Journey to Pakistan

by Joe Franko, Orange Grove Meeting (Pasadena, CA)

Like many leadings of the Spirit, this one started with a seeming coincidence. Even though US bombs were falling in Afghanistan, a Claremont Quaker named Edith Cole (who appeared on the cover of the December 2001 issue of Friends Bulletin) was planning to make her annual trip to Pakistan to visit her daughter, who is married to a Muslim university professor and has six children. When Joe Franko, the director of the Southwest Regional AFSC Office, learned of Edith’s trip, he decided to accompany her. Both Joe and Edith felt led to see what opportunities for service might open during their journey. After receiving spiritual support and guidance from their Meetings, they embarked for Pakistan on Thursday, January 17. The following article has been put together from emails that Joe sent out while on his trip. Joe has prepared a slide presentation that he is willing to share with those who are interested.—Editor.

Saturday, January 19: After a twenty-nine hour plane trip from Los Angeles to Lahore, Pakistan, we finally arrived to what was utter chaos at the airport. Neither Arif (Edith’s son-in-law) or his driver were there.

Troops are everywhere, and it is clear that this country is on a war footing. Many expressed the belief that war is inevitable, though they believe it will be contained. Already there are refugees from the border with India. Many families have been pulled back from the border. So we will try to assess that situation while we are here, too.

Checking in at the airport was almost easier than checking in for Philadelphia, and the man standing behind me on the check-in line was also going to Pakistan. Barry is a 58-year-old who was born in Wales, though he has no trace of an accent. He was accompanied by his wife, who was very, very worried about his safety. He is rebuilding the airport at Kabul, Afghanistan, and will be living in a villa in Islamabad, Pakistan, for awhile. He invited me to visit him in Islamabad and we agreed to compare notes about getting a re-entry visa from Pakistan. He is also working on rebuilding the American embassy in Kabul, so it will be very interesting if we can hook up.

He said something very funny, which illustrates the irony of this trip. He said that if war breaks out with India, he’s heading for the Afghan border. He claims that the US troops there will draw those who want safety. He also gave me his iridium phone number and said to call him if there’s trouble as he can have his company’s plane here within an hour, to help us evacuate. I didn’t know how to tell him that our place is with the Pakistani people and that if war does break out, our work will be right here! He also feels that if either side uses nuclear weapons, America will threaten the destruction of both countries through the use of our nuclear weapons. Nuclear diplomacy in the new age!

We managed to find a cab to take us Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS), where Edith’s family resides. Our taxi driver, Ariz, has been driving a cab here in Lahore for 33 years. He was born in India and feels that India is definitely taking advantage of the world situation to pursue attacking Pakistan. He still has family in India and worries about them should war break out. He doesn’t worry about his family here in Pakistan, as he feels that Pakistan will quickly win. He doesn’t think that either side will use nuclear weapons. Mohammed, who sat next to me on the plane and is from Manchester, is convinced that there will be a limited nuclear war in this region.

It is all so unreal. How can anyone even conceive of doing such a thing? Yet people here talk of using nuclear weapons as if they were conventional weapons. Many believe that no one wants actual war, but that the troop buildup on both sides of the border will cause someone to do something stupid, and that will precipitate war.

The other component of the atmosphere here is the pervasive spirituality. Islam is everywhere and I find the combination of religion and politics very difficult to understand.

When we finally arrived at the home of Arif and Sarah, his wife and Edith’s daughter, we are warmly welcomed. They have six children, and there are four other children in this three-family household. One of the perks of Arif’s teaching here is this house, where he and two brothers and their families live. So it is a treat to have lots of children running around my room. Already I am being called Uncle Joe!

Arif and I talked for a long time about Islam, and he explained to me how I am to behave so that I don’t run into Sarah or any of the other women in this household. Basically, I must knock and announce my entrance to each room so that any of the women might leave.

Arif and I spent a good part of this morning talking about his particular brand of Islamic fundamentalism, called Tablil. It helps that he is a mathematician like myself, and so for both of us our spirituality is very tied to our awe at the mathematical structure of the universe. He asked me many questions about my history as a Quaker, just as I asked him many questions about his history with Islam.

We also talked about getting supplies to the refugee camps. Arif has provided us with a translator who speaks both Urdu and Pashtu, so we will at least be able to converse, though many seem able to speak English. Little Hamudi, their nine-year-old son, has started teaching me Urdu.

One morning I had a conversation with Hamudi, who snuck into my room at 6 am to talk. He is the first riser in the house, and he clearly is as taken with me as I am with him. He is bright and articulate and reminds me much of my son Jaemon when he was young. Hamudi is very much a Muslim. He doesn’t like President Musharraf and thinks of the Taliban as the good guys. He blames Musharraf for listening to the USA.

My talk with Hamudi is strangely disquieting, as I realize that he likes me as much as I like him but that he very much dislikes Americans. He sees us as "King of the World," but to him I am more Uncle Joe than an American.

The hospitality of the families in this house is enormous. I have had no contact with the women. Edith, of course, has spent much time with the women and being an American woman has the advantage of also being able to talk with the men. I, on the other hand, am limited to contact with the children and the men, who are wonderfully kind and generous.

Arif and I talked of astronomy and we discussed the possibility of getting, through the Internet, thousands of telescopes around the world all trained on the same target and using image editing software to put them all together using a mathematical technique of interferometry. Such a picture would be truly incredible, especially if it were animated in real time. What a metaphor for how we might all, each with our own capacities, come up with something beyond the capability of any of us!

I like Arif a great deal, and he has agreed to take me to mosque with him. Against all the rules, we discuss religion and politics with each other. One night he asked me about my religious beliefs and we talked until midnight of some of the similarities and differences between Quakerism and Islam.

Edith has talked with a nurse who thinks we might help out with setting up a clinic near Peshawar. We will go to visit the region with her next week. She indicates that for $300 per month we would be able to provide services of a nurse and medicine, with occasional doctor visits. That seems to be very doable if several meetings wished to help out, and would offer opportunities for Friends to come here and help out. We will check things out there next week.

This week we plan to meet up with Dr Leila Richards, our AFSC area representative to Pakistan. She will be in Rawalpindi for a few days trying to arrange the trip to Kabul for herself and our new representative in Afghanistan.

Tomorrow we are going into Lahore to visit the Shrine of Data Ganj Baksh, a Sufi Shrine to which are attached an organization to help destitute women and a public food kitchen. I think of my Friends at the Catholic Worker and carry their thoughts with me.

The driver took us to see the Faisal Mosque. One of the largest mosques in the world (said to hold 100,000 worshippers), it was donated by King Faisal of Saudi Arabia to the new Muslim nation of Pakistan. Designed by a Turkish architect, the main prayer hall looks like a tent, with polished marble everywhere.

It is hard to imagine that this nation is not yet 60 years old, especially when a boy from Kashmir today showed me a lock that is over 500 years old. Made in the shape of a rat, it was a beautiful work of art, complete with a long bronze key. He was much taken with my watch, and I told him I needed it while I was here, but that I would send it to him when I left. He could not believe it only cost me $5. He showed me his watch, which cost him two month’s worth of wages.

We also went into Islamabad today, and the contrast with Rawalpindi is striking. Islamabad could be any western capital, with streets uncharacteristically laid out in a rectangular grid arrangement. Planned in the 1960s, it has wide streets and is clean, with huge homes and government buildings lining each street. Everything looks new and is as far from traditional Pakistani as you can get.

We passed by a burned out ten or fifteen story building that our driver said had been destroyed by terrorists days ago. In a press that is much more open and diverse than our own, there has apparently been no word about this attack. He said the government has not yet said who was responsible….

We are now on our way to Rawalpindi to have dinner and talk with Dr Leila Richards, our AFSC person in Pakistan. About an hour ago we passed an overturned bus on the other side of the road. The accident is not surprising, as the most dangerous part of this trip so far has been watching the driving.

Our driver in Lahore has been excellent, but we often come within inches of pedestrians, horse drawn carts, motorcycles, and the wonderfully decorated trucks that Pakistan is known for. The roads have been the most frightening thing in this country (driving in Tijuana will no longer be as frightening).

The most endearing thing about Pakistan to me so far is the thirst these people seem to have for beauty. The trucks, the busses, the fabrics are all brightly decorated. In the bus we have passed through some very poor compounds, yet even in the poorest the women wear brightly colored shawls and saris. Most things that can be painted are painted in bright colors of flowers and vines and geometric designs. Most compounds have a mosque, many very small, all white with one or more towers. Islam and beauty are everywhere.

A trip like this also reminds me of how little we really know of this world. We usually associate with people who are just like ourselves. Even if we are well traveled, most of us have, in fact, seen so little of the world. In the last year I have really become aware that even when I try to keep my eyes open and really see, I am most of the time seeing through a glass darkly colored by the stories I tell myself about the world. As you read these emails you will surely see how dark are the glasses I wear. In that respect I cringe when I send these out, and I am so grateful to Arif and his family for taking me in.

I will close this for now as we drive up into the mountains, which look very much like my beloved San Gabriels.

The two words that have occurred much to me on this trip are arrogance and privilege. The newspapers here, and the talks with people, reflect quite clearly the arrogance of US power. We do what we want in the world because we can. The newspapers this morning talked of a US presence in Kashmir. How foolhardy that is! To step into the situation between India and Pakistan is to invite both the bear and the wolf into the house. Our hubris in the world is overwhelming.

This morning, over breakfast in the Pearl Continental Hotel in Rawalpindi, I was struck by our privilege. I am getting to see all classes of this society, and the realization of our privilege in what we have—our material possessions—is overwhelming.

[Next month: Encounter with the AFSC representative and with various Pakistanis.]