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Pakistan in 2008: My Wish List
2008-01-01 09:12:00
Adil Najam I have written too many depressing posts recently. I want to make this one different. Actually, I want you to help me write this post. I have quickly jotted down my list of wishes for Pakistan for 2008 . New Year Wish List s are supposed to be short and succinct. They need not be entirely achievable ...
More About: Society

Pakistan in 2007: A Year of Anger and Angst
2007-12-31 22:53:00
Adil Najam and Owais Mughal It is appropriate, at many levels, to start our New Year Post with the same verse we used at this time last year. The sentiment of the sheyr is even more true now than it was a year ago. Har saal yeh samajh keh guzara hai aye _Saba_ Yeh ishq ki saddi meiN ...
More About: Pakistan , Anger

[Videos Added] Bilawal Zardari Becomes New PPP Chairman and Benazir Bhutto?
2007-12-30 07:03:00
Adil Najam The News is now confirmed. Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has been named the new Chairman of the Pakistan People ’s Party. His father, Benazir ’s husband, Asif Ali Zardari will be the co-Chairman. WPvideo 1.10 Seemingly credible reports suggest that Bilawal Zardari, Benazir Bhutto’s 19-year old son, now a student at Oxford University, is being considered as the ...
More About: Videos , Politics

Bilawal Zardari MAY Become New PPP Chairman and Benazir Bhutto?s Successor
2007-12-30 07:03:00
Adil Najam [NOTE TO READERS: We had earlier posted a story suggesting that Bilawal Zardari had already been confirmed as the new PPP Chairperson. Realizing our mistake, we then took this post off and replaced it with a note of apology saying that this news was not yet confirmed. Given that Bilawal Bhutto as PPP ...
More About: Politics , People , Chairman , Benazir , Benazir Bhutto

ATP Correction: Bilawal Bhutto MAY be the likely next PPP Successor
2007-12-30 03:59:00
Adil Najam Dear Readers, We apologize that we may have been mistaken in our earlier post about Bilawal Zardari. It is NOT confirmed and we apologize for the confusion. We misunderstood an earlier cmmunication. At this point all we know is that his name is being considered as an immediate or ultimate Chairman. It is expected that a decision ...
More About: Bhutto , Hutto , Rect

Pakistan After Benazir: Choosing Our Future
2007-12-29 21:28:00
Adil Najam Benazir Bhutto, twice Prime Minister of Pakistan , now lies under six feet of earth in Garhi Khuda Bux, her ancestral village, in a grave next to her equally mercurial father, the late Prime Minister Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto. As the graphic above (click to enlarge) from Boston Globe shows, hers - like her father’s - was ...
More About: Society , Politics , People , Future

Benazir Bhutto?s Assasination: An International Outpouring of Shock
2007-12-29 00:36:00
Adil Najam Whatever her opponents may think of her, Benazir Bhutto was a most recognized and much-loved international figure. An icon in the best sense of the word. The shock of her death - and the manner of her death - was not confined to Pakistan. As comments on our earlier post suggests, in that moment, ...
More About: Politics , International , People , Shock , Picture of the day

Benazir Bhutto Assasinated
2007-12-27 14:42:00
Adil Najam News is just breaking that former Prime Minister and head of the Pakistan People ’s Party, Benazir Bhutto was killed in Rawalpindi in a terrorist attack. She was gunned down by an assasin who then blew himself up in a suicide attack. This happened at teh end of her rally in Liaquat Bagh, Rawalpindi; the same ...
More About: Politics , Benazir Bhutto

Pakistan?s Politics and the Urban Middle Class
2007-12-26 16:30:00
Anonymous Thailand?s parliamentary elections on December 23 provided fresh evidence (if evidence is still needed) of the futility of military intervention as a means of changing the fundamental political trends of a nation. The Economist recently referred to Thailand as ?Southeast Asia?s Pakistan .? The fundamental problem in both countries is the same: an overbearing military, which ...
More About: Society , Politics , Urban , Middle

Mr. Jinnah in Caricature is More Real
2007-12-25 17:20:00
Adil Najam Today, December 25, marks the birth anniversary of Pakistan’s founder, Mohammad Ali Jinnah . Mr. Jinnah has been a subject of frequent, and sometimes heated, discussion on ATP (here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here). Maybe it is best to spare him the agony of argumentation on his birthday. Instead, we wish to ...
More About: Education , People , History , Real

Christmas in Pakistan: Greetings and Reflections
2007-12-25 08:11:00
Adil Najam Christmas greetings to all our Christian readers in Pakistan and elsewhere. On this auspicious day, we at ATP pray for peace and goodwill to all. Last year our Christmas post had carried the picture on the right below. This year we thought that the one of a Pakistani Santa riding a camel would make ...
More About: Society , Religion , Architecture , Reflections

Review of ?Charlie Wilson?s War?: Please Read the Book? But Do Watch the Mo
2007-12-24 07:04:00
Adil Najam I saw Charlie Wilson’s War, the movie featuring Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts, today. Long-time readers of this blog know that I am a huge fan of the book by the same name on which movie is based. I enjoyed the movie… a lot. Judging by their reactions and response so did most of the ...
More About: Politics , Television , Watch , Books , History

Cow Inflation: Cost of Living or Showing Off
2007-12-23 13:00:00
Adil Najam Last year we posted a rather disturbing video that might have been titled the ‘revenge of the cow’; if you did not see it, it may be worth watching again. Our bhains video this year is more docile but equaly though-provoking. WPvideo 1.10 This is a Geo News report from Bakra Mandi, Walton, Lahore. Rs. 10 ...
More About: Society , Religion , Living , Inflation , Development

Photo Quiz: Who?s Who?
2007-12-22 19:13:00
Owais Mughal I recently found this wrinkled photo in my collection. It is Pakistan’s Under-19 Cricket Team which toured Sri Lanka in either 1975-75 or 76-77. I know most of the people in this photo but not all. Some of the players here later played for Pakistan’s national team also. I thought it will be a ...
More About: Quiz , Photo

Eid and Hajj Greetings from ATP
2007-12-20 21:15:00
Adil Najam Many of us living in North America (though not all it seems) celebrated Eid yesterday (Wednesday). Some others in Europe and elsewhere are celebrating today, while others celebrated yesterday. Most in Pakistan (but, again, not all) will celebrate tomorrow (Friday). Hajis are finishing off Hajj as I write. To all of them we at ...
More About: Society , Religion

1926-2007: Art Icon Gulgee Murdered
2007-12-20 05:01:00
Adil Najam Today was a bad news day. Not because there was no news, but because the news that was there was particularly bad; even by Pakistani standards. With all the political shenanigans of late one thought that one had gotten used to bad news. But the hurt today was particularly deep. It hit exactly where ...
More About: Icon , People , Fine Arts

This is Wrong and Shameful ? Police Must Treat People with Dignity
2007-12-19 04:13:00
Owais Mughal A few days ago I highlighted this wrong, but today after after seeing photos of policemen mercilessly beating an unarmed lady, I am again left speechless at this shameful violence. We at ATP have long worried about the senselessness of the violence (physical, psychological, verbal, social) that seems to keep growing in our society. All ...
More About: People , Police , Treat , Wrong , Dignity

Lansdowne Bridge, Sukkur
2007-12-18 07:35:00
Owais Mughal Any vistor to Sukkur-Rohri Pakistan is usually awe struck by the largest man made monuments in the area. They are two in number. One is the 118 year old Lansdowne bridge and the other is the 45 year old Ayub Arch. In the photo above, silver metallic structure is the Ayub Arch and the brown ...
More About: Bridge

Bangladesh Turns 36: Bringing Stranded Pakistanis Home
2007-12-17 05:37:00
Owais Mughal 36 years ago, on December 16, 1971, then East Pakistan became Bangladesh . Last year Adil Najam had a very touching post on the same topic and I’ll strongly recommend a revisit to it here. Raza Rumi had also written a post after revisiting Dhaka recently. I belong to a generation which did not see those times. My knowledge about this significant event of our history comes from the books I’ve read, things I have heard on the media and from elders, and from Pakistani and Bengali friends I’ve talked to. A lot of water has passed under the bridges since then. Both nations have gone through a lot in these 36 tumultuous years. Whatever the past may have been - the good times and the bad - we at ATP pray for a bright future for both Pakistan and Bangladesh. We want to wish good luck to Bangladesh and its citizens for a bright future. (more…)
More About: Home , Pakistanis , Glad

e-Bakra, With Free Delivery in Lahore
2007-12-16 18:13:00
Owais Mughal Last year we had a post on Finding Your Dream ‘Bakra’ Online. The trend continues this year and as Eid approaches, so do bakras. And they are now invading the internet too. A good friend of mine has forwarded me this ad. It turns out that now you can buy your bakra from the comfort of your home. The ad announces that your bakra can be delivered free of cost anywhere in metropolitan Lahore . The farm is located at Kala Shah Kaku. Posts in our “Barkra of the Day” series from last year: Billo for Dinner? - Bakra of the Day - Kickin’ and Screamin’ - Koun Bakra? - Final Destination.
More About: Free , Delivery

Emergency ?Lifted?: Three Steps Back, Half a Step Forward
2007-12-16 01:43:00
Adil Najam The Emergency that Gen. Pervaiz Musharraf had imposed on November 3 was technically lifted today. The operative word there is ‘technically.’ Pakistan, Pakistanis and Pakistani politics were already in a very troubled state when the emergency was imposed and it is in a far worse condition now. Only someone who has totally missed on ...
More About: Politics , Back , Step , Half

4 Pakistani Songs to go with the weekend
2007-12-15 16:01:00
Owais Mughal Here is an assortment of 3 Urdu and a Punjabi song of Pakistani movies of yesteryears. These are blasts from the past but still widely enjoyed. Today is a snowy day at where we live and it is difficult to go out. These and other songs will be our companion for the weekend. Hope ...
More About: Songs , Weekend

Free and Fair Elections: Pakistan Style
2007-12-14 15:40:00
Adil Najam Many of you would already have seen this photograph. It shows a policeman (of the Punjab Police, I believe) helping hang billboards showing the election symbol of ‘bicycle.’ The bicycle, by the way, is the electoral symbol of the ruling party PML(Q), whose supposed Prime Ministerial candidate Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi is the Chief Minister of ...
More About: Society , Politics , Elections , Pakistan , Free

ATP Quiz - Guess what is it and where in Pakistan?
2007-12-14 03:43:00
Darwaish Some of you must be thinking that this is a private home or a tourist hotel somewhere in northern areas. Nah, you are wrong. Yes, it is a famous place so I am sure may of ATP readers will guess it easily but some might find it difficult specially those who have never been ...
More About: Quiz , History , Architecture , Heritage , Pakistan

Pervez Hoodbhoy on ?Us? and ?Them? Mindset
2007-12-13 02:50:00
Maryam Chaudhry Dr. Pervez Hoodbhoy, renowned nuclear physicist and disarmament activist, who teaches at Quaid-e-Azam University in Islamabad, recently visited the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and delivered a talk, the title of which was: Sacred Terror ? Theirs and Ours. I was fortunate enough to find out about this and actually attend the lecture. I ...
More About: Society , Mindset

Farida Khanum: Memories New and Old
2007-12-12 13:18:00
Guest Post by Zakintosh The last two or three performances by Fareeda Khanum that I attended had saddened me at the rapid downhill slide in this great artiste’s abilities. Shortness of breath - and the unusual brevity of the pieces she sang - left me wondering whether one should continue attending her performances as a respectful ...
More About: Television , Music , People , Film , Fine Arts

Last night?
2007-12-12 04:40:00
by Muslim Rizvi Last night it was thunder Lightning and rain In the city?s suburbs In a dark lonely lane It?s the edge of the night And the nascent sunlight Is searching for way To make it a day Clouds that surround Are scattering away Less grievous, relieved With a heart void of fear Of far and of near Having shed every tear The last falling drops from the shades of ...
More About: Poetry , Night

Champions Trophy Hockey: Pakistan finishes 7th
2007-12-11 05:55:00
Owais Mughal Pakistan has finished at a distant seventh place in the 29th Champions trophy hockey tournament. This is the lowest rank for Pakistan in the history of Champions Trophy . Despite being the national game of Pakistan, the demise of hockey in the country has been epic. In the recent past Pakistan hockey team got defeats ...
More About: Hockey , Nish

World Human Rights Day (Decemebr 10): Indignity and Injustice in Pakistan
2007-12-10 07:32:00
Adil Najam Today, December 10, marks the World Human Rights Day. The theme for this year’s World Human Rights Day is Dignity and Justice For All of Us. One could not possibly think of a more tragic reminder of the state that our country has descended into. It is easy, perhaps too easy, to focus only ...
More About: Society , Politics , Pakistan

Pakistan Elections 2008: The Sociology of Symbols Allotted to Political Par
2007-12-09 18:24:00
Adil Najam The idea for this post came from a comment left by reader Rafay Kashmiri on a different post where he offers poetic commentary on the election symbols allotted to various political parties for Pakistan ’s 2008 elections. I have always found the entire sociology of election symbols in Pakistan rather interesting and sometimes funny. In a ...
More About: Society , Politics , Elections , Political