The Opium Wars: The Worst Unrecognized and Unrepentant Crime of Human History

 

Dr. Umar Khan

khanmomar@hotmail.com

Dr. Khan belongs to a Lahore based Think Tank.

30-8-25

 

 

 

 

The Opium Wars: The Worst Unrecognized and Unrepentant Crime of Human History

 

“Death of a young man due to accident or disease is a tragedy but addiction to narcotics is a far greater one.” 

 

In the eighteenth century Britain had effectively subjugated significant portion of the globe. The massive and wealthy India was under its control impoverished and destroyed by brutal looting and pillaging enriching itself in the process. Then after a small hiccup of Napoleanic wars Britain became the unchallenged world power extremely powerful and rich subjugating vast countries that would provide men and resources for further wars The never ending wars by the Brits started that are still continuing. British violence had gone berserk by the nineteenth century.

 

Now it was the turn of the world’s most populous and rich country, China, whose immense riches were to be grabbed. Some avariciousness.

This rapacity made Britain sell opium to the Chinese who had banned it due to a very high percentage of opium addicts with awful effects on economy and every other aspect of society. After trying to end opium trade for many years peacefully, the Chinese turned assertive enforcing its closure and this caused a series of Opium Wars, one of history's most brazen and destructive crimes, a state-sponsored narcotics operation enforced by naval gunboats. The British Empire, in this context, was the Pablo Escobar of the nineteenth century, operating on a global scale with a royal charter.

 

The Poisoned Trade and a Resisting Soldier

 

Opium, grown in British-subjugated Bengal of India was smuggled into China on an industrial scale, creating a cycle of addiction and silver drainage that crippled the Chinese society and economy.

 

Lin Zexu was the soldier appointed to resist this crime. Appointed by the Emperor in 1839, he acted decisively, His approach was methodical and decisive consisting of:

 

a.      Domestic Crackdown: He first targeted Chinese opium dealers, smokers, and corrupt officials who enabled the trade. He implemented rehabilitation programs and harsh penalties for users.

 

b.     Confrontation with Foreign Merchants: He arrived in Guangzhou in March 1839 and immediately blockaded the foreign merchants in their factories (warehouses). He demanded they surrender all stocks of opium and sign bonds promising never to trade the drug again.

 

c.      Destruction of opium: Lin Zexu seized 1.2 million kilograms (approx. 2.6 million pounds) of opium. In a massive public works project lasting 23 days (June 3 to June 25, 1839), he had the opium dissolved in water, salt, and lime in trenches and flushed out to sea at Humen Beach. This act was a powerful symbolic victory.

 

d.     Diplomatic offensive: In a remarkable diplomatic move, Lin wrote an open letter to Queen Victoria of England. Appealing to moral reason, he questioned how Britain could permit such a harmful trade and famously asked, "Suppose there were people from another country who carried opium for sale to England and seduced your people into buying and smoking it; certainly your honorable ruler would deeply hate it and be bitterly aroused." History I silent if the letter never reached the Queen as there were no replies.

 

In summary, Lin Zexu's role was that of a principled and determined official who took drastic action to eradicate the opium trade to save his nation from social and economic collapse. While his campaign failed in the short term and led to a disastrous war, it established his enduring legacy as a Chinese symbol of the fight against drugs and foreign domination.

 

He understood the human cost, and in his righteous fury, he dismissed the British as an "insignificant and detestable race, trusting entirely to their strong ships and large guns." He reasoned that: “A murderer of one person is subject to the death sentence; just imagine how many people opium has killed! Our purpose is to eliminate this poison once and for all and to the benefit of all mankind.”

 

Britain’s response was not introspection, but invasion. The might of the Royal Navy was deployed to protect the "right" of its merchants to earn colossal profits by making a nation addicted to narcotics.

 

A contemporary analogy by David Mitchell makes it brutally clear: "It would be like the Colombians invading Washington in the early twenty-first century and forcing the White House to legalize heroin. And saying, 'Don't worry, we'll show ourselves out, and take Florida while we're at it, okay? Thanks very much.'"

 

Even in Britain, voices of conscience cried out. Future Prime Minister William Gladstone denounced it as "Palmerston's Opium War... A war more unjust in its origin, a war more calculated in its progress to cover this country with permanent disgrace, I do not know and have not read of." His protest was in vain and history books didn’t blame Palmerton or Queen Victoria for this colossal crime. The strangest heinous crime with no parallel in the known human history.

 

Historian Julia Lovell reflects on the psychological effects on such aggressors, noting how "war guilt" can lead to blaming the injured party and persisting with violence. China was not just defeated; it was humiliated. It didn’t end up there and China was further blamed for resisting free trade of narcotics.

 

The Treaty of Nanjing (1842) formalized this humiliation, the first of the "unequal treaties." It forced China to cede Hong Kong, open five ports to foreign trade, grant extraterritoriality to British citizens, and pay a massive indemnity. More opium wars were forced upon China with even more indemnities, killings and humiliation. Shockingly the destitute, abjectly poor Chinese were paying indemnities till the start of the Second World War.

 

The century of shame had begun, culminating in later events where foreign powers, having set up a puppet government in Peking legitimized virulent racism, loot and humiliation of the Chinese at every opportunity. Signboards were put in public places restricting and equating Chinese with dogs, less than humans in their own land.

 

The Chinese government and society were destabilized causing the Taiping rebellion resulting in over 30 million deaths. Millions more died in famines like the great famine of 1876-79 when tens of millions perished. Although there is no conclusive study but the estimates of direct and indirect loss of lives due to the drug pushing by the British Empire tops a hundred million, an absolutely massive tragedy.

 

The damages were catastrophic. In China, addiction ravaged the social fabric, causing incalculable suffering, deaths, and instability. The nation was carved into spheres of influence, its sovereignty shattered. The collective trauma of this subjugation fuels China's foreign policy and national psyche to this day.

 

Worst of all the national self-esteem of the Chinese, just like Indians, was demolished. More than a century later during my childhood the Chinese were known and ridicule as useless addicts good for nothing. It took China many more revolutions and loss of life to come out of this calamity and claim its place in the comity of nations as a respectable nation.

 

But this crime had another, often overlooked, victim: India. The British monopoly on opium forced Indian farmers to replace food crops with poppy, directly contributing to famines, including the horrific famines of Bengal. As Maulana Barkatullah Bhopali, the First Prime Minister of India's Provisional Government, astutely observed, the British were sea-wolves, and “The difference in modern times is the refinement of hypocrisy which sharpens the edges of brutality.” India was made both a weapon and a victim in this criminal enterprise.

 

A Crime Without an Apology

 

The Opium Wars were not a historical anomaly but a calculated act of narcoterrorism for economic gain. The suffering, death, and instability they caused, the residual national humiliations that linger, and the sheer moral bankruptcy of the act mark it as the historical crime that most demands an apology and repentance, maybe compensation too.

 

Heroes and villains of this crime must be identified and our history books corrected for the future generations.

 

The roles are starkly defined: Lin Zexu, the official who stood for public health and sovereignty I an absolute hero of the decent humanity.

The British government under Queen Victoria, which, when presented with a plea for basic human decency, chose instead to accumulate more wealth irrespective of its catastrophic effects on hundreds of millions is a vicious villain.

 

This particular tragedy speaks volumes about the legitimacy that we impart on pursuing national interest irrespective of scruples, an unqualified moral bankruptcy.

 

This is a chapter of history that stands as a permanent stain on humanity, a testament to the fact that the greatest crimes are not always committed in the shadows, but sometimes in the broad daylight of imperial policy. If there was ever a need for national apology and collective guilt, this crime was one of most deserving. We can start by calling Lin Zexu and universal hero for resisting and condemning Queen Victoria for promoting narcotrafficking.

 

 

 

 

khanmomar@hotmail.com

 

 

ناران سے میرے عشق کی کہانی، جولائی 1971 سے اکتوبر 2025 تک

 

khanmomar@hotmail.com

ڈاکٹر خان لاہور کے ایک تھنک ٹینک سے وابستہ ہیں۔

30-10-25

ناران سے میرے عشق کی کہانی، جولائی 1971 سے اکتوبر 2025 تک

"سفر کی پیمائش میلوں سے نہیں، بلکہ دوستوں سے ہوتی ہے۔"

ناران سے میرے عشق کا آغاز 1971 میں اس وقت ہوا جب میرے والد نے ایک چچا اور پھوپھو کے ہمراہ 3 کاروں میں ناران کا سفر کیا۔ میں 12 سال کا تھا اور کیڈٹ کالج حسن ابدال میں آٹھویں جماعت میں پڑھتا تھا۔ میری قد 4 فٹ 11 انچ اور وزن 76 پاؤنڈ تھا۔ پہلی بار میں نے غراٹی ہوئی پہاڑی نالوں، گلیشیروں، برف پوش پہاڑوں کو دیکھا اور محبت میں گرفتار ہو گیا۔ یہ پہلی نظر کا عشق تھا، ایسا عشق جو ہمیشہ قائم رہتا ہے۔ اس کے بعد سے درمیان میں کچھ رکاوٹوں کے باوجود یہ عقیدت مسلسل بڑھتی رہی۔

اکتوبر کے آخر میں ناران کے اپنے آخری دورے پر، جب میں وہاں کچھ جائیداد خریدنے کا امکان تلاش کر رہا تھا، مجھے پتہ چلا کہ 53 سال بعد، آدھی صدی سے زیادہ عرصے کے بعد بھی وہ پرانا رومانی رشتہ اب بھی قائم ہے۔ سالوں گزرنے کے ساتھ یہ کم ہونے کے بجائے شاید ہموار، عمدہ شراب کی طرح پک گیا ہے۔

1971 میں ناران پاکستان میں بمشکل ہی جانا جاتا تھا لیکن پہاڑوں کے لیے میرے مرحوم والد کے شوق نے انہیں اس کے بارے میں جانکار بنا دیا تھا۔ ان دنوں وہاں پہنچنا ایک بہت ہی مشکل کام تھا کیونکہ بالاکوٹ کے بعد بمشکل ہی کوئی سڑک تھی۔ ہم نے اپنی کاریں بالاکوٹ میں کھڑی کیں اور ایک چھوٹی بیڈفورڈ گاڑی میں سوار ہو گئے، جو ایک بڑی ویں اور جیپ کے درمیان کا مرکب تھی، جس میں نشستیں جدید کوچوں جیسی تھیں۔ یہ ان دنوں پہاڑوں میں کافی مقبول تھیں اور مقامی لوگ انہیں "گٹو" کہتے تھے۔ یہ گٹو کافی غیر آرام دہ، شور مچانے والے اور بدبو دار تھے جو باہر کے مقابلے میں اندر زیادہ دھواں اگلتے تھے۔

ایک سارا دن کا بہت مشکل سفر طے کرنے کے بعد ہم ایک چھوٹے سے گاؤں کاغان پہنچے۔ ناران تک مزید سفر کے لیے 4x4 جیپوں کی ضرورت تھی اس لیے اگلے دن ان کا انتظام کیا گیا، وہ پرانی دوسری جنگ عظیم کی پٹرول سے چلنے والی امریکی جیپیں جو ڈرائیوروں میں پائلونڈل سائینس کا سبب بننے کے لیے بدنام تھیں۔ کچھ گھنٹوں کے ڈراؤنی ڈرائیو کے بعد، جب ہم ڈرائیوروں کی ڈرائیونگ مہارت کی تعریف کر رہے تھے، تنگ گھاٹیاں چپٹی ہو گئیں اور ہم ایک وسیع وادی میں داخل ہوئے جہاں تیز بہنے والا دریا اور صرف چند تعمیراتی ڈھانچے تھے۔ یہ 1971 کا ناران تھا، پرامن، سرسبز اور غیر آباد۔

یہ یحییٰ خان کے مارشل لاء کے دن تھے اور میرے والد کے فوجی افسر ہونے کی وجہ سے ہم اچھی طرح سے جڑے ہوئے تھے اور دیکھ بھال کیے جاتے تھے۔ ناران میں مٹی سے بنی چند دکانیں اور کچھ نیم جدید عمارتیں تھیں۔ سیمنٹ کی بنی ہوئی عمارتوں میں سے ایک اس وقت ناران کا واحد ہوٹل تھا جس کے ساتھ ایک بڑا لان اور ایک چھوٹی سی ندی بہتی تھی۔ یہ پارک ہوٹل تھا جس کی مالک گارڈن ٹاؤن لاہور کی مسز میاں تھیں اور ہم وہیں ٹھہرے۔ بعد میں میں نے اسے سالوں تک اپنا ویکیشن ہوم بنا لیا یہاں تک کہ بچے بڑے ہو گئے اور دریا کے کنارے پی ٹی ڈی سی موٹل کی سرسبزی اور جگہ کو ترجیح دینے لگے۔

ہم سب ناران، اس کی وسیع وادی، بہتے پانی، بے روک ٹوک امن، گلیشیروں اور برف پوش پہاڑوں کے نظاروں کے دیوانے تھے، جو ہمارے لیے کچھ نیا تھا۔ وہاں بمشکل ہی کوئی بازار تھا اور روزمرہ کی ضروریات حتیٰ کہ ناشتے کا سامان تلاش کرنا بھی کافی مشکل تھا اور انڈے کا انتظام بھی کسی کوشش سے کرنا پڑتا تھا۔

اگلے دن ہم جیپ میں جھیل سیف الملوک گئے جبکہ نوجوانوں نے پیدل سفر کیا۔ یہ حیرت انگیز، اس دنیا سے باہر کی چیز تھی۔ شہزادے اور شہزادی کی رومانی کہانی نے دلکشی کو بڑھا دیا حالانکہ میں کبھی بھی شاہی خاندان کا زیادہ مداح نہیں تھا۔ ان دنوں میں ڈاک کے ٹکٹ جمع کیا کرتا تھا اور پاکستان نے ریجنل کوآپریشن فار ڈویلپمنٹ (آر سی ڈی) کے موقع پر جھیل سیف الملوک کی تصویر والا ڈاک ٹکٹ جاری کیا تھا جس میں پاکستان، ایران اور ترکی شامل تھے۔ اس وقت کی سب سے مشہور بلاک بسٹر شبنم کی فلم "دوستی" تھی جس کا ایک مشہور گانا "یہ وادیاں، یہ پربتوں کی شہزادیاں" جھیل پر ملیکہ پربت کے پس منظر کے ساتھ فلمایا گیا تھا جس نے اس کی دلکشی اور رعب میں اضافہ کیا۔

میری دادی (نانھی) جو اس وقت ساٹھ سال کی بھی نہیں تھیں لیکن بچوں کو بہت بوڑھی لگتی تھیں، بھی ہمارے ساتھ تھیں اور سب کے ساتھ مل کر جھیل کا ایک چکر لگانے میں کامیاب ہو گئیں۔ ہمارے ساتھ کچھ چھوٹے بچے بھی تھے جو اس چھوٹے سے ریسٹ ہاؤس میں واپس رہ گئے تھے جو ایوب خان کے دور میں حال ہی میں بنایا گیا تھا اور خوش قسمتی سے یہ اب بھی قائم ہے۔

ہم نے ناران میں کچھ دن گزارے، پیدل چہل قدمی کرتے ہوئے اور دریا کے کنارے اپنے پاؤں پانی میں ڈال کر بیٹھے اور سارا دن گپ شپ کرتے ہوئے۔ وہاں بمشکل ہی کوئی سیاح تھے۔

ناران سے یہ محبت اس وقت اور بڑھ گئی جب میں نے 1975 میں حسان ابدال کے ہائیکنگ کلب کے ساتھ کشمیر سے نوری پاس ہوتے ہوئے ناران کا دورہ کیا۔ ان 4 سالوں میں میری قد میں ایک فٹ سے زیادہ اور وزن میں 50 پاؤنڈ کا اضافہ ہوا تھا۔ ہم 20 نوجوان سپر فٹ تھے اور ناران سے جھیل تک دوڑتے ہوئے گئے، راستے میں لوگوں کو تھکے ہوئے اور ہانپتے ہوئے دیکھ کر حیران رہ گئے، یہی جوانی کا حسن اور جادو ہے۔ سمجھ ہی نہیں آ رہی تھی کہ بغیر کسی بوجھ کے صرف چلنے والے لوگ کیسے تھک سکتے ہیں؟ اسی سفر میں ہم نے مقرہ کو دوبارہ سر کیا اور حیران رہ گئے کہ اس کی چڑھائی کو مشکل کیوں سمجھا جاتا ہے؟ یہ جوانی کی شوخی تھی۔

جو جا کے نہ آئے وہ جوانی دیکھی

جو آ کے نہ جاۓ وہ بڑھاپا دیکھا

پھر کچھ سالوں کا وقفہ آ گیا حالانکہ میں نے ناران کا کچھ دورے ضرور کیے۔ ایک بار میں نے سردیوں میں بالاکوٹ سے پیدل سفر کیا اور سیف الملوک میں پرانے ڈھانچے میں ایک چاندنی رات میں زیادہ تر منجمد جھیل کے ساتھ ایک رات گزاری۔ کچھ یورپی بھی میرے ساتھ تھے جو ساری رات پاکستان کی مشہور لیکن غیر قانونی لذیذ چیزوں کا استعمال کرتے رہے۔

یہ محبت اس وقت دوبارہ شروع ہوئی جب بچے پری اسکول کی عمر میں داخل ہوئے۔ سڑکیں اب بھی بہت مشکل تھیں لیکن میری پرانی پیوجو 504، اور بعد میں نسان 280 اسے بمشکل ہی سنبھال سکتی تھیں۔

ناران آہستہ آہستہ ترقی کر رہا تھا اور آہستہ آہستہ ایک چھوٹے سے قصبے کی شکل اختیار کر رہا تھا جہاں بہت سی سہولیات دستیاب تھیں۔ ہم اسی پارک ہوٹل میں ٹھہرنا پسند کرتے تھے جس کے ساتھ ایک بڑا لان اور ایک ندی تھی۔ ایک بزرگ خاتون جو عام طور پر 'آنٹی' کے نام سے مشہور تھیں، جو مالک بھی تھیں، ایک مخصوص کمرے میں رہ کر اسے چلاتی تھیں اور اپنا زیادہ تر وقت برآمدے میں بیٹھ کر گزارتی تھیں۔ یہ خاتون گارڈن ٹاؤن، لاہور کی مسز میاں تھیں جنہوں نے اپنی شادی کے بعد 50 کی دہائی میں ناران کا دورہ کیا تھا۔ انہوں نے یہاں ایک ہوٹل رکھنے کی خواہش کا اظہار کیا اور میاں صاحب نے اسے پورا کیا۔ اس طرح پارک ہوٹل ایک نئی دلہن کے لیے ایک قسم کا شادی کا تحفہ تھا۔ اس ہوٹل کے ساتھ جو کچھ ہوا اس کی مزید کہانی کافی پریشان کن ہے جیسا کہ بہت سی دیگر غیر آرام دہ ترقیوں کے ہم پاکستانی عادی ہو چکے ہیں اور انہیں حتمی سمجھ کر قبول کر لیتے ہیں۔ اب مسز میاں کی وفات کے بعد، ہوٹل ان کے بچوں میں تقسیم کر دیا گیا اور اسے ڈھا دیا گیا۔ ایک مالک نے اسے کسی ڈویلپر کے ہاتھوں بیچ دیا جہاں بے شمار کمرے والی ایک بہت بڑی عمارت تعمیر کی جا رہی ہے۔ ناران کا آخری پرانا نشان بھی ختم ہو گیا ہے۔

نوے کی دہائی اور 2000 کی دہائی کے اوائل میں ہم پارک ہوٹل میں کچھ ہفتے عام طور پر آرام کرتے ہوئے گزارتے تھے جبکہ بچے پہاڑیوں پر چڑھتے اور چھوٹی ندی کے ساتھ کھیلتے تھے۔ یہ اب بھی ایک چھوٹی، محفوظ اور دوستانہ جگہ تھی اور ہمیں یہ پسند تھی۔

وقت گزرتا گیا اور ناران مسلسل پھیلتا گیا لیکن یہ ترقی بے ترتیب تھی جس کی وجہ سے یہ تکلیف دہ حد تک بھیڑ بھاڑ والا ہو گیا اور ہمارے خاندان نے سرکاری ملکیتی پی ٹی ڈی سی موٹل میں قیام کو ترجیح دینا شروع کر دیا۔ ناران میں صفائی کی صورت حال خراب ہوتی گئی اور ساتھ ہی آنے والے سیاحوں کے نظم و ضبط نے مری جیسا احساس دلایا جس سے ہم بچنے کی کوشش کرتے تھے۔ یہ آہستہ آہستہ ایک انتہائی مہنگا کنکریٹ کا جنگل بن گیا جس کا عام متوسط طبقے کا خاندان متحمل نہیں ہو سکتا تھا یا شاید اخراجات کی افادیت پر سوال اٹھا سکتا تھا۔ یہ اتنا بھیڑ بھاڑ والا اور مہنگا ہو گیا تھا کہ ہم نے سوچا کہ یہ کم از کم سیاحتی موسم کے دوران ہمارے لیے نہیں ہے۔

2008 میں جب میں نے دوبارہ موٹر سائیکل چلانا شروع کی اور بچوں کی اسکولی مصروفیات نے ہمارے خاندانی چھٹیوں کے سفر کو غیر مستقل بنا دیا۔ ناران کے لیے میرا عشق ماند پڑ گیا تھا لیکہ پاکستان کے شمالی علاقوں کے مختصر راستے پر اس کے محل وقوع کی وجہ سے میں اسے باقاعدگی سے پار کرتا تھا اور ہر سال اس کی بے ترتیب ترقی کا مشاہدہ کرتا تھا۔ سڑکوں پر ٹریفک کی صورتحال مزید خراب ہو گئی اور ہم اپنا سفر اس بات کو یقینی بنا کر منصوبہ بندی کرتے تھے کہ ہم ناران کو غیر اوقات میں، زیادہ تر صبح سویرے پار کریں۔

وقت گزرتا رہا اور اب بچے بڑے ہو گئے تھے اور بیرون ملک جانے لگے تھے جیسا کہ تمام پاکستانی متوسط طبقے کا تجربہ ہے۔ ان طبقات کے لیے پاکستان ایسا ملک بن گیا ہے جہاں رہنا اور کام کرنا اب اچھا نہیں رہا۔ اس کی افادیت اور وجہ وجود بچوں کی پرورش اور تعلیم دینے کی جگہ بن گئی ہے تاکہ وہ مغرب یا مشرق وسطیٰ کی خدمت کر سکیں اور آرام دہ زندگی گزار سکیں۔ ہمارے ایک سرکاری اہلکار نے ایک بار کہا تھا کہ یہ پاکستانی بیرون ملک مقامی جو مغرب یا مشرق وسطیٰ میں کام کرتے ہیں وہ عام طور پر صرف اپنے بزرگوں کو دفنانے کے لیے پاکستان آتے ہیں اور پھر اپنی نئی اپنائی ہوئی سرزمین پر لے جانے سے پہلے اثاثوں کو نقد میں تبدیل کرتے ہیں۔ یہ پاکستان کا عام المیہ ہے۔ اب تک ہمارا خاندان اس مرحلے کے قریب پہنچ رہا تھا اور میں نے ایک درمیانے سائز کی ویں صرف خاندانی سفر کے لیے خریدی کیونکہ 4 بڑے ہو چکے نوجوان والدین کے ساتھ ایک کار میں نہیں سما سکتے تھے، یہاں تک کہ میری فل سائز ایس کلاس میں بھی نہیں۔

ایک بار ویں پر ناران سے واپس آتے ہوئے ہمیں بدتمیز ٹریفک کا سامنا کرنا پڑا جو ایک ڈراؤنے خواب کی حد تک تھا۔ ناران سے کاغان تک 25 کلومیٹر کا فاصلہ طے کرنے میں ہمیں 12 گھنٹے، شاید اس سے بھی زیادہ لگے۔

وسیع اور آرام دہ ویں جس میں وافر سامان تھا نے اس اذیت کو قابل برداشت بنا دیا اور آدھی رات کے بعد جب ہم انتہائی تھکے ہارے تھے تو خوش قسمتی سے ایک طرفے گلی میں واقع ہوٹل کے لاؤنج میں رکھی صوفوں پر ہمیں جگہ مل گئی۔ 2 دن بعد ٹریفک جام میں کمی آئی اور ہم واپس سفر کرنے کے قابل ہو سکے۔

"سفر آپ کو بولنے کے قابل نہیں رہنے دیتا، پھر آپ کو کہانی سنانے والا بنا دیتا ہے۔"

اکتوبر کے شروع میں مجھے بہت جوش آیا جب لاہور سے دور ناران میں پورا موسم گرما گزارنے کے اپنے خواب کو پورا کرنے کا امکان پیدا ہوا۔ وہاں ایک ہوٹل فروخت کے لیے تھا جو ایک جاننے والے کی ملکیت تھا اور اسے خریدنا میری زندگی کو آسان اور خوشگوار بنا سکتا تھا۔ اور ہم ناران کے لیے روانہ ہو گئے۔

ناران جانے والی سڑکوں کی حالت میں بہت بہتری آئی ہے، خاص طور پر لاہور-مانسہرہ موٹروے کے مکمل ہونے کے بعد۔ اب کوئی بھی نیم معقول کار آسانی سے وہاں پہنچ سکتی ہے۔ بالاکوٹ سے لے کر وادی کے آخر تک بابوسر تک ہر جگہ ہوٹل کھڑے ہو چکے ہیں۔

ناران کا پہلا نظارہ مکمل طور پر بدل چکا ہے، اب یہ عمارتوں سے بھرا کنکریٹ کا ایک بہت بڑا جنگل ہے، ہمارے معیار کے لحاظ سے کافی اونچی ہے اور بمشکل ہی کوئی درخت ہیں؛ جو صرف پہاڑیوں کے ڈھلوانوں پر باقی بچے ہیں۔ موسم سرد تو تھا لیکن اتنا نہیں کہ تکلیف دہ ہو، اکتوبر کے لیے بہت گرم تھا۔

ہم اپنے موجودہ پسندیدہ ہوٹل ماؤنٹین شالیے میں ٹھہرے، جو ایک دوست چلاتا ہے جو ایک شاندار میزبان اور بزنس مین بھی ہے۔ یہ شاید ناران میں بہترین مقام پر واقع ہوٹلوں میں سے ایک ہے جو ایک گیس اسٹیشن کے پیچھے ہے جس کے ساتھ ایک مناسب سائز کا اچھی طرح سے رکھا ہوا لان ہے۔ سیاحتی موسم ختم ہو چکا تھا اس لیے اگرچہ زیادہ تر مارکیٹ کھلی ہوئی تھی لیکن ایک چھوٹی سی بھیڑ کے ساتھ پرامن تھا جس نے اسے شور کے بغیر پرلطف بنا دیا تھا۔

پھر ہم نے ناران اور بابوسر کے درمیان خوبصورت 68 کلومیٹر کا سفر کیا جہاں سکڑے ہوئے چھوٹے سائز کے گلیشیر تھے اور ہم ایک دھوپ والے اور گرم دن میں خزاں کے بابوسر پہنچے۔ یہ اب تک کا سب سے گرم بابوسر تھا جس کا میں نے دورہ کیا تھا۔

اگرچہ کاروباری امکان قابل عمل نظر نہیں آیا لیکن ناران کا اس موسم میں دورہ کر کے خوشی ہوئی جب اس نے اپنے بہتر دنوں کی یاد دہانی کرائی۔ میں نے بہت سی ترقیات کا مشاہدہ کیا جو میں شیئر کرنا چاہوں گا؛ یہ خاص طور پر موٹر سائیکل کے شوقین افراد کے لیے دلچسپ ہو سکتی ہیں۔

سفر کا شوق ہمارے معاشرے میں بہت مقبول ہو گیا ہے شاید سوشل میڈیا کے ذریعے بیداری اور آمدنی میں اضافے کی وجہ سے۔ تاہم کار کے ذریعے خاندانی سفر کم ہو رہا ہے جبکہ ویں اور کوچروں پر گروپ ٹریول سب سے زیادہ مقبول ہو گیا ہے۔ یہ یقینی طور پر آسان اور کم خرچ ہے حالانکہ اس میں پرائیویسی کی کمی ہو سکتی ہے۔

پہاڑوں پر موٹر سائیکل کے سفر، جسے میری جوانی میں عجیب یا پاگل پن سمجھا جاتا تھا، زیادہ تر نوجوانوں میں بہت مقبول ہو گیا ہے جو اپنی زندگیوں اور کیریئر کا آغاز کر رہے ہیں۔ کاریوں کے مقابلے میں بہت زیادہ موٹر سائیکلیں دیکھیں۔

زیادہ تر موٹر سائیکل مسافر اچھی طرح سے لیس تھے، حفاظتی ضروریات سے پوری طرح واقف تھے، ٹریفک قوانین کی پابندی کرتے تھے اور ذمہ دار ڈرائیونگ کی ضروریات پوری کرتے تھے۔

موٹر سائیکل کا سفر ہنی مون پر نئے شادی شدہ جوڑوں میں بہت مقبول ہو گیا ہے۔ یکساں طور پر اچھی طرح سے محفوظ دلہنیں، ہیلمٹ اور رائیڈنگ جیکٹس پہنے ہوئے، عام طور پر فوٹوگرافی اور کہانی سنانے کی ذمہ داری لیتی ہیں۔ کچھ جوڑوں کے انٹرویو نے وہی کہانی دہرائی کہ وہ اپنے کالج کے زمانے کی موٹر سائیکل پر سفر کر رہے تھے اور انہوں نے طالب علمی کے دور میں ہی اس سفر کی منصوبہ بندی کی تھی۔

بہت سی خاتون بائیکرز دیکھیں جو زیادہ تر گروپوں میں سفر کر رہی تھیں۔ وہ پوری طرح پراعتماد اور خود پر یقین رکھتی نظر آئیں۔ ہمارے معاشرے میں ایک صحتمند ترقی۔

ایسا لگتا ہے کہ ہونڈا کی نئی 150cc پیشکشوں نے پاکستان میں مہم جوئی کے لیے پسندیدہ مشین کے طور پر سوزوکی کو تقریباً بے دخل کر دیا ہے۔ یہی ہوتا ہے اگر آپ بہتری یا اختراع کرنا بند کر دیں۔ سوزوکی نے اپنی مقبول GS150 ماڈل میں پچھلی چوتھائی صدی سے کوئی بہتری نہیں کی ہے جبکہ ہونڈا نے بہت سی نئی ماڈلز متعارف کرائی ہیں۔

ناران کے زیادہ تر زائرین صرف شمال جاتے ہوئے اسے پار کرتے ہیں اور وہاں رکنے سے گریز کرتے ہیں۔

سب سے افسوسناک مشاہدہ صفائی کی تکلیف دہ صورت حال کے بارے میں تھا۔ حیرت ہوئی کہ دنیا کے واحد ایسے مذہب کے ماننے والے، جس میں صفائی کو ان کے دین کا ایک اہم پہلو قرار دیا گیا ہے، وہ بے حس ہو کر کوڑا کرکٹ اور گندگی پھینک سکتے ہیں۔

ناران پاکستان کے لوگوں کے لیے خدا کی طرف سے ایک تحفہ ہے اور اسے دیکھ بھال کی ضرورت ہے۔ ترقی اور افراتفری میں فرق ہے جس کے خلاف حفاظت کرنی چاہیے۔ ناران مکمل افراتفری کی طرف جا سکتا ہے جس پر فوری توجہ کی ضرورت ہے۔

یہ اب بھی خوبصورت ہے لیکن اگر اس کی ترقی کو منظم نہ کیا گیا تو ہم فطرت کے اس تحفے کو ہمیشہ کے لیے کھو سکتے ہیں۔ یہ ایک بہت بڑا نقصان ہوگا۔

"سفر انسان کو عاجز بناتا ہے۔ آپ دیکھتے ہیں کہ آپ دنیا میں کتنی چھوٹی سی جگہ پر قبضہ کرتے ہیں۔" گستاو فلابیر

khanmomar@hotmail.com

 

Dr. Umar Khan

khanmomar@hotmail.com

Dr. Khan belongs to a Lahore based Think Tank.

30-10-25

 

 

My romance with Naran, July 1971 to October 2025

"A journey is best measured in friends, rather than miles."

 

 

My romance with Naran started in 1971 when my father along with a Chacha and Phopho travelled to Naran in 3 cars. I was 12 studying in class 8 at Cadet College Hassanabdal standing 4.11 inches tall and weighing 76 lbs. For the first time I saw roaring mountainous streams, glaciers, snow clad mountains and fell in love. It was love at first sight, kind of love that lasts forever. This adoration kept increasing since then despite a few hiccups in between.

 

After my last visit Naran with family in late October exploring a possibility of buying some property there, I discovered that the old romantic relation still existed after 53 years, more than half a century. Instead of reducing over the years it might have matured like a smooth, fine wine.

 

In 1971 Naran was hardly known in Pakistan but my late father’s passion for mountains made him knowledgeable about it. In those days reaching it was a very challenging task with hardly a road beyond Balakot. We parked our cars at Balakot and got into a small Bedford vehicle, kind of a cross between a big van and a jeep, with seating close to modern coasters. These were pretty popular in mountains those days and locals called them “Gattoos”. Pretty uncomfortable, these Gattoos were noisy and smelly belching more smoke inside than outside.

 

After an all-day very challenging journey we reached a small village called Kaghan. 4x4 jeeps were needed for further travel to Naran so next day these were arranged, the old WW2 petrol powered American jeeps notorious for causing pilonidal sinuses to the drivers. After a few hours of scary drive while we appreciated the driving skills of the drivers the narrow gorges flattened and we entered a wide valley with a fast flowing river and just a few built structures. It was Naran of 1971, peaceful, green and unbuilt.

 

These were the days of Yahya Khan’s martial law and with my father being an army officer we were well connected and looked after. In Naran there were a few shops made of mud and a couple of semi modern buildings. One of the cemented buildings was the only hotel in Naran then with a big lawn and a small stream coming down on its side. This was the Park Hotel owned by a Mrs. Mian of Garden Town Lahore and we stayed there. Later I made it my vacation home for years until the children grew up preferring the greenery and space of the PTDC motel by the river.

 

All of us were infatuated by Naran, its wide valley, running water, uninterrupted peace, glaciers and the sight of snowcapped mountains, something new for us. There was hardly a bazar and finding daily provisions even breakfast supplies was pretty difficult and had to arrange eggs with some effort.

 

Next day we went to Lake Saiful Malook in jeep while the youngsters trekked. It was gorgeous, out of this world. The romantic story of a prince and princess added charm although I was never much of a fan of any royalty. In those days I used to collect postal stamps and Pakistan had just issued a stamp celebrating Regional Cooperation for Development (RCD) including Pakistan, Iran and Turkey with the picture of Lake Saiful Malook. The most famous block buster then was a Shabnam starrer movie “Dosti” with a famous song “yeh waadian, yeh parbaton ki shahzadian” filmed at the lake with the backdrop of Malika Parbat adding to the charm and grandeur.

 

My Dadi (grandmother) who wasn’t even sixty then but appeared too old to the kids, was also with us and managed to make a round with of the lake with everyone. There were some infants with us also who stayed back at the small rest house that was recently built in Ayub’s regime and fortunately it still survives.

 

We spent a few days at Naran loving going for walks and sitting by the river with our feet in water and chatting all day. There were hardly any tourists.

 

This love affair with Naran increased when I visited Naran again with the Hiking Club of Hassanabdal walking from Kashmir through Noori Pass in 1975. In these 4 years I had added over a foot to my height and 50 lbs. of weight. We were super fit 20 boys and ran to the lake from Naran flabbergasted seeing people tired and panting on the way, that’s the charm and magic of the youth. Just couldn’t understand why people simply walking without carrying any load can get tired? In the same trip we climbed the Makra again perplexed why it’s climb was considered challenging; that’s the flamboyance of youth.

Jo jaa ke na aaye woh jawani dekhi

Jo aa ke na jaaye woh burhappa dekha

 

Then came a pause of a few years although I did visit Naran a few times. Once I walked from Balakot in winters and spent a night at Saiful Malook in the old structure with a mostly frozen lake in a moonlit night. A few Europeans accompanied me smoking the famous but illegal Pakistani delicacies all night.

 

This love affair restarted when the kids entered the preschool stage. The roads were still very challenging but my old Peugeot 504, and later Nissan 280 could manage it, although barely.

 

Naran was building up gradually and slowly taking a shape of a small town with many facilities available. We preferred to stay in the same Park hotel with a big lawn and a stream on the side. An older lady known popularly as auntie, who was also the owner, managed it while staying in a designated room spending most of her time sitting in the verandah. The lady was Mrs. Mian of Garden Town, Lahore who visited Naran in the 50s after her marriage. She expressed her wish to have a hotel here and Mian sahib obliged. So the Park Hotel was a kind of wedding gift for a young bride. Further story of what happened to this hotel is pretty disturbing like many other uncomfortable developments we Pakistanis have gotten used to accepting them as fait accompli. Now after the demise of Mrs. Mian, the hotel was divided among her children and demolished. One owner sold it to some developer where a huge structure is being built with innumerable rooms; the last antiquated remnant of Naran is also gone.

 

 

In the nineties and early 2000s we used to spend a few weeks basically resting at Park hotel while kids would go climbing the hills and play with the small stream. It was still a small, safe and friendly place and we loved it.

 

As times went by Naran kept expanding but it was haphazard making it uncomfortably crowded and our family’s preferred staying at the government owned PTDC motel. Cleanliness situation in Naran worsened as did the discipline of visiting tourists giving a feel of Murree that we tried to avoid. It gradually turned into a prohibitively expensive concrete jungle no ordinary middle class family could afford or maybe question the utility of the expense. It had gotten so crowdy and expensive that we thought it wasn’t for us, at least during the tourist season.

 

After I restarted biking in 2008 and school commitments of the children made our family vacation trips irregular. My romance for Naran had faded but its location on the short route to Northern Areas of Pakistan made me cross it regularly and I observed its haphazard development every year. The traffic on roads worsened and we would plan our journey making sure we cross Naran at odd times, mostly early morning.

 

Times kept passing and now children had grown up and had started going abroad as all Pakistani middle classes experience. For these classes Pakistan has become a country not good enough to live and work in. Its utility and raison detre  has become a place to raise and educate the children so that they are able to serve the West or the Middle East earning a comfortable life. One of our government functionaries once stated that these Pakistani expats working in West or the Middle East usually visit Pakistan only to bury their elders and then liquidate assets before taking them to their newly adopted homelands. This is a common tragedy of Pakistan. By now our family was approaching this stage and I bought a midsized van only for family travel as the 4 grown up youngsters won’t fit in a car with parents, not even in my full sized S Class.

 

Once travelling back from Naran on the van we experienced the rowdy traffic which was bordering on a night mare. It took us 12 hours, probably more, to cover the 25kms from Naran to Kaghan.

 

The spacious and comfortable van with plenty of supplies made this ordeal bearable and after mid night when extremely tired fortunately we got accommodated on the sofas placed in the lounge of a hotel at a side alley. It was 2 days later that the traffic jam eased and we were able to travel back.

"Traveling—it leaves you speechless, then turns you into a storyteller."

 

 

In early October I got excited when a prospect of fulfilling my dream of spending a complete summer in Naran away from Lahore arose. A hotel was for sale there owned by an acquaintance and buying it could make my life easy and enjoyable. And we drove to Naran.

 

The road conditions to Naran have improved a lot, especially with the completion of Lahore-Mansehra motorway. Now any semi decent car can make it easily. Hotels have sprung up everywhere starting before Balakot right until the Babusar, end of the valley.

The first view of Naran is totally changed, now it’s a huge jungle of concrete full of buildings, pretty high from our standards with hardly and trees; only surviving at the slopes of hills. The weather was chilly but not uncomfortably cold, too warm for October.

 

We stayed at our current favorite hotel Mountain Chalet, run by a friend who also happens to be a wonderful host and businessman. It is probably one of the best located hotels in Naran on the back of a gas station with a decent sized well-kept lawn. The tourist season had ended so although much of market was open it was peaceful with a small crowd making it lively without noisiness.

 

Then we travelled on the prettiest 68kms between Naran and Babusar with shrunken small sized glaciers reaching the autumn Babusar on a sunny and warm day. It was the warmest Babusar I had ever visited.

 

Although the business prospect didn’t appear feasible but was glad to have visited Naran in the season when it reminded of its better days. I observed many developments that would like to share; these might particularly interest biking enthusiasts.

 

Passion for travel has become very popular in our society probably due to awareness spread by the social media and increase in disposable income. However family travel by car is waning while group travel on vans and coasters appear to have become most popular. It is certainly easier and cost effective although might be lacking in privacy.

 

Motorcycle travel on the mountains, something considered odd or crazy in my youth, has become very popular mostly among the youngsters starting up in their lives and careers. Saw many more motorcycles as compared to cars.

 

Most motorcycle travellers were well equipped fully conscious of safety requirements, following the traffic laws diligently and fulfilling the requirements of responsible driving.

Motorcycle travel has become very popular among the newlyweds on their honey moon. Equally well protected brides, wearing helmets and riding jackets, would usually take the responsibility of photography and storytelling. Interviewing a few couples repeated the same story that they were travelling of the motorcycle of their college days and had planned the trip during their student life courtship.

 

Saw many female bikers mostly travelling in groups. They appeared fully confident and sure of themselves. A healthy development in our society.

 

Appears that Honda’s new 150cc offerings have nearly displaced the Suzukis as the machine of choice for adventurers in Pakistan. That is what happens if you stop improving or innovating. Suzuki hasnt improved its popular GS150 model for the last quarter century while Honda has introduced many new models.

 

Most of the visitors to Naran just cross it on their way to the North trying to avoid stopping over.

 

The most depressing observation was about the pathetic situation of cleanliness. Wondered why the adherents of the only faith in the world that calls cleanliness an important aspect of their religion can be so inconsiderate throwing waste and filth without any concern. 

 

Naran is a God’s gift to the people of Pakistan and it needs caring. There is a difference between development and chaos that must be guarded against. Naran may be heading towards absolute chaos needing immediate attention.

 

It is still pretty but if its development is not streamlined we might lose this gem of a gift of nature forever. That would be a great loss.

 

 

  "Travel makes one modest. You see what a tiny place you occupy in the world." Gustave Flaubert

 

 

 

khanmomar@hotmail.com

 

 

 

9/11

 

History is a set of lies, agreed upon. Napoleon.

 

 

I interviewed tens of experienced pilots asking if they could hit a building with a flying airplane, all of them said it was impossible just like threading a needle while running.

But I am expected to believe that on 9/11 pilots without any flying experience, managed to hit buildings with airplanes facing certain death.

If I question this absurdity then I am an irrational conspiracy theorist.

Wondering what’s more foolish to believe,

·         By dropping nuclear bombs US saved Japanese lives, or

·         Netanyahu was defending Israel while killing over 70k unarmed Palestinians, or

·         Trainee pilots working miracles on 9/11 with airplanes they had never flown????

How much more of nonsense I am coerced to believe?

 

تاریخ جھوٹ کا مجموعہ ہے جس پر اتفاق ہے۔ نپولین۔

 

 

میں نے دسیوں تجربہ کار پائلٹوں سے انٹرویو کیا کہ کیا وہ اڑتے ہوئے ہوائی جہاز سے کسی عمارت کو نشانہ بنا سکتے ہیں، ان سب کا کہنا تھا کہ یہ ناممکن ہے جیسے دوڑتے ہوئے سوئی کو تھریڈ کرنا۔

لیکن میں یہ ماننے پر مجبور ہوں کہ 9/11 کے پائلٹ بغیر کسی اڑان کے تجربے کے، ہوائی جہازوں کے ساتھ عمارتوں کو نشانہ بنانے میں کامیاب ہو گئے جن کو یقینی موت کا سامنا کرنا پڑا۔

اگر میں اس بیہودگی پر سوال کرتا ہوں تو میں ایک غیر معقول سازشی تھیوریسٹ ہوں۔

مجھے یقین کرنے میں مسئلہ ہے،

• ایٹمی بم گرا کر امریکہ نے جاپانیوں کی جان بچائی، یا

• نیتن یاہو اسرائیل کا دفاع کر رہے تھے جبکہ 70 ہزار سے زیادہ غیر مسلح فلسطینیوں کو قتل کر رہے تھے۔

• ٹرینی پائلٹوں نے 9/11 کو ایسے ہوائی جہازوں کے ساتھ معجزے دکھائے جو انہوں نے کبھی نہیں اڑائے تھے؟؟؟؟

میں اور کتنی بکواس پر یقین کرنے پر مجبور ہوں؟

 

 

Imperial Commissioner Zexu's letter to Queen Victoria

 magnificently our great Emperor soothes and pacifies China and the foreign countries, regarding all with the same kindness. If there is profit, then he shares it with the peoples of the world; if there is harm, then he removes it on behalf of the world. This is because he takes the mind of heaven and earth as his mind.

The kings of your honorable country by a tradition handed down from generation to generation have always been noted for their politeness and submissiveness. We have read your successive tributary memorials saying, "In general our countrymen who go to trade in China have always received His Majesty the Emperor's gracious treatment and equal justice." and so on. Privately we are delighted with the way in which the honorable rulers of your country deeply understand the grand principles and are grateful for the Celestial grace. For this reason the Celestial Court in soothing those from afar has redoubled its polite and kind treatment. The profit from trade has been enjoyed by them continuously for two hundred years. This is the source from which your country has become known for its wealth.

But after a long period of commercial intercourse, there appear among the crowd of barbarians both good persons and bad, unevenly. Consequently there are those who smuggle opium to seduce the Chinese people and so cause the spread of the poison to all provinces. Such persons who only care to profit themselves, and disregard their harm to others, are not tolerated by the laws of heaven and are unanimously hated by human beings. His Majesty the Emperor, upon hearing of this, is in a towering rage. He has especially sent me, his commissioner, to come to Kwangtung [Guangdong], and together with the governor-general and governor jointly to investigate and settle this matter.

All those people in China who sell opium or smoke opium should receive the death penalty. We trace the crime of those barbarians who through the years have been selling opium, then the deep harm they have wrought and the great profit they have usurped should fundamentally justify their execution according to law. We take into to consideration, however, the fact that the various barbarians have still known how to repent their crimes and return to their allegiance to us by taking the 20,183 chests of opium from their storeships and petitioning us, through their consular officer [superintendent of trade], Elliot, to receive it. It has been entirely destroyed and this has been faithfully reported to the Throne in several memorials by this commissioner and his colleagues.

Fortunately we have received a specially extended favor Born His Majesty the Emperor, who considers that for those who voluntarily surrender there are still some circumstances to palliate their crime, and so for the time being he has magnanimously excused them from punishment. But as for those who again violate the opium prohibition, it is difficult for the law to pardon them repeatedly. Having established new regulations, we presume that the ruler of your honorable country, who takes delight in our culture and whose disposition is inclined towards us, must be able to instruct the various barbarians to observe the law with care. It is only necessary to explain to them the advantages and advantages and then they will know that the legal code of the Celestial Court must be absolutely obeyed with awe.

We find your country is sixty or seventy thousand li [three li make one mile, ordinarily] from China Yet there are barbarian ships that strive to come here for trade for the purpose of making a great profit. The wealth of China is used to profit the barbarians. That is to say, the great profit made by barbarians is all taken from the rightful share of China. By what right do they then in return use the poisonous drug to injure the Chinese people? Even though the barbarians may not necessarily intend to do us harm, yet in coveting profit to an extreme, they have no regard for injuring others. Let us ask, where is your conscience? I have heard that the smoking of opium is very strictly forbidden by your country; that is because the harm caused by opium is clearly understood. Since it is not permitted to do harm to your own country, then even less should you let it be passed on to the harm of other countries -- how much less to China! Of all that China exports to foreign countries, there is not a single thing which is not beneficial to people: they are of benefit when eaten, or of benefit when used, or of benefit when resold: all are beneficial. Is there a single article from China which has done any harm to foreign countries? Take tea and rhubarb, for example; the foreign countries cannot get along for a single day without them. If China cuts off these benefits with no sympathy for those who are to suffer, then what can the barbarians rely upon to keep themselves alive? Moreover the woolens, camlets, and longells [i.e., textiles] of foreign countries cannot be woven unless they obtain Chinese silk. If China, again, cuts off this beneficial export, what profit can the barbarians expect to make? As for other foodstuffs, beginning with candy, ginger, cinnamon, and so forth, and articles for use, beginning with silk, satin, chinaware, and so on, all the things that must be had by foreign countries are innumerable. On the other hand, articles coming from the outside to China can only be used as toys. We can take them or get along without them. Since they are not needed by China, what difficulty would there be if we closed our the frontier and stopped the trade? Nevertheless, our Celestial Court lets tea, silk, and other goods be shipped without limit and circulated everywhere without begrudging it in the slightest. This is for no other reason but to share the benefit with the people of the whole world. The goods from China carried away by your country not only supply your own consumption and use, but also can be divided up and sold to other countries, producing a triple profit. Even if you do not sell opium, you still have this threefold profit. How can you bear to go further, selling products injurious to others in order to fulfill your insatiable desire?

Suppose there were people from another country who carried opium for sale to England and seduced your people into buying and smoking it; certainly your honorable ruler would deeply hate it and be bitterly aroused. We have heard heretofore that your honorable ruler is kind and benevolent. Naturally you would not wish to give unto others what you yourself do not want. We have also heard that the ships coming to Canton have all had regulations promulgated and given to them in which it is stated that it is not permitted to carry contraband goods. This indicates that the administrative orders of your honorable rule have been originally strict and clear. Only because the trading ships are numerous, heretofore perhaps they have not been examined with care. Now after this communication has been dispatched and you have clearly understood the strictness of the prohibitory laws of the Celestial Court, certainly you will not let your subjects dare again to violate the law.

We have further learned that in London, the capital of your honorable rule, and in Scotland, Ireland, and other places, originally no opium has been produced. Only in several places of India under your control such as Bengal, Madras, Bombay, Patna, Benares, and Malwa has opium been planted from hill to hill, and ponds have been opened for its manufacture. For months and years work is continued in order to accumulate the poison. The obnoxious odor ascends, irritating heaven and frightening the spirits. Indeed you, O King, can eradicate the opium plant in these places, hoe over the fields entirely, and sow in its stead the five grains [millet, barley, wheat, etc.]. Anyone who dares again attempt to plant and manufacture opium should be severely punished. This will really be a great, benevolent government policy that will increase the common weal and get rid of evil. For this, Heaven must support you and the spirits must bring you good fortune, prolonging your old age and extending your descendants. All will depend on this act.

As for the barbarian merchants who come to China, their food and drink and habitation, all received by the gracious favor of our Celestial Court. Their accumulated wealth is all benefit given with pleasure by our Celestial Court. They spend rather few days in their own country but more time in Canton. To digest clearly the legal penalties as an aid to instruction has been a valid principle in all ages. Suppose a man of another country comes to England to trade, he still has to obey the English laws; how much more should he obey in China the laws of the Celestial Dynasty?

Now we have set up regulations governing the Chinese people. He who sells opium shall receive the death penalty and he who smokes it also the death penalty. Now consider this: if the barbarians do not bring opium, then how can the Chinese people resell it, and how can they smoke it? The fact is that the wicked barbarians beguile the Chinese people into a death trap. How then can we grant life only to these barbarians? He who takes the life of even one person still has to atone for it with his own life; yet is the harm done by opium limited to the taking of one life only? Therefore in the new regulations, in regard to those barbarians who bring opium to China, the penalty is fixed at decapitation or strangulation. This is what is called getting rid a harmful thing on behalf of mankind.

Moreover we have found that in the middle of the second month of this year [April 9] Consul [Superintendent] Elliot of your nation, because the opium prohibition law was very stern and severe, petitioned for an extension of the time limit. He requested an extension of five months for India and its adjacent harbors and related territories, and ten months for England proper, after which they would act in conformity with the new regulations. Now we, the commissioner and others, have memorialized and have received the extraordinary Celestial grace of His Majesty the Emperor, who has redoubled his consideration and compassion. All those who from the period of the coming one year (from England) or six months (from India) bring opium to China by mistake, but who voluntarily confess and completely surrender their opium, shall be exempt from their punishment. After this limit of time, if there are still those who bring opium to China then they will plainly have committed a willful violation and shall at once be executed according to law, with absolutely no clemency or pardon. This may be called the height of kindness and the perfection of justice.

Our Celestial Dynasty rules over and supervises the myriad states, and surely possesses unfathomable spiritual dignity. Yet the Emperor cannot bear to execute people without having first tried to reform them by instruction. Therefore he especially promulgates these fixed regulations. The barbarian merchants of your country, if they wish to do business for a prolonged period, are required to obey our statues respectfully and to cut off permanently the source of opium. They must by no means try to test the effectiveness of the law with their lives. May you, O King, check your wicked and sift your wicked people before they come to China, in order to guarantee the peace of your nation, to show further the sincerity of your politeness and submissiveness, and to let the two countries enjoy together the blessings of peace How fortunate, how fortunate indeed! After receiving this dispatch will you immediately give us a prompt reply regarding the details and circumstances of your cutting off the opium traffic. Be sure not to put this off. The above is what has to be communicated.

Dr. Umar Khan

khanmomar@hotmail.com

Dr. Khan belongs to a Lahore based Think Tank.

27-8-25

 

 

Japan's biggest service to the world

“Japan also makes cameras, radios and cars but obviously it can’t compete with the Europeans like UK, France or Germany”. An American Children’s encyclopedia of 1960.

 

Just 125 years back the world was a very different place. In addition to political geography the mind and thinking was different that might be totally unacceptable today. After the remarkable discovery of evolution by Charles Darwin the lesson that the great powers, led by Britain, learnt was social Darwinism a very inhuman concept. This justified racism and subjugation of backward races on the basis of pseudo-scientific reasoning of better evolved races controlling the world’s resources. One is flabbergasted by seeing that even the most liberal intellectuals of those times like Bertrand Russell also justified racism and its exploits while others sanctioned it and the loot it brought as a sacred duty of white man’s burden.

 

Prevalence of social Darwinism resulted in absolute domination of the Europeans or the White man with subjugation of the rest of the world. India was ruled by Great Britain where racism was institutionalized and the locals routinely humiliated, impoverished and starved. China was repeatedly invaded, robbed and beaten. In addition to these insults the Chinese suffered an even worse fate, probably the worst atrocity the humanity has ever seen, dangerous narcotics were forced down their throats making Chinese notorious as addicts destroying multiple generation. Many prominent noble families made their fortunes forcing opium sales to China. The whole of African continent suffered atrocities and humiliations of all kinds while the evolved white man planted wars and famines wherever it went, whether it was Iran with multiple (rarely reported) famines, the new world, Australia’s or other parts of Asia. No part of the world was spared by the White man superiority complex.

 

These centuries of white man’s domination and non-white’s humiliation caused extreme lack of self-esteem among the non-whites absolutely convinced of their inferiority and inability to compete.

 

The Darwinian hierarchy was now established and the whites were the most evolved of all the races and the British were the most evolved among the white,s justifying their domination of the world. Social Darwinism was well on its way towards eugenics, racism, imperialism and/or fascism.

 

 

In this back drop of history with the 2 greatest historic Asian powers China and India having been disgraced by the UK and a white man, Commodore Perry of US, showed the muscle to the Japanese who were bullied to concede to his demands opening their doors.

 

These shocking times convinced the Japanese to change their ways to be able to counter the new challenge thrown by the West. This resulted in the Meiji restoration spreading education, technology and social reforms. Interestingly during the discussions about the ways to counter this threat, import of white man’s sperms for the Japanese women was also considered to strengthen and improve the Japanese stock.

 

Japan took the challenge and followed the path of Britain taking the course of conquests to acquire foreign lands and dominate the locals. The easiest targets were the Chinese and the Koreans and armed with new technological weapons and techniques they embarked on wars, something considered totally kosher in those days. In Manchuria they faced the Russian white man and being lowly Asians Japanese weren’t expected to prevail over them. But the world saw a miracle and the Japanese beat the mighty Russians in the Russo-Japanese war of 1904-5 forcing a humbling treaty of Portsmouth on them. This was after hundreds of unequal treaties forced upon Indians, Chinese, natives of Americas, Australia, Africa and all other places for centuries. The tables were turned for the first time and the world was shocked. The rabidly racist British intellectuals like Kipling explained this defeat by labeling the Russians as not enough whites.

 

The myth of the white man’s genetic superiority was broken and importance of education, technology and learning proven.

 

Unfortunately along with education the Japanese in following the British also learnt racism and became as brutal and vicious as them causing lots of sufferings for the hapless Chinese and Koreans among others too. Instead of fighting unjust racism by helping the victims they joined the culprits asking for their share in the exploits.

 

After another few decades Japan further strengthened itself and directly confronted the Europeans in Asia during the Second World War. It beat the powerful French in Indochina, Dutch in Indonesia and now confronted the mighty British in their stronghold of Singapore.

 

The British command like the rest of the world held a deeply ingrained, racist view of the Japanese military as inferior, incompetent and technologically inept. They believed the Japanese were poor jungle fighters with no mechanical aptitude, and they dismissed intelligence reports that suggested otherwise. Japanese were among the yellow peril the “civilized” world despised.

 

Then the absolute unexpected happened and with less than half the strength the Japanese Gen Yamashita made the vastly superior British forces led by Gen Percival surrender. Although later the great Yamashita was to pay the price by being hanged for this, he had done a great favor to the countries struggling desperately under the British subjugation at that time.

 

Finally Japan was nuclear bombed and totally beaten in the world war but it didn’t give up. A Japanese proverb had taught them that the bamboo that bends is stronger than the oak that resists; they accepted the challenge the new age had thrown at them and started focusing on developing a competitive industry and a thriving economy. This was a test as inferior nonwhites weren’t supposed to be bright enough to make products that could compete with the west and the Europeans in world markets. As a child I remember people ridiculing the Toyotas and Hondas as some kind of toys that weren’t supposed to last and compete with the great European brands like Morris’s or Triumphs.

 

Despite the odds the Japanese kept on improving their efficiency and quality and within no time those famous European brands had been swept out of market finding their place in the shelves of history. The Japanese brands had totally dominated in autos electronics, ship building and many other segments due to their quality and value that they offered.

 

The Japanese had totally beaten the west in its own game.

 

Japanese had proven that it was not the race but education and hard work the brought success and no race was superior to others.

 

Following the footsteps of Japan the Koreans, Taiwanese and other Asian nations also developed. Then it was time for China to join the band wagon and as Napoleon had predicted centuries earlier, Chinese awakening shook the world and the world we see now doesn’t resemble the psychological make up of my younger days.

It’s a different and a much better world, although having imperfections, without racial stereotyping and exploitation rampant just a century ago.

 

For this positive change of ending racism and stereotyping, the Japanese nation has a major role for which the modern world must show its gratitude although it can’t thank it enough. Without Japanese repeatedly shattering the racial superiority myth most of the non-European world would have been under subjugation of the west and starving.  

 

The latest Asian revival and resurgence owes much to Japanese hard work and breaking of myths.

 

"Fall seven times, stand up eight." — Japanese Proverb

 

 

khanmomar@hotmail.com