Visual chroniclers of Partition on August 6, 2018Sunil Janah and Henri Cartier Bresson were photojournalists who added to Partition history’s visual spectrum. The events around the partition have a limited photographic record and evidence. Margaret Bourke-White clicked a majority of the images we see today. However, Sunil Janah was the only native to cover the violence while Henri Cartier Bresson arrived later […]
Women express apprehensions over Imran Khan’s ignorance towards their gender on August 5, 2018Women from all walks of life gathered at a dhaaba on Jail Road to discuss women and the general elections. Over a dozen women sat by the roadside and discussed women’s participation, their role, the number of seats and campaigns. The participants were frustrated at the lack of inclusiveness in political campaigns and narratives of […]
A repository of stories from Partition on August 5, 2018The Amritsar Partition Museum is a landmark achievement. This is the first museum based on the Indian partition and was inaugurated in August 2017. The museum aims to become a repository of narratives, stories, mementos, and documents related to the Indian partition. Mallika Ahluwalia, the curator, and co-founder of the museum, talks to us about […]
Finding the “missing” on August 5, 2018Imran Khan, the unofficial Prime Minister-elect of Pakistan, has a powerful electoral base in FATA, Khyber Pukhtunkhawa, Balochistan and now even Sindh. These are the areas where the issue of enforced disappearance is of critical significance; explicitly or implicitly, Imran Khan must vow to end this phenomenon to create goodwill with the people who have […]
Memories of two exhibitions on August 4, 2018Salima Hashmi, an avant-garde artist and art critic based in Lahore, has curated two exhibitions themed on the Indian Partition in the past two years. One such iconic exhibition was held in Delhi in January 2016. The Gujral Foundation and the Devi Art Foundation brought both Indian and Pakistani artists together. The house was owned […]
Celebrating Shama Zaidi on August 2, 2018Most film critics and cinema lovers believe that one of the best films made on the Indian Partition is ‘Garam Hawa.’ The film was based on Ismat Chughtai’s short story. However, very few people know that there was another woman behind the film ‘Garam Hawa’. Her name was Shama Zaidi and she was the Art Director […]
How Margaret Bourke-White gave a face to Indian partition on August 1, 2018Margaret Bourke-White was an American photojournalist who came to India in 1947 to photograph Mohandas Gandhi and capture the migration between East and West Punjab. The photos she took have now gained an iconic status because there are very few images available of the mass exodus. Bourke-White, a pioneer who risked her life for bringing […]
A Bourke-White peek into 1947 on August 1, 2018Are there any photos of the Indian partition that stand out in your memory? An elderly woman being carried by a Sikh man on his shoulders? The young boy sitting on a hill near a refugee camp with his head in his hands? Or a heap of bodies near a train? All these iconic images […]
Politicians use Punjabi to woo voters, but do nothing for its preservation on July 31, 2018On a wet evening last week, Saad Rafique emerged from the roof of a large white car with two other men and a giant microphone in hand. Speaking into the microphone, Rafique started his speech in the most heartwarming Punjabi. Greetings, puns, and statements followed in the language he never uses in the National Assembly […]
Democracy at work on July 28, 2018Like most Pakistanis, for me the last few weeks have been flooded with images of rose petals, party flags, political slogans and Urdu pamphlets. Before the elections, I visited a string of constituencies in Lahore during the campaign. One of them was NA 125 which includes highly populated areas like Riwaz Garden, Islampura, Suntanagar, Sanda […]