of Cold Countries

iy hifcvests, sometimes moneylenders,£ sometimes calamities,

self-styled masters arrive.

to hate my torrid country,i dry my wet clothes in these courtyards

let me plant gold wheat in its fieldslet me quench my thirst at its riverslet me rest beneath the shade of its trees

.let me wear its dust and wrap its distances around me

i«:The sun and youcan not walk side by side.The sun has chosen me for company.

Kishwar Nahecd,

translated by Rukhsana Ahmad.

J

Introduction

Located in the north-west of the SouthAsian sub-continent, Pakistan is a

relatively new political entity.Comprising four provinces (North WestFrontier Province, Sindh, Punjab andBaluchistan) and the tribal areas,northern areas, and the state of AzadJammu and Kashmir, Pakistan representsa great diversity of topography, bio-climates, peoples, and cultures. Therural-urban division is sharp, as are thedisparities between the rich and the poor.

The land was the home of ancientcivilisations and the meeting point ofgreat cultures: Buddhist, Greek, Muslim,and Hindu. Consequently, Pakistan has arich heritage of architecture, folklore, art,and music. Its people share the commontraits of hospitality, warmth, andfriendliness, and a strong sense of dignity.

Born in the ferment of change thataccompanied the collapse of colonialism,Pakistan is still a society in transition.Older forms of economic, social, andpolitical organisation are underchallenge, while new ones have yet toevolve. Trying simultaneously to meetthe compulsions of the internationalmarket economy and the demands of itsburgeoning population, Pakistan issearching for an appropriate system ofgovernance, and struggling to define itsidentity. In the process it has experienceda wide range of conflicts resulting fromeconomic disparity, authoritarianism,ethnic assertion, sectarianism, genderdiscrimination, external aggression, andCold War rivalries.

This book attempts to capture themany facets of Pakistan: its beauty andrichness, its scars and shortcomings, itspeople and environment - in order tounderstand better a society poisedbetween tradition and change.

Village in Sindh province. Life in the villages of Pakistan has changedlittle over the centuries.

Busy street scene in Karachi, the largest city in Pakistan.

The land

Pakistan is bordered by Iran andAfghanistan on the west, China on

the north, India on the east, and theArabian sea on the south. It is separatedfrom Tajikistan, one of the Central AsianRepublics of the former Soviet Union, bya thin strip of Afghan territory in thenorth-west. The land is geographically

diverse, including snow-cappedmountains, plateaux, rivers, flood andarid plains, a variety of forests, deserts,lakes, swamps and a stretch of coastline.

Mountains cover more than half of thecountry's surface area, with three of thehighest mountain ranges in the world:the Himalayas, Hindu Kush, and the

_ . ^ . _ International boundaryprovincial boundary

riversin ii mi railway

approximate line of control

AFGHANISTAN

•

/ JAMMU' ANDl--^ KASHMIR

*»j (disputed,, territory)

• : . : ' •

Karakoram, which rise above 8000metres. These formidable mountainbarriers are broken by passes which haveacted as gateways to invaders, armies,refugees, fugitives, and nomads, fromtime immemorial to the present day.

Climatic conditions throughout thecountry are very varied. While someparts of the regions get as little as 250mmof rain, others, such as north-east Punjab,receive as much as 1000mm when themonsoon winds blow from July toSeptember. Temperatures are similarlywide-ranging, from -25°C at the highestelevations in winter, to over 50°C in partsof Sindh and Baluchistan during the'summer months.

The other prominent physical feature isthe 3200km long Indus River, traversingthe entire length of the country, rising inthe northern Hindu Kush and Himalayanmountains, and fed by five majortributaries. The river supports thecountry's complex irrigation system, thelargest in the world, providing silt-enriched waters to the agricultural plainsof Punjab and Sindh, before finallyemptying out into the Arabian Sea.

The IndusThe Indus, cradle of ancient civilisations,has shaped the lives of the people livingon its banks. The Indus valley cultures(2500BC to 1700BC) represent the firstorganised urban settlements in the world.Culture, art, and architecture flowered.Sophisticated irrigation systems and thefirst forms of writing were part of theseearly civilisations.

The Indus delta, covering some 3000square miles, used to be extremely fertile.Thick mangrove forests fringed thecoastline, there was a vast variety ofmarine life, and fishing communities

$Q,;t&© (ridos -deit© .died iiri

Darya Kabul,tributary of theIndus.

Valley near Gilgit, inthe mountainous

north- west ofPakistan.

(opposite page)Carrying water, a

precious commodityin the Thar desert.

prospered. Much of the area has beenaffected by the construction of damsduring the last 50 years designed toharness the waters of the Indus and itstributaries. Large tracts of desert landsbecame fertile, but at the same time thewater flow to the sea was drasticallyreduced, changing the ecosystem and ofthe delta and destroying the livelihoodsof the people that depended on it.

Deserts and plateauxThe Thar and Cholistan deserts in theSindh and south of Punjab borderingIndia are marked by very low anderratic rainfall. But when the rains come,the deserts, particularly the Thar inSindh, blossom into a veritable paradise.

There is a famous saying which is onevery Thari's lips: 'Munjho muluk malir'('My land is a paradise'). The phraseoriginated from a legend about Marvi, abeautiful woman from the Thar desert.

She was kidnapped and carried off byPrince Omar, and during her long yearsof captivity and exile, he would taunther about her continual longing to returnto her desert land, and she wouldalways reply 'Munjho muluk malir'.

The Potwar Plateau in northern Punjaband the arid, sparsely populatedBaluchistan Plateau to the south-west,also suffer from acute water shortages.Various indigenous methods weredeveloped to store water. The mostsuccessful was a system of undergroundirrigation tunnels, karez, used inBaluchistan, which minimised water lossthrough evaporation. Tradition relatesthat some of the tunnels still in use werefunctioning when Alexander the Greatarrived in this area. Many of the karezare now in a bad state of repair, butengineers are examining the system witha view to renewing it.

AU

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The four provinces

Pakistan now consists of fourprovinces: Punjab (63.9m people),

Sindh (25.8m), Baluchistan (5.8m), andthe North West Frontier Province (14.9m)In addition, there is the tribal belt(Federally Administered Tribal Areas,FATA), which for most purposes istreated as part of NWFP; and thedisputed areas of Azad Kashmir andGilgit Agency (total 3.5m).

Punjab is traditionally the mostprosperous and dominant province. It isthe main recruiting ground for the armyand home for most of the big financiersand industrialists. Punjab is also theagricultural heartland of the country andpioneer of the green revolution. Most ofPunjab's farms are owner operated,although there is a feudal belt in thesouth of the province where tenantfarmers are in the majority.

The feudal structure in Sindh remains

(above) In the oldquarter of the city of

Lahore, Punjab.(right) Wheat field In

Sindh.

much more intact than elsewhere in thecountry, with half of farms being run bytenants. The large landlords (vaderas)dominate their areas and can stillcommand tributary labour. Oneconsequence of feudalism is violence andinsecurity, when vaderas give protectionto robber bands (dacoits) that terrorise thearea. Karachi, the largest conurbation inPakistan, is in Sindh. It is now a city ofabout 9 million, and beset by all theproblems of an overstretched urbaninfrastructure: pollution, overcrowding,poor services, ethnic violence, and crime.

Baluchistan is the largest yet mostsparsely populated province, consistingpredominantly of vast deserts and roughpastures. It is a largely tribal society, andthe struggle between the Baloch andPushtoon tribes for control periodicallyerupts into violence. The province iseconomically and socially under-developed. The arid conditions makesustainable agriculture difficult.

NWFP and FATA fall somewherebetween Baluchistan and the rest of thecountry in terms of economic and socialdevelopment, although their socialstructure is much closer to that ofBaluchistan. The south of the province

includes a canal-irrigated zone,dominated by small farmers, not unlikenorthern Punjab. The rest of the provinceis mainly mountainous, with rangelandsand rain-fed agriculture, or small-scaleirrigation. NWFP is also a tribal society,and 68 per cent of the farms are owneroperated. There is a shortage ofemployment and resources for theexpanding population. Deforestation is aserious environmental problem.

Terracing showingup under the snow,on a steep mountainslope in North WestFrontier Province.

Nomad encampment,i Baluchistan.

The people: an ethnic mixThe riverine plains are home to themajority of Pakistan's people, thePunjabis and the Sindhis; the Pathantribes live in the north-westernmountainous region; and the smaller butdistinct nationalities (the Kalash and thepeople of Chitral, Gilgit, and Hunza) livein the extreme north. The Baluch andsome Pathans live on the BaluchistanPlateau, and the Seraiki-speaking peoplein the south of Punjab. The Punjabis,including the Seraiki speakers, constituteroughly 55 per cent of the population,Sindhis 20 per cent, Pathans 10 per cent,muhajirs (those who migrated from Indiaat the time of independence in 1947) 7per cent, and the Baluch about 5 per cent.There are also several sub-groups, suchas the Brohis of Sindh and Baluchistan,the Seraiki speakers of Punjab, theHindko speakers of the Frontier, and thePersian speaking Hazaras of Baluchistan,who consider themselves ethnicallydistinct. All these distinct peoplesrepresent a wide variety of culture,language, dress, art, and literature.

Gypsies, in Sindhprovince. Many ofthem work as daylabourers in the fields.

Family in a village inPunjab, making rush-mats for sale.

10

(left) Woman from acommunity of brick-kiln workers.

(above) The villagemidwife, in a villagenear Lahore, Punjab

(left) Herdsmen inQuetta, Baluchistan.

11

A turbulent history

(above)Seal discovered inMohenjodaro. Thebull was a sacred

animal in thereligious rituals of

the Indus valleycivillation. The

inscriptions on theseal are one of the

earliest forms ofwriting.

(right)Mughal Empress,

Noor Jehan, from aminiature painting.

Pre-historic beginningsHuman history in Pakistan goes back tothe stone age. Relics of the earliest stone-age man (500,000 to 100,000 years ago)have been found in northern Punjab. TheBaluchistan Plateau culture, developinglater (4000 BC to 2000 BC), extended toIran. This was the precursor to the Indusvalley civilisation (2,500 BC to 1700 BC),one of the earliest examples of organisedurban settlement. This agrariancivilisation, the largest in the ancientworld, stretched along the Indus riverand its tributaries from the Himalayanfoothills to the Arabian Sea. Excavationshave revealed well-planned cities inHarappa (Punjab), Mohenjodaro (Sindh),and other sites in lower Sindh.

Since those first Dravidian settlers ofthe Indus Valley, successive waves ofAryan migrants from Central Asia cameto this region. Alexander of Macedoniainvaded with his armies in 327-326 BC,defeating local rulers on his journey fromGandhara, in the north of the region, tothe south and west. Though Alexanderstayed only for two years, the influenceof Greek culture endured much longer. A

Hindu dynasty, the Mauryans, succeededAlexander (325 BC - 185 BC) andfounded the first Hindu Empire. Ashoka,a later Mauryan king, adoptedBuddhism, the new religion flowering inthe Indian sub-continent, and Gandharabecame the centre of Buddhism. Tracesof a fusion of Greek, Central Asian,Indian, and indigenous cultures can stillbe seen in the ruins of Taxila city, in theKalash valley, Gilgit, and Peshawar.

By the seventh century AD, Buddhismdeclined completely and Hinduismbecame the dominant religion. Aroundthis time the Arabs, who had trade andcommerce links going back for centuries,came for the first time as conquerors (712AD). By 724 AD they had establisheddirect rule in Sindh. Muslim rule, finallyconsolidated under the Mughals,continued over most of India until 1761.By this time, European tradingcompanies, Portuguese, British, French,and Dutch, had become well-establishedin the sub-continent and were spreadingtheir political influence.

12

Mohenjodaro 2500BC-1700BCMohenjodaro, situated on the bank of the Indus, is one of the world's mostspectacular ancient cities. Well laid-out, with wide streets and spacious houses,and a complete drainage system, the city remains a monument to an advancedand complex civilisation. Most houses were two-storeys high, with fair-sizedrooms arranged around an internal courtyard and bathroom. The latter had acircular well and drain that emptied into a cess-pit from which water entered themain covered drain in the street. The artefacts, jewellery, figurines and sealsfound on the site reflect a highly-developed and sophisticated culture.

Colonial encounterThe land that is now Pakistan has alwaysbeen a passage through which outsiderscame and conquered the rest of India.The fertile plains of Punjab in particularwere attractive to successive groups ofinvaders. In the period between 1798 and1818, the British had managed not only tooust their fellow-European competitors,but to transform themselves from tradersto an imperial power that had establishedindirect rule over most of the region.British power was challenged by manyIndians - landlords, petty rulers, andnominal princes - in an organisedresistance in 1857. This is known as the'War of Independence' in Indian andPakistani versions of history, and 'TheIndian Mutiny' in the British version. Theresistance was crushed, India wasdeclared a colony of Britain, and directrule imposed.

The impact of the British on the Indiansub-continent has been very deep. Theybrought with them a world-view basedon their experience of the industrialrevolution. They introduced changes insocial and economic structures, and insystems of production, which served

British interests and were not always inharmony with local needs: the shift tocash crops like cotton to provide for theBritish textile industry; the resettlementof large numbers of people from otherareas; and the breakdown of subsistenceagricultural systems. Railways were built,for moving agricultural raw material andother goods for the British markets,which made people more mobile thanever before.

Such modernisation broughttremendous social changes in a very shortperiod of time. The British introducednew systems of revenue collection, legalprocedures, forms of education, civilservices, and politics, which in turnaffected social relationships. The powersof traditionally dominant groups werereduced, and a new class of professionals(doctors, lawyers, and teachers) emergedthat modelled itself on the British.

During the political struggles that tookplace under British rule, new ideas ofdemocracy, freedom, and nationalismdeveloped, which were to providemodels for the systems and institutions ofgovernance after Independence thatcontinue to be followed to this day.

13

Pakistan's culturalheritage

s an area with a turbulent historyk the meeting place of many

cultures, Pakistan's traditions are richand varied. The constant influx ofsettlers, traders, and invaders fromPersia, India, China, Turkey, Greece andAfghanistan, have all left their mark onthe art, crafts, architecture, dance, music,and literature of Pakistan.

LanguageLinguistically Pakistan is aheterogeneous country, although all thelanguages now share variants of theArabic-Persian script and alphabet. Urduis the official language, developed duringthe Mughal times to serve as a commonlanguage for their eclectic army. Becauseit was primarily the language of theeducated Muslims of northern India atthe time of Independence, Urdu becamestrongly associated with Muslimnationalism. English is used along withUrdu for official business and in someparts of the education system. In most ofPakistan, it is the language of the eliteand upwardly mobile.

Urdu has become politicised over theyears. Mother tongue to the migrantsfrom northern India (muhajirs), it hasbecome their symbol of identity. Despitesome resentment against it, Urdu hasdeveloped, and remains the language ofliterature and poetry. Some of the mostsophisticated as well as popular poetry iswritten in Urdu, and the majority ofnewspapers, magazines, and books arepublished in that language.

While Punjabi, the mother tongue ofthe majority of the population, is not readby many people, due to difficulties withthe script, Sindhi, written in a variant ofArabic, is the most developed among theregional languages of the country. It is

rich in both language and literature,although Sindhi culture in Pakistansuffered considerably at Independence,when most of the educated, middle-classSindhis, who were Hindus, migrated toIndia. Since a large number of Urdu-speaking migrants from India settled inthe cities of Sindh, the movement for thepromotion of Sindhi language andculture has been expressed in oppositionto Urdu. This has led to conflict, in 1972when language riots occurred after thegovernment decision to grant specialstatus to Sindhi language in the province.

Pashto, the dominant language of theNWFP, has a rich oral tradition. In theprovince of Baluchistan the prominentlanguages are Balochi and Brahui. One ofthe main dialects of Balochi is calledMakrani, from the city of Makran nearthe border of Iran. Brahui is the onlyPakistani language of Dravidian origin.

(facing page)Most people in Pakistan, men, women, andchildren, wears a variation of the shalwarkameez - loose trousers and long shirt. Whilefashion dictates colours and designs forevery-day, each district has its owntraditional distinctive shapes, colours andtechniques, and patterns of embroidery anddecoration. Saris, dhotis (a sort of sarong),and lehengas; chooridars (tight trouserswhich roll up like bangles when worn)ghararas and other elaborate skirts are alsoworn. Styles in women's dupattas - longscarves worn around the shoulders - varytoo, with regional differences in size andthickness. Men's hats are also distinctive -from the rolled-felt hats of Chitral, to thecolourful, embroidered caps of Sindh.

14

15

A land of poetry

Every Pakistani is a poet. Man,woman or child, literate or illiterate,

Brahui or Urdu speaking, nearlyeveryone has composed a few versessome time in their lives. A Pakistani poetmay be an old Baluch out grazing heranimals in the desolation of majesticmountains, a fisherman singing in thestarry night in a boat far out at sea, aPashtun with his gun slung over hisshoulder, a brick-kiln worker at a unionmeeting, a young college girl serious andromantic, a clerk in a musty office, arickshaw driver painting his verses onhis vehicle, village women at a weddingparty, a devotee at a saint's shrine, aSindhi farmer at a kutcheri (talkingtogether in the evening), a villager at atanzeem meeting, or a poet at a mushaira(a poetry reading session where a candleis passed from person to person as theyread their verse).

Some people may be too shy to recitetheir own poetry to you, but everyone

will launch into verses by the well-known poets in the course of ordinaryconversation. Poetry is set to music inthe form of the ghazal, where the music issubservient to the words. In a mushaira,or a ghazal concert, the audience willapplaud the verses they like best, and thepoet or performer will repeat them.Mushairas, formal or informal,impromptu sessions with friends, are afavourite activity for Pakistanis.

There is a national festival to celebratethe birthday of the late Faiz Ahmad Faiz,Pakistan's greatest poet. After the deathof a young woman poet, Parveen Shakir,in a car accident recently, a national dayof mourning was declared.

Pakistani poets have been in thepolitical forefront of the fight againstoppression, and even those who do notagree with them politically will savourthe flavour and quality of their poetry.

Hie tradition of the SufiPopular traditions continue, almost unaffected by political upheavals. Traditionalpoetry, literature, art, dance, music, crafts and architecture of Pakistan reflectthe influence of Sufi thought. The Sufi's quest to 'know', to 'understand' isthrough creative expression. Sufi thinkers have contributed much to thecountry's poetic heritage, and their poetry, in particular, has developed its ownsymbolism over time. In Pakistan it represents resistance to authoritarianismand state oppression, and of freedom of the spirit and soul. This spirit ofresistance continues in contemporary times in the work of poets like FaizAhmad Faiz and Habib Jalib. All the Sufi saints are remembered by their poetry.

'Reciting the names of God on your rosary, and looking piousWill never make you into a good MuslimFor within your heart lie hidden,Deceit and Satan.'

Shah Abdul Latif Bhitai, Sufi Sindhi poet

16

Dedication (extracts)Let me write a song for this day!

This day and the anguish of this dayFor this wilderness of yellowing leaves -which is my homeland.For this carnival of suffering - which ismy homeland.Let me write of the little lives of officeworkersof the railmenand the tonga-wallahsand of the postmen.Let me write of the poor innocents theycall: workers.

Lord of all the worldpromised heir to all that is to come.Let me write of the farmerthis Lord whose fief was a few animals -stolenwho knows when;this heir who once had a daughter -carried offwho knows where;this chief whose turban is a tattered ragbeneath the feet of the mighty.

... Let me write of the studentsthose seekers of the truth.Who came seeking the truth at thedoorstepof the great and the mighty.These innocents who, with their dimflickering lamps came seeking lightwhere they sell naught but the darknessof long endless nights.

Let me write of the prisoner in whosehearts all our yesterdaysdawned like sparkling gems.And burning, burning through the darkwinds of prison nightsare now but distant stars.

Let me write of the Heralds of thecoming Dawn ...

Faiz Ahmad Faiz(Translation by Shooaib Hashmi)

Faiz Ahmad Faiz,regarded asPakistan's greatestpoet.

Working woman (extracts)They all sayI am too proud.That I bloom and blossom with theefforts of my own sweat and blood.Every leaf is watered by the sweat of mybrow...I am like a tall tree.Yet within me there is an ancient creeperwhich sometimes -when the gales are strong -wants to find a strong branchround which to wrap itself.

Parveen Shakir

17

(right) Tehreema,classical dancer.

(below left) Rubina isa professional folk

dancer. She, hermother, and hersister, sing and

dance for the womenat weddings. Duringthe wedding season

they are scarcelyever at home, andcan earn between

500 and 5000rupees for each

engagement.

(below right)Musicians playing fordancing at a festival.

Music and dance: classicaland folk traditionsTraditional dance and music takes twoforms, classical and folk. While theclassical expressions of both art formsdeveloped under the patronage of thecourt or priesthood, the folk traditionsare expressions of people's joy orcelebration at particular times in theirlives: the birth of a child, a marriage, areligious devotion, or a spiritualexperience. In Pakistan, classical musicand dancing have suffered neglect anddeliberate discouragement under somegovernments, particularly that of GeneralZia. But committed teachers continued toteach and students to learn, in anenvironment that was extremely hostile.They persevered, and it was a revelationafter the end of Zia's rule not only torediscover the great teachers, but to seenew young stars burst upon the horizon,performers of a quality that was secondto none.

Ghazal, poetry sung to a musical accom-paniment, is very popular, as is qawwali, aform of devotional group singing.Leading qawwals like the Sabri Brothersand Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan are not onlyextremely popular in Pakistan but havealso popularised qaivwali in the West.

Folk music, closer to the people, hasnot faced any constraints, and hascontinued to flourish. Folk instrumentsinclude many versions of the flute,percussion instruments, including thematka, an earthen water vessel, and thechimta, a long poker. The most commonlyplayed instrument in Pakistan is the dhol,

18

a double-sided drum, which takesseveral forms. The dholki is a small drumplayed flat on the ground, usually bywomen, at any and every festiveoccasion from weddings to Basant. It isaccompanied by singing and folkdancing. Wedding celebrations last threedays or more, one day being given overto the mehndi, when the bride's handsand feet are dyed with an intricate claypattern of dark red henna, and there ismuch singing and dancing. The dhol is alarger drum, hung round the neck andplayed with sticks, normally by a man. Itis used outdoors, to dance to, or toaccompany professional singers. Thetabla, a twin drum set, is used mostly forclassical accompaniment, and is one ofthe most complex musical instruments ofthe subcontinent, on which every note ona musical scale can be sounded.

Basant:the kiteflying festivalBasant: the sky is full of a thousandcoloured kites,there are parties on therooftops, blaring music and the hypnoticbeat of the dhol, and gangs of little boysyelling 'Bo-kataV and chasing somethingjust beyond the horizon.

The kite-flying festival is celebratedwith passion and abandon in the city ofLahore. It heralds the advent of springafter the cold winter and is a traditionalfestival of the Punjab, associatedoriginally with farmers. During timeswhen the state comes under religiousinfluences, there are efforts to discouragewhat is, after all, not a religious festival.Lahoris have simply ignored suchattempts with aplomb.

The colour of the day is yellow andeveryone, especially the women, wearsyellow. Yellow food is cooked,vegetables, specially cauliflower orpotatoes with turmeric, yellow sweet rice(zarda, which means yellow), and Basantis a party day. People get together inopen grounds or on roof tops to fly theirkites. A great deal of care goes intopreparing and stringing the kites beforethey actually fly.

The festival goes on all day, and whendarkness falls, huge search-lights lightup the sky, white kites are flown fromthe roof tops in all parts of the city, therich homes of the elite as well as thecongested homes of the walled city, oncethe heart of Lahore town, and the festivalcontinues all night.

A feature of kite flying particular toPunjab is a competition to cut otherpeople's string, and young boys chaseafter the fallen kites as booty. Kite flyingaround the time of Basant becomes anobsession. Kites sell for as little as 20pence and as much as £25. But the realcost is the dor, the string. Connoisseurswill get their string prepared the summerbefore, spending hours lacing it withground glass to ensure its cutting edge!All over the pavements of Lahore,shocking pink and royal purple string isstretched out to dry, laced, and stretchedout again by sellers of dor. String for theday of Basant can cost anything from £5for a large party of children to £200 forthree or four adults.

Women take part in all the activities ofBasant, but to actually cut anotherperson's kite is considered somewhattomboyish! The phrase used for one kitebattling with another is pecha larana; andthe same phrase is used for a flirtation.

Selling kites for Basant.

19

Young cricketers,Baluchistan.

SportSports play a major part in the lives ofPakistanis. Cricket has become a nationalpassion and children can be seen playingthe game in the streets or any openspaces available. When the nationalcricket team is playing a match, life in thecountry comes to a standstill. Publicholidays are declared when the teamwins an international game (which itoften does). Cricketers like Imran Khan,Wasim Akram, Javed Miandad aresuperstars in Pakistan.

Field hockey and squash are alsopopular, though they do not have theglamour of cricket. Pakistan has been the

Olympic champion in hockey, and thecountry has produced top-level squashplayers like Jahangir Khan and JansherKhan, the current world champion.

Other favourite sports include gulidanda, a street game which some considerto be the precursor of hockey, playedwith a stick and a four inch longelongated 'ball', kabadi, where two teamsof players, with oiled bodies, try to slipacross to each other's territory, wrestling,and buz kushi, an early form of poloplayed in the northern mountains.

Architectural expressionsArchitecture in Pakistan displays greatregional diversity, based on availablebuilding materials, environmentalfactors, and social requirements.Succeeding historical periods have hadtheir own distinctive styles, and haveinfluenced that of successive periods. TheBuddhist Gandhara architecture, forinstance, strongly influenced subsequentHindu architecture of the Salt Range(650-1026 AD). This, in turn, wasassimilated in part by the architecture ofthe first Muslim Kings, and can still betraced in later tombs in the cities of thesouth Punjab. The Mughals whofollowed in the sixteenth century left arich heritage of buildings with theirlavish construction of imperial forts,palaces and gardens. The Fort, Badshahimosque, Emperor Jehangir's tomb, andthe Shalimar Gardens in Lahore are fineexamples.

The British colonists brought withthem the building style of thecontemporary West, still to be seen inbuildings like the High Court and Chief'sCollege, in Lahore, and Freire Hall, theHindu Gymkhana and the Sindh Club inKarachi.

20

(left) ShalimarGardens, Lahore.

(far left) Old mosquein Karachi.

(left) Doorway, theFort, Lahore.

(below) Shrine atMultan, Punjab.

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The birth of Pakistan

An Indian nationalist movementopposed to the British emerged with

the formation of the All India NationalCongress in 1885. Muslims supported theCongress initially, but with the increasinguse of Hindu symbols and rhetoric byCongress, which contradicted its claimsto be an all-India party, the Muslimsbecame more and more alienated.

In 1906, the Muslims formed their ownpolitical party, the All India MuslimLeague. Initially, the League saw its roleas safe-guarding and representing theinterests of the Muslims of the sub-continent. Its early preoccupation was toensure Muslim representation in theparliamentary institutions that would beset up in post-independence India. It wasthe Muslim poet-philosopher,Muhammad Iqbal, who first put forwardthe idea of Hindus and Muslims havingseparate national identities. This ideacrystallised in the 1940s into a movementdemanding a separate homeland forMuslims.

In 1947, the British finally left. Pakistanwas born as an independent state in twoparts: West and East Pakistan, separatedby almost 1000 miles of Indian territory.

The controversial demarcation linebetween India and Pakistan was drawnhurriedly and almost arbitrarily. Theprocess of Partition involved a massiveupheaval of populations: some 14 millionpeople crossed the new boundary:Pakistan lost six million people, mainlyHindus, and gained 8 million Muslimrefugees from India. One million peopledied in the violence which accompaniedPartition; thousands were displaced.

The influx of people from India addedyet another element to an alreadycomplex racial-ethnic composition of thecountry. It sowed the seeds of conflictand discord for the years to come. Evennow the migrants of 1947 are not fullyintegrated with the local population,particularly in Sindh.

Building a nationWest Pakistan, where the seat ofgovernment was located, had not existedas a political unit in undivided India.Sindh was part of the BombayPresidency; Baluchistan and a substantialpart of NWFP had resisted coming intothe fold of the British administrativesystem and were largely governed by the

Jinnah's address to the Assembly: 11 August 1947

'...You may belong to any religion or caste or creed - that has nothing to do with

the business of the state. We are starting in the days when there is no

discrimination, no distinction between one caste or creed and another. We are

starting with this fundamental principle that we are all citizens and equal

citizens of one state...

Now, I think we should.keep that in front of us as an ideal and you will findthat in course of time Hindus would cease to be Hindus and Muslims wouldcease to be Muslims, not in the religious sense, because that is the personalfaith of each individual, but in the political sense as citizens of the state...'

22

tribal codes of rival chiefs; Punjab wasthe most organised and developedprovince. Its major city, Lahore, had beenthe provincial capital and a leadingcentre of education. But it was Karachi,the tiny port city of Sindh, that wasselected as the new capital.

Pakistan did not inherit well-established administrative, political,economic, and military structures. Mostof the assets and state machinery went toIndia. The country had almost noindustry, or mineral resources. Thenumber of professionals was tiny. Thecivil and military bureaucracies, thoughfragmented and weak, were the onlyones that functioned.

The Constituent Assembly, consisting ofMuslim members elected to the FederalAssembly and the Council of States in theIndian elections of 1946, was the primarypolitical institution. The new countryfaced many challenges: rehabilitation ofrefugees; reconstruction; economicdevelopment; setting up of administrativeinstitutions; and infrastructuraldevelopment. The most important taskwas to formulate a constitution thatwould embody Jinnah's vision of a non-theocratic, liberal, democratic Pakistan,where the freedom of speech andconscience of all citizens would be secureand tolerance, human dignity, andemancipation of women ensured.

The task of building a nation fromscratch was indeed formidable but therewas an equally vast opportunity toremodel and develop structures ofgovernance and economic and socialmanagement according to the needs ofthe people. However, issues of ideologyand politics, division of power, form ofgovernment, tensions with India, amongothers, kept consensus at bay, and meantthat this opportunity was lost.

The disadvantages which the newly-born Pakistan inherited werecompounded by a number of unforeseenoccurrences: Jinnah's untimely deathhardly a year after Independence; thefirst war fought with India over Kashmir(1948), instilling a permanent feeling of

insecurity and threat; the assassination ofthe first Prime Minister, Liaquat AliKhan. External factors have had a strongimpact on internal developments. Forexample, the tense relationship withIndia (marred by three separate wars) hasbeen central to Pakistan's foreign policy,and was one of the reasons for themilitary alliance with the US, andunfriendly posture towards the Easternbloc countries. Events such as the Afghanwar and the Iranian Revolution have hada profound effect on Pakistan's internalstability and foreign relations.

Power and politicsPakistan has been ruled by militarydictatorships for almost half its existence(1958-1972; 1977-1985). The country hasseen frequent dissolution of electedassemblies, the banning of politicalparties and trade unions, the curbing ofstudent activities, and press censorship.As a result, the development of politicaland social institutions has suffered. Theeconomic consequences of dictatorshiphave been sharper inequalities betweendifferent sections of society, and betweendifferent regions, and great concentrationof wealth in the hands of the few. DuringAyub Khan's period, 66 per cent of thecountry's industrial capital was ownedby 22 families.

The country experimented with variousforms of elections on its bumpy politicalpath. There were direct elections; indirectones; 'basic democracy' electionswhereby a limited electoral college wasfirst voted for on universal adultfranchise, which in turn elected thePresident; and non-party elections. Thefirst general elections on the basis ofuniversal adult franchise were held in1970, 23 years after independence, underthe military government of GeneralYahya Khan, and were acknowledged tohave been free and fair. Stability provedelusive to civilian governments as thepolitical leadership failed again andagain to share power and agree onsystems of governance.

23

Dates and Events

1885 First Indian National Congressmeets in Bombay.

1906 Foundation of the Muslim League.

1920 -1922 Gandhi's Non-CooperationCampaign.

1928 Indian women granted votingrights equivalent to men.

1932 All India Muslim League supportswomen's demand for equal rights for allpeople regardless of religion, caste,creed or sex.

1940 'Two Nation' theory articulated byJinnah.

1942 - 1943 Bengal famine.

1947 Independence and Partition: 14August - Pakistan;15 August - India

1948 Jinnah died at Ziarat (11September). War with India.

1951 First Constitution adopted on 19February by the assembly, enforced on28 March 1956. Assassination of LiaquatAli Khan (16 October).

1958 - 1969 Martial Law regime; FieldMarshal Ayub Khan. Abrogation of theConstitution of 1956. Imposition ofMartial Law by Ayub Khan.

1961 Family Laws Ordinance restrictspolygamy, regulates divorce and raisesthe marriageable age for girls to aminimum of 16.

1962 The new constitution of Pakistan.

1965 War with India over Raan of Kach.

1970 Elections. Pakistan Awami Leaguesuccessful in East Pakistan.

1971 Military action in East Pakistan.President Yahya Khan resigns andZulfiqar Ali Bhutto becomes thePresident and Chief Marshal LawAdministrator. Pakistan Armysurrenders in Dhaka; Bangladesh born.

1973 New Constitution approvedunanimously by the National Assembly10 April.

1974 Ahmadis declared Non-Muslims.

1977 Elections. Martial Law imposed incertain areas. In July Prime MinisterZulfiqar Ali Bhutto arrested for allegedelection rigging. General MohammadZia-ul-Haq took control and imposedMartial Law nationally.

1979 Promulgation of HadoodOrdinance, introducing so-called Islamicpunishments for crimes includingslander, theft, rape, adultery, fornication(zina) and prostitution.

1983 Women's demonstration againstdiscriminatory laws, in Lahore. Firststreet protest against Martial Law.

1984 Islamic Law of Evidence passed.The Law states that in matters relatingto 'financial and future obligations' theevidence of two men or one man andtwo women will be required.

1985 General Mohammed Zia-ul-Haqlifts Martial Law. Number of women'sseats raised to 20 in the NationalAssembly.

1986 Benazir Bhutto returns to lead thePakistan People's Party and demandselections.

1988 Zia-ul-Haq dies in a plane crash inAugust. Elections held in November.Benazir Bhutto becomes Prime Ministerin December.

1990 Ishaq Khan dissolves the NationalAssembly. Benazir Bhutto's governmentdismissed. Elections held. Nawaz Shariftakes over as the Prime Minister(October)

1993 Assembly dissolved again. BenazirBhutto becomes the Prime Ministeragain.

24

Secession of EastPakistanEvents leading to the formation ofBangladesh date back to 1948, whenUrdu was declared the official languageof Pakistan, even though 56 per cent ofthe population spoke Bengali, thelanguage of East Pakistan. Resentmentamong the people of East Pakistanincreased as they felt economically andpolitically marginalised. The devastatingcyclone that hit East Pakistan in 1970 andthe Central Government's inability torespond adequately confirmed theirperceptions. When the CentralGovernment refused to accept the resultof 1970 elections, it was the last straw:East Pakistan erupted with violentclashes between civilians and the army.A nine-month civil war followed, and theresulting exodus of refugees into Indiagave the Indian government a reason tointervene. The Indian Army entered EastPakistan in December 1971. After a briefresistance a UN-sponsored cease-fire wascalled on 17 December 1971 and thePakistan Army surrendered. Pakistanwas dismembered and the state ofBangladesh was born.

The Bhutto years (1971-77)West Pakistan was governed by aPakistan People's Party (PPP)government under Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto.His slogan had been 'Roti, kapra ammakaan' (food, clothing, and shelter) andhis politics populist. There were greatexpectations of his government, on thepart of the landless, trade unions, andleft-wing political parties, and his homeprovince of Sindh. His main opponentsranged from the far right to the far left,and included the political power holdersin the provinces of Baluchistan and theFrontier, as well as the mullahs. Anopposition coalition, the PakistanNational Alliance (PNA), leddemonstrations and protest marches.Bhutto tried to placate them by passingtoken 'Islamic' legislation but at the sametime declared martial law in certain

areas. This paved the way for a completemilitary take-over, under General-Zia-ul-Haq, Bhutto's own Commander in Chief,chosen for his loyalty.

The Zia years (1977-88)When Zia imposed Martial Law in 1977his stated intentions were to restore orderin the country and to hold electionswithin 90 days. But very soon his missionchanged: to convert Pakistan into a trulyMuslim state. Once again, Pakistan sawthe banning of political activities.Summary courts sent scores of people toprison and the gallows, with no right ofdefence.

The non-elected military dictatorGeneral Zia was regarded as aninternational pariah, because of thehanging of Bhutto on a murder charge;but with the outbreak of the Afghan war,he suddenly became the courageousdefender of a strategic frontier againstcommunism. Military aid for the Afghanmujahideen and the obliging Pakistangovernment flowed in freely fromWestern governments and right-winggroups. Private militias grew and civilsociety rapidly became militarised.Ethnic, clan, and religio-sectarianrivalries flourished. Sindh, in particularbecame the scene of violent ethnicconflict between the native Sindhis andimmigrant inuhajirs.

Return to democracyGeneral Zia's death in August 1988 in aplane crash brought an end to a bleakphase of Pakistan's political life. But thetransition to democracy has not been aneasy one. In the five years between 1988and 1993 three general elections wereheld, twice because of dismissals ofelected governments by the President.

Political activity revived during thegeneral election of 1988. The PPP leader,Benazir Bhutto, daughter of Zulfiqar AliBhutto, was elected Prime Minister. Shebecame the first woman leader in theMuslim world, in recent times. Thereturn to a civilian dispensation did notentirely reduce the influence of the

25

military. The political deadlock betweenthe three centres of power - the PM, thePresident, and the army - led to thedissolution of the assemblies by thePresident through extra constitutionalpowers, just 20 months after elections.

The 1990 elections, which were won byNawaz Sharif and the Muslim League,were marred by the vehement allegationsby the PPP that the elections had beenrigged. The atmosphere in the newlegislature remained tense. Once again,the assemblies were dissolved. October1993 saw fresh elections, this time underthe supervision of the army. The PPP andBenazir Bhutto were returned, but theelectorate registered its protest by a lowturnout. However, the marginal parties,particularly the religious, gained veryfew votes.

Benazir Bhutto'When Bibi [the young lady] wins, willshe be able to sit on the gaddi [seat]? Willshe give it to her husband? Will he allowher to sit?' asked a peasant woman indisbelief in a village on the outskirts ofLahore during Benazir Bhutto's election

campaign in 1988. Benazir, an Oxfordgraduate, had been forced into a two-year self-exile by the militarygovernment after spending five longyears in prison and under house arrest.She returned on 10 April 1986 to atumultuous welcome. Hundreds ofthousands of people lined the streets ofLahore when she arrived. There wassinging and dancing in the streets, and afeeling of euphoria. Her public meetingsattracted mammoth crowds, includinglarge numbers of women.

Benazir Bhutto's success in theelections and assumption of office as thePrime Minister vindicated people's beliefin themselves, particularly womenactivists who had relentlessly challengeddiscriminatory laws and regulations.That, in a country where women areunderprivileged, a woman, and a youngone at that, could reach the highestpublic office, was extremely reassuring. Itwas clear that for the electorate genderwas not the determining criteria forleadership. That she has disappointedpeople by her inability to keep electoralpromises is another story.

Benazir Bhutto andher husband at their

wedding.

26

Pakistan and itsneighbours

The unsolved problem of the disputedterritory of Kashmir has persistently

soured relations between India andPakistan, preventing them from co-operating in ways that would contributeto both countries' development. So far,relatively few refugees have fledKashmir, and many of those that havecome have dispersed into smallsettlements, or are living with relatives.

The American influence on Pakistanwas most evident under the governmentof Ayub Khan 1958-68 and Zia-ul-Haq,particularly in 1971, when India had amilitary pact with the Soviet Union.Pakistan has also had a very specialrelationship with China, and helped tonegotiate the first surprise talks betweenChina and the US, considered to be agreat diplomatic feat. Since the end of theCold War, Pakistan has lost its strategicimportance to the US as a means ofkeeping Afghanistan as 'Russia'sbleeding wound'.

Pakistan has close links with most ofthe countries of the Middle East, but it issomething of a love-hate relationship.Pakistani workers in the Middle East areoften at the receiving end of harshemployment practices and socialdiscrimination, and yet most Pakistaniswere fiercely opposed to the govern-ment's participation in the war with Iraq,not wishing to be in what was clearlyseen as the American camp against amajor Muslim country; although SaudiArabia, another powerful Muslimcountry, was also on the American side.

Links between Pakistan and Iran arestrong, as neighbours and because of thePersian roots of the Urdu language. Largenumbers of Iranians, students, refugees,and others, live in Pakistan, and there arealso Persian-speaking Pakistanicommunities, mostly in Baluchistan.Many Pakistanis felt deeply involvedwith the Iranian struggle against theShah. The Shi'a branch of Islam (see p.32)

Unofficial camp forAfghan refugees,north of Quetta, nearthe Afghanistanborder.

27

Boring a gun barrel,in Darra, a town

famous for themanufacture of

weapons.

in Pakistan has strong links with Iran.Of late, Pakistan has been developing

trade, tourism, and cultural links withmany of the Central Asian republics ofthe ex-Soviet Union, although the war inAfghanistan has somewhat constrainedthis relationship.

The Afghan WarDuring the Afghan War, Pakistan playedhost to three to four million Afghanrefugees. The poor of both countriesbecame the innocent victims of the ColdWar; Afghans had to flee their homes,and Pakistanis had to cope with fourmillion unexpected guests. With no endin sight to the internal conflicts in

Afghanistan, Pakistan continues to pay aheavy price for its hospitality.

The majority of the refugees remainedin camps in North West FrontierProvince and Baluchistan, but asubstantial number spread across thecountry, many of them settling inKarachi. The infusion of Afghans into analready polarised Pakistani society, andtheir ability to obtain arms and drugsfrom the war-torn border region, hascreated serious problems.

'The Kalashnikov culture'Arms were channelled to the Afghanmujahideen by many Western countries,principally the US, to help them in theirfight against Communism. Inevitably,many of these arms went astray andwere sold, some to other governments,and many to the local Afghan andPakistani population. Weapons of alldescriptions, from small pistols to rocketlaunchers, SAMs, and landmines, are allreadily available at bargain prices in thetribal areas of Pakistan, on the Afghanborder. The inevitable result of this'Kalashnikov culture' has been anincrease in armed robberies, kidnappingsfor ransom, and gun-battles betweenrival groups.

The Pashtuns have always been awarrior people, and arms weremanufactured in the town of Darra, butthe most sophisticated weapon producedwas a seven-shot rifle. Weapons such asthis were used for celebratory firing atweddings when the groom was carryingoff his bride. Now with the easyavailability of Kalashnikovs (imitationsare now being produced in Darra) a hailof Kalashnikov bullets are fired in the airat the departure of the bride and groom.What goes up must come down, andinevitably some of these bullets causeserious injury; a village organisation inSafiabad, Mardan, is campaigning todiscourage people from this dangerousform of celebration.

28

. The drug culturejpijtother con^quelnce of the Afghan-;rrfftux has been thfe easy avail-ability .

"of"heroin. PaWstop is not c-'rily tised'.ag-a staging, post for herqfn

gglfrtfii, ̂ t ia.^igh co.st has-been-|fr'Fn"svof tpe increased ,.

1rt'addiction afnprii>

only 5£-1notifred

Pl^|»g:ftf|||||;i;

stairrited'me. for not.. * l ^ ^ f ^ ^

O'Qentre apart .'*•-

d friendly/" - .

i^^yfi^piplf^sif'i

sSmtemmi.ta

energy until in 1990 one of themgimned him down at the gates of theclinic he had founded. But hiscommitment to rehabilitation ofaddicts and his fight against those

^ ffom heroin addiction has^ | | Inspiration to those whocq^)ft]ue his work today.

J^^|||(enM:afi'tlJe;Milo Centre. • •

passer-by discovered a heap ofp U J f d # by flie-roadslde.

||JrtBfr:W,:inie|*: areas;ofB|r*:sn%i|i'some: remote, areas of

^ ^"iipoi(ig6|iieAgovernmen* destroys^^^ j«^ | | | :d ts5covered, ft is a high

v ^ ^ l P I ' i j f t r a c l l v e i o poor farmers,

29

ZEK

RA

HA

SS

AN

O

Hie school in the campFor ten years, the Khairabad campsprawled on the outskirts of Quetta: rowupon row of small, mud-roofed huts,bleak and dusty, with no amenities. Itwas home to several thousand refugees.They were unregistered, and thereforehad no official refugee status, and werenot entitled to any material support.Many of them lived in home-madeshelters of tattered cloth, even during theQuetta winter, with the snow piled highon the ground and temperatures belowfreezing.

The men either worked as daylabourers in Quetta or were involved inthe business of war. In 1991, the uneasypeace in Afghanistan offered a fragilehope to refugees, and the Khairabadcamp quickly emptied. But less than ayear later, most of them had been forcedto return. The school building had beenrazed to the ground, but the camp leader,Agha Majeed and the teacher, GhulamRasool, were determined to restart aschool.

A group of young volunteer teachersoffered their help, many of them newrefugees from Kabul. Latifa, for example,wanted her three young children toattend school, and offered to teach at theschool herself. 'At least my children are

having an education, and I am right herewith them. They are delighted they haveother children to play with. And theycome and go from school in safety. In thelast days before we left Kabul, we livedin constant terror.'

With no permanent site, the schoolmoves every few months. The presentschool building has only one room, therest of the children study packed into thetiny courtyard. There is not even a singleblade of grass: 'There is not time to evenplant a tree, before we are asked to moveagain by the landlord,' says GhulamRasool.

The 364 children in the school, 120 ofwhom are girls, pay a small fee, out ofwhich the rent is paid for the schoolbuilding, and the teachers share the tinysum left over. But Latifa and the otherteachers feel they must go on: 'Even ifwe could afford it, if we sent ourchildren to Pakistani schools, they wouldhave to study in a foreign language, andthen how would they readjust to Afghansociety? We are waiting for peace. Letpeace come and we will be on our wayhome. I really need every penny I canearn, but this work is a labour of love, toensure that our next generation does notgrow up illiterate and uneducated. Theyare, after all, the future of Afghanistan.'

(facing page) Afghanrefugee children atthe school In theKhairabad camp.

(left) Two of theyoung teachers Inthe school.

31

Islam and Islamisation

Islam originated from the same part ofthe world as other great religions, the

Middle East. Muslims believe that theirProphet Muhammad (peace be uponhim) comes from the same line asAbraham, Moses, David, and Jesus, all ofwhom are recognised as prophetsbringing the same message from thesame God, Allah. The Muslims own thereligious texts of the Torah, the Bible, andthe Quran, as part of their tradition, andconsider Jews and Christians as 'Ahl-e-Kitab', or 'people of the book'.

The basic affirmation of the Islamicfaith is There is no God but the OneGod, Allah, and Muhammad is hisprophet.' (La Ilaha Ilia Allah,Muhammad ur Rasul Allah.) Muslimsbelieve that Muhammad is the lastprophet. The Muslims, however, are nothomogeneous. The majority of Muslimsin Pakistan are from the Sunni sect,which is further divided into manyschools of thought. A significantminority belong to the Shi'a branch ofIslam, also subdivided into fiqah orreligious schools.

The schism among Muslims occurredin AD 658 over the succession toMuhammad, as the Caliph. The Sunnisbelieved that the Caliph should bechosen from the broader Muslimcommunity, while the Shi'as believedthat he should be a descendant of theProphet. Through succeeding centuries,the Sunnis have come to represent theestablishment, with religion closelyidentified with the state, anddiscouraged reinterpretations of Koraniclaw by scholars. Shi'a Islam has tendedto be associated with new thought,radical movements, and more liberalinterpretations of the rights of women.Sunni Islam is more closely identified

with the keepers of the Ka'aba, the mostsacred shrine of the Muslims, in Mecca,Saudi Arabia. The Shi'as have a strongconcept of the clergy as spiritual leaders;while the Sunnis consider the clergy tobe only religious scholars andadministrators of the mosques.

People's IslamWhile most Pakistanis (96.7 per cent) areMuslims, at its inception the country didnot see itself as a religious or theocraticstate, but as a place where people couldpractice their religion and pursue theirlives without fear of discrimination andpersecution. The proportion of Christians(1.6 per cent) is small and that of Hinduseven smaller (1.5 per cent). Also presentin Pakistan is a small but influential andcontroversial sect, the Ahmadis orQadianis. The Ahmadis were declarednon-Muslims in 1974 for not acceptingthe basic Islamic tenet that ProphetMuhammad is the last in the line ofProphets. The community since then hasfaced considerable persecution,especially during General Zia-ul-Haq'stime, when stringent laws were passedagainst them.

People's religion is part of theirpersonal lives - they perform rituals,celebrate festivals, commemorateauspicious days, visit mazars for mentalpeace, and enjoy devotional music. Butthe business of day-to-day living isgoverned by the practicalities anddemands of the material world. Evensocial relationships are defined more bycustomary practices and cultural normsthan by religion alone.

For most Pakistanis, Islam gives asense of community and identity, animportant one among other identities. Itimplies a moral and ethical code. It

32

demands certain rituals: many Pakistanimen (but by no means all) pray at themosque on Fridays, and many more prayduring the month of Ramazan. Mosturban and many rural people fast duringRamazan. The two Eids are importantcelebrations. The festival of Eid ul Fitr iscelebrated after the fast, and Eid ul Azhacommemorates the sacrifice of Abraham,and is celebrated at the time thousandsof pilgrims perform the pilgrimage inMecca. Muslims who can afford itsacrifice an animal, and the meat isdivided into three shares: one for thefamily, one for relatives and friends, andone for charity.

The vast majority of Pakistanis observethe prohibition of alcohol, althoughhashish and tobacco are more sociallyacceptable than in Western society.Marriage, death, and birth aresurrounded by rituals, some religious,others social and cultural.

Outsiders to Islam often consider thatwomen have a low status in Islam, butthis view would not be shared by many

Muslims. Views about women withinIslam are as varied as views aboutwomen in any other context, rangingfrom the arch-conservative extreme toFeminist Islam, of which the Pakistaniacademic, Dr Riffat Hassan, is aprominent example. Pakistan boasts awoman Prime Minister, women pilots,women taxi-drivers, and women in everysphere of life; as well as women who arelocked within the chadar (veil) and thechardivari (the four walls of the home);they are all Muslim women.

State IslamPart of Pakistan's particular brand ofpolitical development has been thetransition from people's Islam to stateIslam. Over the years Islam has becomecentral to the political life of the country,often used as a legitimising tool forunpopular governments, unpopularactions, and new social movements.Muslim identity, the primary unifyingfactor for the citizens of Pakistan, hasbeen exploited by the religious right.

Friday prayers,Karachi.

33

Initially, this was not taken seriously bythe non-theocratic leadership, whobelieved that a liberal, democraticpolitical system was well within theparameters of an Islamic state.

The political use of Islam increasedmainly because of the lack of consensusamong political elites, as a way ofgaining support from religious groups. Inthe process, the latter began to play amore critical role in political affairs.Under Zia's leadership, the politicisationof religion increased, because he had noelectoral mandate for his continued rule.

When Zia came to power, Iran wasengaged in a violent struggle with itsShah, who was propped up by the US;Afghanistan was on the brink of its holywar with the communists; Pakistan hadbeen through its honeymoon withcapitalism under Ayub Khan, and itspopulist socialist rhetoric and paralysing'nationalisation' policy under Bhutto. Thepolitical context was ripe for a third way,specific to Pakistan.

Although few held fundamentalistviews, most Pakistanis gave tacit supportto whatever was cited in the name ofIslam, not realising the lengths to whichthe religion would be exploited and thelevel of prescriptiveness that thegovernment would introduce. Religionwas seen as a family and personal matter,and Islam had been interpreted andpractised in a thousand different ways.Only under a totalitarian governmentcould certain options be declaredunacceptable, and a single fundamentaltext proclaimed to which everyone mustconform.

Zia's rule marked the coming togetherof the obscurantists' world view withthat of the state. The religious parties,who before and since never fared well inelections, were for the first time part ofthe state machinery, in positions ofpower, and able to procure advantagesfor themselves. Land and money wasnow easily available for religious schools(madarasahs), religious groups wererecruited in zakat committees, to allocatecompulsory religious taxes, they entered

the media, educational institutions, andtrade unions.

Even after the restoration ofdemocracy, and the repeated electoralrejection of religious parties by thepeople, the rhetoric of Tslamisation'continues. The influence of politicisedreligion is so strong that everysubsequent government feels bound todemonstrate its commitment.

However, it has been most interestingfor Pakistanis to observe, in view of theWest's paranoia about Islamicfundamentalism, that, in many cases,fundamentalists have received the fullbacking of Western countries, when itsuited their purposes. The mujahideenwere allies in fighting Communism inAfghanistan; and General Zia-ul-Haq,standard-bearer of state Islam, receivedgenerous American aid; the Saudigovernment, with its own brand ofIslamic fundamentalism, was anacceptable ally during the war with Iraq.

Among the legislation enacted in thename of Islam are the Ordinance againstthe Ahmadis and a Blasphemy Law. Theformer makes Ahmadis liable topunishment for referring to themselvesas Muslims and to their places of prayersas 'mosques', or making public calls forprayers (azaan). The Blasphemy Lawcovers derogatory statements aboutProphet Muhammad. The prescribedpenalty is death. These two laws haveled to extensive victimisation. Since theBlasphemy Law is very vague andambiguous about the content ofderogatory remarks it has beenrepeatedly invoked to settle personal orpolitical scores. To try cases underIslamic Law, a parallel judiciary, theFederal Shariat Court, was created. ThePPP government has expressed itsintention to review the laws introducedby General Zia-ul-Haq, but currentlynone have been repealed.

Could Pakistan become another Iran orAlgeria? The links of Pakistan's religiousmilitants with those abroad is a cause forconcern. But despite the capacity of thereligious parties to bring pressure on

34

The Faisal Mosque,Islamabad.

government, to stop traffic or to shutmarkets, the over-riding fact is that theseparties have not succeeded in increasingtheir popular vote nor their presence inparliament. For most people the feeling

for Islam is very strong but equallystrong is their rejection of those whowould define Islam for them, or are seento be using Islam to further their ownvested political interests.

35

Women and Zia's policies

There is no question that the"islamisation' package designed byZia and his political alties wassingularly damaging to women. But itmust be stressed that Zia's definitionof islamisation was extremelycontroversial, essentially a layman'suneducated opinion, and has beenwidely criticised by the extreme right,by Islamic scholars, and byprogressive schools of thought inIslam.

!I

The first Islamisation legislation iwas the Hudood Ordinances (197^)These cover theft, drunkenness, jadultery, rape, and bearing falsewitness, and prescribe maximumpunishment for each. Under this liw,women's evidence is not permissiblefor maximum (hadd) punishment,though for lesser punishments(tazeei) it may be admissible. Themost serious aspect of the law isthat it does^not make a distinction inthe level of proof required for thecrimes of adultery (zina) and rape(zina-bil-jabi). To conclusively provjaeither, four male Muslim eye-witnesses of good repute arerequired. The equating of adulterwith rape has had extremely neg« tiveimplications for women. Innumerablewomen, particularly the uneducatedand underprivileged, have beenimprisoned on false charges, orflogged, under this law, while theperpetrators of the crime of rapehave escaped punishment.

The Law of Evidence (1984) jrequiring 'The evidence of two mfen,or one man and two women so tl lat ifone should forget, the other ma>remind her* In financial transacti )ns,unless the woman is appearing i t anofficial capacity (Article 17), hadsimilar negative implications, evisn ifin reality the law is rarely invoked. Itestablishes a stereotype of won* enas mentally inferior, unreliable a idinconsistent

A number of directives were isteuedby Zia, regarding the dress code,,gender segregation, campaigns iagainst obscenity, covering of t fehead by female announcers on "V,banning of sports for women, aseparate university for women, inend to foreign postings of worn* n inthe foreign service, and (Smitingwomen's recruitment in banksother public services. Not ell-measures were impiemeMed; %-dress code', forbeen enforced.

• " • ' ' .

women fr$rii «i* con$« ~ " ' '**.Islam wear f̂tVefopihg

36

Resisting ExtremismI

There are two mosques In the smallvillage of Goth Janjano, one forSunnis and one fof1 Shi'as. Six Hindufamilies also live i|i the village. Thereis considerable potential for religioustensions, but local! communityleaders are dedicated to resolvingany conflicts and kjeepingcommunication op^n between peopleof different sects ind faiths.

'in the last days jof Muharramthere's a lot of grie;f and sorrow,'says Muhammed Suksh, one of thevillage leaders. 'This is when werelive the death of the grandson ofthe Prophet. During this time wehave a session of ijnourning everyevening. At this time even the Hindusjoin us, which helps to bind thecommunity together.

'I want to share a fear of mine withyou: every Friday, optside speakersfrom the Shi'a and jSunni sects cometo the village and t^ilk at themosques. I have erjcouraged a Suriniand a Shi'a to get fleeted on to ourvillage committee, 4o that they haveto. work together anp1 achieve positivethings. I've organised othercommittees so thatj both sects haveto work together, orie on health, oneon registering births and deaths, andso on. If we can't slop it [i.e. thedivisions being created by outsiders]k t of hand, [things win get in

to telem the tide.Weseries pf leotures in the

She moment ab.out hurr»a.n ." h l trted'

Every village in Pakistan, howeversmall and remote, has its own mosque.The mosque Is not only a place ofworship but acts as the social centreof yillage life. This mosque is. in a

southern Punjab.

37