by Shaan Akbar:The first two months of 2010 have brought about a sea change on the ground in Afghanistan and Pakistan. The U.S. has initiated a surge in both drone strikes and troops (40,000 more boots expected on the ground in Afghanistan) in an attempt to reshape the Afghan war. Pakistan, many analysts have observed, ha... »
Oblivion!
by Umer Latif:While burning candles, releasing fireworks enjoying all them bursting carnivals dissipate a few of them cherished moments in the memory of fading glow of the eyes lost under the fireworks of human insanity of religion, patriotism; of unleashed wants savor the celebrations in the face of blood and thirst but... »
Lahore Bombing
by Aks:A suicide car bomb ripped through an FIA and Special Investigations buildings in Lahore early this morning killing a dozen people and injuring scores more, of whom 11 are said to be in critical condition. The blast also damaged a neighbouring school, and many of the casualties were parents returning from t... »
The Sir Ma'am Syndrome
by Haris Gulzar:Throughout our schooling life, the colleges we attend, the universities we go to, we are taught to call out our teachers as Sir or Madam (or Maam in short). Or maybe not from our schools because I know my niece calls her teacher as aunty, but as far as I can remember, I have called my teachers as Sir or Mad... »
Frantic Fluency
by Americanising Desi:It is Sunday today again. How many Sundays have I lived in 27 years Just keeps on coming tirelessly and giving me at least some peace in my lonely existence. Yes talking and socializing with people is not my bit and I really dont like to make any conversation with people. People I dont fin amusing and I ne... »
Our Feudal Lords
by Kanwalful:A couple of years ago I went with my father to a village near Multan - Kot Addu. This place is owned by the Khars - one of the most infamous feudal lords in Pakistani history. My father being an eye surgeon often travels the deprived areas of the country to conduct free eye-surgery camps, and the Khars had... »
Peers and Their Pressures
by Beenish Khan:I am officially bewildered.Previously I use to think my Amma is my whole world but now it's more like the whole world is my Amma or should I say it's trying to be my Amma! Always pushing me to take steps which otherwise I wouldn't have think about nor would have cared.Actually . I am officially upset with t... »
Privatization of Key State Functions in Pakistan
by Riaz Haq:The last two years in Pakistan have seen significant proliferation of privatization of traditional state functions. There are a growing number of private security companies providing armed guards, private toll roads, private education at all levels, private hospitals, private water delivery businesses, and... »
Mini Buses of Karachi
by Reebz: I want to draw the attention of City government towards poor transport of Karachi.Karachi is a big and metropolitan city of Pakistan.Being the biggest and the backbone of the country's economy it should be the model city in all the aspects but unluckily it seems that all the problems are... »
Asif Zardari's Piece In The Guardian
by Ahsan:What, the Washington Post, Wall Street Journal or New York Times wasn't available Well, I encourage the move east. Hopefully at some point soon Zardari (Haqqani) will write op-eds in Pakistani news papers (after brief stepovers in German, Polish, Belorussian, Turkish, and Afghan papers). Anyway, here's som... »
Renaming NWFP
by Mariam Rehman:NWFP- North Western Frontier Province, know as Sarhad in Urdu, was named by the British Government after dividing the Pashtun populated area by Durand Line. People of NWFP are demanding to change the name of their province for quiet a long time. It is a legitimate demand, because North Western Frontier Prov... »
The Room
by Karachi Khatmal:I had made a big deal of it when i had posted my first student film. I am going to be a lot more basic with this one.The project for this film stipulated a 6-8 minute piece, shot entirely in one location with the location playing a central role in the film.I personally think it's a better effort than my fir... »
Once Upon a Now
by Kanwalful:Once upon a time There were Muslims. Clean ones. They invented shampoo. There would have been no bubble baths if it was not for the Muslims. Just a lice-filled, sticky-haired world. Once upon a time There were Muslims. All-nighters they were. Hard-working fellows. That's why they discovered coffee.... »
India Pakistan Image Matters
by Imran Baloch:It was cold winter in Lahore; at my business school heated discussion on branding the country dominated the class. Discussion was about the global product positioning and the image of a country. Consumers product preference is dominated by many factors but the image of exporting country is also important.Di... »
The Dupatta Symbol
by Kalsoom:A few days ago, the LA Times had an interesting piece on dupattas and Pakistani women. For those of you who don’t know what a dupatta is, it’s a long scarf that is generally worn with a shalwar kameez – essentially a long(ish) tunic worn over trousers (or capris, depending on your fashion... »
Pakistan's Finance Chief Quits
by Riaz Haq:Pakistan's finance minister Mr. Shaukat Tarin has resigned. Tarin is an accomplished banker and a protege of former Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz. He became Pakistan's finance minister in October 2008 when the nation's economy was on the brink of collapse. He led the negotiations with the International Moneta... »
Raising the Hindu Spectre
by Roti Fan:While scouring the websites of Pakistani newspapers during my daily info gathering session (aka lunch break), I was struck by this particular headline: Ulema laud ban on kite-flying, basant And while I would usually not read The News (mostly due to atrocious writing and lack of intelligent analysis), the h... »
Songs of Blood and Sword
by Ayesha:Songs of Blood and Sword is the title of Fatima Bhuttos upcoming book. The subtitle of the book reads, A daughter’s Memoir. I think the book would be interesting for that would be the first time someone as close as a daughter would write about a man who had been always dubbed as a terrorist, a non-ser... »
No Good Or Evil In Politics
by Ahsan:First of all, let me advise you to read this op-ed in the WSJ on Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhary and the judges brouhaha from last week (via Rabia). It basically encapsulates my thinking on the matter, and saves me the trouble of writing anything on it.I do want to make a related point, however. But before... »
Pug of the Poor
by Kanwalful:They say God sends angels to help us when we need them. And the angels can take any form. They can be random people who appear out of nowhere just to assist you through that particular moment and they can be friends who are there when you need them. Today was one of the most fulfilling mornings I've spent i... »
The Devil Went Down To Pakistan
by Zubair Khan:I wrote this poem and i wanted to share it , its called the Devil went down to Pakistan , the title is inspired from Primus and some parts of the poem from south park The devil went down to Pakistan And decided he is gonna stay, Never in modern times he had seen So many idiots astray, Bombs flying... »
TV Anchors Morality Brigade
by Imran Baloch:Partying pictures of female TV anchors have lately become the talk of the town, I also received forward email message etc. Asma Shirazi, Meher Bukhari, Saima Mohsin are some of the names attended the party hosted at Diplomatic Enclave. Well, I have never come across any male TV anchors drink & dancing p... »
Lessons Learnt
by Haris Gulzar:This semester is taking up too much of my time. One thing that I have really learnt while living at a hostel is how to manage time, as I said in my previous Lessons Learnt post. I dont know if it has to do with living at home or living away or not but for me, hostel life has really taught me how to distribu... »
IRead
by Beenish Khan:Let me tell you how things are around my work area at home.To put it politely, it's a mess. A large number of dog eared books are lying here and there. From my CPU to UPS to my small desk to the area below desk, every inch of space is littered with books. Different titles are looking at me from here and... »
Is Hitting a Girl Ever Okay?
by Nahl:Day before yesterday I was chilling with my uni friends when one of them got a phone call that put a very shocked expression on her face. I instantly knew something was wrong by looking at her.Apparently, two friends of her have just gotten married. They were anyway having issues in their married life when... »
Hey Sista, Go Sista, Soul Sista, Flow Sista!
by Kalsoom:The other day, I caught an interesting segment by Express 24/7 on Maria Toor, Pakistans number one ranked womens squash player. According to the feature, Toor, ranked 72nd in the world, is from South Waziristan in FATA. The tribal agency, the site of one of the militarys most recent operations against the T... »
Man of Honor
by Tanzeel:After the very last press conference of mayor Mustafa Kamal on 17th Feb 2010 in which he recounted the infrastructure development works completed over the past four years, I read about completion of Hawks Bay water project today (18th Feb 2010) and other projects which are about to be completed. Now the que... »
Pakistan Media Watch 
