One Myth, Many Pakistans
Cross Post from The New York Times By ALI SETHI Published: June 11, 2010 http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/13/opinion/13sethi.html?pagewanted=all FOR many Pakistanis, the deaths of more than 80 members of the Ahmadi religious sect in mosque attacks two weeks ago raised questions of the nation’s future. For me, it recalled a command from my schoolboy past: “Write a Note on the Two-Nation Theory.” It was a way of scoring easy points on the history exam, and of using new emotions and impressive-sounding words. I began my answer like this: The Two-Nation Theory is the Theory that holds that the Hindus and Muslims of the Indian Subcontinent are Two Distinct and Separate Nations. It is a Theory that is supported by Numerous Facts and Figures. During the War of Independence of 1857 the Muslim rulers of India were defeated by the … Read entire article »
Filed under: Army, Democracy, FATA, Identity, India, Islam, Islamabad, Jinnah, minorities, Pakistan, Religion, The New York Times, Writers
We Shall Overrun: The Young, Urban, Middle Class Pakistani Manifesto
By Nadeem F. Paracha http://blog.dawn.com/2010/03/20/we-shall-overrun/ 1. Asif Ali Zardari is the devil incarnate. 2. The Pakistan Army is the saviour. 3. The Taliban are resisting American imperialism. 4. We hate American foreign policy unless it suits us. We are against American imperialism if it means we have to ditch the Taliban as that would be against the aspirations of our founding father, Mohammed Bin Qasim. We will no longer shop at Marks and Spencer because they are somehow connected to Israel. However, that does not mean we will switch off our computers and cell phones whose chip technology has been made possible due to major contributions from Israeli scientists. … Read entire article »
Filed under: Al Qaeda, Army, baluchistan, Benazir Bhutto, Democracy, FATA, Humor, India, Iran, Islam, Islamabad, Pakistan, Punjab, Punjabi, Religion, Taliban, USA, Writers, Yusuf Raza Gillani, Zardari
FICTION: The Solidity of Things
Posted by Raza Rumi At PTH, we have struggled to retain the balance between politics, history and arts and culture. However, given Pakistan’s turbulent politics and security, it has been an uphill task. We are now inviting new writers to come and express themselves at PTH. Especially since the explosion (pun intended) of Pakistani fiction at a global scale. We are printing a story by Hamza Rehman who is a an Esquire based in Islamabad. Hamza is a practising lawyer who moonlights as DJ for Pakistan Broadcasting Association’s Planet FM 94, where he hosts the Alternative Rock and 80’s shows. He freelances for The Friday Times and pens fiction as much as he can. He primarily writes about characters in Islamabad and experiments heavily with metaphor. The Solidity of Things is … Read entire article »
Filed under: Fiction, Literature, Writers
Karachi Literary Festival
by Raza Rumi Oxford University Press and the British Council are holding a literary festival – first of its kind. The programme can be viewed here – Full programme of the Karachi Literary Festival I am off to Karachi to attend this moot. … Read entire article »
Filed under: Literature, Pakistan, Writers
Unbordered Memories – Sindhi Stories of Partition.
Edited and Tranlated by Rita Kothari We are grateful to Isa Daudpota to have alerted us to an invaluable collection of Sindhi Partition narratives. As Isa says, most people in Pakistan are unaware of the plight of Sindhi Hindus who migrated to India at the time of Partition. The two stories are a useful corrective. Copies are available from www.penguinindia.com or amazon.com. Indeed, All public libraries in Sindh should have a copy. Raza Rumi Unbordered Memories. Sindhi Stories of Partition. … Read entire article »
Filed under: Books, Literature, Pak Tea House, Pakistan, Partition, Sindh, translations, Writers
Pakistan: A Failure of Intellectuals
BY AZHAR ASLAM AND SHERMEEN BANO (Cross-post from Vision21) Every Identity has a history and so does that of Pakistan. It is short but tumultuous, although some say it was born with the conversion or settlement of the first Muslim in India. In truly modern sense though India was only itself born, when British firmly established their rule from Afghanistan to Burma, by 1890s. In the process of doing this however, they sowed the seed of national consciousness in the minds of Indians. British influence moulded Indian nationalism by omissions and commissions. However it inevitably also laid the seed of communalism, as different regions and nationalities in the sub continental melting pot, woke up to the British rule and demanded their rights. … Read entire article »
Filed under: Democracy, Identity, India, Islamabad, Islamism, Jinnah, Justice, Literature, Partition, Philosophy, Politics, public policy, Religion, Rights, Writers
Pakistani Literature – Evolution and Trends
By Gilani Kamran The novel in Pakistan The novel in Pakistan emerged with Qurratulain Heider’s Aag ka Darya (The River of Fire, 1957). It has been generally held that the novel is about the problem of self-identity, yet it moves in a wider orbit and traverses the curvature between self identity and the collective identity of the people who were placed in a criticasl situation on the eve of Independence in 1947. Leslie Flemming has regarded this novel as A Tale of Three Cities, where the whole phenomenon of Independence has been witnessed as a feature film’s scenario. Thematically, the novel intends to discover some equation between geography and history, though in a much wider sense the human existence is not more than mutability and transmigration of human forms. The novel had … Read entire article »
Filed under: Arts and Crafts, Books, culture, Identity, Literature, Pakistan, Partition, Urdu, Writers
On the Task of Writing Meaningful Words
By Zia Ahmad Writer’s block is fiction, doesn’t happen, an excuse for pure dumb laziness and a supremely narcissistic and vain labored way to remind oneself of his/her pretentious talented bearings. Just as anyone can sing, cook and laugh, writing is a vocation any one can take up. Nothing to it, easiest thing in the world. … Read entire article »
Filed under: Humor, journalism, musings, New Writers, Uncategorized, Writers
Ali Sethi's "Wish Maker"
The debut of a major new international literary talent is a rare and heartening event. THE WISH MAKER (Riverhead Books; Publication Date: June 11, 2009; ISBN: 978-1-59448-875-7; Price: $25.95), the first novel by twenty-four-year-old Ali Sethi, combines classic storytelling instincts, an eye-opening portrait of a suddenly important nation that Americans are intensely curious about, and a remarkable back story. THE WISH MAKER has already been highlighted in USA Today’s “Book Buzz” column and foreign rights have been sold in six countries to date. At once a fresh and affecting coming-of-age story, a riveting family saga, and a hip, witty social commentary, Sethi’s novel vividly evokes the pungent texture of daily life in his native Pakistan, particularly for women, as well as his country’s roiling social and political currents. … Read entire article »
Filed under: Writers
Looking for history in all the wrong places
By Zia Ahmad Notable scholar Frederic Jameson famously put forward the idea of the disappearance of a sense of history in his indictment of postmodernism, fitfully titled Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism (1991). The idea briefly referred to the way in which the entire contemporary social system has little by little begun to lose its capacity to retain its own past consequently refusing to learn any lessons from it. In forming a critique of the postmodern condition, Jameson essentially pointed out the disconnection with history and the subsequent fascination with the present. This broad interpretation holds true for the collective human experience and rings ever so true for Pakistan. It is interesting to note how seamlessly the above mentioned idea blends in with the rhetorical whining knowledgeable Pakistanis indulge in, whenever given … Read entire article »
Filed under: Colonialism, culture, Heritage, History, Identity, India, Media, Multinational Corporations, Pakistan, Society, urban, Writers
Obituary:Kashmir Broadcasting Corporation
Stop Press: Kashmir Broadcasting Corporation suddenly suspended its satellite transmissions globally after one year of success broadcasting.This incident is most unfortunate and shows a lack of financial backing for independent TV in a climate of global recession.There was no official confirmation of this interruption. … Read entire article »
Filed under: Activism, culture, Democracy, drama, Education, Elections, Europe, History, human rights, Identity, Images, Imperialism, India, Islam, journalism, Justice, Kashmir, land, Languages, Left, Media, minorities, movements, Multinational Corporations, Music, Northern Areas, Pakistan, Partition, Philosophy, Politics, poverty, Punjabi, Religion, Reviews, Rights, Rural, Society, south asia, Taliban, Terrorism, Theatre, Travel, Urdu, video, violence, war, Women, Writers, youth
WHILE THERE IS LIGHT by Tariq Mehmood
While There is Light Tariq Mehmood’s novel , While There is Light, impresses Mike Phillips Courtesy: The Guardian-UK While There is Light by Tariq Mehmood 220pp, Comma, £7.95 The novel opens with a sentence from a letter written by Saleem, a young Muslim on remand in Leeds. “Mother, I am now in jail, in this bitch of a country called England. I may never see you again.” … Read entire article »
Filed under: Activism, Citizens, culture, Education, Europe, Heritage, History, human rights, Identity, Images, India, Islam, Kashmir, Labour, Languages, Left, Literature, Love, minorities, New Writers, Pakistan, Partition, Philosophy, Politics, poverty, Religion, Reviews, Rights, Society, south asia, Sufism, translations, Writers, youth
Fahmida Riaz – “Her dreams of the future”
Raza Rumi Barricaded Islamabad enveloped by the ghosts of national gloom has one little corner of hope. The Pakistan Academy of Letters, under its dynamic and committed Chairman, Fakhar Zaman, continues to weave narratives that still inspire. Even when the bitterness of our grim present affects us all, Fakhar Zaman was forthright in his views on Pakistan, its future and most importantly, its literary tradition. The venue was the book launch of Fahmida Riaz’s novel Godavari that has been translated into English. Fahmida Riaz is better known as a poet but her unique prose is lesser known. Her short stories and novels are extraordinary pieces of literary works rendered into sheer poetry. Often it is difficult to determine the genre of her ‘prose’ works as the lines between watertight compartments blur and fade away, … Read entire article »
The White Tiger of Pakistan
The White Tiger of Pakistan If Billo Halwai Lived in Pakistan You Chinese are far ahead of us in every respect, except that you don’t have entrepreneurs and our nation- though it has no drinking water, electricity, sewage system, public transportation, sense of hygiene, discipline, courtesy or punctuality- does have entrepreneurs. Thousands and hundreds of thousands of them, especially in the field of technology and these have setup all these outsourcing companies that virtually run America now. Only three nations have never let themselves be ruled by foreigners: china, Afghanistan and Abyssinia .these are the only three nations I admire. My country is the kind where it pays to play it both ways. The entrepreneur has to be straight and crooked, mocking and believing, sly and sincere at the same time so I am … Read entire article »
Filed under: Activism, Afghanistan, ancient civilisations, Books, Colonialism, culture, Democracy, Economy, Europe, FATA, Fiction, human rights, Identity, Iran, Islam, Justice, Literature, Philosophy, Politics, Punjabi, Religion, Sufism, Taliban, Writers
Obituary:Javad Nurbakhsh- A Sufi Soul
A leading Iranian Sufi, he was also a noted psychiatrist, author and medical clinic director By Leonard Lewisohn The Guardian, Wednesday 7 January 2009 The master of a branch of the Nimatullahi order of Sufism in Iran, Dr Javad Nurbakhsh not only furthered the cause of his religion, but was also one of the country’s leading psychiatrists. When the upheavals of the Iranian revolution in 1979 caused him and many others to emigrate, he continued to organise the practice of Sufism abroad till his death in Britain at the age of 81. Sufism is the mystical tradition within Islam whose followers – Sufis, or dervishes – espouse a religion of love based on poetry, music, and utilising various esoteric contemplative practices, the most important of which is a type of interior prayer … Read entire article »
Filed under: ancient civilisations, culture, Europe, Heritage, History, human rights, Identity, Iran, Islam, Love, Philosophy, poetry, Religion, Sufism, Travel, Writers
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