"A Corrupted Cocktail"

People in Pakistan today have very few venues left which can be used as family recreation. Such are grave issues here that families usually avoid going out together, due to security risks, bomb blasts that excursions are options now almost non-existent with kinfolk here to actually enjoy from.

In true honesty, petty politics mingled with creative literature made a disastrous soup! The martial law of Zia-ul-Haq smuggled in culture of Kalashnikov, heroin and violent religiosity which struck a crushing blow to the film industry. A new genre of cinema grew where glamorization of violence and brutality in extracting vengeance were common subjects of film making. Film-making dropped from a total output of 98 films in 1979, of which 42 were in Urdu, to only 58 films (26 in Urdu) in 1980. Wahshee Gujjar, Maula Jat and Jat da kharaak are some of the films from that period which effectively captured the subject.In 1979 General Zia-ul-Haq banned all Pakistani films produced in the preceding 3 years which caused a huge void badly affecting the progress of film making and encouraged small time film makers to invest in cheap film making. With ridiculous bans put by him on through censorship and policies, display of affection was reduced in the movies and an increase in violence was ignored! Violence added films were the art of that day which was promoted by huge banners and billboards which the officials put a blind eye to. The cult of Sultan Rahi and Mustafa Qureshi of Maula Jatt and Noori Nath was promoted over real literary scripts by quality writers in Urdu language for the Urdu Cinema. This added complete disaster for the cinema starved audience and its legal caretakers. Backed by powerful politicians, Pashto filmmakers were ahead in this rat race to get around the censor policies and filled their films with soft-core pornography to increase viewership. The influx of millions of refugees from across the Afghani border, who were denied the entertainment in their country, kept the industry strongly active.It is interesting to note that while Zia was publicly flogging people, Maula Jut later was banned by him for being too violent!! The producer however got a stay from the High Court. Similarly while Zia-ul-Haq ordained the toughest moral codes for local cinema, his own family remained an ardent viewer of pirated Indian films. Shatrughan Sinha from Bollywood was patronized by the late General Zia and his family. Incidentally, he was the only guest from that filmdom who attended the marriage Function ceremony of (late) General Zia’s daughter!

Shabnam & Nadeem pose in "Aina"

The peak of Pakistani cinema industry was in the mid 1970s, Karachi alone had more than 100 cinema halls and more than 200 films were produced and released each year. Today, fewer than ten of these houses remain which have been converted to one or the other thing due to prevailing conditions. Javed Jabbar's Beyond the Last Mountain, released on 2nd December 1976, which was Pakistan’s first ever venture into English film-making. Pakistan's government was in a state of turmoil. Aina, released on 18 March 1977, marked a distinct symbolic break. The film stayed in cinemas for over 400 weeks at the box office, with its last screening at 'Scala' in Karachi where it ran for more than four years. It is considered the most popular film in the country's history to date.
Cinema of Pakistan was slowly strangulated by a group which had other ulterior motives. This almost non-existent, funds with below average script writers and the effects of overall violent laws of Zia slowly diminished the creative guru’s from this Industry. They saw refuge in other countries where their talent could be utilized in a better way or they completely gave up making quality cinema after being dejected many times. With the Maestro’s gone, this industry was orphaned to the likes of Syed Noor, Madam Sangeeta, and Saeed Rizvi.

This slow poisoning of such a creative medium was systematic which has brought us now to the new era of importing movies of all kinds from across the border. The Bollywood Cinema has many facets which need to be addressed if we want to rely on “foreign fed” movies only. One such movie lately imported and released on Pakistani soil is the vulgar “Cocktail.” The lead cast being; Saif Ali Khan, Deepika Padukone, and Diana Penty. Supporting cast has Boman Irani and Dimple Kapadia. It’s a mixture of soft porn with an ultimate desire to become European living in India! The plot of this movie revolves around three people; one man and two women. The females become friends and start living together in a flat somewhere in London. In doing so they meet up with Gautam (Saif) who befriends one woman (Deepika) first, has physical relationship with her while suddenly falls in love with the other woman (Diana). With scenes which I am sure no Pakistani would have been comfortable in watching with family, children, elders; and dialogues with smutty vocabulary is being proudly shown and advertised throughout the country. Where free sex is shown acceptable and where norms of the society and culture are totally ignored!  After watching this movie with children I had no option left but to sit down, pen my thoughts as a concerned parent of growing up children.

Four Pakistani singers contributed songs for this movie namely; Arif Lohar, Imran Aziz Mia, Javed Bashir and Masooma Anwar for which they couldn’t even get visas by the Indian High Commission for music launch. I am not against cross border joint ventures, I fully endorse creative jugal-bandi but I ask :  Why is quality not being maintained by our so-called people in charge?


Sadly, not one creative block/organization in Pakistan has objected to this absurdity! What are we importing in the name of creativity/family entertainment? Where is our Censor Board? Does it exist? If it does, was it drugged while this movie was brought and is being audaciously show cased in the borders of Pakistan? Why are we ruining what is left of our society? Do we have to become puppets in this rat-race of losing our heritage?


The above article was published on the following links::
http://pakobserver.net/detailnews.asp?id=166638

http://www.islamabadtimesonline.com/a-corrupted-cocktail/

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Genocide by Inhuman!

Burmese refugees in Bangladesh are facing starvation 

The systematic killing or destruction of a racial or cultural group is what genocide denotes. In history such horrific episodes have happened before which caused the total world population to condemn it, calling it a drive that inflicts great loss on humanity. Such a loss in great numbers has recently erupted again this time around with much more ferocity than before.

The Rohingya are a community of 800,000 living in the Arakan region of Burma. According to the United Nations, they are amongst the most persecuted minorities; and aside from occasional reporting, their plight, particularly in current days, remains poorly reported.

The Arakan land which is inhibited by Rohingya Muslims was separated from British rule in 1948. Prior to this year, it was under Indian British Raj which started in 1824. Various portions of Burmese territories, including Arakan, Tenasserim were annexed by the British after their victory in the First Anglo-Burmese War; Lower Burma was annexed in 1852 after the Second Anglo-Burmese War. The annexed territories were designated the minor province (a Chief Commissionership), British Burma, of British India in 1862. After the Third Anglo-Burmese War in 1885, Upper Burma was annexed, and the following year, the province of Burma in British India was created, becoming a major province (a Lieutenant-Governorship) in 1897.This arrangement lasted until 1937, when Burma began to be administered separately by the Burma Office under the Secretary of State for India and Burma. Burma achieved independence from British rule on 4 January 1948. In 1939, the British authorities, who were wary of the long term animosity between the Rakhine Buddhists and the Rohingya Muslims, formed a special Investigation Commission led by James Ester and Tin Tut to study the issue of Muslim immigration into the Rakhine state. The commission recommended securing the border; however, with the onset of World War II, the British retreated from Arakan. During World War II, Japanese forces invaded Burma, then under British colonial rule. The British forces retreated and in the power vacuum left behind, considerable violence erupted. This included communal violence between Buddhist Rakhine and Muslim Rohingya villagers. The period also witnessed violence between groups loyal to the British and Burmese nationalists. The British armed Muslim groups in northern Arakan to create a buffer zone from Japanese invasion when they retreated. The Rohingya supported the Allies during the war and oppose the Japanese forces, assisting the Allies in reconnaissance.
The Japanese committed atrocities against thousands of Rohingya. They engaged in an orgy of rape, murder and torture. In this period, some 22,000 Rohingya are believed to have crossed the border into Bengal, then part of British India, to escape the violence.
40,000 Rohingya eventually fled to Chittagong after repeated massacres by the Burmese and Japanese forces.The Rohingya people practice Sunni Islam with elements of Sufi worship. Because the government restricts educational opportunities for them, many pursue fundamental Islamic studies as their only educational option. According to Amnesty International, the Muslim Rohingya people have continued to suffer from human rights violations under the Burmese junta since 1978, and many have fled to neighboring Bangladesh as a result.
The Rohingyas’ freedom of movement is severely restricted and vast majority of them have effectively been denied Burma citizenship. They are also subjected to various forms of extortion and arbitrary taxation; land confiscation; forced eviction and house destruction; and financial restrictions on marriage. Rohingyas continue to be used as forced labourers on roads and at military camps, although the amount of forced labour in northern Rakhine State has decreased over the last decade.
In 1978 over 200,000 Rohingyas fled to Bangladesh, following the ‘Nagamin’ (‘Dragon King’) operation of the Myanmar army. Officially this campaign aimed at "scrutinising each individual living in the state, designating citizens and foreigners in accordance with the law and taking actions against foreigners who have filtered into the country illegally." This military campaign directly targeted civilians, and resulted in widespread killings, rape and destruction of mosques and further religious persecution.
During 1991-92 a new wave of over a quarter of a million Rohingyas fled to Bangladesh. They reported widespread forced labour, as well as summary executions, torture, and rape. Rohingyas were forced to work without pay by the Burmese army on infrastructure and economic projects, often under harsh conditions. Many other human rights violations occurred in the context of forced labour of Rohingya civilians by the security forces.
As of 2005, the UNHCR had been assisting with the repatriation of Rohingya from Bangladesh, but allegations of human rights abuses in the refugee camps have threatened this effort.
Despite earlier efforts by the UN, the vast majority of Rohingya refugees have remained in Bangladesh, unable to return because of the negative attitude of the ruling regime in Myanmar. Now they are facing problems in Bangladesh as well where they do not receive support from the government any longer. In February 2009, many Rohingya refugees were rescued by Acehnese sailors in the Strait of Malacca, after 21 days at sea.
Over the years thousands of Rohingya also have fled to Thailand. There are roughly 111,000 refugees housed in 9 camps along the Thai-Myanmar border. There have been charges that groups of them have been shipped and towed out to open sea from Thailand, and left there. In February 2009 there was evidence of the Thai army towing a boatload of 190 Rohingya refugees out to sea. A group of refugees rescued by Indonesian authorities also in February 2009 told harrowing stories of being captured and beaten by the Thai military, and then abandoned at open sea. By the end of February there were reports that of a group of 5 boats were towed out to open sea, of which 4 boats sank in a storm, and 1 boat washed up on the shore. February 12, 2009 Thailand's prime minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said there were "some instances" in which Rohingya people were pushed out to sea.
"There are attempts, I think, to let these people drift to other shores. When these practices do occur, it is done on the understanding that there is enough food and water supplied. It's not clear whose work it is but if I have the evidence who exactly did this I will bring them to account."
The Prime Minister said. He regretted "any losses", and was working on rectifying the problem!
Bangladesh has since announced it will repatriate around 9,000 Rohingya living in refugee camps in the country back to Burma, after a meeting with Burmese diplomats. Steps to repatriate Rohingya began in 2005.
In October 16, 2011, the new government of Burma agreed to take back registered Rohingya refugees.

Burma’s constitution closes all options for Rohingyas to be citizens, on grounds that their ancestors didn’t live there when the land, once called Burma, came under British rule in the 19th century (a contention the Rohingyas dispute). Even now, as military rulers have begun to loosen their grip, there is no sign of change for the Rohingyas. Instead, the Burmese are trying to cast them out.

The current violence can be traced to the rape and killing in late May of a When a Buddhist woman was raped and murdered, suspicion and rumor was directed to the Rohingya community prompting hundreds of Buddhists to drag 10 Rohingya from a bus, murdering them: another cycle of violence erupted.That was followed by mob attacks on Rohingyas and other Muslims that killed dozens of people. According to Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, state security forces have now conducted mass arrests of Muslims; they destroyed thousands of homes, with the impact falling most heavily on the Rohingyas. Displaced Rohingyas have tried to flee across the Naf River to neighboring Bangladesh; some have died in the effort.

Aung San Suu Kyi hasn't done or said anything for them, yet the Rohingyas actually campaigned for her in the 1990 elections. Like most other Burmese people, she is silent about the rights of Rohingya. In her first visit outside Myanmar in 24 years, Suu Kyi in the month of May met thousands of Myanmar refugees now living in a Thai border camp. She promised to try as much as she could to help them return home, vowing not to forget them.
Interestingly, while she had highlighted the plight of other Myanmar refugees, mostly Karen people, there had been no words of hope by her for the Rohingya. On the other hand US has voiced concern that Bangladesh was turning away Muslims fleeing religious violence in Myanmar and urged the Dhaka government not to send them back.
The Dalai Lama is Globe Trotting at the moment at some exotic location, without mentioning a single word of the dangerously growing Buddhist intolerance in Burma. That artificial humbleness out of him is quite evident now. Those leaders who do not voice their concerns for persecuted people become accomplices or complicit in their persecution. While Aung San Suu Kyi desires to lead the people of Burma,  wonder how this position of her quietness or uncertainty about a deprived minority will fulfil her dreams to deliver, 'better lives, greater opportunities,' to the people of Burma?  There can be no worse head of state than one who dismisses and ignores the plight of 800,000 of her countries residents. And I fear His Holiness Dalai Lama's words, when meeting Suu Kyi, "I have real admiration for your courage," no longer reflects the woman I once read of and admired, who in her silence on Rohingya persecution is a heroine no more. Now I believe; despite her accolades of peace, and her rapturous reception in Europe, as she now travels freely, she remains, mentally, a prisoner under house arrest!!


The above article got published on the following links::
http://www.islamabadtimesonline.com/rohingya-aung-%E2%80%98silent%E2%80%99-kyi-no-more-a-heroine/

http://pakobserver.net/detailnews.asp?id=165385

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