Why Pakistan needs the Aurat Marchon March 8, 2019Many remember the television serial Humsafar as a game-changer for the Pakistani television industry. In addition to winning the hearts of its audience, it generated unprecedented revenue, popularity and opportunity for our local media houses. Of course it did not matter that Humsafar reinforced some of the most vile and misogynistic plots in the Urdu […]
The politics of Jibran Nasiron July 10, 2018In our country, diversity in thought and practice is promoted in different forms — some question customs and highlight taboos, some make art while others defy power structures. Women cycling on the roads, students challenging the ban on political debate and discussions in educational spaces, performing artists dancing in shrines after they are blown up- […]
The Valentine’s paranoiaon February 14, 2018We’ve been disallowed to celebrate Valentines, but I suppose one can still write about it. There has been no clarity about the exact dismissiveness regarding Valentine’s. The general discomfort can broadly be put in two categories: a) Valentines is a Christian celebration (and unIslamic by virtue of that) and b) it encourages immoral behaviour in […]
The curious case of activists in Pakistanon December 27, 2017Former President Pervez Musharraf claims he has a solution to the Kashmir issue which can bring stability in the region. On December 11th, the former President gave an exclusive interview to Arab News saying that he had formed a group with ‘like-minded’ people from India, Pakistan and Kashmir to resolve the Kashmir issue. He added […]
Charity and activismon May 16, 2017Let us have activism run in our blood not in nine-to-five NGO jobs The growing number of problems faced by Pakistan has created this new brand of ‘activism’, giving many people the chance to portray themselves as saviours and heroes. The sensationalised breaking news presented by our media agencies gets viewers momentarily charged to do […]