"Wine" and Dine

Chief Justice Chaudhry's retirement day is marked by a tumultuous end to his rocky career, as only one private TV channel has been granted the privilege of exclusive coverage, which was responded by a boycott by all other media channels and reveals his close relationship with this specific media house. Likewise, the senior barristers boycott the farewell dinner, claiming his inaction over the clash between lawyers and the Police on the Supreme Court's premises. Several contempt cases against high profile politicians are being criticised by senior lawyers as abuse of power. His ardent call for implementation of Pakistan's laws stands against the more than 1,65 million cases still pending in all courts in the Country after his eight years' tenure.
But widely praised is his fight with the military and intelligence institutions over alleged human rights abuses. Under Chaudhry, the court consistently demanded the authorities to reveal the whereabouts of hundreds of missing people, allegedly held by Police or army.

US Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel's visit to Islamabad suggests that the boycott of the NATO supply route will not be tolerated indefinitely, addressing it on the national level as Imran Khan continues his confrontational course. His call for a blockade of the route result in attacks on truck drivers, regardless the purpose of their trip as this is one of the primary commercial routes between Pakistan and Afghanistan. The provincial government in Peshawar being quiet about the legality of such a blockade, but the governing party (PTI) calling for one, the police is left entirely on their own in a dilemma how to react and protect the citizens.


Mullah Fazlullah, the new leader of the Pakistani Taliban, has returned from Afghanistan and reached Waziristan a couple of days ago, taking up his command. The government, officially still holding on to its strategy of "talks", assembles all involved actors from the state to set the path including alternatives in case the talks would fail.


A surprising phase of relative peace in these last weeks of the year and unusually sunny and bright winter days allow the spirits to raise and fully indulge into the starting wedding and party, dinner and concert season!
That is meant literally, as an evening might easily include all of them, one after the other, sometimes meeting the same friends again in the course of a night at different homes.

Alliance Française invites for a concert of four clarinetists and their performance of mostly contemporary composers is lifted to another level by the powerful finale of the national anthems of France and Pakistan, transmitted by recorded tape and flooding the audience thanks to obviously very capable loudspeakers!
The thanks at the end of the concert go to a carpenter, who managed to construct four prototypes of "pupitres" within a few hours as such equipment could not be found locally, the musicians here usually taking seat on the floor and rescuing the "Quatuor Anches Hantées" of having to improvise a new style on stage.

Qawwali musicians in an intimate private salon mesmerize the audience, that sits on plush purple velvet cushions and carpets, dressed in elaborate silk and cashmere shalwar kameez, the atmosphere dense with emotions and the vibrating voices of the young male singers surrounding the charismatic lead singer. Trying to fold and cross and hide my bare legs under a skirt that is much too short for that purpose, a charming friend offers me her shawl, that floats as a cloud of heavenly soft shatoosh wool over my knees, hold on place only by the weight of pure gold stitching - inherited by her mother's mother and for sure the finest cloth that ever touched my skin.

Pakistani hospitality is simply unmatched - food for the soul is paired with food for the stomach, generous and sensual and so another buffet laden with delicacies for a gentle break during the concert, at midnight!

Clothes sometimes send messages entirely on their own, regardless of the the persons wearing them - only a few blocks apart, the ones offering culinary highlights from another culture, as the others let Santa Claus sing on high tones...

Advent arrangements go through an amazing transformation to appeal to the local taste:

Yet another year of many fundraising and charity events concludes with the Christmas Ball - now this one just for pleasure and fun. The cutting edge DJ from Lahore, as usual, completely ignoring every advice regarding our choice of music, lets us dance to the beat of rock and techno and I start to understand the deeper meaning behind the lovely bouquet of white gladioli that he so kindly offered me before the party started...

                                                                 Merry Christmas!