Pakistan Monument Museum narrates the nation’s history from the great civilizations of Gandhara, Indus and Mehergarh.

“The biggest challenge is to present the past in a way that is dynamic and real to individuals who may not be privy to the exhibits’ history,” said Lok Virsa Executive Director Khalid Javaid, who was affiliated with the project.

We paid special importance to documenting exhibits from early societies, he stated.  “History has a lasting impact on the present. Relics from Mehergarh are still part of Baloch culture just like the oxcart from the Indus civilization is still seen on our roads.”

“My generation has been able to see some of these historical events in real life and it is our duty to share these experiences, this is the only way a country’s heritage and culture can survive,” Javaid said. This was the reason three-dimensional displays were chosen to engage the imagination of the youth, he added.

The first displays revolve around the Indus valley civilization, Buddha and Gandhara art, showing the illustrious history of the subcontinent before the Arabs came.

In an increasingly globalised world, the museum displays exhibits from yesteryears when national boundaries were fluid leading to shared culture and history.

This focus on the earliest societies is a novel approach to national identity, denoting that our collective culture precedes 1947. However, displays titled ‘Quaid’s Relics’, ‘Iqbal’s Relics’ and the simulation of the first parliament session capture events related to the creation of Pakistan.

Thanks to generous foreign funding, Lok Virsa will launch a series of cultural festivals as well as building museums in various cities. To encourage visitors, tickets on World Museum Day will be sold at half price.

Meanwhile, hundreds pass by the 75-foot long skeleton of a blue whale standing tall at the entrance to Museum of Natural History, but very few stop to give it a look. Even fewer visit the museum.

Established in 1976, the museum is more than just a storehouse for 600,000 species of plants and animals collected from across the country.

Balochistan province once had thick green forests. If man-induced climatic changes are not checked, fertile land may also turn barren tomorrow.  “This is one lesson that we learn by seeing Baluchitherium in the museum,” said the museum’s director general, Dr Azhar Hassan.

Describing the extinct genus of gigantic hornless rhinoceros-like mammals, Hassan said the Baluchitherium, first discovered in Balochistan, existed for approximately 14.17 million years.

Displayed against a backdrop of its natural habitat, it is the largest land mammal ever discovered, larger than the largest species of mammoths.

Dr Hassan said the mammal was herbivorous, providing evidence for thick forests in Balochistan. This mammal is being recreated in fibre glass and will soon be part of the collection.

He said the museum was providing hundreds of researchers with a platform to study the history of life. There are artifacts showing cave life and the evolution of man, which are unique to the museum.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 18^th, 2012.

According to the police, an unidentified person or persons from Sindh, sent letters to the three embassies on the same day, warning them against the reopening of Nato supply routes in Pakistan.

“NATO Supply Must Not Be Restored,” stated the letters in identical writing patterns. Officials investigating the case referred it to the secretariat police.

“Each parcel carried 0.5 grams of black powder. It was not explosive,” said a police officer, adding, however, that the material appeared to be poisonous.

The officer further said the material would be sent for laboratory tests to ascertain its composition and properties.

A police investigation officer said the poisonous material was in minute quantity and was insufficient to kill anyone. He also ruled out the possibility of it being anthrax.

“It appears the unknown sender or senders used poison as symbolic death to warn the embassies against the resumption of NATO supply routes,” said the police official, while requesting anonymity. He added that the matter has been taken seriously and is being thoroughly investigated.

The poisonous powder was first detected by the security staff of the embassies during clearance of parcels. They were handed over to the secretariat police who started investigations after registering cases against the unidentified senders.

When contacted, the Australian High Commission refused to comment on the matter, while the other two missions’ officials could not be reached.

After preliminary investigations, police officials said the letters were sent from some place in Sindh but the exact location was not known.

The letters, they added, were dispatched three days ago.

Till the filing of this report, the police were searching if other embassies in the diplomatic enclave had received similar parcels.

In a similar case about two months ago, anthrax in a parcel was sent to Prime Minister’s Secretariat. The parcel was traced back to the Jamshoro University post office in Sindh; however, the sender remains unidentified.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 17^th, 2012.

It took rescue teams and navy divers over four hours to recover the bodies of Naveedur Rehman, 18, and Hamza, 19, from the deep waters of the nullah. Their surviving friend, Qadeer, told the Bhara Kahu police that the deceased pair slipped off a rock they were standing on.

Quoting Qadeer, the Bhara Kahu police said the three boys decided to go to there after college and reached the nullah near Murree Toll Plaza in the afternoon.

Hamza and Rehman did not go into the water as they could not swim.

They were watching Qadeer from a rock when one of them slipped. They were holding each other’s hands and one dragged the other down with him.

“Qadeer said he tried to rescue his friends but could not stand for long against fast moving water,” said Waqas, a rescue official. Qadeer had gotten hold of one of the two victims but the water broke his grip.

He looked for help from nearby, but the two boys had been swept away by the time help arrived. Rescue officials said Qadeer called Rescue 1122 after the boys were swept away. Navy divers were also called in to assist the rescue officials in the search operation.

The bodies were shifted to Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims), where they were pronounced dead on arrival.

Police said the bodies were handed over to their respective families for burial. One was from Shams Colony and the other from Rawalpindi Cantonment. Police said the families did not ask for a criminal investigation into the incident and accepted that it was an accident.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 16^th, 2012.

After twenty years of incarceration in Rajasthan’s Ajmer Jail, Dr Chishty arrived in Pakistan from India late Tuesday night. The 82-year-old virologist was brought back in a special plane sent by President Asif Ali Zardari.

While not completely free, Dr Chishty will remain in Pakistan until his November 1, 2012 hearing in the Indian Supreme Court. He was welcomed at the airport by Interior Minister Rehman Malik and Port and Shipping Minister Babar Ghauri at 11:25pm, from where he was driven in a Mercedes car to the President House with official protocol. Local Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) leaders and activists showered rose petals on him.

President Zardari had discussed Dr Chishty’s case with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh during his recent visit to Ajmer.

Chishty was recently released from Ajmer Jail after being sentenced to a life imprisonment term in a murder case. The Indian SC granted bail on April 9 to the virologist and allowed him to visit Pakistan for a temporary stay on May 10.

“I am happy that I am going to my homeland to meet my family and friends. I would like to offer a thanksgiving prayer as soon as I reach the airport and then I will go to my home,” he told reporters at Jaipur railway station.

In Karachi, his family was seen waiting for his arrival, anxious and excited in a house decorated with lights in celebration. While talking to a private news channel, his daughter, Farah, said “It is a miracle. We have been waiting since morning for his return and now we will spend the whole night waiting for his arrival tomorrow. We have made his favourite food.” His grandchildren, several of whom he has never seen, appeared just as eager to meet their grandfather.

A special leave petition against Dr Chishty’s conviction is pending in the Indian Supreme Court while a clemency petition is pending before the Rajasthan governor.

The octogenarian was visiting his ailing mother in Ajmer in 1992 when he got embroiled into a family feud that led to the death of one of his relatives. He has been in Ajmer since, incarcerated at his ancestral home for eighteen years before being jailed following his conviction in January last year.

The teary-eyed Pakistani added that he would also go to Lahore to meet Sarabjit Singh, an Indian national facing a death sentence on charges of involvement in bomb blasts in Pakistan. Sarabjit has been languishing in prison in Lahore for the last 22 years. Diplomatic efforts are on to commute his death sentence to life imprisonment.

Dr Chishty completed his PhD from the University of Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1968 in Public Health Virology. “Inasmuch as we have posted the appeal for final disposal on 20th November, 2012, we permit him to visit his country, namely, Pakistan and return back to India positively by 1st November, 2012. As soon as he reaches his native country he has to surrender his passport with the Indian High Commission, Islamabad,” the Indian SC said in its verdict on the case.

Talking to media earlier on Tuesday, Interior Minister Rehman Malik said President Zardari played a pivotal role in the release of Dr Chishty during his recent visit to India. “President Zardari has been very kind to send his plane to New Delhi on the request of the Indian government to bring back Dr Chishty home,” he emphasised. (WITH ADDITIONAL INPUT FROM OUR CORRESPONDENT IN KARACHI)

Published in The Express Tribune, May 16^th, 2012.

The curriculum books for grade 10, 11 and 12 Afghan students were published in Dubai with Nato support for educational institutions in the eastern parts of the country, said the education ministry.

Afghan Minister of Education Farooq Wardak told media on Sunday that his government has already raised the issue with the Pakistani authorities at the highest level. “They assured us of quick resolution of the issue, but it is yet to happen,” said Wardak.

He said the Pakistani authorities were impressed upon that politics must not deprive children of their basic right to education.

“I do not know why Pakistan has stopped our books. We are facing a shortage of books here,” said Nangialy, a 12 grade student of Dari language and literature at Kabul University. Another student of Pashto language grade 11 Abida Nazish appealed to the Pakistani government to immediately release the books.

The students said they got to know from the local media that the books were stuck at the Karachi Port due to ban on Nato supplies through Pakistan.

A lecturer at the university Ajmal Shakalay told The Express Tribune that the delay in arrival of new books could cause a failure in replacing the old curriculum. He further claimed that certain schools were closed due to shortage of books.

Education Ministry spokesperson Amanullah Iman said that fresh term in majority of schools in the country already began in May. However, in 40% schools the new term starts in August, but the curriculum changes are made simultaneously across the country, which could now be delayed, he added.

“The delay in the release of books’ containers were perhaps due to misunderstanding as the Pakistani authorities thought there were Nato supplies in the containers,” said Iman.

A Pakistani government official, requesting anonymity, said that it was surprising that books were being transported in Nato containers. He said the authorities were not certain as Nato containers, as per contract, are not opened to check the supplies.

“Naturally, and commonly they (containers) carry weapons and supplies for troops and not books for Afghan schools,” said the official. However, he said he could not comment on how soon the containers could be released as they were addressed to Nato authorities and not the Afghan government.

“The parliament will decide on opening the Nato supply routes. Until then, nothing could be done,” the official added.

The Afghan education ministry said the books were published by Oriental Publishing Company in Dubai under the support of Nato command. Therefore, they were being transported in the Nato containers.

An official of education ministry denied that schools were closed due to shortage of books. Rather a security threat to certain schools was the reason for their closure but they will be opened soon, he added.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 15^th, 2012.

Duty Magistrate Muhammad Ajmal Raja accepted Anti-Narcotic Force (ANF) plea seeking extension in the physical remand of Danas Pharmaceutical Chief Executive Farooq Chaudhry and Berlex Lab Chief Executive Iftikhar Khan Babar arrested in connection with the ephedrine quota scandal.

The ANF investigation officer, while asking for further remand, said the two men were being interrogated about the 9,000kg of ephedrine they had imported and its consumption.

The arrested CEOs denied charges of misusing the controlled chemical and said they had submitted all data regarding its consumption.

However, the ANF informed the court that all the documents about the consumption of the chemical had been found to be falsified.

The two men were arrested after the Lahore High Court dismissed their plea for bail before arrest and for the quashment of the FIR registered against them by the ANF.

Meanwhile, the ANF has obtained warrants from a trial court for the arrest of former Health Director-General Dr Rasheed Jooma and two directors of the pharmaceutical companies after their bail pleas were rejected.

Prime Minister’s son MNA Ali Musa Gilani had also recorded his statement before the ANF and denied the allegations that he influenced health officials to approve the ephedrine quota allocation.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 2^nd, 2012.

Passing a third consecutive day without work, he is not much optimistic for the occasion on May 1.

Among Ali’s other friends from the labourer community, the day holds no special significance too.

Over-time is a cherished benediction for these workers, while the thoughts of a day without work seem too grave, to say the least.

Ali awaits offerings of work while sitting on a roadside near ‘Peshawar Mor,’ as he eagerly cites every passing car, anticipating the opportunity to have something to take home late in the day.

“Sometimes, I do not find work for 15 straight days. I continue to wait; after all, what can one do?” he laments.

Having retired from active military service as a soldier 20 years ago, Shahid Ali moved to the capital, in search of employment opportunities. For a resident of Swabi, Islamabad was the nearest semblance of a ‘promised land of opportunity’.

“Work was good until something went wrong about five to six years ago,” he said, when asked about to reflect on the lack of opportunities of work.“There was abundance of work and fewer manual labourers. However, now the tables seem to have turned; the city is still growing, but employment opportunities have continued to shrink,” he said.

With six children to feed, Ali pulled out his elder son, Muhammad Asif, from school at the age of 19.

“Very few of the fortunate ones are granted the minimum wage of Rs7,000 fixed by the government. Some workers have struck deals with contractors who pay them at a fixed rate of fixed Rs300 a day but these are very few,” quips his father.

Days when the father and son land get paid Rs400-500 are considered to be the fortunate ones. Employers, however, never pay for expenses of food and travel. With a majority of workers relying on footpaths to sleep upon, hard days of toil extend to working for more than 10 hours a day.

Sometimes, circumstances are so dire that begging is resorted to.“The people who used to offer food in charity have also disappeared,” he points out. “More and more people continue to lose jobs and are turning to manual labour,” he said.

The government, on other hand, remains oblivious to the concerns of the workers. “The president does not even know we exist,” remarks Ali.

Living in tatters, working under exploitative conditions and without any recourse to the element of recreation in life, these labourers are far from realising the essence of the Labour Day celebrations.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 1^st, 2012.

The Secretariat police said postgraduate male students were asked to vacate hostels by the university administration following Friday’s violent protest by a group of students demanding multiple favours from the institution.

The police said the students initially planned to protest against the vacation orders but left voluntarily after they were threatened with “forced eviction”. However, the dozen booked students were not found at the campus and were still at large, police said.

The police said “this time” they will not be spared and will be arrested whenever they return to Islamabad. Most of the 12 booked students are already wanted in earlier cases registered against them, a police official added.

On Friday, all departments of the university were ordered to close down for a week following protests that also disrupted an international conference underway at the Earth Sciences Department.

The students were demanding increase in the number of university shuttles, reduction in fees, installation of internet services in the hostels, withdrawal of FIRs against some students registered last month, improved meals in the hostels, legal status for the newly-formed Quaidian Students Federation and provision of more books and computers at the library.

QAU Registrar Dr Shafiqueur Rehman said the administration was “compelled to oust everyone as most of them were not neutral and had also damaged university property”.

Rehman said a University Disciplinary Committee comprising faculty members will meet on Monday to probe into the incident and identify those responsible for the violence.

“They will also suggest punishments for the guilty students,” said the registrar. He said after the inquiry, students would be allowed to enter the hostels, but only after submitting fresh affidavits pledging that they would not involve themselves in any violent activities in the future.

Rehman said he didn’t know of any teacher’s involvement in the protest. “The administration is too busy to keep a check on this.”

However, university faculty and police sources agreed that a lobby of teachers, including a female teacher from the Gender Studies department, were instrumental in provoking the students into protest.

“[On Friday], only one teacher, [the same female gender studies teacher], went to the students and openly asked them to ‘continue their protest as it was their right’,” said a police official who witnessed the scene.

Another police official said this female teacher was also contacting certain police officials and asking them to show leniency to the protesting students.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 29^th, 2012.

The protest started early in the morning as students blocked the main road leading to the university. They discouraged participants from entering the conference hall, but the administration managed to let them in through the back door.

The students were demanding increase in the number of university shuttles, reduction in fees, installation of internet services in the hostels, withdrawal of FIRs against some students registered last month, improved meals in the hostels, legal status for the newly-formed Quaidian Students Federation and provision of more books and computers at the library.

Armed with sticks and stones, about 100 students overpowered the security guard and stormed into the conference hall. The second session of the conference had to be cancelled. The guard was sent to Polyclinic Hospital, where he was discharged after first aid.

The university management sought Secretariat police’s help, who gave an ultimatum to students to vacate hostels till Friday midnight. The police also booked twelve students leading the protests.

The secretariat police said some of the booked students were already wanted for involvement in acts of violence in the university and belong to students’ unions. No arrests were made till the filing of this report. Police said the vacated hostels will remain under custody of city administration until order is restored to the campus.

After initial investigations, police determined that the students were provoked for the protest by a group of teachers who wanted to get the current Vice-Chancellor (VC) removed from his post. “These teachers wanted to get [a certain professor] installed as the VC of the university,” said a police official. He said the university administration had already approved some of the students’ demands, while others were currently not workable.

“One such demand was to keep the campus canteen open at night,” he added.

The booked students are: Aslam Pervez from Hunza Nagar, Muhammad Qasim from district Kalat, Amjad Ali from Hunza, Shaukat Hussain, Qadir Bux from Karachi, Hamid Riaz, Kafaitullah from Gujrat, Muzafar Hussain, Ishtiaque Qureshi, Mabool Ahmed, Abid Shah and Mansoor Ali.

‘Inefficient administration’

The students claimed that they were thrashed by security officials as well as faculty members.  “We will fight against the inefficient administration till [our demands are met],” said Amjad Khan, a student who was spearheading the protest. He added that VC Dr Masoom Yasinzai had used abusive language when the students went to discuss their issues with him.

Faisal Ahmed, another student, said, “The conditions of hostels are deteriorating, but the administration is not bothered.”

The angry students vowed to continue their protest and also disrupt the university’s convocation planned for May 3 if their demands were not met.

‘Trying our best’

QAU Registrar Dr Shafiqueur Rehman said they are working on the students’ demands and some of them have already been met. He added that students had disrupted order in the university and damaged the university property, which is unacceptable. “We will definitely take serious action against the lawbreakers.”

Meanwhile, faculty members and some students condemned the incident. “It is the right of everyone to lodge their protest. But that doesn’t not mean they break the law, smash doors and harass the participants of an event,” said a professor of the history department.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 28^th, 2012.

Earlier, a special chartered plane from Saudi Arabia arrived at the airbase with Saudi foreign ministry officials onboard to receive the al Qaeda cheif’s family.

The plane was ready to leave for Jeddah while documentation formalities were being fulfilled by port authorities till the filing of this report. Saudia Arabia was chosen as the country of their choice by the detained family members, the interior ministry said.

Atif Ali Khan, counsel for Bin Laden’s family, said that the interior and foreign ministry had issued a No Objection Certificate (NoC) to the deportees after which the arrangements were finalised. He, however, refused to disclose the agreement under which the family was issued the NoC.

The 12-member family, including Bin Laden’s three widows, eight children and one grandchild were being kept in a guest house in Islamabad which was declared as sub-jail by Islamabad High Court. A statement issued by the ministry of interior said they were deported in pursuance of the court orders.

Two of the wives are Saudi nationals and the third is from Yemen, while Bin Laden’s daughters were born in Pakistan.

Earlier this month, a court sentenced the widows and two of Bin Laden’s older daughters to 45 days’ detention on charges of illegal entry and residency in Pakistan and ordered their deportation as soon as possible. They completed the sentence on Tuesday, counting time already served since they were formally arrested on March 3.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 27^th, 2012.