Mush Mush

I'm writing to you from the oft-mentioned guest house in Islamabad where all us volunteers have been gathered for the election period. Given the events leading up to the previously planned election date, I fully expected to be barricaded in for days on end and a little bit considered the possiblity of evacuation, in so much as I have with me all of my treasured possessions. Touching wood, I write here that things have gone surprisingly smoothly. In the first elections since 2002, violence and incidents of "ballot snatching" have occurred but the anticipated election rigging has apparently not, given that the ruling party have endured a rather crushing defeat.

The absence of Jon Snow and his swing-o-meter from election night's televisual proceedings left me feeling rather empty so here I present you with a little table which I have compiled from Wikipedia entries (hmmm) to show what's changed....Scratch that, this annoying website keeps bunching everything up so this is the best I can do...

Pakistani People's Party (formerly Bhutto) seats '02: 81, seats '08: 87

National Muslim league -N (Nawaz Sharif) seats '02: 19, seats '08: 66

National Muslim league -Q (P. Musharaff) seats '02: 126, seats '08 39

So you can see (she says, waving her pointy stick) there has been a very rigorous reshuffle in the make-up of Pakistan's National Assembly. Another significant change not represented in my table is that Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA), a pro-Theocracy coalition of 5 Islamic parties representing the North West Frontier Province are now down from 63 seats to just 3 seats. They're sixth now in terms of seats, which is why I didn't include them on the table (I'm not lazy, honest).

So that's all the stats out the way and let's face it, you could probably have found that all out for yourselves. Now I want to engage you, on a purely childish note, on something that I found interesting about the election, namely the issue of the party symbols. In Pakistan, the parties don't have their own chosen symbols. Examples from the UK include the rose for Labour and that tree thing for the Conservatives. What happens on Pakistan is that the symbols are assigned to each party at the beginning of the campaign period. Possibly this is to ensure that they all start campaigning at the same time.

The first I learnt of this was when I moved to Lahore and noticed big green signs lining the middle of most major roads depiciting a single bicycle, outlined in white. At first I assumed it was a traffic sign but then, noting the non-existence of road regulations in general in Lahore, I thought to ask a Pakistani friend what they were for. He told me that this particular symbol was the assigned symbol for the Government's party; The PML-Q. He told me that the other parties are yet to receive their symbols but they could be absolutely anything ranging from a tiger to a car to a donkey or a carrot! In this age where PR and marketing are practically synonymous with policy (certainly at home anyway), I found it interesting that a serious political contender would advertise their services to their constituency with a picture of a common vegetable next to their face.

Naturally my thought processes lead to fantasies of this system being introduced in the UK and me landing the position of "Suitable Symbol Assigner" for all the UK parties or better yet the individual candidates. I was thinking of a poodle for Tony Blair, a marijuana cigarette for Mr. Cameron and, obviously, a selection of pies for Big John Prescott. Please feel free to use the comments facility on this website to add your own suggestions below.

Iwas bitterly disappointed on returning to Lahore after Christmas to find that only that only sensible election symbols had been distributed: an arrow for Bhutto's PPP and a tiger for Nawaz, with other equally un-fun symbols for smaller parties. However in Islamabad on Saturday I was amused to note a fitted ladies' jacket had been bestowed upon one poor independent candidate. Snigger, yes but it's no match for the chihuahua I had in mind for former Conservative leader, Michael Howard.

Pakistan Zindabad!

In the time since I posted my last entry I haven’t really been up to much but lots has happened.
For starters, last week I was wearing two pairs of socks (one, a rainbow-coloured, thick, woolly pair I bought at Glastonbury) and this week, I’m down to one pair. Forget lambs and daffodils, this signifies the onset of springtime. And with the new spring, comes a new beginning for me (or a link that isn’t quite so tenuous...)...

Last Friday saw my liberation from the metaphorical constipation of The AAS, as I am soon to start a new placement with another organisation. To explain the situation further, after a short time working for AAS, I was really struggling to see what I could contribute. VSO teaches us that this is to be expected and that it takes time to carve oneself a niche in the organisation. I couldn’t help feeling that my case was an exception to this rule. The AAS is a struggling organisation consisting of just one man, Hector, who is obviously incredibly busy! In my capacity as volunteer I was either taken along to meetings or conferences that were in Urdu (which I’m still in the early stages of learning) or else I was left alone in the office not really knowing what to do without Hector’s instruction and also, feeling incredibly lonely. On first arriving back in Pakistan after Christmas I was unable to do even those activities as Hector was attending a two week university course! It was a far cry from what I was expecting and hoping to achieve from my year in Pakistan.

Fortunately my line manager, Arif, at VSO agreed with my concerns and was able to find me a new placement with an HIV/AIDS NGO that provides care and support for people living with HIV /AIDS (PLWHA) and their families. They’re headed up by the first woman in Pakistan to be open about her HIV + status. She talks very openly about her own experiences of stigmatisation and discrimination and visits PLWHAs personally to provide moral support. My housemate Mary is already placed with them and the office is just a five minute walk from our home. This week I have visited the office a few times in order to become inducted into the organisation and have found there to be a very friendly atmosphere and a healthy level of office banter among the 8 staff members there. My job will involve helping with reports, fundraising proposals and researching donors. As there is a Psychologist working there, I will also have the opportunity to help her with research. She is currently working on finding new approaches to support the children of PLWHAs which I also hope to contribute towards. In all, I’m very excited about working there!

Unfortunately I won’t be able to start work there until the 25th because all the VSO volunteers have been called to Islamabad for election week. Since the assassination of Bhutto, the election campaign seems to have proceeded relatively calmly. However, the events of next week are difficult to predict The rioting that occurred after Bhutto died meant that all volunteers had to stay in their houses for 3 days until calm returned to the area. If troubles start up again, there is a concern that we would need to “hibernate” for longer that just a few days, therefore VSO have made arrangements for us to stay in a guest house and participate in a programme of events including Urdu lessons, various talks, Bollywood dancing and reiki! They have also booked plane tickets home for us just in case the worst should happen and we end up with the civil war that the (sensationalist?!) western media predicts. VSO think it unlikely as do I (Touch wood), now that I have been living quite happily and safely in Pakistan during the month preceding the election, however we have been told to pack our most precious belongings in the event of being sent home.

In other news, on Sunday I went to see the Wagha border ceremony. This famous event takes place twice daily at dusk and at sunset at the border between Lahore and Amritsar in India. It basically involves the tallest men Pakistan can find, engaging in somewhat of a “strut off”, marching in a Monty Pythonesque style straight towards their Indian counterpart on the other side of the gate. You can see my video of it here. The routine seems to emulate a courtship ritual of some exotic bird. The strutters sport turbans folding into crest-like upright fans on the top, stamp their feet and throw up their hands as if ruffling their feathers to make themselves appear more threatening. They even cock their heads to side intermittently which I think was probably my favourite part. More photos here. The mood was lightened some what by an ancient yet energetic, beardy man waving and wearing the Pakistani flag and leading the crowd in chanting “Pakistan! Zindabad!” which means “Long live Pakistan”.