Khuda Hafiz Pakistan
by Nirupama Subramanian Cross Post from http://beta.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/article258515.ece “There is a Pakistani in every Indian; and an Indian in every Pakistani,” President Asif Ali Zardari famously said two years ago. Those words rang in my head with new resonance as I packed my bags and left Pakistan recently after a nearly four-year-long assignment as this newspaper’s Islamabad-based correspondent. It should have been easy to leave a country that is by word and deed hostile to India, and where the state machinery treats every Indian as a “RAW agent”, spending considerable human and material resources on the surveillance of the only two Indian journalists — from The Hindu and Press Trust India — that are permitted to be based there. … Read entire article »
Filed under: Afghanistan, Army, culture, Democracy, India, Islamabad, journalism, liberal Pakistan, Media, Pakistan, Society, Terrorism, Yusuf Raza Gillani, Zardari
Farewell Haqqani Saheb – forgive your peers and colleagues
Raza Rumi A personal favourite, Irshad Ahmad Haqqani is dead. This is a huge loss to Urdu journalism as he was the last of sane voices in the vernacular industry. I often disagreed with his centre-right views but his tone was measured and he remained a staunch supporter of democracy. May God bless his soul. I stumbled on this post at Cafe Piyala that also talks about Haqqani but the best part of it was what Haqqani’s … Read entire article »
Filed under: journalism, Media, Urdu
Is this Patriotism?
By Bilal Qureshi In an article published in The New Republic, respected American journalist Nicholas Schmidle shares some of his experiences and observations about the over all paranoia and hysteria that has been increasingly visible across Pakistan’s electronic media. Specifically, Mr. Schmidle describes his awkward interaction with Shireen Mazari. Mazari had no information about Mr. Schmidle’s background, but she assumed, incorrectly of course, that Mr. Schmidle is working for C.I.A just because he was an American. This attitude towards foreigners, especially towards Americans is misguided. If everyone visiting Pakistan is working for Blackwater or C.I.A, Islamabad should not allow these people to travel to Pakistan. Otherwise, Pakistan’s public, particularly those who write opinion pieces or appear on Television should not accuse everyone of being a spy because this attitude is alienating … Read entire article »
Filed under: Activism, Army, Democracy, Islamabad, journalism, Media, Pakistan, Politics, Terrorism, USA, war
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
For Every Decent Human Being
By Bilal Qureshi Isn’t it time? For every decent human being, it is sickening to see people being butchered the way human beings are slaughtered in Pakistan these days. Human life has no respect or value for barbaric animals responsible for these bombings and suicide attacks. And if the news of bombings and killing was not enough, I was horrified to learn that Lahore’s commissioner (incorrectly) blames India for these attacks while Punjab’s law minister (correctly) believes that the thugs being smoked out from Swat and Wazirstan are actually behind these attacks to force the government to back down. Isn’t it time for Pakistan to get united? Isn’t it time stop obsessing about India? Isn’t it time to be realistic? … Read entire article »
Filed under: Afghanistan, Al Qaeda, Army, baluchistan, Democracy, History, Identity, India, Islamabad, journalism, Pakistan, Parliament, Politics, Terrorism, violence, Yusuf Raza Gillani, Zardari
Balochistan: too small an olive branch
Cross Post from www.opendemocracy.net By Qurratulain Zaman, 27 November 2009 “They ordered me to rape her. She was so thin and was crying when they brought her in the room. I was terrified to look at her, as I thought she was a spy or an agent”, says Munir Mengal, a 33- year- old Baloch, living in forced exile in Paris. Munir Mengal spent 16 months in underground jails of the Pakistani intelligence agencies. “The low rank officers came back to the room and started beating me because I didn’t obey their orders. They took off my clothes by force and hers too, and left us alone. In her sobs I heard her praying in Balochi language. She was praying for someone named Murad. That’s how I got to know she is my … Read entire article »
Filed under: baluchistan, Democracy, Heritage, Islamabad, journalism, Pakistan, Politics
A Tale of two Stories
By Cyril Almeida Cross Post from www.dawn.com and www.cyrilalmeida.com MILITARY men have been up to some very bad things, we’ve learned this week. But the very different reactions to two seemingly unrelated stories in the media tell us at least one thing: things aren’t going to get better any time soon. … Read entire article »
Filed under: Army, Democracy, Islamabad, journalism, Law, Pakistan, Parliament, Zardari
Extracting Political Decisions from the Judiciary in Pakistan
By Ahmed Nadeem Gahla A study of transformation from military dictatorship to democracy around the world would reveal that there are two possible ways. Either it is achieved through a popular revolution or by negotiations between political forces and dictators. The former invariably demolishes the entire system and mostly involves bloodshed putting a new system in place while the later allows the change to happen within the prevailing system based upon certain negotiated terms. These terms might not necessarily meet the international laws and judicial norms as it is always a middle path. … Read entire article »
Filed under: Army, Democracy, Elections, Islamabad, journalism, Pakistan, Parliament, Zardari
Pakistan's Super Anchors
By Bilal Qureshi با دوستان هایی از این دشمنان ما نیاز ندارد. The meeting between Pakistan’s ‘super anchors’ and Hillary Clinton was, well, disastrous, not for America or Clinton, but for these talk show hosts. Hillary was calm, controlled, measured and she answered all sorts of questions thoroughly and intelligently. … Read entire article »
Filed under: journalism, Media, Pakistan, USA
Shireen Mazari's "Shoddy" Journalism Condemned!
Thursday, November 12, 2009 (The News) Journalists lead dangerous lives in Pakistan. They are targeted by the terrorists whose actions they report and by politicians and bureaucrats whose failings and indiscretions they expose. All this is to be expected. What a working journalist may not expect, however, is to be stabbed in the back by one of his own, as has recently happened to Matthew Rosenberg, a journalist working for the Wall Street Journal. Mr Rosenberg … Read entire article »
Filed under: journalism, Pakistan
Anchorless Rambling
By Raza Rumi We did it again. A hallmark of Hillary Clinton’s visit to Pakistan was her meeting with the stars of the Pakistani media – the all-knowing anchors who have taken it upon themselves to be the “representatives” of Pakistan. Forget the President elected by all the legislatures, the Prime Minister who enjoys the confidence of the National Assembly, and even the Foreign Minister, who at the end of the day was elected from a … Read entire article »
Filed under: Democracy, Islamism, journalism, Media, Pakistan
Crisis of Conviction
Conviction, consensus, leadership: How democracy should work By Farrukh Khan Pitafi (Cross-Post, written Oct 13, 2009) Recently an article by Farahnaz Isphahani titled “Democracy does deliver” (dated September 29, 2009) appeared in a section of the press. Having read some of Ms Isphahani’s previous security papers I can appreciate her mastery over words. However if I was expecting something ethereal from this piece I was sorely disappointed. What she lauds as a diplomatic win and which she considers a proof of democracy’s deliverance unfortunately is nothing more than the assurance of further foreign aid and not any historic empowerment of this nation. If my memory serves me right aid was given during the time of the recent dictator too. Similarly events like the FoDP also used to take place including Musharraf’s groundbreaking address … Read entire article »
Filed under: baluchistan, Democracy, journalism, Justice, lawyers movement, Pakistan, USA
Drone Attacks Help Pakistan TV Hosts Fan Distrust of U.S.
By Naween A. Mangi and Farhan Sharif Oct. 23 (Bloomberg) — Pakistani talk show host Waheed Hussain interrupted a guest discussing the U.S.-led Friends of Democratic Pakistan, which had pledged $5.3 billion in aid to the nation. “You mean foes of Pakistan,” Hussain said. In the same Oct. 8 Waqt News program, Hussain stopped another guest who was talking about a bill by U.S. Senators John Kerry and Richard Lugar to triple non-military aid, subject to curbs including an end to army support for terrorists. … Read entire article »
Filed under: journalism, Media, Pakistan, USA
Understanding the ‘Jihad Print Media’ in Pakistan and its Impact
This is a cross-post from PIPS (www.sans-pips.com) Pak Institute for Peace Studies (PIPS) conducted a national seminar on Understanding the ‘Jihad Print Media’ in Pakistan and its impact on 20 October in Islamabad. The seminar brought together a large number of media representatives, scholars and academics to discuss and comment on PIPS’ recently produced report on the subject. Dr. Tariq Rehman, Director National Institute of Pakistan Studies, Quaid-e-Azam University Islamabad chaired the seminar while Mr. Zafarullah Khan, Executive Director Centre for Civic Education, Islamabad was the key speaker and discussant. Other speakers included Mr. Taufeeq Asif Advocate, President Rawalpindi Bar Association, Mr. Afzal Khan, South Asia Free Media Association (SAFMA), Mr. Amir Zia, Director News at Samaa TV, Islamabad, and Mr. Javed Siddique, Resident Editor Daily Nawa-i-Waqt, Islamabad. … Read entire article »
Filed under: Islamism, journalism, Media, Pakistan
The Dishonest Crooks of Our Urdu Press
By Yasser Latif Hamdani Ladies and gentlemen I have long harped on about the paucity of honesty, integrity, intellect and just common sense that is common place in our Urdu Press. Needless to say the googlies of people like Hamid Mir, Oria Jaan Maqbool, Javed Chaudhry etc can make anyone’s headspin. A Lahore based English weekly has a special section dedicated to the bloopers of the Urdu press which is comment enough on such matters. … Read entire article »
Filed under: journalism, Karachi
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