PROTECTING LAHORE
THE ROLE OF THE KOTWAL

Police officers at work and play

Sultan Mahmud Ghaznavi gave an administrative set up to all the cities which came under his domain. The foundations of Lahore was laid as the city called MAHMUDPUR. And the administrative control was set up in it. Malik Ayaz was the man who gave LAHORE the face of the Cultured City of the region. Yes, every city was protected by a Fort, here the Lahore Fort, but the Fort we see today is a product of Emperor Akbar. Certainly a hill-lock was there, and it is reputed that the City Fort was near the Chuna Mandi Lahore. The commander of the Fort , was called the KOTWAL,  and he was the chief Military Officer of the city. More like the Commanders we have in the Lahore Cantt these days.

There are many names of Kotwals we can pick up in history books, but mentioned in the passing.  The first real mention is that of  Kotwal of Lahore, who the elders of Lahore (Mian Ashiq, Mehr Maskhdum, Abid Khan, Muhammed Azim, Hafiz Muhammed, Mehr Shadi, Ahmad Bhandari, and Jan Muhammed), instructed to open the city gates (Lohari Darwaza) to Ranjit Singh, as an agreement that one dacoit is better than many dacoits. A proposal to get rid of the tyranny of the three Sikh rulers of Lahore. The first Kotwal in British times was Khuda Baksh, a Kakayzai by race, and a resident of Mohalla Kakayzais in Lahore. It is interesting that we have even a photograph of him. We also have a photograph of Chaudry Rahmat-ullah who was also a Kotwal of Lahore in 1901.

The most ancient Police Station in Lahore still retains the same name even today as PURANI KOTWALI. This kotwali functioned for centuries, till it was shifted outside the Delhi Gate Lahore. This new Kotwali also mentioned till its name was changed and a new administrative structure of Police Officers were appointed in Lahore. A new regime had become in operation.

BOUNTIES OF ALLAH
HAMMERING GOLD INTO JEWELRY

Development of personality

Allah had reasons for creating us. Allah could have made us perfect. Allah did not. Allah gave us a process towards perfection. Allah created Nature too. Allah could have made Nature perfect. Again Allah did not. Allah asked ADAM (humankind) to perfect Nature and in that process perfect ones own self. This is the meaning of life.

The process of humankind by Allah is a process of EVOLUTION and REVOLUTION. The development of personality is a process for which ADAM (humankind) is himself responsible. No living being got FREE WILL, we were gifted with that, for without FREEDOM, nothing seems to be worthwhile.

In Harvard University, Professor Church researched on a rock from outer space which had a rudimentary DNA in itself. But that rock predated the birth of Planet Earth. Is that not amazing! But the Holy Quran tells us that Allah put life on various places in Universe. In simple terms the Quran recognizes the existence of alien form of life. How many mullahs have taught you this? As if the Mullahs knew anything. The Quran is not there for one given period of time but for all times. That is why it has to be re-interpreted again and again, given the existence of knowledge at that given time. This is the reason that except for basic permanent values given by the Quran as QURANIC LAWS, the rest is up to IJJTEHAD, that is simply making decisions by simple consensus. The Quran dictates the social relation in complete form of a society as a DEEN, and in no way spells the relation with Allah . Obeying Allah’s Quranic laws is the relation with Allah and willing to sacrifice everything to implement the Laws of Allah.

FEEDING THE PUBLIC WITH TALES
THE STRATEGY OF NOTHINGNESS

Empty vessels make more noise

The aim of politicians is to find opportunities for business investment of their needs, and to make money in the shortest period of time. The Midas Touch is part of their life. Government helps them to do the impossible. Create money on executive orders. Printing money. Once upon a time trade was through barter. Then the banking system came in but the banking system was bound to have a percentage of the total assets in some liquid form. Most banking systems adhered to that. The United States became the grandest country who printed money without any financial backing. If the economy of the United States will collapse, so will that of other countries in the world. Such a fragile system and an author writes a book about the myth of America’s downfall. If you have the capacity to punish others, you can get away with everything.

Allah promises in the Quran that Allah will never allow any other system to flourish in the world. We know that only TRUTH is associated with Allah, so we know that bad things will happen. It is the reprieve of Allah that he gives time to everyone to reconsider their values. But who is listening? No one.

Andheri kay baad barish ati hai. After a storm, there is a rain. A cleansing process. Storms are coming in the world. But the storm of storms is when systems change. Communism perished, and so will capitalism. It is bound to happen. It is our faith. It is in our thoughts. Pity this world where perhaps 5000 people in the world control perhaps 90% of its wealth. A shame for humankind. STOP FEEDING THE PUBLIC WITH EMPTY TALES. We are tired. We are on the brink of a revolt. We now know that no knight in shining armour will we see in our life time. We know that we will have to be our own knight in shining armour. On empty stomachs feeding us tales do us no good. We want to vomit this digression.

VIVA ZAPATA! The cry of the revolutionary is always there to please our souls.

SULTANS AND SAINTS
THE DICHOTOMY OF RULE

THE FAQEERI TRADITION IN LAHORE

The Muslim head was the Caliph of Islam. He needed no instructions in Islamic values, for listening to the Quran itself, he was the imposer of Islamic values themselves. The Friday khutba was never the work of some Imam, it was the work of the Caliph or those Governors under him who executed the laws of Islam. And after the Caliphs, the various Sultans of various areas were themselves specialists of Quranic law. No misunderstanding could ever rise. Everything was going well.

Most of the Sultans of our region read the Holy Quran daily, many were Hafiz-ul-Qurans, and knew the intricacy of Islamic laws. Sultan Mahmud Ghaznavi always had the desire to be a Hafiz ul Quran, or having the ability to learn it by heart. This applied to Sultan Muhammed Ghauri, as well as Qutub-ud-din Ai-beg. The Tughlaqs were strong in their understanding of the Quran. Nothing could have gone wrong.

The conspiracy against Islam was the birth of the so-called Holy Man, the Sufi, who claimed to be communicating with Allah himself. A blasphemy of no small order, for the Prophet Muhammed (PBUH) was the last of the Prophets. Nobody could communicate with Allah after that. Anyone claiming to be so was a fraud of the highest order.

The conversions in Hindustan brought the previous beliefs of the converted still in vogue. The Pundit, the Guru, the all knowing Baba, had to be replaced, and the Holy Man stepped in with his own brand of Mantras. And when like other religions, Islam was separated from the Ruler to the Holy Man, inevitably chaos was the result. Sultan Feroze Shah Tughlaq confronted the holy man of his day and conflict arose. The Saint had Feroze Shah Tughlaq murdered at the hands of his own real son. Of the few good things, Maulana Abdul Wahab aimed at was the rejection of this holy man in the minds of the people. I think credit can be given to the Wahabis for projecting this ideal in Islamic values. But Sectarianism is haram in Islam. It is to be Muslims and nothing else. To think in terms of a sect is withdrawal from the rahmat of Allah.

The Quranic laws were converted in the modern age as merely rituals to satisfy the spectator, not the participator in things. The advent of Islam suffered at the hands of these Holy Men. One beautiful way towards the future is the removal of these so called Mullahs of today from all media, as well as all those Seculars being funded by foreign lobbies. Both Mullas and Seculars are two sides of the same coin. Give everything to the specialist. Every field with its own specialization. And certainly in Islam there are no specialists, just pseudos trying to hoodwink the masses.

‘SOB’ SON OF BITCH
AND OTHER ABUSES

History of abuses in Lahore

The differences between men is natural. And when men get hot over issues, the first step is the hurling of abuses. The history of abuses carry with it the social values of any given society. Civilization requires that the abuses be contained, and emotional outbursts require catharsis provided by them.

The most ancient abuse in Islamic society is of course the term ‘JAHL’, and it comes from the word ‘jahalat’, and that word comes from our natural misfit ‘Abu Jahl’, the man who would not accept the prophethood even till his last breath. To any Muslim, there can be none inferior than that, and comparison to him is the ultimate derogation. The next ancient abuse we accost is related to ‘HARAM’, that is illegitimate, and from it we refer the term ‘Haramzada’ and ‘Haramzadi’. That simply is the equivalent of the English word ‘Bastard’. Another traditional abuse is ‘BAYZAT’ and that means someone without any race. Then we have the references of ‘SOOR’ and ‘KUTA’, that is equivalent of being a pig or a dog. And from it comes ‘Soor da putar’ and ‘Kutay da putar’. One is ‘Son of a pig’, yes. Then of course is the English abuse ‘Son of a bitch’, but interestingly there is gender inequality here, for we never hear of ‘Daughter of Bitch’. Strange bias here!

Then we have the female abuses here. The common ones are Kameeni, Kuti, Soorni and Kanjri. That means simply a Spendthrift, a Bitch, a She-Pig and last a Prostitute.

Calling a man a ‘KHUSRA”, that is an ‘eunuch’ is also used. But more and more we hear of sexual references in abuses. Two very Punjabi words (‘G…..’ and ‘B….’) used in our language refers to the ‘PANSY’ or ‘FAGGOT’ in English terms. We need not repeat them here, as everyone understands them. That is a natural passive homosexual. Again affront of man’s sexuality. We also have references to the size of the male genitals, as ‘Chota’, literally something small. The  American comic of previous generation Dora,  ‘Little Lulu’ provoked a big laughter here for in local terms it meant small genitals.

The Sikhs contributed to the derogation of Lahore’s culture by inducting many kinds of abuses here. Abuses referring to sexual intercourse with the mother or the sister or the daughter, is commonly abused to this day. There are no Islamic antecedents to this kind of abuse. It is very Punjabi and very Sikh in character, but abused all the time to this day.

The abuse SOB or ‘SON OF BITCH’ is very interesting. These kind of abuses came with the British rule, but the strange paradox is that the Westerners who love DOGS and BITCHES, should use the term as a derogatory remark. In a culture where zyphilia is present all the time, it shows disregard for love of the animal. When and how a BITCH became a bad reference is not known? But it can be deduced that the bitch shows no reverence fondness for any mate. A number of dogs pursue her and she copulates with one of them. This loose character of the bitch warrants this kind of abuse. Other animals who select their mates are not counted as abusive material.

The American abuses abound here nowadays with American literature, movies and serials abounding around us. The four letter word ‘F…’ is common here today. I need not trace the etymology of any. Those are well known internationally. So the four letter words are there for the Brown Sahibs and the local Mother Sister abuses for the general public. But to me my favourite is “JAHL’ and I see so many of them around, particularly in Governmental circles. Our politicians are born jahls and will remain jahls for the rest of their lives.

2000 VIEWS 25 COUNTRIES
THANK YOU BLOG READERS!

Our two months

One day I just sat down and saw things on the internet and realized that the normal never gets spoken on the internet. Usually two extremes battle each other, bent upon showing oneself as superior and the other as inferior. It is a wrong attitude. The qualifications are not for us to decide. It is the right of everyone to come to own conclusions. No one should enforce. There is nothing better than FREEDOM and the Statue of Liberty can very well represent us in Pakistan too.

The appreciation of Freedom is given by Allah to us. Take Quranic laws, you cannot take the freedom of anyone, not even for a minute. That is why imprisonment is not part of Quranic law. Punishment, yes, only quick justice. Insaaf for all. There are no concept of dreary jails for people to languish in for years without outcome. And the Quran gives us the right to eliminate SHARRAR, all those who indulge in FASAD from existence itself. PEACE is the ultimate aim not only for Muslims but all humankind. No one has right to impose ones will on another. Islam is indeed a way of life, classic, traditional, as well as most modern in all times.

A thousand years of detracting from Islamic values made us fall lower and lower in the esteem of Allah. Dr Allama Iqbal told us so, and instructed us on the reconstruction of religious thought in Islam. Pakistan is the first step towards that future.

We had things to say. We found ears all over the world. Thank you world, thank you all those who read. We really love you. You need not follow us, but this we assure you, we believe in HUNDRED PERCENT TRUTH. And whatever we tell you is the TRUTH  itself. Surely, TRUTH sets us free. God bless you!

THE MUSIC WHICH ROCKED LAHORE FOR YEARS
‘COME SEPTEMBER’ MOVIE THEME

Ever open to new things

Regular movies used to come to Lahore. There was no Bollywood and its vulgarities. The latest movies used to be released here from the agents and most of them were on Mall road, Lahore. We loved posters and we used to visit this guy now and then, and used to rather beg him for handing us out the left over posters of the movies. The movie ‘Come September’ rocked Lahore with Rock Hudson and Gina Lollobrigida. But what rocked Lahore for decades was the theme from the movie. You walked into restaurants, movie theaters, and elsewhere, and the music tone was everywhere. On the Radio Western Music programme, Yasmeen Taher was requested to play it again and again.

It got so popular not only with the educated class but with even the man on the street. You  could hear it playing even on the ‘Pan’ shops on the roads. It was used in TV plays as background music, and what not? For years it seemed, it would never go away. But it did, and not without leaving the Lahori guys twisting all the time. But then that is another story.

PLANET OF THE APES
LESSONS OF LIFE

Decision making under acute stress

The ‘Planet of the Apes’ series is a wonderful example of man’s creative impulses. There is iconic imagery in it. I trembled when astronaut Taylor (Charlton Heston) comes back to Planet Earth to discover a destroyed New York with the Statue of Liberty broken and lying in the sea water. But even more iconic was the imagery when faced with imminent threats, the new astronaut Brent (the sequel to that movie ‘Beneath the Planet of the Apes’} pushes a button, and destroys Planet Earth itself . It seems that within the mountains was a secret nuclear area made long ago then for an eventuality of Planet Earth being taken over. With the apes rushing towards Brent, and with no hope, he pushes the button, and Planet Earth is no longer in the Universe. The message is simple, when Man is pushed into a corner, even a rat becomes a lion. When there is no way out, it is total destruction.

Perhaps this was in front of the decision makers when they bombed Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and changed the course of the war. And the Japanese not only did acquiesce to them, they are still in that position even today. A proud nation humbled beyond recognition.

General Mirza Aslam Baig (then Chief of Army Staff) recounts an interesting tale like that. He says that when threat to Pakistan was imminent, a perception was here to either save Pakistan or take the rest with us. And that is exactly what the Pakistan Army did, by loading a nuke on a jet, ready to take off, if a certain protocol was breached. Was it a bluff! He said, no, not at all. Better die with dignity, rather than lose everything. Beneath the Planet of the Apes is just a movie, here we have decision making in the real world.

Everyone would agree that LIFE is better than lifelessness. But honourable death is a death of a martyr, and the next world awaiting the result of test of mankind. Self respect and dignity is better than anything else, and no effort ever goes waste. To take even one other life is murder of the social system, but to remove injustice, death is a small price to pay. Coward nations should always check the morale of brave nations before going into any needless adventure.

CASTRATION OF PAKISTAN
WESTERN IDEAS OF PEACE

WHY ONLY US?

The Think-tanks are supposed to be full of intelligent people. After all their whole job is to collect information and process the same into workable solutions. But their work is not based on thought. It is based on premise, and the premise is National Policy. And that National Policy is based purely on GREED and ability to contain the world as vassals and slaves. Pure Imperial approach that the history of mankind has not been able to eliminate from the mind of these so called thinking people. Thinking people dream of peace for all, not acquisition of the worlds resources as their own.

The race for Moon has been overshadowed by the race for Mars. Experiments are taking place there which the dumb people of Planet Earth cannot share. The race for WHAT? Acquisitions of course. Some neo-cons wanting to become richer and richer, while the whole world becomes poorer and poorer. A recent report in the press talks of all billionaires having doubled their wealth in the last few years. Charles Ratliffe, the American Economist, once told me, that however bad it seems, they have put a value to human life. I think it was twenty dollars then. And he said that lest the price of WHEAT comes down in international market, instead of feeding the poor, they dump the wheat in the sea, to maintain healthy price levels.

Stephen P. Cohen is an intelligent man. I like him. I love talking to him. And not only him I have met many think tankers in real life. But when poor Cohen says that ‘The Zardari Presidency was the best in the history of Pakistan’ it speaks of him in another light altogether. Just walk out on the streets of Pakistan, and ask anyone what they think of the rule of Asif Zardari. I need not give you the reply. Seek it yourself. What the think tanker is saying and the people of Pakistan are saying are on the opposite ends of scale. So who is right?

The 2015 syndrome is still on the minds of the West. It means they will try their best to undo us by this date. The key power points in Pakistan are in their control after all. So when Cohen thinks that we are on the way out and India will overwhelm us, it makes us laugh. Yes, laugh! Laugh like this:

HA HA HA HA HA HA HA H HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA

I need not put lines on this, but I would make it an infinite laughter. Dear Sir, you do not know the heart of Pakistanis. Those dumb Pakistanis who lick your boots when you come here are not Pakistanis. Go in the street. Go in the cinema houses at present and see people watching the film ‘WAAR’. People rise in their seats to cheer their heros. People get tears in their eyes with the words of ALLAH O AKBAR. Yes Dr Allama Iqbal dreamt of Pakistan and Quaid e Azam made Pakistan, but he made it out of these people. Do not short change this Pakistan. This is a nation which hibernates all the time, but when pushed into a corner, has the resilience of a tennis ball. Press it as hard as you can, it gets into shape again.

Is it coincidental that the missile programme of both countries are named after their heroes! Muhammed Ghauri and Prithviraj Chauhan (more on them later). Pakistan and India are not 66 years old, they are 1200 years old. After all Muhammed bin Qasim was the first Pakistani here. You do not analyze two nations in recent spats, you analyze their entire history. Yes, there is a need for PEACE and peace should be there. Bu never at cost of Self-respect. Castrating us wont do any good, we can grow our manhood again! There is enough testosterone in us.

KABULI MAL AND NEPHEW AMIR SINGH
VASSALS OF AHMAD SHAH ABDALI

Survival issues of Lahore

There is a havelli near Dabbi Bazaar in Lahore. To this day people call it the Havelli of Kabuli Mal, a figure inter-wined in history of Lahore in the worst period of its existence. It is on the tongue of many and yet this character stands forgotten in history. As the name suggests, he belonged to the city of Kabul in Afghanistan, and he was the vassal of Ahmad Shah Abdali. Ahmad Shah Abdali had captured Lahore many times, and left his Governors here. For some years Ahmad Shah Abdali even stayed in Lahore. The great historical incident between Mir Mannu Governor of Lahore and Ahmad Shah Abdali also took place outside Lahore.

Obviously being from Kabul was not unique in any way for the Abdalis, but being a Hindu from Kabul was indeed different. Kabuli Mal was a trusted vassal of Ahmad Shah Abdali, and he appointed him for some years as the Governor of Lahore. The worst period can be understood from the writings of G. Forster, who published a book on his travelogue from Bengal to England, in 1809. Forster writes:

“Soon after the march of Ahmad Shah, the Siques (Sikhs) were seen descending from their various holds on the Punjab, which they rapidly laid waste and after several desultory                 actions, in which the Afghans were defeated, they besieged, and what seems                             extraordinary, they took the city of Lahore; where wildly indulging the enmity, that had               ceased to inflame them against these severe scourges of their nation, they committed               violent outrages. The mosques that had been ever rebuilt or restored to use by the                     Mohamedans, were demolished with every mark of contempt and indignation; and the               Afghans in chains, washed the foundations with the blood of hogs.”

The Muslim Kings cooperation with Hindus was phenomenal. Much to the distaste of general media hype, the Hindus were enlisted by the Kings all the time in their service. Sultan Mahmud Ghaznavi had Hindu generals in his army, and had built temples for Hindu subjects in Ghazni itself for prayers. Unbelievable, but very very true! Such tales abound in history channels. Often considered in such a bad light by bigoted people, Emperor Aurangzeb patronized Hindus all the time. Farmans exist of his donations to various Jogis of Hindustan and maintenance of temples. But those are separate stories. So if Ahmad Shah Abdali had Hindus with him, it was not very different. In fact Guru Aqil Dass had written to Abdali for help. In history we find that those were political wars going on to maintain law and order, nothing else.

Kabuli Mal was defeated by a general Daud Khan, and the citizens of Lahore came to the rescue of Kabuli Mal, and saved him from certain death. But the truce was short lived, as Kabuli Mal imprisoned Daud Khan. Again the citizens of Lahore, particularly Qazi Idrees helped Kabuli Mal to regain power in Lahore. This is a story of the period between 1763 and 1767. One of the worst periods in the history of Lahore. And Kabuli Mal, the pragmatic character of the times and his nephew Amir Singh leaves us to decide in our minds the rights and wrongs of politics of existence.