I've had random conversations with drivers and shop keepers during a road trip recently and realised that PTI supporters are now vehemently against this government in the face of sky rocketing inflation and blatant corruption. They are unhappy with how badly Naya Pakistan has fared. There is the idea that PTI has also not properly dealt with TLP wallah and, in fact, are making things worse. They are angry roads have been blocked and business is down. However, the same folks also support TLP and think that indeed the French Ambassador has made a 'gustakhi' and should be kicked out. I've heard that Khadim Rizvih was a great guy (the mullah who is on record verbally abusing Abdul Sattar Edhi and the government) and in the same breath that in fact, Imran Khan is a useless politician who himself badly affected business by a year long dharna in 2014 and was so good at verbal abuse. It's a contradictory set of arguments but my guess is that the public cares about inflation, their day to day earnings, but also is conditioned strongly in favour of the religious right. In their eyes , Imran Khan has failed not only to provide economic prosperity but is also failing to punish those who insult Islam.
The road trip was up to Murree and Nathiagali which got delayed the first time around thanks to the TLP Wallay who were marching from Lahore to the capital. The nervousness around their arrival at the capital made me cancel the trip. "What if the roads got blocked and we got stuck in the hills?" I wondered. I postponed the trip for a week thinking that surely, since the government is so used to dealing with them sieging the capital, the turnaround for arrival, thorna phorna, negotiations and muzakarat, manana and dealings would take about a week. Yes, a week's time, I calculated it.
It still didn't end and the beast was still slouching towards Bethlehem. So, I took my chances and set forth upon my weekend break.
Still, one wanted to keep turning one's back during the back and, look out for the TLP Mullahs. What if their leaders decided to take a break from their protests and wanted a break up in Murree, too?
"Woh TLP wallon ka kya hua?" I asked the driver. The driver said they wouldn't come to the capital because the state had dug "khandakay" near Jhelum. I don't know what gives one pause these days but the word "khandak" gave me pause. I've never studied Urdu or studied in Pakistani schools so my knowledge of technical Urdu words is limited to what I learned from my parents and, I do remember something about a Battle of Khandak from early Islamic history. What is a khandak? It is a trench.
You can imagine how much of a pause this could give you. Your brain computer has to reset twice just to process it.
Blink twice?
So, we have the Islamic Republic of Pakistan digging khandaks in the 21st century to stop marching violent mullahs towards the capital. We have one of the biggest , well funded armies and security states in the world and here we are digging trenches to stop unruly mullahs from laying siege to our capital. We surely have to ask ourselves what went wrong and when in our charmed existence as a the Fortress of Islam.
I chatted at length with the the few drivers I met during this trip, one who proudly would say because he is from Murree he doesn't pay Toll Tax, he just has to smile at the booth people. Why is everyone so happy to break the law around here but moan about it when it affects them badly?
See, the other driver told me that he had initially been a PTI supporter (that too because of family compulsion because his brother was a party worker in Murree) even though he lost his whole garment business during the year long siege Imran Khan laid to Islamabad back in 2014. Business was so bad because roads were blocked and tourists had all but stopped coming to Murree. So, his business went "thap." He was generally angry with Imran Khan who was not even a good cricketer according to him and, didn't know how to do anything at all. He complained a lot about business and inflation. I asked him but he is a very religious man and why are the mullahs not cooperating with him? The answer was that he is not really a true believer. It is all a sham.
Who is a true believer or not is a great shifting Pakistani game.
Anyway, it was a delightful diversion to the hills. My father would have none of it, though, he didn't want us escaping anywhere from the 'security' of the house but still, Kavita and I absconded, assuring him we would be back.
I haven't been to Murree since 2005 or 2006, during one of my trips back to Islamabad from Monrovia. I think it was a day trip and, I hardly remember any of it. I really wanted to see the hill station that is Murree, built by the British. I keep seeing hill stations in Hindi films , from Qayamat se Qayamat Tak to Jab We Met to Lootera but the British colonial hill station's main square's vision struck me in the old film Kudrat. The main square has a church, square, horse - carriages and definitive buildings. I recently watched Kudrat (what haven't I watched and discovered in this Pandemic?) and, aimed to see Murree.
Speaking of hill stations, please read lovely piece from Scroll: From Kipling to Manisha Koirala: How Indian hill stations came to assume feminine identities.
I was absolutely disturbed by the Murree Mall Road. Mullahs and patriarchal attitudes love to describe women existing as women vulgar but the sight of Murree Mall Road was absolute vulgarity to me. It is not that I want British glory to be preserved here but for whatever these hill stations are worth, they do have some historic and aesthetic value. And as far as I know, there aren't any offensive status of British slavers and colonial overloads there that need toppling. Instead, Mall Road had this cheapness to it, a vulgar display of ugly shop fronts, litter, a highly offensive monument to the Army or the state , and to boot, a man was slicing up some tailed critters, spilling their blood and guts everywhere in the middle of this Mall Road. I can tell you, my privileged self was horrified. I was told later the oil from this reptile is highly valued.
The church was not opened to the public but I snuck in, begging the caretaker to let me take a few pictures. Inside the walled grounds of the church one felt a little relief and calm and felt one was in the beautiful mountains.
Pakistan is so unsafe for non-Muslim houses of worship that they simply close doors to the public.
Nathiagali was much less 'developed' than Murree, I think. It is still heavily forested with majestic pines to be seen everywhere. The main bazaar was much more delightful and open, though of course, the same cheap goods can be seen here as well. There is littering and plastic everywhere and, you will now even see a green face mask hanging here or there on a branch. Soon, more hotels and restaurants will pop up here, many of them being local fast food or coffeeshop chains, in domestic colonisation style. Likewise, many owners of hotels seem to hail from Lahore.
I asked about the new hotel that will be constructed in Nathiagali , a 5-star one, whose foundation stone was inaugurated by Imran Khan. I was told a stay order had been put in due to environmental concerns. I was flabbergasted. Paused in my brain tracks. How? What?
Do you actually mean that our sermonising Prime Minister who on one hand claims to have planted a billion trees and also tells us how important tourism is to our future inaugurated a new hotel that didn't even pass through a basic environmental check list?
Let's all dig a khandak, climb into it and curl up in a ball and cry?
No comments:
Post a Comment