and the old Basel has history . The new Basel provides money to maintain the old Basel .”

While coming back to Karachi from Frankfurt , the air hostess beseeched the Muslims passengers of a PIA flight not to waste water when washing themselves before offering  the morning prayers because they had used much water to wet the carpet .One can recall an advertisement appearing in most American publications “ KEEP AMERICA CLEAN” or perhaps “ KEEP AMERICA GREEN” . ( But America is very green) . At school , we read the story of John Chapman . He set out from home carrying apple seeds in two bags planting them along the way . It took him twenty years to cross America . When he reached home , the seeds he planted had grown to fruit bearing trees .He became known as Johnny Appleseed in American Folk Literature .

Twice I tried to plant this story in Pakistan Government circles. The first attempt was  made when I drafted a letter and asked my PA to sign  and send it to the daily “ The Muslim” in the early 1980s . My proposal was that the Government may hire a Cessna aircraft to throw fruit seeds across the length and breadth of the country . The second attempt was made when I was asked to escort a Vice President of the World Bank to Tarbela Dam by the then Chairman , Senate , the late Mr. Ghulam Ishaq Khan . We were received by the General Manager at the gate . During the drive , I discussed it again with him . My two attempts were a failure . However , I made another try by approaching the press a couple of years ago .

Similarly my attempt of dredging the rivers of Pakistan was made when I discussed it with the Adviser on Science and Technology during a lunch . Again none took further action  because those discussions were informal . And the desalination of sea water to make it fit for drinking is a perfect solution for Karachi .

While staying in Germany , I learnt that the city government  paints the exterior of houses which have not been painted or maintains the front lawns  if it  was not freshly mowed and sends the bill to the owner.

I agree with M/s Faheem and Khalil that those who violate the rules may be fined . Singapore has this set of laws . Anyone throwing chewing gum on the road is fined . But  we in Pakistan  are talking of people who are not paying taxes already imposed on them .

One of my childhood friends recounted an incident which took place in Vienna . He and Khalid Hafeez  , another childhood friend , both my classmates , were roaming around the city . Pervez took out a packet of cigarettes . He offered one to Khalid and took one himself and threw the empty packet on the ground . An old lady following the two stopped to pick it up , placed it in her bag and deposited it in the nearest dust bin . I had a similar experience in Bad Godesberg . I threw an empty chewing gum wrapper on a hedge in one of the bungalows . A lady and her daughter saw me in the act . Unfortunately for them , the hedge was very tall .     

Mahfooz ur Rahman

Islamabad

February 04 , 2014          

             

ON CLEANLINESS

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 46.                               ON CLEANLINESS

Why are we so unclean? You can fight , debate , dispute with me . Undoubtedly Muslims bathe and more than once in summers and clean themselves before prayers  . Islam has taught that cleanliness is half of faith. There are  many Ahadis about it if we care to read them . None the less the Pakistanis like to keep their environment dirty .  But it is a fact . Look at the rubbish bins scattered around Islamabad , the capital of the Land of the Pure .  Less  garbage is in the bin and more scattered around it  , including things which are purely private  . Such garbage is an eyesore to the onlookers. But I am writing about the clean heart and soul  besides personal hygiene . Is it not true that we throw our garbage at the neighbour’s door ? 

It is said that Emperor Babur had written in his book “ Tuzke Babari “ that the people of India were dirty and that they built their houses not facing the rivers but the rivers were behind their houses .  Clean environment is , undoubtedly , not our cup of tea. Look around , you will find eyesores after eyesores . Take a look at our parks , our workplaces , our buses , trains ,our playgrounds ( if you  find any) , cinema halls . Islamabad , a modern city built in the 1960s , have no lawns inside the newly built sectors because of greed to cover any available space so that the houses , if rented out , fetch the maximum profits . The houses so built have been designed in such a manner that the owners did not sufficiently care for proper ventilation and lighting . From Khyber to Karachi , nasty messages are written on both sides of the roads . Cures for all diseases are written on walls as if the entire Pakistan is suffering from physical , moral and mental ailments of a grave nature . The joke is that many a gullible person approach them for treatment . Nasty remarks are written on the back of seats on buses , the walls

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and doors of bathrooms of hospitals or coeducational institutions .

                                                                                                           

 In this regard I am reminded of an incident. In the mid seventies , an Englishman ,  David Stanley , who was one of the crew of a “ Book Ship” and which was berthed on the sea near  Karachi Port , approached me for the grant of an Import Permit to enable it to enter the port and berth . . He came daily or three days while the case was being processed . One day a discussion erupted with him as to who was cleaner . He said that he was cleaner by virtue of the fact that he was a Christian . I told him that I was cleaner as a Muslaman . Neither side admit defeat . However , each day when I travelled around the city of Rawalpindi , I am greeted by the filthy Leh Nullah on which my short essay had been published by the “ Pakistan Observer “ a couple of years ago . In it , I referred to the cleanliness exercise conducted by the authorities of the German city of Wuppertal where Bayer Pharmaceuticals had a plant . Beginning from the late seventies , the western countries and Japan started combatting pollution . In this respect ,  the authorities compelled the plant   , which had been spewing  chemical waste and dumping to the river dividing the city , to install     suitable mechanism to keep pollution to a minimum . At the same , the Plant also installed a feat of engineering : a suspended railway system which covers half of the city . I was fascinated when I stepped on the train . I had a feeling that I was on a boat .

Throughout my life , from the stage of my childhood when my blessed mother used to take me in her lap while she recited the Holy Quran particularly Surah Rahman ( one of my favourities) . till today   , I have been visualizing the pristine picture of Islam . In this unalloyed Islam , the companions (May Allah be pleased with them ) of the Holy Prophet ( Peace and Blessings of Allah be upon him ) emerge , from a life of

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paganism to becoming trustworthy servants of Allah , noble in their bearing , thoughts , words and action , prepared to give the sublime sacrifice in Allah’s way . Mercy was their creed .

                                                                                                           

Till this day , I have never met a person who resembles the companions (May Allah be pleased with them ) of the Holy Prophet(Peace and Blessings of Allah be upon him ) nor do we have unalloyed Islam . On the contrary and I quote Maulana Azad , the generations after generations of Pakistanis have become disenchanted from this way of life. However , it is not the fault of those generations but they have no living examples to follow neither at home nor elsewhere .

  

We quote the Holy Quran or Ahadis profusely . But we don’t look at ourselves or analyse what is wrong with ourselves . Some gentlemen I have known bring the Holy Quran in most discussions while the ladies of their families dress in jeans or pant suits . I  stare at them in amazement and I say to myself “ Am I missing something?” . Or they post the pictures of their ladies on Facebook , not an Islamic magazine by any stretch  of imagination .

I wish to interview all thousands of Americans who have embraced Islam particularly after 9/11 as to what attracted them to Islam .However , my reading reveals that two factors were instrumental in it

The reading with understanding of the Holy Quran, and

The last Sermon of the Holy Prophet (Peace and Blessings of Allah be upon him ).     

In Europe in the past , gentlemen fought duels to protect their ‘ words of honour ‘ . In Islamic history , people  who gave their word even to the pagan of Mecca , fulfilled  their promises at the cost of their lives . Many were spared when their captors impressed by their honesty and truthfulness and embraced

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Islam . Indeed , the early Muslims endeared themselves to their enemies and the latter became Muslims . This was the major reason why the disbelievers became everywhere the Muslims went whether it was Persia , Iraq , India , Malaysia or Europe .

Mahfooz ur Rahman

Islamabad

February 01 , 2014    

    

   

Navid Zafar :A Good Man and a very Fine Friend.

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   44.                  Navid Zafar :A Good Man and a very Fine Friend.
Sometime in the nineteen seventies TIME magazine gave some obituaries in its last issue of December of great people who died that year. Among them was an obituary of John Rockefeller .Beneath it was simple caption describing him as a good man. Navid was also a good man. I think that description alone should suffice . However , I repeat the following lines taken from Shakespeare
‘O Sir , the good die young’
Navid Zafar died on March 12, 2009 of a sudden heart attack . According to his older brothers ,Javid, and younger brother , Fareed , he was sitting with his aged mother in his house . He got up and saying to her that he would be coming back to her soon left the house never to return home alive . According to the clinic sources , he came to them .The doctors took his ECG and advised him to accompany them to the Shifa Hospital .He told the doctors that he would be able to go there alone. As her started his car he collapsed and died .
It was a fun to have Navid as a companion. Recently, in January, I was reminded of a English poem ,which I had read in School ,on seeing my grandson leave the room in the cold wintry night and the keeping door open .The words of the poem
Godfrey Gordon Gustufus Gore
Was the boy who did not shut door
He father would beg ;his mother implore
Godfrey Gordon Gustufus Gore
I was first reminded of the time when my children were young and they would never shut the door. Accordingly I sent an email to Navid . Back came his repartee that when I was young my father would beg and my mother implored.

                                                                                                                               
I admit I rarely met Navid because of the sheer distance between of our houses . Secondly , I was a friend of his older brother , Javid. But whenever we met , it was pleasure . One learnt a lot from him.
Javid was an year senior to me when I did my masters in English Literature. We were both in Gordon College , Rawalpindi. There was a Post- Graduate English Literary Society of which Javid was the President and I was the Secretary through elections. Professor Sajjad Sheikh was the Patron . Gradually our friendship blossomed and we started visiting each others’ houses. I came to know their parents . His father was a very sweet soul : an exactly replica of Navid. The late Mr. Yusuf Zafar gifted me a book of his poetry . Although I met Navid occasionally in their Peshawar Road house in the 1970s but in keeping to our traditions to maintain a distance with a friend of one’s elder brother he kept a respectable distance between himself and yours truly . My wife and I attended the marriages of Navid and Fareed in that house.
I found the entire family very humble , caring , loving , down to earth and ready to be of service to the people . With the passage of time the distance between Navid and I eroded .
In a reference held in the International Islamic University , Islamabad to pay tributes to Navid , many speakers told various incidents revolving his life . It was a grand but a solemn occasion. Each speaker dealt with a particularly facet of his life . I think he was an all rounder : a gem of a person . a very dear friend in whom one can put an absolute trust without a care in the world that one’s secret would remain  a secret , a perfect Momin , and intelligent man, a devourer of  books , man of letters , a family man . Above all he was a friend to all people of all ages . My younger son, Mustafa , set up a NGO to help poor sick children . He invited Navid although the NGO comprised his friends and class fellows only. To Mustafa’s great surprise Navid came and fully participated in the meeting . Not only that , he donated Rs.1000/- to the NGO.
My family and I went to his house once. Both my elder son , Saad, and daughter , Amina, wanted to discuss something with him . He heard the young ones patiently .No wonder my children thought of him as their favourite uncle .
Navid occasionally came to my office . He had an ocean of knowledge . He had a great love for Allama Iqbal and Quaid e Azam. Discussions with him was absorbing and as a pleasure . He discuss mundane things as well as super mundane with equal ease.
I learnt that silent grief is majestic when my cousin died in an accident in 1976. I apply the same adage to my grief at the passing away of one who lived and loved Allah’s creations. May Allah Bless him and illumine his eternal life the same way he illuminated the lives of many.

Mahfooz ur Rahman

Islamabad

March 31 , 2009

My writings

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  43.                              My Writings
In the beginning , I must admit that I know NOTHING . Then why should I write ? It is because I wish to fill in the empty hours of my retirement doing nothing .
Sheikh (late) Ikram Ali , the father of my childhood friend ,  Tariq Ikram  ,a mentor and a very noble man, once told  yours truly that knowledge is a vast ocean and he had just stepped in . If a gentleman at the age 70 plus can say that with his vast  knowledge and experience of the world , I am a total novice .
After retirement from the Government , I took cudgels with the Government over a language of my retirement notification  and succeeded in having it altered. The said language was obscene .It said that Mr. Mahfooz ur Rahman ‘has been retired’ instead of saying that ‘ has retired’ . To my utter surprise the entire Ministry’s hierarchy was at a loss to see the difference . Till today , the same pattern is followed in the Government machinery .
I had great plans for my post retirement life  : running an NGO , printing a newspaper or a magazine etc . However , everywhere I looked I saw  giant road blocks facing me . I said sorry to my family urging to get a job to keep me busy . After serving for 36 years , I knew that any job in the Government  is the easiest thing in the world plus almost half years leave on full pay . I knew that rules are made for persons  and they are there to mould the rules . But job in the private sector is another matter . I was able to compare my life with son’s life who worked in the private sector .
At school and college , summary or précis writing were the death of yours truly .How hated them ? Only Allah Knows .But never in my wildest dreams have I thought I would earn my bread and butter in writing silly briefs and summaries  for  36 years. However , I found great mentors , Mr. Zahur Azar  , the former Cabinet Division and his deputy , Mr. K. U. Faruqui ,
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particularly the former , in this field .Their practice was to revise written material meant for the Cabinet over and over again till they were satisfied . I remembered that the English authors and poets had scribbling , cross and dashes in the manuscripts .  Willy nilly I was compelled to follow suit . I wanted that nobody could criticize my drafting . That made me a writer .
The first days after retirement were spent in visiting long forgotten relations and friends and occasionally the office . However , my good friend , Mr. M.Ishaq (late ), advised against going to the office again for “ he said that colleagues would talk against at his back that he comes to have tea or make a telephone while wasting their time “.
I want to thank Allah for His Infinite Mercy . I am leading a comfortable life . I started writing to keep myself busy and as a hobby . I choose my topics at random. I also started forwarding copies of what I had written for two objectives:-

1.    Purely selfish motives . I share the same human failings of conceit and the desire to seek applause .

2.    To seek atonement for my sins .

3.    Sharing knowledge experiences and discussions . I feel there is a vast scope for discussing . That way we become richer in terms of  attaining more knowledge .

Some of my relations (Mr.Zia ul Islam , my cousin from my mother’s side ) and friends (Mr. M.Khalil Sufi ) send very educative SMS . This way I learn new  things about Islam , the world and  fresh ideas . I even learn from my children and grandchildren , though the latter are young .
Mahfooz ur Rahman
Islamabad
January 27, 2013    
   
     

My dear friend , Ishaq , is dead

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In the name of Allah ,The Merciful, The Compassionate
42.            My dear friend, Ishaq, is dead
I was thinking of John Keats and his saying ‘my name is writ on water’ one morning when my cell phone rang . At the age of 64 often people feel that their names, too, are writ on water . When I was doing my Masters, I read an essay by Jonathan Swift 'Meditation on a Broomstick 'in which the author compared the passing of one's life with the wear and tear of a broomstick when it is discarded and thrown away.
It was early morning perhaps 5.15 AM on 7th June 2008 when the phone rang. It was Anisa ,my friend’s middle daughter . She told me that her father had passed away the previous night . I was not shocked because I knew that he had been suffering from various ailments for the past many years without respite .The latest was that he was suffering from cancer. We learnt that after his death from his daughters. That was news to my family. Occasionally death comes as a relief to a dying man : a blessing in disguise like my parents' death because both of them died in discomfort being gravely ill and blind. Ishaq sahib was around 80.
Ishaq Saheb phoned me in March to tell me that he was going to the Maker and he would like to see me whenever he finds someone to take him to my house .The next day , Saad, my son, took me to see Ishaq Saheb because like him, I ,too, avoid driving in and around the city. Saad left me sitting with him for two hours We discussed various subjects from National to International politics .
Subsequently events outpaced each other .My eye surgery and my son’s, Mustafa, illness .Besides , the distance between his house in F-8/2 and my house in Naval Officers Housing Society , Naval Anchorage is almost one hour’s drive .
When I preparing myself to attend his funeral, I slipped after taking a bath and hurt myself badly .My daughter , Amina, telephoned her mother and Mustafa shopping in a nearby housing society .They rushed leaving the shopping unfinished .Mustafa took me to a doctor in PWD Housing Society .I had a few stitches on the wound above the eyebrows. By evening the wound gave a terrible sight . My left eye was
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bloody and swollen .However , Saad ,Amina and myself made to my friend’s house in time for the funeral. Afterwards we went to my eye specialist .
Throughout my life , I made friends with all age groups . I am Gemini and a Gemini tend to make friends very easily .Among my friends who are or were older to me are Professor Muhammad Jamil ‘Azar’,my class fellow while doing my Masters in English Literature and who is also a writer and a poet and hence he has taken a ‘takluss’. I don’t know why he has taken a very odd looking ‘Takluss’. I dare not say to his face that Azar was the name of Hazrat Ibrahim’s father. He gets annoyed in a moment .However, in Gordon College ,we had nicknamed as Parson Adams(reference 'Joseph Andrews' , a novel by Fielding) .And I had among my old friends the late M/s Masood and Hamid ,my office colleagues who were gems of persons .The late Maulana Shamsuddin , who was innocent as a child .The death of Ishaq Saheb adds to my loss.
I had known him since 1970 .I always called him Ishaq Saheb(he was around 80 while I am 64 ) in keeping with our traditions and the traditions in which I was brought up at home and at School .I was posted to the Ministry of Commerce in November 1970.People working in the Ministry warned me not to go near him .He was reputed to be no nonsense type of a man .Once I approached him over some official matter , I found him a decent man unlike what the others said about him .
Ishaq Saheb knew what he was talking about .At work , he knew the subject .Besides that ,he knew the Pakistan’s trade and commerce like the back of his hand .No wonder , he did not suffer fools gladly .
After an initial inhibition, Ishaq sahib and I made friends .In office , whenever he was free he came to me to have a discussion ranging from politics to far off lands ..He had lived in France and Hong Kong. Or I was with him for most of day .Although by his own admission , he never acquired a formal education, but he was very well read . He was able to discuss paintings and others forms of Fine Arts. It was always a pleasure to be with him. He led a full life.
Gradually our friendship blossomed .There were many events in our lives I will not like to go into details. However, I must mention one particular incident. It was 7.30 one night and I had just come back home after a tiring day when the phone rang .It was Azra , my friend's youngest daughter . I was then posted as a Deputy Secretary in the Economics Affairs Division and looking after the World Bank desk .She told me that her father had not returned home from the office. Ishaq saheb was then a

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Deputy Secretary in the Ministry of Industries . I told her that I would call her after fifteen minutes .I hung up and called the Central Registry in the Ministry of Industries to send someone to the car shed to find out if there was any car there . The clerk there told me in the negative .I then phoned his Additional Secretary , Capt(Retd) Rahatullah Khan Jarral . He promised me to enquire. He drove to Ishaq Saheb's house accompanied by his daughter and took Azra to search for him .They went to various police stations and hospitals in Islamabad. When they were coming back to my friend's house , they espied his car coming towards the house .
Another event that comes to mind . We were then working in the Ministry of Commerce .PIA wanted to import some items. I showed the Airlines letter to him . Together we planned to make things difficult for them. I drafted a reply to the Airlines .However , before sending ,I showed the draft to the Joint Secretary , Dr.A.K.Tanvir. When the Airlines received the Ministry's reply, there was a fire in the organization  .The Chairman, Enver Jamal, flew to Islamabad to brief the President ,General Ziaul Haq(Alas after the country's Independence, Pakistan has been ruled the military junta for most of its history).One fine morning , yours truly was called by Dr.Tanvir and asked for a particular file .He showed me the President's directive( as if the President had no other work to do).Attached to it was yours truly letter. .Dr.Tanvir asked me if the draft was approved by him. I replied that I discussed the matter with him verbally .Subsequently on the same day a meeting was held in his room .Ishaq saheb also attended it .The consensus was that I had every right to ask PIA to furnish information though the language was strong .
Friendships are blessings particularly in my case .I am the only child of my parents .My wife has four brothers and three sisters. One of her brothers is settled in the USA while two are living in Lahore .Among the sisters ,one lives in Quetta while the other two are living in Lahore .My extended family is very large .I have many cousins; first , second and third cousins .However , my family is spread all over the globe . Besides at times one needs the advice of one’s true friends on matters too personal not to be discussed with everyone . Ishaq Saheb was such a person. I gained two fold; any discussion is limited to him .There was no fear of spread word around .He was not the type .Secondly, I gained a sound advice .It was particularly true after my father's death 1995.
When I was hospitalized in 1987, Ishaq Saheb came to see me riding on Masood Saheb Vespa scooter .Once when I was away , he came to see me and sat with my
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father for three hours till I came home .He was very pleased with the achievements of my children .One night, we dined in a restaurant in Blue Area , Islamabad .Following dinner , we decided to pay him a surprise visit .He made Saad and Maleeha sit with him on the sofa .He was very excited to meet the newly married couple .On each visit , he made it a point to enquire after my children individually.
After his wife died , he became very lonely .He had a few friends who often came to see him .He was very generous to a fault .Once I had to borrow Rs 500/ from him-.The next day I went to return the money .He absolutely refused to take it back. One another occasion I was admiring his well kept garden .He told me to take any plant I wished.
Many people come to condole one's death .They utter routine words .But the true pain is felt by the immediate family , the wife and children. All others return to their normal life and their normal activities. This truth came to me at the death of Javed , the younger brother of my very dear friend, Aftab. He was posted in London as Pakistan's Naval Attache. His burial in Islamabad was full of fanfare. Even the Naval Chief attended. But the grieving family has not forgotten him nor their grief.
Death cannot be avoided. Death came to the Prophets of Allah .We must as Muslims say that we belong to Allah and we must return to Him.
Mahfooz ur Rahman
Islamabad
June 07 , 2008

My dream world ravished

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 41.                      My dream world ravished 

Before the US entered the region with its lies that the Taliban were the enemies of civilization and attacked Afghanistan and Iraq with its false claims that the latter country had Weapons of Mass Destruction , Pakistan was an ideal country to live . Before the US entered the arena , the USSR waged a ten war against the unarmed Afghans to be badly defeated . Again the American invasion of that country turned out to be a dream gone sour  .It stands disillusioned from its claims that the invasion would be welcomed . However , It was the great game once again . The region and particularly Pakistan will never the same because of power rivalries . How I wish this place becomes peaceful again . 

After Partition , we settled down in Rawalpindi because my late father worked in the GHQ . I and my children grew up in that city . Rawalpindi was an ideal city , very cold in winters and very hot in summers . My children and I studied in the same schools . In winters , we enjoyed sitting in the sun and eating dry fruits which were meagerly priced . In summers , we ate mangoes , melons and water melons . Pakistan prided in having some of the highest peaks in the world eg K2 , Nanga Parbat . 

My first house in Rawalpindi , near Islamabad , the capital of Pakistan , was a small one situated in a big ground near the Government Degree College , before my father built a new house in Satellite Town . It had three rooms . This house and the house adjacent had a well . We shared the water . The well was twenty

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four feet deep . Water supply from it never ended . The water was very cool in summers and warm in winters .After every six months , we used to put potassium permanganate for water treatment . The well was the chatting place for my mother and the lady living in the adjacent house . 

Then Rawalpindi was a sleepy little town . Its fame rested in having the army headquarters . Life was very simple and easy . Each person cared for one another in the neighbourhood and was not self centred . The prices were low . Food was plenty and very cheap . A bag wheat flour could  be obtained at Rs 40/ per maund ( then the unit was a maund which had forty seers ) , mutton was Rs 2/ a seer [ the butcher would ask the customer to indicate the portion and the former would happily oblige the latter ] , apples , mangoes were priced at Rs one a seer . One could travel from one end to another in one anna ( the decimal coinage was introduced in the early 1960s) . Chickens could be bought at Rs 1.50 or two and the price of eggs a half anna in summers and one anna in winters . In summers , we had a feast of mangoes occasionally. My father would buy five or ten seers of mangoes . We would dip them in cool water from the well in a bucket . On the occasions of Eid , my father would buy a goat for Rs thirty . 

Tonga was the mode of transport by the high and mighty and the middle class . the poor classes would walk . However , on main roads buses plied . My greatest pleasure was a trip to the cantonment with my parents for shopping for a pair of Naughty Boy shoes for yours truly . The trip ended with a cup of coffee . On the roads , there were hardly motor cars . Army officers upto

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the rank of brigadiers rode bicycles . 

My first introduction to current affairs was when Father Macain , our English teacher , gave a lecture on “ Communism” and then asked the class to write an essay on it and to submit to him the next morning . Father Macain was apparently upset by the creation of Pakistan and used to take revenge for the loss of the British ‘heavenly kingdom’ in India by a good use of cane which were freely applied to the bottoms of the boys . By then I had been admitted to the Cadet College , Hasan Abdal , I told my father that I would go to the new college and not to the previously school . I escaped punishment . However , till today I wonder what made Father Macain to discuss ‘communism’ in a class  of  the ninth class students. 

Modernity came with the introduction of taxi cabs and coca cola . We were very thrilled . The biggest joy was to ride in a taxi cab or have a drink of coke . Children of wealthy families used shampoo after hair cuts . 

The Government devalued the rupee in April 1972. Previously , the exchange rate was $ 1 dollar to Rs 4/ .After devaluation , the rate became $ 1 dollar to Rs 11/ . Successive devaluation coupled with high inflation rates set up a spiral which seems to be never ending . 

Developing nations need financial assistance to develop the country’s infrastructure . Having dealt with the World Bank , the

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ADB and the donor agencies for a number of years , I have a fair idea how the system develops . The interest rates may not be high , but the conditions to the loans or credits may be tougher . Since the economy of Pakistan had reached a certain stage of development , the conditions became tougher and tougher coupled with cross conditions which meant that a group of countries or donor agencies set up a common conditions . The receiving country has to meet all conditions of all the donor countries/donor agencies . To illustrate the point further , if Pakistan seeks a loan in the energy sector , all the donor countries/donor agencies will have common conditions attached to their loans/credits . Grants are worse : in the grants , everything is imported from the grant giving nation. The Children Hospital in Islamabad is a example . Even the nuts and bolts and the covers for gutters had been imported from Japan. A reading of John Perkins novel will illustrate the point further . 

I spent a week in ‘Communist’ Poland : three days in the company of my guide . I put him very searching questions. Besides , I observed the place very minutely .If the ‘Communist Bloc’ was as bad as portrayed by the west and by Father Macain , why are hordes of American and others investors coming to Poland . In Warsaw , I dined three nights in a row in a restaurant famous for having a group of folk singers come each night . This restaurant was frequented by Americans who came in groups . In Krakow , I stayed in the Holiday Hotel of the American chain . However , the more I read of the interest of big powers the more I get lost in the ‘Byzantine’ game of ‘ cloak and dagger’ intrigues being played by

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the big powers particularly in the Middle East , Iran , Afghanistan and Pakistan . 

With the breakup of the Soviet Union , people in Pakistan began to ask one another about NATO and the stockpile of weapons in Europe . Invariably my reply was that they would be used against Muslims . 

Before the Russian invasion of Afghanistan in December 1979 , Pakistan had no idea what the great game was . The Punjabis , the Pathans , the Sindhis and the Baluchis lived side by side . There was love among the people of every place . Inter marriages were common . True , it is strategically located . It is surrounded by China , Russia , Afghanistan ,Iran and India . During the Russian invasion and after ,Pakistan has been under a great deal of pressure . But it had no case of bombing or a mass scale killing . Now ,however , scarcely a day passes without reports of suicide bombing , killings in Karachi , Quetta , Gilgit and Baltistan , Khyber Pathunkhwa and the FATA . The parents and the children are afraid of going to school . Wives are afraid that their husbands may never reach home . Whether one believes it or not conspiracies theories afloat as to who is responsible for the mayhem . The latest reports are that the US has legalized attacking through drones the areas in the Middle East and the Tribal Areas (FATA) of Pakistan . Drones have been used in the FATA regions without legal sanctity . Drones bring with it a colossal damage of people and property . 

Mahfooz ur Rahman 
Islamabad 
February 07 , 2013

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My Contribution to society

              
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 40 .                                          My Contribution to society
I have been a pen pusher  for most of my adult life . Firstly I had been associated with the Government as a civil servant and an officer from 1969 till 2005 . Secondly , after retirement , I have been writing and mostly espousing the problems faced by the marginalized segment of the society . It is true that no  major newspaper ,except the Pakistan Observer, has picked up my writings for policy reasons perhaps . But I have found way out by using emails and Facebook , whether they like it or not ,to spread awareness . I have written about 150 essays in this period of eight years covering 4000 pages . I dare say that despite my best efforts to become a Robert Fielding or a Thackeray or a Hardy , I failed to elicit interest in my essays .However, I am a poor imitation of Voltaire , Mills  ,Carlyle or Ruskin of Europe .I am still writing in the hope that perhaps , my children may find a publisher to print them after I have gone .  .  
I  moved to my new house in Naval Anchorage , a suburb of Islamabad, when it was  completed in September 2005 . Surrounding the colony , there are tiny villages . Nearby is the area which is called  Sihala . The inhabitants of this locality and the surrounding hamlets are poor but proud : so proud that they do not let their women folk to work in others’ houses .
During the past eight years since we moved , I have engaged some of them in doing odd jobs in my house eg painting the house  or  tending my   garden as gardeners . Now that the cold weather has set in , these people have no proper clothing to face the severe cold . My milkman came to deliver milk to my house today dressed  only in his shirt  while it was drizzling . My gardener comes wearing a very thin sheet of cloth . When anyone from among them falls ill , they have no or little money for the treatment . Naturally , they go  to cheap charlatans , soothsayers or  go to tombs of the holy people . Resultantly most of become stoics .
I have asked many of those people about their education . Almost everyone is as school drop outs . They have the same story to tell , poverty .
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Often I  come back home by a taxi cab when my son drops me and drives off to work . Sometimes their stories are heart rending that they are not the owners but they drive another’s car or they are  in debt after they had obtained the cab .Once  a cab  driver told me that he had  earned no fare all day and no money to feed his children including an infant . It was eight at night . I was moved to tears . I paid all the money I had . It was triple the usual fare .
In another part of Rawalpindi (Rawalpindi is the city sister of Islamabad ) where Dr. Farzana Niazi (an old friend’s sister ) runs her free dispensary established after her son ,Khurram Sami khan, met with  an unfortunate accident about twenty two years and became handicapped. She attends to thirty five women daily . Sitting  with her for two hours as a great experience  and listen to their moving stories would melt the heart of the most obstinate man or woman .These are the poorest of the poor .
Or visit Bhabra Muhalla and its labyrinthine   streets in the inner city of Rawalpindi .  The houses there were built by the Hindus over  the past centuries . Most of the houses were allotted to the inmates during the rehabilitation process of the 1950s and 60s . Those are three storied and very fragile .Most of them are very poor  or they are not eager to move . But mostly they have become stoics .When I was the Deputy Secretary (World Bank) in the Economics Affairs Division , I convinced the Bank to appraise it for the World Bank funding .But unfortunately I fell ill and  was on leave for nine months . Subsequently  the project was never included for the Bank’s financing .
These places and the people who live there are “ vermin of the earth “ insignificant  to be anxious. Be it the ‘democrats’ or the ‘military rulers’ , they work according to their agenda . In fact , the ‘democrats’ behave like big or small potentates  like Emperors Akbar , Jehangir or Shahjehan . In reality , they are . For eg . the PPP wanted to build a mausoleum for the assassinated Benazir Bhutto . They are advised by their advisers from the politicians and the bureaucrats . Whenever the army comes to power , they are pressurized by the world powers to switch to democracy . And each time , they associate the  ugly politicians into power . The politicians’ way of thinking is confined to their self interests the world over . Here , in Pakistan , we have been  brought in believing “  simple thinking and high living” .  
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However , in the west the governing principle is “ the greatest good of the greatest number” . Gone are days of the Mayor of Nottingham and Robin Hood . Most in the west have their needs fulfilled through policy making . Things available to kings and emperors in the past  are available in most of the houses  through advanced technology .. If not , the complaints are speedily redressed .
One of the  female  members of my family was shown in a picture wearing an university’s convocation  academic  dress . I envied her .I  began to think what was and is wrong with us . Despite the fact that we teach our generations that Islam and the Holy Prophet (Peace and Blessings of Allah be upon him ) laid great emphasis on education , male and female , an overwhelming majority of us are unlettered . The donor countries/agencies have been extend financial aid in the shape of very  easy credits or grants (Remember John Perkin’s book ‘ Confessions of an economic hit man ‘) . But these ends into unseen pockets .As an illustration , the World Bank has twice given IDA Credit for Primary Education ie 1986 for about US$ 450/ million for the four provinces and Azad Jammu and Kashmir and recently about 2002 or 2003 IDA Credit 1200/ million for the same purpose.                             
I wish every male and female child  of Pakistan and of the entire Muslim world be educated . There shall be no school drop outs .Without quality education  the dream of advancement will be a dream only.
MAHFOOZ UR RAHMAN
ISLAMABAD
NOVEMBER 07 , 2013