Of March 23, cleanup drive, TV GM & ‘nauroze’

The nation is celebrating today the Pakistan Day at a time when a day earlier the democratically elected Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gillani on Sunday travelled all the way from the Margalla Hills to the lush green farms in Jati Amra (Raiwind) of his major coalition partner Mian Nawaz Sharif and his brother Mian Shahbaz Sharif. Basking in the glory of their successful ‘long march’, the Sharif Brothers had invited the down-to-earth, straightforward and no-nonsense prime minister that hailed from the city of saints (Multan).

To their utter astonishment the Sharif Brothers had suddenly discovered that President Asif Ali Zardari, who till recently had been greeting them with triple embrace, double handshake and a disarming toothy smile, had started appearing like a hostage to circumstances. The Sharifs somehow felt that despite his tact, subtlety and sociability, the president appeared to them like a hard nut to crack.

PPP’s coalition partner in the NWFP, ANP is faced with the same dilemma. In a statement the other day, the party leader Asfandyar Wali Khan said that the president was reluctant in putting his signatures to the summary of the proposed ‘Nizam-i-Adl’ regulation until and unless complete peace and normalcy returned to the entire Frontier province.

In what to media persons appeared a piece of loud thinking, Asfandyar Khan said that if the present stalemate on the ‘Nizam-i-Adl’ regulation continued, his party might feel compelled to distance itself from the coalition setup.

Political despondency, however, contrasted oddly with cultural complacency and academic exuberance. For instance, a seminar is being arranged today (Monday) under the auspices of the Pushto literary organisation, ‘Da sahu lekoniko maraka’ in which papers will be read on the art and life of writers like Amir Hamza Khan Shinwari, Khan Abdul Ghani Khan, Qalandar Momand, Salim-ur-Rehman Salim, Dost Mohammad Khan Kamil Momand, Ayub Sabir and Sahibzada Faizi.       

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With the retirement of Farmanullah Jan as general manager of Peshawar Television Centre, PTV has lost another experienced hand. In recent years, the centre has sent home on retirement such senior PTV officers as Ziaur Rehman, Salahuddin, Masood Ahmad Shah and Karim Khan, the last having retired as the general manager of the Muzaffarabad Television Centre. The other day, the CBA union arranged for its departing boss, GM Farmanullah Jan a farewell party in which several colleagues and subordinate officials of the retiring officer spoke about the time they spent with him.  Apart from being the GM of Peshawar centre, Farmanullah Jan also acted for many years as the GM of PTV-2, which was the educational channel of the national visual medium. Senior script editor Majeedullah Khalil described Farman as an asset of which PTV and its employees could feel proud. He said that Farman would long be remembered for the creative work that he did while in production. Others who spoke on the occasion included Ejaz Niazi, Siddiq Akbar, Mian Sajid Ali, Shahid Hameed Khattak and Khurshid Anwar.

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The ongoing operation clean-up against anti-social elements mounted by the security agencies in Bara tehsil of the violence-hit Khyber Agency continued on Sunday for the second consecutive day. Making use of the gunship helicopters, tanks and the armoured personnel carriers (APCs), the jawans of the FC destroyed two centres of the militants in Bar Qambarkhel area of the tehsil.

The anti-social elements have extended their activities to Landi Kotal where the security forces and the militants fought pitched battles and made use of the heavy weapons resulting in the death of 10 persons and causing injuries to about 45 persons. In Landi Kotal, the militants fired rockets which fell on the cantonment area housing military personnel, very close to the busy trade route which is used for transporting food, weapons and other goods to the US and Nato forces in Afghanistan.

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On all occasions of jubilation or sorrow, the cameramen belonging to various television news channels are usually the first to reach the place and face or cross the hurdles in order to beam the latest images into homes and offices. I so doing, they often have to risk their lives and expensive equipment.

While fulfilling their professional duties they sometimes get beaten up by police, harassed by criminals and shouted at by total strangers. However, they willingly take the fierce police batons on their backs and battle the pungent tear gas fumes to enable the viewers to have the first hand knowledge of a breaking story. Everyone marvels at the wonders of the free media but nobody bothers about the hazards that stare the cameramen in the face.

In order to take care of their rights, the cameramen have formed the ‘camera journalists’ association, Peshawar’ and elected the office-bearers. The members of this new association have unanimously elected Nazar Ali (Geo TV) as president, Shakil Ahmad Siddiqi (Express News) as vice-president, Nasir Ali Shah (Aaj TV) as general secretary, Raja Imran (Dunya News) as joint secretary and Abid Khan (Samaa TV) as finance secretary.

The executive body comprises Nasir Khan (APP), Khalid Khan (Aaj TV), Shahid Khan (Geo) and Waqar Ahmad (AVT). One hopes that the formation of the association will go a long way towards forging unity among the ranks of the media persons.

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For some communities in Pakistan, Iran and Afghanistan, March 21 was ‘Nauroze’, first day of the new year. These communities celebrated the arrival of the new year with due fervour and zeal. Special dishes were prepared in homes and guests were treated with sweets that were white in colour like the milk preparation called ‘ras-gullas’ and ‘barfi’.

On the night between March 21 and 22, men and women assembled in a lane to the east of city’s Koochi Bazaar and celebrated the ‘Nauroze’. As a precaution, the area police had placed rolls of barbed wire at the entrance of the lane in order to prevent the entry of the unwanted people.

Some enthusiastic and fun-loving Afghan refugees living in Peshawar travelled up to Kabul and Mazar-i-Sharif to participate in the celebrations.