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operation miniature On
life's stage The Babycakes
phenomenon
Mother of all battles The fight for South Waziristan is going to be longer and harder than any other military operation undertaken by Pakistan's armed forces
By Rahimullah Yusufzai A week after the launching of the military operation in
South Waziristan, there were two observations worth noting and not entirely
unexpected. One was the large-scale displacement of people and the
government's familiar inability to cope with the situation. The second was
the tough resistance offered by the militants that at times appeared beyond
expectation. The three-pronged military action named "Rah-i-Nijat" and launched on the night of October 17-18 is aimed at encircling and defeating the militants controlling the areas inhabited by the Mahsud tribe in South Waziristan. It was preceded by bombing by jet-fighters and gunship helicopters and shelling by long-range army artillery for weeks in a bid to "soften" up the militants' positions before the ground offensive. It is possible that the" softening" up wasn't complete as the militants are still able to not only defend some of their crucial positions but also undertake guerrilla-style attacks. The advance of troops from Razmak, a hill resort with a
British-era military camp located in neighbouring North Waziristan, appears
to have been slow as this frontline leads to the Taliban stronghold of Makeen
which they would defend to the end. The military is claiming to have occupied
some strategic heights on this front. If true, this should enable the troops
to hamper Taliban movements in the area and limit their ability to launch
counter-attacks. The fighting appears to be more intense and bloody on the two other fronts. The troops moving from Wana and Shakai, both inhabited by the apparently neutral Ahmadzai Wazir tribe and having their own brand of militants led by Maulvi Nazeer, were reported to have advanced to Khaisoora near the Tiarza Fort. They would have to fight their way through well-entrenched militants' positions in Sarwekai tehsil while trying to reach their strongholds in Kaniguram, Badar and Ladha. The army's supply lines could also face disruption as the troops push deeper into the mountainous Mahsud tribal territory. The soldiers all this while would have to look over their
shoulders as some elements among the Ahmadzai Wazir tribe are allies of the
Hakimullah Mahsud-led militants grouped under the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).
Commander Noor Islam and his brother Haji Omar belonging to Kaloosha village
near Wana fought one the side of the Uzbek militants when their own tribe,
Ahmadzai Wazir, decided to expel them from their area a couple of years ago
and after facing defeat fled to the Mahsud territory to seek refuge with the
then TTP head Baitullah Mahsud. The government and military authorities have
held meetings with Ahmadzai Wazir tribal elders and Maulvi Nazeer in a bid to
prevail upon them to stay neutral during the army action against the TTP
militants. But the pro-TTP militants among the Ahmadzai Wazir tribe could
join the fight and create difficulties for the military in the Wana-Shakai
area. They would surely get support from Uzbek fighters aligned to the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU) who still nursed a grudge against the Ahmadzai Wazir tribe for expelling them from Wana and Shakai and killing some of their men. The Uzbek militants, numbering 600 or even more, appear to be in a revengeful mood after having lost their leader Tahir Yuldashev in a recent US drone strike in South Waziristan and one would expect them to fight ferociously to defend an area that is one of the few places in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) where they could still find refuge. The Arabs and other militants affiliated to al-Qaeda and less in numbers than the Uzbeks would try to stay out of the battle as long as they can but they might be dragged into the fighting in view of the circumstances prevailing in the area. The most contested frontline in the battle for South
Waziristan presently is the Kotkai-Srarogha axis. This was the case during
previous military operations also. In fact, the Kotkai village was destroyed
in the last military action when it was bombed repeatedly from the air and
shelled by artillery guns. The troops had advanced on to Kotkai, village of
Hakimullah Mahsud and his cousin Qari Hussain, known as the "Ustad-i-Fidayeen"
or mentor to the suicide bombers, but that was the end of their march into
Taliban country as making further progress was proving costly in terms of
human and material losses and before long a peace deal was made with
Baitullah Mahsud. This time too the soldiers managed to take Spinkai Raghzai,
the first big village on the road from Jandola to Srarogha, before attempting
to lay siege to Kotkai. Excited television reporters covering the battle from
Dera Ismail Khan and Tank even reported that Kotkai had fallen to the army,
but the military The military should eventually capture some of the Taliban strongholds, though it may not happen in the six to eight weeks estimated by the military commanders. Snowfall in the approaching winter would also determine the course of the fighting. The troops are certainly better equipped and resourced to face the cold weather compared to the militants in case they are forced out of their built-up positions and pushed towards their mountain fastnesses. However, it must be borne in mind that the tribal fighters are tough and battle-hardened. Familiar with the terrain and determined to defend their hometowns and valleys, they would fight till the bitter end. The army troops sent into battle are said to total 30,000 and are aided by air support, public backing and media's goodwill. Various figures of the militants' strength have been given ranging from 10,000 to 17,000 or even more, but honestly speaking inadequate intelligence in this Taliban-controlled territory meant that precise numbers or even intelligent guesses about the militants' manpower aren't available. The militants would surely receive reinforcements from all over the country, but the armed forces have a larger capacity to send more troops, deploy better weapons and dominate the skies. Clearing the Mahsud tribal area of militants is a huge challenge but it can be accomplished at some pretty high cost in terms of human and material losses. However, holding the captured territory would be a bigger challenge in view of the likelihood of subsequent guerrilla attacks by the militants and the use of improvised explosive devices (IEDs) planted in the unpaved roads and suicide bombers. Another challenging task would be looking after the needs of the displaced people, already around 200,000 and their repatriation and rehabilitation once the fighting is over. Retaliatory attacks including suicide bombings are already taking place in the cities and this would continue for sometime. The battle for South Waziristan is going to be longer and harder than any other military operation undertaken by Pakistan's armed forces since 2003-2004 against militants in the tribal areas or Swat. This is the reason that many politicians and analysts are describing it as "the mother of all battles." The description may not be correct but the outcome of the South Waziristan battle would determine the direction that militancy would take in Pakistan.
Contemporary concerns In his recent show in Lahore, Khadim Ali's tall and bulky Rustam symbolises cruelty not bravery By Quddus Mirza A contractor with more land and less building material at
his disposal is likely to divide the land into plots and construct small
houses leaving a large space for lawn next to each house. Not only does it
help him finish the project early and save up on the cost of material and
labour, the end product looks chic, elegant and contemporary, too. Many of our modern day miniature painters, it seems, are opting for similar tactics. Miniatures, displayed in galleries across the country, tend to have a small painted image and a big background -- often unresolved -- in white. Earlier on, the problem of empty space was dealt with by filling it with tea stains. Today, modern miniaturists prefer the white portion next to a painted visual. Mohammad Zeeshan, Waseem Ahmed, Hasnat Mehmood, Usman
Saeed, Mahreen Zuberi, Amjad Ali Talpur, Rehana Mangi, Attiya Shaukat and a
few others have been rendering miniatures while treating the white surface as
part of their composition. There can be various reasons for this preference
-- or trend -- including the urge to make more pieces in a short span of time
or to follow the norm of portrait painting in this country; or it may well be
a new element seeping unconsciously into their works. Same is the case with Khadim Ali, the miniature painter trained at NCA, who is exhibiting his new works (Oct 17-28, 2009) at Rohtas 2 in Lahore. All his miniatures were prepared for a series called 'Rustom' that Khadim Ali has been working on for many years. Named after the legendary wrestler from ancient Iran, the work refers to the verses of Sheikh Saadi, the Persian poet and sage. In Ali's miniatures, this character emerges like a demon, with a muscular physique and a human face with bull's horns and ears. Blending features of both beast and man, he manages to communicate the 'reality' of or belief in this creature by his sheer skill. Khadim Ali has studied in Pakistan but he comes from the province of Bamiyan in Afghanistan. As such, he is deeply concerned about the violence that has become a part of our cultures, especially in Taliban's Afghanistan and Taliban-influenced areas in Pakistan. Persecution -- and subsequently the execution of people who belong to a different sect, race, language or political group which was a norm in Afghanistan under Taliban -- is now turning into a frequent practice in the Islamic Republic too. This has affected Ali personally as well; a few of his relatives/tribesmen were assassinated on the basis of their faith and features. But it is not only his clan that is suffering from the forces of fundamentalism; many others also end up being victims of this self-righteous group which is prepared to kill and destroy those who may have a different opinions in matters of religion and politics. Hence the inclusion of white and green loincloth (in the same proportion as our national flag) alludes to the state of Pakistan at this juncture, influenced, injured and devastated by militants and extremists (fighters, suicide bombers as well as their sympathisers in the media and political parties). This situation is illustrated by the tall and bulky figure of Rustam which, instead of signifying bravery, symbolises cruelty in a culture. The wrestler, resting on a cushion or standing or lying on the floor, looks like a mixture of man and beast. The scheme of depicting him in stocky solid and in various
shades of greys suggests the presence of a stone statue; reaffirming the
permanence of power, besides indicating the idol of orthodoxy taking the
place of Buddha's sculpture from Bamiyan, Afghanistan, a symbol of tolerance
blown away by Taliban during their rule. An important feature of miniatures from the present exhibition is the alter ego of the dominating character, painted as words but separately, analogous to folk stories in which a genie's soul is preserved inside a parrot. In each work, along with Rustom, text in Persian script is embossed in golden colour, shaped after the main figure from the painting. Written in Persian, the lines denote verses from Saadi, stating that in the period of oppression, injustice and great grief, dogs roam freely while stones are stuck to ground. The lines of Saadi, not only describe his time -- but like every great poet -- portray our contemporary conditions too; particularly the present times when terrorists and tyrants enjoy freedom, while people seeking peace and harmony are frightened, snubbed and stifled. The inclination to interpret a militant version of our religion has given birth to a whole generation of holy warriors, who are fighting to eliminate their enemies by using every means of annihilation. In Khadim Ali's work, the figure of Rustam unfolds the brute force of bigotry manifested in our midst in the guise of religious extremism. In that context, perhaps the white background makes some sense. Although it is viewed as a left-out portion of painting, it may also be read as the space for peace and resistance against elements of destruction. A possibility that is losing its importance, urgency and relevance; yet is needed much more today, even though it appears to be following a favourite pattern among our new crop of miniature painters.
Ajoka's Raja Rasalu is an old tale that has become part of the region's lore By Sarwat Ali Usually when old tales or texts are dramatically adapted, like the recent production of Raja Rasalu by Ajoka at the Alhamra, the main issue is the relationship of an old form with the realities of the time in which all is done. The effort is more or less driven by the concerns of contemporaneity. Usually it has happened that the conflicts and the thrusts
of contemporary times are portrayed in the old stories and classics. This may
reduce the classic or the old tale into very selective offerings of the
entire enterprise, or else pearls of wisdom are discovered in an overarching
work that has relevance for all times to come. Raja Rasalu is a very old tale that has become part of the region's lore. The ancient works in literature and elsewhere were written with a different perspective as they were based on a certain premise which probably, on surface, one may not fully tally with a world where less emphasis is laid on the known rather than the unknown. It was probably the fascination with the unknown that yielded thrill, excitement and anxiety of the audiences which formed the third angle of the triangular relationship that exists between the creators, the performers and the viewers. Hence, in all ancient works there is this element of chance and coincidence -- it provides the backdrop to the happenings on life's stage. It is a play in which the next move is not filled with
certainty but quivers with peril of what may happen next, and despite all the
certainty that engulfs our lives these days in the manmade world, the clouds
of uncertainty hover overhead and rumble to tell of its existence from time
to time. These adaptations can be done by keeping the appearance as it was in
the play when it must have been acted out, the same costumes, a set
appropriate to the period and use of props which do not violently disregard
these limitations, but the tilt of the production attempt to give a
contemporary reading to the situation that is embedded in the play. This production by Ajoka was performed with group of actors from Bahawalpur Wasal, who have been performing traditional plays and Raja Rasalu has become part of their repertoire. And the way in which the play was staged, it was apparent that the two segments of the play -- the traditional in which the story of Puran Bhagat was staged and the adventures of Raja Risalu, which formed the second segment -- were quite distinct from each other. The first segment was rendered musically of text and compositions which were traditional and the second of dialogue in dialogue and recitation that had been worked upon for this production. The first segment, though short, was quite fascinating because it revolved around the archetypal man-woman relationship that forms its own rules of engagement. Stripped of its societal limitations due to the intensity of passion that it generated, it was gripping as it somehow foretold doom. The segment was without dialogue and all of it was sung, either through the chorus or through various characters -- Raja Salvahan, Rani Ichraan, Rani Loona and Puran Bhagat. Perhaps the spell was cast by the singing and music -- no wonder it was such an integral part of the production. The entire episode that formed the play was not the tale of ordinary mortals but touched through larger than life characters the tragic inevitability of life where the potential and its actualisation do not necessarily match. The appropriate manner of its expression is through music. So singing played the most important part in this segment. Since the players and the actors were professionals, specialising in their work, their singing talent was quite honed and carried in it a tragic lilt. The entire narrative, both in the chorus and the characters, was in one musical mode and this regularity and consistency rather than being monotonous carried the plot and built upon the appeal that it generated from the very beginning. The sameness of the melodic line was cumulative and very effective and it seemed that any changes in the melodic line would have been distractive rather than dug deeper into the mass of single emotion. Among the Ajoka regulars Sarfaraz Ansari was the one who could match the singing talent of the professional bards. His ability to strike the right note should be used more effectively in the productions of Ajoka. The segment of Raja Rasalu was done by keeping the exterior as of yore but the dramatic techniques were the ones seen in other Ajoka productions like reciting the lines to the accompaniment of the beat and certain dance like movements, more tableaux like in their effect. And similarly made to order music compositions. The roles played by Muhammed Arif, Muhammed Anees and of Rani Ichraan and Rani Loona by Muhammed Tariq and Ikhlaq Ahmed was a throw back to the days when the female roles were played by males and this tradition probably still continues in the folk theatre. The play was written and directed by Malik Aslam who has been associated with Ajoka for a long period. This was not his first production and it is always a welcome sign that a number of people in a group perform a number of jobs.
Dear All, I have recently discovered the innovative baking of a young woman called Erin McKenna. It is innovative because it bakes cakes with a difference; for example, I have just made a batch of rather yummy vanilla muffins -- baked without eggs, butter, flour or sugar! Why, you may ask, would anybody want to eat cakes without
these basic ingredients? Allergies and food intolerance is the answer.
McKenna was diagnosed with wheat and dairy allergies five years ago but she
could not envisage a life without cake, so she set about devising cake
recipes without wheat or dairy. After many bizarre experiments she finally
hit the right note, formulated a different system of baking and set up a
bakery in New York called Babycakes. It was a huge hit, and this year McKenna revealed the secrets of this 'new baking' in a Cookbook, also called 'Babycakes'. But the recipes are not only of interest to people with allergies, the results are delicious and supposed to be better health wise than the traditional cake ever was. How, for example, did I make 'vanilla muffins' without eggs, butter, flour or sugar? Well, in place of flour there was a combination of chickpea flour (baisan), corn flour and powdered ispaghol; in place of butter there was coconut oil and in place of sugar there was agave nectar which is syrup from a cactus plant which grows in Mexico. Baking without eggs is something of a challenge but a combination of the dry ingredients (lots of baking powder) with applesauce and hot water seems to do the trick. It all seemed astonishingly creative and actually is quite useful. A few weeks ago some friends were coming over for lunch, whose young daughter is allergic to eggs, so I baked McKenna's egg less chocolate brownies to have with ice cream. A good choice, as she went home delighted, with more brownies plus the recipe so that her mother could bake them for her birthday. McKenna claims that the ingredients in her recipes are
more healthful than traditional cake ingredients: she uses agave nectar
instead of refined sugar and she says that as it takes longer to absorb in
the bloodstream than sugar, it does not shoot up the blood sugar in the way
refined sugars do. She also points out that coconut oil is high in omega-3
fatty acids and supports the proper function of the thyroid. McKenna's new baking is a great option to have available. If you don't have allergies and food intolerance problems, you have the choice to choose between traditional cakes and these gluten free, dairy free, vegan cakes. And if you do have these problems then you don't have to regard cakes as the enemy any longer. Babycakes has revolutionised traditional baking and made it move with the times and adapt to our changing social and physical needs. I love the whole idea because it is an intellectual and thoughtful reinvention, where you try to analyse the role of each ingredient in the creation of the cake, and because there is a wonderful element of discovery and culinary alchemy in the whole process.
Best wishes |
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authorities didn't confirm its capture. In fact, certain reports even said
the militants had retaken Kotkai after retreating from the village earlier.
It is possible that Kotkai never fell into the military's hands. The village
is strategically important as its fall would open the way for an advance by
the troops into the Srarogha area, perhaps the biggest stronghold of the
Pakistani Taliban. However, of greater importance is the symbolism of the
fall of the native village of the two top and most ruthless TTP commanders,
Hakimullah and Qari Hussain. It would mean that they were unable to prevent
the fall of their own village and thus incapable of defending other villages
and strongholds.
