Threatened rock carvings of Pakistan

A collage of carvings and inscriptions of different periods shows the heritage on the brink of destruction as the proposed site of the Diamer-Basha Dam hosts some 30,000 ancient art carvings and inscriptions which may vanish forever. – 3D artwork by Mufassir A. Khan

Pakistan is going to lose one of the most precious rock art carvings due to construction of the Diamer-Basha Dam. The proposed site of the dam hosts some 30,000 ancient art carvings and inscriptions which may vanish forever due to the construction of this reservoir.
The northern area of Pakistan is a mountainous region which lies between the western Himalayas, the Korakoram in the east and the Hindukush in the west. Here, the junction of the ancient routes made the upper Indus a cradle and crossroads of different civilizations.

The junction of the ancient routes made the upper Indus a cradle and crossroads of different civilizations.

Travelers, invaders, merchants, pilgrims and artisans from different ages and cultures used the legendary silk route and its branches to enter in the region. Many of them left their cultural and religious signs on the rocks, boulders and cliffs.
The sun-tanned smooth rocks attracted more visitors and settlers to carve their own signs, symbols, inscriptions and artworks on the same locations. And hence, gradually a rock art archive accumulated in the area and eventually became a wonderland of some 50,000 rock carvings and 5,000 inscriptions from different civilizations ranging from the eighth millennium BC to the coming of Islam (since the 16th century AD) in the region.
The diversity of the rock carvings in the region turned the area into one of the most important rendezvous of petroglyphs in the world.
The history of discoveries
In 1884, a Hungarian traveler, Karl Eugen discovered a Buddhist carving in present Baltistan. In 1907, a veteran explorer, Ghulam Muhammad unveiled another Buddhist petroglyph from the Diamer district.
When the 750 km long, Karakorum Highway (the modern Silk Road) inaugurated in 1978, thousands of more engravings came to view which inspires a German scholar, Karl Jettmar to further explore the rock art wealth.
In 1980, Karl Jettmar and Pakistan’s father of archaeology, Ahmed Hassan Dani launched a Pak-German study group to systematically investigate the ancient rock art in the region.

This area is also famous for the amazing story of mysterious gold-digging ants.Greek historian, Herodotus (in fifth century BC) wrote (Historia III, 102-105) about the land of Dardai, where gold-digging ants – “bigger than fox, though not so big as a dog were used to collect gold particles.”

Another research project entitled “Rock Carvings and Inscriptions along the Karakorum Highway” was initiated in 1983. The Heidelberg Academy of Humanities and Sciences and the Department of Archaeology of Gilgit were responsible for the study group. Professor Harald Hauptmann has been the head of the project since 1989 as a successor of Jettmar.
Talking Rocks
The Shatial, Thor, Hodur, Thalpan, Naupura, Chaghdo and other sites of northern Pakistan having clusters of carvings but the Basha-Diamer area holds thousands of very important rock carvings.
Hauptmann told Dawn.com that a total of 37,051 carvings on 5,928 boulders or rock faces will be inundated after the construction of the Diamer-Basha Dam.
The site represents hundreds of inscriptions in Brahmi, Sogdian, middle Persian, Chinese, Tibetan and even ancient Hebrew languages. Some 80 per cent of the writings are in Brahmi language.

Always) remember that (one day) you must die.” –. Photo courtesy of Harald Hauptmann / Heidelberg Academy of Sciences and Humanities, Germany.

These writings not only provide insights into the religious and political situation but also show the name of the rulers and a rough date of the time. These details of the inscriptions helped the experts arrange them chronologically.
One of the interesting Brahmi inscriptions can be read as; Martavyam Smartavyam, which means: “(Always) remember that (one day) you must die.”

This prehistoric Caprine depiction was discovered in Chilas . Photo courtesy of Harald Hauptmann / Heidelberg Academy of Sciences and Humanities, Germany.

The earliest rock carvings in northern Pakistan dates back to the ninth millennium BC (roughly late Stone Age). Wild animals and hunting scenes are commonly found in this era but the hunter himself was never found.

The mysterious “Giant Figures” represents the demons, deities or supernatural beings. More than 50 such carvings have been discovered in the area. – Photo courtesy of Harald Hauptmann / Heidelberg Academy of Sciences and Humanities, Germany.

The following Bronze Age petroglyphs represent the most spectacular carvings of giants. These life size male giant figures with stretched arms could be assumed to be images of ghosts, demons, deities or gods. Some 50 such carvings have been discovered in northern areas but all the giants have no facial features.
In the third millennium BC, agriculture started in the region and carvings of horses were observed for first time. Then in the beginning of the first millennium BC, the area witnessed invasions by new ethnic groups such as the Sakan tribes. They carved sketches of Eurasian animals, most of them very interesting, bizarre and mythical in nature.
Later, another bunch of carvings appeared representing more mythical creatures, horses and warriors with Persian attire. These depicted the Iranian influence in the region and the expansion of Achaemenid Empire in sixth century BC.
The Golden era of Buddhism
In the first century AD, Buddhism emerged in the area as new belief system and reached its peak between the fifth and eighth century. Many spectacular carvings of Buddha and stupas – sacred buildings – and related inscriptions were found carved in the same era.

The beautiful carvings of two Buddhas flanking a stupa. –. Photo courtesy of Harald Hauptmann / Heidelberg Academy of Sciences and Humanities, Germany.

According the Hauptmann, the historic period of early Buddhism started from this area because of findings of old Indian style Khorashti language or Sanskrit. The venerations of Buddha and names of different kings show the climax of Buddhism in this area.
Although addressing Pakistan’s energy crisis is an urgent need and the Basha Dam would help bridge the gap between the demand and supply of power, the conservation and mitigation of these carvings is also very important.
When Dawn.com, asked Hauptmann about mitigation of the rock carvings in one hand and the need of the dam on the other, he said, “We (as an archaeologist) have to respect the decision (to build the dam) but it is very sad for us to lose one of the most rich and diverse rock art provinces of the world.”
According to Hauptmann, the Basha Dam will drown 32 villages and displace more than 25,000 people.
He added that some 3,000 very important stupas and similar number of drawings will be submerged after the construction of the dam. He called to establish a cultural center in Gilgit where original and replicas of the carvings could be preserved along with scientific documents about the geography, history, languages, music, wildlife and other aspects of the northern areas.
This center could be a rendezvous for scholars, writers, visitors and for future generation to discover the exciting history of the region.
Gold-digging ants
This area is also famous for the amazing story of mysterious gold-digging ants.
Greek historian, Herodotus (in fifth century BC) wrote (Historia III, 102-105) about the land of Dardai, where gold-digging ants – “bigger than fox, though not so big as a dog were used to collect gold particles.”
Later, other historians and writers such as Arrian, Claudius Aelianus, Ktesias, and Plinius shed some light on this amazing tale that fox-sized fuzzy “ants” were found in far eastern India in a region with yellow sand rich in gold particles.
The creatures piled up the dust and dirt while digging up the burrows where people would collect them to extract gold.
In 1854, Alexander Cunningham mentioned the fact that “the sands of the Indus have long been celebrated for the production of gold.”
In 1984, a French ethnologist Michel Peissel wrote a book named, “The Ants’ Gold: The Discovery of the Greek El Dorado in the Himalayas”. Peissel suggested that Herodotus actually mentioned the Deosai Plateau of Pakistan in the story of gold-digging ants.
He said that not ants but (Himalayan) marmot used to dig deep burrows and pile large amount of sand. He further wrote that Deosai Plateau is rich in gold particles where marmot were found in abundance and thus solved the thousands-of-years-old gold-ant puzzle.
Peissel also claimed to interview Minaro, Maruts or Sonival tribes of Deosai Plateau and they confirmed the gold collection procedure through marmots.
But why did Herodotus write about gold-digging ‘ants’? Peissel presented the theory that Herodotus was probably unaware of the Persian language and depended on local interpreters and never claimed to see any ants by himself. He was confused because the old Persian word for “marmot” was very similar to that for “mountain ant”.
The Management Plane
Dr. Ayesha Pamela Rogers is the director of Rogers Kolachi Khan and Associates (RKK) and contracted by the Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda) for the Heritage Impact Assessment survey and report for the dam.
RKK launched its first report in 2009 as a long term comprehensive management plan to safeguard the heritage and help the people affected by the building of the reservoir.
Rogers agreed that some 30,000 carvings on 5,000 rocks will be affected. Some of them will be totally submerged; others will be seasonally under water and then exposed when water level are low, she assessed.
“Other (rock carvings) will be seasonally under water and then exposed when water levels are low, others which are now at high elevations will be close to the new shoreline. It means mitigation and conservation approaches are needed for this entire situation.
Other threats exist which are not related to the dam – many carvings are being vandalised as we speak – and new risks will arise if and when tourism is developed. Again, all these need to be addressed in a management plan,” she added.
She further said that Wapda is committed to this project and preserving whatever it can.
The pages of history, language and religion have been carved on the upper Indus rocks and they have been talking to humanity for hundred of years. An urgent and comprehensive plan is needed to preserve them for the world and for the generations to come.

Moon may have more water than believed: study

NASA announced in 2009 that two spacecraft sent crashing into the lunar surface had discovered frozen water on the moon for the first time, a dramatic revelation it hailed as a giant leap forward in space exploration. – Reuters Photo

WASHINGTON: The moon may have a lot more water than imagined, perhaps as much in some parts as on Earth, a discovery that has cast doubt on long-held theories about how the moon was formed, said a study out Thursday.
The moon was long thought to be a dusty, dry place until a few years ago when water was discovered there for the first time.
Now scientists at Case Western Reserve University, Carnegie Institution for Science, and Brown University believe there is 100 times more water deep inside the moon than previously believed.
The findings were made using a precision instrument, called the NanoSIMS 50L ion microprobe to examine lunar melt inclusions, or tiny bits of molten rock that were picked up by the Apollo 17, the last US mission to the moon in 1972.
“These samples provide the best window we have to the amount of water in the interior of the moon,” said co-author James Van Orman, professor of geological sciences at Case Western.
“The interior seems to be pretty similar to the interior of the Earth, from what we know about water abundance.” The findings are in the May 26 edition of Science Express.
The same team published a paper in Nature in 2008, describing the first evidence for the presence of water in volcanic glasses returned by the Apollo missions.
“The bottom line is that in 2008, we said the primitive water content in the lunar magmas should be similar to the water content in lavas coming from the Earth’s depleted upper mantle,” said co-author Alberto Saal.
“Now, we have proven that is indeed the case.” While the findings corroborate a long-held theory that the moon and Earth have common origins, they also cast doubt on the notion that the moon may have formed after a chunk of the Earth was dislodged, losing much of its moisture in the high-temperature process.
Under this “giant impact” theory dating back to the 1970s, the Moon was formed after our planet collided with a space rock or planet some 4.5 billion years ago.
“This new research shows that aspects of this theory must be reevaluated,” the study said.
The findings also raise questions about theories that ice found in craters at the lunar poles may have resulted from meteor impacts, suggesting some of it may have come from the eruption of lunar magmas.
NASA announced in 2009 that two spacecraft sent crashing into the lunar surface had discovered frozen water on the moon for the first time, a dramatic revelation it hailed as a giant leap forward in space exploration.

Salman Khan wants a homemaker

 

Mumbai: The 40 something superstar of Bollywood, Salman Khan still tops the list of the most eligible bachelors in the country. He might have had a number of love stories to his credit, but Salman’s search for an ideal spouse is on full swing.

While talking to a daily, Bhai, who otherwise prefers to remain silent about his love life, candidly said, "I want someone who is very efficient with good qualities of a homemaker."

The hunk belongs to a well-knit family that has been a cohesive unit thru thick and thin. And family values are something that holds great importance in the actor’s life.

“In today’s times when family values have become trivial and human bonding is breaking down, everyone must remember that a man is a success only if he has good family values. I would rate family values as something more important than success,” said Sallu.

For someone who believes in shouldering his siblings` responsibility even at this age said, “I will be a finished man tomorrow if I do not respect what my family wants. Family is the biggest support system you have."

The flamboyant star does earn in crores but he believes in a simple lifestyle, for he knows how his father moved to Mumbai from Indore with just Rs60 in his pocket!

In Iraq, shisha smoking on a smuggling boat

Men sit at a floating cafe on a ferry docked on the shores of the Shatt al-Arab waterway in Basra, 420 km (260 miles) southeast of Baghdad, May 24, 2011. - Photo by Reuters

BASRA: For the hip and trendy in Iraq’s southern oil city of Basra, a warm spring evening spent puffing a water pipe or drinking tea on a boat that was once used to smuggle oil is just the ticket.
Ferries used to smuggle crude, weapons and people in the mayhem that followed the 2003 overthrow of dictator Saddam Hussein have been transformed into floating cafes as the shore of the Shatt al-Arab waterway reclaims its role as a nightlife hotspot.
“This place where we are sitting used to be a place for gas and oil smuggling ferries. It was an isolated area,” said Mustafa Sadiq, sitting with two friends on one of the boats.
“But now it has become a very nice amusement place. We spend lovely evenings here.”
A security crackdown by the government on militias in 2008 helped restore a sense of normality in Basra, one of Iraq’s most populous cities and the southern hub of the country’s burgeoning oil industry.
Basra is an important centre for the foreign companies that have set up shop here in a bid to refurbish dilapidated oilfields, the wellspring of the billions of dollars of government revenues needed to rebuild after years of war and international economic sanctions.
The Shatt al-Arab, a waterway formed by the confluence of the Tigris and the Euphrates at Qurna – a town some believe to be the site of the biblical Garden of Eden – runs 184 km (114 miles) to the Gulf.
In the chaotic aftermath of the US-led invasion in 2003, Basra smugglers ran wild. They bought oil from gangs that tapped into Iraq’s pipelines and siphoned off crude into tanker trucks.
The stolen oil was transported to the ferries in the Shatt al-Arab and sailed into the Gulf, where it was sold in neighbouring Kuwait or Iran or to ships at sea.
Smuggler’s den to shisha haven
As the smugglers took over the Basra shore, the smell of oil hung heavy in the air. The area was transformed by drugs, prostitution and the detritus of a thriving illegal trade.
Now the smell of grilled meats and shisha, the aromatic flavoured tobacco smoked in hookah-style water pipes, wafts over the shore.
“The Shatt al-Arab and its shore were considered to be one of the most important tourist places in Basra,” said Zahra al-Bijari, head of tourism and heritage for the Basra provincial council. “Now the change we see in the use of these ferries serves Basra and … raises the economic conditions in Basra.”
The resurrection of the cafes on the Shatt al-Arab is another sign of the halting restoration of normal life in Iraq, still beset by an Islamist insurgency.
Nightclubs and restaurants are reopening in Baghdad, where parkland is being replanted. An entrepreneur is building cinemas in private clubs. Major hotels are being refurbished.
In Arbil, the capital of the semi-autonomous northern Kurdish region, residents can swim at a public pool, bowl, ride a cable car, or even ice-skate.
Local investors have lined the shores of the Shatt al-Arab, which was renowed in the 1970s for its floating cafes, with waterborne amusements. One turned a ferry into a wedding hall, while others have been transformed into meeting rooms.
Some of the multi-deck vessels have been painted in bright colours and decked out with decorative lights and railings. Air conditioners have been fitted to walkways and decks crammed with tables and chairs.
A local firm won a $12.5 million contract to build a floating hotel, restaurant and shops.
Schoolteacher Abbas Ali travels to Basra from a town far to the west to smoke shisha and spend time with friends.
“I feel happy when I see these places,” Ali said. “We come here to spend couple of hours to feel at ease in this beautiful weather, then go back late, feeling so relaxed.”

Inside help suspected in PNS base attack

The siege has forced authorities to consider relocating the navy's main air base in Karachi away from its current populated area, near the international airport. - File Photo

KARACHI: Pakistani security officials said Thursday they doubted a 17-hour Taliban siege on a strategic naval air base could have been possible without some kind of inside help.
On Sunday, heavily armed militants stormed the naval base in the country’s biggest city of Karachi, destroying two US-made surveillance planes and killing 10 personnel before officials announced the siege was over 17 hours later.
It was the worst assault on a military base since October 2009, and piled embarrassment on the armed forces, who have been fending off accusations of incompetence or complicity after Osama bin Laden was found living under their noses.
“The investigation team will question all those who were present at the time of the attack,” a security official told AFP on condition of anonymity.
“The way the militants attacked means they had maps and were aware of all the directions inside the base,” the official added.
“We suspect that someone inside the base helped them. We are collecting data about all the staff and will also examine their phone data.”
The navy on Wednesday removed the commander of the base, insisting it was a pre-planned transfer, but the military is under increasing domestic pressure to be held accountable over security lapses.
“We have recovered some technical gadgets which prove that they were very well trained, they had night vision goggles and were using wireless devices to communicate,” another official told AFP.
The siege has forced authorities to consider relocating the navy’s main air base in Karachi away from its current populated area, near the international airport, and fanned debate about the safety of the country’s nuclear weapons.
Karachi is Pakistan’s financial capital and the assault was the fourth on the navy after three bombings in late April killed nine people.

CIA to search bin Laden Pakistan compound: report

The CIA has also been granted access to materials that Pakistan's security forces have recovered from the compound, officials told the Post. - AFP (File Photo)

WASHINGTON: Pakistan has agreed to permit the CIA to send in a forensic team to search Osama bin Laden’s compound, the Washington Post reported Thursday, citing US officials.
The CIA team will arrive at the compound in Abbottabad within days to thoroughly search the residence where US Navy commandos killed bin Laden on May 2 in a unilateral raid that angered Islamabad, the report said.
“The assault team was there for only 40 minutes,” an unnamed US official told the Post. “The aim is to return to the site — to do another, more thorough, look.”
The CIA plans to use infrared cameras and other devices capable of identifying materials possibly embedded behind walls, inside safes or underground, the Post reported.
The Central Intelligence Agency was not immediately available for comment.
CIA Deputy Director Michael Morell negotiated the arrangement in a visit to Pakistan last week, when he met the chief of the country’s intelligence service, Lieutenant General Ahmed Shuja Pasha, the Post wrote.
The agreement signaled a step towards cooperation amid intense US diplomatic efforts to shore up strained relations with Pakistan in the aftermath of the raid.
The CIA has also been granted access to materials that Pakistan’s security forces have recovered from the compound, officials told the Post.
The agency has asked Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence for help in analyzing some of the material that was seized in the raid, including deciphering references to names of individuals and places, the report said.
US intelligence officials have called the trove of computer files and notebooks found at the bin Laden compound as the largest intelligence find ever recovered from a terrorist network.

Suicide car bomb kills 25 in Hangu

Security personnel gather at the site of a suicide car bomb attack in the town of Hangu. -AFP Photo

PESHAWAR: A suicide car bomb struck Pakistani police on Thursday, killing 25 people in the second attack in as many days in the northwest as the Taliban vow to avenge the US killing of Osama bin Laden.
“It was a car suicide attack targeting a city police station. The bomber blew up the car at a checkpoint close to the police station,” said police deputy inspector general Masood Khan Afridi.
Regional police spokesman Fazal Naeem said, “(The bomber) wanted to blow up the city police station but he blew up the car close to the barrier outside the station.” Police officials said 25 people were killed and 38 others wounded.
“Most of those killed in the attack are policemen and the death toll may rise, because there are offices and residences of senior police officials and the local administration near the attack site,” said Naeem.
The Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility for the suicide car bombing, with a spokesman saying it was carried out to avenge the death of Osama bin Laden.
“We accept responsibility for this attack. This was a small attack to avenge Osama’s martyrdom,” spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan told AFP by telephone from an undisclosed location.

“Soon you will see bigger attacks. Revenge for Osama can’t be satisfied just with small attacks,” he said.

Drunk Ali Saleem Arrested for Breaking his Mother’s Nose

Ali Saleem or Begam Nawazish Ali known for his controversies including Sex and Alcoholic Scandals is in another terrible situation of life after torturing his own mother in drunk situation.
As per news Ali Saleem yesterday night when came back from partying he was drunk he asked money from his mother and she refused at this Ali Saleem tortured his own mother and broke the bone of mother. Ali Saleem is still in Lockup since morning 6:00 O Clock where his mother submitted an application against him to Police. As per Medical report its being confirmed that he was drunk and the nose bone of his mother is broken by his torture but police is still not registering FIR against him. In morning when his brother was trying for his bail both fought again each other and Police separated both to different rooms.

Accident & Emergency A&E, Aneasthetics Job Opportunity in UK

Accident & Emergency A&E, Aneasthetics Job Opportunity
Date Posted:	2011/05/20
Category:	Overseas
Province:	UK
Location:	UK
Subcategory:	Health
Industry:	Doctor and Other
Gender:	Both
Description:	Accident & Emergency A&E, Anesthetics, Pediatricians, Acute Medicine and Ophthalmology are Required in UK

Finance Manager, Housekeeping Manger Job Opportunity

Finance Manager, Housekeeping Manger Job Opportunity
Date Posted:	2011/05/22
Category:	Overseas
Province:	Islamabad
Location:	Saudi Arabia
Subcategory:	Industries and Production
Industry:	Office Staff
Gender:	Male
Description:	Finance Manager, Housekeeping Manger, Assistant Chief Accountant, Internal Auditors, Accountant, Cash Purchaser, Manager Medical, Senior Accountant and Cook are Required in Saudi Arabia

Salesman, Sales Assistant Job Opportunity

Salesman, Sales Assistant Job Opportunity
Date Posted:	2011/05/23
Category:	Overseas
Province:	Saudi Arabia
Location:	Saudi Arabia
Subcategory:	Industries and Production
Industry:	Office Staff
Gender:	Both
Description:	Salesman, Sales Assistant, Accommodation Officer, Logistic Officer, Cook, Panel Beater, Electrician, Plumber and Mechanics are Required in Saudi Arabia

Accountant, Sales Representative Job Opportunity

Accountant, Sales Representative Job Opportunity
Date Posted:	2011/05/23
Category:	Overseas
Province:	Saudi Arabia
Location:	Saudi Arabia
Subcategory:	Industries and Production
Industry:	Industrial Staff
Gender:	Male
Description:	Accountant, Sales Representative, Diesel Mechanic, Fork Lift Mechanic and House Drivers are Required in Saudi Arabia

Kaif rejects item number

MUMBAI: Aamir Khan is reportedly having a hard time getting Katrina Kaif to star in Delhi Belly.

His name carries enough clout to lure the crowds into theatres, but Aamir Khan is having a surprisingly difficult time roping in an actress for an item number in his home production Delhi Belly.

According to sources, the Bollywood titan approached as many as three women including Katrina Kaif, Deepika Padukone and Malaika Arora Khan. But all of them have bowed out citing shooting plans or scheduling conflicts.

While Padukone is in London shooting for her next film, Kaif has reportedly turned it down saying she has enough dancing to do in her upcoming romantic comedy ‘Mere Brother Ki Dulhan.’ The Sheila Ki Jawani star also fears that signing up for a racy song opposite Imran Khan in Delhi Belly will kill the novelty factor behind the Khan-Kaif pairing.

Items songs are racy tracks in which the hero essentially matches steps with a sexy siren. The songs rarely have a bearing on the screenplay. Delhi Belly is slated to release on June 30.

A dreamlike, ambitious `Tree of Life'

 

Gorgeous and ambitious, pretentious and baffling, tightly controlled yet free-flowing, "The Tree of Life" is unlike anything you've ever seen before. And yet it's very much the culmination of everything Terrence Malick has done until now - all four features he's made over the past four decades.

All his thematic and aesthetic signatures are there from earlier films like "Badlands" and "The Thin Red Line": the dreamlike yet precise details, an obsession with both the metaphysical and the emotional, an ability to create suspense within a languid mood.

It is simultaneously mesmerizing and maddening as it encompasses nothing less than the nature of existence itself. As writer director, Malick ranges far and wide, from intimate moments with a growing family in 1950s Texas to the dawn of time - complete with awesome images of the cosmos and, yes, those dinosaurs you've surely heard about - and back again.

"The Tree of Life" is deeply spiritual, but Malick isn't one to preach. Instead, he gives you the sense that he's genuinely asking questions to which the answers may be unknowable - he's putting them out there for himself, and for us all. Of course, we'll never know his intentions: Malick is notoriously elusive, which is admirable from an artistic perspective but probably frustrating for those who'd like to know what the hell he means by all this.

But if you're open to letting the imagery wash over you, to allowing yourself to get sucked into the film's rhythms and fluidly undulating tones, you'll be wowed. And even if you're not a spiritual person yourself, given to the kind of seeking that frequently marks the characters' voiceovers in "The Tree of Life," you're unlikely to find the film's religious themes alienating.

"Lord, why? Where were you?" wonders the mother in the family, played as an idealized vision of nurturing womanhood by Jessica Chastain. "Who are we to you? Answer me."

Malick offers an intriguing contrast between these heavy, eternal concepts and prosaic childhood memories: light, wispy snippets of sight and sound, of trees and sky and grass, of a mother's voice. (The technical elements here are just stunning, including Emmanuel Lubezki's cinematography, Jack Fisk's production design and Alexandre Desplat's score). These moments are intentionally impressionistic - and "The Tree of Life" feels defiantly plotless and, sometimes, self-indulgent - but they all represent an accurate depiction of how our early recollections can come back to us in fragments. Some are idyllic, while others are frightening.

Eventually, "The Tree of Life" becomes rooted in the reality of the O'Brien family: a father (Brad Pitt), mother (Chastain), and three little boys. Pitt makes the character an intimidating figure, a capricious mix of toughness and tenderness, and it's probably the best work of his career. Chastain, a relative newcomer to the screen, balances him out with sweetness and grace but also with a playful nature and an open, expressive face; you get the sense that she only wants happiness for her children, in whatever form it comes to them.

But Hunter McCracken, the young actor playing Jack, the eldest of the three sons, has a startlingly confident and commanding presence, especially given that this is his first film. McCracken more than holds his own opposite Pitt, with whom he repeatedly clashes: He's truly the star. Jack will grow up to be played by Sean Penn, a Houston architect who's still shaken by a family tragedy decades later. This is one of the chief weaknesses here: Malick has Penn available to him, and all he does is ask him to walk around moping in Armani suits.

Still, "The Tree of Life" changed my mood for the rest of the day, too - and when you see a lot of movies, most of which tend to flee your memory leaving nary a trace on your heart or mind, that's rare. And it can't easily be dismissed. (AP)

Attackers were in contact with commander

 

KARACHI: The PNS Mehran attackers who stormed the naval air base Sunday night were in contact with their commander via high-tech wireless system, Geo News correspondent Afzal Nadeem Dogar reported.

An inquiry committee, headed by Rear Admiral Tehsinullah Khan, is investigating the terrorist attack. It includes representatives from Pakistan Air Force, police, naval intelligence and Rangers.

After reports of some inside help, scope of the probe has been widened and all personnel of Pakistan Navy deployed at the base have been included in the investigations.

The list of visitors who visited the base during past several days has also been sought to ascertain the details regarding the people they met, when and for how long.

A high-tech walkie-talkie set has been recovered from the bushes confirming the reports that the raiders were in contact with their commander.

The militants came loaded with sophisticated weaponry including rocket launchers hand grenades, Kalashnikovs etc. Raiders fired more than 1100 bullets and seven rockets. Investigators recovered 860 spent cases of Kalashnikovs, 165 of Triple two rifle, 29 of light machine gun, 12 hand grenades, rocket launcher and one suicide vest.

Body parts for DNA testing and finger print match have been sent to Islamabad.