Daily Times

As soon as my plane landed at the Lahore airport, I texted my friend that we would have dinner at a nice restaurant. “Sure,” he typed in, “we will have a nice dinner… at home.” To tell you the truth, his response surprised me, as Ahsan, a 42-year-old general surgeon, is not one of those who turn down a meal offer easily, especially if it is free! Anyway, he picked me up from the airport and took me straight to his house without mentioning anything about eating out. He had lost some weight, so it was natural for me to think that he was trying to avoid extra calories. But at home, I realised that the reason for him not going out was different: he was certain that the food served in the restaurants was substandard, unhygienic and harmful. During the conversation, he also mentioned that he was concerned about the quality of raw meat being sold at the roadside shops. That is why, on the last visit to his village, he had a goat slaughtered in front of him and split its meat between him and his sister — a practice he intended to continue.
Afterwards, I had to visit my relatives. “I don’t like to eat out anymore. It makes me nauseous,” my aunt, a bank executive said. “I try to eat at home most of the times, it’s pure and fresh you know.” I was taken aback by her concerns since this was not what my experience had been regarding the eating habits of Lahoris in the past. All my friends and family members, for as long as I can remember, are more than ready to order some mutton karahi and chicken tikkas at a nearby restaurant. But this time, they were reluctant. Something had changed. I just did not know what. The same thing happened to me again after couple of days, when a close family friend refused to dine out. “We don’t know what these restaurant owners are feeding us, Kamran Bhai,” she said. “It could be the meat of dead animals or the donkeys and horses. In the worst case scenario, they might be butchering street dogs and stray cats, who knows?”
By this time and by doing some internet research, I had found out the person responsible for spoiling my trip to Lahore! It was none other than the Director General of operations of the Punjab Food Authority (PFA), Ayesha Mumtaz, a young but a strict administrator who has, in the last few weeks, shut down or fined more restaurants than the total number of eateries sealed in the last few years put together. She raids multiple locations in a single day and upon discovering poor hygienic conditions, she either closes them down or gives them a heavy fine without any exemptions. On top of that, she shares what she sees in these diners with everyone through social media. So there are pictures of restaurant kitchens on Facebook, the floors of which are coated with a dark, thick layer of slippery grease that has accumulated over years, with serving plates scattered all over. In between this layer, you can glimpse small patches of the original white tiles. The pots and pans, which lie haphazardly across the kitchen are so dirty that I would not want my pets to eat from them, let alone a human being — the person who is paying and bringing in the business. Then, there are the photographs of rotten vegetables, black leaves of lettuce hanging down, potato wedges soaked in a greyish-white fluid and raw meat tossed on the floor, unprotected from cats, dogs and rodents. Moreover, you notice the deep freezers that look like dumpsters and the ovens portraying a picture of a trash can. Some uploads are so gory that I would want to put up a caution sign for the feeble hearted individuals.
To my disbelief, nobody is spared from these inspections, not even the Avari and Pearl Continental hotels. Everyone is measured with the same yardstick, without giving any concessions to the rich and powerful. The raids on the international franchises, who act as holy cows and pretend that they follow the strictest standards and protocols, are almost unimaginable. They do not follow these standards, as we have caught them red-handed, getting penalties for selling poor quality products.
It is true that after seeing these pictures, people have either reduced eating out or stopped altogether. But they admire the initiative and appreciate the courage and honesty demonstrated by the ‘Iron Lady’. Though they believe that such measures should have been taken a long time ago, they welcome them nevertheless, as a sign of good governance and as a marker of democracy yielding its benefits. In that regard, they also acknowledge the efforts of Mian Shahbaz Sharif and his team, who have so far backed the actions taken by the PFA, even when the pressure is mounting from the owners to stop the raids. Trust me, these restaurant owners are not common people like you and me. They have deep pockets and long arms; so much so that they could have twisted the arm of the Chief Minister (CM), if he was not Mian Shahbaz Sharif.
At any rate, the sad truth is that nobody thinks this process is going to last very long. Lahoris know that sooner or later the CM will cave in, relieving the Director General of her duties. She will either be transferred, suspended, jailed or exiled. Hence, the critics regard the whole activity as political circus — another stunt of Shahbaz Sharif to fool ordinary folks. It is a one man show. After either Sharif or Mumtaz, things will go back to ‘normal’, if a proper system to ensure long-term safety and quality is not put into place. Considering his record, I agree it is unlikely that the CM will bring about any permanent solution. The question is how, or if, we can change that.

The writer is a US-based freelance columnist. He tweets at @KaamranHashmi and can be reached at skamranhashmi@gmail.com