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KMB Shut Down Because of ?Bitter Rivalry? Amongst Authors? Or April Fool?s
2008-04-01 07:43:00
Adil Najam This has to be an April Fool ’s Day joke. Or is it? Like so many others, the three Metroblogs in Pakistan - Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad - are my daily visiting haunts. Today, however, I find this notice there from Sean Bonner from the “Metroblogging Headquarters.” KMB taking a break By Sean Bonner Dear Readers of Karachi Metblogs, It ...
More About: Society , Authors , Bitter

?New? Prime Minister, ?New? Cabinet, ?New? Zardari, ?New? Nawaz Sharif in ?
2008-03-31 19:38:00
Adil Najam I am in Islamabad for a short trip right now and all that anyone can talk about is the new Prime Minister and his new cabinet. Indeed, the place is abuzz with talk of the “new” politics of Pakistan. But, in typical Islamabad style, mixed with the unending cynicism about just how “new” this ...
More About: Politics , Cabinet

Beijing?s Pakistani Connections
2008-03-31 13:28:00
Owais Mughal Whenever we travel to a new country and we see any reference to Pakistan, it naturally catches our attention. Recently this ATP ka numaainda (representative) was in China. I saw following subtle references to Pakistan in Beijing . (1) Whether we liked her or not; whether we agreed with her or not; the ...
More About: Pakistani , Connections

Forman Christian (F.C.) College’s Political Clout
2008-03-30 07:36:00
Adil Najam At the new Prime Minister’s oath-taking recently, the body language of Gen. Pervez Musharraf as well as Yousuf Raza Gillani made it obvious that neither was comfortable being with the other. Each has deep reasons to distrust the motives of the other. One doubts, therefore, if they took any time t reminiscence about their college days. Both, after all, went to college at Lahore’s famed Forman Christian (F.C.) College; although at different times. (more…)
More About: Political

The Caps of Pakistan (Repost)
2008-03-28 22:19:00
Guest Post by Mast Qalandar (MQ) Pakistan is a country of several ethnic groups and cultures. This is apparent not only in the people’s looks but also in their language, traditions, food and dress. One of the things that strikes a newcomer to Pakistan is the variety of caps and turbans Pakistanis wear. Even though with increased ...
More About: Society , Heritage

Defending Dictatorship: Another View on Pakistan
2008-03-27 16:24:00
Syed Abbas Raza A military dictatorship is a military dictatorship, and a democracy is a democracy. And the latter is always automatically better than the former. It is safer to agree with this statement and to look at every particular complex political situation through the lens of this cliché than to risk having one’s liberal-democratic credentials ...
More About: Politics , People , Pakistan , View , Dictatorship

Pakistan Elections 2008: Poetic Politics
2008-03-26 14:06:00
Adil Najam Our repost of our ATP Mushaira post on Anwar Masood prompted reader Shahran Asim to send us this newer audio recording of Anwar Masood commenting on elections in Pakistan . I thought it was not only hilarious but also pertinent; and certainly worth sharing. Thanks, Shahran. (more…)
More About: Politics , Elections , 2008

ATP Mushaira: Anwar Masood (Repost)
2008-03-26 05:27:00
Adil Najam I want to introduce this new (hopefully regular) feature at ATP. (Actually, if you press the ‘ATP Mushaira ‘ category you will find that this is the second installment in this category; the first being our little Faiz Mela on Faiz Ahmed Faiz’s birthday.) Of course, poetry has been a regular and favorite subject for us at Pakistaniat.com. However, this (sub-) category is distinguished from other posts on poetry because here we will feature kalam i shair ba zaban i shair (i.e., poetry recited by the poets themselves). The Mushaira is a particular - and particularly enchanting - Pakistani tradition. It is, of course, not just a Pakistani tradition, nor any more only an Urdu tradition. Indeed, it seems that the new revival of the mushaira is happening neither in Pakistan nor in India but in the Middle East and North America, because of affluent expatriates yearning for poetic connections to the homes they left behind. Indeed, a new crop of poets are emerging ...
More About: Anwar

A Trip to Saidpur: Khawaja Khizar in Islamabad
2008-03-25 03:23:00
Mast Qalandar People often describe Islamabad as a city without a soul. Actually, Islamabad’s soul is not to be found in the city itself, but on the fringes of the city. In the little hamlets and hills. Fauzia Minallah, an Islamabad based artist, has recently published a delightful coffee-table book titled ‘Glimpses into Islamabad’s Soul’. She describes ...
More About: Books , History , Tourism , Mast Qalandar

Profile: Meet Syed Yousuf Raza Gillani
2008-03-24 05:01:00
Adil Najam With the PPP leadership having endorsed him and his nomination papers having been accepted, unless something dramatic happens - and in Pakistan, it always can - Syed Yousuf Raza Gillani will soon be elected as the next Prime Minister of Pakistan. Whether Mr. Gillani will become the person to harken meaningful democratic change in the ...
More About: Politics , People , Profile , Meet

March 23, 2008: Let Democracy Reign
2008-03-23 18:21:00
Adil Najam Addressing the Pakistan military parade today, Gen. Pervez Musharraf proclaimed that “you are seeing that a real democratic era has begun in Pakistan.” I say “Amen” to that. I remain confident as ever that Pakistan remains a democratic society trapped inside of an undemocratic state. I repeat and stand by what I had written ...
More About: Society , Politics , Democracy , March , Reign

March 23, 2008: What Jinnah Has to Tell us Today
2008-03-23 05:36:00
Darwaish Today is 23rd March, 2008. On this date in 1940 the historic Lahore Resolution (Later Pakistan Resolution) was passed. Last year in the series of March 23 posts (here, here and here), Adil Najam had written about ‘Owning Mohammad Iqbal.’ This year I thought it would be a good idea to share some of my ...
More About: Politics , People , History , Law and Justice

PPP Names Yousuf Raza Gillani as Nominee for Prime Minister
2008-03-22 20:31:00
Adil Najam The news, although not surprising, is still too fresh and without enough details to make a full commentary on. But it is worth getting a discussion on. The Pakistan People ’s Party (PPP) has finally made up its mind on who its nominee for Prime Minister will be. And the winner is Yousuf Raza Gillani. According ...
More About: Politics

Basant in Pakistan
2008-03-22 07:10:00
Shiraz Bashir Basant - the kite flying festival of spring - was supposed to be celebrated last weekend in Lahore but, at least officially, it was postponed because of the tragic Lahore bombings. But Basant season is obviously here. For good and for bad. Basant is a festival celebrating arrival of a spring season. People dress up ...
More About: Society , Sports , Heritage , Pakistan

Pakistanis Celebrate Eid-Milad-un-Nabi, Good Friday and Holi Today
2008-03-21 06:34:00
Adil Najam The vast majority of Pakistanis are Muslims - over 160 million according to some counts - and will celebrate Eid Milad-un-Nabi today to mark the birth of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH). Coincidently, this year Eid Milad-n-Nabi comes on exactly the same day when the another 3 million Pakistani Christians will be marking Good Friday to ...
More About: Society , Religion , Today , Celebrate

ATP is live again, after an 18 hour breakdown
2008-03-21 03:13:00
ATP Team As our regular readers know, All Things Pakistan (ATP) was down for nearly 18 hours between 3AM and 9PM (Eastern US Time) today (20 March, 2008). Our thanks to the many many readers who sent us emails alerting us of this and providing suggestions. Since early morning we have been working frantically, but mostly ...
More About: Technology , Live , Hour

Dr. Fehmida Mirza elected first woman speaker of Pakistan?s National Assemb
2008-03-19 18:43:00
Darwaish Dr. Fehmida Mirza today created history when she became the first ever woman to be elected as speaker of Pakistan ’s National Assembly. If I am not wrong, she is also the first every woman to achieve this position in entire Muslim world. She was the candidate of PPP, PML(N), ANP and JUI(F) and secured more ...
More About: Politics , People , Speaker

Who sees the human face correctly: the photographer, the mirror, or the pai
2008-03-19 02:57:00
Darwaish Pablo Picasso once asked this very interesting question that ?Who sees the human face correctly: the photographer, the mirror, or the painter?? He didn’t give any answer or explanation and I am not sure if there is an answer to this question. Or is there? I recently found this wonderful work by Maciej Dakowicz, a UK ...
More About: People , Human , Fine Arts , Picture of the day , Photographer

Bomb Blast in the Heart of Islamabad
2008-03-15 21:40:00
Adil Najam A bomb blast at Luna Caprese - a top-end Islamabad restaurant, located in the very heart of the Federal Capital (near Super Market, Islamabad) frequented often by foreign diplomats and high-level government officials - extremist violence to Islamabad. According to The News: Two persons including Turk female citizen have died and over 15 others have injured ...
More About: Law and Justice , Heart , Blast , Bomb

Baluchitherium
2008-03-15 04:48:00
Owais Mughal World’s largest mammal that ever walked the face of the earth used to live in Pakistan’s Balochistan province. Yes it is true. This mammal is called Baluchitherium (The Beast of Balochistan). So far the fossils of this mammal have only been found in Balochistan and Central Asia. In 1999, a team of French Palaentologists discovered the ...

Cricketer Taslim Arif (1954-2008) Passes Away
2008-03-14 04:47:00
Owais Mughal Pakistan Cricket team’s former test wicket keeper batsman Taslim Arif has passed away. Taslim had lung problems and was feeling difficulty in respiration. He was admitted to the hospital on the morning of March 12. He was born in Karachi on May 1, 1954. Taslim played six tests and two ODI matches from Pakistan. He ...
More About: Cricketer , 2008

Traveling on N5 - Part V
2008-03-14 02:09:00
Owais Mughal Five episodes ago, we started our journey on Pakistan’s longest highway N5 in Karachi (km 0). Today is the last episode of our travel and after covering 216 km we will reach the end point of N5, which is Torkham (km 1756) - the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan. Following are the maps of ...
More About: Part , Traveling

Utopia For Me.. Pieces Of My Heart
2008-03-12 22:25:00
Raza Rumi Karta hun jama phir jigare lakht lakht ko (I seek to gather the scattered pieces of my heart) Not long ago, say two decades ago, we the Zia’s children yearned for a country that treaded the Malaysian path for prosperity; and somehow were to transform a tolerant, inclusive society. Such were the dizzying dreams. We wanted the Hudood laws to vanish, the witch-hunt under the blasphemy laws to end and sectarian-ethnic monsters buried. We were inspired by the likes of Mohtarama, for some the charitable cricketer appeared the redeemer. The road to utopia also emerged when a bus took off from the other side of the border and landed in Lahore. The brothers Sharifov became new faces of a moderate, booming Pakistan. Mr. Vajpayee’s chant on the ancient roads of Lahore, “ab jang nahee ho gi” was enough to willingly suspend our disbelief. For many a precious day, we forgot the corruption stories, the political squabbles and incompetence all around. (more…)
More About: Heart , Utopia , Pieces

Uncertainty Rules Pakistan
2008-03-12 04:45:00
Adil Najam Explaining what is happening in Pakistan , and why, is never easy. Never has it been more difficult than it is now. Talking earlier today to the National Public Radio show Here and Now, it struck me again how difficult it is to articulate any explanation of Pakistan’s politics - not only to non-Pakistani audiences, but to Pakistani audiences too. WPvideo 1.10 Consider the recent news stream. Suicide bomb blasts by extremists kill another 30 in Lahore in yet another dastardly attack. Gen. Musharraf calls the National Assembly to meet on Monday, March 17. Supposedly Nawaz Sharif and Asif Zardari come to an agreement on the government formation but it is no more clear today who the next Prime Minister will be than it was before the meeting. They also insist that they will “restore” the judges but speculations remain rife on just which judges and just how “restored.” (more…)
More About: Rules

ek masla hai?.A Railway Runs Through It
2008-03-11 04:10:00
Owais Mughal Our pyara Pakistan is a very dynamic country. Come Rain Come shine, the life goes on. The daily business goes on and the people go on….but there is one little detail not to be missed. Amidst all this hustle and bustle a railway runs though it. Following collection is a tribute and a humorous ...
More About: Runs

Lawyer?s Black Flag Week: The Judiciary Remains a Defining Issue in Pakista
2008-03-09 16:49:00
Adil Najam The judiciary issue remains an irritant to the mainstream political forces in Pakistan - including not just the current establishment but the current opposition forces struggling to become part of the new establishment. The announcement from Asif Ali Zardari and Nawaz Sharif that they intend to restore the judiciary within 30 days of the formation ...
More About: Politics , Lawyer , Law and Justice , Black , Week

Police Reform in Pakistan
2008-03-09 05:22:00
Hassan Abbas “The first observation I would like to make is this. You will no doubt agree with me that the first duty of a government is to maintain law and order so that the life, property and religious beliefs of its subjects are fully protected by the state.” - Quaid-e-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah’s address to the ...
More About: Pakistan , Reform , Police , Law and Justice

International Women?s Day: Celebrating the Lives of Pakistani Women
2008-03-08 23:03:00
Adil Najam As a rule, we try not to repeat posts too often. Sometimes, we feel that the message is either pertinent again or that the original may not have been seen by a new crop of readership. I am reposting this picture and this post, originally posted on this date last year, because the message ...
More About: Society , Women , International , Picture of the day , Pakistani

KESC, Karachi and the Power Outages
2008-03-07 18:37:00
Owais Mughal and Adil Najam The photo to the right shows Karachi Electric Supply Corporation (KESC) staff fixing something on the electric pole in Saddar area of Karachi in one of their daily dare devil stunts. This photo appears in the Daily Jang of March 6, 2008. This photograph, however, is a metaphor for much more ...
More About: Power

A Sunny Winter Day In Islamabad
2008-03-05 18:40:00
Mast Qalandar It was one of those cloudless, crisp and beautiful winter days that one sees after a spell of rain in Islamabad . The pall of dust that usually hangs over the city and the hills during the early winter months had lifted. The rain had washed the dust and everything looked bright, fresh and clean. ...
More About: Tourism , Winter , Mast Qalandar , Sunny