Flying High

After the general elections held in May, it is now up to the National and Provincial Assemblies to elect a new President on July 30, 2013. PPP, the party that hold power during the last five years and had to experience its worst defeat, decides to boycott this election to protest against the "rescheduling of the presidential poll", that was done because of purely practical reasons.
Some names of respected and seasoned personalities have been submitted, the candidate of PML-N, Mamnoon Hussein, most likely to win.  Born in Agra under the British Raj in 1940, his family emigrated to Pakistan after partition in 1947, he lives and works in Karachi, where he owns a textile company. A former governor of Sindh, the Southern province in the country and home turf of the main political opposition force PPP, he is regarded being an old loyalist of Sharif and generally viewed as a man of good reputation, "not known for speaking too much". His role would be more of a ceremonial nature as understood by the Constitution. The new President will be sworn in on September 8, succeeding the actual President Zardari.

The relentless rhythm of deadly attacks continues, hitting preferably on the week-ends. The targets, the victims and the inflicting terrorist groups vary and new names of until now unknown groups surface, constantly trying to destabilize the country by terror.

The advisor to the Prime Minister on foreign affairs and national security, Sartaj Aziz, visits Kabul in a new effort to soothe the relations and contribute to the reconciliation process in Afghanistan. The Prime Minister calls for a strategy to initiate dialogue with all neighbouring countries of Afghanistan and not to support any specific group in order to help stabilizing the country.
More and more it is understood, that besides the Taliban, all major ethnic political groups like Hazaras, Uzbeks, Tajiks and Pashtoons have to be included in the talks and the power sharing, as ruling Afghanistan would not be possible for a single minority alone, but that each of them had enough political and military power to seriously destabilize or topple any government in Kabul. Once the ISAF has left, the Afghan war will not only be fought in tribal areas, but it will have drastic impact in Lahore, Karachi and Quetta. According to Kasuri, a former Foreign Minister, the ongoing killings of Hazaras in Balochistan, the sectarian conflicts and disputes over religious issues are an outcome of Pakistan's role in Afghanistan.





Yippiiiie!! Every single obstacle (and there are many, as everyone knows who is trying...) preventing a trip to the Northern Area, Gilgit-Baltistan, has been overcome successfully and I am on the way around Benazir Bhutto Airport, in company of a small group of colleagues, a bag and a shawl in my hand. Even the more remote areas away from the runways are well watched and guards make good use of stairs, that furnish the landscape as a left over by an Asian airline that disappeared a while ago, for a comfortable climb to their lookouts - their lodging set up right behind in the shade.

The flight begins - Gilgit, Shigar Fort, Khaplu, Hunza, names that kept coming back as a tempting dream are now, finally, about to come alive!

The highly renowned Aga Khan Foundation is present with many projects in the North, improving the life of the very modestly living population in collaboration with partners from around the world - schools, hospitals and small community projects.
A repairman in the village Daghoni got a training in putting electrical appliances back to function and skeletons of what remotely resemble television devices from another century are waiting for their turn to come back to life. Turkish soap operas are said to be the most popular program here in Pakistan.

At Hassanabad in the Hunza valley, where a water sanitation scheme has been put in place, two young ladies from that same village instruct the women on hygiene - gastrointestinal deceases are the second most important health issue. Worms are a big concern and find their way in different forms into the human body - we visitors who follow the topic could all pass easily as totally sterile, as even hand sanitizers from our handbags follow the intense scrubbing with soap and water afterwords.

Happy smiles by the elderly participants at the end of the seminar are surely expressions of enthusiasm about the program, as they are asking to be photographed, and warmly touch and tightly hug the foreign guest.


Stones are, of course, plentiful and in inexhaustible supply and walking through the village, one of my friends exclaims in surprise to a villager, passing a fence in front of a house: "Oh, you have a rock garden!"

Well, more the building material for a house to be built on that property, as it turns out...

Gurgling brooks along the pathways in the village provide not only a refreshing sight and sound, but efficient washing machines along the way. Small water pools, built to separate parts of the water flow, let the streaming water wash the clothes spinning and turning them in a steady cycle. Hanging the clean clothes on the tree branches above make a practical drying facility - one of the most energy friendly systems, one can say.

Shigar Fort near Skardu and the Royal Palace in Khaplu make part of the Aga Khan Foundation's cultural engagement - ancient Rajah palaces in the high mountains have been renovated and given back its marvelous splendor of other times, serving now as boutique hotels for some decades, before they will be given back to the successors of these princely families. The local people identify with this heritage, are being trained and now build their houses again in that old traditional way of stones and woodwork.

Breakfast, lunch, brunch, high tea, Iftar, dinner, every meal and every rest at another stunningly romantic place and as one of the accompanying colleagues and friends remarks, eating is our only physical exercise on this travel.

Gone are the times when PIA offered "Mountain Safaris", a flight around the highest peaks of the earth, even "Moonshine Safaris" on nights under the cool light of full moon - sadly, the tourists are gone...

But luckily the helicopter is lifting us few passengers and without luggage high into thin air, as it would not be able to carry additional weight to that altitude. Hours in the sky, hovering in space at slow speed and the thoughts floating between  reality and dreams as the triangle between Himalaya, Hindu Kush and Karakoram reveals its breathtaking beauty. In the middle of the highest mountains and rocks, that are folded into stunning formations millions of years ago with their veins of different layers visible, the surface still transforms as mountain streams are tumbling down and tear down entire sandy slopes. There is no sign of civilization and the small paths I follow with my eyes turn out to end in nowhere, merely casual trails, trampled by animals on their search for food and water. Small patches of green arise where there is water and little soil. The colors change with the light of the sun and slowly the variety of pastel tones of beige and grey turn into many shades of pink and deep purple - glaciers, partly covered with a crust of sand and stones and sometimes in dazzling white with deep crevasses and no longer appears this landscape to be part of my world, but of an unfamiliar planet, being part of a bigger system and deep down a notion, a touch with eternity...

Dignity And Privacy

Malala Yousufzai, the girl who was shot by Taliban on her way to school, addresses a thousand students from one hundred countries at an especially convened youth assembly at the UN in New York - it is her 16th birthday and this day has now been declared "Malala Day". The fight for girls' education got a face through her testimony. She rightly points out, that girls and boys, that every child deserves a decent education, as boys schools are not spared from attacks by extremists. How to expect a man to understand the importance of a girl's education if he himself was denied one?


The report of the Abbottabad Commission, investigating the circumstances of the Osama bin Laden raid, has been leaked to Al Jazeera and surprises by the frank and open conclusion, that failures on all levels led to the American intervention.

May and June have seen a surge in violent attacks and casualties through the country with more than 600 people being killed per month. The murder of thirteen mountaineers, ten of them foreigners, at Nanga Parbat adds a new chilling dimension. The beautiful mountain area of the north having been the last resort for tourism.

The extremists don't seem to make a difference between political parties that wish to promote dialogue and those who don't. There seems to be a shift in the policy of the new governing party. PM Sharif answered the question by a journalist, whether he was seeking Chinese help in getting American drone attacks stopped: "We have to help ourselves if we want to stop American drones". He convenes an all parties conference on terrorism at the end of July in order to develop a strategy to terminate the existential threats by extremism in the country, the cause of drone strikes in the first place. Disrupting the links of terrorists in Pakistan from groups operating from outside the country allegedly being on top of the agenda. 'Brotherly' countries, including Saudi Arabia and Iran would be asked to clamp down on financiers of sectarian and terrorist networks operating in Pakistan.

The Cyber Law Society of Pakistan invites for a seminar at the District Court of Islamabad, which is housed for the last thirty years in buildings meant for shops in a market area, awaiting to move in a permanent new structure to be built. Courtrooms in small shops then, a fan to fight the heat, if lucky, a copy machine being operated by a clerk in the open, but again, lawyers, judges in impeccable suits and with remarkable endurance.

Cyber security emerges as today's burning topic - in Pakistan as in other countries alike - and as the President of the Islamabad Bar Association points out, violation of privacy is considered a serious attack on the dignity of a human being and protected in several passages in the Koran, as well as by Pakistani law. This is not just theory here in Pakistan - as I can only confirm how little one knows about the private life of people in public life and how difficult it is to even find out if they are married, let alone know anything about their wives or husbands. All guests at a recent dinner table were guessing about the family life of the two brothers that hold the political power in this country upon my questioning, only bits and pieces emerge, contributed by all present and some surprise even the knowledgeable ones! Whatever people know, it would not appear in the press, journalists respect privacy and prefer exposing professional failure instead. Corruption is one of the dominant topics these days.

The General Secretary of the Cyber Law Society is a woman and a group of female attorneys is attending the seminar, being part of 350 female lawyers among 4000 lawyers and they assure me, that their professional advice and representation at court is sought after by men and women alike. Even following a full time professional career, they have two, three or four children, their education and upbringing shared with their extended families, no shortage of support. I am quickly included in their discussion and their group and awarded with the certificate for attending the seminar at the end!

The last of the Agamohicans stay behind in very, very quiet Isloo, where shopkeepers are sitting on chairs, their heads laying on the table, asleep, enduring the long hours of a Ramadan day without food, without water.
We morph into the four Musketeers in collecting all remaining energy, beating the heat, the humidity, the blues, the added restrictions in movement (yeah, we can still visit each other!), and Agasue prepares her garden for a day of sports and lean cuisine for us! That means, petanque on the lush grass, that turns out to be tricky due to undetectable irregularities under the thick grass carpet, but we compete against each other with highly combative spirit, measuring the distances of the silver balls in millimeters. Bending, lifting and carrying the balls, dragging the feet along the eight meter long playfield - we might hire caddies next time to do that job, and watch from the pool which team is going to win for us ...

As calories seem to be burnt at another rate in this climate, we are offered a so declared "lean bite" by the hostess, a chocolate chili cake with lychee ice cream, covered in very light caramel syrup:

Diplomats are a highly adaptable cast of the human race - by profession! - always excited about meeting new cultures, exploring unknown territories and developments, absorb and adapt with ease and panache. They also master brilliantly the technical and social challenge of operating a small communication device at dinner tables, a still life of three gentlemen, that the lady at the table had undisturbed time to ban on photos. It is encouraging to see that the traditional protocol (at the start of my career as a "trailing spouse" I was advised to arrive at a new posting wearing "chapeau, gants, collants", no matter the climate I might encounter...) - obviously does not freeze in time, as besides Ambassadors three actual and former chiefs of protocol were present at the dinner… with their mobiles...