2:46 AM
Muhammad Zai Khan
As Abdul Ghani Khan spoke about Pakhtoons/Pashtuns/Pakhtuns:The people I love, which makes my task harder than ever.Pakhtuns, the simply amazing and amazingly simple people, are not easy to love. Pakhtun takes a lot of knowing. Pakhtun is the most complicated simplicity. I want to bring him down from the hills of Khyber and the plains of Hashtnager, face to face with you in his torn clothes and grass sandals, his eyes full of manliness, mirth and mischievous sprite, and his head full of infantile and noble pride - the paramount camouflage he uses to hide his desires
Friday, July 31, 2009
QALANDAR MOHMAND
QALANDAR MOHMANDSahibzada who became Qalandar of Pashto
Shaheen Buneri The eminent Pushto writer, poet, playwright, linguist, critic, research scholar and the patron chairman of the Peshawar Press Club, Prof Habibur Rehman Qalandar Momand, breathed his last here in Peshawar last year.Qalandar was born on 1st September, 1930. After passing his matriculation examination with distinction, he got admission at historic Islamia College. From his early days, he had a special flair for literary and research pursuits. He was a true revolutionary who worked all his life for the social, political and cultural emancipation of his people. He got his MA in English literature and LLB degrees from the University of Peshawar with distinction.
He started his practical life as an employee in the agriculture department, but his restless soul did not allow him to stay in one place and soon he switched over to Angus Robertson, a private construction company.
Qalandar remained the secretary of the famous literary organisation, Ulasi Adabi Jirga. In 1962, he launched another representative literary organisation by the name of Da Saho Lekonkyo Maraka and worked as the secretary general of this organisation till his death. This organization introduced a number of new trends in the Pakhto poetry and criticism and encouraged a large number of budding writers in their literary activities.
Later on, his literary taste impelled him to join teaching as a profession. He performed his duties as a dynamic and versatile teacher of English at the Government Colleges in Peshawar and Abbottabad. In 1980, Qalandar was appointed as the principal of the Law College of the Gomal University, DI Khan.
In 1983, he devoted himself to the compilation of the first authentic Pakhto dictionary, Daryab, and accomplished this task in 1993. He was not only a versatile writer of Pushto, Urdu, Hindko, Arabic and Persian but also a bold journalist who contributed numberless articles to the well-known English dailies.
He started his journalistic career as a reporter with the daily al-Haq. He also worked in different capacities with the dailies Anjaam, Shehbaz, Bang-e-Haram, Khyber Mail, Peshawar Times, Frontier Guardian, Naqeeb, Laar, Rehbar, Nangyalay, Sarhad and Masawaat.
He performed his duties as a reporter for the famous weekly magasines of the former East Pakistan like the Weekly Holiday and Young Pakistan.
As a political figure, he was the most active and enthusiastic activist of the late Bachaa Khan's Khudai Khidmatgar movement. During his struggle against Ayub Khan's martial law regime, he was removed from service and kept at the Multan, Lahore, Nowshera and Peshawar jails as a political prisoner.
He has a large number of research and creative books to his credit, among which his two books, Gujrai of Pakhto fiction (1957) and Sabawon of poetry collection (1976) got immense popularity among the lovers of the Pakhto literature. His research works include A Critical Study of Khairul Bayan, Pata Khazana fil Mezan, Nazmiyat, Translation of the Chapter on Criticism from Introduction to the Study of English Literature by Hudson, Da Rehman Baba Kuliyat, Da Muhammadi Sahibzada Diwan, Critical Study of two books of Munshi Ahmad Jan, Hagha Dagha and Da Qissa Khwani Gup and Da Abol Qasim Diwan. Qalandar Momand was decorated with the Pride of Performance Award and Award for Democracy by the Government of Pakistan for his meritorious services in the fields of literature and journalism.Being a multi-dimensional personality, his death has created a vacuum which will take a long time to be filled. He will be remembered for his outstanding services to the Pakhto literature.
Shaheen Buneri The eminent Pushto writer, poet, playwright, linguist, critic, research scholar and the patron chairman of the Peshawar Press Club, Prof Habibur Rehman Qalandar Momand, breathed his last here in Peshawar last year.Qalandar was born on 1st September, 1930. After passing his matriculation examination with distinction, he got admission at historic Islamia College. From his early days, he had a special flair for literary and research pursuits. He was a true revolutionary who worked all his life for the social, political and cultural emancipation of his people. He got his MA in English literature and LLB degrees from the University of Peshawar with distinction.
He started his practical life as an employee in the agriculture department, but his restless soul did not allow him to stay in one place and soon he switched over to Angus Robertson, a private construction company.
Qalandar remained the secretary of the famous literary organisation, Ulasi Adabi Jirga. In 1962, he launched another representative literary organisation by the name of Da Saho Lekonkyo Maraka and worked as the secretary general of this organisation till his death. This organization introduced a number of new trends in the Pakhto poetry and criticism and encouraged a large number of budding writers in their literary activities.
Later on, his literary taste impelled him to join teaching as a profession. He performed his duties as a dynamic and versatile teacher of English at the Government Colleges in Peshawar and Abbottabad. In 1980, Qalandar was appointed as the principal of the Law College of the Gomal University, DI Khan.
In 1983, he devoted himself to the compilation of the first authentic Pakhto dictionary, Daryab, and accomplished this task in 1993. He was not only a versatile writer of Pushto, Urdu, Hindko, Arabic and Persian but also a bold journalist who contributed numberless articles to the well-known English dailies.
He started his journalistic career as a reporter with the daily al-Haq. He also worked in different capacities with the dailies Anjaam, Shehbaz, Bang-e-Haram, Khyber Mail, Peshawar Times, Frontier Guardian, Naqeeb, Laar, Rehbar, Nangyalay, Sarhad and Masawaat.
He performed his duties as a reporter for the famous weekly magasines of the former East Pakistan like the Weekly Holiday and Young Pakistan.
As a political figure, he was the most active and enthusiastic activist of the late Bachaa Khan's Khudai Khidmatgar movement. During his struggle against Ayub Khan's martial law regime, he was removed from service and kept at the Multan, Lahore, Nowshera and Peshawar jails as a political prisoner.
He has a large number of research and creative books to his credit, among which his two books, Gujrai of Pakhto fiction (1957) and Sabawon of poetry collection (1976) got immense popularity among the lovers of the Pakhto literature. His research works include A Critical Study of Khairul Bayan, Pata Khazana fil Mezan, Nazmiyat, Translation of the Chapter on Criticism from Introduction to the Study of English Literature by Hudson, Da Rehman Baba Kuliyat, Da Muhammadi Sahibzada Diwan, Critical Study of two books of Munshi Ahmad Jan, Hagha Dagha and Da Qissa Khwani Gup and Da Abol Qasim Diwan. Qalandar Momand was decorated with the Pride of Performance Award and Award for Democracy by the Government of Pakistan for his meritorious services in the fields of literature and journalism.Being a multi-dimensional personality, his death has created a vacuum which will take a long time to be filled. He will be remembered for his outstanding services to the Pakhto literature.
Khatir Afridi
Khatir Afridi whose real name was Misree Khan was born in 1929 at Landikotal to Zakha Khel Afridi. He gained tremendous mass popularity, next only to Rahman Baba, due to his simple style and the deep pathos in his poetry.
Khatir was a few days old when his father died but his grandfather and uncle reared him very well and raised him like a son. Khatir, unfortunately, could not go to school. He took up a job at the Khyber Rifle's camp as a gardener and later on entered the line of private business. But he was fond of poetry and he learnt to compose verses to the tunes of the rabab which was played by the maestro, Bagh-i-Haram, a resident of Malikdeen Khel who lived very close to Khatir.Qayum Kausar Afridi, his closest companion, told me, "One day I asked Khatir to give me his manuscript so that I could preserve it. I kept it with me till his only son, Javed khan, grew up and was able to publish it. Khatir dressed simply and would carry a pistol with him according to the tribal tradition. He always wore a black turban but was a polite and calm person. His poetry is simple and spontaneous."Javed Khan Afridi while talking to me about his father revealed, "A large number of unauthorized and authentic editions of my father's poetry have been published in Kabul and Peshawar. PTV and Radio Pakistan, Peshawar have so far aired quite a bit of Khatir Afridi's poetry but now I intend to take legal action against them. No literary and cultural organization - government or civil - has ever approached me for any kind of award for my father's contribution to Pashto."When in the early 60s Gulab Sher sang 'Sta manzal manzaloono ke yema, Rasedoo omaidoono ke yema,' from Radio Pakistan, Peshawar, Khatir attained new heights of popularity.Murad Shinwari says that the tunes of Bagh-i-Haram and the correction of Nazir Baba are the two factors behind Khatir's mass popularity. Nearly 80 per cent of his Kuliyat has been sung and 90 per cent Pakhtoons in every part of the world know about Khatir. Almost every Pashto musical concert begins with Khatir Afridi's verses. His verses are full of pathos, romance and rhythm. He started his poetic career at a very tender age by composing folk poetry including Loba, Tapa, Chartbeta, Geet and Nimakai but then switched over to the ghazal. His diction is simple and easy flowing. Hamza Baba and Nazir Baba could not eclipse his poetic talent.Dr Raj Wali Shah Khattak maintains that the centrality of his poetry is his deep love and this merit takes him to the pinnacle of universality and sublimity. Khatir's ghazal has all the qualities of the best romantic thoughts reflective of his indepth observation and artistic vision. Dr Salma Shaheen is of the view that Khatir is not only the pride of Khyber but also all the Pakhtoons love his poetry because Khatir is the representative of Ishq.Every Pakhtoon singer takes pride in singing him. Khatir's first authentic Da Khatir Kuliyat spreading over 605 pages came out in 1998. Its second edition was published in 1999 while the third edition was brought out in 2004 and every edition sold out like hot cakes. Strange to say that the provincial cultural department, Pashto Academy, Pashto Adabi Board, Academy of Letters, Islamabad, Peshawar chapter, more than 200 so called Pashto Adabi Jirgas arranged a seminar or brought out a special issue on the life and works of a poet who enjoys international fame. Also a number of foreign radio channels which broadcast Pashto programmes have not aired any programme on Khatir. A part of his poetry has been translated into English, German, French, Russian, Persian and Urdu. Khatir Afridi, known as the John Keats of Pashto died in 1968 at the age 39. "His couplet on his epitaph 'Che pa qabar mey teraigey khudai da paara, Lag sha maata khapa neewalei zaba marr yem' (Whenever you pass my grave, please stay a little while as I might be dead) shows our apathy towards our legendary heroes, poets and artists," lamented his son Javed Khan Afridi. The credit goes to the unflinching efforts of Qayum Kausar Afridi, Niaz Amin Niaz Afridi, Javed Khan Afridi, Kalimullah Kalim Shinwari and Aslam Taseer Afridi who presented Da Khatir Kuliyat to his numerous Pakhtoon lovers. It is ironic that this popular poet is receding into total oblivion.
Ghani Khan wrote a little skittish poem about Pashtoons
The Great philosopher Pashto poet Ghani Khan wrote a little skittish poem about Pashtoons that depicts their temperament given below:The great pot maker of fate was sitting in heaven.This great potter of fate was making a donkey,when the order came to make a Khan.So the potter cut off its tail and sculpted its ears,on its forehead he put a spot of temperand in the donkey`s brain he put the diseaseof being ahead of everyone, being a leader, andthen he put a beautiful turban on his head andshooed him towards the world.
Ghani Khan -------The Renaissance Man
In his famous book, A brief History of Time, Dr. Stephen Hawking examines the nature of the universe, and explains that modern laws of time and space no longer distinguish between the past and the future. He goes on to discuss "the psychological arrow of time" which enables us to see the past, but not the future and rejects the possibility of memory being reversed if the universe started to shrink instead of expanding as it is now.
But in the aura of space and time, and cycle of change only few people would survive- those who are close to nature and beauty. The reflection of nature in their works in whatever form it may be would give them an unending life and immortality.Ghani Khan, a son of the legendary prophet of peace and non-violence, Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan holds a high place in pashtu literature because of his humorous and satirical verses. His first poem appeared in December, 1928 issue of the Pukhtoon, the first Pashtu journal and mouthpiece of the Anjuman-Islahul-Afghana. Ghani's poetry includes love songs, epics, anthems, elegies, epigrams, verse, litters and satires etc.. According to Dr. Sher Zaman Taizai "affection and contempt, love and hatred, idealism and realism and epic, sarcasm and satire and above all frankness, fluency and spontaneity are the main characteristics of the poetry of Ghani". His poetry is about the mysteries of life, death, God, love, nature and religious beliefs and concepts of his people in his won distinct way. Very little os known to many about Ghani's other facets: music, art, painting and sculpture.If his father chose the path of devotion to Almighty Allah to serve his nation by launching a reformative movement, his son Ghani Khan chose the way by presenting various Sifats or attributes of Almighty Allah by presenting his poor people in poetry, prose, paintings and sculptures.Ghani Khan was bold and beautiful when he was young and perhaps continued to be so and criticize openly avaricious Mullahs. He walked with nature and embraced it. He visualized an ideal state a state for the Pukhtoons, of the Pukhtoons and by the Pukhtoons. But nature was against him, and rulers too. he saw several times his father behind the bars and himself spent six years in jail and detention without trial or an FIR and his land and property were confiscated. His first anthology of poems Da-Panjery-Chighar (songs in a Cage) was written in Haripur Jail. He sketched a lot, did a number of self portraits. They portray the horror and agony that he went through.Ghani Khan was neither an iconoclast nor iconolater and "he sees himself neither as a painter, a sculptor, nor as a poet but perhaps only as a plagiarist who very humbly glorifies", in his words, the work of another artist, the real creator, who he calls Al-Jameel (The beautiful) and Al-Musavvir (The Artist).Leon Battista Alberti (1904-72) also known as the man of Renaissance in the west says: "A man can do all things if he wills". It was Ghani Khan who proved it with his deeds and his works in all fields poetry, prose, politics, philosophy, paintings, sculpture and music. Art includes all human creative activities like literature, painting, sculptures, music, calligraphy and architecture. All these branches of fine arts have their own respective mediums. The writer works in words, the musician in line and colour, the sculptor in stone and the musician in sounds. They are different aims to achieve end i.e., the expression of one'semotions.This is the recurring thesis of Edward Said's Culture and Imperialism: "the lines between art and politics do not really exist; the culture and imperialism, far from being separate of activity, depend upon and reinforce each other".Ghani Khan though born in an era of the British Imperialism, was quite familiar with the cultural heritage and social values of his own people-the Pukhtoons and this is apparent in all his works. But it was Ghani's fine lines and masterly control over his brush that lends common everyday happenings a genuine and enigma.His love for nature and the local habitat of the simple Pukhtoon people is visible in his prose. "Pathan is not merely a race" says Ghaani "but, in fact, a state of mind; there is a Pathan lying in side every man, who at times wakes up and overpowers him".The Pathans have no written history but they have thousands of ruins where the carved stones tell their story to anyone who would care to listen. "The Pathan", Ghani asserts, "are rain sown wheat-they all came up on the same day they are all the same!.... But the chief reason why I love him is because he will wash his face and oil his beard and perfume his locks and put on his best pair of clothes when he goes out to fought and die".His poetry is about humanism, and the search for truth. It is about self realization. "I want to see my people educated and enlightened. A people with a vision and a strong sense of justice who can carve out a future for themselves, in harmony with nature".Abdul Ghani Khan a gifted son of Pukhtoonkhwa was born in 1914 in Utmanzai Charrsadda Pushkalavati (means full of lotuses), the ancient capital of Gandhara. The lotus flower dominated the mind of the people of Pushkalavati so much that they created in popular imagination a goddess of the city named in the coins as Pushkalavati nagar devada meaning "the city of the goddess of Pushkalavati".The history of Charsadda goes back to the 6th century BC. It remained the capital of Gandhara from 6th century BC to 2nd century AD. Many nations like the persians, the Greeks, the Mauryans, the Kushans, the Bactrians and the Parthians, the Huns, and the Hindus have ruled over this region at different times of history. Alexander the Great himself laid siege to the city in the third century BC.After the Hindu era, the area witnessed the glorious Empire of the great Sultanates of Delhi and the great Mughal Empire. Then came the Sikhs in 1818, and after the fall of the Sikhs, the British annexed the area in 1849, holding it until it became part of Pakistan.Situated on the north east border of the Indian Sub continent it was a cross road for the invaders and area was involved in constant wars. On the one hand it was in close contact with Afghanistan, China, Central Asia and with the West through the caravan routes, and on the other hand it was connected with the Sub-continent's plains.Charsadda was for long a time known as Ashnagar or the modern Hushtnagar, which means "Eight Towns". Which are situated in this region. These are Charsadda Town, Sherpao, Utmanzai, Umarzai, Turangzai, Tangi Town, Prang and Rajar. The name of Ashnagar may be misconceived to mean the "City of Ashtakas". the peoples who lived in this area at the time of Alexander the great's invasion, were ruled by a king called Astes or Ashtaka Raja.Born during the great war (First World War) the distinguished son of the modern Pukhtoonkhwa and of the ancient Gandhara lost his mother in the epidemic in 1918. He started his early education with the Mullah in the village mosque. It was due to his religious education that Ghani Khan was very fluent in Arabic and Persian. Ghani Khan recollected his memories by saying: "My childhood was miserable, my mother died during the influenza epidemic when I was six and Wali was about four. Baba had found a new love-his people. He opened "Azad Schools" all over the Frontier Province, in his first attempt to change the condition of his people". The literacy rate among the Pukhtoons can be imagined from the fact that the number of matriculates in the British India NWFP was only 15 in 1891 and 71 in 1903.During World War-l, the British government closed Azad school. All teacher and volunteers were sent to jails. During the war the All India National Congress and the League supported the British Raj but after the War the Muslims were disappointed by the attitude adopted by the Allied powers towards the Ottoman Empire.Ghani was a devoted soldier of freedom movement. He had participated in the meetings and agitations of the Anjuman-Islahul-Afghana and Khilafat Movement since school days.Ghani mixed mystical, mysterious mode of Malang with the Occidental philosophical verbosity with the oriental aesthetic romantic mysticism. Sufi literature was a part of his education, but he did not believe in negation and self abnegation. "I think by embracing life you can be closer to God" commented Ghani,"Allah created light and colour, poetry in nature and taught so that we can appreciate them and creator AlMusavvir".Ghani spent nine years in religious institutions and then he was enrolled in the Jamia Millia University. In the Jamia he got acquainted with scholarly personalities like Dr. Ansari, Hakim Ajmal Khan, Maulana Abdul Kalam Azad etc.. Dr. Zakir Hussain was the principal. But after spending one year\, Ghani was again recalled by his father to Peshawar in 1928. There was a civil war in Afghanistan and doctors were needed, so he was given first aid training, but due to political circumstances the mission was not allowed by the British. A committee know as "as the Afghan Red Crescent Society" was formed to collect donations and medicine for Afghan government.There insurgency against Amanullah by certain Mullahs under the pay of Raj created hatred in the minds of all nationalist progressive forces on both sides of the Durand Line. In 1929, Ghazi Amanullah Khan left his homeland and Habibullah Kalakani alias Bach Saqao became the ruler of Afghanistan. The fall of Amanullah was not a major set back to Afghanistan only but to the entire Pukhtoonkhwa. Amanullah-became the symbol of nationalism, modernism and liberalism for all nationalist progressive forces of the region.This tragic incident changed the political axis of the Pukhtoons from Central Asia or rather from Kabul to Delhi and from radical adventurism to evolutionary change and non-violence.Dr. Khan Sahib, Ghani's uncle, decided to send him to England. On July 23,1929 Ghani left for England. "Baba wanted me to stay with a noble English family to study their ways of life and know the causes of their national ascendancy" said Ghani, "If this was his (Baba's) wish he should have sent me to either the University of Oxford or Cambridge which had played a great role in raising the English nation to great heights of power and supremacy".In England he studied Old and New Testaments in a priest's family. In 1931, Ghani went to US from England with the help of Sardar Shah Wali Khan, the Afghan ambassador to UK, and joined South Louisiana University to study chemical engineering.In Europe and US, Ghani saw a new world totally different from his own so he was naturally impressed by its standard and ways of life. He was particularly impressed by the development of these nations in the field of science and technology.The study of great oriental religions. Islam, Judaism and Christianity and western philosophy moulded his thoughts and perceptions about man and movements in his motherland. In the passage of knowledge from Orientalism, religiosity to the Western modernism and US experience of scientific knowledge changed his world outlook but not his mind, which was continuously in search of an ideal-perfect and universal in nature.When Ghani Khan came back to his native village his father was behind the bars. In 1934, Jawahar Lal Nehru made arrangements to send Ghani Khan and Indira Gandhi to the Shanti Niketan, a university on the border of Biher and Bengal. Shanti Niketan was founded by Rabindra Nath Tagore in 1901. He wanted a revival and renaissance of Indian culture and civilization and wanted to create a love among the students irrespective of their religion, colour, creed and race. It was for this reason that the institution developed itself in the Vishwa bharati University in December 1921. In this institution there were no chairs and no benches. The used to sit on the Chabutra of mud with the students sitting around them, in semi circles on the ground.Ghani Khan joined the department of journalism and his tutors were Nandlal Bose and Krishna Kirpalani, his subject was literature. Ram Kinkar taught sculpture. Rabindra Nath Tagore was too old but active. One day Ghani went with Bose to the Art school. The students were busy in making different things from clay. Ghani Khan also took some clay and made a frog and thin something else. His tutor saw in him the hidden man and appreciated his work and encouraged him to go to the school regularly. From that day Ghani Khan used to come regularly to the school for painting and sculpture. Nanelal Bose said: Ghani had a natural talent for sculpture.In Ghani's own words "shanti Niketan was a whole new experience for me. from Hashtnagar I had gone to Europe. In Shanti Niketan, I got the opportunity to assimilate Asian philosophy, literature and appreciated the performing and visual arts". Lata Indira Gandhi, the then Prime Minister of India, in three letters to her father Jawahirlal Nehru mentioned Ghani Khan and his activities in the Shanti Niketan. These letters are edited by Sonia Gandhi, the wife of Rajiv Gandhi in a book "freedom's Daughter, letters between Indira Gandhi and Jawahirlal Nehru (1922-39) 1989.After spending one year in Shanti Niketan, Ghani was recalled by his father. When Nandlal Bose came to know that Ghani would not return, he dashed to Wardha. He met Gandhi and told him about Ghani's artistic talents. He predicted that, if Ghani was left in the Shanti Niketan, he would become such a great artist that India would be proud of him. Nandlal requested Ghani to persuade Bacha Khan to change his decision. But Bacha Khan did not change his decision. He asked Gandhi what would happen to the world if Ghani applied red and green colour to it. So Ghani Khan left once again his education incomplete after short stay at the Shanti Niketan. "I am great admirer of Bacha Khan" says Ghani, "was one of the finest Pukhtoons that I have known. But we differed on some things. I strongly uphold the view that you can live without art, but you cannot progress without it".Ghani was of the view that beauty is the essence of civilization and culture which includes almost all human creative activities like paintings, sculptures, songs and music etc.. "Without the search for beauty in though, word and deed we cannot have any kind of civilization".According to 'Ghani Khan human life has very lofty ideals. In a letter to Abdur Rauf Benawa, an eminent Afghan writer and poet, he writers: "Man is essentially an animal. He wants food, sex and comfort and nothing else. It is the duty of us poets to turn his face to those higher centres of his being where he might see the reflection of his own perfection and the face of his own eternal beloved beauty. I think a poet must worship beauty ... in thought, word and deed force man to turn his face from the rubbish heap of his appetites to his garden of Eden ".Ghani's stay in the Shanti Niketan had lasting impact on his mind. He himself recollects his experience in the said University by saying: "My stay in the West left many imprints on my psyche. I was deeply impressed by their society, culture and politics. When I came back, I had an inferiority complex about the backwardness of my country and people. It was in the Shanti Niketan that I discovered myself and the past greatness of my own culture and civilization, which has produced several man of versatile genius, who have been appreciated by the historians and scholars of the West".Ghani was inspired by the impressionists, Monet, Manet and Van Gogh. He said: "Gaugin's colours are brilliant. Michael Angelo's David is superb, so is Rodin's Cupid and Psyche". According to Ghani "I have nurtured my senses and my perception in search for the truth. And I glorify the truth with whatever is at my disposal. Beauty is the truth harmony, proportion, equilibrium. It embodies symmetry and rhythm. I believe that beauty is from God and He is the most beautiful-Al-Jameel".Even in his "childhood Ghani Khan drew very clear and vivid pictures of his friend and fellows" said one of his relatives. He had vast knowledge of art history and its various modes, techniques and branches. His paintings are alive with expressions. He painted only human faces as, according to him, face is the most venerable and significant part of human body because it reflects all kinds of human sentiments. A person's thoughts, ambitions, his character, are reflected on it. Ghani's method of working was quite erratic. "He gets an idea and then gets charcoal from the kitchen or children's pencils or dry pastels and sketches it there and then". He was of the view that the most difficult task in the art of painting is the exposition of feeling through a human face. He argued that Iand scapes, mountains and tress can be painted by any ordinary artist.Ghani had practiced different techniques in his work. He had used ole colour, pastels and acrylic but prefers pastels through which he can transfer his "brief but intensive inspiration" in a short time on paper. He was an abstract impressionist. An impressionist presents nature according to his own vision and not as it appears to other people.Like paintings 'Ghani's sculptures also consist of only faces, which are like living pictures of human sentiments. "Ghani has put tongue into the mouth of stones through his art" writes Raza Hamdani. His sculptures seem to be replicas of the famous Gandhara art. The museum at his residence Darulaman in Charsadda is valuable treasure house of the masterpieces of his paintings and sculptures. Most of his sculptures are in wood, and quite a few of them are at the Shanti Niketan.It is true that the portraits on view have less to do with aesthetic value and are more of a psychological exploration of character. Thus the fascination with the expressions on the face, particlarly the eyes. True to the humanistic tradition, the portrait here is not interested in passing judgment, not in formal abstraction, but in capturing something of the fleeting soulfulness of a character.Ghani did not remember the titles of many of his paintings nor when he completed work on a particular canvas. He was unusual, vibrant, interesting because he did not conform to the stereotypes of the artist built of media hype. For him art was neither spectacle nor commodity. In art as commodity or spectacle, all traces of process, human Iabour, community, tradition are erased. The simulation that then generally pass for art seduce us because they seem alien, exclusive and place us the passive position of the dreamer, the spectator the consumer.In 1934, Ghani joined the Gola Gokarnath Sugar Mill in UP as Labour officer. But due to his extraordinary talents he was promoted Chief Chemist in a short time. It was the love of a Parsi girl Roshan that the fire of love once again ignited in the temple of Zoroastra of Balkh (the first Pukhtoon prophet of the ancient Bakhtria) in the heart of Ghani. Roshan was a daughter of Rustam Ji Parsi of Hyderabad Deccan and he married her in December 1939.When the Takht Bhai Sugar Mill was set up in 1940, Ghani joined it as technical Manager. But he resigned from service in 1943 due to government's hostel attitude and the behaviour of Mill's administration. He was elected as a member of the Central Legislature of Official delegation to represent India in a Conference of FAO (Food and Agricultural Organization). In 1947, he presided over the all India Youth Conference held at Cownpur. He organized Zalmay Pukhtoon on April 26, 1947. "The Zalmay Pukhtoon follows Sher Shah Suri and Ahmad Shah Baba. The Zalmay Pukhtoon only listen to the Pukhtoon... The Zalmay Pukhtoon is not a political intrigue. But it is an attempt to awaken the Pukhtoons. It was not a violent group but it was formed for the defence of unarmed people. Late Sardar Daud Khan, the Prime Minister of Afghanistan wanted Ghani Khan to come to Afghanistan and represent their country in the UN. But Ghani Khan refused with thanks.Ghani's work is as much an expression of his life and times as it is of art. He was mast Young, he was master of all crafts. He was musr he was Malang (hermit) when he was old. His personality reflects a cultural bridge and bound between Central Asia and south Asia, a blend of Occidental and oriental, a milieu of and rural and urban and Muslim and non Muslim. And lastly, in the words of n artist "art is traumatic discovery. What that discovery is may be beyond the hyper-reality of art and closer to the supernaturalism of Ghani Khan when he speaks of the artist behind his art Al Jameel and Al Musavvir".Abdul Ghani Khan died in the age of 82 on Friday night (15th March, 1996) after a protracted illness at Lady Reading Hospital Peshawar.
But in the aura of space and time, and cycle of change only few people would survive- those who are close to nature and beauty. The reflection of nature in their works in whatever form it may be would give them an unending life and immortality.Ghani Khan, a son of the legendary prophet of peace and non-violence, Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan holds a high place in pashtu literature because of his humorous and satirical verses. His first poem appeared in December, 1928 issue of the Pukhtoon, the first Pashtu journal and mouthpiece of the Anjuman-Islahul-Afghana. Ghani's poetry includes love songs, epics, anthems, elegies, epigrams, verse, litters and satires etc.. According to Dr. Sher Zaman Taizai "affection and contempt, love and hatred, idealism and realism and epic, sarcasm and satire and above all frankness, fluency and spontaneity are the main characteristics of the poetry of Ghani". His poetry is about the mysteries of life, death, God, love, nature and religious beliefs and concepts of his people in his won distinct way. Very little os known to many about Ghani's other facets: music, art, painting and sculpture.If his father chose the path of devotion to Almighty Allah to serve his nation by launching a reformative movement, his son Ghani Khan chose the way by presenting various Sifats or attributes of Almighty Allah by presenting his poor people in poetry, prose, paintings and sculptures.Ghani Khan was bold and beautiful when he was young and perhaps continued to be so and criticize openly avaricious Mullahs. He walked with nature and embraced it. He visualized an ideal state a state for the Pukhtoons, of the Pukhtoons and by the Pukhtoons. But nature was against him, and rulers too. he saw several times his father behind the bars and himself spent six years in jail and detention without trial or an FIR and his land and property were confiscated. His first anthology of poems Da-Panjery-Chighar (songs in a Cage) was written in Haripur Jail. He sketched a lot, did a number of self portraits. They portray the horror and agony that he went through.Ghani Khan was neither an iconoclast nor iconolater and "he sees himself neither as a painter, a sculptor, nor as a poet but perhaps only as a plagiarist who very humbly glorifies", in his words, the work of another artist, the real creator, who he calls Al-Jameel (The beautiful) and Al-Musavvir (The Artist).Leon Battista Alberti (1904-72) also known as the man of Renaissance in the west says: "A man can do all things if he wills". It was Ghani Khan who proved it with his deeds and his works in all fields poetry, prose, politics, philosophy, paintings, sculpture and music. Art includes all human creative activities like literature, painting, sculptures, music, calligraphy and architecture. All these branches of fine arts have their own respective mediums. The writer works in words, the musician in line and colour, the sculptor in stone and the musician in sounds. They are different aims to achieve end i.e., the expression of one'semotions.This is the recurring thesis of Edward Said's Culture and Imperialism: "the lines between art and politics do not really exist; the culture and imperialism, far from being separate of activity, depend upon and reinforce each other".Ghani Khan though born in an era of the British Imperialism, was quite familiar with the cultural heritage and social values of his own people-the Pukhtoons and this is apparent in all his works. But it was Ghani's fine lines and masterly control over his brush that lends common everyday happenings a genuine and enigma.His love for nature and the local habitat of the simple Pukhtoon people is visible in his prose. "Pathan is not merely a race" says Ghaani "but, in fact, a state of mind; there is a Pathan lying in side every man, who at times wakes up and overpowers him".The Pathans have no written history but they have thousands of ruins where the carved stones tell their story to anyone who would care to listen. "The Pathan", Ghani asserts, "are rain sown wheat-they all came up on the same day they are all the same!.... But the chief reason why I love him is because he will wash his face and oil his beard and perfume his locks and put on his best pair of clothes when he goes out to fought and die".His poetry is about humanism, and the search for truth. It is about self realization. "I want to see my people educated and enlightened. A people with a vision and a strong sense of justice who can carve out a future for themselves, in harmony with nature".Abdul Ghani Khan a gifted son of Pukhtoonkhwa was born in 1914 in Utmanzai Charrsadda Pushkalavati (means full of lotuses), the ancient capital of Gandhara. The lotus flower dominated the mind of the people of Pushkalavati so much that they created in popular imagination a goddess of the city named in the coins as Pushkalavati nagar devada meaning "the city of the goddess of Pushkalavati".The history of Charsadda goes back to the 6th century BC. It remained the capital of Gandhara from 6th century BC to 2nd century AD. Many nations like the persians, the Greeks, the Mauryans, the Kushans, the Bactrians and the Parthians, the Huns, and the Hindus have ruled over this region at different times of history. Alexander the Great himself laid siege to the city in the third century BC.After the Hindu era, the area witnessed the glorious Empire of the great Sultanates of Delhi and the great Mughal Empire. Then came the Sikhs in 1818, and after the fall of the Sikhs, the British annexed the area in 1849, holding it until it became part of Pakistan.Situated on the north east border of the Indian Sub continent it was a cross road for the invaders and area was involved in constant wars. On the one hand it was in close contact with Afghanistan, China, Central Asia and with the West through the caravan routes, and on the other hand it was connected with the Sub-continent's plains.Charsadda was for long a time known as Ashnagar or the modern Hushtnagar, which means "Eight Towns". Which are situated in this region. These are Charsadda Town, Sherpao, Utmanzai, Umarzai, Turangzai, Tangi Town, Prang and Rajar. The name of Ashnagar may be misconceived to mean the "City of Ashtakas". the peoples who lived in this area at the time of Alexander the great's invasion, were ruled by a king called Astes or Ashtaka Raja.Born during the great war (First World War) the distinguished son of the modern Pukhtoonkhwa and of the ancient Gandhara lost his mother in the epidemic in 1918. He started his early education with the Mullah in the village mosque. It was due to his religious education that Ghani Khan was very fluent in Arabic and Persian. Ghani Khan recollected his memories by saying: "My childhood was miserable, my mother died during the influenza epidemic when I was six and Wali was about four. Baba had found a new love-his people. He opened "Azad Schools" all over the Frontier Province, in his first attempt to change the condition of his people". The literacy rate among the Pukhtoons can be imagined from the fact that the number of matriculates in the British India NWFP was only 15 in 1891 and 71 in 1903.During World War-l, the British government closed Azad school. All teacher and volunteers were sent to jails. During the war the All India National Congress and the League supported the British Raj but after the War the Muslims were disappointed by the attitude adopted by the Allied powers towards the Ottoman Empire.Ghani was a devoted soldier of freedom movement. He had participated in the meetings and agitations of the Anjuman-Islahul-Afghana and Khilafat Movement since school days.Ghani mixed mystical, mysterious mode of Malang with the Occidental philosophical verbosity with the oriental aesthetic romantic mysticism. Sufi literature was a part of his education, but he did not believe in negation and self abnegation. "I think by embracing life you can be closer to God" commented Ghani,"Allah created light and colour, poetry in nature and taught so that we can appreciate them and creator AlMusavvir".Ghani spent nine years in religious institutions and then he was enrolled in the Jamia Millia University. In the Jamia he got acquainted with scholarly personalities like Dr. Ansari, Hakim Ajmal Khan, Maulana Abdul Kalam Azad etc.. Dr. Zakir Hussain was the principal. But after spending one year\, Ghani was again recalled by his father to Peshawar in 1928. There was a civil war in Afghanistan and doctors were needed, so he was given first aid training, but due to political circumstances the mission was not allowed by the British. A committee know as "as the Afghan Red Crescent Society" was formed to collect donations and medicine for Afghan government.There insurgency against Amanullah by certain Mullahs under the pay of Raj created hatred in the minds of all nationalist progressive forces on both sides of the Durand Line. In 1929, Ghazi Amanullah Khan left his homeland and Habibullah Kalakani alias Bach Saqao became the ruler of Afghanistan. The fall of Amanullah was not a major set back to Afghanistan only but to the entire Pukhtoonkhwa. Amanullah-became the symbol of nationalism, modernism and liberalism for all nationalist progressive forces of the region.This tragic incident changed the political axis of the Pukhtoons from Central Asia or rather from Kabul to Delhi and from radical adventurism to evolutionary change and non-violence.Dr. Khan Sahib, Ghani's uncle, decided to send him to England. On July 23,1929 Ghani left for England. "Baba wanted me to stay with a noble English family to study their ways of life and know the causes of their national ascendancy" said Ghani, "If this was his (Baba's) wish he should have sent me to either the University of Oxford or Cambridge which had played a great role in raising the English nation to great heights of power and supremacy".In England he studied Old and New Testaments in a priest's family. In 1931, Ghani went to US from England with the help of Sardar Shah Wali Khan, the Afghan ambassador to UK, and joined South Louisiana University to study chemical engineering.In Europe and US, Ghani saw a new world totally different from his own so he was naturally impressed by its standard and ways of life. He was particularly impressed by the development of these nations in the field of science and technology.The study of great oriental religions. Islam, Judaism and Christianity and western philosophy moulded his thoughts and perceptions about man and movements in his motherland. In the passage of knowledge from Orientalism, religiosity to the Western modernism and US experience of scientific knowledge changed his world outlook but not his mind, which was continuously in search of an ideal-perfect and universal in nature.When Ghani Khan came back to his native village his father was behind the bars. In 1934, Jawahar Lal Nehru made arrangements to send Ghani Khan and Indira Gandhi to the Shanti Niketan, a university on the border of Biher and Bengal. Shanti Niketan was founded by Rabindra Nath Tagore in 1901. He wanted a revival and renaissance of Indian culture and civilization and wanted to create a love among the students irrespective of their religion, colour, creed and race. It was for this reason that the institution developed itself in the Vishwa bharati University in December 1921. In this institution there were no chairs and no benches. The used to sit on the Chabutra of mud with the students sitting around them, in semi circles on the ground.Ghani Khan joined the department of journalism and his tutors were Nandlal Bose and Krishna Kirpalani, his subject was literature. Ram Kinkar taught sculpture. Rabindra Nath Tagore was too old but active. One day Ghani went with Bose to the Art school. The students were busy in making different things from clay. Ghani Khan also took some clay and made a frog and thin something else. His tutor saw in him the hidden man and appreciated his work and encouraged him to go to the school regularly. From that day Ghani Khan used to come regularly to the school for painting and sculpture. Nanelal Bose said: Ghani had a natural talent for sculpture.In Ghani's own words "shanti Niketan was a whole new experience for me. from Hashtnagar I had gone to Europe. In Shanti Niketan, I got the opportunity to assimilate Asian philosophy, literature and appreciated the performing and visual arts". Lata Indira Gandhi, the then Prime Minister of India, in three letters to her father Jawahirlal Nehru mentioned Ghani Khan and his activities in the Shanti Niketan. These letters are edited by Sonia Gandhi, the wife of Rajiv Gandhi in a book "freedom's Daughter, letters between Indira Gandhi and Jawahirlal Nehru (1922-39) 1989.After spending one year in Shanti Niketan, Ghani was recalled by his father. When Nandlal Bose came to know that Ghani would not return, he dashed to Wardha. He met Gandhi and told him about Ghani's artistic talents. He predicted that, if Ghani was left in the Shanti Niketan, he would become such a great artist that India would be proud of him. Nandlal requested Ghani to persuade Bacha Khan to change his decision. But Bacha Khan did not change his decision. He asked Gandhi what would happen to the world if Ghani applied red and green colour to it. So Ghani Khan left once again his education incomplete after short stay at the Shanti Niketan. "I am great admirer of Bacha Khan" says Ghani, "was one of the finest Pukhtoons that I have known. But we differed on some things. I strongly uphold the view that you can live without art, but you cannot progress without it".Ghani was of the view that beauty is the essence of civilization and culture which includes almost all human creative activities like paintings, sculptures, songs and music etc.. "Without the search for beauty in though, word and deed we cannot have any kind of civilization".According to 'Ghani Khan human life has very lofty ideals. In a letter to Abdur Rauf Benawa, an eminent Afghan writer and poet, he writers: "Man is essentially an animal. He wants food, sex and comfort and nothing else. It is the duty of us poets to turn his face to those higher centres of his being where he might see the reflection of his own perfection and the face of his own eternal beloved beauty. I think a poet must worship beauty ... in thought, word and deed force man to turn his face from the rubbish heap of his appetites to his garden of Eden ".Ghani's stay in the Shanti Niketan had lasting impact on his mind. He himself recollects his experience in the said University by saying: "My stay in the West left many imprints on my psyche. I was deeply impressed by their society, culture and politics. When I came back, I had an inferiority complex about the backwardness of my country and people. It was in the Shanti Niketan that I discovered myself and the past greatness of my own culture and civilization, which has produced several man of versatile genius, who have been appreciated by the historians and scholars of the West".Ghani was inspired by the impressionists, Monet, Manet and Van Gogh. He said: "Gaugin's colours are brilliant. Michael Angelo's David is superb, so is Rodin's Cupid and Psyche". According to Ghani "I have nurtured my senses and my perception in search for the truth. And I glorify the truth with whatever is at my disposal. Beauty is the truth harmony, proportion, equilibrium. It embodies symmetry and rhythm. I believe that beauty is from God and He is the most beautiful-Al-Jameel".Even in his "childhood Ghani Khan drew very clear and vivid pictures of his friend and fellows" said one of his relatives. He had vast knowledge of art history and its various modes, techniques and branches. His paintings are alive with expressions. He painted only human faces as, according to him, face is the most venerable and significant part of human body because it reflects all kinds of human sentiments. A person's thoughts, ambitions, his character, are reflected on it. Ghani's method of working was quite erratic. "He gets an idea and then gets charcoal from the kitchen or children's pencils or dry pastels and sketches it there and then". He was of the view that the most difficult task in the art of painting is the exposition of feeling through a human face. He argued that Iand scapes, mountains and tress can be painted by any ordinary artist.Ghani had practiced different techniques in his work. He had used ole colour, pastels and acrylic but prefers pastels through which he can transfer his "brief but intensive inspiration" in a short time on paper. He was an abstract impressionist. An impressionist presents nature according to his own vision and not as it appears to other people.Like paintings 'Ghani's sculptures also consist of only faces, which are like living pictures of human sentiments. "Ghani has put tongue into the mouth of stones through his art" writes Raza Hamdani. His sculptures seem to be replicas of the famous Gandhara art. The museum at his residence Darulaman in Charsadda is valuable treasure house of the masterpieces of his paintings and sculptures. Most of his sculptures are in wood, and quite a few of them are at the Shanti Niketan.It is true that the portraits on view have less to do with aesthetic value and are more of a psychological exploration of character. Thus the fascination with the expressions on the face, particlarly the eyes. True to the humanistic tradition, the portrait here is not interested in passing judgment, not in formal abstraction, but in capturing something of the fleeting soulfulness of a character.Ghani did not remember the titles of many of his paintings nor when he completed work on a particular canvas. He was unusual, vibrant, interesting because he did not conform to the stereotypes of the artist built of media hype. For him art was neither spectacle nor commodity. In art as commodity or spectacle, all traces of process, human Iabour, community, tradition are erased. The simulation that then generally pass for art seduce us because they seem alien, exclusive and place us the passive position of the dreamer, the spectator the consumer.In 1934, Ghani joined the Gola Gokarnath Sugar Mill in UP as Labour officer. But due to his extraordinary talents he was promoted Chief Chemist in a short time. It was the love of a Parsi girl Roshan that the fire of love once again ignited in the temple of Zoroastra of Balkh (the first Pukhtoon prophet of the ancient Bakhtria) in the heart of Ghani. Roshan was a daughter of Rustam Ji Parsi of Hyderabad Deccan and he married her in December 1939.When the Takht Bhai Sugar Mill was set up in 1940, Ghani joined it as technical Manager. But he resigned from service in 1943 due to government's hostel attitude and the behaviour of Mill's administration. He was elected as a member of the Central Legislature of Official delegation to represent India in a Conference of FAO (Food and Agricultural Organization). In 1947, he presided over the all India Youth Conference held at Cownpur. He organized Zalmay Pukhtoon on April 26, 1947. "The Zalmay Pukhtoon follows Sher Shah Suri and Ahmad Shah Baba. The Zalmay Pukhtoon only listen to the Pukhtoon... The Zalmay Pukhtoon is not a political intrigue. But it is an attempt to awaken the Pukhtoons. It was not a violent group but it was formed for the defence of unarmed people. Late Sardar Daud Khan, the Prime Minister of Afghanistan wanted Ghani Khan to come to Afghanistan and represent their country in the UN. But Ghani Khan refused with thanks.Ghani's work is as much an expression of his life and times as it is of art. He was mast Young, he was master of all crafts. He was musr he was Malang (hermit) when he was old. His personality reflects a cultural bridge and bound between Central Asia and south Asia, a blend of Occidental and oriental, a milieu of and rural and urban and Muslim and non Muslim. And lastly, in the words of n artist "art is traumatic discovery. What that discovery is may be beyond the hyper-reality of art and closer to the supernaturalism of Ghani Khan when he speaks of the artist behind his art Al Jameel and Al Musavvir".Abdul Ghani Khan died in the age of 82 on Friday night (15th March, 1996) after a protracted illness at Lady Reading Hospital Peshawar.
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Film on ‘Frontier Gandhi’ to be release in the US
A new documentary film detailing the life of Pashtun leader Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan, popularly known as the “The Frontier Gandhi” for his espousal of non-violent means for political change in the region, will premiere in the US next month.
‘The Frontier Gandhi: Badshah Khan, a Torch for Peace’ was directed by filmmaker and writer T C McLuhan, daughter of Canadian media theorist Marshall McLuhan, who says she spent 21 years to bring Khan’s story to the screen.
Sixty-year-old McLuhan made numerous trips to Afghanistan and other places linked to Khan’s life even as American bombs fell in Taliban-held Afghanistan after the September 11 terror attacks and through the dangerous times that followed to shoot the film, the Los Angeles Times reported.
She filmed in India, Afghanistan and Pakistan’s troubled North West Frontier Province and made use of archives that Afghan film officials hid from the Taliban. An Afghan warlord became her guide and McLuhan persevered despite her equipment being thrown into the street by police.
The film completes a journey that started for McLuhan in September 1987 in Berkeley, when an acquaintance gave her ‘Nonviolent Soldier of Islam’, a book by the late Eknath Easwaran, who knew Khan.
McLuhan said her long commitment to the project grew from her feeling about Khan’s “uncommon greatness. And that was accompanied by, certainly, uncommon courage. I felt a depth of spirit that I simply wanted to know more about.”
On receiving Easwaran’s book, she said: “I looked at it and thought, ‘I don’t know anything about this part of the world,’ and three weeks later, at about three in the morning, I picked it up and felt all the electrons around me shift.”
McLuhan followed Khan’s life from his start as the member of an aristocratic family in Charsadda a town that recently witnessed an unsuccessful attempt on the life of Khan’s grandson Asfandyar Wali Khan by a suicide bomber to his disappointment with the partition of India.
Actor Om Puri provided the voice speaking Khan’s words in the picture, reading lines like: “There is nothing surprising in a Muslim or a Pashtun like me subscribing to the creed of nonviolence…It was followed 1,400 years ago by the Prophet all the time he was in Mecca.”
The film also features interviews with Afghan President Hamid Karzai, who speaks of meeting Khan as a boy, and former Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf, who makes it clear he does not view Khan as a Pakistani patriot.
Khan founded a group called the “Khudai Khidmatgar” or servants of God which was known as the “Red Shirts” for the red cotton clothing worn by its members. McLuhan gathered and filmed 82 former Khudai Khidmatgars, five of them women and some in their 90s.
The film, which also dwells on the relationship between Mahatma Gandhi and Khan, who spent about two-thirds of his life imprisoned by British and then Pakistani authorities, who feared his influence.
Khan, who died at 98 in 1988 in Peshawar, also founded the Awami National Party, which today rules the NWFP and is a key member of the coalition at the centre. The film will have its American premiere in New York at the Mahindra Indo-American Arts Council Film Festival, an art film showcase organised by a group that includes novelist Salman Rushdie
Monday, July 27, 2009
Khudai Khidmatgar
Khudai Khidmatgar literally translates as the servants of God. It represented a non-violent freedom struggle against the British Empire by the Pashtuns of the North West Frontier Province(Pukhtunistan). The movement was led by Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan (Bacha Khan/Badshah Khan).
Conditions prior to the movement
At the turn of the last century Pakhtuns ociety was colonized, stagnant, and violent,worn down by feuds, inequalities, factionalism, poor social cooperation, andplain ignorance. Education opportunities were strictly limited. Pukhtuns are Muslim; Mullahs were known to have told parents that if their children went to school, they would go to hell. Bacha Khan stated that “the real purpose of this propaganda”was to keep Pakhtuns “illiterate and uneducated”, and hence his people “were the most backward in India” with regard to education.
GHANI KHAN(DUA)
سترګو د جانان کې زما ښکلي جهانونه دي
وادېخله دنيا زه وږی ستا د دنيا نه يم
ګوره د فقير کچکول کې تاج د سکندر پروت دی
زه يم د سخيانو د شومانو ګدا نه يم
زه يې په غرور درنه د مينې په نوم غواړمه
زه ملنګ بې نيازه ستا د وير واويلا نه يم
يو د سپوږمۍ څاڅکی درنه ټيک له د جانان غواړم
زه يم د خوبونو د لعلونو ګدا نه يم
هغه مستي غواړم چې يې مرګ نشي وژلی
زه دې د غمونو د بېګا او سبا نه يم
ستا شوه ستا دنيا زه وږی ستا د دنيا نه يم
Muhammad Zai
دا قوم د هشتنګر په تپه کښ اوسږېږي چه دا اته کلي په کښې دي. تنګي، شير پاؤ، عمر زي، ترنګزي، اتمانزي، رزړ، چارسده، پړانګ. دا علاقه د سوات په سيند اوبېږي ځکه ئې ټوله زمکه څربه او زوروره ده. او خلق ئې اسوده او خوشحال دي. په تيره تيره ئې خانان چه په ټوله صوبه کښ د هر چا نه لوئ او مالدار زميندار دي. او د هغو عزيزانو او اقرباؤ اعلي اعلي تعليمونه کړي دي او په سول او پولس او فوځ کښ لوئ لوئ عهدې لري او د لوئ عزت خاوندان دي. د سرخ پوشو مرکز هم په دې تپه کښ دې. او دلته يو ازاد سکول هم شته. د سول نافرمانې په دوران کښ د دې ځائ خلقو ډير کار کړې دي. که ريښتيا مې پوښتې نو دا خوشحالي او بيغمي او لياقت او تعليم او دا د ازادي خيال د سرکار د امن په برکت د دوئ نصيب شوې دي. ځکه د درانو او سکهانو په حکومت کښ په دې خلقو داسې داسې ظلمونه شوي دي چه تر اوس پورې ئې سپين ږيري مشران خبې کوي او چه بنده ئې واوري نو وجود ئې زيږ زيږ شي. په دې علاقه کښ ډير غير قامونه هم اباد دي لکه دراني، شيخ، اوان، ګوجر، او کشميري.
MALANG JAN
دا زمونږ زيبا وطن
دا زمونږ ليلا وطن
دا وطن مو ځان دی
دا پښتونستان دی
دا دمينې کور زمونږ
دا د پلرو ګور زمونږ
نه ورکوؤ چا لره
دا د سترګو تور زمونږ
نه دی د بل چا وطن
دا دی د شيرشاه وطن
کور د خوشحال خان دی
دا پښتونستان دی
دا وطن دی ځان زمونږ
دا وطن ايمان زمونږ
وايي په خاپوړو کې
داسې ماشومان زمونږ
دا مو د بابا وطن
دا مو د دادا وطن
په مونږ باندې ډير ګران دی
دا پښتونستان دی
ځار يې له سيندونو شم
ځار يې له ډاګونو شم
ځار يې له خوړونو شم
ځار يې له دی غرونو شم
دا زمونږ اشنا وطن
درد له مو شفاء وطن
زړګۍ مې پرې روښان دی
دا پښتونستان دی
دا وطن زيارت زمونږ
دا وطن نعمت زمونږ
دا وطن په دې دنيا
دی لکه جنت زمونږ
دا وطن صفا وطن
زړه د ايشيا وطن
ژوندون د ملنګ جان دی
دا پښتونستان دی
LOVE OF INDEPENDENCE
One of the outstanding characteristics of the Pukhtoons, as gleaned from their record, is their passionate love for freedom and violent opposition to any infringement of their liberty. They have preserved their liberty by the force of arms despite heavy odds. Inspite of their ignorance of military science, modern techniques of warfare, lack of sophisticated weapons and material resources, they held their own against every invader, including the British who were one of the most powerful empire builders of their time.
Though at times Pukhtoons were temporarily subdued, they could never be held in permanent subjugation or tied in the shackles of bondage. They offered staunch resistance to any one who ventured to encroach upon their liberty and refused to submit tamely to the position of the vanquished. " Their character, organisation and instincts" says David Ditcher, "have made them independent and strongly democratic, so much so that even their own leaders have little real control over them".
It is one of the striking features of Pukhtoons in general and Afridis in particular that they give up their individual disputes and tribal feuds, sink their differences temporarily according to the exigencies of the time, form a Sarishta or take a unanimous decision for collective action and fight shoulder to shoulder against their common foe. This most remarkable trait was duly noticed by Edward E. Oliver. " The most democratic and dis-united people among themselves", he says, "un-controlled and often un-controllable even by their own chiefs, all the clans have uniformly joined in hostility to us whenever opportunity offered".
The Pukhtoons are fond of firearms which they possess for their personal protection, honour and defence of their homeland. " They are never without weapon when grazing their cattle, while driving beasts of burden; when tilling the soil, only their dots. The love of firearms is a trait in their character, they will enlist or work in order to the wherewithal and buy matchlock or rifle, the latter being preferred; and if an Afridi at the end of his service has not sufficient to buy one, he makes no scruples of walking off with his rifle and ammunition ". Being gallant and courageous they love to join the army principally to show their mettle on the battle field.
Unsurpassed in vigil and marksmanship every Pukhtoon is almost an army in himself. The writings of many British officers bear testimony to their magnificent fighting qualities, especially of the Afridis, Mahsuds and Waziris who are described by them as "careful Skirmishers" and the best guerilla force of the world in their own hills. The Frontier, as a matter of fact, became the best training ground and an excellent school of soldiering for the British Officers for about a century. It was on account of their martial qualities that they are looked upon as the "Sword arm of Pakistan".
Among redoubtable Pukhtoon adventurers stand out in bold relief the names of Ajab Khan Afridi, Multan Khan, Kamal Khan, Ajab Khan Yousafzai, Dilasa Khan, Chakkai and Jaggar.
Though at times Pukhtoons were temporarily subdued, they could never be held in permanent subjugation or tied in the shackles of bondage. They offered staunch resistance to any one who ventured to encroach upon their liberty and refused to submit tamely to the position of the vanquished. " Their character, organisation and instincts" says David Ditcher, "have made them independent and strongly democratic, so much so that even their own leaders have little real control over them".
It is one of the striking features of Pukhtoons in general and Afridis in particular that they give up their individual disputes and tribal feuds, sink their differences temporarily according to the exigencies of the time, form a Sarishta or take a unanimous decision for collective action and fight shoulder to shoulder against their common foe. This most remarkable trait was duly noticed by Edward E. Oliver. " The most democratic and dis-united people among themselves", he says, "un-controlled and often un-controllable even by their own chiefs, all the clans have uniformly joined in hostility to us whenever opportunity offered".
The Pukhtoons are fond of firearms which they possess for their personal protection, honour and defence of their homeland. " They are never without weapon when grazing their cattle, while driving beasts of burden; when tilling the soil, only their dots. The love of firearms is a trait in their character, they will enlist or work in order to the wherewithal and buy matchlock or rifle, the latter being preferred; and if an Afridi at the end of his service has not sufficient to buy one, he makes no scruples of walking off with his rifle and ammunition ". Being gallant and courageous they love to join the army principally to show their mettle on the battle field.
Unsurpassed in vigil and marksmanship every Pukhtoon is almost an army in himself. The writings of many British officers bear testimony to their magnificent fighting qualities, especially of the Afridis, Mahsuds and Waziris who are described by them as "careful Skirmishers" and the best guerilla force of the world in their own hills. The Frontier, as a matter of fact, became the best training ground and an excellent school of soldiering for the British Officers for about a century. It was on account of their martial qualities that they are looked upon as the "Sword arm of Pakistan".
Among redoubtable Pukhtoon adventurers stand out in bold relief the names of Ajab Khan Afridi, Multan Khan, Kamal Khan, Ajab Khan Yousafzai, Dilasa Khan, Chakkai and Jaggar.
faridone khan painting made by ghani khan
painting made by ghani khan
bacha khan with ghandi
ghani khan room
ghani grandsonREHMAN BABA
One of the great religious scholar of Swat (A city in current Pakistan),
Swat Sahib, said: "If any other then, the book of God, was permissible for prayer,
I would have defiantly chosen Rahman's book." At the dawn of seventeenth century, at the age of invasions from the West by Persians and East by Moghols, a the time when Afghans were in the mist of war in every corner of the nation, a the time when education was the last thing in peoples' mind, a legend was born. In the high hills of the Afghan nation, in the provincial area of Mohmand, a child was born, by the name of Abdul Rahman. Abdul Rahman would become one of the greatest poet in the history of the Pashto literature.
At the dawn of seventeenth century, at the age of invasions from the West by Persians and East by Moghols, a the time when Afghans were in the mist of war in every corner of the nation, a the time when education was the last thing in peoples' mind, a legend was born.
In the high hills of the Afghan nation, in the provincial area of Mohmand, a child was born, by the name of Abdul Rahman. Abdul Rahman would become one of the greatest poet in the history of the Pashto literature.
One of the great religious scholar of Swat (A city in current Pakistan), Swat Sahib, said:
"If any other then, the book of God, was permissible for prayer, I would have defiantly chosen Rahman's book."
Abdur Rahman Baba popularly known as Rahman Baba (1064-1123A.H/1653-1711 AD) was born to Abdus Sttar at Bahadur Killi, Hazar Khawani, Peshawar.
Rahman is commonly acknowledged as the saint among Pashto Poets. That is why he is called Rahman Baba. Baba means father, and is a common appellation of reverence for age and wisdom. Professor Preshan Khattak writes, 'there are many excellent poets of Pashto language those of the past and of the present. They are appreciated, loved, but none of them has reached the universal popularity of Rahman Baba and probably no one will'. Rahman Baba a great mystic poet has always been a great source of inspiration for poets and writers. Rahman Baba is an in exhaustible subject for researchers and critics of Pashto language.
Twentieth century gave a new wind of thought to Pukhtoons. With the dawn of the twentieth century, many poets/writers, researchers and critics emerged, they rediscovered Khushal Khan Khattak coupled with ennobling spirit of mysticism of Rahman Baba provided a new spur to the imagination of Pukhtoon poets.
Rahman Baba was well conversant with the prevalent stock of knowledge, fork lore and all the pros and cons of a typical Pukhtoon society. He was not just a detached reclusive mystic, oblivious and blind to the common problems of the people around him. Rahman Baba was a true representative of the spirit of the age he lived in. His poetry is a mirror to the virtues and ills of his period. Many of his verses have become proverbial in Pashto language. His verses have got such a currency in Pashto language that a convincing speech or a sermon remains almost incomplete and even incomprehensible without quoting one or two of his verses as a forceful argument.
The subjects of Baba poetry are universal love, sympathy, humility, peace, humanity and true friendship.
'Rahman Baba was the king of love, the guide to contemplation and virtue, the walking stick of the blind, the leader of poets, the saint of Pathans, and the master of simple word, observes a critic. Dost Mohammad Kamil who has explored Rahman Baba in his most admirable book "Rahman Baba' published in 1958 says, 'Rahman Baba has reached such heights of humanity and honesty that the reader-listener is compelled to accept his words "The Truth".
The poetry of Baba attracted many linguists, Scholars and researchers to understand the collective wisdom of Pukhtoons. Major Raverty and Plowden jointly translated (A selection from the poetry of Afghans) a celebrated book published during the British era. Markazi Naukhar Pukhto Adabi Jirga founded in 1934 by Abdul Khaliq Khaleeq, Abudl Hanan Hami and others arranged the first ever Pashto Mushaira at the mazar of Rahman Baba in 1938. The Jirga included Amir Hamza Khan Shinwari, Samander Khan Samarder, Abdul Ghufran Baikas, Ashraf Maftoon, Ajmal Khattak, Mian said Rasool Rasa, Abdullah Ustad, Mohammad Akram Mahshood. The poets at the Mushaira demanded that Tablets should be prepared for the graves of literary giants, Khushal Khan Khattak and Rahman Baba so that it could be properly preserved. The demand was put before the 'Pukhto Tolana Kabul, Afghanistan.
Mohammad Hassan a sculptor along with an engineer came to Peshawar and prepared the designs of the graves, they handed over the Tablets to the Afghan consulate in Peshawar 1949. The provincial government of N.W.F.P built a complex comprising a white marble mazar, a cafeteria, mosque, library and an auditorium where the poets and writers arrange a three days seminar and a Pashto Mushaira at the mazar of Rahmana Baba every year in the spring season. This year the Rahman Baba day coincides with the centenary celebration of N.W.F.P. The Diwan of Rahman Baba was translated into Urdu in verse form by Amir Hamza Khan Shinwari published in 1963.
Jens Kristian Enevoldsen (1922 -1991) a Danish scholar rendered Rahman Baba's poetry into English under the tile Rahman Baba: the nightingale of Peshawar. Keeping in view the universality of the message of Rahman Baba, I consider him the Nightingale of Humanity.
HAMZA BABA POETRY
Her loveliness increases and excels tremendously.
Since the inducement of her face is similar to spring,
The amazement of the mirror changed into a garden.
The devout seem sorrow stricken externally,
But he doesn't have any sorrow in the heart.
The human beings have to face some constrains,
On the way of their free will.
You can see glimpses of the beauty in my amazement,
You don't need to have a mirror.
Is it the effect of cosmetics or thy own youth,
Which radiates in thy rosy cheeks.
Since you can't determine the standard of thy adornment.
You, therefore, look at the mirror off and on.
Hamza Shinwari
Amir Hamza Shinwari, the legendry poet, scrip writer, dramatist, and a saint, is
commonly known as 'Baba-e-Ghazal' (the father of Pakhto Ghazal).
Hamza Baba himself testified the fact in a couplet, that:
The crimson of color in your cheeks,
Is the color of the blood of Hamza.
You came of age, Pashto Ghazal,
But turned me into an old Baba
Hamza Baba, son of the rugged mountains of the Khyber agency, born in
Lwargi, a village in the north-west of Landi Kotal, in the house of Malik Baz
Mir Khan, Chief of the Ashraf Khel, a clan of Shinwari Pakhtoon tribe, in
December 1907. At of the age of six, he was admitted to school in Lwargi; from
there, when he was eight, he came to Peshawar and continued his studies at
Islamia Collegiate Peshawar. But he gave up his studies, when he was in 9th class,
and retired to his village. And get married, soon after, according to the Shinwari
tradition of early marriage.
Hamza Baba, later on, joined the British India Political Department as Passport Officer, later he worked as T.T. Officer in the All-India Railways. Forced by his restless nature, he quit the job, and devoted his energies to polish and gloss over the inborn artist. He went to the cosmopolitan city of Bombay-the Hollywood of Subcontinent. There he performed as a dacoit in a silent film 'Falcon': but unsatisfied with, he returned to his homeland. And devoted his life to mysticism, under the patronage and guidance of his murshid (god father), Sheikh Abdul Satar Chesthi, known as 'Bacha Khan'. Inspired by the wonderland of Sufism, which he called the 'haratabad, and a desire to achieve the unattainable. He carved a niche in the awesome of temple mysticism, and lived there for good in the monastery of his soul.
Hamza Shinwari started his career as a poet, when he was in 5th class. According to Hamza Baba, "my poetic nature persuaded me, and I started poetry in Urdu." The first ever poetry of his life was in Urdu. But on the advice of his patron, Sheikh Abdul Satar, he started poetry in his mother tongue, and devoted himself to the service Pashto. A couplet of his depicts Hamza Baba's attactchmetn and gratitude for Pakhto. Accordingly:
The enemy brands it as a language of hell,
To heaven I will go with Pashto.
Hamza Baba stands at the juncture of the medieval and modern Pashto poetry, and can undoubtedly be called the renaissance of the Pashto poetry. He lifted Pashto lyric to its zenith. This is why Hamza Baba stands at an enviable stature among all poets, and a pillar of the Pashto literature. Particularly, Pakhto Ghazal is remarkable: for its construction, expression, style, imagery, and even its diction. Testifying to this, he was crowned and jeweled with the epitaph of 'Baba-e-Ghazal' (the father of Ghazal) in a mushaera, which organized by 'Bazm-e-Adab' (Pakhto Literary Society) under the patronage of Pir Abdul Satar, in 1940.
Hamza Baba was a dramatist and prose writer of his class. He wrote more or less 400 dramas. According to Hamza Shinwari, Hamza Baba has written 200 plays, during his life long association with the All-India Radio that was established in 1935. Some of his well-known plays are: Zamindar (the farmer), Ahmad Shah Abdali, Akhtar Mo Mubarak Shah (Eid Greetings), Dwa Bakhilan (two Misers), Fateh Khan Rabia, Guman Da Eman Zyan de (doubt undermines faith), Khan Bahadur Sahib, Khushal Khan Khattak, Khisto, Matali Shair (the poet of proverbs), Maimoona, Muqabilla (competition), Qurbani (Sacrifice), Spinsare Paighla (the spinster), Da Damano Khar (city of the Professional singers), Da Chursiyano Badshah (king of the Hashish smokers), and Jrandagarhe (the miller). But these are just names and no more, as most of these manuscripts, for he handed over to the Radio in original text, were lost or misplaced. He has written the scripts, songs and dialogues of three mega-hit classical, namely: Laiala Majnoon, Paighla (the virgin) and Allaqa Ghair (the tribal area) both in 1960s.
Hamza Baba has authored so many books of varied subjects: some about philosophy of human life and mysticism, other about love and romanticism, or ethics and social values. Starting with short stories and essays, to some estimates, he has 30 books to his name, including ten books in Urdu. These include: Tazkira-e-Sittaria, Tajjaliate Mohammadia (the refulgence of Mohammad), Jabar Wa Ikhtiaar (Free will & Predetermination), Nawe Chape (new waves), Tashheer da Kaiynat (conquest of the universe), Wajud Wa Sujud (the essence of the apparent), Anna aur Ilm (ego and knowledge) in Urdu and its Pashto version, Insany anna au poha (human ego and knowledge), Zhwand (life) in Pashto and Zindagee in Urdu, and Da Weeno jam (cup of blood). He has written travelogue of his journey to Afghanistan and Mecca. He has translated Rehman Baba's Dewan (collection poetry) into Urdu, and two major works-Armaghan-e-Hijaz and Javed Nama--of 'Shair-e-Mashreq' (Poet of the East), Dr. Allama Mohammad, into Pashto, in 1964 and 1967, respectively.
Hamza Baba remained the incubator and nucleus of the institutions and circles framed for the promotion and uplift of the both Pashto and Urdu, during his life time. For instance he was one of the few who has established the first ever Pashto literary society 'Bazm-e-Adab' that came into being in 1937. He acted as vice president, and remained president until 1950 when it was finally evolved into 'Olasi Adabi Jirga' (National Literary Society). He was nominated vice president of Dairay-e-Adabiya (Urdu Literary Circle).
Hamza Baba suffered, for long, from kidney illness, which he operated at Hyderabad, in 1986, but to no effect and his traveled to the master on February 18, 1994. He was laid to rest in his ancestral graveyard of Ashraf Khel at Lwargi. After two and a half year, his mortal remains were exhumed and reburied at Darwazgai graveyard.
Owing to his services, he was awarded for his epoch making services the Presidential Pride Award by ZIa-ul-Haq in his life time, while the present government is presenting a tribute to him by constructing the Amir Hamza Khan Shinwari Complex at the site of his grave at Darwazgai, Landi Kotal, in the Khyber Agency. Marking the eight death anniversary a ground breaking ceremony of the Rs 3.2 billion project took place at the site his graveyard. The complex is consisting of mazar (coliseum), library, and auditorium.
Hamza Shinwari Baba was, undoubtedly, a flowering spring of extraordinary genius, and has become an icon of universal admiration beyond the barriers of cast, language, color, or creed. Dr. Qabel Khan comments that Hamza Baba "is a virtual stream of friends of friends, disciples, admirers, and well-wishers….Hardly there was any day in his life he was not visited by his admirers and readers…his knowledge of Pashto is simply encyclopedic."
ghani khan
wife of ghani khan
made by ghani khan
made by ghani khan
bacha khan
ghani khanHISTORY OF PUKHTOON
The theory that the Pashtun or "ethnic Afghans" are descended from the ancient Israelites—more precisely, from the perspective of Jewish history the Lost Ten Tribes of Israel— has a longstanding basis as a tradition among the Pashtun themselves, was widely accepted by 19th century British scholars, and has been accepted by some reasonably recent and prominent individuals such as Itzhak Ben-Zvi, second President of Israel. However, contemporary anthropologists continue to debate this, putting forth an eastern Iranian people relation to the other peoples of the Iranian plateau based upon strong genetic and linguistic evidence, in addition to other possibilities such as admixture with invaders and groups that migrated to the region now inhabited by the Pashtuns.
Kalabagh Dam (KBD)
For the past so many years of its planning and designing, the objectives and goals of Kalabagh Dam (KBD) have been shrouded in secrecy, and the Federal Government’s blind following of the project, against the wishes of the three provinces of the federation, has made it the most controversial issue of national integrity.
The project is being pleaded as a turning point in the direction of national development, whereas the provinces see it as step towards the diversion of common resources towards the development of one province (Punjab), leaving all the rest to the possible negative impacts perceived from the project.
In the backdrop of all these events, the role of beneficiaries/affectees has been totally ignored. For which, they have every right to ask for the public disclosure of all the relevant facts regarding selection criteria, planning parameters, design guidelines, cost estimates, environmental and socio-economic assessments, government’s priorities, and financing mechanism of the planned construction. And it becomes more important for projects towards the harnessing of shared water resources, like that of River Indus, and for the equitable distribution of their benefits among the federating units as well as their short and long term impacts on their individual as well as collective lives.
Brief Introduction of Kalabagh Dam Project
Distinctive Characteristics of KBD Project (Ref: WAPDA Reports)
Salient Features of KBD Project
Expected Benefits of the KBD Project
The Kalabagh Dam (KBD) has been pleaded by WAPDA as the only possible choice for saving the food and energy starved nation of Pakistan. In this respect, it has worked out the following beneficial aspects of the project:
Enhancement in the Irrigation Water Supply
Enhancement in the Power Generation Capacity
A Critical Analysis of the KBD Project
A lot has been said, and is still being said, both in favour and against the KBD project, and the debate will continue till a final decision on its fate is achieved.
In this respect, the Federal Government & WAPDA, having all the administrative machinery at their disposal, have conducted a number of studies and organized various seminars, for projecting the beneficial aspects of the project and allay fears against its negative impacts.
On the other hand, enlightened professionals and nationalist organizations have, both individually and collectively, researched on the subject and tried to expose the over-shadowed negative aspects of KBD.
Whereas the few benefits of KBD project have been extensively propagated through the wide publicity campaigns of WAPDA, there has been a need to compile the findings of those unknown researchers, who burnt their midnight oil to expose the multiple destructive capacities of Kalabagh Dam.
Building upon the work done by the said researchers, the following pages will present a critical analysis of the KBD project, so as to enable the reader to assess for himself/herself the ultimate utility of the project to Pakistan.
General Observations on KBD Project
KBD is the only major project in the history of Pakistan, which has been most strongly opposed by the three, out of the four, provinces for various reasons. In this respect, unanimous resolutions have been passed by their elected Provincial Assembles to reject the viability of the project. Also, in the National Assembly and the Senate, the project has been strongly opposed by the elected representatives.
Apart from the technical flaws, making the construction and operation of the project an ultimate disaster, the people of the three provinces have certain reservations against its viability for the integrity of the country, and their common development.
Some of these reservations are described below:
Reservations of NWFP (Pukhtunkhwa)
Reservations of Baluchistan
Reservations of Sindh
Basic Planning Drawbacks in KBD Project
The KBD project suffers from a multitude of planning and design drawbacks, which makes it the least desired development alternative, out of the various development opportunities available in the Indus Basin.
With the KBD as a test case, the following paragraphs exposes the planning capability of WAPDA and the intelligence level of the decision makers at the top, who are adamant to support and propagate the case of a technically unfeasible dam on River Indus.
Unavailability of Enough Water in the Indus River System
Geophysical and Geological Enviroment of KalaBagh Dam
Location of the Dam on a Fault line
Design Drawbacks in KBD Project
Apart from the inherent planning drawbacks, the KBD also suffers from a variety of technical shortcomings. These vary from selecting a site, having the poorest capacity inflow ratio to that of proposing engineering designs making it the most unpredictable dam to operate.
Some of these aspects of the KBD are briefly discussed in the following paragraphs :
Site with Poor Capacity-Inflow Ratio
Disastrous Sedimentation
Silt Clearance Problems
Uncertain & Inefficient Mode of Operation
Relation of KBD to Tarbela Dam
Backwater Effect on Ghazi-Barotha Power Channel
Unfeasible Right Bank Canal
Short-term Impacts of Kalabagh Dam Project
The KBD is feared to cast its sinister shadows from its very first day of construction. They will vary from the dislocation of a large number of people and the submergence of their lands, houses and settlements, to the ultimate disappearance of long established cultures and ways of life. These are discussed as follows :
Population to be Displaced
Area to be Submerged
Long-term Impacts of Kalabagh Dam Project
Like its short-term impacts, KBD is going to have a long standing extremely injurious impact on the lives of the people both living in the immediate vicinity of project, as well as in the rest of the country.
The details of these impacts would vary in nature and in magnitude, and will appear in different moments of coming times to have devastating effects on the civilization of this whole region.
Some of the most important long-term impacts of the KBD are discussed below :
Increase in Surface Water Salinity
Flooding in Nowshera Valley
Drainage/Water-logging Problems in Nowshera
Failure of Mardan/Swabi SCARPs
Danger of Shallow Wells in Karak turning Brackish
Effect on "KATCHO" in Sindh
Effect on Mangrove Forests in Sindh
Salt Water Intrusion in Sindh
Problem to Agriculture with Increased Seepage
The Issue of Water Distribution as a Replacement Water
Operational Problems of Kalabagh Dam Project
The dam is designed for 28 weeks operation (or equivalent), but the model used for analyzing this aspect of the operation shows that the dam will not work efficiently for anything more than 21 weeks (or possibly less). This has been studied in detail by Saeed. A Rashed in his book "KBD, A Scientific Analysis", and the under-mentioned paragraphs from his work will try to summarize his findings.
Irrigation System Management Problems
The Real Power Generation Potential of KBD Project
Flood Regulation Risks
Economic Impact Analysis of KBD
Economic Impact on Various Provinces of Pakistan
Conclusion
Based on the above technical drawbacks, the project is expected to get the most intense reaction from population to be affected, and disrupt the piece and tranquility of the entire country.
Sane considerations therefore demand that KBD should be dropped in the face of better alternatives.
