News
Sunday, January 23, 2011
Flying into China with Pak ‘businessmen’
By Razi Azmi
They call it the “roof of the world” for a good reason. Standing there was a very down to earth experience, for everything about Tibet makes one feel earthly, small and weak. But before I tell readers about my encounter with Tibet, I should begin where my trip began, at the Islamabad airport.
My first exposure to the international wing of the airport of Pakistan’s capital city was an embarrassment. The passenger processing areas are very crammed and badly maintained, but the real surprise was the departure lounge. Its pathetic look aside, the only passage leading from there to the aircraft was signposted not as a “gate” (which is standard airport terminology) but as an “exit”. And lest someone thought it was a “gate”, the Urdu translation (baahar janay ka rasta) was supposed to leave no one in any doubt that it was an exit door, which it wasn’t.
Common sense told passengers that the “exit” led to the aircraft, despite the sign. No announcements were being made on the public address system. Rather, a uniformed PIA employee was walking around randomly asking people if they were bound for Heathrow on flight 785 and advising them to board, pointing them in the direction of the “exit”. This went on for over 20-25 minutes before any announcement was made on the PA system, by which time everyone had boarded the plane anyway.
My destination was Urumchi, the administrative capital of China’s western province of Xinjiang, flying China Southern Airlines. Nearly all the passengers on this flight were either Chinese working in Pakistan or Pakistanis doing business in China, though few of them looked like genuine businessmen. Nearly all the Pakistani “businessmen” were dressed in the standard shalwar-kameez, many had large unkempt beards, some looked fearsome.
The man sitting next to me in his shirt and trousers looked more sophisticated than the rest, but the same cannot be said of his views. He said he was doing business in Yi Wu, a town not far from Shanghai, where there were many Pakistanis like him. He had a poor opinion of his fellow Pakistani “businessmen” on the plane, saying they were defaming their country.
This gentleman, let’s call him Shafqat, had a Muslim wife in China, besides the one back home in Pakistan. He had studied for a few years at the Jamia Salafia (Salafist University) in Islamabad but did not finish the full course of studies. Hearing his views, I thought it was an act of mercy from God that Shafqat didn’t graduate. For if he did, Shafqat would not be doing business in China but would rather have busied himself in holy war to cleanse the Islamic Republic of Pakistan of “deviants” (mushrik) and “infidels” (kuffar).
According to Shafqat, 80 percent of Pakistanis are not Muslims, and that included his parents, whom, under God’s guidance, he had now restored to the right path. And the reason for this was not that many Pakistanis do not pray and fast as regularly as they should, but rather because they engaged in “shirk” by worshipping saints and tombs.
Shafqat viewed Christians of the West as infidels and not as ahle kitab (people of the book). I have heard this view before, which argues that as contemporary Christians have abandoned religion, they no longer qualify for this honour. Shafqat’s position, however, was different and new to me. According to him, after the revelation of the holy Quran was completed, it became the only authentic kitab – the only book in town, so to say – and anyone who did not accept it as such was no longer ahle kitab.
And, finally, Shafqat quoted from Quran and Hadith to assert that Jews and Christians cannot be friends of Muslims. I pointed out that there are numerous examples of Christians, Jews, Hindus and others of supporting Muslim causes, besides cultivating personal friendships with Muslims. I also emphasised the need for tolerance, respect and coexistence between followers of different faiths for the sake of peace on earth. While in general agreement with my view on this, he explained, almost with a touch of sadness, that regardless of such considerations of personal relationships, good citizenship and peaceful coexistence, it would be sinful for Muslims to engage in what was forbidden.
My conversation with Shafqat made my heart sink in despair, although the view below from my window seat was such as to make my spirit soar. Snow-capped peaks rising above the clouds and rivers of ice plunging into valleys as far as the eye could see – the view was as inspiring as the words of my interlocutor were mortifying.
With the aircraft cruising above the lofty and majestic peaks of the Karakorum, I wondered about the likes of Shafqat, tens of millions of them, living in pits of ignorance while availing of the wonderful inventions of science – jet planes, computers, internet and mobile phones, to mention only a few, as well as taking advantage of the business opportunities on offer in a globalised world, regardless of race or religion.
We landed at the new Urumchi airport, which must be larger than Karachi airport. As soon as I turned after filling the disembarkation card, I noticed a queue behind me, of the many Pakistani “businessmen” who were too illiterate to fill out the forms in English and wanted me to do it for them. Worried that I might miss my connecting flight to Kashgar, I decided I could not oblige and hurried to collect my luggage.
In the event, the baggage took a long time coming, although ours was the only international flight at the time. I surmised that as the flight had arrived from the “Land of the Pure”, all baggage was highly suspect and, therefore, closely inspected before being allowed in.
After a short flight from Urumchi, I was in Kashgar, a major town on the road to Pakistan, and the second largest city in Xinjiang. China’s Muslim-majority western province covers a sixth of the country and is twice the size of Pakistan. Both culturally and geographically, it is a country within a country, like Tibet. In custom, cuisine and tradition, it is more Central Asian than Chinese. — To be continued
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk