3 weeks in Pakistan, @GIFT University in Gujranwala, 2022

Ein 3-wöchiger Einsatz als Gastdozent führte mich nach Gujranwala in der Provinz Punjab: ca. 2 mio Einwohner, in der Umgebung nicht nur Ackerbau, sondern relativ viel Industrie, vor allem Mittelstand.
Der Name Punjab besteht aus "punj" = 5 und "ab" = Wasser. Deshalb sehr gut für den Ackerbau.
Die "GIFT University" in Gujranwala ist eine Privat-Uni, die vor 20 Jahren gegründet wurde mit dem Ziel, in der Region eine bessere Ausbildung für die Industrie und den wachsenden Mittelstand zu schaffen. - Das gelingt: Sie ist in 20 Jahren auf 8000 Studenten angewachsen und bietet neben Maschinenbau/Engineering und IT auch Sozialwissenschaften, Sprachwissenschaften und Wirtschaftswissenschaften.
Natürlich auch Islam ("Islamic Studies"). Dieses Fach ist sehr stark ethisch ausgerichtet. Das führt dazu, dass im Mission-Statement der Uni neben den Säulen Theorie und Praxis gleichberechtigt die Ethik steht. Außerdem ist der Islam/der Koran immer auch das Fundament: des Rechts, des Zusammenlebens, der Wissenschaft und aller anderen Dinge.
Auf dem Campusgelände findet man moderne Gebäude und Räumlichkeiten aber auch Moschee, Palmen-Atrium und Badminton-Court im Hauptgebäude. Hightec ist ebenso zu finden wie überall strenge Sicherheitsbestimmungen.
Neben dem Campus bzw. zwischen den Teilgebieten desselben sind riesige Baustellen für neue Wohnviertel. Und gleich daneben Acker-/Gartenbau und Viehzucht im Stil der Vergangenheit.
Überall: außerordentlich freundliche und offene Menschen. Ich durfte sogar beim Freitagsgebet dabei sein.I will continue in English because I want to integrate potential international readers.On my first excursion I was taken to Sialkot, some 60km north-east of Gujranwala. It is a city that has grown to around 300,000 inhabitants nowadays. You will get details, if you look at the Sialkot Tour below. Here I would like to mention one highlight of national and international importance, and that is the personality of Muhammad "Allama" Iqbal:
Allama Iqbal, the National Hero, was born in Sialkot in 1877. A famous Poet in Urdu and Farsi, an Islamic Philosopher and a Political Thinker and Driver, he is kind of the intellectual Father of Pakistan, a Pakistan based on Islam.
Apart from his education in his home environment, he studied in the UK and in Germany, where he got his PhD in Philosophy at the Ludwig-Maximilian-University in Munich. - Iqbal died in Lahore, in 1938.
The house where he was born is today a Museum.
We got a good guided tour. On top, I was lucky and happy to have my dear colleague Kashif as a personal guide who has known the place since his childhood. - I left deeply impressed.
If you are interested, you can easily find more on the web, e.g. here:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muhammad_IqbalMonday through Friday were filled with work at the GIFT University.The second weekend was as nice as the first one - in terms of weather: warm, not too hot, with a mild evening and night.
The visit to Lahore was very rich in terms of history, culture and architecture.
It started with a visit of the National Monument Minar-i-Pakistan, a tower that was built in the 60ies to celebrate the foundation of the Nation of Pakistan 1947. It is a modern, in most parts digital museum, well designed, easy to follow and understand, impressive.
The second part lead us into the incredibly large Fort Lahore: built by the Mughol Emperors (mid 16th century) in enormous splendour, surrounded by a massive brick wall. Their rule lasted roughly 200 years.
Their splendour was (unfortunately) destroyed by the following Sikh rulers (mid 18th to mid 19th century) who decided to use the valuable material - especially the marble - for another fort in another place, in Punjab, today's Rajasthan/India.
The Sikhs were followed by the British (mid 19th to mid 20th century). When they left in the middle of the 20th century, finally, Pakistan became an independent Nation of its own.
Unfortunately this started with the biggest ethnic/religious cleansing and migration in human history: millions of muslims fleeing to Pakistan, millions of Hindus fleeing to India, and millions getting killed.
The third part of our visit followed around sunset: the Badshahi Masjid (or Mosque).
A very impressive experience.
“The Badshahi Mosque was constructed by the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb between 1671 and 1673 and was the largest mosque in the world from 1673 to 1986.“ (Wikipedia)
We even happened to see a Wedding taking place. I was lucky to get explanations from a friend.
Some similarities with Forts in India constructed in the same period of time do not come by accident, it seems. The Fort was built by the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan (1628–1658).
For the fourth part we returned to the Fort, where we enjoyed a guided tour that led through the different parts with history explained and garnished with some mysterious stories. Highlights were King's Music by two instrumentalists and a group of drummers and dancers who performed very impressive folkloristic music.
We finished with the fifth part: an excellent dinner in a rooftop restaurant, on top of a beautiful Haveli, from where we were able to look straight down into the court of the huge Mosque.
I was very tired when we got back to Gujranwala at half past midnight.It has been three weeks now that I live in "Sir Zayed's Boy's Hostel". Sounds like a youth hostel, but it's much more than that: well equipped, nice and clean and with excellent service, day by day. Small hallway, mini-sitting room, bedroom & office corner and a bathroom, maybe 40 square meters.
Unfortunately there is construction work going on currently, between 7 a.m. and 9-10 p.m., that can be a bit annoying. But this is overcompensated by Mr. Khalid, the warden. He fulfils all wishes and can tell wonderful stories from the time he spent in the Army, in a Special Forces Team. And while everybody here talks about Cricket, Mr. Khalid is fond of football! At least one person with whom I can chat about sports ;-)As of today, the core part of my professional project is over. Only a few more sessions with students and colleagues. Time to relax and get ready for the return trip back home, next Thursday...Heute ist Sonntag. - Der einzige Tag, an dem Pakistani nicht arbeiten. Es gibt nämlich bis auf wenige privilegierte Berufe keinen Urlaub (sagt mein Partner hier). - Und selbst das stimmt nicht, denn es ist nicht zu überhören, dass der Presslufthammer gleich in den Räumen neben auch heute keine Pause macht.
Beim heutigen Rundgang (zum Frühstück) wollte ich mal die bewachte und barrikadierte Einfahrt/Ausfahrt und den Sportbereich mit ins Bild bringen. Wie überall sind die Leute extrem offen und freundlich, beginnen gern ein Gespräch und posieren für ein Bild. Ich hatte Glück, dass auch gerade ein paar junge Männer ihr Cricket-Training absolvierten und mich mit auf den Trainingsplatz ließen.
Cricket ist Sport Nr. 1 in Pakistan, vor Hockey und Fußball (abgeschlagen). In den ersten beiden Sportarten ist Pakistan super und hat schon Weltmeisterschaften gewonnen. Für mich ist Cricket leider ein Buch mit sieben Siegeln. Ich habe nur gelernt, dass es eigentlich wie Baseball ist, nur mit einem anderen Ball und einem anderen Schläger.
Na ja, als ich nur 10m neben dem Kerl mit dem Schläger stand und sah, wie der draufhaut, ist mir ganz anders geworden. Den Ball willst du nicht abkriegen. - Umso erstaunlicher, dass der Werfer es manchmal tatsächlich schafft, die fliegende Granate mit der Hand aus der Luft zu fischen.I've been reading one of the leading local newspapers now for three weeks. First of all I was impressed and delighted to find freedom of press and a mostly high quality journalism. - But maybe I'm too optimistic? Maybe I haven't understood the hidden rules yet?
I particularly like the OPINION pages (mostly p. 6 and 7) in this tabloid format newspaper. I also tried to understand the daily news. Which was and is difficult, because I don't understand the cultural and political context and - along with that - the terms and abbreviations. In the meanwhile I learned a few of them and it's getting better. - I more and more try to find those articles where I can compare their view and attitude to the one I know from back home (Süddeutsche Zeitung or NYT). And I realize - more and more - how much of a difference it makes whether you read the local article or the "Western" one. Theoretically the articles should be similar, if the journalists are good and serious, in different places. Because the events and the facts are the same, aren't they? And a good and serious journalist is a good and serious journalist, here and there. - But the few weeks here made it clear to me - more than I had expected - that this is not the case. The environment, the culture, the different perspectives, and conflicts of interest between the regions: they all are responsible for the fact that the articles on the "same story" are not the same. Whether it is for topics like Rishi Sunak taking the position of British Prime Minister (comparable to Obama in the US?), or for topics like Israeli interventions (or "crimes" as they put it) in occupied Palestinian territory, or: Pakistan's support for the Saudi decision to cut oil production, thus supporting Putin's war (how can they do this?).
And you see that they find Pro's for the local position and Con's against a German or European position, and you can't escape - easily. And you see that what seemed simple and obvious at home, may become doubtful if you seriously look from here...This weekend I was not as lucky as the two previous ones: Political trouble spoiled my 2-day excursion to Islamabad and the Mountain areas. Imran Khan, the "displaced" former Prime Minister, had decided to launch his "March to Islamabad" in Lahore, on Friday 28. For security reasons, my trip had to be cancelled. The only good thing about it was: time to relax and digest, and write down a few things that I would otherwise forget. Saturday morning, at breakfast, I learned that at GIFT University an International Interdisciplinary Conference on Language Teaching was going on, as a celebration event organized for the 20th GIFT anniversary. I was allowed to get a seat, and even a 10min slot for a short contribution. It was totally unexpected and interesting, especially talking to some of the presenters. - To be honest: I would have preferred Islamabad.Today I was invited to visit the little village "Thatha Dah" which happens to be the home village of my partner Qasim. He grew up there on a farm. We visited his family - a large family, at least by German standards - with some three Uncles, nine Cousins, with their families, plus employees with their families. Together they own three farms. We were most warmly welcomed by: a very large number of them (as you can easily see in the pictures of the tour) and they showed and explained everything from wheat and rice and cattle food to guava trees and garlic fields, from chickem, pigeons and buffaloes to a few super friendly doggies who went mad when their master approached them. I was riding a motor bike with one of the seniors and sitting on a tractor - which I was offered to drive - but didn't dare. We sat in the garden and talked about this and that and politics. Then we sat in a parlour and had tea and "Samosa". And talked about politics again, because one of them works for PTI, the party of Imran Khan. And it felt a bit as if I had been part of the family. - When we finally left, I was quite sure that this was one of my best days in Pakistan. - Thank you very much, Qasim and family!!! Today we should have done another excursion into the countryside to explore riverside areas. Unfortunately the "Long March from Lahore to Islamabad" is once more preventing us from doing that. They block the roads - especially in the environment of Gujranwala - so dramatically that almost all people from all private, public and economic areas are forced to give up their plans. They simply can't move from one place to another. - Instead we're going to take a walk locally and I'll use the remaining time to finish reports and prepare for my return trip.