 |
|
| |
|
|
. | ||
 |
| |
|
............................................... |
............................................................................................................. |
About MeHAVING been born in Mardan (Pakistan) in 1952, the distinct memory with me is that of trains. Actually, after my birth my family had to move out to Peshawar, the provincial capital situated 40 miles west of our ancestral village. There my father was working as secretary to the Advocate General of the northwestern Frontier Province and our official residence in Civil Quarters was just a stone’s throw from the Peshawar Railway Station. My father had to work around the clock from dawn to dusk and had hardly any time to attend to me save on Sundays. And on one such Sunday he led me to the local railway station to watch the arrival of a new railroad engine. Operated by diesel fuel, this new engine was a gift from the US government to help Pakistan replace its traditional steam engines with the modern ones. In 1956 I was admitted to the local primary school and hence I joined both of my older brothers in getting up early and preparing for school. This was the year when the Suez war was fought and as such we had many demonstrations around our schools. So, I had the first ever instance of seeing crowds marching and shouting slogans. In 1962 my primary education was over and I was admitted to the Government High School No.1 as a grade six student. The school was situated in the Cantonment area a thirty minutes’ walk from my house. Here I was exposed to games like basketball, football and physical training but my father was keen that I should not waste time on games and instead give full time to my studies. I remember that he used to be mad at my elder brother, who would exhaust himself playing football after school and go to bed without doing his homework. Probably this made me become a bookworm and that is how I was selected for the Anglo Vernacular middle standard scholarship examination. I passed the first serious examination of my life in the first division in the year 1965. The very year is not forgettable for me because then in September India and Pakistan fought a full-scale war. I can never forget the horrors of those seventeen days of war when bombs were dropped from the air by the Indian warplanes on my city_ Peshawar during the days and nights. The sound of sirens, the sight of anti-aircraft guns firing at the invaders and dogfights in the air were not only frightening but spectacular too. Then during the war, I had to stay around my street with other students as a volunteer for civil defense ensuring blackouts in the nights, camouflaging and keeping an eye open for spies. By the time war was over, I had prepared a book full of newspapers clippings and pictures of our heroes with my commentaries. That was probably the first practical journalism that I was indulged into, as I would let my friends read my write-ups. Later after India and Pakistan signed a peace declaration in Tashkent under the diplomatic mediations of the Soviet Union, ordinary folk were quick to observe that the government had lost on the negotiation table all that was won by our gallant forces on the war fronts. It was probably reflective of the popular mood among Muslims who would always be happy with wars, calling it Jihad or holly duty to wage wars. In such a scenario I did my Matriculation in 1968 in the first division and continued my education in the Edwards College Peshawar as a science student. The missionary college, with higher standards and charges, was deemed to be the best educational institution in our province. It was my first year in this college when students all over the world were coming into the streets to air their grievances against their governments. In Pakistan too, the agitation had cost and soon it became a movement for the restoration of democracy in the country. The government of Ayub Khan, who had taken over power in 1958 after a successful coup, was now faced with a grave challenge. Interestingly the very movement was being led by Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, a politician, lawyer and diplomat, who had remained in government for a decade and later resigned, alleging it to be a corrupt government that had compromised national interests during the Pak-India negotiations in Tashkent. Such a spell of protests and demonstrations influenced me too and as such I had to plunge into the world of student politics. My speeches before the striking students and articles in the local press surprised many of those knowing me as a calm and quiet person. In the background of such emotionalism and uncertainty I passed my Intermediate Examination in 1970. And now, having indulged in political activities, I decided to register for Bachelor of Arts courses in Political Science instead of continuing for the B.Sc. So, forgetting about Physics and Chemistry I started attending the Political Science and History classes, but sadly my elders did not like this decision of mine as they insisted that I should finish the B.Sc. This was because of the brighter future for the scientists that according to them was waiting for me in the science sector. Bowing before my family, however, when I went to my Principal, Dr. Phil Edmond asking him to be relocated in the science group, he did not allow me to do so, saying ‘one way traffic, please!’ This stalemate forced me to migrate to the Superior Science College and to continue as a science student. By now I had developed a sort of double personality syndrome, inside the classroom learning scientific approaches and outside acting as a political activist. This exposed me to my fellow students as a crusader for human rights and democracy, and in the same year I was elected President of the student union. (A) Now I could get an evening job with the local newspaper Inqilab as a proofreader while my published articles, commentaries and news analyses were reflective of my advocacy for the social emancipation, civil rights and democracy in Pakistan. It was here that I took the first practical step in the field of journalism and received abrupt on the job training. (B) The year 1971 was further important as in this year once again India and Pakistan went to full-scale war. Before the Christmas 1971 when it ended it had given birth to a new country in the subcontinent. Bangladesh was recognized by the world community of states as a free nation and hence Pakistan was bifurcated within 24 years of its creation. Thus history repeated itself as the process of partition had occurred in the subcontinent for the second time. First it was 1947, when Pakistan was created out of India and then in 1971 when the emergence of Bangladesh led Pakistan to experience it again. The earlier partition took place due to the emergence of religious fundamentalism amongst the Indian Muslims, earning them their separate homeland while the second time it occurred after ethnic nationalism prevailed over the religious fundamentalism and forced the creation of Bangladesh. In 1973 when I passed my B.Sc. my country, the rump Pakistan was preoccupied with the task of rebuilding. The government of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto gave the nation a new unanimously agreed democratic constitution as in the economic sector it had unleashed a process of nationalization of big industries and banking besides providing a viable ceiling on agricultural holdings by the landlords. But on the ideological fronts the country’s intelligentsia was raising valid questions, saying the dismemberment of Pakistan was proof of the failure of the religiously oriented statehood. No doubt the ethnic nationalism or Bangla brotherhood had won over the universal Islamic brotherhood, ignoring the facts that just two and a half decades ago it was the Bengali Muslims who had founded Pakistan on an Islamic ideology. Now the Pakistani leaders in the smaller provinces of Balochistan and the N.W.F.P., had to come against the concept of Pakistan too as they wanted their own countries based on their respective ethnic identities. During this era I joined the newly formed agency of National Volunteers where under I could travel to Balochistan to do a benchmark survey collecting details on the local people dwellings and their households conditions. (C) This long trip helped me know well about the Baloch and Brohi people who were sharing the province with the Pathans. Being myself a Pathan from the N.W.F.Province I was amazed to see one nationality having spread over into two provinces and several political agencies of Pakistan with a sizable presence in the bordering state of Afghanistan. It was just like Kurds having spread around various borders in the Middle East. Armed with in-depth knowledge of the social, economic and political conditions of the people in Balochistan I was wondering why the politicians did not help raise standards of living in the area instead of demanding a new country of their own. All my such articles and commentaries about the scenario in Baluchistan had then earned a good name for me. In 1975, I got a government job in the Audit Department of the provincial government. This job was related with the checking and reviewing of the accounts of municipal bodies and other autonomous and semi autonomous bodies in the province, raising objections where municipal bylaws had been violated. It required extensive traveling around the province. Hence once again I could enrich my practical knowledge of the people, land and conditions of living in N.W.F. Province. Meanwhile I also registered for part time studies in Political Science in the University of Peshawar and as such was intellectually moving forward. Sadly in 1977 Pakistan was faced with a military coup. Gen. Zia after overthrowing the elected government later hanged the elected Prime Minister and after that all political activities in the country were banned. This was very saddening for a youth like myself who had a zeal for improving the lot of the have-nots in the country. Therefore the emergence of a dictatorial regime and its draconian way of governance made me in 1979 leave my country. Now as a crusader for democracy I landed in the country of Yugoslavia (D). Living in Yugoslavia for some time helped me expand my horizons and ultimately when I arrived in Canada on June 15, 1982, I was able to start a new life more confidently. Unlike the Europe here in the North Pole I found that the realities and priorities of life were a lot different than those in Europe. After getting my Citizenship in1986, I could travel back to Europe from which in 1988 I returned to Pakistan as the dream of the restoring democracy had come true. Starting a new life back in Pakistan I opted to join the Corp of journalists and as such I joined the Peshawar based press. However the field of journalism was not a bed of roses, as under the government all those working for the newspaper or news agency had to resist various pressures and temptations. The issue of Afghanistan and the presence of Soviet Forces opened a new chapter for the local journalists while the emergence of democracy in the country opened the avenues to trade unionism too. Since journalists were the hard-hit group of the white-collar people in the country during the despotic regime of Gen. Zia, everyone was keen to join the union activities for a better future. For such a purpose I joined and motivated others to join our union and we indulged in elections and raised our concerns on the plight of working journalists. Freedom of expression and better working conditions was out two-faced motto. But surprisingly no government thought it worthwhile to help redress the problems of journalists in the country. Meanwhile developing differences with the PPP leaders in power I had to publicly condemn their attitude and approaches towards those who were suffered for the cause of restoration of democracy under the Zia regime. (E) Later in 2000, after Pakistan had undergone yet another coup by Gen. Pervez Musharaff, I was elected President of my union. Now I had to vigorously shout my way to be heard by the rulers in the military uniforms who had promised to be quit soon after putting the nation’s affairs in order. I made a hunger strike to press for the demand that a wage board be constituted for the working journalists so a new 7th award on wages could come into force. Soon, the board was constituted with a retired judge in the chair. The working journalists nominated their representatives for the process but sadly those representing owners refused to participate in any such negotiations. The owners were now airing their views through their press that under the free market concept and privatization in the country government was not justified to issue any wage award. They wanted to keep it their exclusive rights to hire and fire any of their employees without giving any right to the government to play its role as a referee. This was an illegal viewpoint but nobody in the country was able to prevail against it. The communities of working journalists were faced with a state of continued exploitation while owners were reaping unprecedented profits. All such developments made me realize that living under a dictatorial regime in Pakistan had again come impossible for a person like me. So, I decided to return back to my second home -Canada- and finally on June 19, 2001 I returned to Toronto. The era 1988-1999 had been important for me as during all this time I could observe closely the demise and decline of the state of Afghanistan. Reporting upon each and every event I felt myself as part of the fast changing world. Also during these years I went back to Peshawar University and completed my M.A in Political Science earned a post graduate diploma in Local Government followed by a degree in Laws.
|
|
.......................................................... ..................................................................................................... ...... |
.
