Punjab farms are some of the best irrigated areas in India, but if you listen to the Punjabi Durbar programme of Radio Pakistan the fields in Punjab are dry and the farmers are in despair.Sukhdeep Singh Sidhu, a village head and a progressive farmer of Punjab feels that the Punjabi Durbar programme should send.

Its representative across the border to witness how well irrigated are the lands on Indian side of the international border.Punjab was once the land of five rivers. After the 1947 partition half of the rivers went to Pakistan. But the Punjab farmers themselves have been able to develop water sources to to fulfill their needs," said Sukhdeep Singh Sidhu.

" Radio, TV and newspaper journalism, should not be used to provoke communal tension. We are surprised that Radio Pakistan is indulging in false propaganda to provoke uneducated people in villages. But the Punjab farmers have seen an era of terrorism and they have become mature enough to judge the credibility of the mis-information given on the radio."

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Federal Minister for Youth Affairs Shahid Hussain Bhutto has said the radio programme initiated by the ministry will help create friendly environment for the youth as well as job opportunities.The minister himself participated in the weekly Radio programme and attended the calls of listeners from different regions of the country.

During the first programme on Saturday last, Shahid Bhutto explained the listeners about the ministry’s initiatives including National Internship Programme (NIP), National Volunteer Movement, National Youth Awards, and Youth Exchange Programme etc for the welfare of the youth.

He said that the ministry is committed to address youth related problems and is working with its partner organizations to workout every possible solution to resolve their issues. In reply to online queries of the callers, minister explained that this programme would be regularly broadcasted to provide information to youth on government policies and interventions and seek their input and suggestions for improving the existing interventions and launching new projects and programmes.

The weekly radio programme “HUM NOJWAN” was launched on January 31, 2010. This programme is broadcasted every Saturday at 7:00 pm on more then 31 FM and AM channels throughout the country. Ministry has provided a toll free number 0800-96884 to facilitate the youth of the country to participate in the programme.

: Pakistan would rather have technical expertise with which it can combat the militants on its border with Afghanistan than have the US fire missiles into Pakistani territory, Pak ambassador in Washington argued in an interview.

“The government of Pakistan has repeatedly said that we would like to have the capability to be able to identify and take out targets on ground,” Ambassador Husain Haqqani told the National Public Radio. Pakistan , he stressed, prefers to do everything on the Pakistani side of the border itself. “And the reason is very simple, we have a military capability in certain areas and in some areas, we lack certain technical capabilities and we would like that technical capabilities for ourselves.”

The Pakistanis are committed to fighting the militants in the Afghan border region but it is unfair to characterize Pakistan as a base for the Al-Qaeda-linked elements, since the militants straddle both sides of the porous and challenging border, he clarified.

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The Afghan President is expected to detail exactly how he will persuade Taliban fighters to lay down their arms when he takes part in an international conference in London today.

Hamid Karzai will be meeting the representatives of more than 60 nations at a summit hosted by Gordon Brown.He will use the opportunity to launch a fresh programme of reconciliation and reintegration.

The centrepiece of his plan revolves around tempting militant foot soldiers to switch sides by offering them land, money, jobs and opportunities as an alternative to war.

The initiative is expected to cost billions of pounds, which the President wants to try to persuade the international community to pay for. The Government has had a long-standing policy of offering help and protection to Taliban defectors but it has been poorly funded, so the help has been limited and the defectors few.

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Times of India and the Jang Group of Pakistan). The brightly lit up Chowmallah Palace seemed the perfect venue for a soiree to celebrate the spirit of fraternity and aman between India and Pakistan.

Much before the event actually began the open-air auditiorium was packed. Parvathy, in a flaming orange saree and long curly locks swaying along with her whirling moves instantly struck a connect with the audience.

Arif in his shimmery black sherwani, was a showstealer too. A misty-eyed Arif told the crowd later: “Aap ki taaliyon se apnepan ki khusboo aa rahi hain.”

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I am not much in touch with the Pakistani pop scene but I recently came across a Youtube video of Pakistani pop sensation Atif Aslam  my teeny-bop cousins looove him – singing something very un-pop like in Punjabi  at the Hajj, wearing the ahram. I tracked down the lyrics and discovered that it is an old Punjabi devotional by Pir Meher Ali Shah. This thread at the Atif Aslam official forums seem to confirm that he was at Hajj.

aj sik mitraN di vadheri ae
kyun dilrhi udaas ghanayri ae
loo loo vich shawk changayri ae
aj naina layan kyun jharyaaN

why is my yearning for the beloved so intense today?
why is there such longing in my heart?
why does separation penetrate every ounce of me?
why do my eyes shed tears like stormy rain?

mukh chund badr shashani ae
mathay chumkay laat nurani ae
kali zulf tay akh mastani ae
chittay dand vich moti diyan haan laryaaN

His face shines full like the moon
From his brow radiates brilliant light
His hair is black and eyes bewitching
His teeth are white like a string of pearls.

ae soorat noon main jaan aakhaaN
janaaN kay jaane jahan aakhaaN
such aakhaan tay rab di shaan aakhaaN
jis shaan thay shaanaaN sub baniyaN

Should I refer to his visage as my life?
Or the life of the whole universe itself?
Truth is that he is the glory of God
From the glory all glories emanate.

Here he goes back to the opening stanza. 

Radio Pakistan in its Punjabi Durbar programme has sought to project that Hindus and Sikhs in India are not living in amity. The latest broadcasts have provoked the people living along the border to speak against the attempts of Radio Pakistan to provoke controversy. Dr. J P Singh Chhabra, an eminent intellectual and Mrs. Daljit Kaur, a housewife of the region, said that Radio Pakistan should stop fomenting trouble in India and focus on the various problems like terrorism and ethnic clashes back home in Pakistan itself.

After the partition in 1947, Pakistan has been continuously spreading news against Sikhs and Hindus. They want to create tensions among us, said Dr. J.P. Singh Chabbra, a Sikh intellectual. Punjabis, who are surprised to hear about any communal tension or hatred existing among them in Punjab or elsewhere in the country.

People of all religions including Sikhs and Hindus live happily here. They celebrate all the festivals together. Bomb blasts are happening every day in Pakistan and people there are suffering a lot from it. But in our country peace is everywhere. They should look first at their own country where people have to face a lot of problems. There is no such situation in India, said Daljeet Kaur, a local resident.

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It is the 84th birth anniversary of one of the greatest music directors of all time, Omkar Prasad Nayyar.

The man behind the unforgettable numbers like Ello main hari piya, Kahin pe nigahen kahin pe nishana, Maang ke saath tumhara, Aaiye meherban baithiye jaanejaan, Jhumka gira re and many more, was born in 1926 in Lahore (now in Pakistan).

Acclaimed for his peppy numbers, Nayyar began his film journey in the year 1949 with the background score for the film Kaneez. He tasted success in 1954 with Guru Dutt's Aar Paar, which was followed by many more runaway hits like Mr. & Mrs. 55, CID, Tumsa Nahi Dekha, Naya Daur, Kashmir Ki Kali, Howrah Bridge.

He was counted amongst the top music directors in his day. And he is considered one of the greatest composers of all times.

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After reading the book introduction on the cover I had no choice but to buy the book. I paid a princely sum of Rupees 85 (US $1) for this second hand book and brought it home.

In the following paragraphs I’ll try to narrate the story which Q. Aziz wrote in his book. He was secretary of information in Pakistan’s diplomatic mission to UK during 1978-1986.

In 1981 the director of Manchester Museum of Science and Industry, Dr. R.L. Hill came to the Embassy of Pakistan in London. His exact words to Q Aziz are hard to recall but basically he told him that:

Steam locomotives are fast becoming a thing of the past. People of Britain take lot of interest and pride in their preservation and consider it their national heritage.

We’ve come to know that a steam locomotive which was built in 1911 at Vulcan Factory (near Manchester) is currently the property of Pakistan Railway.

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In its recent Punjabi Durbar programme Radio Pakistan has talked about the ‘compelling circumstances’ that make individual take to drug addiction in Punjab villages, as it says farmers in Punjab are economically backward and are taking to drugs due to stress.

Local residents say that the programme of Pakistan radio is only spreading falsehoods. They find such a generalisation of farmers baseless.  “Pakistan is keen to malign our youth. They are targeting the youth especially in Punjab to draw them to drug trafficking and forcing them to adopt bad habits. The youth here are not addicted to drugs ” said Paramjeet Singh Grover, a social worker.

Much before creating a general picture of Punjabi farmers as drug-addicts, Broadcasters of Radio Pakistan must have thought about the kind of progress farmers’ community has registered in India over the years and their dedication and work is appreciated not just in this country but across the world.

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