ARE COMMANDOS SAME ALL OVER?
OR ARE OUR COMMANDOS DIFFERENT?

Allah O Akbar makes a difference

A Commando is trained to take the life of another person. Killing a living human person is not an easy job. That is why all commandos are trained with the idea that THINK TWICE BEFORE HAVING PRINCIPLES. Principles interfere in performance. A commando can be sent on any mission. Probably not sent to remove their own families, but the capacity is there to even obey that order of chain of command. What a harsh life?

The SSG Commandos of Pakistan Army is a different thing all together. If I remember correctly General Mitha was responsible for their initial formation. Of course they had help of the American Commandos on the same subject. General Mitha believed that the CIA had sponsored the project to leave behind their replacements whenever they may require that. Training was rigorous then, and is rigorous now. Nowadays after retirement commandos bring their learning experience together and make SOFTWARES of their tactics. That software kind of thing is marketed in the world by EX Commandos and by Private Armies, ready to be hired for jobs anywhere in the world. Blackwaters and Engility come to mind.

The TV Season brought episodes of a lady Commando NIKITA to the screen. Headed by a Master Planner and Assassin PERCY, it was worth watching, for its lack of all response to virtue. The theme was merely Greed and Power all over the world. PERCY personified EVIL at its best. As if nothing like it can ever be true, almost twelve firms are cleared by the American Ministry of Defense for this international jobs. Obviously other countries have their own private armies too.

So what makes Pakistan’s SSG different from others. Very simply the Quranic injunction ALLAH O AKBAR. That be prepared to lay your life in the Cause of Allah, and if you die, you embrace Shahadat and the time to move to the next plane of life is shortened and you get into Heaven on an immediate level. It is the very presence of principles that differentiate Pakistani Commandos from others in the world.

M.A. RAHMAN CHUGHTAI’S HOMAGE TO SIKH PHILOSOPHER
A LOST IMAGE OF BABA GURU NANAK

Love for many of Sikh friends of the artist

Guru Nanak is the founding father of Sikhism. No one can dispute that. No one can criticize him too. He is the faith of all Sikhs. But a lot woven around him is plainly fabricated and that is not true for Sikhism alone. Every one builds up an icon and then weaves stories about him. The reason is that he did not write much in his lifetime. His spoken discourses were copied by his successor Guru Anjad, others credit his follower Baba Mardana after his death. Yes, janamsakhis exists, but even the oldest one of them (Bhai Bala), does not match their stories with other stories. Maulvi Ghulam Muhammed gives credit to Said Hussain for Nanak’s training. For instance a Sikh writer, namely Sewaram Singh Thapar, himself writes in 1904:

“The History of the Sikhs Gurus lies much in obscurity. The material at our disposal are very chaotic and misleading. The authenticity of the few extant janamsakhis has been seriously called in question. Many of them are full of mythological descriptions and fictitious tales.”

There was an illustrated manuscript (18th century perhaps) in Lahore with an antiques dealer of the Lahore Museum, in which Guru Nanak’s life was illustrated. There was even a miniature of his meeting with Emperor Zaheeruddin Babar. They sent it for identification to the British Museum and turned it to an American diplomat. The American diplomat just plainly stole the Manuscript from the dealer. Mian Aslam narrates the theft to this day with disdain in his heart. Claims are made of many things by Sikh writers. They claim that his portrait was made in Tabrez by Kamal uddin Behzad himself. I obviously do not know the truth, but it remains a claim, till it is substantiated.

The visit of Guru Nanak to Mecca is there in the Granth itself but the Granth itself was a subject of revision. In any case no one needs to dispute the claim that Guru Nanak visited Mecca (Dr Zakir Naik does) and had a row with caretakers there. He slept with his feet towards the Holy Kaaba and the caretakers resented it. Guru Nanak volunteered to change the directions of his feet. And then the Miracles started to happen, for as they would turn the feet of Guru Nanak away from the Kaaba, the Kaaba would start rotating itself towards the feet of Guru Nanak. This kind of Harry Potter and Dumbledore stuff is found in tales of most Peers and Faqeers of our area. Ali Hujveri Data Darbar just picked up a mosque from its roots to correct the Qibla of same. I am not one to believe them, for I am scientific oriented person, with use of my mind. These are only Faith stories and people are welcome to believe them. Clash of Titans are romantic for knowledge.

This makes us come to the portrait of Guru Nanak by M.A. Rahman Chughtai. The idea was that of the artist’s own. He wrote to the Maharaja of Patiala that he was making such a portrait and would send it to him. The Maharaja was delighted with the news, but when the portrait was made and it reached him, he did not like it. He wanted the artist to change the style, and the concept. The portrayal showed a portrait of a PUNJABI as a SIKH PHILOSOPHER. The Maharaja wanted the garb of a Holy man in deity role. He did not like it and returned it to the artist. The artist would not change his views. Finally it was printed in MODERN REVIEW CALCUTTA as a SIKH PHILOSOPHER but it was ascribed to JALAL UDDIN CHUGHTAI, a nephew lo the artist, who was an Engineer in Railways. He retired as General Manager Pakistan Western Railways as the top man in his services. But he was never an artist in any way. I felt it must be shared. It can be enjoyed for its deep insight. In fact it very much resembles a portrait, which is described as being of the Guru and done in his lifetime. Unfortunately the style and materials are not of that era in any way. But who are we to make a judg’ment. The Sikhs love it, let them love it. In faith, truth is secondary. Where is Chughtai’s portrait of Guru Nanak? I do not know. It must probably would have gone to some show in India and sold there. It must be out there somewhere. We do not have it in our archives, except the printed one. It is a record in itself.

THE NINCOMPOOP CONSERVATORS ATTACHED TO NATIONAL MUSEUM KARACHI
NO KNOWLEDGE OF WINSOR AND NEWTON PERMANENT ARTIST COLOURS

THE AUDACITY OF THE FOOLS TO QUESTION CHUGHTAI ART PIGMENTS

M.A. Rahman Chughtai was not merely an artist. He had the vision to learn everything related to Arts. One such factor in his mind was to make his art last as long as possible. For that he was obsessed with using the best ART MATERIALS in the world. We have an invoice dated around 1930s of import of hand made brushes from a 400 years old Royal Japanese shop in Kyoto Japan. (We will write about that in a separate blog)

He loved excellent quality hand made paper and though he did try other papers (mostly in initial period), he stuck to WHATMANN HANDMADE PAPERS from Old Turkey Mill, the Royal suppliers of paper. That paper had lifeline of perhaps 400 years. In a similar way he experimented with different colours and different forms of rendered colours. He did not like tubes but stuck to solid cakes for his work. The colours of WINSOR AND NEWTON PERMANENT ARTIST COLOURS which again had a life line of hundreds of years. And he did not leave his work exposed to light and environment. He carefully packed each work and preserved them well., The result that even the normal expected degradation could not take place.

We attach a booklet of Winsor and Newton. This booklet is at least 83 years old. The paper had gone literally brown with age but the colors on it, which are a fresh as when they were printed. And read what it says, ABSOLUTELY PERMANENT COLOURS. Shame on the personalities of those who can doubt the same!

When Art gets into hands of low IQ and low EQ people, what can you expect? That they will run to other fools, and start a campaign of maligning the good name of M.A. Rahman Chughtai. Our politicians are making Pakistan learn a new lesson. And that lesson is that honesty is of no use, corruption prevails and will win in the end. And right now they seem to be getting away with it. The dilemma is as old as humankind. Truth versus falsehood. Kalila versus Dhimna, the clever foxes. What are we to believe? Allah of course, when he reassures us of the LAW OF MAKUFAT that to every action here is a reaction, and good will render good and bad will face bad consequences. Nothing else matters!

When billions are poured from outside world to defang Pakistan, away from our Ideology and Principles, we suffer from a RAW deal all the time. So how can the Art world be separate from that? The Art world in Pakistan is jinxed. We can only copy the Anarchy in the Western world, we cannot evolve from our own traditions. There is lack of talent everywhere, but most of all Art is surrounded by a low self esteem of ourselves. That is why when an icon like M.A. Rahman Chughtai shine, nincompoops try to spit on him, not realizing it falls on themselves. No on gives us anything. We live on our own selves and like the young boy, knows when the King is wearing no clothes. Allah’s blessings are on us! No one can take that away.

A STORY OF GERMANY AND PAKISTAN
DR HEINRICH LUEBKE PRESIDENT OF GERMANY

INTEREST IN ART OF M.A. RAHMAN CHUGHTAI

The Commissioner Lahore (I think S.M. Masood) was at our door steps in emergent hurry. The President of West Germany was at the Badshahi Mosque Lahore and had expressed an interest in meeting M.A. Rahman Chughtai. While S.M. Masood waited in our drawing room, the artist got ready, and departed in the official limousine. The meeting was most friendly. Various important German leader had met Chughtai in the past, which including Feuhrer Hern Hitler in 1938. The Government had already presented a painting to the Chancellor of Germany’s Central Bank, and Chughtai Art was being discussed in Germany.

The Government had also presented a painting to the Mayor of Berlin. In any case relations had become cordial. A painting was presented to DR Heinrich Luebke, and DR Luebke responded by sending his Finance Minister Walter Scheel to the house of the artist to give him a GOLD MEDALLION in recognition of his art services. The typical Governmental machinery did not allow the Minister to pay an official visit, and Minister Scheel went back to the State Guest House, and then on his own sneaked in a metallic Silver Mercedes Benz to the house of the artist to give him the medal personally. The journalists were awe struck at the audacity of the Minister in doing all this on his own. They forgot how much respect Germans gave to Art and Artists.

A rather informal letter by President Luebke in 1965, when he receives two paintings for his personal collection, explain things. Love of Islamic Art was phenomenal in the Germans of those days as well as before. This relation continued with the next President, that was Walter Scheel. How President Scheel reacted to Chughtai Art is another story and best carried out in another blog. Suffice that Germans continued to express their love for Chughtai Art.

One such interest was holding of a CHUGHTAI SHOW at the German Embassy in Islamabad. Dr Klaus Terfloth initiated the show and the interest was to hold a CHUGHTAI SHOW at the State Gallery in Bonn. But Pakistan declined to do so and that is another tragic story of the past. We have lived with the failures of the Federal as well as Provincial Governments and it is like a habit. Democracy in Pakistan will never deliver! The Public is never in the eyes of the State.

PRESIDENT JOHN KENNEDY AND JACQUELINE KENNEDY
AND M.A. RAHMAN CHUGHTAI NATIONAL ARTIST

Bridging countries on the art level on 13th July, 1961.

John Kennedy was an iconic President of the United States of America. Jacqueline Kennedy was nothing less. Dubbed as the American Rani, she moved places. There was a huge collection of paintings at the White House during the Kennedy tenure. The Kennedys were presented a painting of a KASHMEERI GIRL at the White House on 13th July, 1961. Our politicians would have taken such gifts home without any record. The painting is still at the Kennedy Memorial in Boston, bringing fame to Pakistan and illuminating the role of M. A. Rahman Chughtai in cementing relations between the two countries. It was exhibited in a grand show of International Gifts in 1999.

Under the auspices of USIS Lahore, Bano Qudsia was given the task of translating Jacqueline Kennedy’s biography into Urdu. That was done and the dustcover was made by M.A. Rahman Chughtai. Jacqueline Kennedy was pleased with the project and sent an autographed copy to the artist, and it was delivered at his house by the American Consulate General in Lahore, David Bane (later Ambassador at many places). Many photographs of the event are there in our archives. Those were the times when diplomats were diplomats, and when that stopped happening, It was President Ayub Khan, who had to write the book FRIENDS NOT MASTERS. No Pakistani Head of State ever had the courage to do the same. We salute him for his thoroughness as a Pakistani well loved by people of Pakistan.

Today when people can compare things, it can be said without an doubt, that after the Quaid e Azam, the most done for Pakistan was by Field Marshal Ayub Khan. Allah bless his soul!

THE INVASION OF MARASIS INTO MAIN STREAM MEDIA
PROFERSSIONAL YES BUT PANDERING TO BASIC INSTINCTS

Intellectualism, Aesthetics and Finer Taste all dead.

It is said that once MARASIS was an honourable word. Those were the people who cared for MERAS or culture. History says that the Marasis were responsible for keeping the legacy record of each and every family of the village, or more precisely warasat, and from there the Punjabi language converted Warasi to Marasi. Not relevant for our discussion at all.

In the course of time a Marasis was merely a joker meant to make people laugh by telling the audience jokes, and more often vulgar jokes. In private audiences even most vulgar jokes. We used to witness the invasion of PANDS into wedding ceremonies and they were so much a nuisance, that at times they were removed by physical force. Normally they would not budge an inch without taking money. They had a leather in their hand by which they used to bring out noise of giving a beating to the other person. Enough of that.

Cable TV nurtured the Punjabi Marasai drama. It would be full of jokes, ribald ones the most, with stress on passive homosexuals and transgender antics. In any normal and decent house the channel was flipped away as being too vulgar to even watch for a little time. And then the dancers with their so called sexual appetizing mujras (repulsive to the educated), which the dancers resented to be called as such. A famous dancer complained that their work was termed as Mujras and when the dance occured in Arts Councils, they were termed as Performance. Forgotten was the aspect that she represented sexuality dominated one, the other was pure sensuality of movement. It was like comparing Arjumand Shazadi with Sheema Kirmani. Obviously taste determined choice of both. Nothing else.

All these marasis, otherwise actors were very professional, and there is lack of professionalism in Pakistan at the moment. With classic actors being so much under paid, that the bias for becoming actors was lost with time. This gap was filled by the Marasis as they shifted into main stream media. No harm done. Enterainment continuity was assured. But the real loss is not felt be people who do not realize that the FINER ASPECTS OF TASTE are being questioned. Our standards of appreciation going down. Are we meant to laugh at the cries of a young factory worker being sodomized? A joke is redundant on this puerile subject.

If this is not checked with time, tastes developed by people like Imtiaz Ali Taj and Enver Sajjad would go down the drain. Lahore was famous for its INTELLECTUALISM, AESTHETICS and FINER TASTE. Bring that back before that is lost forever.

WHO WAS THE FIRST TO CALL MUHAMMED ALI JINNAH,
AS QUAID-E-AZAM. MIAN FEROZEUDDIN AHMAD, OF COURSE

A political jalsa at Mochi Darwaza Lahore

Many things people know. Unfortunately many things do not get written with time and then stand forgotten. You may come across stray references here an there. It was with great pleasure that I found out that Lahore has many distinctions and one of its many distinction is that it was a Lahori who christened our leader Muhammed Ali Jinnah as Quaid-e-Azam. The story in fact is very simple.

A political reawakening was happening in Lahore and it was witnessing lot of political movements. At that time the favourite venue for a jalsa was MOCHI DARWAZA LAHORE and it was here that a gathering had taken place as the All India Muslim League. The gathering was so successful that the number of people attending the same became phenomenal at that time. To commemorate the spirit of the place the area known as NAWAB SAHIB DA CHOWK was named as PAKISTAN CHOWK. In the fervor and heat of this address, there was a Lahori who was making a speech, extolling the virtues of Muhammed Ali Jinnah. All of a sudden he said, Muhammed Ali Jinnah is not an ordinary man but he is a Quaid e Azam. The remark caught up with the imagination of the people and from then on, it spread far and wide, and the birth of Quaid e Azam took place all new. It is our pleasure that it was a person from Lahore, namely Mian Ferozeuddun Ahmad, who gave this nomenclature to our beloved leader.

PHYLLIS ELLIOT OAKLEY ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF STATE
RECALLING HER VISIT TO CHUGHTAI MUSEUM

That caliber of diplomats no longer posted in Pakistan

The role of any diplomat is to bridge two nations. Representing one’s own country, the task of diplomat is to carve a relation with host country. That diplomacy is no more. Arrogance has replaced that attitude and the present diplomats are more like Commandos sent to hammer submissiveness in the country. How can one win hearts and souls with such an arrogant approach to life? Wrong postings have harmed countries seeking better image of themselves.

My father dealt with hundreds of diplomats, and mostly they were in Karachi then, but they still found time to visit Lahore and befriend the artists of Pakistan. These countries included Canada, Australia, USSR, United Kingdom, Great Britain, France, Germany, Netherlands, etc, and of course USA. I myself hosted Ambassadors and High Commissioners of many of these countries. Our invitation card from day one goes to most of the Embassies in Islamabad. I see very few of them now. Afraid perhaps, but mostly unconcerned. Pakistan no longer matters to them, and they have treated us like a SLAVE COUNTRY now. Obviously they are making a grave mistake by distancing themselves from the people of Pakistan.

In this way I was recalling Phyliss E. Oakley, and considered her a perfect specimen of what an American is like. Reserved yes, polite always. In fact she possessed a wonderful insight into many things, and knew the power of the language of Art in diplomatic affairs. In fact another Ambassador Benjamin J. Oehlert had even started an ART IN THE EMBASSY programme in which the best of Pakistani Art was acquired and hung in the American Embassy. Chughtai Art hung in in the various US Consulates, but mostly there were FOUR WORKS OF CHUGHTAI ARTIST hanging in the US State Department itself. The works are still there and cement USA and Pakistan as nothing else. A work of Chughtai namely Kashmeeri Girl is at the Kennedy Memorial Boston, a gift of President Ayub Khan to John Kennedy at the White House.

A proposal to the new American Ambassador. Make your stay felt here! Prove Americans are one of the most friendly nations in the world.
About Phyllis Oakley at present teaching American Policy as Professor at John Hopkins University, USA.

Phyllis Elliott Oakley
Adjunct Professor
American Foreign Policy

Phyllis Elliott Oakley is a diplomat who served as U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Population, Refugees, and Migration (1994–97) and Assistant Secretary of State for Intelligence and Research (1997–99). She is married to former Ambassador Robert B. Oakley and is a member of the American Academy of Diplomacy and the Council on Foreign Relations. Oakley is a graduate of the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University.

Ms. Oakley held a variety of positions within the U.S. foreign service. She was a Staff Assistant to Under Secretary Philip Habib, an Afghanistan Desk Officer and a Cultural Affairs Officer in Kinshasa (on loan to the United States Information Agency, USIA). She worked with the Agency for International Development (AID) Afghanistan’s cross-border humanitarian assistance program in Pakistan and served in Congressional Affairs for the Near Eastern Bureau of the State Department.

Currently an Adjunct Professor at the Johns Hopkins’ School of Advanced International Studies, Phyllis Oakley is teaching a course on functional issues in American foreign policy. She has also been a visiting professor at Mount Holyoke College and Northwestern University and serves on the visiting board of the College of Arts and Sciences of Northwestern University and the advisory board for the Study of Diplomacy at Georgetown University. She was chair of the board at Americans for UNFPA (United Nations Population Fund) from 2003 to 2007 while also serving as chair of the Public Affairs Committee and Nominating Committee at Americans for UNFPA.

God bless her for her skills!

A REMOTE ISLAMIC CIVILIZATION IN INDONESIA
ACEH WITH PECULARITIES ALL ITS OWN

CONQUESTS OF HEART AND SOUL OF ACHEHNESE

I was looking at an old publication about the Achehnese and was surprised at some of its features, which have their own peculiar charm. An island in Sumatra, which converted over a period of time from Hinduism into Islamic way of life. No swords, no conquests. No threats of any kind. And conservative Islam took its roots there all on its own. Yes a few Saints did visit Aceh and are buried there but they came centuries after the conversion of Aceh into Islam.

We find King Erlangga ruling Java from 928 to 1049 AD. Marco Polo came here in 1292 AD and found most people idol worshippers except the petty kingdom of PARLAK which was ruled by Muslims. By 1345 AD when Ibn Battuta came here, he found it under the Sultan Al-Malik Al-Zahir. The remarkable thing is that there were no wars of any kind. Muslim had won the hearts and souls of the people of Indonesia, here Aceh.

One of its most amazing aspect is the rule of SULTANAS over Aceh. The best period of Aceh is considered to be the period when women ruled over the Island. The most famous Sultana is Sapiatodin Shah who ruled from, 1640 to 1675 in Aceh. She is remembered to this day for her ruling style. A famous Saint Abdur Rauf Teungku di Kaula wrote a book on Islam and dedicated it to her, extolling her virtues. Other Sultanas like Inayat Shah are also remembered in such a way by Arab travelers. Aceh also produced Warrior Queens.

The disgust started when the Dutch invaded Aceh for securing PEPPER and they came to be known as Pepper Wars from 1873 to 1914. Resistance was offered by many Achehnese but they died in the process as Dutch conquered the land. Many Royal monuments exist of the departed Royals but they are simple graves and are not buildings in any way. In any case an Islamic civilization developed here with many conservative aspects and yet many out of the way concepts, which can be termed as pure Secular. But that it what is missed. That Islam is in its own way approaches life in a very secular way. It is a DEEN not a religion.