Lahore Metblogs

Lahore at its best

S A J Shirazi — Mon, 27 May 2013 12:26:46 +0000

[This image by Rahat Dar of The News]

Trees of Lahore

S A J Shirazi — Sun, 12 May 2013 07:07:01 +0000

Until the 1970s some one hindered and sixty species of birds were listed in Lahore. While the city had such green spaces as Lawrence Gardens, Aitchison College, the cantonment and Model Town, farm and forest on the outskirts began where Defence Society or Allama Iqbal Town and the innumerable societies now sprawl in south and east Lahore. Also, houses along main thoroughfares were constructed on plots of four or five thousand square yards or more, giving every residence a large garden with trees, shrubbery and flowers.

The conversion of suburban farm, forest and scrub land to housing estates led to large scale deforestation. Over the years it was observed that not just government agencies, but private developers as well as individual home owners are clearly repulsed by trees. The first thing anyone does is remove the forest cover, even when the trees do not get in the way of construction. Wherever indigenous forest was destroyed, the grid of new roads was bordered with eucalyptus.

With the development of these housing estates and soaring real estate prices, the standard plot size was reduced to 500 square yards. Most of the palatial homes (save those in Gulberg) were evacuee property taken over after partition and because Pakistan of the 1950s through the 80s was a country of single generation riches, the properties began to be divided as the families grew. The homes and gardens of Model Town and Gulberg were progressively cut up into smaller and smaller plots. The tree-shaded bungalows of downtown roads like Temple, Abbott and Davies were demolished to make way for high-rises. Nowhere was an effort made to save so much as a single tree.

The house with the garden was no more. Now people lived in blockhouses covering the entire plot save the thin sliver that had to be left unpaved by law. There was no more room for the spreading neem or pipal in the matchbox garden that was now the norm. The 1980s saw PIA air crews bringing home all sorts of exotic plants from the Far East. Though restricted under law, customs officials connived while those of the Plant Protection Department that controls import of exotic species remained spectacularly negligent. The activity went on unchecked, flooding the country with useless species of ornamental flora. This was in tune with the requirements of the new matchbox gardens and ignorant homeowners lapped up the supply.

With the diminishing forest cover of Lahore, birdlife began to disappear. Red avadavats, munias, Tickell’s and Paradise flycatchers so common in Gulberg and Shadman were the first to go. Golden orioles, those elusive streaks of black and gold, flashing among the foliage on Davies Road and The Mall were restricted to Canal Bank south of the Punjab University. And this is to name only a few species to permanently migrate away from Lahore.

Now, even twenty years before all this started to happen, self-serving foresters had begun to plunder the ecology of Lahore – indeed of the rest of the country as well. Pressured by their political masters to increase forest cover, they went for the one sapling that had a hundred percent survival rate. With help from an Australian botanist, Dr Prior by name, the Forest Department raped Pakistan with six of the six hundred sub-species of the water-guzzling eucalyptus. Since birds and animals kept away from this alien species, it grew where the survival of indigenous saplings was limited to about thirty percent.

Consequently, from about 1960 onwards, from Jivani in the south of Balochistan to Chor in the Thar Desert to the mountains of northern Pakistan, only eucalyptus was planted. New localities like Township in Lahore where a huge swathe of the historic Lakhi Forest was cleared to make way for roads and housing, was replanted with this new darling of the Forest Department. Simultaneously, there was an aggressive campaign to promote this alien tree. It continued to 2005 when the Punjab government banned its plantation – for the second time. Undaunted rogue Forest Department officials still encourage it.

Now, in the past, urban forestry was the responsibility of the Forest Department. In the 1980s Lahore Development Authority (LDA) raised an in-house Parks and Horticulture Department and entrusted it with the task of giving Lahore its green canopy. Since it was managed by ignorant low level bureaucrats, never by a specialist who understood the word ‘ecology’, Lahore now began to be destroyed full time. Wherever an indigenous tree was lost, the replacement was an exotic shrub.

In the late 1990s, a self-serving and glib mandarin well-versed in the arts of slick talk and sycophancy, out of favour with the government of the time, already having blighted a part of Lahore with date palms in place of old spreading mango trees, saw his chance. To the Chief Minister, Punjab, he presented the idea of turning Lahore into a garden so that he may be remembered as a second Shah Jehan. And so it was that the department within LDA became a separate Parks and Horticulture Authority under the glib one as its first Director General.

The man may have known about flowerbeds, but he hadn’t the faintest clue about ecology. As is the norm in this benighted land, he was followed by a procession of general duty bureaucrats, utterly uneducated in matters of environment, who enacted a sordid game of corruption coupled with the wholesale destruction of the Lahore’s ecology.

Now, in a country where the words ‘environment’ and ‘pollution’ continue to remain beyond the comprehension of politicians and the bureaucracy (both civil and military), a holistic understanding of ecology is still wanting. First of all, none of the mandarins who steered the sullied ship of PHA understand that trees are sinks that sequester atmospheric carbon to control global warming. That the larger the bio-mass of a tree the more carbon it will hold is simply beyond their grasp. Consequently, when the tons of bio-mass of a mature banyan or pipal is destroyed, the replacement is a shrub.

Those who do favour trees are singularly incapable of understanding that ecology can only be kept in order with indigenous species of flora. Devoid of the capacity to commune with nature, they do not realise that alstonia, another alien to Punjab and now a favourite, is fastidiously shunned by all bird species. Even after years of it becoming a familiar sight in Lahore, not a single alstonia has ever harboured a roosting leave alone a nesting bird. But for the babus of PHA, this is just specie with which to replace the city’s indigenous trees.

In 1980 yet another bane struck Lahore. A young man with connections to the dictator through his politician mother became ‘Horticulturist by Appointment to the President.’ Beginning with a free run of the President’s House in Islamabad which he, needless to say, destroyed ecologically, he added another nail to the coffin of Lahore’s ecology. Without any education in the field, the man a landscape artist promoting only exotic species in the city. Needless to say that this was accomplished at considerable fiscal profit to the man.

Though he seems to have grown intellectually and has done some good work in a couple of housing estates in south Lahore, he admits that as a landscape designer, his earning comes from promoting expensive and exotic flora. ‘I cannot possibly sell a neem for Rs 1000 when everyone knows they can have it from a good nursery for a couple of rupees,’ he says. He admits that he is guilty, together with PHA, of promoting exotic species to the detriment of indigenous ones for the huge profits to be raked in.

Thirty years of brainwashing by persons with no specialised training and no understanding of ecology masquerading as environmental engineers, has led to a near catastrophe. On the one hand, indigenous trees have lost out to exotic ones. On the other, the total carbon-sequestering bio-mass of Lahore is now only a fraction of what it was in, say, 1975.

In its twelve years, PHA has remained a den of sleaze and incompetence with only a couple of very short clean interludes. (The sordid tale of PHA and the multi-million rupee-annual hidden income of its incumbents is a separate mind-blowing story). The current director general, another general duty bureaucrat, is choking Lahore with thousands of ficus and the kulfi tree called Asoka. So far as this man is concerned, no other tree exists. The greatest eyesore yet created by this man’s ignorance is the vast open space in front of Allama Iqbal International Airport, Lahore. The list does not end here, however.

Choc-a-bloc with all sorts of exotic dwarf palm trees and shrubbery what could have been a delightful sylvan retreat promises to be a shadeless hell in the blistering heat of the Lahori summer. The standard argument trotted out will be that the danger of bird hit precludes the planting of large trees in this spot. This holds no water because the distance between the hundreds of trees in the cantonment and the old runway is about the same as the distance on this side.

A PHA insider reveals that working on the Arain clan network, the DG is directly making wholesale procurements of ficus and Asoka from an Arain-owned nursery in Pattoki outside Lahore. The man claims to have cut down on expense by removing the middleman, but allegations about his own fiscal misdemeanour run rife in the corridors of PHA. Despite repeated attempts to contact him, Abdul Jabbar Shaheen remained out of reach, however.

Meanwhile, the nursery operated by the Forest Department in Ravi Road, Lahore is a lonely place. With thousands of saplings of over two dozen indigenous species of trees sold for no more than two rupees a piece, the nursery is unknown to the people of Lahore. With freelance landscape (con) artists and pseudo horticulturists promoting all sorts of exotic rubbish in place of the trees of Punjab, a whole new mindset has emerged. A day will come when the children of Lahore will not know what a pipal or a neem looked like. The same way as they today do not know what a firefly is.

A retired judge, resident of Judicial Colony in south Lahore, commented on the absence of birdsong in his locality. When told that it was because of the forest of non-local species that grows in his estate, he was nonplussed. Despite being pressed to get the management of the colony to phase out the alien and bring back the indigenous, he has done nothing. He only laments that there is no birdsong.

With every prejudice against nature, we have turned Lahore green, but it is a green desert. It is a desert where few birds sing and which does nothing positive for the overall ecology of the city and the country. We have to be thankful that this land was once ruled over by the Brits who planted The Mall, Lawrence Gardens and the cantonment and that there were good Hindu and Sikhs who gave us Model Town. These are the only places in Lahore today where a bird watcher can find woodpeckers and hornbills.

The beautiful mating song of the red avadavat, the mellifluous whistle of the golden oriole, the eerie call of the spotted owlet, the incredibly soft yet crowded orchestra of a single chiffchaff are gone. We do not realise, but we are the poorer for the loss of birdsong. One day, we the people of Lahore, will die from this resulting loneliness of the soul in a landscape ravaged by a desert of exotic greenery.

From Here

The Lahore that I grew up in was a great place

S A J Shirazi — Sun, 21 Apr 2013 16:01:06 +0000

I grew up in Lahore. All my life I lived here except for the seven years in the army and ten in Karachi. I returned again in December 1988 and have lived here since. I knew a Lahore that was a very beautiful city. It was a city of people who ere cultured, courteous and with a sense of humour that was sharp without being vulgar. This was a city of the most magnificent Mughal buildings and gardens. It was also a city where you could actually get into the countryside without going anywhere. The urban sprawl of what is now Johar town was a place of mango orchards and fields where one could hear the song of more than a hundred different species of birds.

Lahore was a city where the gates of your house were always open, except when you turned in for the night. It was a city where armed robbery or rape was unknown. Lahore was where a traffic accident did not mean you were lynched. It meant people got out of their cars and quietly resolved who was to pay for the damages. Here a young man and woman could walk hand in hand without being accused of ‘obscenity and vulgarity’.

The Lahore that I grew up in was a great place to live in. But we have cut down all the indigenous trees and replaced them with useless asoka and ficus trees where birds do not roost because these trees do not belong to this land. And now we are blighting this once beautiful city with palm trees. The Chief Minister says he will turn Lahore into Paris. For crying out loud, please just turn this urban lifeless jungle once more into Lahore [From Here].

Odysseus Lahori

S A J Shirazi — Sat, 09 Mar 2013 14:36:34 +0000

Fellow of Royal Geographical Society, Salman Rashid is author of several books including jhelum: City of the Vitasta and The Apricot Road to Yarkand, Riders on the Wind, Between two Burrs on the Map, Prisoner on a Bus and Sea Monsters and the Sun God. He is the only Pakistani to have seen the North Face of K-2 and trekked in the shadow of this great mountain. His work – explorations, history, travel writings – appears in almost all leading publications. Salman Rashid blogs here.

Odysseus was a very simply choice, says Salman Rashid, “He travelled, either driven by storms or by his will to discover strange and wonderful lands where he met all sorts of people. Though I never met a Cyclops, I too have travelled to wonderful places across the length and breadth of Pakistan. The Odyssey lasted twenty years, mine is still ongoing – though it is not in one stretch and there is no danger of returning home and not being recognized by anyone. It was Odysseus’ spirit of adventure that made me adopt him name.”

Follow Salman Rashid on Twitter, also find on facebook.

Lahore Metro – Pros, Cons & Perceptions

Faraz Khalid — Sun, 10 Feb 2013 19:02:45 +0000

A state of the art metro bus system – brand new and unique in Pakistan – should make every Lahori proud of their city today.

A lot has been written and said about this system. And as is the case with almost everything in Pakistan, the points of views are poles apart. Many people regard this project as a major infrastructure breakthrough, while many call it excessive and useless.

More often than not, both sides have politically affiliated, if not motivated, line of reasoning.

I do not have a political affiliation. I have also not personally researched much on this project. Hence I will not endeavor to put forward my own take on it right now. I will, however, attempt to summarize the arguments I hear from both sides, and will point out some obvious flaws in both sides of arguments, wherever i can. Maybe this stirs up some constructive conversation on this mega project on this site. (i.e. if many people still visit this site!).

So lets start with arguments against this project:
a) It is excessive. Lahore doesn’t need such an elaborate transit system. Just some investment in usual buses would have been enough.
Flaw in the argument: For a city of almost 1 Crore people, no investment in infrastructure can be termed ‘too big’… we desperately needed good infrastructure and commute system. Agreed lahore is already much better off than rest of the cities in Pakistan in terms of roads etc. but that doesn’t mean we cannot/should not do more.

b) Money spent here could have been used for education, healthcare, anything else.
Flaw in the argument: Infrastructure is as important as other necessities. It is the backbone of the economy. Also, while everyone has limited funds, a choice in basics (which includes infrastructre) cannot be termed as a wrong choice. e.g. what would you do with good education, when you cannot provide a robust economy to your educated people to prosper in.

c) Maybe some corruption?
Flaw in the argument: I don’t know. No strong supporting argument / evidence has been put forward (at least I haven’t come across any) in this front.

Arguments in favor of this project:
a) It will modernize Lahore.
Flaw in the argument: Obviously it will not. Just one transport system alone wouldn’t do the trick, specially if many other basic necessities are not there yet, including energy/electricity, law & order and not to forget cleanliness.

b) The project will make Lahore an economic hub
Flaw in the argument: Lahore already is an economic hub in the region. While the project makes things easier, it wouldn’t suddenly spur new economic activity from near and far. THAT will happen only if a wholesome economic program covering all the bases is launched

c) The project makes lahore commuting easy and cheaper
Flaw in the argument: Yet to be seen; how much burden these busses will / can take. Would it move some segment of population away from private cars to busses? Would the busses continue to run efficiently. Would the project be managed well?

Too early to make a final call… Any comments?

A post after very many years

Faraz Khalid — Fri, 08 Feb 2013 13:45:49 +0000

Its been an astonishingly long time since I last wrote for this site. In fact an astonishingly long time, since I even actually visited this site. Don’t even know who from the days past is still here, who is where, and who is gone. A lot of water has… wait, the entire bridge has been replaced by a newer bridge…. Life goes on nonetheless.

SO I decided to pick up from where I conveniently left… to maybe write a literary gem or two… about my beloved city of Lahore… :)

Even though I don’t live in Lahore… but i know where it is… and that makes me a true Lahori!

So watch this space :)

Hibernation

azface — Thu, 31 Jan 2013 00:42:47 +0000

Hi fellow citizens and Lahoris. I’m finding it difficult to believe how I have managed to let nearly 5 years slip by since my last post!

Hassan and co. – hope you all have been well.

Promise to be back soon with yet another thought provoking piece.

Peace-

Lahori Kulfi

reallyvirtual — Fri, 01 Jun 2012 14:10:10 +0000

All the kulfis sold in Abbottabad are Lahori

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Towards Accelerated Economic Growth in Pakistan – Its NeedandFeasibility

S A J Shirazi — Tue, 15 May 2012 12:29:14 +0000

The Lahore School of Economics will be hosting its Eighth Annual Conference on Management of the Pakistan Economy on May 16-17, 2012 at its Main Burki campus. The focus of the Conference will be Towards Accelerated Economic Growth in Pakistan: Its Need and Feasibility. The discussion on “means and channels” through which accelerated growth could be sustained will include international competitiveness, regional trade relations as stimulus to economic growth, and promotion of investment activity and enterprise development.

The Conference will encompass seven sessions over the two days with each session focusing on a major theme for accelerated economic growth. The sessions on 16th May will focus on A Heterodox Strategy for Stabilisation and Economic Growth, Economic Growth-Employment-Poverty Nexus, International Competitiveness for Sustainable Growth and International Perspectives. The areas covered in the sessions on the second day of the Conference include Pakistan’s Strategic Importance and its Trade Relations, Immediate Constraints and Longer-Term Triggers for Economic Growth and Making Provincial Devolution Work. The conference will end with a panel discussion on the Key conclusions from the Conference.

The Conference will bring together distinguished economists, academicians and policymakers from both the national and the international spheres. Some of the notable speakers include Dr. Ashwani Saith, Professor, Institute of Social Studies, Erasmus University Rotterdam; Dr. Rashid Amjad, Vice Chancellor, Pakistan Institute of Development Economics; Dr. Irfan Ul Haque, Special Advisor, Financing for Development, South Centre, Geneva; Dr. S. Akbar Zaidi, Visiting Professor, School of International Public Affairs, Columbia University; Dr. Moazam Mahmood, Director, Economic and Labour Market Analysis Department, International Labour Office; Dr. Matthew McCartney, Lecturer, Wolfson College, University of Oxford; Dr.Ijaz Nabi, Country Director, International Growth Centre, Pakistan; Dr. Hafeez Pasha, Dean, School of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences, BNU; Mr. Asad Umar, Former CEO Engro Corp; Dr Kamal Munir, Senor Lectutrer in Strategy, Judge Business School, University of Cambridge, Dr Syed M. Turab Hussain, Assistant Professor, School Humanities and Social Sciences, LUMS; and Dr. Ishrat Hussain, Dean and Director, Institute of Business Studies.

Dolls, Toys and More launched

S A J Shirazi — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 09:40:21 +0000

Dolls, Toys and More by S A J Shirazi was launched in Lahore on April 28, 2012. here is a foreword by Khalid Javaid, the Executive Director, Lok Virsa

Pakistan’s folk culture is a living tradition practiced by a dominant majority of its people. Pakistanis, therefore do not have to go looking for folklore, it is all over. In fact, it is so common place that an average rural Pakistani may have no awareness whatsoever of his folkloric culture and the richness of his folk heritage, just like a fish in water.

Pakistan with its rich and varied heritage has a craft tradition of more than 9,000 years dating back to the Mehergarh civilization in the Balochistan province which reveals the earliest evidence for pottery production. The Indus valley civilizations of Moenjodaro in Sindh and Harappa in Punjab, 5,000 B.C. indicates impressions of woven cloth production from cotton and wool. The dominant historical influence still to be seen in the form, design and colour of Pakistani handicrafts is essentially Islamic, a fusion of Turkish, Arab, Persian and the indigenous Mughal tradition.

The crafts represent a valuable material heritage, which forms a tangible part of our historical and contemporary culture. Unlike the west, most traditional crafts in Pakistan is neither a profession nor a hobby, but an essential component of the diverse cultural patterns – a product of the ethnic and communal attitudes and practices. As such crafts have meanings and definite social context in traditional society. However, the onslaught of the industrial age is erasing this craft heritage, even in rural areas. But there is a recent trend towards the use of crafts as art objects in urban homes. Historic forms and designs are being revived both by the increasing number of trained craftsmen and by designers for the tourist and export trade.

Pakistan is noted for some of the most beautiful handicrafts of the world. Whether it is the elaborate dress of a bride or a simple household utensil, it is designed and created so artistically that it becomes an object of art. The different regions, towns and cities specialize in their particular handicrafts. This is why there is so much diversity and variety in the crafts of the country.

The indigenous skills of Pakistan have evolved over centuries through communal practice and therefore constitute the most authentic representation of Pakistan’s traditional art

The National Institute of Folk and Traditional Heritage, popularly known as Lok Virsa, is a pioneering national organization at the federal level striving hard since its inception in the This task is being done in a professional and systematic manner in close association with a vast network of provincial and regional cultural institutions, non-governmental organizations and community-based bodies, who are actively engaged with the practitioners of the traditional culture at the grass root level.

Lok Virsa has been working closely with Thatta Kedona for the last many years. They have undertaken a number of initiatives in the village Thatta Ghulamka Dhiroka in Punjab for the promotion and preservation of traditional culture including activating the village women and resumption of the tradition of making dolls and ethnological research resulted in creating ethnic dolls dressed up in the traditional costumes of various provinces and minorities. In pursuance of their objectives, they give training to village women to make international quality products, to generate income and thus becoming an effective part of the society. They also collaborate with the Export Promotion Bureau of Pakistan to introduce their products abroad.

Their present publication of Thatta Kedona will also go a long way in maintaining the traditional culture and creating on its basis a foundation for good quality artisanship. We wish them success in their endeavours [Also here and here].