Olomopolo arranged a screening of the Pakistani film ‘Manto’ produced in 2015. The film stars actor Sarmad Sultan Khoosat as Manto and Sania Saeed as Safiya Manto. The film doesn’t have a linear narrative, as the short stories of Manto are interspersed with the story of his life, and both are equally morbid. But there […]
‘The Parliament should be supreme’
INTERVIEW Have you taken part in the elections before? In the 2013 elections, I withdrew my candidacy. In those days, the Hazara killings were at their peak. My priority was to struggle against the killings so I withdrew from the elections. This time, I filed nomination papers for two National Assembly seats but Balochistan National […]
The limits of representational politics
Lahore: It has been five years since the residents of Joseph Colony suffered their worst nightmare when a mob attacked their houses over a blasphemy allegation. In search of safety, dozens of families in the Christian majority neighbourhood in Badami Bagh area of PP-145 Lahore II (old PP-138) had left their houses unattended that night, […]
When Punjabis held a protest to mark Mother Language Day
The selfie craze stuck the protest as well. On a loud, sunny and busy February morning – I joined dozens of activists outside the Lahore Press Club for a remarkable protest. […]
‘Chup’ — a play about importance of breaking the silence
‘Chup’ (Silence) is a play about the family of a missing person. Their younger son was abducted three years ago and remains untraceable. The family is now receiving phone calls from an unknown number. The play was performed by the Olomopolo Junction five times over this weekend in Lahore at Olomopolo’s office in Muslim Town. […]
Launch of the Aghaz-e-Dosti calendar
Aghaz-e-Dosti, an organisation working for peace between Pakistan and India, launched its annual calendar on Saturday. My friends and I had been discussing the invitation for days. Friends based abroad thought we should go while those in Lahore had cautioned us against it given the security situation and the fact that one of the convener […]
Shaheed Bilour: immortalized, not silenced
The greatest victory of a politician and activist like Bashir Bilour is to be known for his cause during his lifetime and afterwards. Peshawar, where Shaheed Bilour was based, had been rocked by more than 400 blasts last year alone. This was an attempt to rock the provincial capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, defame the ANP […]