Pakistan adopts Chinese GPS satellite system

BEIJING: Pakistan is set to become the fifth Asian country to use China’s domestic satellite navigation system which was launched as a rival to the US global positioning system, a report said Saturday.

The Beidou, or Compass, system started providing services to civilians in the region in December and is expected to provide global coverage by 2020. It also has military applications.

Thailand, China, Laos and Brunei already use the Chinese system, which currently consists of 16 operational satellites, with 30 more due to join the system, according to English-language China Daily.

Huang Lei, international business director of BDStar Navigation, which promotes Beidou, told the newspaper the company would build a network of stations in Pakistan to enhance the location accuracy of Beidou.

He said building the network would cost tens of millions of dollars.

American website Defensenews.com reported early May that Pakistani military experts were in favour of using the Chinese system, even though the availability of the signal could not be guaranteed in case of conflict.

But according to one of them, Pakistan cannot place its trust in the United States.

“Pakistan’s armed forces cannot rely on US GPS because of its questionable availability during a conflict that has overtones of nuclear escalation,” former Pakistan Air Force pilot Kaiser Tufail told the site.

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang travels next week to Pakistan, a long time ally, after a visit to India.

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Priceless – real objects from Indus valley on display at Karachi museum

KARACHI: To celebbrate the worl Museum day the Karachi’s National Museum of Pakistan has made arrangements to display the orignal King preist from Moen Jo Daro and many other priceless objects in an Exhibtion.

The exhibition, which opens for the public on May 18 when the world celebrates International Museum Day, will continue for 15 days. The museum is open from 9AM to 5PM daily except on Wednesdays.

Judging from the nervousness of museum director Mohammad Shah Bukhari, one could understand the risk involved in putting on display the rare artifacts and ornaments. “It is for the first time that I am taking these out for the public at the National Museum of Pakistan,” the museum director told Dawn on Friday.

The extremely valuable artifacts in the museum, like at all other big museums of the world, are kept under lock and key. They are only brought out at heavily guarded exhibitions or on very special occasions. The International Museum Day was as good an occasion to do it for the very first time here.

Among the excavated pottery, old texts, stone and metal artifacts in one of the museum’s 11 galleries, the Islamic Art Gallery, there are four or five special glass display tables. One has a beautiful 300-year-old copy of the Holy Quran, another showcase displays solid gold Gandhara Civilization jewellery, while the third has a pair of small gold bulls with the last one exhibiting the original King Priest.

“The King Priest is South Asia’s biggest archaeological symbol,” the museum director said. “You must have seen it many times in textbooks, postcards, posters or on television. Well, all those are only casts of the original. We have never brought out for display the original King Priest before this day,” he said.

Anwar Hussain Khan, the museum’s model maker, said that he had been creating replicas in clay and plaster of Paris, but the original was made of white stone. “Most Gandhara objects are made of the same white stone,” he said.

Commenting on the priceless King Priest, Mr Khan joked that if sold the amount fetched in exchange can take care of Pakistan’s years of debts. “But seriously, the biggest buyers of such art pieces are in Japan. They can give you a lot of money for it but no one in their right mind would even think about selling such a piece. It is just priceless,” he said.

Meanwhile, the museum director said that even if they took it out of the country for exhibitions, its insurance itself came to billions of dollars.

The other artefacts on display include the jewellery comprising two bangles and as many necklaces with stones embedded, like clear glass Kundan work. “They are some 1,800 years old,” said Mr Bukhari.

There is also a pair of small gold bulls. “They are not gold-plated but pure, solid gold ornaments,” he said. “Both are Indus Valley Civilisation pieces, excavated from Quetta during the construction of Serena Hotel there several years ago,” he added.

The copy of Holy Quran in Naskh script by Abu Al-Barkat Sayyid Mohammad Makki is dated back to AH 912/ 1506 AD. “It has been passed down through several generations and the museum acquired it in 1957,” he said.

“We usually hold our exhibitions in the main lobby of the museum but considering the preciousness of these items and the risk involved in bringing them out, we decided to put them on display in the Islamic Art Gallery, which seems more secure,” said Mr Bukhari.

He said they had made extraordinary security arrangements for the very special artifacts.

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Pakistan’s new government makes economy its top priority

The newly elected to be ruling party of Pakistan hopes to revive the economy of Pakistan. While speaking to BBC the leader of Pakistan Muslim League (N) replied to the question what will be the top priority of Nawaz government  he said his first priority is Economy and “if you ask me what is my second priority it will be Economy and so will be my 3rd priority” he added

According to Nawaz Sharief if we can fix the economy of the country all of the other problems will be fixed on its own, he says that the violence, unrest, terrorism, poverty can be cured by fixing the economy of the country.

Nawaz Sharief is poised as the next prime minister of Pakistan. He is regarded as a business man hence is expected to know the economy and will improve the business environment of the country, see this the Karachi Stock Exchange has been runing volitile since last 2 days and has had raised few hundreds of points.

Nawaz Sharief was deposed by the ex Army chief General pervez Musharraf in 1999, due to his outreach to India and  his attempt to fire the army chief, Gen. Pervez Musharraf.

According to an article of New York times “the success — and perhaps length — of Mr. Sharif’s tenure will be determined by how he negotiates the relationship with Pakistan’s unelected power players. They include the United States, an ally with whom he has a long and sometimes unhappy history and that has worried about his vigor in fighting Islamist militants. There is a newly crusading judiciary to gauge. And above all loom the generals, and his tense history with them.”

Analysts say Mr. Sharif, who also has a stubborn streak, could find himself drawn into a clash with Justice Chaudhry.

“Sharif might look at this court and find it a bit too activist for his liking, with its tendency to push government up against the wall,” said Mr. Almeida, the journalist. “I don’t think he would look on it very benignly.”

Still, the potential for conflict may be limited: Justice Chaudhry is set to retire in December, which leaves relatively little time for a battle between the courts and Mr. Sharif.

On the campaign trail, Mr. Sharif played to populist sentiment by condemning C.I.A. drone strikes in the tribal belt and suggesting, in vague terms, that he would seek to avoid bowing to American dictates. But the perilous state of Pakistan’s economy means that he may require American support for a bailout by the International Monetary Fund — one that economists believe will be necessary in the coming months.

Mr. Sharif has close relationship with Saudi Arabia, where he whiled away his exile. King Abdullah helped broker Mr. Sharif’s return to Pakistan in 2007, and Mr. Sharif maintains close ties with Riyadh. That relationship, although discreet, could provide an alternative source of economic aid, as well as a powerful ally.

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Bridal fashion week in Karachi in Pictures

The Pantene Bridal Couture Week in Karachi displayed some of the latest dress design for bridal as well as some casual wear. The week started on Friday 20th April, 2013 at Karachi Expo centre and was oraganised by Syle360.

The first display of collections was by Zainab Chhotani, with a perfect blend of elegance and of heavily beaded bridal wear followed by Nadia Chottani with an elaborate collection of jewellery.

Subsequent to an exuberant performance by the charming couple, Aamina and Mohib, Saim Ali came on stage with an exceptional bling.

Mona Imran closed the first show with a collection of bravado aesthetic combinations including saris, lehngas and peshwas. Hina Dilpazeer opened her show next; Saud and Javeria appeared in her ensembles in the middle and Saira Khan in the end.

The second show opened with outstanding ensembles by Zaheer Abbas after which Amna Ajmal displayed her multihued line. Here are some of the bridal dresses shown courtesy BBC

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India starts visa on arrival for Pakistani senior citizens

NEW DELHI: India after the brief opening of visas for Pakistan once again has taken a new step towards relations with Pakistan, by starting visa on on arrival facility for senior citizens of Pakistan.

This facility, was supposed to start on January 15 as part of the new liberalised visa pact between the two neighbours, was suspended following the killing of two Indian soldiers along the LoC and subsequent heightened tensions in bilateral relations.

“We have launched visa on arrival facility to Pakistani senior citizens at the Attari Integrated Check Post from April 1,” a Home Ministry official told.

However, no decision has been taken on the stalled group tourist visa facility to Pakistani nationals. The two countries had agreed to operationalise the group tourist visa facility to be offered to each other’s citizens from March 15.

Though there is no visible forward movement in India- Pakistan bilateral relations, the reason for the sudden launch of the visa for Pakistani senior citizens was not immediately known.

Some clauses of the relaxed visa regime like multiple- entry and reporting-free visas for businessmen and allowing them to travel to five cities instead of the earlier three were operationalised when Pakistan’s Interior Minister Rehman Malik visited New Delhi in December.

Hotel Reservations in India for senior citizens

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Heli-skiers reach Gilgit Baltistan

ISLAMABAD – An eleven-member team of world’s top skiers arrived at Gilgit-Baltistan on Sunday to chip in a weeklong Heliski event “Pakistan Pure Discovery”. Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR) is organising the event in collaboration with walkabout films, the only film production company of the country focused on extreme sports events, wildlife and natural heritage.

It is a unique event, as the international Heli-skiers from across the globe would be skiing in the Karakoram mountain range, an area where no one has ever skied before.

Director General ISPR Major General Asim Saleem Bajwa told this scribe that the purpose of the event was to showcase the spectacular beauty, challenging peaks and potential of extreme sports in northern areas of the country. “Spinoff for the event is to restore mountain tourism for international tourists in Pakistan and also bring peace and stability,” he said.

He said Pakistan Army had taken the initiative to promote trekking and mountaineering and skiing in the country. “These skiers belong to six different countries including France, Canada, Russia, Serbia, Ireland and Switzerland and most of them have volunteered themselves to come to Pakistan and feature in the event,” he added.  In an otherwise all male team, the only woman is Samyra Rashid of Pakistan. She is not only among the first skiers to ever ski this territory, but would be the first woman to do so. She would also be the only Pakistani skier with the team

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Pakistan’s rich Buddhist heritage may help boost international tourism in north

Religious violence may be on the rise and the Taliban still a threat, but Pakistan is hoping a rich Buddhist heritage will help it boost international tourism to its troubled northwest.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, with its balmy climate in the mountains and its wealth of history on the border with Afghanistan, was once a playground for colonial adventurers and a favourite holiday destination for upper-crust Pakistanis.

But after the 9/11 attacks ushered in war in Afghanistan and an insurgency against the Pakistani government, it has become synonymous with Pakistani Taliban and other Islamist militants who have killed thousands in recent years.

Wealthier Pakistanis and Westerners stopped visiting, scared away by attacks and the threat of kidnap, but the provincial government is now trying to lure thousands of visitors from wealthy Asian countries such as Japan and South Korea.

A group of around 20 Buddhist monks from South Korea made the journey to the monastery of Takht-e-Bahi, 170 kilometres from Islamabad, and close to the tribal areas that are a haven for Taliban and Al-Qaeda linked militants.

“We really felt it is our home town, it was a great feeling which it is not possible to describe in words,” Jeon Woon Deok, a senior Korean monk, told AFP by email of the visit last year. “We only regret that we waited so long to come here.”

And it was no straightforward pilgrimage.

The monks defied appeals from Seoul to abandon their trip for safety reasons and were guarded by Pakistani security forces on their visit to the monastery, built of ochre-coloured stone and nestled on a mountainside.

From around 1000 years BC until the seventh century AD, northern Pakistan and parts of modern Afghanistan formed the Gandhara kingdom, where Greek and Buddhist customs mixed to create what became the Mahayana strand of the religion.

The monk Marananta set out from what is now northwest Pakistan to cross China and spread Buddhism on the Korean peninsula during the fourth century. The gardens of Takht-e-Bahi host picnicking families and daydreaming teenagers, as well as students from nearby Koranic schools. But foreign visitors are rare.

“There used to be foreign tourists here in the past, but after the attacks there are hardly any,” said local guide Iftikhar Ali.

The flow of adventurous tourists from east Asia is no more than a trickle at the moment – Ali said he saw only one or two visitors a month on average.

“For them this place is like Mecca,” said Zulfiqar Rahim, the head of the Gandhara Art and Culture Association, which is dedicated to the promotion of Pakistan’s Buddhist heritage.

Last year monks from Bhutan also came to visit, but the government wants to boost numbers quickly.

“We are currently working to promote religious and archaeological Buddhist tourism,” said Syed Jamaluddin Shah, the deputy minister of tourism in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

The authorities are even planning package tours for visitors from China, Japan, Singapore and South Korea, including trips to the Buddhist sites at Takht-e-Bahi, Swat, Peshawar and Taxila, near Islamabad.

“The tourism potential is enormous. If each person who comes spends $1200 with hotel costs and all the rest, and a million people come, that makes a billion dollars,” said Rahim,

“And we’re not talking about a million people but 50 million Mahayana Buddhists in Korea, China and Japan.”

But there is a long way to go. It will be difficult to overcome huge security problems, poor tourist infrastructure and the challenges of getting a visa and permission to travel to high-risk areas.

Enormous floods in 2010 caused further damage, although the United States has since provided $5.4-million to help revive the local economy and rehabilitate tourism in Swat.

For now it is mostly local visitors who come to the remains of the Buddhist sites in Pakistan. Reflecting on his country’s woes, Sajjad, a teacher gazes at a Buddha statue and sighs: “We need this calm so much.”

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Calm amidst chaos

WHEN it comes to heritage preservations, every society has its fair share of the naysayer. They argue that while you can learn from the past, a constant state of nostalgia can prove harmful for the cultural growth of society.

It may or may not be agreeable. What needs to be understood is that apart from countess beneficial factors the one positive thing that the act of preserving heritage does is that by revisiting our intangible past we get a sense of the ‘atmosphere’ or ‘ambience’ that can help society progress both vertically and horizontally without any pollutants. For example, if we try and review intangible past and learn lessons from it then the hastiness that has caused many a horrendous problem to emerge in Pakistan in recent times, especially in Karachi, can give way to a calmer approach to life.

Let’s elucidate this point. Who can debate that M.A. Jinn ah Road (formerly Bunder Road) is an extremely busy thoroughfare?
From early morning to at least a couple of hours to midnight it creates a deafening buzz and does not make life easy for commuters, shoppers, office-goers and vendors. The word ‘calmness’ cannot, by any stretch of the imagination, be associated with it. But wouldn’t it sound crazy if someone said that only by entering an old colonial building one block away from the Radio Pakistan offices you can experience that sense of calm? It would. What’s the harm in trying that out?

The building of Radio Pakistan Karachi in itself is a worthwhile work of construction and has already been discussed in these pages. Move forward and leave one street which turns left to embrace Urdu Bazaar. Step ahead and keep looking left. The entire zone is packed with beautiful, well-embellished, poorly maintained buildings constructed before partition of the subcontinent. If it’s daytime, the incessant assorted noises can be utterly distracting. This is where you have to be very careful because the building on whose ground floor a bank has now set up its business must not be missed. Why? There is likelihood that you will overlook it because its mid-section is marked by contemporary glasswork. The reality is: it is an old work of art.

The structure is called Thakurdas Building. Or so it says on one of the boards. The shops skirting its ground storey form a misleading picture. Get close to it and you will discover a staircase. Climb up and you will feel different. Or enter a shop in the corner and the whole ‘feel’ of M. A. Jinnah Road will change. The world inside is quite different from what you
experience from the outside. It is the sense of quietude that you get once inside the building which does the trick.

If you are through with that, then the exterior will too begin to look different. The decorative elements of the building are elaborate. Dismayingly, so much dirt has accumulated on the facade that it has literally blackened it. For some reason, certain portions of the structure are pink. Could it be that the pink Jodhpur stone was used in its making? Who knows!

It is not clear whether the entire stretch of the building is the same or some of it is known by other name. Shopkeepers say that the part of the structure till the next street (which is Urdu Bazaar) is called Rehmat Building. Now the front portion of the structure also has Zafar Mansion written on it. Shopkeepers insist it has always been Rehmat Building.

The corner of Rehmat Building has a store whose signboard says Urdu Academy 1947. The salesman will gladly inform you that there was a time the store sold all kinds of books but nowadays it’s just the prescribed Sindh Textbook stuff that they selL The shop has a vintage look to it and by just being there you can come in contact with the past.

The structure opposite Rehmat Building is called Malkani Building. Architecturally it is older than Rehmat Building but better maintained. It has Italianate windows and the stone used in it is different as well. The oldie on the whole looks quite a sight. To boot, it is not in as bad a shape as some other structures on this street.

Architect Noman Ahmed says, “It is difficult to persuade commercial enterprises such as banks to review their plan for die structures which are not notified as heritage buildings. But for those which are notified heritage buildings such companies (should) present their plans to the heritage advisory committee for aesthetic review. It has not happened on a large scale so far, though.”

A man, who seems to be mentally challenged right outside the Radio Pakistan office is staring at
a dog. They look into each other’s eyes for some fleeting moments; then the man turns his face towards Thakurdas Building. His clothes are tattered and he looks like something that the cat dragged in. He walks up a bit and stands in front of the old building. He stares at it as if trying to remember where he had seen it before. He does that for many a minute until a private guard comes and pushes him away.

mohammad.salman@dawn.com

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