With International Women's Day approaching, I was asked to write a short piece for Dawn's Karachi Notebook today (March 3, 2008). Copying the piece below,...
The `liberation of Kashmir' was too tempting a pun not to use, so I did, in my opinion piece in today's Dawn - http://www.dawn.com/2008/03/06/op.htm (text...
While the political wrangling continues - and the political leadership again confounds the nay-sayers by coming to an agreement - life goes on in other ways in...
March 21, 2008 This is an updated version of my article in Dawn today, 'Why Sarabjit Singh should not be hanged' - http://www.dawn.com/2008/03/21/op.htm#4 ...
Greetings people - I should have sent this out earlier but was sidetracked by the elections and their aftermath. The week that marked the fifth anniversary of...
Abie has asked for his phone number not to be forwarded - too late Abie, altready sent and people have already hit the forward button. But for those who send...
Pakistan's new prime minister has announced what many are calling a `revolutionary' agenda – continue the `war on terror' but on Pakistan's terms, revival of...
http://www.himalmag.com/2008/april/reflections_benazir.htm or http://tinyurl.com/39xdrb REFLECTIONS Benazir's legacy By : Beena Sarwar Just over a year ago,...
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=41825 PAKISTAN: Putting Development Back on the Agenda By Beena Sarwar KARACHI, Apr 2 (IPS) - Pakistan's new prime...
Dr Haroon Ahmed and Saleem Asmi, two stalwarts of the first student movement in Pakistan, the Democratic Students Federation (DSF) write to set the record...
It is a shame that just as a democratic government was being sworn in, remnants of what we hoped was our militarist past, the Rangers, were busy beating up a...
Those who should know say that the judiciary will be restored within this week or at the latest by next week, including CJP Iftikhar Chowdhry. Meanwhile,...
Kanak was in Pakistan in December and we had a long talk about the Nepali people's movement - he saw many parallels with Pakistani politics but a major...
1. Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ) demands the release of chief editor of The Frontier Post, Rehmat Shah Afridi, who was arrested in 1999 in a...
1. The life and work of controversial American academic Norman Finkelstein, son of Holocaust survivors, an ardent critic of Israeli policy and, unsurprisingly,...
Yesterday was the veteran Sobho Gianchandani's 88th birthday. Sobho ji, a lawyer and political leader based in Larkana, once described himself as a...
Will the PPP restore the judges or won't they? Prices of daily use commodities soar doubling the expenditures of households across the country (according to...
Hello everyone It's been a while since I posted anything out. Partly that is due to the huge power breakdowns we've been having in Karachi, which of course...
Below: 1. Pakistan's `curriculum of hate' 2. Ahmed Rashid's new book 3. BBC reporter killed in Afghanistan 4. Jehad Sheilas 1. Pakistan's `curriculum of hate' ...
Disturbingly, the Jamat-e-Islami has placed itself at the forefront of the lawyers `long march' for the restoration of the judiciary in Pakistan. The march...
I started this update last week but couldn't send it because of power breakdowns and lack of time. Below, thoughts on: 1. The lawyers' Long March 2. The X-Men...
This post focuses on the `judges' issue' and the lawyers' movement in Pakistan (apologies to those who are sick of it). Below: 1. Responses to Raza Rumi's...
I think Kristof is spot on. Greg Mortenson's 'Three Cups of Tea' is a wonderful, insightful, challenging and moving book - everyone should read it and share it...
Two items below: 1. Fighting effects of inflation by Haris Gazdar in Dawn, arguing that the public outcry against dearness "must not be used as an alibi for...
Hello everyone Below: 1) My article on Rehmat Shah Afridi and the death penalty 2) I.A. Rehman on the ‘route to safety’ in Pakistan's current situation 3)...
Hello people, wanted to share the following three items - an event (gender, media, environment and friends), a campaign and a hilarious 'news story': 1....
Greetings from Jakarta, where I am part of the `Asia Calling Forum' - Islam and Democracy in South Asia (Sub theme: Islam and Nation State: Threat or...
Musharraf's resignation There was no electricity at our place in Karachi this afternoon but it was cool so we hadn't turned on our little generator. "Aren't...
Violence against women has been on the rise in the Taliban-dominated areas of Pakistan. Recently the Taliban moral police killed two women in Peshawar, leaving...
On Aug 11, the Asian Human Rights Commission Hong Kong posted a report about five women killed in a remote area of Balochistan - beaten, shot, and buried while...
