I have lived in Oxford for a little over two years now, and lived in the UK for about 6 years now. In this series of articles I will try to explain to my readers in Pakistan what life is like in the UK, and of course in the lovely city of Oxford.

I will begin with something that is close to my heart. Being from Lahore, food is one of the biggest joys known to me. In the first article, I will talk about Eating out. The second article will be about cooking food.

And this is where I have very disappointing news. While you can get very good food in UK, it does not compare to the food you get in Pakistan.

There are also certain things that are very different in terms of food here than they are in the UK.

Fast foods such as McDonalds, KFC, etc.

Fast food places like McDonalds and KFC are a lot cheaper in the UK than they are in Pakistan. For that reason, they are also considered quite cheap. Normally they are considered a place to grab a quick bite, but not really meet someone and have a chat. The good thing is that they have quite a few Halal options, especially the places which have bigger Muslim populations.

A typical meal costs you about £5.00 but cheaper snacks can be had for £2.00.

Kebabs

A kebab in Pakistan is what we consider ‘good’ food. You would happily invite someone over for dinner and treat them to Kebabs. A bit of roasted chicken, maybe. You know the drill. Serve with some salad, lovely fresh naans, and an assortment of chutneys, and you are on to a winner.

Not so in the UK. A kebab is considered something British people only eat after a night out, where they are too drunk to notice any flavour. It is cheap, the kebab shops are open till late, and the kebab shop guys would quickly throw some meat on to pita bread with some sauces and hand it to you. More often than not, this is not a good meal. They also lack decent sitting space, which means you may not want to sit there and have your food.

Not all is lost though. Most of these shops are Halal and are quite cheap. Also, if you happen to find a good one, you can actually get a pretty decent meal out of them. There are a few chains that can be found in the UK that offer a decent grub. Not great, but decent. Dixy Chicken, who also tried a hand in Lahore, is one. There are others such as Chicken Cottage and Kebabish.

What you get in these Kebab shops are Doner and chicken kebabs off of a rolling skewer, much like the Shawarma people have in Pakistan. You also get other things, such as shish kebabs, and different types of burgers.

While it is rare, some of them do make fresh naans.

A typical meal costs about £5.00 but you can have a burger for about £2.00.

Nandos

I put Nandos after the above two because I remember Nandos being very expensive in Pakistan. In the UK, it is good because it has more Halal outlets than any other food chain in the UK. It basically serves its purpose as a slightly glorified Kebab shop. The food is fairly good, and while I did not go to Nandos much in Pakistan, I imagine it is the same quality if not better here. It is more expensive than the above two though.

A typical meal would cost you anything between £5.00 to £7.00.

Indian

There is an assortment of restaurants here called Indian restaurants, and British absolutely love going to them. This is quite ironical as most of those are owned by Bangladeshi people. They would happily invite you out with them to go to one, and ask you questions and treat you like an expert there. They also love their curries, but beware, the curries you will get served are different from what you get in Pakistan. Most curries are the English versions of the curries, and because of the Bengali ownership, you get a lot of Bengali dishes as well.

The most popular dish in the UK is called Chicken Tikka Masala. Now before you squint your eyes at that name, it is purely a British dish. However, since they cook a lot of it, it is not a bad thing to try. Most other dishes are very mild. Other are totally different to what you expect. For example, while a Karrahi is still something of a mild Karrahi, a Korma in the UK is a very white/yellow looking thing which is very mild. More like a butter chicken or Chicken Makhani.

Once again most of these are Halal as well, and you do pay a bit more, per head it costs you about £10 but it can make a good night out.

PS you are always served Poppadums at the start of a meal with an assortment of chutneys and pickles. While this is not practised in Pakistan, this does make a good appetizer.

They also serve a few kinds of naans, which can be quite good.

Pub food

While this may sound harsh to the Brit, the closest thing you get to dhabba food in UK is pub food. And yes, a pub is not just for drinking beer and getting drunk. In fact I find a good pub is the best place to have lunch. While there is no such thing as a Halal Pub, you can have a few Fish options, as well as loads of Vegetarian options. Read the menu carefully as some things may have elements of alcohol in them. You can always ask the person serving you about these things as well. It also gives you a chance to chat to the locals.

Pubs are also a good place to get a bit of English food.

Meal can cost you between 5 and 10.

Italian

Italian food is very tasty. That is simply a fact. It does not seem so in Pakistan, but mainly because we do not have many good restaurants there. The one thing you have to be careful of is the use of pig based products. The safest option is to stick with vegetarian options. Mushroom risottos, pastas, and various pizzas make great food.

There are not many Halal options, but you may come across a rare few.

Meal will cost you on average about 7 to 8 pounds.

Chinese

Chinese food is very different in the UK. However, one does get used to it. There are a few Halal options out there. Most of these cook food in the Pakistani style we are used to eating. Mostly Chinese food can cost you about 5-6 pounds per meal.

Other cuisines

England has a lot of nations living in it. Hence, a lot of different types of restaurants exist that offer you everything from Libyan, Arabic, and Russian to Jamaican, Polish and French foods. Feel free to try these out, but make sure you know what you have ordered. It is more complicated than you think it is.

Ordering Protocols

It is quite common to order Appetizers before a meal, a main course, and a pudding (sweet dish). You can ask the waiter to bring the appetizer and main together, as that is what we are more used to in Pakistan.

Also if you are eating in a Chinese/Thai restaurant, it is customary to eat food with chopsticks. However, feel free to ask for a spoon/fork.

Giving a tip is up to you, and a sum of 10% of the bill works well. Ideally, pay tip in cash, because if you add it on a card, there is a chance your waiter may not get it.

Naan

Naans deserve a special section of their own because that is one thing I miss the most about the food you can buy here. You can get packed naans from most supermarkets, the ones you have to bring home and heat.

Some cities have tandoors. Very rare though.

Otherwise, the best place to buy a naan is from a kebab shop or an Indian.

Sadly, expect to pay about a pound for a simple naan.

Places to eat

Depending where you are, you can either be very near or very far from Pakistani cuisine.

London is of course a good place to be, as there are loads of Pakistanis living there, hence loads of Pakistani food.

Bradford, lovingly known as Bradistan, for the amount of Pakistani people living there, is also a good place for Pakistani food.

Manchester has Wilmslow Road in the area of Rusholme, which is full of Pakistani restaurants.

Birmingham is another good place.

Here are the few restaurants that I would recommend as my favourites:

- Shere e Khan, Star City, Birmingham
- Bundu Khan, London
- Nawabs, Manchester

By Hamza Usman

An inevitable question Pakistanis always ask me is, “what are you?” Often, I’ve wondered the same question. Besides ‘Pakistani,’ I don’t know what else to say.  I’m not Balochi or Sindhi. I can’t speak Punjabi. In my house, besides English, Urdu is the only other language spoken. When people ask me what language my parents speak, that’s what I tell them. Unlike many of my acquaintances, I don’t come from a town or village in interior Pakistan. Like millions in Pakistan, my family migrated from India. My grandparents’ families originate from Delhi, Lucknow and Aligarh, the bastions of Urdu-speaking peoples in India. In Pakistan, I am merely a ‘Muhajir;” an Urdu speaking migrant from India, now living in Karachi.

My family, like millions of others, came to Pakistan believing Jinnah’s ideal, searching for a homeland that was ours, for all Muslims, with freedom, tolerance and dignity. During those waning years of the British Empire, freedom across the Subcontinent was not a novel idea; it was a dream that had existed for decades. Students from the Aligarh Muslim University took up the cause of an independent homeland for Muslims; the university was known for the caliber and number of intellectuals it produced espousing the cause for an independent Muslim state to exist alongside a Hindu majority one in the Subcontinent. Thinkers like Mohammad Iqbal and Sir Syed Ahmed Khan were noted luminaries associated with the institution dubbed, ‘the Oxford of the East.’ Iqbal is largely celebrated in modern day Pakistan as the first ideologue championing a united Pakistan; today, his small rectangular tomb, a simple, stone structure in hues of dark crimson and burnt sienna, ensconced between the magnificent Badshahi Mosque and the grand Lahore Fort, welcomes visitors keen to learn about Pakistan’s past; a chapter of rich, Mughal heritage often obscured by the shame of Colonialism and the turbulence of Partition.

Other notable alumni of Aligarh Muslim University include Pakistan’s first Prime Minister, killed by an assassin’s bullet in 1951. In his place as Pakistan’s second Prime Minister came Khwaja Nazimuddin, another Aligarh alumnus who was Pakistan’s second, incumbent Governor General after Mr. Jinnah’s sudden death in 1948 less than a year after Pakistan’s creation. Ghulam Mohammad, Pakistan’s third and last Governor General was also an alumnus; Ghulam Mohammad’s legacy of unchecked corruption and senility  heralded the beginning of Pakistan’s trials by promoting vice-regal politics, weakening democracy and laying the seeds for President Iskander Mirza and Field Marshal Ayub Khan to set a notorious precedent and declare Martial Law in 1958.  Coincidentally, Ayub also attended Aligarh Muslim University briefly.

One lesser known alumnus was Abu Bakr Ahmad (A.B.A.) Haleem, a noted scholar and educationist. Professor Haleem began his career in the Department of Political Science and History at Aligarh in 1923. Ayub Khan was one of students. By 1934, he was Pro-Vice-Chancellor of the University and played a pivotal role in Pakistan’s formation by serving with the All-India Muslim League until Partition. Writer Mukhtar Masood describes Professor Haleem’s welcome to Jinnah, stating, “Mr. Jinnah, we are teaching history and you are making it.” After the birth of Pakistan, Professor Haleem was appointed the first Vice-Chancellor of Sindh University at the behest of Jinnah and later, the first Vice-Chancellor of Karachi University thus filling the noble distinction of being the first Vice-Chancellor for both institutions. In addition, he served in a variety of different roles and positions for the purposes of propagating education and progress in Pakistan. I refer to Professor Haleem because he was a lesser-known luminary who contributed to forging Pakistan’s identity in its early years; he was also my Great-Grandfather.

Following in his footsteps, I too graduated in Political Science and History, and like him, moved to Paris. His association with the Sorbonne and the University of Paris inspired me as I strolled down the Boulevard St. Michel as he once would have decades before, deep in thought, stopping at the Jardins du Luxembourg to sit in silent contemplation amidst the babbling fountains and the verdant green grass. Like him, I spoke French almost fluently. Like him, I expressed a desire for multilingualism and learnt Italian. Professor Haleem spoke over five languages; he even spoke Mandarin. According to my grandfather, he was invited to China to give a speech to Chairman Mao-Zedong on Chinese history.

In the late Professor’s time, the concept of nationhood was being redefined and the notion of identity that still troubles Pakistanis surfaced.  Gandhi argued that religion could not imply a separate nation since language, customs and culture dictated that, not belief. Jinnah contended that religion defined values, customs, beliefs and ideals, thus characterizing Muslims as a separate nation. With neither side willing to budge from their respective positions, the outcome of this arduous conflict was the Partition of the Subcontinent in 1947.

Like me, Pakistan is still undergoing its identity crisis. Debate still looms whether the state is secular, as Jinnah envisioned, or Islamic, as his successors outlined. Its maturity and development into a cohesive nation has been hindered by weak democracy, military dominance in addition to poor governance, lack of resources and partisan politics. Like the former Yugoslavia, Pakistan is a federation of various ethnic groups, tribes, sects and peoples. The most poorly-defined of these groups are the so-called ‘Urdu-speaking’ Muslims that migrated to Pakistan after Partition from all over India. They are defined solely on the basis of language and stigmatized by the local, ethnic populations whose ancestors have pre-existed on Pakistani soil for centuries.

Urdu was a hybrid language growing in prominence under the Delhi Sultanate, but it wasn’t until the emergence of the Mughal Empire in 1527 that Urdu became a language of the regal court. It evolved from a derivative of Farsi to amalgamate Arabic, Sanskrit, Turkish and Hindi influences. As late as the siege of Delhi in 1857, Urdu remained a language of the elite and refined, lending much of its court-like stature to literature and poetry. Urdu speakers in places like Aligarh contributed greatly to Jinnah’s movement of an independent Muslim state in the Subcontinent. As a result, at Pakistan’s birth, Urdu was to be its lingua franca. Ostensibly, this would not only curtail any one ethnic group from dominating national affairs, it would also reinforce national identity through the use and extension of a common language, keeping the federation united.[1]

Naturally, this created tensions that still exist today. Pakistan at Partition was divided into East and West with only Urdu as its national language, however strong opposition and campaigning from Bengalis in East Pakistan made Bengali a national language during the 1950s. Pakistan’s Post-Colonial legacy ensured that English was not only its official language but lent its presence to its law courts, bureaucracy and military.  After its brutal Civil War in 1971, East Pakistan became Bangladesh and Pakistan was left with Urdu as its only national language. English remains the language of the elite, the powerful and the source of high-paying jobs. Prominent families send their children to English or American schools in the hope that acquiring this language will be a passport to success. As Zubeida Mustafa describes in The Guardian, “people believe that English is the magic wand that can open the door of prosperity. Policy-makers, the wielders of economic power and the social elites have also perpetuated this myth.[2]”

And this myth affects the language spoken in my home. Today, the Urdu around me is not the Urdu spoken during Partition. At that time, Urdu’s poetic language structure, its rich vocabulary and literature was common to most speakers. My generation has been fed a bastardized version of Urdu; an Urdu with informal tenses, new verbiage, interspersed with English to create what some call “minglish,” influenced by the melting pot of Karachi’s different cultures. The Urdu I speak can barely be called Urdu; it is Urdu to get by. I can order a cup of tea but I cannot wax eloquent on anything. When I watch television, news anchors speak a strange language and I struggle to read the ticker because I was never formally taught to read Urdu and I don’t know anyone who speaks the pure Urdu that once characterized my homeland.

Pakistan was envisioned as a poly-ethnic state where religion bound peoples together. The effect of nation-building has backfired since inception because ethnic identities remain prominent. Urdu has not achieved the massive national trickle-down effect it was intended to. Urdu is the first language of only 8% of Pakistanis whereas Punjabi, is spoken by almost 50% of the population.[3] In addition, over 70 smaller provincial languages and dialects exist in Pakistan.  Today, whilst much of the mainstream media as well as state-run public schools communicate in Urdu, it is not a first-language for Pakistanis by far. Those homes with access to English find a diminished impetus for learning Urdu as pragmatism and practical exigencies dictate the study of English, primarily because all higher examinations with the exception of Islamic studies in Pakistan are based on the Western models of education.

In my case, Urdu’s oral traditions and rich cultural legacy is lost to me. In Nehru’s words, “I have become a queer mixture of the East and the West, out of place everywhere, at home nowhere.”  I cannot read Ghalib unless it’s an English translation. I cannot even read the Urdu newspaper. I read Saadat Hassan Manto, revered as one of Pakistan’s greatest writers, in English. Often I wonder what richness of language is lost to me, what word play and complex grammatical structures I shall never understand, nor the depth of connotation that one Urdu word conveys but none in English compare.

Upon my return to Pakistan in 2009, I was faced with a quandary. I wanted to document the richness of this country and its cultural heritage; I wanted to highlight its history and its crumbling monuments, preserving those stories and retelling them for a new generation that doesn’t understand what Pakistan is, or what it once was. This new generation, fed on misinterpreted views of Islam accounts for much of the radicalization of the past few decades. I realized that if I needed to undo General Zia’s legacy of Islamization, I needed to show that the people living here weren’t always militant; that before there was a homeland for Muslims, Sikhs, Christians, Hindus, Parsis to name a few lived side by side in peace with Muslims.

Working for a television station, I was making a documentary film but realized my shortcomings when my co-producer handed me a script to OK. The script was written in Urdu. Like a toddler struggling with an elementary primer, I held my finger over each word trying to decipher the script, until I gave up a few lines after and told him it seemed OK to me. What else could I do? When a colleague amazingly remarked that I could speak French and Italian, I turned to her and in my broken Urdu, asked what use was it if I couldn’t speak the language of my own people?

After a few months of struggle, I left the documentary film-making world because of my language handicap and ventured toward Communications. I struggled with the bitter taste of irony, that I, privileged, educated, capable of helping this country through the miasma of failure, extremism, violence and stagnation, was powerless because I couldn’t speak the language properly.  Unlike Professor Haleem who made a difference to change Pakistan for the better, I was restricted and hindered by the same hopeful language that gave this country a voice. Today, my Urdu is mish-mashed with English incorporating more colloquial slang than literal Urdu. Like my Urdu, I find myself a mix of different peoples and personalities, Pakistani at heart, but at home nowhere.

Every thing about her has this surreal symbolism. Even the fact that the Heavens opened up the day she left us in tears of our own.

In our culture, the dearly departed are only mourned but westwards, there is also a certain celebration of life just etched away. If life is about stories well lived and lessons well learnt, it is a tradition worth its weight in gold.

Arfa Karim Randhawa had a rather longish name for such a sweet little kid. The baby fat on her cheeks and those twinkling, inquisitive eyes never left her even as she was on the threshold of adolescence. For someone so special, she was like the daughter everyone felt was their own.

I never had difficulty remembering the long name though — which had 17 letters but in the end, not even one alphabet made up for each of her 16-year tryst with destiny — from the time she first got everyone to stand up and take notice in 2004.

I was living abroad those days and one of the first things I did on a vacation back home was to go to the PTV headquarters in Islamabad and fetch a copy of the first TV interview she gave after becoming the world’s youngest Microsoft Certified Professional (MCP) at the age of nine.

The market — including the limited private media — hadn’t yet wisened to the genius so I could only lay a hand on a videotape, not a CD, of the recording through an old acquaintance. To watch and hear the little darling, I had to pull out an old VCR from the attic!

But it was worth every minute, if only for the tremolo in her rendition of an old Bulleh Shah verse. You could be forgiven for forgetting in that profound sweep, that here was a prodigy whose first call to fame was being the world’s youngest MCP!

What — and who — is she, you wondered, even as she cast a spell on you. There was no escape from being awed — as many an obit writer has readily admitted following her demise last Saturday.

Fast forward to last month when one saw the shocking website image of Pakistan’s pride in death’s icy hands, barely recognisable from the sparkling form one had always associated with her.

At year-end, rumours first circulated that Arfa had died but one found out through Ali Nawazish Moeen, another world record holder with 23 A’s in A ‘Levels, that it wasn’t the case and subsequently, some miraculous movement was noted, leading to a fervent hope of recovery.

Microsoft co-founder and former CEO Bill Gates, who was wowed by the prodigy when she visited Microsoft headquarters at his invitation in 2004, contacted her parents and hired a panel of doctors, who advised their Pakistani counterparts through video link.

In the end, hope was short-lived — a bit like the 1990 Robert Di Nero starrer Awakenings, based on Oliver Slack’s 1973 memoir, in which a new doctor tries a chemical cure on a comatose patient. When the first patient awakes, he is an adult having gone into a coma in his early teens. The film then delights in the new awareness of the patients. However, all patients including the protagonist essayed by Di Nero, return to their vegetative state.

Arfa’s 22-day ordeal had captured the hearts and minds of a nation riven by strife and uncertainty. For a country struggling with existential threats, and a breeding ground for bad headlines, Arfa was like a beacon of light.

Even as short a life as hers encapsulated brilliantly the richness of endeavour, capacity for achievement and a heart in its right place. But while this maybe a universal sentiment, she found her way to every beating Pakistani heart because of how much she cared for her country.

For someone so young, Arfa swore by an ambition to improve the lot of her village Ramdewali. Significantly, she was running a computer training centre for the less privileged that she had herself established.

It was an amazing sight — the little Arfa driving home the importance of reading aptitude early and creating a conducive environment for the seed to grow, interview after interview, speech after speech at 10. She would quote from books and authors she read fervently to draw the context. Two years ago, she had run through the entire Oxford dictionary as well — every word and term practiced for comprehension. Arfa was also engaged with Nasa after winning a competition last year.

Removed from the academic, her flight was not imaginary — she earned certification as a pilot from a flying club in Dubai at 10 and remains the youngest recipient of the prestigious President’s Pride of Performance award in the field of science and technology. There were other awards but space constraints do not permit an elaborate appraisal.

Her desire to explore and reach the zenith was evident from a recent mail to former Higher Education Commission chairman Dr Attaur Rehman, where she sought consultation on venturing into “a field where there is more room to explore and which would benefit Pakistan”.

Everyone who met Arfa came away awe-struck by her confidence, never mind the special gift she had in her chosen field. Yet the only time, she was publicly seen emotional was when she said, teary-eyed, during a speech on stage: Pakistan hamari maa hai, is ke beghair hum kuch nahi (Pakistan is our mother, we’re nothing without her).

Words fail me at our loss. RIP, Arfa.

By Abdul majeed Abid:

“Every generation has its own dreams and vision which it wants to accomplish without interference. Not imitation but freedom is required to build a new world. Therefore, an attempt should not be made to repeat but to make new history. People should be liberated from the shadows and allowed to flourish in a free society. Great leaders should be respected but not worshipped”.
(Dr Mubarak Ali)

Ibne Khaldun, the doyen of Muslim Historians, described History as a science and not an art. He was of the view that History should be objective, not subjective to the historian’s whims or the needs of the hour. The problem with later-day Muslim historians arose when they tried to “glorify” Muslim history and “re-invented” certain personalities as shining examples for the modern Muslims. This historical revisionism was at its peak during the 19^th century and early parts of the 20^th century.
Dr Mubarak Ali, in his book, “Taareekh ki Daryaft” (Exploring history) provided some glaring examples of historical revisionism from sub-continental history. The most famous religious figures from 15^th to 18^th century are supposed to be Sheikh Ahmad Sirhindi(also known as Mujaddad Alaf Sani) and Shah Waliullah. According to Dr Mubarak, the hype about  Sheikh Ahmad was propagated by Maulana Manazir Ahsan Gilani and Maulana Abul Kalaam Azad while Shah Waliullah  was “re-invented” by Obaidulah Sindhi as he was searching for someone resembling Karl Marx in the Islamic world. Sheikh Ahmad was made out to be the nemesis of Mughal Emperor Akbar. Another very important source of such revisionism was famous novelist Naseem Hijazi. This trend of bending history according to the time was continued after creation of Pakistan. An “Ideology of Pakistan” was created during the 1960s. The father of that Ideology was designated to be Allama Mohammad Iqbal, poet and philosopher. (For more on the story of creation of this so-called Ideology, I recommend reading the book “Dau Qaumi Nazriya: Aik Taareekhi Jaiza” by Professor Amjad Ali)
As a part of Historical Revisionism, Allama Iqbal’s poetry was used to stir up emotions of Nationalism and Pan-Islamism. Thousands of books have been written on Iqbal, most of them in his praise and very few in critiques. I will try to present some aspects of Iqbal’s poetry that I consider to be erratic and anachronistic.
Iqbal himself can be categorized as a historical revisionist. He remained passionate about Pan-Islamism throughout his life. While the argument that all the adherents of a religious ideology should combine and form one entity is very promising but it is utopian at best. Iqbal, of all people, would have known that since the death of Caliph Usman, Muslims have NEVER been a single entity throughout history. In fact, more Muslims have been killed by other Muslims in the last 1400 years than by people from other faiths.
Iqbal’s idea of an all conquering  “Mard-e-Momin” is not very different from the “Superman” of Neitzche. Allama Iqbal also propagated the idea of Muslim Supermacism i.e. only Muslims deserve to lead the world. This approach has led to a national cultural narcissism.
There is no place for women in Iqbal’s poetry, echoing a patriarchal approach by the esteemed poet. According to Mohammad Haneef, Iqbal wanted Muslim youth to take refuge in Mountains and that Martyrdom should be our ultimate aim. Now that the youth (TTP) has taken up all these endeavors, we can’t even stop them because we always taught them to do so. Interestingly, the most remarkable work done by Iqbal were his lectures titled “Reconstructing Islamic thought”. We do not find any reference to those lectures in mainstream media or textbooks only because they don’t teach anything about following without thinking(Taqleed) rather they slam this approach. There are also many contradictions in Iqbal’s poetry regarding structure of State. Iqbal criticized Democracy, Capitalism and Communism but did not hint at what kind of state he perceived. This issue has been highlighted by Dr Javed Iqbal, Iqbal son, in his autobiography(Apna Garebaan Chaak).Iqbal wrote most of his poetry in either Urdu or Persian, while the majority of Muslim Population communicated in Bengali, Punjabi, Sindhi or Pashto. According to figures collected in 1951, 54.6% people in Pakistan spoke Bengla, 28.4% spoke Punjabi, 7.2% spoke Urdu, 7.1% spoke Pashto while 5.8% spoke Sindhi. Keith Callard, Pakistan: Political Study, George Allen & Unwin, Oxford, 1957, p. 181). We declared Iqbal as our national poet despite the fact that fewer than 8 per cent of Pakistani people spoke Urdu as a first language(1981 national census). Iqbal’s so-called plan for Pakistan(due to which we credit him as the “dreamer/thinker of Pakistan, wrongly because 64 such suggestions had been publicly presented before 1930) did not include East Pakistan which was the hub of Muslim political activity in United India.

Due to so much diversity in the message of Iqbal, many elements have tried to use his poetry for their own agendas. Mullahs(clergymen), whom Iqbal opposed all his life and actively wrote against, blatantly used Iqbal’s message of Pan-Islamism for their own purposes.
In recent years, Iqbal’s poetry has been used for propaganda-mongering by Glenn Beck of Pakistan, Zaid Hamid who did two shows namely ‘Iqbal ka Pakistan’ and ‘Iqbal the Mysterious’ eulogizing the “mystic” aspects of Iqbal and attributed all kind of supernatural powers to Iqbal.
According to Nadeem Farooq Paracha, writer and blogger, “ I sometimes feel, a non-critical stance towards Iqbal’s work in this country has actually damaged his standing. He was a product of his time and well suited to compliment what was going in the minds of Indian Muslim men in the first half of the 20^th century. But was he a visionary? I don’t think so. I don’t think his work is as relevant today as it is made out to be. Certainly not in a post-modern world where the notions of universalism based on certain singular concepts of faith and progress have long crumbled and given way to a healthy respect and need for democracy, pluralism and diversity.”

Despite all the above-stated criticism, I cannot deny the importance of Allama Iqbal as a poet and as a Philosopher. All I am saying is that we need to project a balanced image of Allama Iqbal and refrain from deification a mortal man. We also need an objective approach towards history so that our future generations do not suffer from paranoia as we are. We should also encourage constructive criticism of Iqbal and leave behind the notion that saying anything about Iqbal is akin to blasphemy.

Benazir Bhutto , the clear foreign policy  leader.
Benazir Bhutto was a  political leader of Pakistan whose charm and charisma swept the people’s vote towards Pakistan Peoples Party in elections all over the country. From Zulfikar Ali Bhutto’s dynamic, populist political legacy  to Benazir Bhutto’s determined thrust towards democratic people’s rule we see how this young, Oxford educated leader

The movie ‘Anonymous’ left me mildly intrigued. True it wasn’t the first I had heard of the famous Shakespeare controversy. It was however, the first time my curiosity had been stirred – the exploit of an argument well presented. And so, a slave to my constitution, I embarked on a fact-finding mission of my own, expecting it to quickly dispel what I suspected was little more than idle slander towards a genius who wasn’t born on the right side of the bridge. I was in for a surprise…

As I started reading up, I came across a huge body of work suggesting what the movie did. That Shakespeare did not exist. The movie depicts him as a drunken fool, an actor of poor talent, a business man delinquent in paying his taxes and debts, guided by greed and seized by ambition. A man, who could hardly read and could not write even a single coherent line, let alone compose a sonnet. A man who lied, stole, killed, hoarded and blackmailed. Not exactly the Shakespeare we grew up with, though the movie does offer a viable alternative to rescue the icon.

The arguments are convincing, but then, so is the rebuttal.

The most disturbing fact is perhaps that the world has not witnessed even a single piece of work written in Shakespeare’s own handwriting. No manuscript, scribbling, sonnet or even letter. Even if all his work was lost in fire or flood or a hurricane, atleast a letter in his handwriting should have survived. The man who wrote those plays was no hermit; he had to have gained his knowledge by traveling to different places or maintaining active correspondence with those who did. But there is nothing at all. His signatures appear some sixteen times in different documents, but apparently not with the same spellings. This is the one argument that the traditional academia has been unable to address.

Then there is the matter of Shakespeare’s education; or lack thereof. The man whose plays contain knowledge of law, philosophy, politics, travels, cultures, languages, military acumen, court intrigues, astronomy and much more was a glovers son, educated in a small free village school in Stratford and hardly ever traveled. How could such a man know French and Italian and make reference to literature when not a single book was found in his possession when he died? While one can wince at the aristocratic condescension in the argument, it cannot be rejected in all earnestness. Shakespeare’s plays are and will continue to be the work of a scholar, an intellectual and a visionary. Vision may come from mingling with the mob and observing life in general; knowledge demands triter pursuits. Well, stranger men have lived, with far less education and far more insight. Whether Shakespeare was one of them, we will probably never know.

The orthodox refer to various accounts of Shakespeare by his peers and contemporaries. The free-thinkers suggest that no one ever referred to him as a writer, not even himself. What is more is that he retired at the age of forty, presumably after the death of his benefactor or the exhaustion of his creative endowment and went back to his home-town, never to write a single new play, poem or sonnet. He lived to be fifty two. That’s twelve years of good health and no writing – kind of aberrant for the man who supposedly wrote thousands of pages in one year alone.

So where did this amazing body of work come from? The free thinkers have their theories. They attribute the writings to Frances Bacon, Edward de Vere, even Queen Elizabeth I. The movie focused on de Vere, who with his Oxford education, service in the army, place in the court, background in law, and of course a noble man’s literary pedigree, seems like the closest contender. So why relinquish the right to his work? Some say it was the general stigma associated with playwrights at the time; it was ignominious for aristocrats to write to entertain the commoners. Other say there were political motivations at play. That de Vere did actually publish his poetry under his own name, and that Elizabeth was a great patron of art offer some challenge to this line of thinking, but then there are others who trace the events of Hamlet against de Vere’s life with a startling accuracy.

The movie answers most of these questions with one man’s facts and another man’s fiction. The end answers the strongest argument against de Vere: that he died in 1604 while Shakespeare’s last play was staged in 1610. The movie ends at the note of de Vere on death bed, handing his life’s work to be shared with the public, even after his death. Surely the Bard returned to his business after the endowment expired. Why else would he suffer the worst of writers’ block?

Check and mate? Depends on whom you ask.

My heart is in two minds. There is this copy of Macbeth in my collection from my mother’s college days, with her hand-written notes along the margin. She reads it beautifully, with the right pauses, expressions and voice-overs. I have been unconsciously saving it for when I am ready for its splendor. I know no controversy can ever rattle its meter or blur its beauty. But I will always wonder where it really came from …

Delivered lectures at Oxford, Royal Geographical Society London, Glasgow and Napier University  PT Report Islamabad- Legendary Mountaineer Nazir Sabir has said that the ‘Lady Lord Mayor of Bradford’ has accepted his invitation to visit the Gilgit – Baltistan region next year along with a delegation. “I requested the Lady Lord to personally visit GB, to [...]

Life is indeed unpredictable and complicated than the fiction. Repeatedly this reality bounces to us but this bouncer hits hard when you hear about the death of someone dear to you. Yesterday out of nowhere, the news of Abdul Rauf Khalid’s death came and turned my day into a sad one. My introduction with him took place with his TV drama Laag based on Kashmir. However, all those who grew up in Pakistan during 90s must know the famous TV series Guesthouse; it was also the production of Rauf Khalid’s pen. He was a man of ideas that is why he is a legend to m. In title of this post, I called him friend, and it is exactly how I felt about him after meeting him at Oxford this year for PYLC.

He was staying on the same floor of youth hostel where I was staying. Had discussions with him and hours long sittings discussion his ideas and his “Tameer e Nao” Project for re-development of Swat valley. When I got back home I received a text message from him saying, “It was nice meeting you Brother, hope to meet you soon”. We remain in contact via email but that “soon” never took place, as life is can be unfaithful at anytime. I cant write on this any more, I can only pray that his soul Rest In Peace.

Dawn Reported this event:

PESHAWAR: Renowned television writer, director, artist Abdul Rauf Khalid Thursday died in a road accident at motorway while on his way to Sheikhupura.

According to reports, the tyre of his car burst and it crashed into roadside fence, killing Rauf on the spot.

The late actor was the son-in-law of late provincial minister Syed Zafar Ali Shah and brother-in-law of Provincial Minister for Health Syed Zahir Shah. He is survived by a wife two sons and a daughter.

According to the family sources the Namaz-e-Janaza of the deceased will be held after Jumma prayer at the residence of Syed Zahir Ali Shah at Shami Road.

Rauf Khalid was the founder President and Chancellor of the National Institute of Cultural Studies, Lok Virsa Islamabad.

He was known for his Kashmir based patriotic plays. He also worked as an actor in TV and film. Besides, Rauf Khalid was a painter, lyricist, speaker and educationist.

His paintings have been exhibited in the World Fine Art Gallery at New York and the Omma Art Gallery in Crete Greece.

He remained a student Islamia College Peshawar. In 1989, he wrote and partially directed PTV’s thriller, Maddar, a seven-episode serial, exposing drug trafficking, from PTV Quetta centre.

In 1991, he wrote Guest House, a 52-episode comedy series that turned out to be a popular comedy series for PTV. In 1995, Rauf Khalid directed, produced and acted in drama serial “Angaar Wadi’.

In 1998 he directed, produced and acted another 27-episode drama serial ‘Laag’. In 2003, Rauf Khalid released his debut film Laaj, as (writer, director, producer and actor). The film Laaj won 12 Bolan Awards, 14 Graduate Awards, 4 National Film Awards and Luxstyle Award.

In 2008, Rauf Khalid also produced his third television serial ‘Mishaal’ as writer and director.

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Oxford University Pakistan Society holds talk almost twice a month and this evening they arranged a talk by Dr. Zulfiqar Mirza (Ex Home Minister of Sindh, Pakistan). if you have seen the news than you must know that there was a fuss created during his talk, when he said that he came to UK with some concrete proves against Altaf Hussain. However, Organizers jumped in and controled the situation, the president of the society at that stage took the stage and tried to make the audience realise that where they are sitting and what they are representing.

Video below is the exclusive footage of what was going on there and what Ayyaz Malick (President Oxford University Pakistan Society) said. In case you want to know more about the issue see the other two videos (here, and here)that I am sharing below.

And here are rest of the video clips from the event:

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