Fata team’s Washington merry-go-round

By Afzal Hussain Bokhari

Men in trendy waistcoats and shining Frontier 'chappals' may not return with the lollipop as the Washington merry-go-round left a bitter-sweet taste in the mouth. Offended and psychologically bruised, leader of the nine-member Fata parliamentarians, Abbas Khan Afridi, spoke from the US capital by phone in a sulky voice and whining tone to some television channels back home.

He said it was a question of national honour and respect. Abbas Afridi was vaguely aware that once bitten, twice shy, the American State Department had included Pakistan among the 14 countries whose nationals would be required to face special scanners on entry into the land of opportunity.

Desire to see more of the United States was understandably strong. However, butterflies fluttered in the stomach at the idea of standing in front of sensitive scanners thus allowing a peeping Tom in the neighbouring room to see on computer screens that democratic visitors from the drone-famed Fata did not carry on covered parts anything that clashed with America's national interests.

CCTV cameras showed members of Pak delegation discussing implications of the scanning session. Munir Orakzai, Akhunzada Chattan, Senator Hafiz Khurshid, Mohammad Kamran and Jawad Khan, MNA, equally shared the concerns and reservations of the group leader. They decided that instead of facing scanners, they would prefer to catch the first flight home.

Meanwhile, viewers monitoring the visit of Fata guests were privately reminded of a line from Urdu poetry: "Jis ko hoon jan-o-dil aziz, us ki gali main jai kyon!" However, the theatrics at the Washington airport somehow paled before the tragic-comic situation in the NWFP Assembly on Friday and Saturday.

Furious PML-Q MPA, Nighat Yasmin Orakzai, walked over to the seat of Maulana Ubaidullah, the former Kohistan nazim and thumping the desk pronounced him 'the most corrupt nazim of the province'. When Orakzai participated in the debate generated by Bashir Ahmad Bilour's remarks about Urdu and supported Mufti Kifayatullah, Haji Ubaidullah felt annoyed and said: "Baith ja O be-pardah khatoon". (Sit down O you woman with an uncovered face). The speaker expunged the remarks as unparliamentary but that did not assuage the lady MPA's anger.

The traditional zeal and fervour was somehow missing but Peshawar station of Pakistan Broadcasting Corporation celebrated on March 6 the 75th birth anniversary of its establishment. Peshawar station started its transmission on March 6, 1935. In 1942, it was made a unit of All-India Radio while on the night between August 14 and 15 in 1947 it became Radio Pakistan, Peshawar.

Station director, Sardar Ali and four programme managers working under him remained on tiptoes and spent most of the week in a hectic manner. On March 5, a team from Peshawar television centre arrived to interview him with regard to the event. While he was attending to the PTV squad, a group of schoolchildren winning special Rabi-ul-Awwal quiz and 'naat khwani' contests waited to be photographed with the SD and looked forward to receiving copies of the holy Quran.

In the recent past, Peshawar radio has witnessed the administration of such SDs as Noor-ul-Basar, Umar Nasir, Faqir Hussain Sahir, Abdus Sattar, Hameed Asghar, Nawab Ali Yousufzai and Fazle Maula. To various degrees, they all had the wealth of professionalism and willingly or unwillingly wanted to share it with juniors.

Before the above lot, Peshawar radio saw men of letters like Noon Meem Rashid, Ahmad Nadeem Qasmi, Ajmal Khan Khattak, Amir Hamza Khan Shinwari and Samandar Khan Samandar. They were intellectually sound and emotionally rich broadcasting gurus. Temperamentally humble, they were the towering talents of their times.

With the passage of time, the station produced memorable drama voices like those of Zaitoon Bano, Hamida Bano, Nazir Niazi and FM Qureshi. In music, Rafiq Khan Shinwari ruled supreme for a long time. Sons of Professor Thakur Das came later into the music world though they restricted themselves to films.   

Journalistic, literary, cultural and educational circles in City felt immensely saddened at the death of journalist and short story writer Muzaffar Mohammad Ali who passed away on March 5 after prolonged illness at his 505, Huma Block residence in Lahore's Iqbal Town. For the last two or three years, he had been suffering from kidney failure.

Nephrologists had placed him on dialysis machines and twice a week he had to undergo the taxing and painful process. A few months before his death, Muzaffar and Amjad Islam Amjad got together at the house of a common friend Dr Awais Farooqi. The fact dawned upon them that instead of getting better, the patient's condition was further deteriorating due to the complications involved in acquiring new kidneys and determining their suitability and the matching chances.

Muzaffar's son told mourners that repeated sessions of dialysis left his father with little or no resistance and he additionally fell victim to paralysis. His death in many ways reminded the readers of the circumstances in which poet Habib Jalib, Iqbal Sajid, Hassan Rizvi and even Dildar Pervez Bhatti breathed their last. One wishes health and happiness to them but writers like Dr Salim Akhtar and Azhar Javed (editor, monthly Takhleeq) have not been keeping good health lately.      

The peak time of his reputation was when in partnership with television actor Dildar Pervez Bhatti and a common friend Anees Yaqub, he ran what looked like an advertising agency. Financially, it did not prove greatly enriching so he had to wriggle out of the business on a no-loss, no-profit basis. For some time he remained associated with an Urdu newspaper as in charge of its publication wing that printed fairly readable books. Later, he also compiled features and reports for the Urdu service of the Voice of Germany radio.

His biggest disadvantage in contemporary society was that he showed honesty in his dealings with others and in return expected transparency from his relations, friends and acquaintances. Despite serious illness and being in financial straits, he finalised the marriage ceremony of one of his daughters just months before the death.