Ruchika Girhotra, Safia Bibi and Mukhtar Mai: any different?
By Ishtiaq Ahmed Daily Times 05 Jan 2010 What goes on all the time in rural India with regard to working women, especially from lower castes, hardly ever figures in media discussions. Such women are constantly harassed and molested by men of the superior castes Some years ago, I met Indian human rights activists in Delhi. A lively discussion followed without the usual rancour that India-Pakistan interactions are notorious for, because we were interested in the rights and dignity of human beings as human beings and not as Christians, Hindus, Muslims, and Sikhs and so on. The exchange of views and notes ended with us being unable to decide whether the Indian or the Pakistani dominant classes were more ruthless and heartless. That both were identical in their inhumanity was probably the … Read entire article »
Filed under: culture, Democracy, Education, human rights, India, Islam, Justice, Law
One Pakistani Institution Places His Faith in Another
By Sabrina Tavernise, The New York Times All rights reserved with The New York Times Company Syed Babar Ali, a businessman and philanthropist, is two decades older than his country, Pakistan. He has witnessed every turn in its tumultuous history. Now, at 83, he feels he has earned the right to give it a bit of advice. Mr. Ali is an institution in Pakistan. He has started some of the country’s most successful companies. But perhaps his most important contribution has been his role in creating the Lahore University of Management and Sciences, or L.U.M.S., begun as a business school but now evolved into the approximate equivalent of Harvard University in Pakistan. … Read entire article »
NRO- The monster finally caged!
The monstrous crimes committed, to fabricate illogical laws and illegal ordinances, created by these criminals to protect their own self and others who participated in those practises to ruin Pakistan has now finally taken place with Supreme Court’s verdict on 16th December. The looters, plunderers will have to face the consequences of their actions and face those trials which they avoided through any means available to them- through NRO, through political needs of survival in … Read entire article »
Filed under: Activism, Army, Citizens, Civil Service, Democracy, Economy, Education, human rights, Islamabad, Jinnah, journalism, Justice, lawyers movement, Media, movements, Multinational Corporations, Pakistan, Parliament, Politics, poverty, Zardari
Bare necessities
By Aroosa Masroor Dawn, 04 Dec, 2009 DADU: Mehak Essa is content that she can now concentrate on her studies. Until two months ago, she spent most of her time calculating the minutes that would be wasted in walking all the way to her relative’s house each time she wanted to use a toilet. But now that her school has a separate toilet for girls, she says her mind is ‘at peace.’ … Read entire article »
Filed under: Children, Education, Environment, Pakistan, poverty, Sindh, Women
Young Minds, Old Hatreds
F S Aijazzuddin, Principal Aitchison College, Lahore, wrote the following in February 2009 after a speech to 500 young Aitchisonians by the then outgoing Indian High Commissioner to Pakistan It was a fitting occasion for a farewell speech. The setting was a 122-year-old college for boys, established in Lahore at a time when the British intended to rule forever and to use the princes of the Punjab to perpetuate that rule. The speaker was the Indian High Commissioner, making his last formal speech in Pakistan before relinquishing charge. … Read entire article »
Filed under: Children, Education, India, Pakistan, Partition, Terrorism
Tearing Down Walls
By Khurram Siddiqi “If bombs don’t kill us, our fear of them will” When we anticipated things getting uglier as the fight for Pakistan’s identity intensified, more bloodshed was the first thing we feared. On the other hand, perhaps something less obvious was how literally ugly our cities would become as well. … Read entire article »
Filed under: Democracy, Education, Identity, Pakistan, psychology, Terrorism
Poem: The Explosion
Wrapped up In delicacies and intricacies of life – As the morning mist clears Whatever thrown at me, At us as a nation. … Read entire article »
Filed under: Activism, Democracy, Economy, Education, Elections, Heritage, History, human rights, Identity, Jinnah, Pakistan
Poem: Where Do You Stand ?
Here I stand, Upon this pyre My house, as fire smolders out From our actions Of dishonesty and indifference remain they distant in anticipation Of disasters and break ups … Read entire article »
From Russia with Love: Main Ney Russia Mee kya Dekha
Bradistan Calling When Pakistan came into existence in 1947, Russia was known as the Godless Empire of Union of Soviet Socialist Republics under brutal dictator Joseph Stalin. This inherent difference in ideologies resulted in tensions from the very start, but the refusal of the first prime minister of Pakistan to accept the cordial invitation of the Soviet leadership to visit USSR started the full scale Cold War. The rest, as they say, is history. Pakistan decided to accept the invitation of United States of America (the head of ‘Free’ Capitalist and Godly world).Pakistan joined anti-communist military pacts and gave its logistic support for Korean War in 1950s.Despite the unwavering loyalty of Pakistani military and landlord elite, USA refused to provide military assistance and spare parts during 1965 Kashmir war with India. The … Read entire article »
Filed under: Activism, Afghanistan, Al Qaeda, Army, baluchistan, Citizens, culture, Economy, Education, Europe, FATA, History, human rights, Identity, Imperialism, India, Islam, journalism, Labour, Left, magazines, Media, minorities, North-West Frontier Province, Pakistan, Peshawar, Politics, Punjabi, quetta, Religion, Sindh, south asia, Taliban, Terrorism, Urdu, USA, youth, Zardari
Post Colonial Pakistan And The Distortion Of History
By Yasser Latif Hamdani An impartial history of the Pakistan Movement and the rise of the Muslim Nationalism in South Asia shows that the main engine behind it – the Muslim Bourgeoisie – was entirely drawn from the modernist educational tradition of Aligarh and other Muslim educational institutions founded and run by pro-west Muslim reformers like Sindh Medressah (which was a school modelled after British tradition, name notwithstanding), Anjuman-e-Himayat-e-Islam schools and colleges as well entirely secular institutions like the Government College, Punjab University and Peshawar University. In comparison the religious and scholarly class – i.e. Ulema- largely stood either aloof or in opposition to the the Pakistan Movement. Darul Uloom Deoband, the most important Islamic seminary in all of India, was as much an arsenal of pro-Congress Muslim Ulema after the … Read entire article »
Filed under: Education, History, minorities, Pakistan
Poem: Around Us (Betrayal of Conscience)
“Around Us” depicts those events that are currently taking place in Pakistan and how it has weakened our moral fabric, the intangible conscience and all that makes us what we are not”. Engraved in our memory, the old questions Of freedom and justice, as we watch in silence Engraved in our memory, the unfolding events The stories of horror in darkness, The blunders of our masters, out in the open In silence- our hands and minds Engraved in our minds, the old … Read entire article »
Filed under: culture, Democracy, Education, Environment, History, human rights, Islam, Jinnah, Justice, land, Pakistan, Parliament, poetry, Politics, poverty
Remembering Bashir Ahmed MSP
Bashir Ahmed Member Scottish Parliament. Bradistan Calling I first saw Bashir Ahmed on UK’s Pakistani channel (Pakistani channel was a result of the split between Pakistani TV Asia and Zee TV Europe). Second time I saw Bashir Ahmed was on BBC Parliament channel giving a speech to Scottish Parliament about Pakistan and its economy. A few days ago, I saw his Picture on a News website with a notice of his death and the news item that his seat in parliament has been filled by female deputy from his party SNP. Bashir Ahmad MSP, politician and businessman, born 12 February 1940; died 6 February 2009 of a sudden heart failure. In 2007 Bashir Ahmed became the first Asian (Pakistani) and first Muslim member of the Scottish Parliament when he was elected one of the four … Read entire article »
Filed under: Activism, Citizens, culture, Democracy, Economy, Education, Elections, Europe, Heritage, History, human rights, Identity, India, Islam, Languages, Left, minorities, movements, Pakistan, Parliament, Politics, poverty, Punjabi, Rights, Society, south asia, Travel
Dawn News:global Pakistani channel?
Viva Hameed Haroon; Yes We Can! Bradistan Calling What have a Euro-Zone bureaucracy and the countries as diverse as Japan, India, UK, Russia, Iran, Germany, France, USA, Qatar and China, got in common? Are they part of an energy cartel or a group of twenty biggest economies? Highly unlikely: given the diversity of the list. The question becomes more perplexing given the title of this article, who is this gentleman Mr. Haroon? Well Hameed Haroon is the son of a famous Muslim politician of British India Sir. Abdullah Haroon. Hameed Haroon is not running for any political office as the title may mistakenly be interpreted. … Read entire article »
Filed under: Activism, Citizens, culture, Democracy, Economy, Education, Europe, human rights, Identity, Images, India, Iran, Islam, Jinnah, journalism, Karachi, Kashmir, magazines, Media, minorities, Pakistan, Politics, Society, south asia, USA
Will we need to close the door to Pakistan's dispossessed?
Our leaders are losing sleep over the Taliban’s advance and what that could spell for Britain Nick Cohen The Observer I would like to welcome Zahid Abdullah to Britain. He is a Pakistani student of English literature, rather than the snarling prose of the theocrats who threaten his country, and suffered the keenest blow a lover of books can take when he lost his sight. Undeterred, Abdullah divided his spare time between producing talking books for the blind and supporting the Centre for Peace and Development Initiatives, a pressure group that campaigns for the classic liberal causes of human rights, freedom of information and freedom from “barbaric acts of terrorism”. … Read entire article »
Filed under: Activism, Afghanistan, Al Qaeda, ancient civilisations, Army, Benazir Bhutto, Citizens, Colonialism, culture, Democracy, Economy, Education, Europe, History, human rights, Identity, India, Islam, Islamabad, Islamism, journalism, Kashmir, Labour, Media, minorities, movements, North-West Frontier Province, Pakistan, Politics, poverty, Religion, Rights, Society, south asia, Sufism, Taliban, Terrorism, Travel, violence, war, Women, youth
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