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Sunday,
June 22, 2003, Chandigarh, India  
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Harry Potter weaves magic around globe Punjabi shunned by Pak schools, yet popular Jatha pays homage at Sacha Sauda WINDOW ON PAKISTAN Pak PM to open bus
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Harry Potter weaves magic around globe London, June 21 “I don’t think anything crucial has got out so I am happy,’’ she said after visiting an Edinburgh bookshop at midnight, the witching hour when “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix’’ was finally released. With children brought to fever pitch by a three-year wait for the latest wizard
installment and a meticulously orchestrated marketing campaign, the weighty tome looks set to become the fastest-selling book of all time. “I like Harry Potter because he deals with danger,’’ said eight-year-old New Zealander Matty Russell. In Kuala Lumpur, 14-year-old Maryam Nekmat, eyes shining under her traditional Malay headscarf, said: “I’ve waited months for this.’’ “People show a lot of interest in the book whatever age group they belong to,’’ said Kim Eun-chul at South Korea’s biggest bookstore in Seoul. Germans could not wait for the translation that comes out in November. They eagerly snapped up English language copies at Frankfurt International Airport. New Zealand marked the launch with a bid to set a new world record for the longest-ever children’s book reading. Prime Minister Helen Clark was one of the first to read aloud at the 27-hour marathon. “The wonderful thing about the Harry Potter story is that it has captured the imagination of children everywhere and helped to encourage a love of reading,’’ she told Reuters. In South Africa, more than 500 children and adults converged on a Johannesburg bookshop to get their hands on the book. From the kangaroo-plains of Australia’s outback to its golden beaches, Pottermania swept Down Under. Some Australians drove for hours along isolated, desert roads to get their copy, others journeyed in a special 14- carriage Hogwarts Express steam train.
— Reuters |
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Punjabi shunned by Pak schools, yet popular Nankana Sahib, June 21 Still, there are some staunch followers who want to accord Punjabi a status it deserves in its original Gurmukhi script. A Punjabi journal ‘Bhulekha’ is published from Lahore. It may not command a big circulation, but its mere publication explains the surviving love for the language. In spite of the absence of government patronage, Punjabi in Gurmukhi script still survives. It may not be kicking as they say, but it is very much alive, thanks to a few schools which the Sikhs have opened in Pakistan. This small Sikh population in Pakistan may be counted on fingertips. Besides a few Sikh families who live on the Dera Sahib Gurdwara premises, there is no other Sikh family living in Lahore. At Gurdwara Punja Sahib in Hassan Abdal, Ranjit Singh teaches Punjabi to nearly 30 children of Sikh families at Guru Nanak Devji School. He also teaches them Gurbani, so that, when they grow up, these children should know about their language, heritage, culture and a distinct identity in an alien land. The school is run on gurdwara premises. According to Ranjit Singh, three Sikh families live on the gurdwara premises and five more in the Hassan Abdal area, and these are the ones who send their children to learn Punjabi. The actual bases of Punjabi in Pakistan are Nankana Sahib and Peshawar. At Nankana Sahib, there are nearly 550 boys studying in Guru Nanak Devji Public High School. The councillor of Nanakana Sahib, Mr Mastan Singh, who is also managing director of the school, says that, out of the 550 students, 125 are Sikhs. However, all students are taught Punjabi. About the propagation of Punjabi, Mr Mastan Singh says the community should not look towards the government. Instead, it should itself endeavour with its own resources to teach Punjabi to the younger generation. Punjabi also has a strong foothold at Peshawar because of the thick concentration of the Sikh families — which are more than 100. There are two schools — Bhai Joga Singh School and Guru Angad Devji School — where children of the Sikh families learn Punjabi. Though Sikh boys speak a fluent Pushto, Punjabi still thrives in these lands, thanks to the Sikhs’ love for their mother tongue. |
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Jatha pays homage at Sacha Sauda Nankana Sahib, June 21 Accompanied by heavy security in which two police escort jeeps led the convoy of Sikh pilgrims, the jatha reached the gurdwara in the afternoon. It was a full strength jatha with all top Pakistani officials accompanying them. It certainly goes to the credit of the Pakistani Government and the Pakistan Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee that they have transformed certain gurdwaras beyond recognition. Special mention could be made of Gurdwara Roari Sahib in Eminabad and Gurdwara Sacha Sauda. The construction, repair and renovation of the buildings have been done in such excellent manner that they look architectural wonder. Landscaping has been done in a way that it gives a soothing effect to your soul. There is greenery all round at these two gurdwaras with fruit trees grown in rows. It was at this place where Guru Nanak had fed the hungry sadhus with Rs 20 which his father had given to Guru Nanak to purchase profitable merchandise. |
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WINDOW ON PAKISTAN For Pakistan’s press, relations with the men in khaki, who have most of the time ruled the country since independence, have never been cosy. But somehow, the journalists who welcomed the military coup in October 1999 expected a different treatment. There was a lot of bonhomie and many became unofficial advisors to the military rulers. They are now realising much to their discomfiture that Gen. Musharraf and his lieutenants are proving harsher than the previous military regimes. Earlier the attack was on News and Jang group, later Peshawar-based Frontier Post faced the onslaught. And now a Lahore-based weekly. In between there had been numerous cases. Shaheen Sabhai, one of Pakistan’s best-known journalists had to leave the country and launch a web newspaper from the USA, South Asian Tribune and is still hounded. For weeks, S A Tribune website has been blocked by the Pakistan authorities. The latest victim of the intolerant regime is Amir Mir, Pakistan’s young but fiercely independent editor of “Weekly Independent”, a hard-hitting Lahore journal launched in August 2001. He had to quit on June 13 under relentless government pressure, which forced the owners to change the newspaper policy. It was yet another proof that the Musharraf Government was ruthlessly coming down on dissent. “Amir Mir had become a problem for the army regime to the extent that General Musharraf himself presided over a meeting in Lahore and ordered action against the paper,” according to a document posted by the Weekly on its web site. The June 12 to 18 issue of the Independent provides some insight into the murky business of “managing” the dissenting newspapers in Pakistan. How Governor of Punjab and a former ISI operative, Brig. Ejaz Hussain Shah threatened to teach the press a lesson. His predecessor Khalid Mehmood was earlier responsible for a brutal lathi charge in Faisalabad during the infamous referendum last year. |
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Pak PM to open bus service to Delhi Islamabad, June 21 Mr Ahmed said Mr Jamali was looking forward to the resumption of the bus service and was also hopeful that the Samjhauta Express train service between the two countries would be restored. The popular New Delhi-Lahore bus service started in February, 1999, when the Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee travelled aboard the first bus up to the Wagah border post to meet the then Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif. But India severed all road, air and rail links with Pakistan following a terrorist attack on its Parliament in December, 2001. It blamed the attack on Pakistan-backed militants and amassed tens of thousands of troops along the international borders. Pakistan, however, denied the charge. The decision to resume the shuttle between New Delhi and Lahore was taken at a meeting between officials of the two countries last week.
— DPA |
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Prince charming in dad’s defence London, June 21 “I learned a lot from it, more so, now, than I did at the time. It’s made me aware,’’ he said in a rare interview for his birthday with Britain’s Press Association. “My mother used her position very well to help others, as does my father, and I hope to do the same.’’ William, who did voluntary work in Latin America on a year off after school, did not, however, say more on what he might do when he finishes studies at university in Scotland. The prince, whom many Britons hope will fill the royal glamour gap left by Diana, was fiercely loyal about his father. “He does so many amazing things. I only wish people would see that more. “He’s been given quite a hard time recently and I just wish that people would give him a break.’’ William said. The interview did not make clear what criticisms William was specifically referring to. William said Charles, in line to become king when his 77-year-old mother Queen Elizabeth dies, was “very happy and protective’’ towards his two sons and had instilled in them a healthy concern for social and rural issues. “I’m one of his biggest fans in that sense,’’ he said.
— Reuters |
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