QK Archives: Election snippets

Elections 2002: NWFP snippets

By Rahimullah Yusufzai

PESHAWAR: Elections 2002 in the NWFP continue to throw up titbits that are worth sharing.



a. Sardar Hussain Babak is the only journalist, contesting elections from the province. He is the ANP candidate from PF-77 Buner. The 27-year-old Babak was drafted into the contest when his uncle, Muhammad Karim Babak, found himself disqualified due to the graduation condition. Karim Babak had twice won election as MPA and also served as a provincial minister. The younger Babak, who has done his Masters in Journalism, worked at The Frontier Star, a small Peshawar daily, before taking up a job at Radio Asia's Dubai-based Pashto service in the United Arab Emirates. His elder brother, Shamim Shahid, is a known Frontier journalist. Babak's main rival in the election is stated to be Jamshed Khan, fielded by Aftab Sherpao's PPP and backed by former MPA and candidate from NA-18 Buner, Sher Akbar. Other contestants are PPPP's Badiuzzaman, PPP dissident Ahmad Khan, NAPP's Muhammad Inam, and the PML-QA's Saiful Malook. The last-named is related to the Babaks.

b. Syed Iftikhar Hussain Gilani, former federal minister and PML-QA candidate from NA-14 Kohat, has been telling voters that his party upon coming to power would generate several hundreds of thousands jobs. This must be music to the ears of millions of jobless people in the Frontier. But it is unlikely the electorate would take this promise seriously. Gilani also needs to explain the magic formula under which so many jobs would be created to reassure the sceptics among the unemployed.

c. The Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) leadership is putting concerned Muslim voters in a difficult position by describing the elections as a fight between Islam and "Kufr". In fact, the MMA candidates are challenging the voters to make a choice now after having complained in the past elections that they were unable to choose between various brands of Islam propagated by rival Islamic groups. The ball, according to MMA nominees, was in the court of the electorate because the six major religious parties had come together for the first time and were contesting the polls under one flag, symbol and manifesto. They say this should make the job of the voters easy and enable them to choose between the believers and non-believers. The MMA contestants are also terming the elections as a contest between anti-US and pro-West political forces in the country. There is surely strong anti-US sentiment in Pakistan but it isn't going to be easy for the MMA to tap all those votes.

d. A tussle has also started as to which party and politician is more qualified to speak for Pakhtun rights. The ANP considers it its right to champion the Pakhtun cause and party leaders, particularly Begum Nasim Wali Khan, are critical of Aftab Khan Sherpao for talking about Pakhtun rights to win some extra votes in the elections. NAPP founder Ajmal Khattak is another vocal advocate of Pakhtun rights even though his efforts to displace the ANP as the main Pakhtun nationalist party have yet to bear fruit. The Pakhtun politicians in the MMA, such as Maulana Fazlur Rahman, Qazi Hussain Ahmad and Maulana Samiul Haq, spare no opportunity to criticise the ANP for abandoning the Taliban, who were overwhelmingly Pakhtun and befriending the US. All this has put the common Pakhtuns in a quandary as they struggle to differentiate between friends and foes.

e. Mansehra politicians Habibur Rahman Tanoli and Sakhi Muhammad Tanoli have passed on their electoral rivalry to their children. Habibur Rahman, serving jail sentence after his conviction in a NAB corruption reference has fielded his daughter, Ghazala Habib, from the NWFP Assembly's PF-57 Mansehra constituency. Sakhi Muhammad, who has been winning and losing from the constituency to Habibur Rahman, put up his son, Naeem Tanoli, after falling victim to the graduation condition. The younger generation of Tanolis appears determined to continue confronting each other in elections even after the eviction of the older Tanolis from the electoral arena.

f. Ghazala Habib isn't the only female candidate in the elections from Hazara. In fact, there are comparatively more women candidates for general seats in Hazara than rest of the province.

The other two in the race are Shamim Akbar Seemi of late Omar Asghar Khan's Qaumi Jamhoori Party from PF-44 Abbottabad and Bibi Nargis Ali of Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf from PF-54 Mansehra. Of the three, Ghazala Habib, is the only one with a realistic chance of winning on account of some good work done by her jailed father in the constituency.

Parallel politics

Parallel politics

The tabling of Hasba Bill in the midst of the resignation furore created by MMA was well-timed; it did deflect attention from the issue
Published THE NEWS on Sunday December 2006

By Javed Aziz Khan

The Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) and the federal government are fighting once again on a familiar bone of contention -- the implementation of the controversial Hasba Bill that the NWFP Assembly passed last month. The assembly had sent the draft to Governor Ali Mohammad Jan Aurakzai, whose assent would make it a law of the province.

According to legal experts the governor would be violating the constitution by returning the bill or not signing the draft within one month. However, the federal government came to his rescue by moving the Supreme Court of Pakistan against the bill. The government requested the apex court to stop the provincial government from establishing a parallel administrative system. The court barred the MMA government from implementing it on December 15 as well as directed the governor not to sign the draft before it arrived at a verdict on the case. The next hearing of the case has been scheduled for the third week of January.

Two days before the stay order, NWFP Chief Minister Akram Khan Durrani had announced formation of a committee headed by Education Minister Fazle Ali to propose names for the provincial and district ombudsmen. The committee had been tasked to complete its job within one week so that practical steps could be taken for the implementation of the Hasba Act. The process has been put to a stop after the stay order.

The bill has been lying pending for the last three and a half years. It was in June 2003 that the MMA government was forced to take back the bill in the same session in which the Shariat Bill was passed. The strong resistance, put up by the joint opposition MPAs in the NWFP Assembly belonging to ANP, PPPP, PPP-S, PML-Q and PML-N, forced the clergy-led government to amend certain clauses. It did so in consultation with the opposition as well as people from different walks of life.

MMA experts worked on the bill for another two years to remove some of the reservations of the opposition and Hasba Bill was tabled in the NWFP Assembly again in 2005. Despite strong opposition, the bill was passed with majority. The draft was sent to the governor NWFP who expressed certain reservations on it and returned it to the government. The MMA brought amendments in the Act and sent it again to the governor for approval. The volleying of the Act continued for a while after which the MMA announced to further amend the draft according to the wishes of the opposition. It took over an year and only raised the issue of Hasba Bill whenever it was under some kind of political pressure by the federal government.

After consultations with intellectuals, NGOs, politicians, religious scholars, professionals and people from different walks of life, MMA tabled it again on November 13. This was the time when the Supreme Council of the alliance had announced that they would be quitting from the assemblies in the first week of December. Despite the hue and cry raised by the opposition, the act was passed with a majority vote. Now it is pending in the governor's secretariat who has been directed by the Supreme Court of Pakistan not to sign it before its verdict.

The Attorney General of Pakistan Makhdoom Ali Khan during his arguments before a larger bench of the Supreme Court headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry argued that the NWFP government has included certain sections in the draft of the Bill that the court had declared in violation of the constitution. Another objection of the Attorney General was that the Bill is against Article 175 of the constitution that will result in establishment of a parallel judicial system in the province.

The federal government believes the Hasba Bill is not only unconstitutional but un-Islamic as well. "The bill is un-constitutional and un-Islamic and that is why the Supreme Court has stayed its implementation. The provincial government should wait for the decision of the court," Information Minister Mohammad Ali Durrani told newsmen in Peshawar.

Another Durrani who happens to be the chief minister of NWFP thinks it's a forward step to enforce an Islamic system of government in NWFP. Contradicting the statement of Information minister that the establishment of Hasba Force would cost Rs.8 billion and 1000 personnel would be recruited, the chief minister says the Hasba Department would cost Rs.26.5 million per annum. He also vowed to fight a legal battle in the Supreme Court and is looking for a panel of reputed lawyers to defend the MMA's case.

Federal Minister for Political Affairs Amir Muqam, who is a staunch MMA opponent, and is supported in this opposition by none other than President Musharraf himself, thinks the Hasba Act would result in establishing a parallel administration in the province. Elected on an MMA ticket in the general elections, the federal minister has emerged as the strongest critic of MMA.

"Strengthening institutions is the only solution to a number of our problems. We will have to respect the parliament to avoid further complications," remarked Bakht Jehan Khan Advocate, and Speaker of NWFP Assembly. He opined they would accept whatever the decision of the apex court is in the case.

The implementation of Hasba Act did not seem to be on the cards after the resignation furore raised by MMA. In that sense, it was perfectly timed. It did succeed in deflecting attention from the resignation issue for a bit and not for long. It was clear all along that the two major partners, JUI-F and JI, stand divided on the issue. Thus, while the chief minister, who is a senior leader of the JUI-F, was preparing to take practical steps for the implementation of the Act, a seasoned JI leader Senator Professor Ibrahim was saying at a seminar that the implementation of Hasba was impossible since the religious parties had already decided to quit.

QK archives: Tales from the Qissa Khwani bazaar

Tales from the Qissa Khwani Bazaar

Written by Joobin Bekhrad on July 24, 2012.

ZALAN KHAN’S QUEST TO BATTLE STEREOTYPES ABOUT A TUMULTUOUS AND WIDELY MISUNDERSTOOD REGION
There’s no doubt that the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), a region located between Afghanistan and Pakistan, has seen its share of violence, lawlessness, war, and turmoil. However, there’s so much more to this vast and diverse land that is home to myriad peoples and traditions, and its unfortunate that people both in the region and in the West are only exposed to the darker side of the story.

Luckily for us, Zalan Khan and the writers at Qissa Khwani, in the ancient tradition of their storytelling ancestors, are providing alternative perspectives to the ones channeled through the media, in the hope of changing the way the region is perceived throughout the world. I had the chance to speak to Zalan (a Peshawari native) about this wonderful initiative, as well as his thoughts on the FATA region itself and the endangered art of storytelling therein.

What is Qissa Khwani, and why did you establish the site?

The name, Qissa Khwani, is a reference to the old Qissa Kwhani Bazaar (Lit. ‘Storytellers’ Market) in the city of Peshawar. Historically, the marketplace was a stopping point for caravans travelling eastwards to Delhi, or westwards and northwards as far as Baghdad, and even the golden road to Samarkand! The biggest ethnic group in this area are Pashtuns, but it is also home to other ethnic groups, including Dari (a Persian variant) speaking Tajiks, Hazaras, Hindko speakers and the Baloch. The traders would have probably in between business exchanges over carpets, spices, and furs, sat down in the local tea houses and swapped stories of local areas and faraway lands. This tradition of storytelling – the telling of a local ‘narrative’ – is what really inspired the creation of the website. There were other influences as well, as for someone with close ties to the region, I had yet to see a newspaper or website where I could find out what was really happening in the region. The national and foreign newspapers wrote in broad brushes, missing out on cricual bits of context. Finally, one day a year back I wrote an article entitled Pashtuns: Chowkidars or Noble Savages? and finally decided to set up Qissa Khwani.

You once mentioned to me that the Federally Administered Tribal Areas are negatively portrayed in the Western media, and that you are unhappy about this. How do you view the region, and what role do you see yourself playing in changing the way people perceive it?

I do not neccesarrily see it being something exclusive to the Western media; the national Pakistani media has been as equally complicit. Furthermore, I don’t see the issue being specific to Pakistan’s FATA alone, but rather to the entire region stretching from Herat in Afghanistan, to Attock in Pakistan, to as far north as Chitral, right down to the Baloch areas of Pakistan. My issue is not with necessarily what is reported (although that is also an issue), as much as the fact that we usually only hear one side of the story. As Nigerian writer Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie so astutely remarked, ‘the single story creates stereotypes, and the problem with stereotypes is not that they are untrue, but that they are incomplete. They make one story become the only story’.
The region is experiencing unprecedented turmoil. Beyond the tens of thousands that have died, schools have been destroyed, and hundreds of thousands have been displaced. There has been a generation brought up to live amidst instability, and surrounded by money, weapons, radicalisation, and drugs. To give you some examples of the insecurity, in the first three months of 2009, there were 200 kidnappings for ransom in Peshawar, while according to another source in the city of Quetta, over 800 Hazaras were killed in 24 incidents of mass-murder, in addition to there being 131 targeted ambushes since 2001.

Thus, articles or reports to do with people who live in the area are often written by outsiders, and are simplified into stereotypes (although some are benign) about terrorists, backward war-like savages, graveyards for empires, and long-bearded lawlessness. That isn’t the case, however. The locals are people who live, love, bleed, and die like everyone else. Their lives and stories are as worthy of attention as those of anyone else’s, and are just as interesting, if not more.

A Chaiwalla
A Chaiwalla
The single story creates stereotypes, and the problem with stereotypes is not that they are untrue, but that they are incomplete. They make one story become the only story - Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Your site describes itself as a storyteller’s bazaar. What is the current state of storytelling in countries such as Afghanistan and Pakistan? Are traditional storytellers still relevant, or are they fast succumbing to the changes brought about by modernity?

Storytelling is always relevant. It reminds us of what the world was like, and where we are today. More importantly, stories remind us to hope and dream for a better future.

Unfortunately, storytelling faces several challenges in the region. For one, storytelling depends on the presence of curious audiences, and people willing to spend time to listen to stories. As well, there is a lack of money to spend on literacy, and one cannot freely express oneself without fear of reprisal. In the case of the latter, most of the books about the region are written by outsiders, and at the same time, there are local bookshops unable to turn a profit and are closing down as a result. While that might sound negative, I would argue that there are many writers, storytellers, and readers out there; all they need is the right platform.

In addition to the material on Qissa Khwani, what books would you recommend as a primer to further understanding the region (i.e. the F.A.T.A.), and going beyond the headlines? I’ve just recently read a book by Jamil Ahmad (who once lived in the region), called The Wandering Falcon, which, although it was a wonderful story, did not do much to promote the positive aspects of the region.

The Wandering Falcon is an excellent novel, and it serves its purpose as a story. If you enjoyed it, I would also recommend The Pathans by Ghani Khan, which is available for free online. Both both books talk about a time that has passed two generations back.
How do you view the future of the Qissa Khwani website?

In broad terms, it will hopefully become a website which will feature a variety of different writers, writing on everything from politics, history, and culture, to travel and fiction. And perhaps – just perhaps – one of our writers will one day tell the world a story that will change how others perceive the region.

Visit the Qissa Khwani website at www.qissa-khwani.com.

About Joobin Bekhrad:
Joobin Bekhrad Joobin is the Founder and Editor of REORIENT, and the Co-Founder

On 25th August in 1966, a Pakhtun Doctor, Aurang Shah, was shot dead by his patient in this building in Sacramento, California. The shooting occurred in the room encircled in the attached photo. So who was this doctor and what is his story?

Dr. Nafees Ur Rehman (Twitter @NafeesRehmanDr)

On 25th August in 1966, a Pakhtun Doctor, Aurang Shah, was shot dead by his patient in this building in Sacramento, California. The shooting occurred in the room encircled in the below photo.

So who was this doctor and what is his story?

Let's have a look at his life and his political activism for Pakhtunistan.

Photo Source: https://sacramento.pastperfectonline.com

Dr. Aurang Shah was born in the village of Manki in Swabi (present day in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Pakistan) in the family of Rahim Shah Faqirkhel. There is, however, confusion around his Date of Birth. According to Mian Wakil Shah Faqirkhel, he was born in 1890, same year when Bacha Khan was born. But according to findgrave.com, he was born on August 5, 1896.

There is a reason for highlighting this inconsistency in his DOB. Acc. to Mian Wakil Shah's write-up published on the Afghan Express Blog (https://afghanexpress.wordpress.com/), Aurang Shah was offered job as a Tehsildar by the D.C Peshawar as soon as he did his matriculation in 1905. While according to the book The Joffrey Ballet: Robert Joffrey and the Making of an American Dance Company, Aurang Shah and his brother Daulat Khan both attended Bacha Khan's school. Please note that the first school that Bacha Khan had opened in 1910 was in a mosque and it was shut down by the British in 1915. So I wonder if British offered jobs to the graduates (if there were any graduates in the first place in the 5 years of school operation) of Bacha Khan's school.

On the other hand, the book The Joffrey Ballet: Robert Joffrey and the Making of an American Dance Company published 1997, contains interviews of Dr. Aurang shah's son, Naim Shah and his cousins, adding more credibility to the book's take on the subject of schooling.

But lets leave this topic here and discuss Dr. Aurang Shah's journey to the US, his education and his political struggles for Pashtunistan. Aurang Shah and his brother Daulat Khan were encouraged by their mother to go to the US for further education. Their father had earlier been murdered owing to a feud, possibly a family feud. 

So in 1916, they boarded a freighter to the US. Below is the account of their journey.

Both brothers had lived their american dream. They started off with selling food on pushcarts with their own original recipe of chili that earned them big bucks later. With that money, they parted ways and pursued different careers.

Daulat opened a restaurant in Seattle while Aurang Shah did his MA from Harvard and then obtained a medial degree from the Tufts - achieving the goals that he & his mother had setup for him. Even after success, the two brothers always carried the chili recipe in their wallets.

Aurang Shah was always politically active and founded Azad Pakhtunistan Association of America in 1928 in California and with this he also founded the idea of an independent Pashtunistan/Pakhtunistan. According to Mian Wakil Shah, Dr. Aurang would send funds to Bacha Khan to support his political agenda. Its worth-noting that Bacha Khan was against the partition of India meaning he wasn't for an independent Pakhtunistan, at least not until the partition was agreed upon.

According to a recent PhD study[1], Aurang Shah's political activism was sparked after creation of Pakistan when Bacha Khan got arrested. This contradicts the account presented by Mian Wakil Faqirkhel that Dr. Aurang Shah was actively pursuing the idea of Pashtunistan since 1928.

Mian Wakil Shah didn't provide any references and sources in support of this claim neither have I been able to find them. On the other hand, there is a lot of evidence that points to Dr. Aurang Shah political acivitism post Pakistan's creation.

For example, the pro-Pashtunistan protest in 1950 in California when Pakistani premier, Liaquat Ali Khan visited USA.

Kabul, Number 267, Volume 20, Issue 7, June 22, 1950; Kabul Afghanistan.

And the letters that he wrote to the editor in the Sacramento Bee [1] protesting the arrest of Bacha Khan in Pakistan, and US refusal to issue visa to Bacha khan in 1956 and 1965.

This shall give a better picture of Dr. Aurang Shah's activism for Pashtunistan supported by Afghanistan.

Afghanistan awarded him the 2nd highest civil award for his activism.





However, as we all know, the idea of Pashtunistan never materialized owing to the fact that there was not enough public and political support behind it.


On 25th of August, 1966 when he was in his clinic, a disgruntled patient named Lovato shot him dead with a pistol. According to his will, he was buried in Kabul and his funeral was also attended by king Zahir Shah of Afghanistan and Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan aka Bacha Khan.


Bibliography:

1. Baden, J. (2018). Through Disconnection and Revival: Afghan American Relations with Afghanistan, 1890-2016. (Electronic Thesis or Dissertation). Retrieved from https://etd.ohiolink.edu/
2. Anawalt, S. (1998). The Joffrey Ballet: Robert Joffrey and the making of an American dance company. University of Chicago Press.
3. Kabul, Number 267, Volume 20, Issue 7, June 22, 1950; Kabul Afghanistan.

4. Sacramento Archives, URL https://sacramento.pastperfectonline.com/, accessed July 8, 2019.

5. FindAGrave.com, (URL: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/128232028/aurang-shah), accessed July 8, 2019.

6. Article د پښتونستان د تصور ګمنام خالق, Mian Wakil Shah Faqirkhel (URL https://afghanexpress.wordpress.com/) accessed July 8, 2019.

Ataullah Ozai-Durrani — An Afghan immigrant in the US who made name & a fortune with the invention of Minute-Rice recipe in the early 1940s, and left half a million dollars to Harvard university for translating poetic works of Mirza Ghaleb and Mir Taqi Mir.

Dr. Nafees Ur Rehman (@NafeesRehmanDr)


Photo of Ataullah Ozai-Durrani, source: Smithsonian Institution Archives, Accession 90-105, Science Service Records, Image #SIA2008-1489

Ataullah Ozai-Durrani was born in Herat, Afghanistan in 1897 and had immigrated to the US in 1923. Though his education was in Petro-Chemistry but he pursued researching in planting, preparing and cooking rice after one of his guests remarked that the chicken-rice, that they were served at dinner, were so good that it needed to be introduced to the public. Ozai-Durrani spent the next 10+ years reading, experimenting and researching on rice. It was around 1939 that he had established his method of preparing rice and it was time to share and sell it.

In 1941, he walked into the office of General Foods Corporation in New York, set up his portable stove and convincingly demonstrated cooking rice in minutes. General Foods were impressed with the significant reduction in cooking time and immediately bought his recipe.

Copy of the Quick-Cooking-Rice Patent: Source https://patents.google.com/patent/US2438939

Thanks to the large-scale marketing of Minute Rice and later mass orders by the US army, the product achieved its success. Ozai-Durrani became a millionaire almost overnight.

There is another interesting aspect to Ozai-Durrani's life, and that is his interest in the poetry of Mirza Asadullah Khan Ghaleb and Mir Taqi Mir, famous poets of the subcontinent. It is not clear how he developed interest in their poetry. Could it be during the times when he studied at Aligarh Muslim college in India or later when he befriended Syed Hussain, a disciple of Gandhi who had advocated for freedom of India in the US and delivered lectures in 1920s and 1930s.  Ozai-Durrani wanted to translate the works of Mirza Ghaleb and Mir Taqi Mir into English language. For this purpose, he donated about 100 thousand rupees to Aligarh Muslim University in 1950s. The VC of AMU, Dr. Zakir Hussain was also friend of Ozai-Durrani. However, nothing came out of this program and Ozai-Durrani eventually withdrew his support.

Ozai-Durrani died in May 1964 due to lung cancer and bequeathed half a million dollars to Harvard University for the same purpose of translation of Ghalib's Mir's works, and as memorial to Syed Hossain.

You may find it interesting that when more information was sought on the two poets, a librarian at the Indian consulate was contacted, who then suggested that it was really a matter for the Pakistanis as they are not known in India. A professor of Iranian studies at Columbia University also downplayed the value/significance of the 

Mirza Asadullah Khan Ghaleb

Mir Taqi Mir 

poets and said "they are not outstanding...in the vast panorama of Persian poetry, but they are very important to Pakistan." Harvard University then persuaded Dr. Annemarie Schimmel for the job and appointed her as Professor of Indo-Muslim Studies.

With Ozai-Durrani donation, the chair was able to publish two excellent books, Three Mughal Poets Mir, Sauda, Mir Hasan (Cambridge, 1968) and Ghalib: Life And Letters (Cambridge, 1969), both by Ralph Russell and Khurshidul Islam.

John K. Baden in his PhD thesis, made an interesting observation on why Ozai-Durrani chose two Urdu poets and not any Pashtun poets. He observes:

"Ozai-Durrani’s motives for picking the two poets are unknown. Notably, he did not feel constrained to sponsor a Pashtu or exclusively Dari (Persian) language “Afghan” poet to further the prestige of his native Afghanistan. Perhaps Ozai-Durrani assumed a broader regional or linguistic identity in the United States rather than one exclusive nationality, but he could have simply chosen the two poets because he associated them with the friend he sought to honor in his bequeathal."

Ghor Khuttree: marking 2000 years of history

Gor Khuttree -- marking 2000 years of history

Qk archives published by the NEWS on Sunday in 2011

By Dr Ali Jan

Gor Khuttree literally means the 'Warriors Grave', although there are no traces of any grave here. It is perhaps the oldest citadel in the ancient city of Peshawar. A recent UNESCO sponsored archaeological excavation at the site has established the city's historic profile which dates back to pre-Christian period of more than two millennia making Peshawar one of the world's oldest living cities.

It remained an important place for travellers for thousands of years. Buddha's alms or begging bowl was displayed here at one time. After the decline of Buddhism in the region following the invasion by Huns and Sassanians, it became a bastion for Hindu worship. Mughal Emperor Babar in the beginning of his memoir, Babarnama, recorded: "On Friday, the 1st Sefer in the year 932, when the sun was in Sagitarius (1525 AD, November 17th), I set out on my march to invade Hindustan." On reaching Peshawar, Babar with his usual curiosity visited Gor Khuttree and wrote, "There are nowhere in the whole world such narrow and dark hermit's cells as at this place. After entering the doorway and descending one or two stairs, you must lie down, and proceed crawling along, stretched at full length. You cannot enter without a light. The quantities of hair (cut off by pilgrims as offerings), both of head and beard, that are lying scattered about, and in the vicinity of the place are immense."

The present buildings built at the site mostly date back to Mughal, Sikh and the British period. Lying at the crossroads of the old trade-route, Gor Khuttree became a major caravanserai in Mughal times and mainly served as a stopping place for travellers coming from other parts of the world. It was converted into a fortified compound and two grand entrances were built on its eastern and western ends. The gates were kept locked at night to provide safety and shelter to the camel caravans laden with merchandise. A mosque was also built here by Jahan Ara Begum, daughter of Emperor Shahjahan.

During the early Sikh rule, around 1823, the mosque was destroyed and replaced by a temple to Gorakhnath in the south of the courtyard. Later Gor Khuttree became the residence of their Italian mercenary general, Paolo de Avitabile who also built a pavilion over its western gate. A rare pen and ink sketch of him dated February 1844 (originally done by 'C.G' in Calcutta) has recently been discovered in the dusty store-godown of Peshawar museum.

Avitabile was from Agerola, on the famous Salentine peninsula between Naples and Amalfi in Italy. The town square of San Lazzaro in Naples is named after him. He was a mercenary in the true sense who had also served in Napoleon's army. He ruled Peshawar from 1838-1842 with an iron hand. The local inhabitants of Peshawar used to call him 'Abu Tabilah'. When the 31st (Huntingdonshire) Regiment passed through Peshawar on August 21, 1842 they were hosted by him. The service digest of the British regiment records: "The officers were entertained hospitably by the governor of the city, the Italian General Avitabile who had been recruited by Ranjit Singh to train his army and had stayed on to serve his son. They were impressed by the evidence of his methods of maintaining law and order. At each corner of the city there was a large gallows on which malefactors were hanging." (Service Record, the 31st Regt, 1842)

In 1842 Avitabile returned home to Italy laden with wealth and honours, and proceeded to procure for himself a large castle-like mansion, a magnificent funeral chapel in the local cathedral. People also credit him with having created a new breed of cattle by importing some Jersey cows from Britain, on his way home from Peshawar in 1842, and crossing them with the local variety; the result is supposed to produce a fine local cheese. He soon came to occupy the same funeral chapel that he had bought when he married his 12-year-old Italian niece who it is said poisoned him to death in 1850.

Yet long after his departure from Peshawar and this life some of his past subjects from this region were still searching for him. Sir Richard Francis Burton, the legendary explorer, linguist and translator of Arabian Nights etc (who also became the first Englishman to perform the ritual of Haj in the guise of a Pathan in 1853) records meeting a group of plain folks from the Punjab Frontier in Arabia "...who had walked from Meccah to Cairo in search of 'Abu Tabilah,' (Avitabile), whom report had led to the banks of the Nile." Burton noted: "Some were young, others had white beards -- all were weary and wayworn; but the saddest sight was an old woman, so decrepit that she could scarcely walk. The poor fellows were travelling on foot, carrying their wallets, with a few pence in their pockets, utterly ignorant of route and road, and actually determined in this plight to make Lahore by Baghdad, Bushir, and Karachi. Such -- so incredible -- is Indian improvidence!" (Personal Narrative of a Pilgrimage to Al-Madinah and Meccah -- 1855)

During the Anglo-Sikh wars (1849) George Lawrence, the British representative and his family took refuge here for sometime. In the following years its eastern end became the City Mission House. The Illustrated London News (ILN) in an 1860 issue printed an image entitled 'Illumination And Fireworks At Peshawar' depicting a grand Viceregal procession of elephants passing through the old city towards the western (tahsil) gate of Gor Khuttree. The illustration was done on the occasion of the grand durbar of February 29 1860 when the Governor General and Viceroy of India held a reception of the principal chiefs of the various Pathan hill tribes who had assembled to pay homage to the representative of Queen Victoria. According to the ILN: "...the occasion was celebrated by illuminations and a display of fireworks of both of which natives are exceedingly fond; and they produce the finest fireworks by the simplest means. A little earthen dish, like a flat cup, is used, filled with oil, and with a piece of cotton-wick is put in it. These lamps are provided in great numbers, and are placed in rows along the tops of houses, and upon the cornices of the shops, over and under windows, around arches, and, in fact, wherever one of these tiny lamps can be placed. The effect is picturesque in the extreme. Everywhere the natives are sitting, perfectly still and quiet, in long rows, behind the lights, waiting silently to see the Lord Sahib pass by." (Illustrated London News, 1860)

In March 1869 Amir Shere Ali, the King of Afghanistan resided in the house which stood on the south-eastern corner of Gor Khuttree at the invitation of the missionary clergy. In the latter half of the nineteenth century it became the residence of the lady missionaries connected with the Church of England Zenana (female) Missionary Society.

Dr. Arthur Lankester opened the medical mission work in Peshawar at this site. It began on January 12, 1898, when a man from Ghazni in Afghanistan, some two hundred miles beyond the frontier, walked into the courtyard and asked for treatment. The hospital carried on until 1904 when it was shifted to much larger premises outside the walled city at the Mission Hospital, Dabgari Gardens.

An English archaeologist Gertrude Bell, mostly renowned for her findings in Iraq, visited Gor Khuttree in 1903 and wrote in her diary: "22 Jan -- We went to the Tahsil where there is a suite of empty rooms where the Amir's envoys are lodged, with a zenana for their women. The Tahsildar is an agreeable Persian speaking man. From the roof we had a wonderful view over the rabbit warren of mud coloured Peshawar and away across a plain set with trees to the hills of the Forbidden Land." (Diary of Gertrude Bell, 1903)

In 1912 a Fire Brigade Station was built on the premises. Two red antique fire engines are parked under the former municipal shed at Gor Khuttree. They are well-preserved and the name of the Merry Weather London Company that manufactured them in the early 1900s is still visible. During the British-era, Gor Khuttree also functioned as a Tahsil or District Police Superintendent's headquarter.

Recently an archaeological museum has been built on the south-eastern side where the original grand residence known as 'Serai-du-dar' ('The Jun of the Two Gates') had perhaps once stood. Objects recovered from excavations at Gor Khuttree are displayed here. It has an interesting ethnological gallery upstairs as well. The curator, Ihsanullah Khan, is a knowledgeable young man who gave me a splendid guided tour of the place.

Peshawar has a rich history which is gradually disappearing brick by brick. In the north of the compound is an appalling new construction -- a 'Marriage Hall' -- built in 1980s despite much public opposition, which is unfortunately a big blot on the otherwise charming ancient heritage site of Gor Khuttree.

QK Archives: Rahmat Shah Sail

Rahmat Shah Sail
Written by Shamsur Rahman Shams
Saturday, 20 May 2006
Sweet are the uses of adversity, says William Shakespeare. It is a poisonous toad which contains in its head a precious jewel. It gives us more scope for the exercise of our faculties and there is no better school for man. What is learnt in the school of adversity cannot be learnt anywhere else, either from books or from schools and colleges.

The noble and sublime of the world are those who have risen from the ranks. The world has benefited more form these struggling souls than by men nursed in prosperity.

Mr. Rahmat Shah Sail has suffered his full share of adversities. Born among a family of laborers in 1943, he went through many trials and tribulations during his childhood. His father, Amin Gul, and grandfather, Syed Gul, are stated to be the poorest people of Warter (Dargai) in Malakand Agency.

Sail was admitted to a local primary school for formal education at the age of five, but it became difficult for his parents to bear the expenses and thus he was deprived of getting any education. According to his colleagues he was the most intelligent student but after passing class three, he was compelled to leave school and assist his parents in earning a livelihood. He worked from morn to dusk and brought a few coins home to buy corn. His spirit, meanwhile, was no dormant. He had a heart filled with emotions and thoughts, and after a hard days labor he used to compose poetry to lessen his fatigue.


This capacity later developed and he emerged as a poet and was given a prominent place among the other poets of the territory. Nobody guided him except in showing him how to labor harder and harder. It is astonishing to note here that the early life of Rahmat Shah Sail was arduous and full of difficulties, but his early poetry was concerned with nothing but his roaming about confounded by the teasing love of his beloved. His early poetry is an echo of his grieved heart, not due to hard work but to the faithlessness of his beloved.

On the one hand he used to help his parents while on the other he burnt midnight oil developing his emotional thoughts and expressing his feelings through his pen. As soon as his senses matured, his ideas and feelings ripened and his poetry took on new shape and color.

Emboldened also by a local poet, Rahmat Shah Sail won a position and became famous for his poetic and literary talent. Now, instead of composing only love poetry, he gave vent to many other subjects and made his poetry universal. He started studying the work of ancient and modern poets. He went through the works of Khushal Khan Khattak, Rahman Baba, Abdul Hamid, Ali Khan and other Pashto poets, as well as those of Sahir Lodhianvi, Faiz Ahmad Faiz and Josh Maleeh Abadi and Urdu. He was considerably influenced by their technique and sublime style.

Though uneducated, Sail is the author of three books, Da Weer Pa Chum Ka War Da Naghmu and Da Lumbu pa Soori. The former contains sonnets and the latter ghazals, plots, stanzas and tappas. His third book, Da Khaistoonu Da Sparly Badoona has come to the market recently. It is compiled from his latest ghazals written in modern Pakhtun society.

Saadullah Jan Burq, a renowned poet and a distinguished writer, writes about Sail that if a flower has color but no fragrance or fragrance but no color, it can not be called a rose. Only when it has both these features does a rose attain perfection and as every flower is not a rose, so every poet can not be compared with Rahmat Shah Sail. What makes Sail most highly regarded is his melodious poetry. There is a harmony between his poetry and voice. His poetry is more impressive when recited by himself.

His ghazal interprets various aspects of life. If he talks about the rosy cheeks of his beloved, he also feels light and darkness, happiness and sorrow. If he discusses flowers, he also refers to the thorns surrounding them. The salient characteristics of his ghazals are their separateness, mannerisms and similes. These make his ghazal completely different from that of other poets.

Sail writes poetry and prose and has full command on both. He is full of vigor, courage and capable to continue and spread his work:

He writes:



My wisdom is not to be perished or destroyed. Only hard times will paralyze it.

On analysis, two things emerge: his poetry is dominated first by delicacy and second naturalness. Every verse he says in such a natural and delicate manner as to touch the heart. He says:



O my beloved! Why does my presence so confuse you? I am like spring and will make blossom your youth.

He is a highly anxious lover ready to suffer every sort of agony to get the hand of his beloved:



Saqi! Give me wine of the rosy eyes today. No matter if I am anguished for it tomorrow.

Any poet or writer who, after observing certain facts, tries to hide them or produce in a different way does not fulfill his responsibility as a poet or writer and is said to be coarse and dishonest. Sail stands innocent of any such act.

He is a sensitive heart. Virtuousness and good feelings are overflowing in his personality. Being a true Pakhtun, he is greatly distressed to see the disloyalty of his Pakhtun brethren and says:



Owing to the disloyal nature of my Pakhtun brothers, I am compelled to make relationship with strangers.

Rahmat Shah Sail pays rich tributes to Baba-e-Pushto Khushal Khan Khattak and is greatly impressed by his poetry.

His own life is an imitation of Khushal Khan who endured forays, house arrests and imprisonment. Sail was also imprisoned and put to severe trails for nothing, besides voicing his opinions. Even in jail, he did not give up his line of action. It was the result of these tortures and torments that Sail's poetry contains many dreadful events and examples of human cruelty that took place in the past. In his sonnet Hiroshima, he depicts the destruction of nuclear disaster and criticizes the words-with-out-action approach of the global powers towards preventing the nuclear race. He reminds the two superpowers and other states of the world of the widespread devastation caused by the bomb in Hiroshima and urge them to work for the peaceful use of nuclear energy. He says that it is of no avail merely to show anger and resentment over the tragedy but the need is to take some practical measures to prevent such calamities. In another such poem "Vietnam War", Sail calls for the co-operation and unity of Muslims through out the world to foil the barbarism and evil designs of those treacherous nations who try to mar global peace.

At present, Rahmat Shah Sail runs a tailoring shop in Dargari Bazar to earn his livelihood but most of his time is spent in literary activities. He is a member of Pashto Adabi Jirga, Malakand Agency.

Khatir Afridi, Ikramullah Gran and Shamsul Qamar Andesh are his favorite poets among these colleagues. He holds Amir Hamza Shinwari in most high regard for his meritorious services to the cause of Pashto literature.

It is quite unjust an ugly spot on the Pashto language, that a man of such literary talent sews cloths to make his both ends meet. He has been denied his due place in society due to his great sin of not having passed examinations in any school or college, even though he has more ability than a well-educated person. If supported, he will be able to do more for the betterment of his mother tongue; otherwise it is feared that the may give up his struggle due to constant disappointment.