The Wikileaks Burn Book

Reading the news yesterday, I swear I could hear the faint but haunting sound of Julian Assange cackling gleefully while swimming the backstroke in an enormous pile of cable papers. Wikileaks, Assange’s whistleblower website, began the release of more than 250,000 diplomatic cables to the New York Times, The Guardian, Der Spiegel, Le Monde and [...]

Read Full Post »

I am Aasia – Nabiha Meher Sheikh

  NYT/Reuters: The Daughters of Aasia Bibi Last week, I wrote about the conviction of Aasia Bibi, now known as the “first Christian woman to be convicted of blasphemy.” Although she was held for a year before her conviction, the sentence has garnered outcries from human rights groups and citizens alike, from those who have [...]

Read Full Post »

The Pakistani Golden Girls

  This past weekend, the Pakistan women’s cricket team brought home the first gold medal from the Asian Games in eight years, a development that supporters say “points to the need for more education and opportunities in sports for women in Muslim countries.” Pakistan’s all-rounder Nida Rashid told reporters, “Our media doesn’t give women’s sports [...]

Read Full Post »

The Tragic Case of Aasia Bibi

Last Friday, a Christian woman was sentenced to death by a court in Sheikhupura, near Lahore, “after prosecutors accused her of insulting the Prophet Mohamed and promoting her own faith,” reported The UK Independent. According to reports, though, this is what actually transpired – In June 2009, Aasia Bibi had reportedly been asked to fetch [...]

Read Full Post »

Eid Mubarak – this one’s for you, Goatie

  When I was 11 years old, my family moved to Islamabad, Pakistan from Dhaka, Bangladesh. As a child in the noisy and buzzing city of Dhaka, I had seen my share of hanging meat and animal blood in the marketplaces. I still have a vivid memory of a chicken running around with its head [...]

Read Full Post »

Breaking News: Blast in Karachi

  According to news agencies, there was a major attack in central Karachi, killing at least 15 people and injuring 40 (though this number is quickly changing). The “massive explosion,” which was heard up to two kilometers away, reportedly targeted the DIG Criminal Investigation Department (CID) office in central Karachi, an extremely fortified area of [...]

Read Full Post »

Slackistan – The City that Always Sleeps

Last week, I attended a screening of Slackistan, an independent film by director Hammad Khan. The film, which screened in London, Abu Dhabi, New York City, and San Francisco [Pakistan screenings are coming soon], was recently described by the NY Times as, “a pitch-perfect comedy about restless youths in Islamabad,” and is a raw embodiment [...]

Read Full Post »

Targeting the Ahmadis II

  On Sunday, Pakistani police forced an Ahmadi family to exhume the body of a relative [identified as Shehzad Warriach] because it was buried in a Muslim graveyard. According to the BBC, “Officials in the Sargodha district of Punjab province say they took the unusual move after anti-Ahmadi Muslim groups threatened peace in the area.” [...]

Read Full Post »

Turkey, Pakistan & Lessons of Entrepreneurship – Elmira Bayrasli

Last week, The Indus Entrepreneurship [TIE] Conference was held in Lahore, aiming to bring together “a mix of leading local and international entrepreneurs, investors and business leaders” to explore the role of entrepreneurship as a change agent. The News’ Mosharraf Zaidi, who wrote about the conference, noted, “Without a generation of innovators and entrepreneurs, job [...]

Read Full Post »