Three familiar figures that are no more

By Afzal Hussain Bokhari

I pressed the doorbell and waited outside a newly-built house that seemed at first sight to belong to some worldly-wise bank manager. A college teacher with moderate means of income and restrained ambition could hardly aspire to own a spacious and sprawling residence in an expensive part of Peshawar. The drawing room accessories surprised me more.

The doorbell was answered by the housemaid; I was quizzed by a teenage boy and ushered in by someone else. My host was to emerge a few minutes later.

Professor Shaukat Wasti, who died a few days ago, was very particular about the protocol that he gave to or received from his friends. The way he tried to manoeuvre things earned him several devoted friends as well as many sworn enemies. Obsessed with a passion to fight back, he seemed at times to relish rivalries, nurture animosities and promote hostilities.

In coordination with Colonel (Retd) Inayatullah, he formed the cultural organisation known as 'Idara-i-Ilm-o-Funn'. Under the auspices of this organisation, a lot of work pertaining to printing and publishing was done. After a lot of bickering and leg-pulling, the Idara was disbanded but instead of leaving his friends rudderless and directionless, he formed a literary organisation under the identical name of 'Bazm-i-Ilm-o-Funn'.

Basically a teacher of History, he was heavily inclined to Urdu and English literature. His versified translation into Urdu of John Milton's Paradise Lost under the title of 'Firdous-i-Gumgashta' was a remarkable achievement though in view of the liberal use of Arabic, Persian and even Sanskrit words, writer Kishwar Naheed once joked that someone needed to further render Wasti's translation into easy and intelligible Urdu. 

Though his three-volume autobiography 'Kehta hoon such' did not sell like hot cakes, but it had interesting stuff in it for lovers of Urdu literature. Deep down his heart, Wasti probably had a feeling that the achievements he claimed came to him late in life, as narrated in the following lines: "Har cheez zindagi main bari dair se huwi; manzil pe aa leaye to humain humsafar milay!"

If there was anyone in Peshawar whose achievements in life came early or, to be more precise, well on time, he was for sure Qazi Ghulam Sarwar, who quietly disappeared from the scene last week. Some of us remember him as the former director of Radio Pakistan, Peshawar. Others recall his memories as the ex-director of information in the provincial capital.

When Qazi felt that enough was enough with radio and the information department, he got retirement from the government service. After some mental rest and physical recreation, he somehow joined an English-language newspaper.

Nobody was curious to know his exact designation in the newspaper but he was mostly found in a semi-lit room which served as the paper's library and store. He maintained the newspaper files and kept the office record. While leafing through the Sunday magazine of the newspaper, one occasionally ran into a feature about the life in Peshawar of olden days under Qazi's byline.

We had another (Pervez) Qazi on the newspaper staff but he was a totally different breed. Originally from Abbottabad, Pervez Qazi was the chief reporter. He used to work for the now defunct daily Muslim and occasionally read English news bulletins from Radio Pakistan (Islamabad) in a smart accent. But more of Pervez Qazi, another time.

I never poked my nose into the personal affairs of Qazi Ghulam Sarwar but friends and foes in the departments he had served generally brimmed with tales about him. My sister-in-law Professor Farhat Ejaz Butt, for instance, was a college-mate and a very close friend of one Mehrunnisa Khattak, who later became Qazi Sarwar's better half. Mehr belongs to an educated and illustrious family.

A retired bureaucrat, her brother Iftikharuddin Khattak worked as commissioner and remained posted in Peshawar as well. One of Mehr's three sisters, Dr Sabeena Khattak, is a practicing physician in Abbottabad. In the last phone call that Professor Farhat made early this year to inquire after the health of Qazi Sarwar, Mehr said that her husband continued to be bed-ridden and she was taking care of him in her Phase II residence in Hayatabad.

If anyone died without being bed-ridden, she was Mumtaz Sarwar who retired in BPS-18 from the education department. She was one of the first few women in Peshawar who got admitted to Peshawar University's Pushto Department and did her Master's in that language. Her first appointment was in the Municipal Public School near Shahi Bagh in Faqirabad, where for being very vocal and outspoken she was unanimously elected in 1976 as the head of the teachers' trade union association.

With her mother tongue being Hindko, she was equally soft-spoken in Urdu and Pushto. This was one of the reasons why she briefly worked as announcer in the Pushto section of Peshawar radio. In 1979, when the provincial government started Peshawar Public School and offered better grades, she was among half a dozen of ambitious Municipal teachers who switched over to the new school on Warsak Road.

In the new institution, she quickly adjusted herself to the environment and soon became a popular teacher by arranging picnic tours, meena bazaars and annual day celebrations. Towards the end of August, she was in Abbottabad with a friend who ran a school on the distant hill station.

It was late in the evening when lights went off due to load-shedding. The chair she was using had one of its arms broken and fallen off. As she tried to rise in her seat by putting pressure on the arms of the chair, she lost her equilibrium and in the resultant fall fractured her pelvic bones.

She was jolted down to Peshawar in an ambulance. While an orthopedic surgeon from Bannu belonging to the privately-run North-West Hospital was conducting the surgical operation, the sugar level of the patient reportedly rose sharply. Family members believed that surgery was successful but it was probably due to heavy medication that a sweet voice fell silent for ever.

Trophy hunters and their dollars on the way

PESHAWAR: The Wildlife Department has sought bids from hunters and experienced outfitters for sale of hunting permits of 10 Himalayan Ibexes and four Kashmiri Markhors under the trophy hunting scheme for the hunting season starting from Dec 2009 to March 2010.

Advertisements have been floated in the press and bidders were asked to submit their offers till October 31 with the department along with a call deposit of US dollar 5,000, informed Chief Conservator Wildlife, Saeeduz Zaman while talking to this news agency.

"In order to attract maximum number of people and advertise biding internationally, the offer has also been notified in all the leading newspaper of English and Urdu languages and websites of international organisations dealing with wildlife," he added.

An e-mail address (<mailto:chief.conservator@gmail.com>chief.conservator@gmail.com) has also been given in this regard.

After completion of bidding process, permits will be allowed and hunting will start from December 15 to March 15, 2110, Saeed informed.

He said the trophy will be permissible only in community game reserves in Chitral and Kohistan districts.

He said the department also made arrangement for special security, if required, for foreign hunters on additional charges.

In the trophy hunting scheme, communities are involved in conservation of wildlife and the revenue generated from sale of hunting permits of protected animals were mostly spent on development of respective communities.

From the last few years the revenue through trophy hunting is increased due to increase in quota of Markhor hunting for Pakistan by CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Flora and Fauna), he told.

In the conference of CITES held in Chile (South America) in November 2002 the quota of Markhor hunting for Pakistan was doubled from six to 12.

"As a result of increase in quota for the country, the annual quota of Markhor for Frontier also exceeded from three to four animals," he added.

About the break-up of hunting quota of 12 animals, he said four were allowed to NWFP, five to Balochistan and three to Northern Areas.

He also informed that in NWFP hunters show interest in hunting of Markhor.

The ibex hunters prefer hunting in Northern Areas instead of NWFP.

About the last year's earning, he said the department sold the permit of Markhor at dollar 81,150 each and dollar 3000 each.

Zaman was of the opinion that trophy hunting is a very attractive incentive for involvement of communities in conservation of wildlife. Once the Markhor was endangered specie in Pakistan, but now the country has the largest population of this rare animal, he added.

In the advertisement, hunters were also cautioned that hunting of Markhor and ibex is a challenging sport and requires complete physical fitness and patience.

The hunters should be prepared for rugged difficult slopes, extremely cold weather as well as irregular flights for Chitral. - APP