Page 4 - Pakistan Link - July 16, 2021

P4 – PAKISTAN LINK – JULY 16, 2021 OPINION
Pakistan Link n By Mowahid Hussain Shah Doomed Empire

he other day, I watched
the 1968 historical drama,
Advisory Board T“Mayerling,” starring what
Dr Sohail Masood the Daily Mail, on May 24, 2015,
President characterized “the
Arif Zaffar Mansuri last great roman-

ArifMansuri@PLpublications.org tic idol of cinema”
Omar Sharif, play-
Editor ing Prince Ru-
Akhtar Mahmud Faruqui dolf. It is based
afaruqui@pakistanlink.com on a true story in
that, on January
Editor Urdu Link & Bureau Chief (Pakistan) 30, 1889, the heir to the Austro-
Shabbir Ghori Hungarian Empire, Crown Prince
urdulink@yahoo.com Rudolf, along with Mary, his par-
Resident Editor Urdu Link amour, were found dead inside
& Director Video Operations the Mayerling hunting lodge, in
Anwar Khawaja Baden district in lower Austria.

akhawaja@pakistanlink.com Opinions differ on the manner of

the deaths. Suffice it to say they

Manager Sales & Advertising both died under disputed circum-
sales@pakistanlink.com stances. Some say it was a suicide
pact; others call it a conspiratorial
Regional Offi ces murder. Prince Rudolf did hold
YKKB liberal views that were at variance
with the stricter posture of the
ykkb03@gmail.com House of Habsburg, which was
the ruling royalty. Plenty of con-
Sacramento, CA
Sacramento@plpublications.com jecture lingers, just like in Princess
Diana’s death with Dodi on Au-
San Fransisco/Bay Area, CA gust 31, 1997. Both of the tragic
Sanfrancisco@plpublications.com episodes, a century apart, threat-
ened the Crown. Mayerling was a
New York, NY
Newyork@plpublications.com preview of worse to come.
In the movie, director Terence
Houston, TX Young took a chance by having The Hofburg Palace is the venue of international conferences in Vienna but is plagued by water scarcity and paucity of bathrooms
Houston@Plpublications.org screen icon, Ava Gardner, portray
Empress Elisabeth, Rudolf’s mother, and was comprised of the Austrian marking that seminal event, through sweeping historic epic lavishly
Phoenix, AZ although she was only 8 years older Empire, the Kingdom of Hungary, which the Viennese first became ac- mounted. It took a skilled director

Phoenix@Plpublications.org

than Omar Sharif. Elisabeth – noted the Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia quainted with coffee. When my wife in Terence Young to put it all togeth-

Ontario, Canada for her charitable works – never got and, after 1908, Bosnia-Herzegovi- and I took a boat from Budapest to er. He is the one who had previously

Ontario@Plpublications.org over the death of her only son and na. The Royal House of Habsburg, Vienna on the River Danube, one of launched the James Bond franchise
10 years later was herself assassinat- which ruled much of Europe for our first stops was to visit the mam- by directing “Dr No” (1962) and

Letters to the Editor ed by an Italian anarchist in Geneva. centuries, was marked by consan- moth Hofburg Palace, the main “From Russia With Love” (1963).
Seeing the movie unfold trig- guineous marriages – and because imperial palace of the Habsburg dy- In 1956, Terence Young made his
Readers are welcome to express their opinion
in these columns. Please keep your letters gered memory of a visit to the Mus- mark by directing “Zarak”, a Cin-
brief and to the point. Letters without full lim city of Sarajevo in Bosnia, where When my wife and I took a boat from Budapest emaScope extravaganza set in Paki-
name, complete address, and a daytime

phone number will not be published. I stood at the exact spot where an as- to Vienna on the River Danube, one of our first stan’s North-West Frontier, based on
Also, copies of letters sent to other news- sassin, on June 28, 1914, had gunned a story of Britain’s colonial battles

papers are not encouraged. Letters can be stops was to visit the mammoth Hofburg Palace,

mailed, faxed or e-mailed to the Editor at down the heir apparent to the Aus- against Pathan resistance. That ul-
the Pakistan Link Headquarters address tro-Hungarian Empire, Archduke the main imperial palace of the Habsburg dynasty. timately turned out to be a doomed
listed below.

Pakistan Link (ISSN 1074-0406) is pub- Franz Ferdinand, and his wife. This What immediately struck, despite the grandeur and misadventure.
lished weekly for $85 a year by JAZ LLC, assassination triggered World War I. Its latest manifestation is the ig-
DBA PL Publications, LLC. When Crown Prince Rudolf opulence of the surroundings, was the paucity of nominy of America’s frantic evacu-
Periodical postage paid at Anaheim, CA died, three great empires, namely, bathrooms, which put into context the unscientific ation from Afghanistan. Juxtapose

and additional mailing offices.
POST MASTER: Send address changes to the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the the tall talk in 2001 with the rush to
Pakistan Link, P O Box 1238, Anaheim, CA notions of personal hygiene prevailing in Europe – a
92815 Ottoman, and the Tsarist, were in the exit doors in 2021. It evokes the
The management has the right to refuse the twilight zone. The Sarajevo pattern that still persists Carpenters hit song, “It is Yesterday

to print any advertisement, news, article,
letter or any other material. In case of slaying 25 years later hastened their Once More.” History has its own re-
any errors in advertisement the manage- collective demise. The end of the of excessive inbreeding – carried nasty. What immediately struck, de- petitive cycle. An invincible façade

ment will not be liable for more than the
amount paid for the advertisement to the Ottoman Empire sparked the Kh- over into the bloodline genetic de- spite the grandeur and opulence of masks a vulnerable core.
Link. ilafat Movement in India, wherein formities, including signifi cant the surroundings, was the paucity of At the end of the day, when all is
Advertisements in Pakistan Link are
placed in good faith. The newspaper is not Mahatma Gandhi joined hands with mental issues. bathrooms, which put into context said and done, just like the doomed
responsible nor endorses the contents of Maulana Mohammad Ali Jauhar. Vienna was the seat of the the unscientific notions of personal romance of Crown Prince Rudolf

any advertisement. In case of a frivolous

lawsuit, the plaintiff will bear the total cost The Austro-Hungarian Empire House of Habsburg. In 1683, an Ot- hygiene prevailing in Europe – a with Mary, the Austro-Hungarian
of the suit, including but not limited to the – the second largest country in Eu- toman siege of Vienna was thwarted pattern that still persists. Empire was also doomed. Aren’t all
Link’s costs and the attorney’s fees.

rope – existed from 1867 to 1918, and there is a functional exhibit The movie “Mayerling” is a empires doomed?

n By Rafi a Zakaria The New Kingdom As with the first phase of the

Information for Karachi, Pakistan nitaqat program this is being done
Subscribers consumer market gobbling up what been and the end of oil was in sight. by designating a long list of jobs as
The printing of Pakistan Link is unfail- bout a decade ago, the rul- it had to sell. With the Americans Avoiding fossil fuels became part of reserved for Saudis only. The first list

ingly completed by Wednesday every
week and its copies are handed over to ers of Saudi Arabia faced extracting their own oil through the political agenda in much of the of restrictions in this program had
the mailing house for prompt dispatch Asome diffi cult truths. Fossil fracking and developing electric Western world and lowering the car- included drivers, food-service work-
to the subscribers. The Link should fuels, experts must have told them, cars in the meantime, the days of oil bon footprint part of the definition ers, security staff and many other

reach its destination on time if there is

no delay at the post office. If a delay is were increasingly a kings were waning fast. The Saudis, of being a good citizen. designations. The second newly re-

occasioned it is in no way attributable losing bet. The dark the world’s richest purveyors of oil, Even before the pandemic, the

to the performance of Link’s manage- KINGDOM, P9
ment. In case of delayed receipt of Pak- liquid that they ex- would have to change and change kingdom had faced the challenge
istan Link or missing issues, please con- tracted from the fast. of training its citizenry to become Views and

tact your local Post Office and submit a opinions ex-

“Publication Watch” form. earth would not The pandemic has, in all sorts workers who saw money as some-
bring in the mil- of unexpected ways, hastened the thing that had to be earned rather pressed by
lions and billions need for this drastic transformation. than divvied up by the oil-fattened authors and
so unfailingly as it
PAKISTAN LINK did in decades past. For over a year, most of the West- state. Their solution was ‘nitaqat’ contributors

in
articles,
ern world was stilled by lockdowns,
or ‘Saudisation’, a phased project
Headquarters The Western world had de- and airlines, major consumers of oil, that would send home the nearly 80 letters, opin-

P O Box 1238, Anaheim, CA 92815 veloped a moral argument against were nearly grounded as people sat per cent of the workforce made up ion pieces,
Tel: 714-400-3400 reports, advertisements, etc
Fax: 714-400-3404 the use of polluting fossil fuels; a in their homes to save their lives. of immigrants from Pakistan, India
E-Mail: Editor@PakistanLink.com burgeoning climate movement was Work from home implementation and Bangladesh. Saudi nationals appearing in Pakistan Link
critical of the limitless use of oil, by hundreds of companies meant would replace them. and Urdu Link are their own.

depicting it as the polluting enemy that few were commuting, reduc- The Saudis recently released The paper neither shares

Pakistan Offi ce that was eating up the once clean air ing the demand for oil. Add to this the details of the second phase of nor endorses them and thus
42 Rehman Court of towns and cities. This was terrible a cavalcade of climate disasters that the Saudisation program whose goal should not be held responsi-

Plaza Square, Off M. A. Jinnah Road news for the kingdom, and its long substantiated how careless and glut- is to make 340,000 jobs available to ble for the views/opinions of
Karachi-74400, Pakistan
tradition of relying on the Western tonous the old oil-run world had Saudi citizens. the writers & advertisers.
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