Does it itch?
So there was this girl, in this Lahori country club, and she was buying chicken patties. Her hair color was a disgruntled shade of ginger but it was her flamboyant jumpsuit that traumatized me more. There were buttons, front and back. Some where they should be, some where they shouldn’t. It was hard to tell where her hips were in the jumble, so I assumed her legs started two feet from the ground, making her … Read entire article »
‘Dingi’ (Dengue) Fever in Lahore
‘Dingi’ (Dengue) Fever in Lahore Prof Farakh A Khan According to WHO (1999) 2.5 billion people are at risk of dengue virus infection in 200 countries. Before 1970 only nine countries had dengue fever. The mortality is about 5%, which can be reduced to 1% with proper treatment in the hospital. Dengue viral infection has become the leading public health problem. According to Centres for Disease Control and Prevention USA dengue infection places more than 1/3rd population of the world at risk. Every year 100 million people get infected. The first case of dengue virus in Pakistan was reported in 1996 and incidence started to rise in 2003-2004 (Shahid, Jamal. Govt blames lifestyle for dengue spread. Dawn. September 22, 2011). The dengue viral attack reached epidemic proportions in Lahore during the summer of 2011. … Read entire article »
Filed under: Lahore, Pakistan, public policy
Letter and spirit of the Lahore Resolution
By Yasser Latif Hamdani (in Daily Times) Very rarely do politics, history and sport overlap but when they do they can produce the most heart-warming of coincidences. As millions of Bangladeshi fans cheered them on, the trouble-prone Pakistan cricket team completed a clinical victory over the West Indies on March 23, the 71st anniversary of the Lahore Resolution. The most charming coincidence was the fact that the stadium we won in was named after Sher-e-Bangla, A K Fazlul Haq, one of the founding fathers of our republic and the gentleman who moved the Lahore Resolution all those years ago. Every child in Pakistan is taught about the symbolic significance of the Lahore Resolution but hardly anyone in the country has ever bothered to read the words that are cited as nothing less … Read entire article »
Filed under: Lahore, liberal Pakistan
We have failed the Lahore Resolution
This brilliant article argues what I have been arguing for a while. By Rubina Saigol On March 23, 1940, the chief minister of Bengal, Maulvi Fazlul Haq presented the Lahore Resolution, later termed the Pakistan Resolution, at the 27th annual meeting of the All-India Muslim League held at Minto Park. The pivotal paragraphs of the resolution read as follows: “It is the considered view of this session of the All India Muslim League that no Constitutional Plan would be workable in this country or acceptable to the Muslims, unless it is designed on the following basic principle, namely that geographically contiguous units are demarcated into regions which should be so constituted, with such territorial readjustments as may be necessary, that the areas in which the Muslims are numerically in majority as in the … Read entire article »
The land of his dreams
By Raza Rumi Professor Javaid Iqbal Syed’s memoir traverses the political and the personal, the mundane and the sublime, and weaves a narrative that reflects the decades of his life and times in Pakistan. Syed came from a Punjabi family which had settled in Balochistan. Through his sheer dedication he rose to the rank of the Vice Chancellor of Allama Iqbal Open University (AIOU) during the mid 1990s. However, his tale is not restricted to his career or professional achievements, but is in fact a record of his inner journeys through the murky and inhospitable terrain known as Pakistan. It just so happens that I have known Professor Syed since I was a child and he has, for better or for worse, been an integral part of my life. Syed and my father … Read entire article »
Filed under: Lahore
The land of his dreams
Professor Javaid Iqbal Syed’s memoir traverses the political and the personal, the mundane and the sublime, and weaves a narrative that reflects the decades of his life and times in Pakistan. Syed came from a Punjabi family which had settled in Balochistan. Through his sheer dedication he rose to the rank of the Vice Chancellor of Allama Iqbal Open University (AIOU) during the mid 1990s. However, his tale is not restricted to his career or professional achievements, but is in fact a record of his inner journeys through the murky and inhospitable terrain known as Pakistan. It just so happens that I have known Professor Syed since I was a child and he has, for better or for worse, been an integral part of my life. Syed and my father grew up … Read entire article »
Filed under: Lahore
Lahore Vigil
Pakistan Today: CDI holds vigil to remember Bhatti LAHORE – The Community Development Initiative (CDI) organised a candlelight vigil at the Chairing Cross on Saturday in honour of assassinated federal minorities minister Shahbaz Bhatti. Protesters, including Christians held banners, condemning the cold-blooded murder and flayed the federal government’s incompetence in protecting its ministers and minorities. They condemned the politically-motivated murder and said that Bhatti’s death was an irreparable loss to the people of his constituency, especially Christians. “We … Read entire article »
Filed under: Lahore
Lahore Protests against Bhatti’s murder
The Guardian Hundreds of Christians have taken to the streets of Pakistan in protest at the assassination of the minorities minister, Shahbaz Bhatti, who was gunned down outside his home on Wednesday. … Read entire article »
Filed under: Lahore
Asma Jahangir's victory is a cause for celebration
Raza Rumi Asma Jahangir’s victory in the Supreme Court Bar Association elections is a major development in the legal and judicial history of Pakistan. She is the first woman to hold this office, and a progressive rights activist as well. Her struggles against injustice, discrimination and oppression have spanned over nearly forty years and are globally acclaimed. PTH wishes her all success and hopes that she is able to fulfil the mandate for which she has … Read entire article »
Filed under: Activism, Judiciary, Justice, Lahore, Law, lawyers movement, Liberal Democratic Pakistan, movements, Pakistan, Rights
Stop Lahore's Talibanisation
Raza Rumi The worst has happened. Data Darbar, which defined the contours of peaceful Islam for a millennium, has been desecrated in Lahore. Its markets have been attacked and its minorities live in fear after the Ahmadi massacre. Last year, the petrified traders of Lahore’s Hall Road burnt objectionable CDs after receiving threats from extremists. A year later, low-intensity blasts took place in the crowded Hall Road — a market for electronics and kosher and non-kosher DVDs. This week, two internet cafes were targeted in densely populated areas of Lahore and some time back Peeru’s was also bombed. Reports have suggested that the cafes had received threats from unidentifiable numbers asking them to stop their businesses as they were turning into hubs of ‘immoral activities’. Just because no one died there, … Read entire article »
Filed under: Lahore, Pakistan, public policy, Punjab, Taliban, violence
Lahore's shrine bombed – outrageous, barbaric and unacceptable
Raza Rumi 35 dead and 175 injured – the numbers may increase.. As if the recent acts of violence and an atmosphere of fear was not enough, the butchers have attacked Lahore’s oldest and grandest shrine – also known as Data Saheb. Thursday night is the time when thousands visit this shrine to pray and offer their respects to Hazrat Usman Hajwery, a Sufi who has been known as the protector of the city and the generous guide who is believed to have blessed countless generations. This is a barbaric attack and should serve as a wake up call. Data Saheb’s shrine is not just another crowded place – it represents a millenia of tolerant Sufi Islam which is directly under attack by the puritans.Last year, there were threats and the government had … Read entire article »
Filed under: Lahore, Pakistan, Religion, Sufism, Taliban, Terrorism
His call came as he knelt in prayer (May 28th, 2010)
Bint e Mahmood has sent this moving elegy for those who died in Lahore on May 28, 2010. PTH is attempting to provide space to many members of the maligned community – a place that bigotry has squeezed and appropriated. His call came as he knelt in Prayer Just an hour ago he had looked and smiled at his young bride, at his newborn child taking leave from his aging mother, one last time he had wished them all goodbye before heading outside His call came as he knelt in Prayer Grenades exploded, bullets sprayed, all this as our brothers prayed blood, gore, carnage everywhere yet not a single word of despair His call came as he knelt in Prayer The attack so sudden, devastating terror the calm, the bravery fuelled with prayers the resilience, the fortitude, the courage these tales I’m sure will be … Read entire article »
Terrible news from Lahore- extremists are back in action
Raza Rumi Two horrific incidents took place in Lahore today. First, the blasts in the busiest of streets – Hall Road frequented by thousands of people. The moral brigade had been objecting to and threatening the shop-owners against selling CDs, DVDs as they somehow lead to decline in morals and of course challenge puritanical worldview held by the Islamists. Now, a warning was sent through two low intensity blasts which left many injured. Lahore’s Talibanisation nightmare … Read entire article »
Filed under: Islamism, Lahore, minorities, Taliban, Terrorism, violence
Pakistani College Becomes Focus of a Social Struggle
The GT Road Blog BySteve Inskeep In Lahore, the University of the Punjab attracts middle- and lower-income Pakistani students hoping to make better lives for themselves. But the school’s campus is also the scene of an ongoing struggle over education and Islam. Alfred Cooper Woolner May 1878 – January 7, 1936, was a noted Sanskrit scholar and professor as well as the Vice Chancellor of Punjab University, Lahore. He died in Lahore Many of the 35,000 students wear jeans … Read entire article »
Filed under: Blogging, Education, Identity, Islamism, Lahore, Pakistan, Punjab, Religion, Women
PTH biweekly Cartoon
Picture of the Week
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Sunrise at the Arabian Sea, Charna Island
24 Dec 2011
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