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WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 24, 2016 INTERNATIONAL How technology killed Pakistan’s historic red light district LAHORE: Pakistan’s oldest red light dis- courtesan or mujra dancer and prosti- the owners of the music shops that are has Facebook, Twitter,” she says. dents and MBAs have the highest rates, trict was for centuries a hub of traditional tute were blurred. the final remnants of old Heera Mandi. “Heera Mandi is no more... even if a they get a hundred thousand (rupees, or erotic dancers, musicians and prostitutes- Dance and sex became intertwined, The intricate mujra dancing that was girl is from Heera Mandi she would nev- $1,000) for one night,” she says. Now she Pigalle with a Mughal twist, deep in the and Heera Mandi began its long slide such a foundation of the red light district er reveal it because the client would plans to expand and offer male prosti- heart of vibrant Lahore. But as an e-com- into sordidness-but even so, Reema required years of teaching and live musi- never risk sexually transmitted diseases tutes. “Girls from the elite class come to merce boom revolutionizes how remembers “glorious” days. Reema’s cians. Now girls learn easy but provoca- and the bad image associated,” she me and beg for boys,” she says. “They say Pakistanis conduct the world’s oldest mother and grandmother were also pros- tive dance moves via YouTube. “They take added. Outside of the Diamond Market, they are ready to pay, but they need profession, locals say the historic Heera titutes, making her part of Heera Mandi’s a USB or sometimes they don’t even she says, business is good. “Medical stu- strong boys.” —AFP Mandi district is under threat. Balconies generations of women who danced and need that, they have songs in their cell- where beautiful women once stood are pleased men in the market. “People used phones, they plug a cable and play the now empty, while rust eats away at the to respect the prostitutes of Heera Mandi, music,” laments Soan Ali, one of the locked doors of vacant rooms. The only we were called artists,” she says-but all music shop owners. Like Reema, Ali’s stubborn hold-outs are shops selling has changed over the last decade. “Now family has also been in Heera Mandi for instruments that once facilitated the we don’t have any honor.” She blames the generations, and he proudly recalled his aperitifs of music and dance. loss on a rush of girls without her family father’s “hospitality” as he attempted to Men now can book a rendezvous background taking up the profession lure clients for his mother. He takes a online through escort websites or even who have not been taught “how to treat deep breath. “We are having a lot of diffi- directly with women over social media, people” the way she has. culties,” he admits. “Whoever is in this instead of searching out streetside solici- field is going through hard days.” tation. With location rendered meaning- Diamonds in the rough less, prostitutes like Reema Kanwal-who Such girls, she says, need nothing to ‘Heera Mandi is no more’ says the business “runs in my blood”- market themselves but a mobile phone, For those who have migrated beyond have abandoned Heera Mandi. The dis- with which they can advertise on Heera Mandi, however, the future is trict, whose name translates as “Diamond Facebook or Locanto, some offering serv- bright. Mehak, who declined to give her Market”, is close to the echoing, cen- ices over Skype for as little as 300 rupees full name, is a cosmetic surgeon by pro- turies-old Badshahi Mosque. ($3). Dozens of escort services with fession, a feminist by ideology, and by During the Mughal era, the great online bookings claim to serve thou- night one of Pakistan’s most elite Islamic empire that ruled most of India sands of clients in Karachi, Lahore and madams. Seven sleek Persian cats prowl and Pakistan in the 15th and 16th cen- Islamabad-some even in Dubai and among the expensive wooden furniture turies, Heera Mandi was a centre for Singapore. In a deeply conservative of her home, which doubles as a brothel mujra, traditional singing and dancing Muslim country where prostitution is for upper-class Pakistanis in a wealthy performed for the elites.The wealthy banned and sex outside marriage is crim- residential neighborhood of Lahore. LAHORE: Rashid Bhatti (center) - a dance instructor, teaches students even sent their sons to the salons of inalized, one website says it caters to Mehak, who is in her mid-50s, says she tawaifs, high-class courtesans that roughly 50,000 customers. recruits most of her girls through elite dance steps at his dance academy in Lahore. Pakistan’s oldest red light have been likened to Japanese geishas, With the old traditions falling by the parties-but adds “this online thing has district was for centuries a hub of traditional erotic dancers, musicians to study etiquette. Later, when the wayside, girls also no longer need an really changed the business”. “A girl no and prostitutes-Montmartre with a Mughal twist, deep in the heart of British came, distinctions between entourage of musicians and teachers, say longer needs a pimp to market her, she vibrant Lahore. —AFP News Top diplomats kick off Japan, in brief 2 soldiers die in blast China, South Korea meeting in Turkey’s southeast ISTANBUL: A Turkish military vehicle was hit by an impro- vised explosive device in southeast Sirnak province, killing Countries at odds over territorial disputes two soldiers, security sources and private Dogan news agency said yesterday. No one claimed responsibility for the TOKYO: Foreign ministers from Japan, Senkaku in Japan and the Diaoyu in China, protests through diplomatic channels “We will deliver Japan’s thinking direct- blast in Uludere town near the Iraqi border. Turkey’s south- China and South Korea kicked off a two- in the East China Sea, with tensions over since August 5, saying there have been ly and clearly,” a foreign ministry official east has been hit by a surge in violence since a ceasefire with day meeting in Tokyo yesterday with their them a frequent hindrance to closer ties. about the same number of intrusions by said regarding the dispute with China. “It militants from the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) countries at odds over territorial disputes, a Tokyo has lodged more than two dozen Chinese vessels into its territorial waters. is important for us to send our message ended last year. The PKK claimed responsibility for a suicide US missile defense system and perennial firmly.” The visit by China’s Wang marks car bomb attack targeting a police station in the eastern regional problem North Korea. Japanese the first by a Chinese foreign minister to Turkish city of Elazig last Thursday that killed three officers. Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida, China’s Japan since Xi Jinping became president The attack was the largest in a series of bombings which Wang Yi and South Korea’s Yun Byung-Se in March 2013. Separately, China has com- killed a total of 10 people, mostly police and soldiers, and met for dinner at a Tokyo hotel ahead of plained about the planned deployment of wounded 300 more within less than 24 hours. It was an esca- the start of formal talks today. The three the US Terminal High Altitude Area lation of violence in southeastern Turkey that officials shook hands and smiled for cameras with- Defense (THAAD) system in South Korea, blamed on PKK militants, who Turkey, the United States and out making any remarks before starting arguing the missile shield goes against its European Union label as a terrorist organization. their meal. own national security interests and warn- The talks are the first since March of last ing it will heighten regional tension. year and come ahead of the Group of 20 South Korea, wary of offending China, Crocodiles dumped summit in China early next month. “It is had wavered, but went ahead in the face in Australia school extremely important for the foreign minis- of North Korea’s continued missile devel- DARWIN: Australian police are searching for four men ters of the three countries that play major opment. North Korea, meanwhile, is likely who left three malnourished saltwater crocodiles in a roles in the region to gather together and to be a key topic at the meeting, though school, after breaking in to steal computer equipment. exchange opinions frankly,” Japan’s Chief finding common ground will be difficult Northern Territory Police said the men entered the Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told Japan and South Korea regularly con- Taminmin College in Humpty Doo, 40km south of reporters earlier. The meeting comes as demn Pyongyang for its nuclear and mis- Darwin, early on Sunday after pushing the crocodiles Sino-Japanese tensions over a territorial sile development, and feel frustrated by through a broken window. CCTV footage released by dispute have spiked this month, while what they see as a lack of pressure on the police showed the men stealing a computer monitor China and South Korea have sparred over country by China, seen as its economic before running away. Parks and Wildlife rangers said the the planned deployment in the latter coun- lifeline. Bilateral meetings between reptiles, who had their mouths taped shut, had probably try of a US anti-missile system. Kishida and his Chinese and South Korean been taken from a nearby crocodile farm but were unlike- The Tokyo-Seoul relationship is also counterparts are also scheduled. The TOKYO: Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida (center) Chinese Foreign ly to survive as they were in such poor health.

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