Comment by Riaz Haq on March 21, 2016 at 4:05pm

In #Pakistan, people wait for hours for delicious hot cross buns. An #Easter tradition @TelegraphFood. #happyeaster http://www.telegraph.co.uk/food-and-drink/features/in-pakistan-peop... …

On a regular day, the JC Misquita Bakery looks like any other bakery in Karachi, Pakistan. Customers linger over a display of biscuits and iced pastries and order freshly baked bread, while the employees calmly parcel out purchases.

But as Easter approaches, the workers and owners of this historic bakery – which opened in Karachi in 1858 – start to prepare for the biggest undertaking of the year: hot cross buns.

By the end of Good Friday, Misquita’s staff will make and sell hundreds of buns, working around the clock and appeasing antsy customers who show up as early as three am in wait of the sugar-dusted treats.

Last year, the bakery sold over 2,000 buns in an Easter frenzy that one customer likens to a clothing sale.

Hot cross buns are an Easter tradition that has survived in Karachi for almost a hundred years. Over 100 years of British rule in Pakistan transformed Karachi from a mainly Muslim settlement to a more multicultural city, with many Christian residents. Today, the number of Christians in the city is small - around 2.4 per cent of the population. Many have emigrated, driven by pervasive street crime, militant attacks on churches, the lack of social and economic advancement, and a prevailing sense of insecurity in the country. But for those that remain, a hot cross bun is an integral part of Easter.

Comment by Riaz Haq on March 23, 2016 at 3:57pm

Commenting on the parade, analyst, author and former Australian defense attache to Islamabad, Brian Cloughley, said there were “no equipment surprises, but the main thing about the parade is that it took place at all, which is a positive indicator concerning the never-ending fight against terrorism.”

The (Pakistan Day) parade (2016) had generally been an annual event, but the deterioration in the security situation led to a seven-year break from 2007 until last year. It has also been notable in the past for the public debut of new equipment.

The JF-17 Thunder made its debut in 2007, and last year the FM-90 SAM system was displayed for the first time. The Z-10 and Shaheen (Falcon) III made their debuts this year.

The Z-10 has been in the country undergoing an operational evaluation since last year. Official details of this have not been revealed, but what unofficial information is available indicates the army is impressed with the machine.

Pakistan has a requirement to replace the AH-1F Cobra helicopter gunship currently operated by the 31st, 33rd, and 35th Army Aviation Combat Squadrons, and is awaiting delivery of the AH-1Z, but is also pursuing up to 20 MI-35 Hind gunships from Russia.

The Hind appears to have been acquired to fulfill the requirement for an armed and armored helicopter also capable of carrying troops.

It was announced today that the Z-10 was in service with the 35th "Mustangs" Squadron of the Army Aviation Corps, which would paradoxically see Pakistan operating three types of helicopter gunships.

A spokesperson for the Ministry of Defence Production, which also handles procurement, declined to provide confirmation of the purchase of the Z-10 and how many were to be obtained.

In spite of the other gunship purchases, Cloughley believes there is still room for the Z-10.

“It seems that Pakistan has firmed on 15 AH-1Zs and will probably get 20 Hinds. So there is certainly room for the Z-10, which does seem to be in squadron service,” he said. “It's much cheaper than the [AH-1Z] Viper, of course, and the Hind, though cost-effective, is a big machine.”

Though it would seem dated over today’s battlefield, members of the Army Aviation Corps have acknowledged it is the best counterinsurgency gunship available. Cloughley says the Hind also has one other clear advantage.

“The main thing with the Hind is economy in maintenance — it's probably the best in the world from that aspect for its type,” he said.

Nevertheless, he believes the Z-10 will be the mainstay of Pakistan’s gunship capability. “My assessment is that the Z-10 will be acquired in larger numbers.”

There has been speculation regarding the presence of the Chinese Harbin WZ-19 armed scout in Pakistan, but the spokesperson for the Ministry of Defence Production also declined to comment on this.

Cloughley says the presence of the medium range Shaheen III amounts to some predictable signaling that was aimed squarely at India, Pakistan’s main security threat.

The solid-fueled, multi-stage Shaheen III was tested for the first time in March 2015 and is Pakistan’s longest range missile with a stated delivery limit of 2,750 kilometers, though this is believed by many analysts to be an understatement.

Nevertheless, the range allows it to cover all parts of Indian territory with a worthwhile payload, even the Indian strategic military facilities in the Andaman and Nicobar island chain in the Bay of Bengal/Andaman Sea.

Mansoor Ahmed, a Stanton nuclear security junior faculty fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School's Belfer Center and expert on Pakistan's nuclear deterrent and delivery systems, said that “the Shaheen III is in service, but more user trials or batch/training tests might take place as is the usual practice with other similar missile systems.”

http://www.defensenews.com/story/defense/international/asia-pacific...

Comment by Riaz Haq on March 24, 2016 at 4:22pm

#Pakistan ranks 8th with its 6 million strong diaspora sending $20 billion home in remittances http://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/?p=503292  via @ePakistanToday

Pakistan stands on the eight place among the top 10 recipients of remittances this year at $20.1 billion, according to a report.

According to Khaleej Times, the World Bank estimates that more than 247 million people, or 3.4 per cent of the world population, live outside their countries of birth among which more than six million are Pakistanis.

These Pakistanis, between July 2015 and January 2016, have sent an estimated $11.2 billion a marked increase of about 6 per cent compared with July 2014 to January 2015.

Overseas Pakistanis are remitting more than $1.5 billion a month, making a significant contribution to their families and bringing about a socio-economic change. The State Bank of Pakistan expects remittances to cross $20 billion this financial year, the highest ever and these expectations are in line with the World Bank’s calculations that place Pakistan on the eight rung among the top 10 recipients of remittances this year at $20.1 billion.

“The inflows from remittances (at current levels) now fully cover the country’s petroleum imports. Currently, international remittances are moving six per cent of the total GDP of Pakistan,” says Rizwan Wyne, a Pakistan-based expert on international remittances from Middle East to South Asia. The Migration and Remittance Factbook 2016 produced by the World Bank notes as of 2015 international migrants are expected to have sent $601 billion to their families in their home countries, of which developing countries like Pakistan received $441 billion.

At more than three times the size of development aid, international migrants’ remittances provide a lifeline for millions of households in developing countries.  In addition, migrants hold more than $500 billion in annual savings. Together remittances and migrant savings offer a substantial source of financing for development projects that can improve lives and livelihoods in developing countries, says the report.

Comment by Riaz Haq on April 4, 2017 at 10:30am

PUNJAB’S ROLE IN THE WAR OF INDEPENDENCE
1857-58: AN ANALYSIS

Turab-ul-Hassan Sargana

http://pu.edu.pk/images/journal/HistoryPStudies/PDF-FILES/Turrab%20...

It is generally suggested that the province of the Punjab as a whole not
only remained loyal towards the colonial power but also provided crucial support
to it for quelling disturbance in other parts of the country. There is no denying the
fact that the Punjab was not the centre of this struggle against the company’s rule
but there is ample evidence to suggest that the Punjab was not devoid of patriotic
men who resisted the foreign rulers and rendered heroic sacrifices for the
independence of their country. There were many who were prompted by the
patriotic feelings and thus, struggled to drive alien rulers form their homeland.
Although there is historiographical silence about the role of Punjab in the War but
only a look on the volumes of the official Mutiny Records by the British officers is
sufficient to falsify the popular impression regarding the Punjab’s role in the War
of Independence 1857-58. It shows that only the rulers and Maharajas of the
Punjab’s states supported the British, but the common people including the native
sepoys rose against the British at many places.

There were some basic factors which played an important role in
convincing the chiefs and influential families of the Punjab to collaborate with the
British during the War of 1857-58. Due to the grievances with the Sikh rulers, the
Muslim chiefs of the Punjab helped the British and were rewarded. Similarly, rajas
of the Sikh Princely States had sought protection from the British against the
aggression of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, which the British granted to them, and, in
return, the rajas promised to help the British in the hour of need according to the
Treaty of 1809.7
In addition to this, the Sikhs were leaderless in 1857-58 and their
important leaders had been either killed during the Anglo-Sikh Wars or were
exiled from the Punjab.8
During the year of 1857-58 the immense production of crops also played
an important role in pacifying the people of the Punjab. Similarly, some welfareoriented
developmental works in the Punjab by the British government from 1849
to 1857 created goodwill for the British among the people.9 The socio-economic
conditions in the Punjab were different from the North-western Indian Provinces.10
The British did not confiscate lands in the former but they did in the latter.


The response and attitude of the princes and nawabs towards the British
should not be generalized as the expression of the opinion of the entire province.
These rulers were not the true representatives of the wishes of the people. Ahmad
Khan Kharral, Bahawal Fatiana, Murad Fatiana, Muhamand Kathia, Lal Kathia,
Nathu Kathia, Nadir Shah Qureshi, Walidad Mardana and Salabat Tarhana, of the
Gugera Movement, Rasool Bakhsh, Ameer Ali and Karam Ali of the Murree
Movement, Rao Tulla Ram of Haryana and Shah Abdul Qadir of Ludhiana etc.35
were popular leaders of the people in their respective areas in the Punjab, who led
the resistance movement at various places in the province. They were neither
rulers, nor sepoys, but were freedom-fighters. They had no personal grievances
against the British. Neither their jagirs were confiscated, nor were their pensions
stopped. They fought for a noble cause which was to eliminate foreign rule from
their homeland. This view is very much evident from the letters written by the 

freedom-fighters to the Nawab of Bahawalpur,36 and to a native Muslim officer in
the British army, Woordie-Major Mir Barkat Ali.37

Comment by Riaz Haq on November 12, 2020 at 12:54pm

Under the Talpurs, Sindhi Hindus had been forbidden from owning land. That’s not to say they were not commercially active. In fact, Sindh’s Hindus had a long tradition of business success. The British imperialist Richard Burton wrote that ‘throughout Sindh the Hindu element preponderates in the cities and towns, the Moslem in the country: the former everywhere represents capital, the latter labour’.22 It was the Hindus who collected taxes, lent money and managed trade. Nevertheless, a British decision to allow Sindh’s Hindus to own land tilted things in their favour, and with many Muslims heavily indebted to Hindu financiers, some ended up losing their land to Hindu moneylenders. In 1896, a survey of villages in Sindh found that Hindus held 28 per cent of the land; fifty years earlier they had owned virtually none. The British were concerned. The Sindh commissioner Evan James complained that when Hindus obtained other people’s land through usury, the former owners were reduced to a state of abject dependence. ‘The feeling of injustice engendered by this tyranny strikes at the foundations of our rule,’ he said.23 The British worried that if the big estates were broken up, a crucial pillar of support in Sindh would be lost. Under the Sind Encumbered Estates Act a British manager could take over a bankrupt estate and declare many of its debts null and void. For the landowner there was a downside – the manager would take over ownership of the land until such time as the estate was solvent again – but once the books were balanced and the estate returned to profitability, it was given back to the landowner. Doda Khan Bhutto, sharp as well as forceful, was quick to exploit the Act. While some landowners held back, either to preserve their dignity or because they did not trust the British, Doda knew a good thing when he saw it and ensured that his estate was one of the first to be taken over. A manager, appointed in 1876, went through the books and confirmed Doda Khan was heavily in debt. Then, declaring that much of what Doda Khan owed was the result of exorbitant interest rates charged by Hindu moneylenders, the manager wrote off over half of his liabilities. At a stroke, Doda Khan’s situation was transformed. The remaining debts were dealt with by a government loan that the manager repaid from estate income over a five-year period.

Bennett-Jones, Owen. The Bhutto Dynasty (pp. 23-24). Yale University Press. Kindle Edition.

Comment by Riaz Haq on November 18, 2022 at 10:27am

Modi’s Double Engine Sarkar by Pervez Hoodbhoy

https://www.pakistanlink.org/Opinion/2022/Nov22/11/07.HTM

These are substantial, undeniable achievements that hubris-filled Hindu nationalists say derive from their greatness as an ancient civilization. But wait! China has done still better. And, though far smaller, many emergent countries of East Asia — Japan, South Korea, Vietnam, and Singapore — also boast of better performance than India’s.

In every case, the secret of success is well-known — strong systems of education that create skills, knowledge, attitudes and social behavior’s suited for modern times. Together with that, a strong work ethic in the labor force. Stated differently, high national achievement springs naturally from the quickness with which a country universalizes or ‘Westernizes’ its education and creates positive attitudes towards work.

Here’s how India grew into the present. Empowered by the scientific and industrial revolutions, Britain colonized India and sought to spread Western education and values. Conservative Hindus emphatically rejected this modernization butsar reformist movements such as Brahmo Samaj under Ram Mohan Roy and others made deep inroads.

By 1947 under Jawaharlal Nehru — an avowed Hindu atheist devoted to the ‘scientific temper’ — India was already intellectually equipped to enter the modern world. For the next 50 years, India’s education sought to create a pluralist, secular, scientifically minded society. It reaps rich harvests to the present day — which the BJP happily appropriates as its own.

But Hindu nationalists now want India’s goals and self-image drastically revised. Modi’s second engine, fueled by febrile imaginations, pushes India towards emulating some kind of Hindu rashtra from an idyllic past. My friend Prof Badri Raina, now retired from Delhi University, says that “this backward engine would have us believe that in ancient times we had knowledge of plastic surgery, aeronautics, satellite vision, even as streams of foaming white milk flowed down our plains, and golden birds perched on the branches of trees”.

---------

The loudest call for reforming Muslim education was that of Sir Syed Ahmad Khan. Madressahs, he said, are entirely unnecessary. Using religious idiom, he passionately argued for science and modernity. While his efforts led to some measure of functionality and to jobs within the colonial system, they were nowhere deep or wide as that of Brahmo Samaj. Conservative backlash limited Sir Syed’s influence.

Thus, by the time Partition came around, there was a massive Hindu-Muslim gap. Nevertheless, for the first few decades, Pakistan’s engine #1 steadily gained strength and was consistently stronger than its second engine. Among other things, Pakistan’s space program (born 1961, now dead) much preceded India’s.

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