Mehar Mohammad Khalil: A hero across borders

By Aamna Mahboob
LAHORE: Mehar Mohammad Khalil’s job was to drive buses. Today he is being hailed as a lifesaver after he drove the bus carrying the Sri Lankan cricketers to safety, through a hail of gunfire on Tuesday.Khalil, the bus driver who saved the lives of the Sri Lankan cricket team during the terror attack is now considered a big hero in Pakistan and Sri Lanka. Khalil kept a cool head and drove the bus to safety when it came under gunfire, grenade and rocket attack from terrorists.
His routine while the visiting team was in Pakistan was to get up at 6 in the morning, and take the team daily from the hotel to the stadium. He was usually busy with the guest team members, till late at night. The night before the attack he had decided to stay at the hotel instead of going home as he usually did. “The previous morning I decided I would stay in the hotel that night, as I get home late and felt I didn’t get enough sleep as I had to report for duty early in the morning,” Khalil told The Sunday Times in an interview in Lahore on Friday.
The man of the hour. AFP
Khalil had 22 years of driving experience and had worked as a bus diver for many VIP’s and foreign visiting teams. He said he even had the honour of driving Prince Charles on his visit to Pakistan during President Musharraf’s era. “I have driven many foreign delegations especially sports delegations,” he said.
Re-living Tuesday’s incident he said, he was turning the bus towards the Gaddafi stadium near the main roundabout (Liberty roundabout in Lahore) when he heard what he first thought were some firecrackers going off. But when he saw the elite force cars in front of him getting hit he realized it was gunfire and not firecrackers. The next thing he knew was a rocket being fired at them but it missed the bus and hit an electric pole, after which all hell broke loose. He said, “Suddenly I lost my voice.”
“However, I gained courage when I realized that the other elite car was giving the bus cover. I started thinking and decided to drive off from there,” he said.
He said he kept his foot pressed on the pedal as bullets ripped into the vehicle and explosions filled the air. “My only thought at that time was that the Sri Lankans were guests of my country and its image would be ruined if any of the players got seriously injured. This gave me the courage to drive into the stadium.”
“If we had stopped, a rocket would have hit us. The situation was very dangerous and I thought we might survive so let me try and save my guests,” he said adding that the road ahead of him was clear and it was easy for him to drive straight into the stadium.
Giving his views on the attackers who created horror and put a black mark on Pakistan’s image he said, “they were skilled and knew what they wanted. God was with us. They threw a grenade under the bus which exploded after the bus had passed over it.”
Khalil 42 said he had developed a good rapport with the players. “The players were very friendly. When terror struck, they showed quick sense of reaction and saved themselves by falling flat on the floor of the bus as heavy firing erupted from both sides of the bus.
Although hailing from a cricket-crazy city, he personally wasn’t a cricket enthusiast. “I like football and hockey because they finish within one or one and half hours. I don’t have much time to watch games,” Khalil said.
Khalil, a father of four, the eldest of whom is studying in class 5 said his family means a lot to him but at the time of the attack all he thought of was protecting the innocent Sri Lankan players and the image of his country.
“Almighty Allah gave me courage and strength to protect the players and I did it for Pakistan,” he said. Much has been said and written about the security lapses but Khalil says that the security was sufficient. “When you suddenly get attacked you need time to react. No place on earth is safe however tight the security maybe,” he said.
Khalil believes the cowardly act was not carried out by Pakistanis but feels that a foreign hand was behind it. He praised the discipline of the Lankan team when under attack. He said he felt particularly honoured when his favourite Sri Lankan player Muttiah Muralitharan gave him his T-shirt and cap at the airport when they were leaving. The other players too spoke to him and thanked him for his act of bravery.
“When I heard later that Sri Lankans are calling me their hero I was amazed” he said, adding that he would love to visit Sri Lanka one day.
(The writer was formerly a journalist attached to The Sunday Times. She is now in Pakistan)

Volunteers seek direct return for helping others - UN

By Aamna Mahboob
With the rapid changes occurring in Sri Lanka the concept of volunteering is undergoing a rapid change and there is increasing pressure on people and communities to seek a direct return for helping others, the UN office in Colombo said at a media briefing on a roundtable discussion on volunteerism ‘Volunteering Everyone’s Business’ which will be held today.
The UN further said that now there are new opportunities arising with many businesses recognizing the value of social co-operate responsibility and the government and civil society exploring new ways to involve people and mobilize them to reach out and participate in voluntary work.
The UN resident and Humanitarian Coordinator and UNDP regional representative, Neil Buhne recalled the voluntary help by Sri Lankans during Tsunami and said that it was beyond region, religion and community. Sri Lankan people help voluntary in emergency times like recent floods and tsunami, he added.
The aim of this roundtable is to bring together the academics, development workers, government, institutions, policy planners, private sector, civil society and voluntary agencies. The roundtable is organized by UN Voluntaries (UNC) and voluntary Service Overseas (VSO).
In the roundtable conference they will discuss how any one can be a volunteer and what are the requirements to be a volunteer. Okama Ekpe Brook Coordinator of UNV Sri Lanka said people don’t know how they can be a volunteer to UN we will discuss how the private sector, not for profit. Community and the state can work together to strengthen involvement in volunteering for sustainable development and peace building in Sri Lanka: how can new networks be created; and how we recognize and reward volunteers who contribute to a positive impact in Sri Lanka.
Hugh Macleman Country Director of VSO Sri Lanka said that voluntary can save government money and that money can be used for other purposes of the country. “Economically voluntary benefits a lot”, he said.
Douglas Keh, Country Director of UNDP Sri Lanka and Kamal Adrechci was also present at the media briefing.

City tour: Valentine’s Day is still on?

By Aamna Mahboob and
Farveeza Ansar
Business is as usual on the Valentine’s Day though there were lots of commercial advertisements done for Valentines Day via the print and electronic media with special offers to attract couples by hoteliers, accessories and florists. However, most people did not seem all that inclined to celebrate their love on a special day but had various thoughts of how they would go about. The Daily Financial times interviewed some hoteliers, florists and buyers.
Food and Beverage Manager of Ceylon Continental Hotel Nalaka Colombage said that they are having special offers for couples to enjoy the Valentines Day. He said that they have organized some competitions for couples and goodies, heart shape strawberry cheese cake; Love cake red roses are available at the continental. Dinner with Cocktail is specially arranged for valentines. “We have good response from people for this occasion,” he said.
Stone N String is attracting couples with the varieties of accessories. Advertising and Marketing Manager Farhan Kawlins said “if couples come together we offer them free photograph of them from Cannon”.
He further said that if the buyers buy more than 5000 rupees we gave them Oriflame perfume and there is special dinner at Delifrance on February 14 for 10 lucky couples by way of a draw.
Galadari Hotel is offering free heart shape cakes to ladies and free cocktail at dinner for couples. They are also offering ‘Shades of purple’ at California Grill and free roses for ladies.
“Compared to last year we have a big demand of roses for Valentine’s Day but unfortunately they do not have much supply and production of roses to fulfill the demand of customers,” Jayantha, manager of Shirohana Florist said.
According to him though the demand of roses starts from December but the red roses seasons commences from March, which is also one reason in that they cannot reach to the demand. “I think Valentines don’t know about the rose season, it comes on wrong time,” he said.
He further said that they do something special for Valentines Day like heart shape bouquet, heart shape box, special box and special valentine glass packing.
However this time there are not much many couples are celebrating or spending much as they normally do on Valentines Day. Financial Times interviews around 12 couples and only two of them are going to celebrate it.
Sachini Perera a student from Colombo University who does not believe in the concept of valentine and thinks it is pointless to spend so much money when it could be put to better use. She said that she won't be celebrating it even future.
There are some people who want their partner to spend money on this day like Vatsala. She said that “she would like to go and have nice dinner at some place and nice spending little less than 3000 rupees most of the time it would be him who will spend”.
However she questioned that if she has to spend around 1000 rupees but she has no idea what she will get in this amount? She said that though things have gone up in price but there are people who will go that distance to make the one they love happy.Gayan Ratnayaka willing to spend around Rs.4000 but not more than it on valentines day including a present and dinner and everything on that day. He said that he will celebrate at one of Colombo's restaurants as there are not much places to go in the capital or away from it.
Telling about the rose price he said that the prices are up. “I remember it was around 100 bucks last year or year before. It’s now around 200 or more at Shirohana Florist so it has gone up in price,” he said.
He refers the cheapest place which is near eye hospital. Where one can get a rose around 50 bucks a rose (last year or year before), they might have also increased in price now around 100 rupees.

Batti polls: Monitors urge Govt. to dispel fears

By Aamna Mahboob
The preliminary report of the People’s Action for Free and Fair Elections (PAFFREL) on the forth coming local council elections in Batticaloa urged the Government to make a credible demonstration of its capacity to control violence and dispel the fears of the people regarding the possible use of arms by some of the contesting parties.
PAFFREL also demanded that civil society be active in the period leading to the elections and organize fact-finding visits and encourage voters to affirm their democratic rights. It also wants the international community to monitor the elections and help create an environment for a free and fair election.
PAFFREL chairman Kingsley Rodrigo said in a media statement there was a possibility of violence and election malpractice as the election campaign gathers momentum, as the armed groups have not been disarmed
He said the Government’s decision to conduct local council elections in nine out of twelve divisions in the Batticaloa district has been opposed by key opposition parties which have not put forward candidates but have, however, resorted to legal action.
The inability or unwillingness of two prominent opposition parties, the TNA and UNP, to contest these elections have been due to their fear of their members getting killed or otherwise harmed by the armed groups.
They said the conditions of violence that prevailed in Batticaloa over the past several months preclude the possibility of free and fair elections.
Various groups including political parties have made calls to postpone the elections as the presence of armed TMVP cadres has been a serious threat free and fair elections.
However Election Commissioner Dayananda Dissanayake has authorized the DIRIYA Foundation to carry out observation activity in polling booths.
DIRIYA Foundation secretary Lionel Gulawita said his organisation monitors will monitor activity during the pre-election campaign.

Why Pakistanis believe that US may also be a suspect in Bhutto killing

Sunday January 6, 2008
By Aamna Mahboob
Zulfikar Ali Bhutto's pinkie, daughter of the East, BB of the Pakistani people and Darling of the West is no more with us. She was allegedly shot and killed by unknown assailants. The al-Qaeda hand was suspected in the murder but the group denied its involvement. If not al-Qaeda who is behind it then? Past records of al-Qaeda reveal that the group had not hesitated to claim responsibility for acts done by it.
A glance at al-Qaeda and its mentors would reveal that al-Qaeda/Taleban and the United States are two sides of the same coin. Since 9/11, the US has been evoking the fear of al-Qaeda to buy over the silence of its own people as it unleashes its military power in other parts of the world. In the name of fighting a war on terror, it first invaded Afghanistan and then Iraq. And now it wants to target Pakistan, the first Islamic nuclear power which could not be swallowed by some so-called superpowers. The Pakistan crisis aggravated only after the US efforts in attacking Iran on the pretext of that the oil rich country was developing nuclear weapons failed.
Women supporters of slain opposition leader Benazir Bhutto pray during a ceremony at the spot where she was assassinated in Rawalpindi. AP
Interestingly, before BB's murder, one American organization had said that according to their sources they were expecting Osama bin Laden's audio or video message where he would talk about Afghanistan and Iraq. As predicted, bin Laden issued a message. Does this mean that there exists a nexus between the US and al-Qaeda elements?
In the past whenever President George W Bush faced a crisis, either an Aiman-ul-Zawahiri tape or bin Laden tape would surface to bail him out. If US Intelligence could predict upcoming tapes of al Qaeda, one wonders why they cannot arrest bin Laden.
According to some political and strategic analysts, the United States is deliberately creating chaos in Pakistan in order to get hold of its nuclear arsenal. As part of this scheme, the United States and its NATO allies accuse Pakistan of not doing enough to contain cross border terrorism which they say destabilises Afghanistan.
Hamid Gul, a retired general who served as head of the Inter-Service Intelligence, said that he believed that al-Qaeda was a smokescreen orchestrated by the United States. He said he believed that the assassination of BB could have been masterminded by outside powers interested in destabilising Pakistan with the aim of finding an excuse to seize the country's nuclear weapons. That may seem far-fetched to foreigners, but not to many Pakistanis who strongly believe that the West does not want to see a nuclear-armed Muslim country.
The United States, claiming to be a friend of Pakistan, has ditched Pakistan on every occasion when it was in need of America's help. Its duplicity was exposed when it influenced France to cancel the agreement with Pakistan for the supply of a nuclear plant. Despite Pakistan being a member of CENTO and SEATO, two Cold War era security arrangments, the United States betrayed Pakistan during the two main wars against India.
When Pakistan’s very survival was at stake during the 1971 war with India backing the insurgents in East Pakistan, now Bangladesh, Washington assured Pakistani government that its Seventh Fleet would be reaching East Pakistan to help government forces. The fact remains that the Seventh Fleet never reached there and at last the Indian forces were able to dismember the world’s largest Islamic state. The rest is part of history now.
In the light of these American assurances, which were mere words, one cannot dismiss theories that speak of US designs for destabilsing Pakistan. The Western media as expected have also played a key role in this scheme. They project Pakistan as a nursery for terrorists. Every now and then the US media blame Pakistan for doing nothing to curb terrorism, even though Pakistan is bleeding from the wounds inflicted by terrorists who were trained and supported by the United States during the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan.
A recent report aired by BBC projected the Punjabis in Pakistan as villains. The programme was deplored by many a Pakistani as a move to fuel inter-provincial hatred instead of peace and harmony. The American presidential hopefuls also joined the fray in flaying Pakistan.
Graham Allison in the 'Newsweek' magazine wrote the condition in Pakistan in these words: political instability, a demoralized army, a burgeoning Islamic insurgency and an intensely anti-US population have put the country's nuclear weapons at risk. (It speaks of American designs in Pakistan.)
He went on to say that the design of Pakistan's nuclear control systems creates a risk of inside theft. This system addresses Pakistan's first and foremost fear that if its arch-enemy, India, knew the location of the country’s weapons it could launch a pre-emptive attack to eliminate them.
Despite the fact that Pakistan had categorically stated that the nuclear programme was in safe hands with the command and control authority vested in the president, the west kept on expressing its concerns about the vulnerability of Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal.
The unearthing of the nuclear proliferation network, the subsequent arrest of the father of Pakistan's nuclear programme, A. Q. Khan, and the alleged rise in militancy linked to al-Qaeda give strength to the theory that one of the aims of the war on terror was to roll back Pakistan’s nuclear programme.
Th fear that Pakistan’s nuclear weapons could fall into the hands of al-Qaeda is being raised to either neutralize the nuclear assets or capture them. There is general perception among the people that the murder of B.B was the part of the same game.
General Mohammad Zia-ul-Haq who helped the United States run a covert war against the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan, perished in an air crash in 1988. Many Pakistanis also believe that after the accomplishment of its task in Afghanistan, the US got rid of Gen. Zia along with a number Pakistani army officers and the US ambassador.
The Pakistanis ask if the US intelligence could sacrifice the US ambassador, why could not they be the prime suspect in the BB killing. The following piece of Urdu poetry depicts the intentions of outside miscreants. Jab se bulbul thu nay do tinkey liyea hain Gerti hain bijlian inhi ka liyea
(O nightingale since you picked the two straws the lightning falls for them)
(The writer is a Pakistani student who graduated from the Sri Lanka College of Journalism)

Lights out this Deepavali; a sign of things to come?

FINANCIAL TIMES

By Aamna Mahmoob
Although the main street markets were usually crowded places during festival time, the recent price hikes in essential goods have had an adverse effect on the purchasing power of festival shoppers. It is also having a big impact on the textile industry which is highly dependable on festive sales.
S. Sasidharn a businessman along Kamaleshwary Main Street for more than 15 years who had been through many ‘ups and downs’ says that this year has been the worst for the business.
He said “compared to last year this year Deepavali business is low and we have to reduce the prices of every thing to the margin and we expect small amount of profit.” N. Savetree, a house wife whose husband is the sole bred winner in the family in the meantime says that she cannot spend as she used to for Deepavali. She said that she was forced to buy groceries with a tight purse. “Compared to last year it is very hard. We have to check the price and purchase goods. The cost of living is very high, it is very hard for us to buy things”, she said.
Another customer P. Krishnan said that although he celebrated Deepavali last year in a lavish way, this year due to the price hikes in all essential goods he was unable to enjoy the festival in the same way. Krishnan noted that what the people earn was not enough to survive.
While Sri Lanka is a known as hub for textile and clothing in many parts of the world, the country still imports clothes and fabric from other Asian countries. Most businessmen at the main street market depend on these imports for their income. S. Sasidhran points out that; traders who import goods from other countries have been badly affected by the rise of the US dollar. He said that the weakening of the Rupee has hit them hard as they need to spend more each day to keep their shops stocked.
Another shop owner (who spoke on the condition of anonymity) also feels that the increasing cost of living is the main problem in their business. “Earlier a casual office sari cost around Rs.500 but now it has increased by nearly 300 rupees and the total cost is close to 800 rupees. So people who bought nearly three saris now buy only one sari but this doesn’t mean that they are poor, the reason is the cost of living which is increasing rapidly.”

The women in green ...

W@WWomen at Work
Text and pix by Aamna Mahboob

It is a common sight in Colombo to see women in green giving out parking tickets. Regular pavement parkers have even formed friendships with these women, who have been working beside the road for more than 20 years.
These ladies (Traffic Wardens) are the last batch appointed by the Municipal Council.

These women enter the Colombo Municipal Council (CMC) office at Darley Road wearing long green frocks and leave for different destinations with ticket books in their hands. Later they can be seen at parking lots in areas such as Hospital Square, Borella and Kollupitiya.
They were appointed during the rule of the late President R. Premadasa. “We were all very young when we joined the job as Traffic Wardens”, said 52 years old Mallika Dabare who has served in this field for about 25 years as a Traffic Warden.
She said that she is quite satisfied with her job, adding that “something is better than nothing”.
The total number of Traffic Wardens are 173. Working as a Traffic Warden in Colombo under the CMC, most of the wardens have studied up to O/Ls and almost all of them have family and become grandmothers.
“I started doing this job before I married and am still working”, said G. Namali (48), working at Fort. She has been working as a warden for more than 28 years; her husband is doing his own business at Pettah. She said that sometimes, vehicle owners or drivers do not pay despite having got the parking ticket.
The Traffic Wardens are allowed 45 holidays a year. Their working hours are from 7AM to 5PM. They have to sign the attendance register.
49 year old Chandraleka Balasundaram from Kandy has four children. She works at Narahenpita and has served as a Warden for more than 22 years. She said that she liked her job very much.
The parking charges for one hour are rupees 10 and rupees 80 are charged for a vehicle parked for the whole day.
“I am not scared to do the job as a Traffic Warden, if someone scolds me, I scold them back”, said M. T. Tissera (57) when asked about the behavior of people using the parking area.
She said that it was hard to live with the pay which she is getting. About her career she said that on the advice of her friend, she joined the present job in 1985. She is working at Borella. She is supporting a large family of eleven and living with a polio affected husband. Prior to joining the present job, she was serving in Good Shepherd Convent up to the age of 21.She said that she had to give up her education after primary school.
Their pay is 13000 a month and during the festival they get a bonus. They can take loans from the CMC which will be cut from their monthly salary.
“I do not think the government will continue this service,” said Kumar Karunaratne Administrative Officer at CMC Darley road. He explained that the Traffic Warden service was started in 1980 and in those days, there was not much traffic. There was ample space to park but now Colombo is too crowded and there is no place to cope with the ever increasing number of vehicles.
In case the CMC continued the Traffic Warden system, then it will have to devise some traffic plan and reserve places for parking , he opined. However he said that the cost of Traffic Wardens is a burden on the CMC. He further explained that the continuation of Wardens job was not feasible economically. Presently the expenditure on pays and perks for these 173 Traffic Wardens surpasses the income, he concluded.
Under the new parking scheme, parking of vehicles in different areas has been restricted due to security reasons and the Traffic Wardens of such areas have been taken off and remain at Dalery Road office at present and get a pay without doing any service, he added.
The problem presently being faced by these wardens is that “NO PARKING” signs have been put almost at every place by the Traffic Police due to security reasons. At some places where there are No Parking signs, when they get the vehicle parked and ticket issued, the police appear and order them to remove the vehicle. This creates an embarrassing situation for them and the vehicle owners also scold them