Hope is Back

A young girl's courage and her fight for life after the hideous attempt to kill her is moving the hearts of people well beyond the borders of Pakistan. Malala Yousafzai - the Urdu name given by her parents when she was born means "grief stricken" - became well known following a BBC report about her challenging the Talibans' attempt to prohibit girls from getting a school education. Her father, who runs a local private school, encouraged her to write a blog on her fight for being able to go to school and the government awarded her in 2011 the "National Peace Award" for those under 18 years old. The Taliban attempt to assassinate her "shocked an unshockable Pakistan" as a commentator put it and her fate's influence might go well beyond highlighting a threatened school education. Hundreds of schools have been destroyed during the last years. The Taliban threat to the Pakistani society as a whole has again become visible in a drastic manner and the discussions focus more on how the country has to respond to that danger. Malala is in best medical care and under police protection in far away Birmingham.

Demonstrations in Islamabad continue - more peaceful now and the topics shifted - marches of solidarity with Malala, against acts of terrorism and today a big rally against target sectarian killing in Karachi, Quetta and Gilgit Baltistan. Men march alongside with women, fathers and mothers, for a peaceful Pakistan and the Supreme Court Justice Chaudry held a widely noticed speech in Karachi about a united effort of the constitutional powers to safe the country from corruption, crime and terrorism.


Traveling in Pakistan for us foreigners remains a challenge - a meticulously planned trip to the Northern area with the Diplomatic Corps, the Air Force providing the transport and the Foreign Ministry the program - the new Dean is at the height of his task! - got cancelled again, this time due to thunderstorms in the North. It was our fifth attempt to make it there - wondering, on what guests the Hotel Shigarfort in Skardu is actually making its living. Next try next week, but with Eid, the National Holiday approaching, hopes remain modest.

So a hike to the top of the nearby Margallah hill has to make up for it with a group of young urban professionals, dynamic and fit Pakistanis, who are dedicated and full of hope for their country. The violent demonstrations  against the film with the loss of many innocent lives and the Malala tragedy seem to unify the country against the extremists and the Taliban, I am told on the steep path leading to the top of the hill.
One of the young hikers suggests that Pakistan needs a "Ministry of Common Sense"! His family used to give part of their cooked meals to the neighboring madrassa school for the students, but stopped that practice recently to put pressure on the mullahs to speak out against the "bad" mullahs among them.

Reaching the top, children sell chips and drinks to the exhausted hikers in the beginning sunset shortly before the restaurant on the other side of the ridge tempts with its barbeque and spiced dishes.


As everywhere else in the world there is also here always food available for hungry passers by. Street vendors offer a variety of food. You ask for it - he will prepare your order, spices and oils displayed, vegetables and meet will follow in the pot, enjoy, digest..!

Finger Food as the fastest version of fast food is taken literally by a local street vendor who offers: Fried Fingers! Let's hope they are well prepared, cooked and spiced...

On the Road Again

The protests continue, new topics are added to the list of urgent concerns, but the violence is mostly under control, a Hindu shrine and attacks on its Hindu neighbors the last victim of the rage so far. The vicinity of the Hotel Serena remains a hot spot and therefore the surrounding streets and entrances blocked by huge shipping containers. It will take a while until it will live up to its name again of being a serene place. But the doors of the residences open again and social life picks up its pace, one of the colleagues promoting the sale of fashionable handbags stitched by a group of Pakistani female artists, a big contemporary art show of the last thirty years, even the Serena continues to hold functions - through a side entrance.

The daily updates on the front page of the national and local newspapers on the issue of the "Swiss Letter" do not seem to stir the emotions or even raise interest of the Pakistani people. Inching their way to a solution, the Supreme Court and the government, finally willing to go on with that matter and the letter, expected to be mailed one day to the Swiss authorities, is being drafted, rejected, redrafted, re-rejected, and now in his final stage of materializing.

An invitation to spend two tranquil days in Murree on the foothills of the Himalayas is a welcome change and the drive up to the mountains an adventure by itself. Even more so for a group of students who cling to their means of transportation, driving with considerable speed, no mother in sight...

A Christian church dating back to British colonial times is kept alive by a single monk, who holds a two month long seminar every year for bible students and looks after the cows and the garden.

Not much means to keep the beauty of the structure maintained, but there is certainly visible charm and the good spirit is well alive!

A nearby cemetery with a spectacular view into Kashmir provides welcome food for the goats - they feed happily on the flowerbed, carefully avoiding the bling of the colorful artificial flower garlands.

Next to be visited is a local school, or more precisely the result of a major renovation, paid for by a Pakistani  businessman from Lahore who spends his vacation here since his childhood. All new roofs shine in bright blue, the buildings sturdily built as former military barracks for British soldiers that are still in excellent shape and were available for little money after the partition and the British leaving the subcontinent. The fireplaces still work, as does the ventilation system below the rooftop, the hooks and shelves in place, only the beds along the walls are gone.

A young mother with her four children tells about the challenges of their daily life. The modest vegetable garden is constantly eaten away by wild animals, the monkeys steel food from inside the house, a snow leopard roaming the area and the washing of clothes being done down in the valley, a four hours hike, every couple of weeks. Nevertheless, there is joyous laugh and a hoarse parrot a beloved pet.

And in the Enclave, there is slowly awakening new life, "Diplomatic Housewives" are up for adventure, which one of our younger Ambassadors and a bachelor will soon be able to provide! We spotted him with an "Indian" motorcycle - not Indian, but American and one of the finest! - with side car, model "Chief Dark Horse" and in shiny black splendor. The large avenues of Isloo are waiting for us...