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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
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
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
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
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
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
