Visit To Soan Sakesar Valley

-->

Islamabad Dated: 16^th of March, 2010

OUR TRAVEL TO BEAUTIFUL VALLEY OF SOON SKESAR

By Bashir Ahmad Khadim

INTRODUCTION:

We had an Arabic teacher named Maulana Mohammad Ismail of Mardwal town located in the famous beautiful valley of Soon Sakesar which is situated in the southern direction of Talagang and in the north western direction of Khoshab. He died in 1988 and we, his devoted students wanted to pay tributes to his soul while praying for his eternal life with highest place in the paradise. It took us about forty long years to trace his tomb and finally with the kind help of Malik Liaqat we got the telephone number of Mr. Abdur Rehman who is the real brother of our teacher’s second wife. Mr. Abdur Rehman served Pakistan Air Force for eighteen years as an Airman and after his retirement he is running a grocery shop adjoining to the General Bus Stand of Mardwal Town of Soon Skesar valley. I contacted him on phone about a month ago and expressed our desire to visit him at our earliest so that we could pray for the deceased and revive our old good memories of our very kind teacher. Mr. Abdur Rehman was very kind to invite us and promised that he would take us to the tomb of our beloved teacher to whom we owe a great deal relating to the achievements of our lives. I requested my respected friend, Hafiz Fateh Shah to accompany me during my travel to Mardwal Town. He was kind enough to agree to my request as he himself was a devoted student of our honorable teacher. He further informed me that professor Malik Muhammad Nawaz of Mardwal shall also accompany us to facilitate our travel. Professor Nawaz had been a sincere friend and junior colleague of Hafiz Fateh Shah who served for seventeen years as the Principal of Government College Talagang. It was good news to me as we could avail ourselves of the expert local knowledge of Professor Malik Nawaz and it could multiply the benefits of our travel to the famous valley of Soon Skeasar where the reputed writers like Ahmad Naseen Qasmi and Abdul Qadir Hasan were born.

START OF JOURNEY:

On 12^th of March 2010, after offering my Juma prayers I took my lunch and then went to the General Bus Stand at Karachi Company/G-9 Markaz Islamabad and boarded a bus going to Talagang. The bus went to various places at Rawalpindi city and finally it stopped at Ghausia General Bus Stand where it remained stopped for more than half an hour to fill the bus with as many passengers as it could accommodate. Finally it started and moved very slowly getting more and more passengers till it had no space at all. The seats of bus were very dirty and too narrow to stretch the feet. The total time of travel from Islamabad to Talagang should not normally take more than one hour but our grand Tamman Coach took more than two hours. I reached Talangang at the residence of my friend, Hafiz Fateh Shah a few minutes before the sunset. My friend and family members had been trying to contact me through my mobile phone which had been inadvertently in the off position throughout my travel. They were all worried till I had met my friend at Talagang who was kind enough to inform my family that at last I reached him safe and sound. After the sunset prayers we took our dinner and tea and relaxed for a few minutes exchanging our views on numerous topics. In the meantime there was a call for the night (Isha) prayers and we went to pray collectively in the Madani Mosque which is very close to the residence of my friend. After the night prayers Dr. Rizwan and one of his friends came to learn the holy Quraan and the Persian famous book of poetry compiled by the reputed poet, Sh. Saadi of Sheeraz. I also joined them. It would be worthwhile to mention here that Hafiz Fateh Shah has been my first teacher of Arabic and Persian languages as well as my class-fellow.

I had informed my old class-fellow and friend, Hafiz Fateh Shah that I shall reach Talagang city by the evening of 12^th March 2010 (Friday) and next morning we shall leave for Soon Sakesar Valley. So we contacted Professor Nawaz to confirm our program of next morning. He confirmed the program telling us that he would come to us at half past eight in the morning and then we would leave for Mardwal town of Soon Skesar valley. Next morning when we reached the General Bus Stand of Talagang it came to our knowledge that the scheduled bus for the valley had already left and we were late. After sometime we boarded in another bus which was going in the same direction but not to our destination. However, after about thirty kilometers we caught the actual bus which we had missed being late. We transferred ourselves into the bus going to Mardwal. After Jhatla and Chinjee towns we reached Jaba town from where two main routes separate, one going to Khoshab and the other going to Mardwal. The road was very good up to Jaba town but after that it was totally broken and full of ditches. Our bus moved very slowly at a speed of about five kilometers per hour with terrible jolts. First we came to a large village called Ahmad Abad and then to another village called Khabbekee. At the end of Khabbekee village we saw a very beautiful large lake called Khabbeykee Lake. All around the lake and throughout the valley were wheat and potato fields being watered through tube-wells being driven by Peter engines. There were some apple and citrus gardens in full blossom. The sweet smell of the fruit trees was filling our nostrils.

After about one hour we reached the General Bus Stand of Mardwal where our honorable hosts, Abdure Rehman and Fateh Khan were waiting for us to receive and then take us to the tomb of our beloved teacher, Maulana Mohammad Ismail. First of all, Professor Nawaz wanted us to meet his old kind mother waiting for us at the nearby house. She met us with great love and passion expressing her utmost joy through her continuous tears.

We left our travelling bags at the shop of Mr, Abdur Rehman and went to the concerned graveyard by the car which had already been arranged by our hosts. The graveyard was at the north western end of Mardwal town. Our hosts took us to the tomb of our respected teacher who had been like a real father to all of us. It was a moment of great passion and commotion when we stood at the tomb praying and remembering our beloved great teacher. We were lost in the midst of our old sweet memories. The time stopped and it was after an appreciable interval that we opened our eyes. Our hosts took us to numerous other tombs of their relations where we prayed.

After finishing our prayers at the graveyard we were taken to the top of a high rock of the hilly area. There were vast jungles of wild olive and thorny trees and on the hillocks there were settlements of a few dozen houses right in the middle of the jungles. Our car traveled to a distance of about ten kilometers and we reached the bottom of the highest peak of the valley called “MAYEE KI DHEREE” which means the tomb of the old mother. An old lady of great piety had been buried on top of the peak as per her bequeath while she was alive that she must be buried on top of the highest peak. The name of the old lady is PEEZO BIBI and she belonged to some saintly family of village Danda Bilawal Shah which is located on the Talagang-Mianwali road at a distance of about fifty kilometers from Talagang.

WE CLIMB UP THE HIGHEST PEAK AND PRAY AT THE TOMB:

Our hosts wanted us to climb up to the peak and pray there at the tomb of the old saint lady who had been buried there a long time ago. We had no idea at all as to how difficult it was to climb up to reach the tomb at the top. We started our adventure and after a few feet of climbing up we realized that it was a very strenuous task. We climbed up further a dozen of feet and I felt that it was almost impossible for me to climb up further. However, we continued climbing up taking rest at frequent intervals of time. After about half an hour we reached the top of the hill and on the peak was a grand tomb of the old saint lady named Peezo Bibi of Danda Shah Bilawal. We took some rest to normalize our breathing and then prayed for the forgiveness of us all including the dead lady saint buried in the tomb. I suffered from an attack of severe palpitations. I needed a glass of drinking water to subside my palpitations but unluckily we had forgotten to take any drinking water with us. Our hosts noted my serious condition resulting from severe palpitations. They loudly called one of their young relations to bring water at the top. In about ten minutes the drinking water was brought up and I took two glasses of it at a stretch and my severe palpitations immediately vanished, Alhamdo lillah. We took more rest before starting our climbing down to the bottom of the hill where we had parked our car. After about half an hour we were in the car and drove backwards till we reached the village called Choora where we were shown the old worn out houses of Professor Malik Mohammad Nawaz. He wanted us to show his old ancestral houses and also to meet some of his relations living there. We stopped there and were taken to the spacious drawing room of his relations. We took some rest and then we were served with tea and refreshments. We again started our journey back towards Mardwal town driving through wild forest of olive and thorny trees. It took us about half an hour to reach Mardwal. We first went straight to Qazi Deen Mohammad who is a religious authority of the area. He is an old student of Hafiz Fateh Shah. We reached his residence where we found Qazi Sahib preparing for the midday prayers. We were in a great hurry and hence we begged his permission after meeting him for two minutes. He insisted on taking lunch with him but we apologized due to lack of time at our disposal. So reluctantly he permitted us to leave him. We were dissatisfied with our short meeting with Qazi sahib.

We went straight to the house of Mr. Abdur Rehan where his real sister lived. She is the second wife of our kind teacher, Maulana Mohammad Ismail who died in 1988. We met her with great respect and full of deep sentiments. In her presence we were all dead silent and we closed our eyes remembering our old sweet teacher who revolutionized tour lives. Old good memories of the past revived and we were extremely excited at this historic moment of our life. We all prayed for the old departed soul of our kind teacher.

We decided to first say our midday prayers before taking our lunch. After the delicious lunch we chatted for sometime reiterating the old events and remembering our old teachers who were so different from the present-day teachers who have no affinity for their students. The present-day students are too callous to properly respect their teachers. There seems no harmony and mutual respect among the teachers and their students of today and it is a great tragedy. Let us pray for some betterment in this regard.

After saying our prayers we took our delicious lunch. There were so many tasty dishes that we enjoyed them all. The extreme good taste was perhaps due to their expertise in cooking or perhaps due to their sincerity or perhaps due to both of them. The quantity of food was sufficient for more than one dozen of eaters whereas we were about half a dozen. This shows their generosity. After our tasty lunch we chatted for sometime while the tea was being prepared. It was about four O’ Clock in the afternoon and we had already missed the scheduled bus flying back to Talagang. We hurriedly went to the General Bus Stand of Mardwal where we came to know that no bus would leave Mardwal for Talagang. So we were in a fix to decide what to do next. Our hosts offered their services to drop us to Jaba town from where we could perhaps get another bus going to Talagang. We traced back our old route till we reached Jaba. Our hosts decided to drop us at Talagang since no bus was expected at Jaba town which would take us to Talagang. It was an extreme kindness on their part. When we reached Chinjee town it was the time of saying Asar prayers. We stopped at a very beautiful mosque right on the road at an attractive hillside. The owners of this mosque were well-known to Hafiz Fateh Shah. The Bhatti family owns this mosque. After the Asar prayers we were taken to the nearby beautiful bungalow of Bhatti family where we were served with good hot tea and refreshments. After some general gossip we left Chinjee town and started our journey towards Talaang going via Jatla town. We reached Talagang just at the time of sunset prayers. Our hosts took our permission to go back. We tried our best to offer them some money to compensate for their expenses which they had incurred on our excursions around Mardwal and taking us back in their car. They totally refused to take any compensation. It was again an extreme generosity on their part for which we have no suitable words to thank them. We wanted them to stay with us at night but they did not accept our request. We said our sunset prayers and then relaxed for sometime as we were very tired. In the meantime it was the Isha prayers time. After the prayers we took our dinner and Hafiz sahib narrated very interesting stories of corruption in the field of education particularly incredible corruption caused directly and indirectly by the Allama Iqbal Open University. He narrated numerous incidents of corruption committed by some notorious dignitaries of Chakwal and Talagang. He also mentioned some very queer incidents of medical profession having no legal medical degrees. I was shocked to hear all about it. We then retired to sleep for the night and got up next morning for our Fajar prayers. We again went to sleep before taking our breakfast till Mr. Abdul Mannan, the second son of Hafiz Fateh Shah, awoke us for the breakfast. At breakfast I was made to meet Omera and Rizwan Shah who are the youngest daughter and the eldest son of Hafiz Fateh Shah respectively. Mr. Rizwan Shah is an expert of computer technology. He is shortly going to appear in his M.A. (English) examination. I pray for his brilliant success.

I RETURN TO ISLAMABAD:

After the breakfast, Hafiz Fateh Shah dropped me at the Talagang General Bus Stop from where I boarded a wagon going to Rawalpindi/Islamabad. After a few kilometers the wagon stopped at a petroleum station where we waited for about fifteen minutes. It was then announced by the driver of the wagon that his wagon had been sold to someone else and therefore we all must get down. We reluctantly got down and in the meantime another empty wagon came to take us to Islamabad. During transfer from one wagon to the second one I lost a precious packing of famous mint along with roots of Soon Skesar valley. The sauce of this mint which I enjoyed at Mardwal would ever remain in my memories. I wish to fetch the roots of the mint again and plant them in my vegetable garden at Islamabad. This is the end of our historic journey to the most attractive valley of Soon Skesar. Long live this beautiful valley. May God Almighty grant our beloved teacher, Maulana Mohammad Ismail in the best of his paradise.

SPECIAL OBSERVATIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS:

(1) SOON SKESAR is a beautiful valley but it has been neglected with respect to its proper development in various sectors such as educational Institutions, road networks, tourism, water dams, agricultural projects and vocational institutions.

(2) In the absence of good roads for easy access to the valley, the tourism industry has not properly developed although there is a lot of potential. A large number of excursion spots, hotels/motels, boating facilities and parks are essential to encourage the national and international tourists to visit various attractive spots of the valley. It would generate more income for the inhabitants of the area thereby raising their standard of living.

(3) There are very few good educational and vocational institutions in the valley and this has deprived the native residents from educating their sons and daughters particularly those who belong to the poor masses or even mediocre families. It is strange to note that there is no university in the entire area spread over thousands of kilometers.

(4) There is sheer dearth of safe drinking water in the villages and towns of the area. I was shocked to see women of Mardwal town washing their clothes in the dirty pond adjoining to the main mosque and very close to and opposing the main graveyard from where rain water flows into this pond. Women were seen by me taking water of this dirty pond to their houses possibly for drinking and dish washing resulting into spread of epidemics and numerous water-born diseases.

(5) The valley is rich in fertile agricultural land suitable for growing various fruits and out-of-season vegetables but there is no guidance or proper training being imparted to the farmers of the area to facilitate more productive growth.

(6) There are no standard schools and this has resulted into high illiteracy. The non-standard private schools charge the children very heavily. Some cunning persons of the area are fleecing the parents through illegal recruitments, sale of false certificates/degrees. Most of the educational corruption is being committed through connivance of Allama Iqbal Open University which awards degrees/certificates through postal assignments which are being prepared by the parents, elder brothers or sisters or mostly through mercenary professionals who are notorious and well-known to everyone. These mercenaries are being patronized by the university/educational Authorities without any check at all. The Open University must change its system. No certificates or degrees should be awarded to the students merely on the basis of assignments. A fair and transparent system of testing /examination through a tally independent reliable organization should be immediately introduced. There have been a large number sad instances of educational corruption where so called many qualified students of the Open University were recruited in various institutions but they knew nothing as their assignments had been prepared by the mercenaries or fathers/brothers/sisters/neighbors of the corrupt students having false degrees/certificates but without any competence or ability.

(7) It was very strange indeed to note that there were no NGOs placed in the area for the general guidance and aid of the native people.

Bashir Ahmad Khadim,

® Chief Engineer T&T/PTCL,

H. No. 226 Street 18 Sector F-10/2, Islamabad.

Phone: (051) 2212476 Cell: 0345-5096929

Dated at ISLAMABAD: 16^th of March 2010