Uzma Aslam Khan

Oprah magazine selects The Geometry of God as "One of Twenty Books for the Armchair Traveler."

2011-09-12T19:13:00.000-07:00

Who would have thought?

First a rave review of The Geometry of God in O magazine. Next O's Book Club does a Reading Questions feature. And now Geometry is selected as "one of twenty" to take with you on vacation and travel. Three separate mentions - thanks, O!

Even if like me you've never read an e-book ...

2011-08-07T18:43:00.000-07:00

... might be time to start, with Dave's The Gamble of the Godless, book one of the series titled The Chronicles of Avin.

And if you're e-book savvy, why stop now?!

Dave began The Gamble 15 years ago, while we were living in Morocco. This interview will fill you in: http://indiebookblogger.blogspot.com/2011/08/interview-with-david-maine-author-of.html

You can also check out his website, http://www.thechroniclesofavin.com/

And buy the book on amazon (or a bunch of other sites listed on his site): http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005FR0A26/ref=cm_sw_r_fa_dp_ng0oob0DJPC4S

And "like" his facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Dave-Maine-The-Chronicles-of-Avin/167368593330466

And I know I'm biased, but I read the first two books in the series back when Dave first began writing them, and though I don't know much about the genre, these were hugely enjoyable. I love the animals, I love the humor, and I love the spiritedness of the writer.

And, oh, I like the cover.

Tehelka's Fiction Issue

2011-01-07T21:33:00.000-08:00

Tehelka, one of India's finest weekly magazines, has just released a special noir fiction issue. There are 13 contributors, including me. Great to find myself in there.

Click here to see the contents page of the issue: http://www.tehelka.com/home/20110108/default.asp

Or here to read my story, "The Missing": http://www.tehelka.com/story_main48.asp?filename=Ne080111THE_MISSING.asp

Fall Round-up 2010

2011-01-05T00:40:00.000-08:00

Very Belatedly, thank you to everybody who came to hear me speak/read/fumble in San Francisco back in October, for the Granta 112 launch at Lit Crawl, Modern Times Bookstore. One person, with a lovely blog called Girl in Fog City, made a video of me during the Q & A. Watch if you dare! (I didn't dare for several weeks.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MXRYTtVfj4w

Her blog about Lit Crawl was wonderfully detailed and fun:

http://www.girlinfogcity.com/lit-crawl-san-francisco-2010/

Thank you also to Revolution Books in Berkeley for hosting a small but very lively reading of The Geometry of God. Reiko Redmonde does a terrific job organizing these events. All who live in Berkeley, I'm jealous.

I had a blast at the Marin School events, particularly the morning event, attended by very smart students. After I read an extract from "Ice, Mating," they asked some of the best questions I've ever been asked. Special thanks to Kieran Biz for his warmth and enthusiasm.

A lot's been written on the Granta issue (good, bad, & mixed reviews); here's a sprinkling:

http://www.jang.com.pk/thenews/oct2010-weekly/nos-10-10-2010/lit.htm#1

http://www.thepakistanupdate.com/2010/11/granta-paints-pakistan-a-review/#more-1614

http://www.tehelka.com/story_main47.asp filename=hub131110HERE_IS_THE.asp

One last thing. Granta asked its contributors to write on their Best Books of 2010. I chose Touch by Adania Shibli: http://www.granta.com/Online-Only/Best-Books-of-2010-Fiction If you didn't hear of this gem last year, you can still run out and buy a copy.

Happy New Year.

BAY AREA EVENTS: A Complete Listing

2010-10-07T20:47:00.000-07:00

Saturday 9 October: West Coast Live: A morning with Uzma Aslam Khan and other guests on Sedge Thomson’s vibrant radio show. I will read from The Geometry of God, and generally discuss my ideas and work. Live from the San Francisco Ferry Building.

http://www.wcl.org/

Saturday 9 October: LitQuake LitCrawl: Granta 112: Pakistan - The West Coast Launch Event I will read from the Pakistan issue, followed by a Q&A. Modern Times Bookstore, 888 Valencia Street, San Francisco, CA 94110, 7.15 p.m. – 8.15 p.m.

www.litquake.org

Monday 11 October: Bridging Pakistan and San Francisco: An evening with Uzma Aslam Khan I will discuss Granta 112: Pakistan and my story 'Ice, Mating', which is set between San Francisco and Pakistan. This event is open to the general public. The Marin School, 100 Ebbtide Avenue, Bldg. 5, Sausalito, CA 94965, 7 p.m. - 8 p.m.

Tuesday 12 October: The Geometry of God: An evening with Uzma Aslam Khan. I will read from my most recent novel. Revolution Books, 2425 Channing Way, off of Telegraph Ave., Berkeley, CA, 7:00p.m-8:00p.m. 510 848 1196 or visit http://www.revolutionbooks.org/p/event-calendar.html

Granta 112: Pakistan

2010-09-26T13:59:00.000-07:00

Granta's issue 112 is on Pakistan. Is my country enjoying a literary renaissance? You decide! Whether you agree or not, the cover, by the truck artist Islam Gull, is beautiful, no? There is also some stunning artwork within the issue itself, often in conjunction with the writing, and the result is quite lovely. Copies can be ordered on Granta’s website, as well as through several online bookstores, and at the many events being organized to launch this issue around the world. For details please see: http://www.granta.com/Magazine/112

I’ll be at Lit Crawl in San Francisco next month, where I’ll discuss, among other things, my short story in the Granta issue, titled, “Ice, Mating.” (I love the title; why is nobody talking about the title?!) Lit Crawl, the final day of Lit Quake Literary Festival, is on October 9^th. I’ll be speaking/reading from 7:15-8:15 at Modern Times bookstore on 888 Valencia Street in the Mission. Hope to see you there!

While in the Bay Area, I'll also be reading at Revolution Books in Berkeley, 2425 Channing Way, off of Telegraph Avenue. (For details please call (510) 8481196 or visit: http://www.revolutionbooks.org/p/events-calendar.html) This reading will be on October 12th from 7:00-8:00 p.m. At Revolution Books I'll be reading from my third novel, recently released, The Geometry of God.

An exciting side note about The Geometry of God. It won the Bronze Award in the Independent Publishers Books Awards 2010, was selected as one of Kirkus Reviews’ Best Books of 2009, and was a finalist of Foreword Magazine’s Best Books of 2009.

Tahira Abdullah speaks on the floods in Pakistan

2010-09-15T16:21:00.000-07:00

The interview above addresses the following questions I asked Tahira Abdullah, prominent Pakistani human rights activist, about the floods in Pakistan. My questions are about the Swat Valley (in northern Pakistan) and about Sindh province (southern Pakistan).

1. In a previous interview, you mentioned that the IDPs (Internally Displaced People -- displaced from Swat Vallley after first the Taliban takeover, and then the subsequent actions of the Pakistan Army) were the first to be hit by the floods. Could you elaborate?

2 In the same earlier interview, you mentioned the need for boats. Because of the steepness of the mountains areas, what is the primary means of transport now that the area is under water and boats are hard to find?

3. Is there any one detail you want to stress about how Sindh has been affected? Anything that stands out as different from the impact on other areas?

There is also this excellent audio interview with Tahira

http://webstudio.ciopakistan.com/2010/08/11/pkflood-relief-tahira-abdullah-paints-a-real-picture/

Floods in Pakistan

2010-08-09T00:45:00.001-07:00

The death toll has officially crossed 1,600. The unofficial number is 3,000. Over 12 million people's lives have been affected. Around 80% of the country's food reserves are gone. The scale of this calamity is mind-boggling; the UN is predicting that the aftermath will be even worse than the 2004 tsunami in the Indian Ocean, 2005 earthquake in northern Pakistan, and 2010 earthquake in Haiti combined.

What has hit Pakistan in this millennium? Or even in just this year alone? From the attacks on Ahmadis in Lahore to the plane crash in Islamabad to the floods in the north, to the riots in Karachi, the last three, in the space of just a few days last week? From the Taliban to the US drones. And now the floods are moving south, into Sindh. Terrifyingly, meteorologists are predicting that the rains will continue in the next 24-36 hours. So many crops have already been destroyed the price of tomatoes alone has tripled in two days. Are we looking at a nation-wide famine? In the past, Pakistanis could at least be proud of not needing food aid. Is even that dignity soon to be lost?

The particular case of Swat Valley is heart-breaking. Sawatis had to suffer the Taliban and then the Pakistan Army, and now most of the valley is completely cut off, so relief efforts are at a near standstill. Here's a painful Youtube video on Mangora, Swat Valley: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uyv1NoPl28E&feature=channel

And I just came across some more devastating photos:

http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2010/08/severe_flooding_in_pakistan.html

What to do? If you are in a position to help, please donate to one of several relief agencies that are dependable and doing their best to access areas that the government alone does not seem able to help. (Don't get me started on President Zardari's grotesque visit to Europe this week, while his countrymen and countrywomen drown.)

Here are some suggestions for how to donate.

This link has a video and a way to donate through the Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC):

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-10878599

Another excellent way is through the Edhi Foundation, which has centers in the US, UK, Canada, Australia, Japan, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. http://www.edhifoundation.com/contact.asp

If you would rather go through other agencies (Red Cross, Oxfam, UNICEF etc.), here's a complete list http://edition.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/meast/08/04/help.pakistan/index.html#fbid=nR8slPBTCBA&wom=true

Bat Flowers, Bat Fish, and Fruit Bats

2010-05-17T20:06:00.000-07:00

My first encounter with bats was in Lahore, in my dadi's house in Model Town. It was one of those pretty beat old houses with high ceilings, and a front gate that nearly fell on my sister and me when we were swinging on it one day, pulling down with it the huge cement pillar holding it in place. If there hadn't been a ditch for me to fall in, so the gate fell over the ditch instead of over me, I would've died. I think my sister got scratched. Don't ask how we survived ... it was that kind of house. Yep, probably full of jinns. It is where I heard my first jinn story. BUT that is not what this post is about. One night a bat flew inside the bedroom where we all slept together in a line of beds. I was transfixed, and probably a little scared. It was my first bat.

Years later in Upstate New York, I encountered more bats, and liked them less. They would fly into pizza joints and into my apartment building, and hang in the window outside my front door.

Years later in Sydney, I saw my first fruit bats. These were different sort of bats. They were cute. They also had a great other name: flying foxes. I returned to Lahore, Pakistan, to tell my hubby all about them and a friend overheard and said there were flying foxes in our very own Lahore. Sure enough, there they were in Jinnah Park, dangling upside down with furry red breasts exposed, though they can be hard to see -- from a distance, they look a bit like shapeless pods. Of course they made it into the book I was writing at the time. (There's a scene in The Geometry of God where Amal meets her lover Omar at Jinnah Park and they talk about the bats ...)

Years later in Malaysia, I saw a bat fish. These are terrifically hard to spot, but they favor mangroves, so poke around the roots and the weeds. They are so lovely, sort of like seahorses in how they drift dreamily. The one I saw swam right by me, all upright and introverted, and at first I thought it was a leaf. Because they are so slow, Dave and I were able to look at it till we were almost sated. Then it disappeared.

And now, a week ago, in Lyon Arboretum in Honolulu, I saw a black bat flower. These are some of the strangest and most gorgeous flowers I've ever seen (and apparently, quite rare). They have long silky tendrils or "whiskers" that are purplish in the sun and the petals are so glossy and rich. They aren't exactly pretty. They have no smell. But they are stunningly intense.

Check out the photos above. White bat flower; Black bat flower in Lyon Arboretum, Honolulu (a different one from the same cluster posted in the previous post); and flying foxes in Jinnah Park, Lahore. I know, the bats are shadowy. But if you zoom in and think friendly bat thoughts, they might reveal themselves.

Hawaii Flowers -- OAHU (Lyon Arboretum, April-May 2010)

2010-05-17T19:52:00.000-07:00

Hawaii Book and Music Festival

2010-05-14T12:30:00.000-07:00

The 5th Annual Hawaii Book and Music Festival will be held this weekend, May 15-16 10:00a.m.-5:00p.m. at Honolulu Hale. Free admission and parking! Lots of food, and, well, books and music ...

PLUS, I will be in the Authors' Pavilion on Sunday May 16 from 12:00p.m-1:00p.m reading a little and talking a little. And signing copies of both Trespassing and The Geometry of God in the Revolution Books' stall at 11:00a.m. and in the Barnes and Noble tent at 1:00p.m. Hope to see you there!

For more info on the festival, see hawaiibookandmusicfestival.org

And the Oscar goes to: Sympathy for the Aggressor; Don't Count the million+ dead Iraqis (but who's counting right?)

2010-03-08T00:45:00.000-08:00

That is the first message behind the awarding of an Oscar to Hurt Locker for Best Picture. The second message: Women directors can win an award too if they just hitch their wagon to the same tired cliche: America the Victim.

Mamoon Alabbasi, an Iraqi journalist, has this interesting piece in which he compares this award-winning trash to Avatar. I quote him:

"In the 'The Hurt Locker,' where we follow an adventurous U.S. bomb squad in Iraq, the Iraqis in the movie appear to serve just as a background that shows how heroic the film's stars are.

Almost faceless and voiceless, they are - like in the world of politics - robbed of their humanity.

It would be more accurate to say that 'The Hurt Locker' is an action movie that uses Iraq as a background than to brand it as an 'Iraq war movie,', and less so as the 'Iraq war drama.'

The film does not really address the Iraq war, the reasons for the presence of the U.S. squad or even the bombs they are supposed to defuse, and most importantly it ignores the views and feelings of Iraqis.

Contrary to the claim made by some film critics arguing that the film is non-ideological, the very fact that the war context is left out makes the movie very political.

It sells war as a heroic adventure, hiding the true toll on all sides involved and brushes aside the suggestion of accountability. This seems very ideological."

He then goes on to say:

"But for a lot of Iraqis, 'Avatar' is the film of the underdog. For many of them who feel de-humanised by some parts of the media, the positive depiction of blue non-humans is welcome.

If some humans can relate to the 'humanity' of non-humans in fiction, then surely they would find it easier to identify with the true humanity of de-humanised humans in real life?

Or would that be too much to expect?"

You can read the full article here:
http://www.consortiumnews.com/2010/022610a.html

Though I have problems with Avatar too -- it is, after all, as always, the white guy who saves the "natives" -- at least the "natives" are seen and heard in all their blue glory. That is hugely generous for Hollywood. Hurt Locker, on the other hand, has done same same even worse, choosing to invisibilize Iraqis and turn them into extras. Yeah, like real life.

I Love Tinariwen

2009-12-13T01:04:00.000-08:00

They describe their music not as rock or blues or soul but as “assouf”, which means nostalgia. The song Assouf, from the album Aman Iman (Water is Life) is sublime. But then there’s nothing about them that isn’t. This is music that’s as thrilling as melancholy, as festive as plaintive. It’s gritty, it’s ghostly – yep, it’s holy.

As an aside, I never thought I’d say it but there’s something about the group’s founder, Ibrahim, that reminds me of Jimi Hendrix, the one I thought no one could ever resemble. They do look alike. They both have the same cool cat charisma too. I know, comparing isn’t fair at all; Ibrahim is entirely his own thing (perhaps Jimi was channeling Ibrahim), as is everyone else in this Touareg band that various sites “place” on the map differently. Mali, Algerian border, Niger – like the Sahara, they transcend nations. No surprise then that no one sounds like them. They’ve been around for a while (since 1982) and have a fascinating history that I only found out about today, though if this is the first time you’re hearing about them, skip the history and absorb the music.

Watch a video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iOu4fdlPiWI
Read an interivew:
http://en.qantara.de/webcom/show_article.php/_c-310/_nr-490/i.html
Buy their music:
http://www.amazon.com/Aman-Iman-Water-Life-Tinariwen/dp/B000MCICRE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1260693947&sr=1-1-spell

Feel delivered!

US launch of The Geometry of God

2009-09-30T00:23:00.000-07:00

It's the eve of the US launch of my third novel, The Geometry of God. I'm trying to find just the right thing to say. I think I'll just do as Mehwish does in the book and send one of her drawings.

The drawing is called "Nana's hearing" and the ear is especially important. So are the toes.

A book, a film, a record

2009-08-16T15:16:00.000-07:00

My album of the year is "The Hazards of Love" by the Decemberists. This summer I had to hear it every day or I'd get in a bad mood. Have only recently overcome, to some extent, those delicious withdrawal symptoms. Good to know I can still get that deeply immersed in a record, the way I used to get in my teens -- with Jimi, or Led Zep, or Pink Floyd. There was something about "Hazards" that moved me at the same chemical level, evoked the same intensity, provided the same nourishment. It's fabulous that a band today is still honoring the concept of the album as an art form that works as a whole -- like a novel -- so each song is a chapter in a larger tale. So few records today, even good records, hold together in the same seamless way. And "Hazards" transitions are simply brilliant. As my tabla ustad used to say: it's the gap between the notes that make the notes. The Decemberists have those gaps in their blood.

Another discovery of the year is a Turkish-German film from 2007, called The Edge of Heaven, by director Fatih Akin. Again, it was the structure that enthralled. I have a weakness for interwoven storylines; for multiple characters with ties to one another that unravel slowly, surprisingly. (In this way it was like another favorite, Babel.) The Edge has been described as "unagitated" and that's pretty apt. Though the themes are painful, the telling is unglamorous, and the acting entirely understated. Baki Davrak, who plays the son of the Turkish immigrant who ignites one of the downward spirals, was a smooth kind of troubled: the calm before the storm, except the calm and the storm in him were one. Nursel Kose, who plays the Turkish prostitute, was nothing like a Hollywood Julia Roberts hooker. She had a face lined by a zillion emotions; she felt real. And her daughter, a political activist played by Nurgul Yesilcay, was a fiery fantastic. I have not found women characters as strong, conflicted, and multidimensional in any other recent movie. Will definitely follow this director, and this cast.

Absent by the Iraqi writer Betool Khedairi is my book recommendation. In a sense, it's told in a similar tone to The Edge of Heaven: calm, unadorned. It weaves a story that's deeply painful, yet the delicate telling prevents it from crumbling under the weight. The book's set after the 1991 Gulf War and before the 2003 US-led invasion. Sanctions and bombings are the backdrop. But it's the resilience of the characters that the book is about. There is no self-pity. No preaching. Just incredibly innovative and moving ways of getting by. That it takes place before the 2003 war just makes it more cruel, more heart-wrenching ... If life in Iraq was so hard before, what about now? I'm honored I have the chance to teach this book in the fall.

Ten Against Torture

2009-08-05T09:52:00.000-07:00

Amnesty International solicited ten powerful letters urging Obama to act on investigating and punishing the torturers. The contributors include Stephen King, Alice Walker, Ariel Dorfman and Sister Dianna Ortiz.

You can read the letters on their web site:

http://amnestyusa.org/ Type "Ten Against Torture" in the search bar. The letters are really worth reading.

Taxi to the Dark Side; Show the Images and Prosecute the Torturers

2009-07-14T16:04:00.000-07:00

Last night I finally saw the 2007 documentary, Taxi to the Dark Side. The film is structured around the disappearance and murder of Dilawar, an Afghan taxi driver who, along with his passengers, was imprisoned without trial in Bagram Air Base. There he was beaten to death by American soldiers. As the war in Afghanistan escalates, the film should be required viewing.

Moving from Bagram to Abu Ghraib to Guantanamo, it shows footage of torture that is impossible to watch without feeling sick. We’ve seen the images of naked men piled in a pyramid; of a detainee with a dog collar and a woman soldier dragging him around on a leash; of bloodied prisoners being intimidated by dogs. Seeing it again doesn’t make it easier. But it just gets worse. The “new” images, such as those of prisoners being forced to masturbate, confirm what one British prisoner who was later released says, “If they weren’t terrorists when they came in, how can they not be terrrorists when they leave?”

Interspersed between the images are a series of powerful interviews with American soldiers, all of whom say they acted on orders from above, and that the abuse was hardly a case of “a few bad apples”. What happened at Abu Ghraib happened at Bagram and at Guantanamo. It was sanctioned and normal. There is footage with Dick Cheney boasting, “Use any means available.” And John Yoo gloating, “The president can authorize torture.” These men are still walking free.

By the time the film was released, over 83, 000 detainees were in captivity, all without trial.

In April this year, US President Obama revealed his torture policy: let the war criminals roam free. This is his way of focusing on the future. Pretty ironic, for a guy who drew heavily and movingly on African-American history in his acceptance speech. As he knows, there can be no moving on without remembering and addressing the injustices of the past.

Will Attorney General Eric Holder prove the better man? Holder was quoted this month in Newsweek as saying that he’s considering “appointing a prosecutor to investigate the Bush administration's brutal interrogation practices,” exactly what Obama is trying to avoid. Holder’s wife, Sharon Malone, is quoted in the same article as drawing “a direct line from the sins of America's racial past to the abuses of the Guantánamo Bay ... Both are examples of ‘what we have not done in the face of injustice’.” Amen. I’m going to be hopeful about Holder. Read the full article here: http://www.newsweek.com/id/206300

But Obama’s decision not to investigate the Bush regime’s war crimes becomes even more sinister when viewed in conjunction with his decision to censor the images of new footage that has surfaced from Abu Ghraib. An article in today’s Telegraph UK has details of what the footage includes: the rape of a female prisoner by an American soldier; the rape of a male teenaged detainee by a male translator; the sexual assault of prisoners with wires and a phosphorescent tube. Read the article:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/5395830/Abu-Ghraib-abuse-photos-show-rape.html

Obama’s decision to keep these images away from the public eye is supported by Major General Antonio Taguba, who conducted the Abu Ghraib prison inquiries. Their reason? As the war in Afghanistan escalates, the public outrage the photos will engender will “imperil the safety of US troops”. Once again, the safety of Americans is more important than the safety of others, and more important than upholding universal principles of human rights and human dignity. The Geneva Convention? Already the next generation hardly even knows it ever existed.

The creator of Taxi to the Dark Side, Alex Gibney, has said he made the film in the spirit of moving “away from the dark side and back to the light.” There can be no light without showing the truth about prison abuse, and prosecuting the criminals behind it.

White Guys With Soul

2009-02-22T18:23:00.000-08:00

I have to listen to Bon Iver's new album "For Emma, Forever Ago" at least twice a day. I'm addicted to this man's falsetto. You can be too. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=62i9Sodwp5o This video features an even more stripped down version of the first song, "Flume". Listen to it, but also listen to the entire record.

Another record I'm compulsively listening to is Radiohead's "In Rainbows". Here are two songs from it, "Reckoner" and "House of Cards":
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KBalSWs5ngY and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8nTFjVm9sTQ I'm also addicted to this man's falsetto.

Swat Beyond the Valley of the Hanging Chains

2009-02-20T20:08:00.000-08:00

As a teenager, I visited the Swat Valley in the North-West Frontier Province of Pakistan. It was a short stop; my family and I were on our way to a longer trip in the Kaghan Valley. I remember my father saying he would show us Swat one day. He would take us into the mountains and through the meadows and lakes so I could finally see the geography that had for years conjured up images of freedom and space in my cramped, city-bound imagination. And not only mine: for centuries Swat had been popular with visitors from all over South Asia, and from the rest of the world, not only for its beauty but for its rich history and aesthetic. Like Kashmir, it was once a princely state, and people knew it for its profound cultural dynamism.

I also remember loving the name “Swat”. Pronounced s-waath in Pushto, it is spoken as two syllables, not one, and it is a soft, whispery kind of word, something you might hear in a feather if you leaned very close.

We never did return. And now it is as if Swat is not s-waath but so-what.

Since 2007, the area has been controlled by the Taliban. Education for girls has been banned; over two hundred schools have been bombed. Those who dare to resist the Taliban’s rule are tortured and publicly beheaded or publicly shot. A recent example is the case of Bakht Zeba, who, after criticizing the Taliban for stopping girls from attending school, was hauled out of her house, beaten, and shot. People have even been killed on mere suspicion of resistance, and the killings justified in the name of Islam. It is estimated that 1,500 people have died in the fight to restore sanity to the valley. Newsline, a Pakistani monthly news magazine, reports this month that in Mingora, the largest town in the Swat Valley, “residents often wake up to find bodies of those executed by the militants slung from electric poles in the central square.” The square has been renamed Zibahkhana Chowk. Slaughter Square.

When in the fifth century, the Chinese pilgrim Huain Tsang described the Swat Valley as "the valley of the hanging chains," he was referring to the lush mountain slopes that in the spring and summer were carpeted in fruits and flowers. He was not referring to corpses strung on electric poles.

For the past eighteen months, on the local radio station, the Taliban routinely broadcast the names of those they kill. Instead of the reassuring sounds of goat-bells and the Swat River, the residents of this once quiet valley are hearing the names of those they’ve lost, or those they fear they’re about to lose. More than 300,000 residents have fled. For those who stay, besides education for girls, other banned activities include: watching television and films, dancing, singing, shaving beards, not dressing in an “Islamic” way. Sound familiar? Is this Pakistan or is it Afghanistan? The movement’s leader is Maulana Fazlullah, an admirer of Afghanistan’s Mullah Omer. He has been joined by those who’ve fought in Waziristan, Kashmir and Afghanistan.

Until this week, for the past eighteen months, the Pakistan Army had been deployed in the valley to fight Fazlullah and his men. The soldiers hid while the Taliban roamed the streets, patrolling them and everyone else.

On February 16, the Pakistani Government called it quits. It announced that it would stop fighting the Taliban forces. Swat Valley, historically revered by Buddhists, Hindus, and Muslims alike, is now officially recognized as belonging to a band of criminals and their grotesque version of Islamic Law.

The valley is a mere 100 miles from Islamabad, the capital of Pakistan. If this isn’t an open invitation to the Taliban to creep south toward the capital, what is?

President Zardari’s decision has come three weeks after US President Barack Obama authorized the use of two US-drone missile attacks on Pakistan. At least fifteen innocent Pakistani villagers died. The US attacks on Pakistan were in direct contravention of International Law. But just as the Taliban enjoy their own warped version of Islamic Law, the United States continues to enjoy its own warped version of International Law.

Between June-December 2008, under President George W. Bush, thirty recorded US missile strikes were launched in Pakistan, in breach of every International Law known to the international community (to which we dare not include the United States). Though President Obama continues to be perceived in the United States as a president for change, in addition to the January 23rd attack on Pakistan authorized by him, he has this week authorized the deployment of an additional 17,000 troops to Afghanistan. This is not a change in US foreign policy. It is an escalation of the same policy. And it will lead to more of what it has led to so far: an escalation in the numbers of those joining the Taliban, and in those who are targeted by them.

Since the summer of 2008, those who have suffered the most attacks from both the United States and home-grown terrorists have been Pakistanis. Last year, Pakistan suffered a death toll of over two thousand from suicide bombings. Add to that the thirty missile strikes under Bush, plus the first one under President Obama, and the creeping reality of Talibani rule, and you have a country that is seething with despair.

Is Pakistan the next Afghanistan, or it something even worse? Is it, as M. Reza Pirbhai warns in a recent article, the new Cambodia? (See http://www.counterpunch.org/pirbhai01292009.html) Mr. Pirbhai makes a strong case. He reminds us that the US attacks on Pakistan are not the first time that the US has bombed an ally. It did the same in Cambodia, when, as in Pakistan, those who died were mostly civilians, while, as in Pakistan, the government shrugged. Cambodia was bombed on the orders of President Nixon, who, as with President Obama, was elected “on the promise of change in war policy.” While Nixon approved the clandestine bombing of North Vietnamese and Viet Cong “hideouts” in Cambodia a few months after coming in office, Obama has openly approved the bombing of Taliban “hideouts” in Pakistan a mere three days after coming in office. (Of course, unlike Nixon, Obama openly threatened to invade an ally country repeatedly during his presidential campaign.) Under Nixon, US ground troops openly entered Cambodia a year after the secret bombings. Before the end of this year, are the residents of Islamabad going to see American soldiers in their backyard?

Here is the most terrifying part of Mr. Pirbhai’s warning: “Most Cambodia specialists agree that Nixon’s Cambodia policy drove large numbers of peasants into the arms of the Khmer Rouge, just as Pakistan observers and officials argue the US air assaults and threats of ground incursions, coupled with the Pakistan military’s use of force in the border regions with Afghanistan, is whipping up anti-government and anti-US/NATO sentiment among common Pakistanis.”

Who will reach Islamabad first: the Taliban or US troops?

Closing Gitmo

2009-02-19T11:59:00.000-08:00

Barack Obama's move to close Guantanamo Bay is a huge relief. Let this not be a reason to forget the horrors of those who were made to endure it. Mohammad Saad tells his story:
http://www.dawn.com/2009/01/26/nat5.htm

The real reason for the massacres in Gaza

2009-01-10T16:58:00.000-08:00

In his Jan 7 op-ed piece for the New York Times, "What You Don't Know About Gaza", Professor Khalid Rashidi quotes Moshe Yaalon, Israel's Defense Forces chief of staff in 2002, as saying, "The Palestinians must be made to understand in the deepest recesses of their consciousness that they are a defeated people." This is the real reason for Israel's war on innocent civilians. Not to take out Hamas but to take out the collective Palestinian will to resist the occupation. Read Rashidi's article. It's succinct. It's deadly urgent: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/08/opinion/08khalidi.html

Another terrific piece is by Dennis Loo on the World Can't Wait web site. I quote: "Israel's complaints that Hamas is using human shields represents the tired old refrain of imperial powers going after a population in resistance." Loo's article is longer, but passionate and very well-argued. Please read it too:
http://www.worldcantwait.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=5291:human-shields-world-class-deceit-world-class-crimes&catid=117:homepage&Itemid=289

Robert Fisk on Palestine, again

2009-01-10T00:46:00.000-08:00

Fisk comes through again with this article in the Independent UK:
http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/fisk/robert-fisk-why-do-they-hate-the-west-so-much-we-will-ask-1230046.html
The photograph is devastating. I can't remember ever seeing an image of a Palestinian child soaked in blood after an Israeli attack in a major US paper. How many more will have to bleed before the US stops supporting Israel? Or even condemns it?

A second article by Fisk appeared in the Independent just today. In it he describes talking to journalists around the world about the attacks on Gaza, always to be interrupted by a supporter of Israel claiming that 10 Israeli deaths (that too mostly of soldiers) is somehow worse than 700 Palestinian deaths (mostly of civilians). Here's a quote: "My favourite moment came when I pointed out that journalists should be on the side of those who suffer. If we were reporting the 18th-century slave trade, I said, we wouldn't give equal time to the slave ship captain." Here's the link:
http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/fisk/robert-fiskrsquos-world-wherever-i-go-i-hear-the-same-tired-middle-east-comparisons-1297595.html

US missile strikes in Pakistan

2008-10-24T16:35:00.000-07:00

My talk for the Day of Resistance rally in Honolulu today:

In 1977, native American writer Leslie Marmon Silko wrote a book called CEREMONY. This is a quote from the book, in which a World War II veteran is reflecting on why he cannot explain the war to an elder of his tribe:

‘In the old ways of warfare, you couldn’t kill another human being in battle without knowing it, without seeing the result. But the old man would not have believed white warfare – killing across great distances without knowing who or how many had died. It was all too alien to comprehend, the mortars and big guns; and even if he could have taken the old man to see the target areas, even if he could have led him through the craters of torn earth to show him the dead, the old man would not have believed anything so monstrous.’

Killing across great distances without knowing who or how many had died. Silko was speaking about a war sixty years ago. Now we have become so used to this kind of warfare that killing across great distances without knowing who or how many have died is perfectly ordinary. Neither US presidential candidate has indicated anything other than a complete endorsement of continuing with such killing. One of them may want an end to the war in Iraq, but he has said repeatedly that he believes in shifting the war to Pakistan ‘to get Al Qaida’, as if Al Qaida rests on the shoulders of 160 million Pakistanis. It does not. And if 160 million Pakistanis fail to find and hand over the bogey man Al Qaida, he has threatened repeatedly to take ‘direct action,’ including direct military action. When this action is taken – it is not a question of if this action is taken but when – whether by McCain or Obama, it will be yet more killing across great distances without you knowing who or how many have died.

I would like you to know the cost of this war to Pakistan so far.

Since 2001, the Bush administration has regularly been launching missile strikes across the Afghan border and into Pakistan. This particular year, this election year, the US strikes in Pakistan have increased alarmingly. There was one just yesterday. Eleven people died. As with all the other strikes, this one was ostensibly to take out a Taliban leader, but the leader got away, while innocent people died. The American missile strike in Pakistan last month killed 23 innocent men, women, and children. Between August 23 and October 10, at least eleven missile strikes killed more than a hundred people. This is according to Fox News, by the way. So if Fox can acknowledge it, the numbers must be even higher. This is in addition to the thirteen people killed on January 29. The twelve people killed on February 28. The eighteen people killed on March 17. The twelve killed on May 14. The eleven killed on June 10. And the numerous faceless, uncounted others killed this year, because as I’m sure you know, this is only a very partial list.

Aside from the bombing of villages and the killing of innocent civilians, there are other ways in which this war is ruining the lives of ordinary people you are not meant to see. It is estimated that around 5,000 Pakistanis suspected of being 'terrorists' have been illegally detained in military torture cells both inside and outside the country. Any one in Pakistan will tell you that most of those who've disappeared have nothing to do with Al Qaeda. They are being held either for no reason other than as evidence of 'peformance' for the US Empire, or because they threaten the internal interests of Pakistan’s rulers. Most of those who’ve been illegally detained come from poor, rural areas that are rich in natural resources, particularly in minerals and natural gas. Among those who’ve gone missing are journalists, poets, political activists and their families, and students and their families. Only 200 have been taken to court. None are proven terrorists. A few are released: all tell horrific stories of torture.

What happens when you routinely see US drones flying over your home and watch entire villages being bombed and your families killed and your siblings kidnapped and tortured?

Well, when I left Pakistan a few months ago, I knew peace-loving folks who didn’t even know any Taliban but who were beginning to gradually and grudgingly suppport them. That is in the cities. In the rural areas, more and more young angry men and women are taking up arms. Many of them had never even held a gun till the US ‘war on terror’ began. As one Pakistani recently put it. "This is the biggest gift of George Bush to al-Qa'ida." A country that as a child I knew as ethnically and intellectually dynamic, spirited and for the most part, peace-loving, now has a suicide-bombing just about every day, resulting in more deaths in Pakistan this year than in Afghanistan or Iraq. There were no suicide bombings in Pakistan till this war began.

If we want change, shifting the war to Pakistan is not going to accomplish it. Peaceful, democratic, secular, tolerant societies never grew from intimidation, missile strikes, kidnappings, torture. Change will only come when the United States acknowledges who and how many Iraqis, Afghans and Pakistanis it has killed since this war began and commits itself to engaging with our countries as partners not targets.

blues, butterflies

2008-06-17T08:41:00.000-07:00

I know I’ve been terrible about updating my blog this spring/summer, and my embarrassment has made me stay away even longer than I might have. (I sound like a student turning in a late paper.) But it’s been an eventful few months: I’ve been traveling, and later this month, I’ll be traveling again. Currently I’m in a town called Northampton, in Massachusetts, USA. The highlight of this trip: seeing one of my favourite singers, Bettye Lavette. If you haven’t heard of her, please nourish your soul and pick up a copy of one of her records. The latest one is called The Scene of the Crime. It’s so good you’ll want to scream. Seeing her live did just that to me: the woman is so BIG in her spirit, her passion, her anger, her humour – she’s such a well of wisdom and intensity – I don’t know how I kept sitting in my seat without tearing out of my skin! Her previous record, Hell to Raise, is no less spectacular, and at the concert, after the encore, she sang a stunning cover from this record called, ‘I do not want what I haven’t got’. Everyone cried. (The original was written by Sinead O’Connor. I don’t know that version; I never paid much attention to O’Connor, but what a song this is.)

Other highlights: seeing Buddy Guy (whom I’ve loved for much of my life) and the Black Keys (recently discovered). The Black Keys do fantastic covers of the blues legend Junior Kimbrough, whom I’m ashamed to say I never even heard of till I heard the Keys sing ‘Everywhere I go.’ Now I want every record of Kimbrough’s everywhere I go.

I also had a delightful visit to a butterfly farm just outside Northampton. Here are some photos I took of my hosts.

And of course, I’ve been following the elections – fearing for Pakistan and much of the rest of the world. (Speaking of which, thanks for all the responses to my letter to Obama, posted on Counterpunch in March. http://www.counterpunch.org/uzma03152008.html ) Of course Obama is better than McCain, but at least let’s not call this change.

TRESPASSING just out in Brazil!

2008-04-27T07:58:00.000-07:00

Will he ever leave?

2008-02-21T16:08:00.000-08:00

The results of Monday’s general election are self-evident: Mr Musharraf’s party has lost and this means Mr Musharraf has lost. Yet the man appears to have looked in the mirror the next morning and while, say, shaving his chin, mused, But what have I lost? I’m still the President. I’m still the President for the next five years, at least! So off he went to office to tell the whole country the same.

This, after declaring the previous day that he would listen to the voice of the people. Clearly, the voice of the people travels only as far as his own reflection.

I know people who voted in this election and I know people who didn’t. Those who did voted less for any opposition party and more to voice their own opposition to Musharraf. These are some of the reasons why he is opposed:

For the way he came into power. In 1999, he sacked an elected Prime Minister, and declared himself ‘chief executive.’ The US and UK pooh-poohed that it was just the sort of thing that happens in the Islamic World, where people have no respect for freedom and democracy.

For the way he came into more power. In 2002, he held ‘elections’ and declared himself ‘President’. The US and UK praised Musharraf for being a key ally in the ‘war against terror’.

For the way he helped religious parties come into power. In the 2002 elections, the MMA, a hodgepodge of six religious parties, emerged as a new political power in two of Pakistan’s four provinces. It was the first time in our history that religious parties had won majority seats in any province. The US and UK pooh-poohed that it was just the sort of thing that happens in the Islamic World, where people have no respect for freedom and democracy.

For the way he helped the US and UK stay deaf to Pakistan’s ordinary citizens, for whom it is obvious that the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and the stifling of freedom and democracy in Pakistan through support of Musharraf is largely to blame for the six-headed hydra called MMA, and for the rise of political Islam all over the world. There are parallels between the MMA’s 2002 success in Pakistan and the support of religious parties in countries such as Lebanon, Iran, Turkey and Palestine. Could it be more obvious: the policies of the US and UK in our countries aren’t working.

For the way he treated and continues to treat his own people. Since 9/11, military torture cells have spread across Pakistan, ensnaring anyone suspected of ‘terrorist activity’. What the US does internationally, Musharraf does locally: the connection between Al Qaeda and the many Pakistanis who’ve disappeared has yet to be proven, but as long as Musharraf has the backing of those he mimics, it will not have to be proven.

For the way his government has treated rape victim Mukhtaran Mai. In 2005, when she was invited to speak about her gruesome ordeal outside the country, Musharraf accused Pakistani women of ‘lining up to be raped’ in order to score international attention. He has yet to apologise. Because of his close alliance with the mullahs, none of the barbaric laws against women in Pakistan have been repealed.

For sacking Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry in March last year.

For imposing Emergency in November last year.

For arresting and detaining thousands of Pakistanis who opposed the sacking of the Chief Justice, and the declaration of Emergency.

For creating a climate of such misery and violence that even our most popular political icon, Benazir Bhutto, was killed. If he could survive so many assassination attempts, why couldn’t his government secure her survival too? The loss is personal. The loss is still too deep to ever be forgiven.

For the rise in crime, inflation, poverty, illiteracy, pollution, power cuts. This winter in Lahore has been the worst I can remember: we lost electricity and gas up to 10 hours daily. All the shopkeepers, teachers, tailors, taxi drivers, rickshaw wallahs, and business men and women I spoke with agreed: life had come to a complete halt. The entire country seemed to curl inward, in a state of despair and lethargy.

The Feb 18th 2008 elections were a way to come out of this depressed state. Musharraf's party has been rejected and religious parties too have been rejected. Pakistanis have spoken in favour of freedom and democracy.

Will the United States do the same? Barack Obama says to bomb Pakistan; Hillary Clinton says to continue backing Musharraf; John McCain says to stay in Iraq for a hundred years. Call this freedom and democracy?

Will Musharraf ever leave?

Post Script to Book Launches of THE GEOMETRY OF GOD

2008-02-21T16:00:00.000-08:00

Thank you to all those who made the effort to hear me read and speak in Karachi last month (Jan 2008). Given that the launches were during the month of Moharram, the turn-out was much better than I’d dared to hope, especially at Liberty Books, where around ninety people showed up. As always, the Q & A was my favourite part (second favourite part was when people bought the book).

In this photo, my mother is on the right:

BOOK LAUNCHES IN KARACHI

2008-01-12T05:09:00.000-08:00

I will be reading from my new book THE GEOMETRY OF GOD in Karachi on the following dates and at the following venues:

1. The Second Floor (T2F), Defence Phase 7, on Wednesday January 16th at 7:00pm.
Address: 6-C, Prime Point Building, Phase 7, Khayaban-e-Ittehad, DHA, Karachi.
Phone: 538-9273 0300-823-0276 info@t2f.biz. Map: http://www.t2f.biz/location.

2. Liberty Books, Clifton Bilawal Chowk branch, on Monday January 21st at 7:00pm.

At both these events, besides reading extracts from the novel, I will also answer any questions the audience might have and I will be happy to sign copies of all my books, including THE STORY OF NOBLE ROT, and TRESPASSING. Look forward to seeing you there!

2008-01-01T05:39:00.000-08:00

To mark the new year, I decided to write my first blog. 2007 has been such a painful year for Pakistan, it’s hard to know where to begin. Like many things here, I’ll begin backwards, and see how far we get.

Five days after Benazir Bhutto’s assassination, the country is still experiencing mass grief. I can’t ever remember sorrow on such an enormous scale, not since her father Zulfiquar Bhutto was hanged. I was only ten years old then and was in school that day. It was terrifying to see my teacher break into sobs in the middle of a class lecture, and terrifying to battle the protests on the streets to get home, only to find my family so stricken it was like returning to a home that had been overtaken by ghosts. Now I feel ten years old again except that the ghosts have multiplied.

It’s true that most people (including myself) had grown extremely disillusioned by daughter Bhutto. Her power-sharing ‘deal’ with General Musharraf – even if he subsequently ‘stepped down’ as general – severly compromised trust in her motives for returning to Pakistan, as did the United States’ role in negotiating the deal. The US has been pumping billions of dollars annually to the dictator but with its own elections looming and Musharraf’s unpopularity at home mounting, it needed an ornament of Pakistani democracy to hold up to the world in order to have a ‘legitimate’ partner in its ‘War on Terror’. Benazir was seen as playing the part of US-picked democratic ornament: what a crude finishing touch to an appalingly constructed house. Still, her death is profoundly disorienting. Like her father, she was charismatic. Like him, she could mobilise people like no other secular democratic leader. She was disappointing yet she is being mourned. There aren’t many people who can elicit both emotions at the same time.

International news channels are reporting that she was killed by Al Qaeda. There isn’t a Pakistani who agrees, except those in the government. Al Qaeda is the convenient bogeyman for both the Superpower and its allies to cover up tracks that need covering up. Her murder has to be investigated objectively, with all preconceptions shed. Last night was the first time since it happened that I switched on the television and didn’t hear either Sky News or CNN link it to religious extremists. Wow. In fact, they were showing the amateur video that has been broadcast on local TV networks for two days now, the one of the man who stood two meters away from her van as it drove away from Liaquat Bagh, with her standing out of its sun-roof, waving to her fans. The man was holding up a gun. As three shots were fired, Benazir ducked into the van. What a relief to hear international news agencies question the Pakistan government’s claim that she was not shot, but died of concussion after banging her head against a lever on the sun roof. All that blood from a concussion? What a pack of lies. When will the world stop supporting this regime and listen instead to the agony of ordinary Pakistanis?

A string of eerie coincidences. Benazir’s blood-soaked body was rushed from Liaquat Bagh to the Rawalpindi hospital, where Dr. Mussadiq Khan tried to save her life. Dr. Mussadiq Khan is the son of the doctor who received the blood-soaked body of Pakistan’s first Prime Minister, Liaquat Ali Khan, back in 1951. That is how the park gets its name, Liaquat Bagh. Benazir was shot in almost the exact same spot as Liaquat Ali Khan was shot. In fact, she was shot just two kilometers from where her father was hanged. That makes three leaders or former leaders killed in virtually the same place. Dr. Mussadiq Khan’s sons are also doctors. Himself stricken by the coincidence, the doctor prays that his sons will never have to pray the same.

I didn’t get very far into 2007 after all. I wanted to talk about the lawyers, political party workers and activists who are still in jail, even after the lifting of Emergency, as well as those who’ve been released but after spending days, even weeks, in illegally detention, with no justice received. I wanted to talk about the ugly murder of Ismail Gulgee, one of Pakistan’s most celebrated artists. His wife and a maid were also found dead in their home. The tragic and gruesome deaths happened just before Eid but have been overshadowed by the train accident that happened on the same day, itself a huge calamity, and then by Bhutto’s death. I wanted to talk about some good things … like the sculpture of Shahid Sajjad, or the Puppetry Museum in Lahore, or some of the great food we ate last year, or my new book, just out. But perhaps another time. For now: Democracy. Peace. We sorely need a new year.

A Very Important Place:

2007-12-01T23:49:00.000-08:00

Karwan-e-Hayat www.keh.org.pk is a hospital in Karachi launched in 2004 that offers medical care and rehabilitation to mentally ill men and women. Most of this care is offered free of charge to those unable to pay. There is no other such organization in Pakistan, a country of 150 million people. The hospital has two wings, male and female, both devotedly run by a team of highly-skilled psychiatrists and clinical psychologists. The importance of psychiatric rehabilitation is a new focus in Pakistan; at K-e-H, patients are offered yoga, cooking, art, gardening, and other activities. The hospital is extremely well-regarded, but it needs your help, as it is run almost entirely on private donations. Please visit the website, spread the word, and, if you are in a position to help, please do so.