Of Tehkal blaze, mosque matters and cricket

By Afzal Hussain Bokhari

In a relaxed holiday mood, the carefree weekend shoppers stood in front of the cluster of meat shops in Tehkal Payan, selecting the best quality of mutton for their families. At about 11-30am, they heard some mysterious sounds in the three-storey United Plaza just across the busy Jamrud Road and the building was suddenly on fire.

The huge containers of chemicals in a paint shop abruptly caught fire and the cars and motorbikes parked in the yard were burnt out of shape. Reporting teams from four major television channels descended on the place within minutes along with their vans equipped with the latest live telecast facilities.

Based on speculation, the initial reports of the media said that it was most likely a car bomb explosion and the nearby branch of a chain of international restaurants was possibly the target. This added to the sense of insecurity in the provincial capital and proprietors of other restaurants in town turned in their chairs with discomfort and anxiety.

However, the actual situation soon became clear and crowd of people from neighbouring homes, shops and offices tried on self-help basis to battle the flames and extinguish the fire. Ignited by chemicals, the blaze got worse as self-styled relief workers splashed pails of water on the dancing flames.

Despite getting the news on time, the fire brigade arrived late. On some past occasions, the fire brigade belonging to Pakistan Air Force had successfully brought the chemically-ignited fire under control by spraying a foam-like liquid on the blaze. However, this time they apologised for not showing up due to security reasons.

Police temporarily closed the entire stretch of University Road to all types of vehicular traffic and diverted the cars to alternative roads with the result that there was utter confusion on all routes. From the Phase II Bridge in Hayatabad to the Chughalpura Bridge, the 20-kilometre-long stretch of the dilapidated Ring Road had a bumper-to-bumper traffic jam.

The ordinary incident of an accidental fire badly exposed the administrative claims of crisis management on the part of the government. The trained civil defence workers were nowhere to be seen and the crowd of spectators helplessly saw the burning residential flats hired by Afghan singers and wedding car decorators.

The tragic incident occurring last Friday of a brutal terrorist attack on the high security Parade Lane Mosque in the well-guarded Rawalpindi Cantonment has proved to be an eye-opener. It has gone a long way towards clearing up the minds of a section of religious circles which somehow felt that by collecting statistics about the mosques and raiding madrassahs the security forces probably violated the rights to privacy of the faithful and, therefore, committed some sort of highhandedness.

The Parade Lane incident has sent a wave of anger and resentment into the community against the perpetrators of the crime. It has also drawn up clear lines of distinction between friends and foes. After the incident, religious scholars belonging to various schools of thought have started appearing in front of television cameras and, issuing downright condemnation of the shootout, dubbed the attackers as worst sinners who would eternally burn in hell.

Well before the Rawalpindi incident, provincial administration in Peshawar took it upon itself to collect the particulars of the ‘pesh imams’ (heads) of well-known mosques in and around City. The tehsildars and ‘girdawars’ have presented to the commissioner a long list containing the particulars of 1, 805 heads of mosques where the congregational Friday prayers are usually offered.

Intelligence reports submitted to the government said that a considerable number of the heads of mosques were no doubt Muslims but their nationality was not Pakistani. Various agencies have secretly or openly been monitoring the Friday sermons of the ‘pesh imams’ to see that their weekly addresses may not have any innuendo that could in some way generate, encourage or support extremism of any type.

Such precautions are necessary in view of the prevailing conditions of law and order. Authorities believe that by and large the people of the province have been deeply religious and they can, therefore, easily be manipulated by the power of the pulpit, regardless of who wields the power. Getting updates on the heads of mosques should not be a matter of concern for anyone.

After a long time, the sports lovers in City had thrilling news. In a sensational cricket match at the Basin Reserve in Wellington, New Zealand, the Pakistani team had defeated the Kiwis by 141 runs on the fourth day of the interesting meet.

By far the best performance was shown by Mohammad Asif who was also adjudged to be the ‘Man of the Match’. He was assisted largely by Danish Kaneria who created a soft corner in the hearts of cricket fans.

The defeat of the New Zealand side reminded the people of the 1992-1997 days when Kiwis came under pressure from Pakistani team which at that time had such formidable cricketers as Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis and Mushtaq Ahmad.

The triumph of the national team brought smiles to the faces that had visibly been saddened by the current wave of terrorism, suicide attacks and car bomb explosions which have psychologically turned the citizens into nervous wrecks.

The performance of Pakistani team had not been very pleasing when it played against the Australian side. There had been tough times for the former captain Younus Khan who had to announce his resignation at one stage and then renounce his decision.

Cricket lovers feel shocked at the way accusing fingers are sometimes pointed to the selectors. There are moments in the match when the spectators begin to feel that there probably is some evidence of match-fixing.

There have been reports of how bookies have made millions by sending their men secretly to top cricketers of the world. There have been players who could not resist the lure of money. However, there have been great names in the game who turned down the offers of the bookies and said that professionalism was sacred.