Peshawar: History and culture
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Peshawar History 1
May 27, 2007
REVIEWS: The green mile
Reviewed by Dr A.A. Quraishy
Once known as Porshapura (city of flowers), Peshawar has a 2,000-5,000-year-old history. The city has been through several eras and cultures.
The Peshawar Gazette insinuates the area of this city to be around 1,437 acres.
Peshawar is known for its 16 gates — Bijouri, Kabuli, Aasamai, Kutcheri, Rampura, Hasht Nagri, Toot, Kohati, Sirki, Thandi Khoi, Barzaqan, Ganj, Ramdas, Dabgari and Lahore Gate. The names given to these gates are significant. They trace the historical connections — both cultural and commercial — of a city that used to be a sanctuary for raiders, rulers, travellers, caravans, adventure seekers and literary people since times immemorial.
The divergent openings and connections with people of different taste, aesthetic sense and cultural trends are reflected in the parks and horticultural activities of the city. The gardens of Peshawar echo the influence, magnetism and intermingling of diverse cultures. Baghaat-i-Peshawar takes you on a guided tour of some 28 gardens, 23 parks, 14 historic grounds and lawns of Peshawar.
It is a fact that the Mughal king Babar who reached Peshawar in 1526, had paid a floral tribute to the flowers and greenery around Baagram (one of the old names of Peshawar). The English too came up with complimentary remarks for this city.
The lush green Peshawar carried the spirit and pleasant conglomerate of different cultures along with a salubrious sub-tropical environment. Its Qissa Khwani Bazaar was the hub of travellers. People in caravans during their stop overs stayed here for a while and told tale after tale, each narration more diverse than the other, adding more colour and spirit to the stories.
Flowers growing around the area were plucked and woven into garlands to be sold to the passers-by. The garlands find mention in the myths, tales and colourful descriptions about the glamour of this ornate ancient city. Keeping the tradition alive, flowers are still sold in the area.
One can guess, with little margin of error, that whoever wrote the Arabian Nights must have travelled through the parks and gardens of Peshawar, at some point in time.
The book has several black and white photographs of the gardens, which can be easily condoned for being old pictures. It is okay for the historical ones to be sans colour for it is understood that there was no concept of colour photgraphy back then, however, as far as recent photographs are concerned, colour would have contributed considerably in making this book more reader-friendly.
Dating back to 1878, the photographs of Qila Balahisar and the hunting expedition of Babar near Peshawar are good inclusions. The embellished painting about Babar’s historic hunt with orate borders, showing sunflowers and pansies, however, could have easily been reproduced in colour. The 1897 photograph showing the colonial rulers astride sleek-bodied thoroughbreds chasing rabbits and foxes is rather commendable.
The book has extensive coverage of the gardens of the past. It is sad to know that many of these gardens have now vanished, which is a major horticultural catastrophe. There is a reference page from which material was used for the book, plus an old hand-drawn map of the city with its gates along with a recent map showing the parks and lawns of the city.
The author Imran Rashid Imran is not a horticulturist by profession or training, yet he has worked hard at being as precise as possible in giving the facts. Baghaat-i-Peshawar By Imran Rashid Imran Sarhad Conservation Network, Farman Manzil, Warsak Road, Peshawar www.geocities.com/scn_pk 154pp. Rs200
Peshawar: Where cultures meet
june 10, 2007
EXCERPT: Where cultures meet
A coffee-table book about Peshawar’s history, culture, landmarks and people.
Ihsan H. Nadiem looks at Peshawar and its surroundings’ past and present
Peshawar, perhaps one of the ancient-most cities of Pakistan, is situated on the right bank of the old Bara River, a tributary of the Kabul, standing guard at the eastern mouth of the famous Khyber Pass. The city, spreading over an area of 1.257 Sq kilometres, is situated in the well-irrigated portion of the Peshawar Plain, which yields a variety of fruits and cash crops.
It now serves as the terminal point on the main line of Pakistan Railways, connecting it with Rawalpindi, Lahore and Karachi. Towards the western side, the railway (opened in 1925) through the Khyber Pass connects Peshawar and Jamrud with Landi Khana, near the Pak-Afghan border. The line, with its 34 tunnels and 94 bridges and culverts, revolutionised transportation in the area.
The Peshawar International Airport serves the city and the province of the North West Frontier as the main international airport in the region. It is served by all airlines of Pakistan as well as many other major airlines including the Emirates and the Qatar Airways, which have regular flights to the Gulf with onward connections with westward destinations. The city is linked to the main Motorway (M-1) as well as the Karakoram Highway (KKH) through which it is connected to all the major cities of Pakistan. These roads also link it to other countries such as China (through the KKH) and Afghanistan (through the Khyber Pass). In addition to these, it is also served by district roads that lead to Kohat, Charsadda, Mardan, Swat, Dir, Chitral, etc. The city has different and varied modes of local travel including coaches, buses, auto rickshaws, yellow cabs, black taxis and the traditional tonga.
After Soviet Russia’s invasion of Afghanistan in 1979, Peshawar served as a political centre for anti-Russian Mujahideen (Muslim religious fighters). It was then almost surrounded by the huge refugee camps of the Muhajireen who had to flee Afghanistan. Many of these refugees remained there even through the civil war after 1989 when the Soviets left, the rule of the Taliban and the invasion by American and allied forces in the late 2001. During this tumultuous period, Peshawar remained a centre of Pakhtoon cultural development. With the influx of these refugees, the language pattern of the people of Peshawar also changed drastically as they managed to assimilate in the local populace with comparative ease.
Although supposedly confined to the camps or khaima bastis (tent villages) of their own, set up by the government of Pakistan and the international agencies, many of them not only put up in the settled population but also thrived in the now almost legal form of trade of smuggled goods and other small time jobs in addition to running a lucrative transport business ...
The city of Peshawar is growing rapidly with a population of 982,816 according to the 1998 census. The current demographic growth rate is estimated at 3.29 per cent per annum, which stands higher than the average of many other Pakistani cities. In addition to the Afghan population (0.4 million), thousands of Tajiks, Hazaras, Uzbeks, Persians as well as gypsies are also amongst the inhabitants of the city.
Until the mid-’50s, Peshawar was enclosed within a city wall with 16 gates situated at various intervals. The most famous of these was the Kabuli Gate. It was called so as it led to the Khyber and on to Kabul. Inside the city, you may come across some two-and-three storied houses mostly built of unbaked bricks. The city seems to be changing. The narrow lanes of the old city have become more cramped because many old houses have been replaced by shopping plazas. The bhatyaran of yore, cooking for wayfarers in the late evenings — a common sight in the good old days — have been replaced by seekh kebab and tikka restaurants. However, the new houses in place of the old ones are invariably built in baked-bricks with cement and steel reinforcements.
The city, over the last few decades, has extended itself in all directions with new residential colonies and satellites offering better civic facilities and living conditions. There was a time when Landi Kotal and Bara (both in the Khyber Agency and away from settled area laws) used to be a haven for buyers of smuggled goods. Not anymore. Hayatabad, a new posh colony of Peshawar with its exclusive industrial area, now offers the same.
Across Jamrud Road, lies the spacious campus of Peshawar University next to which lies University Town and the medical complex accommodating Khyber Medical College and the teaching hospital attached to it. All these developments have come up around the nucleus of the famous Islamia College, one of the great feats of Sahibzada Abdul Qayyum Khan in service of the Muslim community of not only Peshawar but almost the whole of the Frontier region. In addition to these, a number of educational institutions have also been established during the recent past …
Its industries, based mostly on its agricultural produce, include textile and sugar mills, fruit canning, chappal manufacturing (sandals, known as Peshawari chappal), leatherwork, glazed pottery, wax and embroidery work, furniture, ivory work, knives, copper utensils, turbans, carpets, decorative woodwork and small arms. The Qissa Khwani Bazaar (Story-tellers’ street) has always been a rendezvous spot for foreign traders, dealing in dried fruit, woollen products, rugs, etc.
Peshawar is also known as The City of Gardens though now we only find the fragmentary remains of its past glory. A garden on the Chahar-bagh (four-fold garden) style once thrived here. Only a part of it now survives in what is known as Jinnah Park in front of the Bala Hisar Fort. The garden is said to have been depleted and burnt by the Sikhs. Another famous garden belonged to Ali Mardan Khan. Only a small portion of it is now visible in the shape of the Khalid bin Walid Park in the cantonment area. Similarly the Wazir Bagh and Shahi Bagh are now but a shadow of their original glory.
Peshawar is also known for giving the world celebrities in the fields of performing arts, literature, politics and sports. Indian stars Dilip Kumar (Yousuf Khan) and the Kapoor family (Prithvi Kapoor and scions) were born in Peshawar. Other great names with their roots in Peshawar are the Bollywood star Shahrukh Khan, the great broadcaster/teacher/litterateur/diplomat Syed Ahmad Shah Bukhari (Patras Bukhari), the great Red Shirts (or Khudai Khidmatgar) leader Bacha Khan (Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan) and his son Khan Abdul Wali Khan, the renowned artist Gulgee and the great Khans of Squash — Hashim, Mohibullah, Azam, Roshan, Jahangir and Jansher.
Excerpted with permission from Peshawar: Heritage, History, Monuments By Ihsan H. Nadiem Sang-e-Meel Publications, 25 Shahrah-i-Pakistan, Lahore Tel: 042-7220100 smp@sang-e-meel.com ISBN 969-35-1971-X 152pp. Rs 1,600
Ihsan H. Nadiem was director of archaeology and a former head of the Pakistan Institute of Archaeological Training and Research. He is the author of many books on history and archaeology, including Moenjodaro: Heritage of Mankind and Islamabad: Pothohar, Taxila Valley & Beyond — History & Monuments.
Peshawar: Attempts to cleanse alien culture
FRONT SEAT: On the dagger’s edge
BY SHER ALAM SHINWARI
Peshawar has been the hub of cultural activities through the ages but during the MMA government the city witnessed the worst crackdown on this rich heritage.
The overall situation worsened with the shutting down of Nishtar Hall, long associated with all kinds of cultural activities and a symbol of the open-mindedness of the local folk when it came to embracing it. Ironically, both Nishtar Hall and Nishtarabad are prefixed with the word nishtar meaning dagger. Nishtarabad is the biggest local market for the supply of raw material such as CDs to the Middle East, Europe and beyond, but all kinds of trade activity came to a grinding halt after the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA) banned music in public places. Some 25 export companies are now out of business due to this extreme decision. Also, a bomb blast in October 2007 ripped through Nishtarabad, killing two persons and injuring 14 others while damaging 24 CD, DVD and video shops that caused a loss of millions of rupees to the businessmen. The incident took place when Musafir Video Company, a pioneer in the business, planned the release of 40 telfilms to coincide with Eid.
Many in Peshawar blame the CD business for prompting vulgarity and maligning the indigenous culture. Last year dealt a near fatal blow to the few and far in between cultural activities in the provincial capital, bringing them to a standstill. Successive bomb attacks on CD and video shops throughout the Frontier, including the tribal areas, left 120 local artistes jobless and on the brink of starvation. A large number of them turned to daily wages to put food on the table. The Taliban factor might be just one reason behind all this mess.
It was the Pakhtuns who initially raised the call to reject vulgarity and violence way back in the early ’70s. Tariq Jamal popular television and stage actor and the president of a local artistes’ organisation, Awaz, says, “I have approached the provincial department several times to approve a CD censor board (CCB), implement copyrights rules and also give us protection but to no avail. About 80 per cent business related to cultural activities has gone down and the rest is constantly under the threat of being shut down.”
To answer these and other related issues, when I tried to get in touch with the Provincial Secretary Culture Attauallah Khan Turo, was not available for comments despite repeated attempts made over a number of days.
Sarfaraz Khan, the president of the CD Shop Owners’ Association, says, “We are on the verge of closing our business because our supply to 23 districts and Fata and Afghanistan has virtually stopped during the last six months. Previously, we used to release three to four new tele films every week. Nowadays, the count has gone down to three in three months. The Northern Areas and the Swat valley, considered a haven for outdoor shots, are off limit due to the forces’ deployment to combat terrorist elements. This has forced us to opt for Lahore, raising production costs from Rs60,000 to Rs600,000. Around 150 shops owners in the market are in serious debt as they owe millions to those who have already closed their business in the affected areas.”
Ali Jamal alias Chota Shah Rukh Khan is a handsome 17-year-old boy with clear blue eyes. Over a cup of tea he tells me, “Everyday I come to this tea shop in Nishatabad to find work but for the last three months I haven’t been able to get even a single acting assignment. I have an old father and two bothers to support, while my mother died of cancer three years ago. I have a number of successful stage performances to my credit throughout Pakistan which has earned me the title of Chota Shah Rukh Khan. Now I am forced to wash dishes in a hotel.”
Jamal Afridi, 45, says, ‘I have worked in countless Pashto movies and telefilms but due to the non-availability of work these days I am in serious debt and to add insult to injury, I live in a rented house. I have even had to stop sending my three children to school.”
Tales of misery, suffering and deprivation among the artiste community in the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (old NWFP) are endless. Scores of talented artistes linger round the Nishtarabad market with the vain hope of getting work as the cast in CD plays or tele films. Most of them live in rented houses and now face the real and grave threat of losing the very roof over their heads, ending up on the sidewalk. So far some 400 people related to the CD business — from those who play minor role to tea boys — have been seriously affected and face severe financial setback, being dragged along with their families into further debt and starvation with each passing day while those in power look on from a distance, indifferent to their plight.
Abdul Khaliq, the director of Musafir Video, maintains that while the supply to Karachi and Quetta is open, but even that has witnessed a sharp decline during the past few months. He and Lollywood Productions owners, Iqbal Khan and Aurang, dealing in blank CD, DVD discs and its accessories observe: “We used to import two containers — one each from China loaded with CDs that would be sold off within a month. The government would receive Rs1.4 million as duty per container and around 15 companies were engaged in this business but now all of us face a serious financial crunch due to bad loans in the market as a result of poor business. It’s not only a serious threat to our local culture but also a loss of billion of rupees to our national exchequer every year.”
The area SHO, Inayaullah Shah, says, “We have taken steps to give full protection and allow the market watchmen to keep protective arms with them, in addition to mobile teams, riders and special beat police on constant alert.” He admits that the businessmen are not involved in any vulgarity. “On test purchase we have come to the conclusion that no party indulges in any kind of immoral activity. However, we are asking them to remove some objectionable ads or hoardings/billboards.”
Alamzeb Mujahid, a famous actor in this circuit who has also become a victim of these trying circumstances, ends on the note that when the elected government representatives come into power, hopefully the culture of the Frontier will undergo rebirth.
See also
Peshawar: History and culture
