[Important Cultural J] You Have Set Me Adrift from Alamgir and Fariha Parvez

There is a lot to this production from Coke Studio, not least its human timing. 

The context, as I read it, is following the horrendous judicial murder in Dhaka, a somewhat clumsy resolution from the Pakistan National Assembly, a beautiful 6 minutes from Imran Khan and the Shahbag effigy burning.

Two songs, from two tongues flow into each other. The story of Alamgir is fascinating and counter factual for the Bengali Nationalist. Translations below.

আমায় ভাসাইলি রে

آمائے بھاشائلی رے
aamaay bhaashaaili re
You have set me adrift

আমায় ডুবাইলি রে
آمائے ڈوبائلی رے
aamaay ḍoobaaili re
You are causing me to drown

অকুল দরিয়ার বুঝি কূল নাই রে
اوکول دوریار بوجھی کول نائی رے
okool dauriaar boojhi kool naai re
The river seems endless as if there were no shore

কূল নাই কিনার নাই
کول نائی کنار نائی
kool naai kinaar naai
No border, no shore

নাই কো দরিয়ার পারি
نائی کو دوریار پاری
naai ko dauriaar paari
The river has no limits

সাবধানে চালাইও মাঝি
شابدھانے چالائیو ماجھی
shaabdhaane chaalaaiyo maajhi
Steer it most cautiously, boatman

আমার ভাঙ্গা তরি রে
آمار بھانگا توری رے
aamaar bhaanga tori re
This boat of mine with a broken rim

অকুল দরিয়ার বুঝি কূল নাই রে
اوکول دوریار بوجھی کول نائی رے
okool dauriaar boojhi kool naai re
The river seems endless as if there were no shore

چاہے آندھی آئے رے
chaahe aandhi aaye re
Whether a storm rages

چاہے میگھا چھائے رے
chaahe megha chhaaye re
Whether rainclouds rumble

ہمیں تو اس پار لیکے جانا ماجھی رے
hamen tu us paar leke jaana maajhi re
Take us across to the other end, boatman

چاہے جتنا شور کریں یہ ندیا کے دھارے
chaahe jitna shor karen ye nadiya ke dhaare
However loud these river torrents roar

ساتھ میرے لگائیو ماجھی ناؤ مری کنارے رے
saath mere lagaaiyo maajhi naao miri kinaare re
Help me get my boat to the shore, boatman

ہمیں تو اس پار لیکے جانا ماجھی رے
hamen tu us paar leke jaana maajhi re
Take us across to the other end, boatman

(sargam)

نہ میں مانگوں سونا چاندی
nah main maangoon sona chaandi
I don’t ask for gold and silver

مانگوں توسے پریت
mangoon tose preet
I ask you for love

بلما مئیکا چھاڑ گئے
balma maeeka chaaṛ gaye
My lover has left me and gone

یہی جگت کی ریت
yihi jagat ki reet
This is the way of the world

سئیاں بنا
saiyaan bina
Without my beloved…

سئیاں بنا
saiyaan bina
Without my beloved…

سئیاں بنا
saiyaan bina
Without my beloved…

سئیاں بنا گھر سونا
saiyaan bina ghar soona
Without my beloved, my house is desolate

سئیاں بنا گھر سونا
saiyaan bina ghar soona
Without my beloved, my house is desolate

ساوریا نہ آئے
saawariya na aaye
My handsome love did not come

ساوریا
saawariya
My handsome love

یاد تہاری
yaad tihaari
The thought of you…

یاد تہاری
yaad tihaari
The thought of you…

مئیکا جلائے جیارا
maika jalaaye jiyaara
Makes my heart burn with longing

سئیاں بنا گھر سونا
saiyaan bina ghar soona
Without my beloved, my house is desolate

نہ آئے
na aaye
…didn’t come

نہ آئے
na aaye
…didn’t come

سئیاں بنا گھر سونا
saiyaan bina ghar soona
Without my beloved, my house is desolate

جیارا جلائے مورا
jiyaara jalaaye mora
…makes my heart burn in longing

ہو راجا چین جیا ناہیں آئے
ho raaja chain jiya naaheen aaye
O dearest, my heart gets no peace

چین جیا ناہیں آئے
chain jiya naaheen aaye
My heart gets no peace

چین جیا ناہیں آئے
chain jiya naaheen aaye
My heart gets no peace

چین جیا ناہیں آئے
chain jiya naaheen aaye
My heart gets no peace

سونا
soona
Desolate

سونا
soona
Desolate

سونا
soona
Desolate

ساوریا نہ آئے
saawariya na aaye
My handsome love did not come

سئیاں بنا گھر سونا
saiyaan bina ghar soona
Without my beloved, my house is desolate

- See more at: http://www.pmm.net.pk/2013/12/coke-studio-season-6-episode-4-alamgir-fariha-pervez-aamay-bhashaili-rey-videoaudio-download/#sthash.8emNS5Mo.dpuf

Plea Bargaining as Blackmail, and the Quest for Exhoneration under Imperialism

News is emerging that two Britons, Poet Talha Ahsan and IT engineer Babar Ahmad, who were extradited to the US last year after years of detention in the UK without trial, have taken the only option available to them - the plea bargain.

Some of the current coverage gives less context than others, for example the recent Telegraph piece omits the plea bargain issue which I believe is fundamentally miscarrying justice here. The BBC's Dominic Casciani has been following the case has penned an article at least includes this.

Thankfully we do not need to rely on the corporate media to know more as both men's families have run family campaigns ( Talha | Babar). Dr Ian Patel of KCL's International State Crime Initiative wrote a good article about Talha's particular predicament in the New Statesman earlier this year, while Turab Shah's extradition film (27 mins), which was made prior to the extradition, provides a good grounding on them both. Not to mention Clare Cameron's 3 minute short on Talha's family called 'Dinner Time'.



Plea bargaining is a legal form of judicial blackmail. However, the term 'bargain' is a misnomer as this scenario pits an arrogant part of a superpower against a young Muslim male away from home in War on Terror Times. Through a plea bargain, the defendant agrees to plead guilty to something in exchange for the prosecution's leniency. It is torture at an epistemological level and poet Talha has Aspergers syndrome to boot.

Recent extraditees, David Bermingham, Gary Mulgrew and Christopher Tappin entered plea bargains in order to get on with their lives. As a result they were repatriated, but not exonerated. In the video below David Bermingham talks about his experiences of extradition and plea bargaining to an audience in the UK Houses of Parliament.

I remember him saying how only an insane man would not take a plea. 

Then I think of these two men who have spent pretty much all of their days over the past year in solitary confinement in Supermax prison conditions widely recognised as torturous. 

Supermax is terrible and Florence ADX even has a documentary about it.

 "

[Documentary] Jeremy Scahill's Dirty Wars and an Interview with Pakistani activist Hassan Niazi