Of Dowry & Patriarchy – Nabiha Meher Shaikh

Violence, deaths, and other issues related to dowry, or the money or goods given by a bride’s family to the groom’s, continue to haunt many societies, including India, Bangladesh and Pakistan. Below, Nabiha Meher Sheikh, who teaches at LUMS University in Lahore (and blogs at I am Woman Hear me Roar), provides a critique of [...]

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Vuvuzelas in Lyari

Ok, maybe not vuvuzelas. But certainly crazed football fans. The 2010 Fifa World Cup in South Africa is currently underway, and fans throughout the world have been riveted to television screens, celebrating or cursing the results (ah, Italia). In Lyari, one of the most densely populated slums in Karachi, the World Cup has been a [...]

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I <3 Gary Faulkner

No, really. I do. If you haven’t watched the recent interview with Gary Faulkner, the now-dubbed “Bin Laden Hunter” [see this previous post], see below: While many have found Faulkner’s actions bizarre/amusing/disturbing/tragic/all of the above, I’ve started to actually kind of like the guy. Here’s why: Interviewer: Gary Faulkner, how does it feel to back [...]

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The Parliamentary Mean Girls

On June 14, there was a cat fight in the Punjab Assembly. Seriously. Fellow MPAs watched on in horror (and possibly glee) as two female legislators from the PPP engaged in a verbal argument that soon turned physical, all before a budget session was set to take place in the Assembly. Below, Sehar Tariq, a [...]

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The Bin Laden Hunter

This piece, entitled, “The American Bin Laden Hunter” was first published on Foreign Policy‘s AfPak Channel: Step aside, Jason Statham. There’s a new action hero in town. Pakistani authorities detained Gary Faulkner, a 52-year old American man who has reportedly been searching for Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden since September 11, 2001. Faulkner, who [...]

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The Waldman ISI-Taliban Report

A report by London School of Economics has garnered a stream of news attention since its release yesterday, as well as some choice headlines, (The Sunday Times piece had my personal favorite headline, “Pakistan Puppet Masters Guide the Taliban Killers.” Seriously.) The report, written by Matt Waldman, a fellow at Harvard University, ultimately claims that [...]

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Some Thoughts on the Ground Zero Mosque

I generally avoid reading articles by the extreme right-wing (American, Pakistani or otherwise). My news channel of choice is definitely not Fox News. And I think Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh are ignorant and infuriating bobbleheads. Maybe I should be tuned into the other side of the spectrum, but I prefer not to be angry [...]

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Displaced by Nature

If you haven’t been following the news on the Hunza Valley landslide and the potential floods from the lake in Attabad, this photo from the Boston Globe’s Big Picture series may inspire you to learn more: The caption on the Globe reads, “A girl cries while sitting with others to protest against the government’s failure [...]

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Souks and the City

On an overly ostentatious airplane enroute to Abu Dhabi, everyone’s favorite no-nonsense lawyer Miranda says to the stewardess, “Haan ji. That means ‘yes’ [in Arabic].” Sitting in the dark movie theater amid throngs of estrogen, I sucked in my breath and muttered, Here we go. I have long been a fan of Sex and the [...]

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An Ahmadi Perspective – Madiha Kark

Last week, brutal attacks on two Ahmadi mosques in Lahore killed nearly 100 people, and wounded nearly 150 people. The attacks garnered a wave of responses from the media, and many of my fellow bloggers noted how such a tragedy was the culmination of years of discrimination against Pakistan’s Ahmadiyya community. Below, Madiha Kark, a [...]

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