Pakistani News for the Rest of Us

IT’S A cool, breezy evening in Pakistan’s tree-lined capital city, and local womenfolk are busy shopping for Valentine’s Day gifts at a downtown shop. Located in the popular Jinnah market area in the city’s F-7 sector, the store is filled with Western-style “love offerings,” such as teddy bears, heart-shaped candies, jewellery boxes, and giant greeting …

Soon after Saleem Qureshi and Fatima Fasihuddin were married on Valentine’s Day 2003, they realized they had few married couples to hang around with. So that fall, the Manhattan couple started Zariya, a matchmaking service primarily aimed at young professional Muslims who have been raised in the United States. “Zariya” means “source” in Urdu, the …

When Qudsia Sethi was 11, she was invited to a swimming party. Her parents were hesitant but gave her permission to go. She wouldn’t be allowed to wear a bathing suit, however. That would be strictly against her Muslim upbringing, her father told her. Instead, she would wear something akin to a stretchy jumpsuit that …

Illuminare Entertainment to release the first ever Pakistani-American produced film “Night of Henna” (”The Wedding Night”). Produced by Phenomenon Films, “Night of Henna” is about a beautiful Pakistani woman who must choose between her true love and that of an arranged marriage by her family. It’s a young woman’s struggle to be free and to …

Representatives of 16 foreign companies surveyed the persistently Wind-swept area in Gharo, Thatta District, where the Alternative Energy Development Board (AEDB) has identified 19,700 acres of land for “wind farming”, and appeared satisfied with the site selection. The delegates of different windmill and turbine manufacturing companies, including Denmark-based Westas and the US-based Access Energy, surveyed …