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Interview With In the Shadows of Love Author Awais Khan

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  1. When did you first want to become a writer?

Funnily enough, it didn’t happen until I was in my late teens. I have always been a lifelong reader, but it wasn’t until I was in college in Canada that I finally realized that publishing was actually an industry (we don’t have a publishing industry in Pakistan). I started to look – really look – at how the industry worked and that started inspiring me to write my own book. I started seeing myself as a published author. 

  1. You live in Lahore. How does that inspire your writing?

Lahore is in every aspect of my writing. I think, feel and breathe Lahore. There’s a popular saying in my part of the world ‘One who has not seen Lahore has not been born’, so you can quite imagine the kind of impact this city has on my writing. Lahore features heavily in all my books, and it wasn’t until I started writing Someone Like Her, which is partly set in London, that I realized how easy it was for me to write about Lahore, because I really struggled to bring London to life in my novel. Having said that, I have a very complicated relationship with my city. Just like in any relationship, there are good days and bad days, but I would be lying if I said that the city didn’t inspire my writing. Lahore is the very essence of me. Lahore is like for me as Paris was like for Ernest Hemingway – a moveable feast.

  1. You have written four novels now. Do you feel like a veteran now?

Hardly. If anything, I feel like things are getting more and more difficult. People tell me that I’ve made it, but they don’t know just how terrified I really am most of the time about failing. With each book, reader expectations rise, and after a point, the pressure sort of gets to you. However, while the insecurity never really goes away – it shouldn’t really, as it keeps us grounded – I have to say that I am getting slightly more confident about my writing. I may be having doubts, but somewhere at the back of my mind, there’s a small voice that says, ‘You’ve written something good. All it needs now is that one big push, that one final edit.’

  1. How did your first success come as a writer?

Success depends on one’s definition of success. Success can be selling a million copies of your book, but success can also be critical acclaim or positively impacting the life of even one reader. I first started writing In the Company of Strangers back in 2012, but it wasn’t until 2019 that it was published. During that time, I amassed a significant social media following, and since I naturally love to support my fellow authors, by the time my debut came out, it was an instant success with everyone I knew clamouring to buy a copy to support me in turn. The book went into reprint before it was officially out and also ended up becoming a national bestseller in Pakistan. However, it wasn’t until No Honour was published that I understood what it was like to be reviewed in major UK publications, and perhaps it was the topic, but No Honour ended up doing phenomenally well everywhere. In many ways, it was bigger than In the Company of Strangers. 

  1. What’s your writing routine?

My writing routine is all over the place. I suffer from writer’s block a lot when I’m in Lahore, and have frequently flown to London in the past just to finish writing my book. Being a writer in Lahore is not easy. Since there isn’t a publishing industry here as such, the environment here isn’t conducive for writing. A lot of people here disregard your efforts as a writer, thinking that whatever you’re doing has no value. All of it affects your self-esteem and motivation. Despite all of that, I try to be regimental about my writing, spending a few hours in my favourite café in Gulberg five days a week. It does bring some structure to my day and allows me to complete writing tasks that would just get delayed or put off otherwise. When in London, I like to write early in the morning and then in the afternoon too, preferably in a favourite café of mine. 

  1. Do you have a favourite of your books?

I feel that just like kids (not that I have any), one cannot have a favourite book. I’ve spent a lot of time with each of my books and they’ve all uniquely contributed towards my journey as a writer. However, if forced to choose, I would probably say No Honour, because I spent over three years researching and writing that book and it remains very close to my heart. 

  1. Tell us about The Writing Institute. 

I set it up back in 2016 when I realized that there were absolutely no creative writing courses available in Pakistan. Initially, a lot of people laughed at me, saying that nobody would be interested in something like this, that writers didn’t even exist in Pakistan. Yes, my courses did struggle at first, but as word got around, more people started joining them and since then, over 10,000 people have taken courses with The Writing Institute. Today, the institute prides itself on providing the best online and in-person creative writing courses in Pakistan at the most affordable prices imaginable. 

  1. What is your top creative writing tip?

My top tip for any aspiring writer is to never give up. This is a very subjective industry, and what works for one would probably not work for another. Never stop believing in yourself. Deep down, we know just how good our work really is. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. If someone is giving you proper critical feedback that can be used, then listen to them, but if someone is disparaging your work just for the sake of it, don’t listen to them. Similarly, be very wary of people who praise your work to high heavens. Just believe in yourself, in your talent, and don’t let the rejections get you down. Have the skin of an alligator’s. 

  1. Tell us about your new book.

I am very excited about my next book called In the Shadows of Love. It is the sequel to my debut In the Company of Strangers. The story moves twelve years into the future and Mona is now in her early fifties. She and Bilal have weathered the storm of infidelity, with Bilal embracing the son Mona had from her affair. Although on the outside, it seems that Mona has everything, and that every single day of hers is the same, with glittering parties and society events, things are not how they seem. Her perfect world is forever changed when the first message arrives. Will the secrets of Mona’s past threaten her future, her marriage and even her life?

In the Shadows of Love will be published by Hera Books in October, 2024. 

  1. What’s next for you?

I have recently finished writing my first thriller, tentatively titled Her Sister’s Secret. We don’t get to see a lot of thrillers coming out of Pakistan and I really wanted to write one that explored themes of sibling rivalry, guilty secrets and toxic marriages. The story centres around Maria and Sohaib who seem to have everything they could ask for, but behind the perfect façade, their marriage is toxic and when Maria’s sister, Fareena, comes to visit, everything goes awry. 

Pregnant Farzana Parveen Stoned To Death By Own Family In Pakistan

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A pregnant woman, Farzana Parveen, has been stoned to death by more than 20 members of her own family in front of the high court of Lahore. She was only 25 and three-months pregnant.

The group included her father and brothers. They attacked her and her husband with batons and bricks. The attack happened in broad daylight.

Hundreds of women are killed every year in honor killings but public stoning is rare.

Police investigator Rana Mujahid said the woman’s father has been arrested for murder and that police were working to apprehend all those who participated in the “heinous crime.”

Another police officer, Naseem Butt, said she was killed because she married Mohammad Iqbal against her family’s wishes.

Her father, Mohammad Azeem, had filed an abduction case against Iqbal.

The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, a private organisation, said in a report last month that some 869 women were murdered in honour killings in 2013.

Zia Awan, a prominent lawyer and human rights activist, said: “I have not heard of any such case in which a woman was stoned to death, and the most shameful and worrying thing is that this woman was killed in front of a court.”

He said Pakistanis who commit violence against women are often acquitted or handed light sentences because of poor police work and faulty prosecutions.

“Either the family does not pursue such cases or police don’t properly investigate. As a result, the courts either award light sentences to the attackers, or they are acquitted,”

Her husband survived the attack. Iqbal, 45, said he started seeing Parveen after the death of his first wife, with whom he had five children.

“We were in love,” he told The Associated Press. He alleged that the woman’s family wanted to fleece money from him before marrying her off. “I simply took her to court and registered a marriage,”

Parveen’s father called the murder an “honor killing” and surrendered after.

“I killed my daughter as she had insulted all of our family by marrying a man without our consent, and I have no regret over it,” Mujahid, the police investigator, quoted the father as saying.

Secret Service Files – Protecting The President.

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This documentary about the Secret Service is riveting  and informative. Broken down into four different events in which a President was in danger. It has access to the Presidents themselves and good archive footage.

Agent Robert Rodriguez and President Clinton talk us through King Hassan’s funeral. Dozens of world leaders were in Morocco for the funeral. Which the secret service agents refer to as a ‘sea of humanity’. There was a two mile walk during the funeral that left the President open to attack. The Secret Service advised him not to do the walk but he Insisted on it. Their were two leaders who were not popular in that part of the world, Presidents Clinton and Bush.

The Secret Service were on high alert as the death of a leader and religious figure is a recipe for disaster.

Agent Staropoli, who was in the counter assault team, otherwise known as CAT, was there to back up their Secret Service colleagues if anything went wrong as they have enhanced weapons that the rest of the team don’t have.

Bill Clinton says of the Secret Service when he was President,  “they were good at trying to be flexible because they knew I liked to be with people.”

The feeling you really get from this documentary is of bravery and courage. Of men risking their lives for their country and the man who runs it. As Agent Rodriguez says, “I would rather be dead than labelled a coward… I have never heard of an agent who had doubts about taking a bullet for the president.”

In another scenario with President George Bush Snr The president had to be evacuated. The agents say that, ‘the welfare of the president is always more important that pomp and circumstance.’

Joseph Funk said this event was the first time the CAT team had a full employment. There were tear gas, gunshots and unruly crowd. The Secret Service work by ‘cover and evacuate’.  They do 360 degree coverage of the President. Above, below and around and they also create a stable shooting platform.

When President Clinton went into Pakistan in March 2000 for a television address the Secret Service were against it. Clinton himself says that he, “knew I was in greater danger after going after Bin Laden”.

The agent says that AK47 are popular and easy to get in that region and that they went in against their better judgement.

They had a decoy airplane and made use of the element of surprise. Intelligence revealed that Pakistani secret police had been infiltrated and had people with Taliban sympathies.

They had six armed cars with the presidential seal so any assassins had a one in six chance of getting the president. Clinton’s speech was only 15 minutes. The Secret Service can never relax or put their guard down. That is what normal people do. “We don’t think it is a job well done until we arrive back at the White House.” they say. They do an impressive job.

When President Bush went into Georgia a loner with violent tendencies, Vladimir Arutyunian,  threw a grenade at him which bounced of a little girl’s head and miraculously did not go off. One brave Georgian policeman took the live grenade and ran away from the crowds with it, knowing it could go off at any moment. The Georgian people love the United States and they wanted to show appreciation to President Bush because of the destruction of the Soviet Union. They even named the highway leading to the main airport after him

Bryan Paarmann, Special agent FBI. said they had metal detectors, which were very important but because of overcrowding the Georgian security team switched off the metal defectors. So they had an unscreened crowd of up to 100,000 people.

The Secret Service say that their greatest fear is an isolated loner prone to violence and that they have to be on their game 100% of the time. There is no room for error.

Secret Service Files – Protecting The President shows on the National Geographic Channel.

Michael Douglas Speaks Out Against Nuclear Weapons.

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Hollywood Legend Michael Douglas Speaks out in Support of the Treaty That Bans all Nuclear Explosions, Forever

Oscar-winning actor and producer Michael Douglas is well known for his commitment to nuclear disarmament. Now he has teamed up with the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization on a series of austere but powerful TV spots aimed at raising support for the Treaty.

“The Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty is a guiding light on the road to a nuclear weapons free world. Once in force it will help prevent the kind of nuclear arms race we experienced in the past and will make it much more difficult to continue to build up nuclear arsenals,” says Douglas.

Douglas says his engagement with nuclear disarmament issues stems from a childhood set against the backdrop of the Cold War arms race. “I grew up in the United States at a time when nuclear weapons testing was commonplace. We used to have air raid drills at school and my father had a bomb shelter built in his yard in California. As a child, it was difficult to grasp the meaning of what was happening. It had a nightmare, monster-like quality which always haunted me,” he says. “Later, as I began to understand the ramifications of nuclear weapons testing, my commitment to nuclear disarmament grew.”

In the five decades following World War II, more than 2,000 nuclear bombs were tested at over 60 locations around the world. Radioactive fallout from these explosions impacted humans, animals and the environment. Many test sites will remain uninhabitable for thousands of years to come.

Born of the optimism following the end of the Cold War, the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty opened for signature in 1996 amid acclaim and hopes for a speedy cessation to the nuclear testing madness. Today it enjoys widespread support from more than 180 countries around the world, but it cannot enter into force until nine outstanding nuclear-technology holder countries ratify. They are China, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Iran, Israel, North Korea, Pakistan and the United States of America. Indonesia’s commitment to complete the ratification process this year brings new hope and moves us closer to entry into force. But as the world waits for the others to follow, the threat of resumed nuclear testing and a new arms race hangs over us all.

“The world has waited long enough for the Treaty to become global law,” says Douglas. “So today, as an actor and a United Nations Messenger of Peace, I’m using my voice and my name to raise awareness and support for this crucial Treaty. I’m calling on the nine countries that still need to ratify the Treaty to do so without further delay, so that we can bring it into force and remove the threat of these terrible weapons once and for all.”

The Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty

The Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty outlaws all nuclear explosions anywhere, anytime, by anyone. It stands for a safer and more secure world because it prohibits the development of new nuclear weapons as well as the upgrading of existing nuclear arsenals.

In the past, concerns about the verifiability of the Treaty were sometimes given as reasons for not ratifying but today, with the CTBT’s billion-dollar, state-of-the-art verification regime almost completely in place, that is no longer an issue. “The CTBT is clearly verifiable,” says Douglas. “No nuclear test will go unnoticed with the International Monitoring System firmly in place.”

The International Monitoring System (IMS) is the backbone of the verification regime. Its facilities worldwide scour the planet for signs of a nuclear explosion – underground, underwater and in the atmosphere. It uses four monitoring technologies: seismic, hydroacoustic, infrasound and radionuclide. The network is nearing completion with 285 of the planned 337 facilities already operational.

Earlier this year, the crisis in Japan underlined the growing importance of the system’s civil applications – monitoring earthquakes, speeding up tsunami warning alerts and tracking radioactive dispersal from nuclear accidents.

The Rockefeller Foundation Launches Annual 'Innovation Forum'

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The Rockefeller Foundation Launches Annual ‘Innovation Forum’ to Explore Challenges Facing the World’s Poor and Vulnerable

Program to Honor Global Innovators and Commit Resources to Problem Solving

The Rockefeller Foundation today announced the launch of its annual Innovation Forum, an unprecedented new program aimed at identifying the root causes of problems impacting the world’s poor and vulnerable and putting resources in place to research and implement the appropriate solutions to these challenges.

The Innovation Forum convenes some of the most creative and inventive minds from the worlds of business, government, the non-profit sector and journalism to bring innovation to bear on urgent challenges facing poor and vulnerable people around the world. Through a series of interactions, panel discussions and breakout sessions, participants will analyze compelling scenarios of crises in water security, urban economic security and food security. They will be asked to identify the primary causes of these pressing global challenges that must be solved for the benefit of future generations. In exchange for their contributions, the Rockefeller Foundation will commit to leveraging its deep expertise, expansive network and thoughtful grant making process to further explore and address ideas that surface over the coming year as a result of the Forum. The results will then be reviewed at each annual Innovation Forum.

The inaugural Innovation Forum, which will be held on July 27, 2011 in New York, will also honor a number of individuals and organizations whose innovative work exemplifies the mission and vision of the Rockefeller Foundation. This year’s award recipients include:

* President Bill Clinton , founder of the William J. Clinton Foundation and 42nd President of the United States, who will receive the Lifetime Achievement Award for innovation in philanthropy.
* Sania Nishtar, founder and president of the NGO think tank Heartfile and renowned leader in health policy in Pakistan, who will receive an innovation award for her work in the region.
* Jane Weru , executive director of The Akiba Mashinani Trust, a non-profit organization working on developing innovative community-led solutions to housing and land tenure problems for the urban poor in Kenya, who will receive an innovation award for her work in the region.
* Kiva in the Classroom—represented by students from Wickman Elementary School in Chino Hills, California—will receive a Young Innovators award for using micro-lending as an educational tool and for the program’s sustained effort to fight global poverty.

“Identifying, exploring and supporting new and innovative approaches to meeting the needs of the poor and vulnerable has been the heart of the Rockefeller Foundation’s mission since our inception, and we are proud to host this unique opportunity to channel insights from a broad range of perspectives,” said Dr. Judith Rodin, President of the Rockefeller Foundation. “We expect the Innovation Forum program to identify new global and regional problems for our Foundation — as well as other institutions — to explore, and in the end lead to groundbreaking initiatives and positive outcomes to help those in need around the world.”

“The issues that will be addressed at this meeting are key to our success and sustainability in the 21st Century,” said President Clinton, founder of the William J. Clinton Foundation and 42nd President of the United States. “I am proud that my Foundation works to tackle these challenges across the globe and I look forward to the Rockefeller Foundation’s continued involvement in this important work.”

The 2011 Innovation Forum will place a particular focus on identifying major challenges facing the poor and vulnerable in the areas of food security, global water security and urban economic security in American cities. The program also aims to pinpoint potential new approaches to solving some of these most pressing issues.

Participants in the 2011 Innovation Forum will include noted global thought leaders such as Andrea Mitchell, Chief Foreign Affairs Correspondent at NBC News; Dr. Paul Farmer, Kolokotrones University Professor at Harvard University; Muhammad Yunus, 2006 Nobel Peace Prize recipient; the Honorable Mary Robinson, former United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights; Mati Kochavi, CEO and Chairman of AGT International and Wim Elfrink, Chief Globalization Officer at Cisco.

The Rockefeller Foundation

The Rockefeller Foundation’s mission to promote the well-being of people throughout the world has remained unchanged since its founding in 1913. Today, that mission is applied to an era of rapid globalization. Our vision is that this century will be one in which globalization’s benefits are more widely shared and its challenges are more easily weathered. To realize this vision, the Foundation seeks to achieve two fundamental goals in our work. First, we seek to build resilience that enhances individual, community and institutional capacity to survive, adapt, and grow in the face of acute crises and chronic stresses. Second, we seek to promote growth with equity in which the poor and vulnerable have more access to opportunities that improve their lives. In order to achieve these goals, the Foundation constructs its work into time-bound initiatives that have defined objectives and strategies for impact. These initiatives address challenges that lie either within or at the intersections of five issue areas: basic survival safeguards, global health, environment and climate change, urbanization, and social and economic security. For more information, please visit http://www.rockefellerfoundation.org.

US Pakistan Relations Collapse; The US Suspends $800 Million of Military Aid

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The US is withholding $800 million in military aid to Pakistan. White house chief of staff Bill Daley told ABC television that Pakistan had, ‘taken some steps that have given us reason to pause on some of the aid’.

Relations between the US and Pakistan have deteriorated ever since the US killed Osama bin Laden in Pakistan earlier this year.

The $800 million dollars is about the third of the annual US security aid to Pakistan. The New York Times has said the move is retaliation against the expulsion of US military trainers. It is also supposed to encourage Pakistan to step up its fight against militants.

The suspension of aid may also be a reaction to American anger that Osama bin Laden was living so comfortably and close to the Pakistani military academy in Pakistan. The US government has found it increasingly difficult to justify funding Pakistan with US tax payer’s money following the bin Laden raid.

The suspension of aid will worry many. The situation in Pakistan has always been extremely delicate and complex. The vast sums the US has paid in aid in the past allows them to have a semblance of control over the situation. It is especially important given Pakistan’s ownership of nuclear weapons. Let’s hope this decision doesn’t come back to haunt us in the future.

 

This Month's Magazines; Kate Middleton and Getting in Shape Lead.

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This is the first of Frost magazine’s new monthly magazine round-up. Here at Frost we are addicted to magazines and our guess is that you like them too, so, here goes….

Vanity Fair has the new Duke and Duchess of Cambridge on the cover. The world has gone crazy for Kate Middleton and there is 16 pages on the new couple, including the interesting fact that Kate has never been to America before and is ‘beyond excited’.

Horrible fact of the month comes from Christopher Hitchen’s column, which is on Pakistan: in Pakistan not only is rape not illegal, it’s a punishment. Mark Shand tells Nick Haslam about the Elephant Family, Stieg Larsson’s girlfriend tells of their life together and there is good articles on Justin Timberlake, Silvio Berlusconi and the Falcons.

Marie Claire (who are in my bad books, as they do not send the subscribers the free gifts that come with the magazine. This month it’s a choice of eyeliner or eye-shadow, last month a Body Shop moisturiser, not nice way to treat those who are most loyal) Jennifer Lawrence is on the cover, and has a very good interview inside where she says that she tells director she won’t lose more weight and was initially scared of fame.

Emily Eavis, daughter of Michael, talks about growing up as part of the world’s greatest music festival, there is lots of fashion and a summer’s sandals piece that I enjoyed, there is a low down on the Russian invasion of Chelsea; lead by Roman Abramovich and Dasha Zhukova, Writer Natasha Green writes about choosing between her husband and her lover and 5 friends, who all went to university and did a performing arts degree, meet up to discuss where they are 10 years later. Marie Claire also have an exclusive interview with Aung San Suu Kyi. Other good article are dating advice you don’t need from your friends, a good piece on Jean Paul Gaultier and a brilliant article on the life of Princess Diana, very apt.

It’s Elle’s body issue, Elle always give there subscribers the free gift, as do RED and Glamour, Rosie Huntington-Whitley is on the cover and interviewed inside, and there is a free vest top my Kate Middleton fav Reiss.

Celia Walden ponders over why we fawn over the famous, the impossibly stylish Ines De La Fressange is in Elle edits, my personal style crush tells us about her philosophy on life, House of Holland are this month’s Style Spy, make up artist Lisa Eldridge gives a peak inside her closet and Debbie Harry tells is what books changed her life. Rob Lowe is interviewed and there are a lot of great articles on how to get in shape and be happy with how you look. Of course, there is also lots of great fashion. Lorraine Candy is temporarily stepping down from the Elle editorship to have her fourth baby.

Tatler has Romola Garai on the cover, she is interviewed inside and talks about her “ordinary body” and her desire for people to find her sexy. Kate Reardon has been the new editor for a few months now and is doing a good job, though I couldn’t find an editor’s letter.

Royal Wedding photographer Hugo Burnand talks about photographing the biggest wedding in decades, there are other articles on the top 10 poshest ghosts, Clive Anderson writes about losing his cool, there is lots of gossip, A very good guide to the Murdoch dynasty, an article on how the rich buy life (a very good read), some property porn as Belvoir Castle is featured by it’s owners the Duke and Duchess of Rutland.

There is also an article on (the last taboo!) woman’s facial hair and how to get rid of it, Alice Temperley also spills on all of her beauty secrets. If you buy it form the news-stand you get a free pair of sunglasses, but Tatler doesn’t give free gifts to it’s subscribers.

Vogue has Vanessa Paradis on the cover, she talks about staying on the move and being comfortable with your body, Stella Tennant models (can you believe she is in her 40’s!)

I really like the article by Carol Woolton on the lost world of legendary balls, including the jewellery that Elizabeth Taylor wore to the 1971 Rothschild Proust Ball, lots on the Royal wedding and who wore what, editor Alexandra Shulman was one of the guests and gives a good account. The rise of folk (as in music) gets a good spread and supermodel Arizona Muse keeps a diary for Vogue.

I also love the inspirational women who feature in Vogue’s Wonder Women piece, scientists and theatre directors alike. There is also an editorial on fashion dynasties, if you love glamour the way I do you will love reading about the Guinnesses, Dellals, Agnellis/Brandolinis and the Jaggers.

Donna Karen also does a wonderful interview and writer Vicky Ward talks about her divorce; “the equivalent of undergoing heart surgery without anesthetic.” There is also a brilliant free beauty supplement with lots of celebrities and models giving their beauty and health routines, tips and hints.

Glamour has a free Benefit beauty product (I got the Benetint) Karl Lagerfield on fashion do’s, celebrity couples you forgot about, how to find a man anywhere, the rise of gold and fame digging men, why is friendship so hard?, how the Glamour staff got their job, a very good, and slightly depressing article on female war reporters; read about the same time I saw Channel 4’s Killing Fields of Sri Lanka, you think women are equal and safe….

There is interviews with the Glamour women of the year awards, including the brilliant Adele, who is on the cover. There is lots of brilliant fashion and beauty, a very good article on why we should all see Bridesmaids by Zoe Williams, there is a number of articles on how to fake tan well and I really enjoyed the piece on Get a Blockbuster body, what Blake Lively, Jennifer Lawrence and Rosie Huntington-Whitley did to get in shape for their films. There is also a good article on the secret to good health in 100 words or less.

So, until next month!

Frank Huzur on Imran Khan, Jemima, the Taleban and writing.

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I was delighted to interview writer Frank Huzur recently. Frank specializes in Indo-Pak political affairs and is incredibly knowledgeable on India, the Afghanistan war and the Taleban. He has a book coming out soon, Imran versus Imran: The UNTOLD STORY, the biography of Imran Khan.

Frank had this to say about the book and then the interview follows:

It has not been a smooth journey across the border. For an Indian national, irrespective of profession-media is more notorious in India-Pakistan for stoking the fire of jingoism and sowing the seed of hatred—it is always a thorny affair to travel to each country. I somehow have been fortunate to visit Pakistan seven times in three years. Writing the biography of Imran Khan was, indeed, a powerful motivation. Nevertheless, travelling through different areas, Lahore, Mianwali (ancestral place of Imran Khan and his political constituency) and Islamabad–was always a tough ask, considering the combustible political situation on streets. Terror attacks, hundreds of them–quite big in size and casualty, have hit high profile targets, some of them during my visit.

Irrespective of everything, I maintained my focus on the goal, and returned each time armed with a vast range of anecdotes and impressions of Imran Khan and Pakistan politics. People of Pakistan have been very beholden to my literary endeavour and have never discouraged me from probing further into their lives and times.

Imran and his family and friends were very warm and friendly during numerous round of interviews for the biography. His brother-in-law and sisters in Lahore were candid in sharing their side of the story.

Jemima Khan in London was equally considerate and beholden to my requests. She was very forthright in sharing her impressions of Imran. I am indebted to her for taking the interview at her Studio One apartment, Fulham Broadway in April, 2008.

1) How did you get into writing?

FH: I discovered as early as in 8th grade at school that writing was my natural instinct. The urge to write began with composition of poems in English. Reading of Wordsworth’s poems, I wandered lonely as a Cloud, The Solitary Reaper, Strange Fits of Passion have I known romanticised my imagination. By the time I was a school graduate at the age of 15, I tasted blood with the publication of some of my poems on the New Delhi-based English dailies, including The Asian Age. I was in love with the romantic age in English literature, and doted on the Lyrical Ballads, a joint publication of William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge. Before taking a maiden shot at playwriting, I had composed over 100 poems under the title of Remembering Her. When I joined Hindu college, Delhi University in 1995, poetic sentiments found expression in prose and play. In summer of 1998, I published my maiden play, Hitler in Love with Madonna. The title of the play was dubbed weird by friends, and critics were attracted like moth to the lamp during rehearsal itself. However, it brought me a fair share of public acclaim in the national press, for its political undercurrents.

Poetry and play further fired my imagination to comment on the burning issues of society and politics. In the spring of 1997, I had the temerity to launch a monthly newsmagazine, Utopia, with heavy dose of political reportage from around the world. The inaugural issue of Utopia in March 1997 coincided with the political debut of Imran Khan across the border in Pakistan. Since then, political churning in the subcontinent and elsewhere continues to fire my imagination to dabble in chiefly three genre of literature, poetry, drama (fiction) and non-fiction. I am still a few years away from writing a novel.

2) You have written a lot about Imran Khan and have a book coming out soon about him. What can you tell us about him and why is he so fascinating to you?

FH: The fascination with Imran, to speak the truth, bordered on paranoia during school days. I was growing up in Patna, capital of a benighted state like Bihar in India, where cricket was staple diet. Throughout ‘80s Imran was a household name for apparent reasons. However, I found myself increasingly obsessed with the other side of his charismatic persona, such as his philanthropic passion, which was on display during the 1987 World cup semi-final in Lahore. Imran lost the battle against Aussies, announced his retirement and despite winning the car in the ‘Man of the Series’ award, he gifted it to Abdul Qadeer. He had already started a fierce campaign to build the cancer hospital in memoriam of his mother, Shaukat Khanum. I was a 10 years old cricket wannabe at the time. Still, I could experience the magic moments of Imran’s other side, a cricketer who was a crusader for a public cause and an opinionated sportsman who could talk for hours on issues of public interest. Gathering such impression of Imran in the face of prevailing media stereotype at the time like he was a playboy, junkie and Lothario was quite a unique experience. Doting on a superstar from across the border, supposedly an enemy country for an average Indian youth, was another surprise.

Nevertheless, Imran Khan was a ticket to hate-free zone vis-a-vis Indo-Pak barbed wire rivalry goes. He has never been an anti-India rhetorician.

The childhood obsession with Imran became a passionate act of observing his political innings in the prime of my youth as a writer and journalist. Visiting Pakistan for over half-a-dozen occasion in the past three years of troubled past opened my eyes to a vast sheaf of reality bites. Not only about the man who has been deep into maelstrom of his political struggle and movement for justice, but also about the bedevilled country, mired into morass of bad political morals.

My biography of Imran Khan, Imran Versus Imran: The Untold Story (expected last week of July, 2010, Falcon & Falcon Books Ltd. London) is an unambiguous enquiry into his political innings. This is not about a cricketing legend. Imran versus Imran brings out the so far unknown sides of a legendary crusader who has sacrificed on several fronts, including his marriage to Jemima, children living in London while he braves the heat and dust on Pakistani streets, luxury of cloistered life in the West and a lucrative career in cricket administration or commentary box. Like a Sufi who lives by his passion and instinct for a cause, Imran has been an Avant-garde voice against the status-quo in Pakistan.

3) What do you think is next for Imran?

FH: Imran will not fade out in the present avatar. Those who know the former captain of Pakistan cricket team will testify to his childlike lust for grabbing his toy. Capturing power is not his agenda. Power doesn’t please him, which is why he has been quick in rejecting several offer of alliances with nearly all the political formations. He could have won a good number of seats in February 2008 Parliamentary elections. Yet he listened to the voice of his conscience and boycotted the polls as a tribute to lawyers’ struggle for restoration of Independent judiciary.

Like Jemima told me, even if Imran doesn’t succeed in electoral terms, he will remain a yardstick by which honesty of a politician in mud pond of Pakistan politics will be measured. However, Imran will not give up. The youth of the country are solidly behind him, and he is promising them a ‘bloodless revolution.’ Imran will go down even in his political innings a successful crusader. Even though he is still not a maverick and a great organiser of political programmes, he does stand his chance. He is gearing up to go for jugular sometime in near future.

Having said that, Imran Khan is a unique politician who is rabidly against the American policies and on-going drone attacks in the tribal areas, not to mention a series of suicide bombings targeting civilian population in Lahore and elsewhere. Imran will not soften his anti-America stand in order to capture power. He wants to create history like Ayatollahs in Pakistan, and he doesn’t give damn to those who accuse him of being a ‘devil advocate’ of Taleban.

4) What do you think of the current political and economical situation of the world today?

FH: The world politics is on the brink of tectonic shift in its scope and character. Forces of privatization and globalisation are under intense scrutiny in nearly all the countries, be it the USA, Europe, Latin America or Indian Sub-continent. The economic crisis, in the past couple of years, has robbed the crystal ball gazing off its sheen.

Europe is experiencing a paradigm shift vis-a-vis confrontation with corporate state. The upsurge in stocks of Liberal Democrat in the British Parliamentary elections is a testimony to the ‘wind of change blowing in the air.’ In Germany, there is a surge of support for Die Linke (The Left) led by Oskar Lafontaine. In Nederland, the Socialist party is looking set to replace the Labour Party as the principal opposition party. Greece’s economic woes have triggered a massive surge in mass support for the rapid rise of the Coalition of the Radical Left. Spain and Norway, Socialists are already entrenched in power corridor. Least said the better about the Latin American countries like Bolivia, Venezuela, Brasil and others where socialist sentiments have acquired a zing even among youth.

In Indian subcontinent, love affairs with corporations continues and it will have its moment of reckoning in near future. Though the ruling party, Indian National Congress is a centrist party, its policies of late have been hammered on public streets for extreme pro-corporation bias. The principal opposition party led by Hindu nationalist Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) is not perceived much different from the ruling coalition of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA). However, a vast crowd of poor Indians, especially in northern provinces of Hindi heartland where majority of Indians live on their small agricultural holdings, are veering towards the third alternative, socialist party of India. Samajwadi Party, (Socialist Party of India) is the third largest political bloc on the floor of Indian Parliament. Over the past couple of years, the party is registering massive inroads into hearts and minds of common Indians under the vibrant leadership of its young leader, Akhilesh Yadav, who is a suave, English-educated master in Environment from University of Sydney. Akhilesh is the principal rival to Rahul Gandhi’s juggernaut in the most populous province of Uttar Pradesh, and probably a counterfoil to Rahul Gandhi’s premier ambition to rule the highly-cherished state.

The politics across the border in Pakistan is a worrying sign for us all in the sub-continent. However, the transfer of power from President Zardari to Prime Minister Gilani and recent surge in judicial activism augurs well for fledgling civil institutions in the beleaguered nation, which has been an important ally of the USA-led coalition against war on terror. Imran Khan’s role can’t be discounted, as he has fired the imagination of Pakistani people over pros and cons of democracy and dictatorship.

In all, President Obama is yet to demonstrate his famous ‘audacity of hope’ calibre, and as of now, he is looking like an Ostrich over Afghanistan. General Stanley McChrytal’s unceremonious exit is a serious setback to the American strategy in Kabul.

5) Do you think the war in Afghanistan is winnable?

FH: There are no winners in war, whether in Afghanistan or Vietnam. For centuries, the Great Game theory has been pounded of its barest bone and flesh in the opium fields of Kandhar. The Soviets were sucked into interminable conflict and by the time realisation dawned upon them, they had become paupers in every conceivable way. The USA and Britain didn’t learn a lesson from the condemned past before committing chaotic blunder after blunder.

The Taleban should have been taken out of their hideouts. Nine years later, the army of rugged Pathans are now lurking at gates of Kabul. Nine years of bloated and arrogant war machinery has created only mausoleum of thousands of innocent Afghan men, women and children, over 1,000 American soldiers and over 100 British soldiers, not to mention tragic loss of NATO soldiers and a great number of promising journalists, including Daniel Pearl. Had the war on terror in Afghanistan been on the course of achieving even ten percent of its laid-out objectives, Taleban would not have mushroomed in the tribal areas of Pakistan and bombing its innocent civilians and military General Headquarters.

Adding further insult to injuries, the cost of Afghan war has overtaken that of Iraq for the first time this summer. President Obama is committing $65 billion more, with total cost of fighting the Taleban and Al-Qaeda terrorists in Afghanistan all set to zoom past $100 billion in 2010 alone.

The Afghan war is a catastrophic blunder on all fronts. Just as the Soviet’s humiliating withdrawal destabilised the neighbouring regions, the prevailing situation on the border of Pakistan bodes ill for even eastern neighbourhood of India.

6) What is your writing schedule?

FH: Writing is a spontaneous process for me. I never plan my writing schedule. However, I am a night animal, and prefer to borrow more from arterial stretches of imagination late into the night. The midnight hours are more simulating as the din of daytime robs me off creative cultivation of thoughts.

7) Do you think it is possible to defeat the Taliban?

FH: Taleban is a stateless phenomenon. Which is why it is difficult to root these faceless warriors out for once and all. Taleban is an idea, and a vampire-like creation out of the monstrous cocktail of Jihadi ideology and distorted interpretation of Islam. If the Western powers commit to fight the idea of Taleban, only then its elimination is possible. Liberal and democratic forces should be encouraged to penetrate into the deep pockets of extremist heartland where young, impressionable minds are being indoctrinated to slaughter innocents of the civilised society.

8 ) India is known as a place where people go to find themselves. What makes India so magical?

FH: India is not just a place populated with people of diverse faiths and caste-ridden Hindu population. India’s secret weapon is her tenacity, ability to smile in face of fierce tragedy. There are islands of poverty in every single metropolis, not to mention hundreds of small towns and millions of villages, yet beauty of India cuts through rivers of sorrow as millions of Indians rise and fall in their perennial search for salvation. Every Hindu caste Indian has his own deities, his own temple where he believes his deity will rain milk and honey if he surpass other fellows in his offerings. Spiritual fascism of high priests apart, there are many portals of liberating one’s soul. The vastness of the country offers its own aesthetic beauty where a person from northern temple town of Benares will find himself alien in the southern temple city of Tirupati in lingua and look, yet a northerner and southerner will be united in their common pursuits of salvation at the feet of stone-deity.

India is home to more Muslims than Pakistan, and its secular, democratic polity has endured powerful assaults over the fabric of its communal accord. However, the land of mystic seers and shrines is in the grip of difficult challenges, of late as terrorism of all shades rears its ugly head.

9) What is next for you?

FH: I am about to write a couple of more biographies, preferably a biography of India’s socialist titan, Mulayam Singh Yadav, who has ruled India’s most populous state, Uttar Pradesh three times and has also been ex-defense minister. I am also working on the biography of Britain’s top Muslim, Dr Khurshid Ahmed, who is winner of CBE from the Queen, for his pivotal role in improving the image of West in Muslim countries. In addition, I am also working on my debut novel, albeit a tad slow.

Thank you Frank.

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