Viva La Veena Malik

Unless you live under a rock, you are undoubtedly following news of the increasingly intensified protests in Egypt today (my recommendation is to watch Al Jazeera English and/or to follow the #jan25 on Twitter), as citizens continue to rally and challenge the autocratic regime of Hosni Mubarak. The demonstrations sparked not long after protests in [...]

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Bomb Blasts Strike Lahore & Karachi

You know it’s going to be a bad day when you wake up to news of bomb blasts in two of Pakistan’s main cities. At least 13 people were killed and more than 50 were injured (Geo News put the number higher, at 70) when a suicide bomber targeted a Shiite procession near Bhatti gate [...]

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These Are The Stories My Nani Told

I have always loved listening to stories. But my favorite kind were never make believe, the ones woven into the fabric of fairy tales. They were the ones that unveiled pieces of my family’s history, that contextualized the very young histories of Pakistan and Bangladesh, where my father and mother are respectively from. My favorite [...]

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Happy Birthday CHUP!

CHUP is now three years old! What up what up. People ask me on a regular basis what it takes to run this blog, particularly because I started it with a stated objective – to provide a more nuanced and balanced perspective on Pakistan. But if you had told me when I founded CHUP that [...]

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Sexual Harassment Calendars, Pakistan Ishtyle

On Monday, Jezebel (via @mehreenkasana) published a gallery entitled, “The Creepy Men of Pakistan’s Sexual Harassment Calendar.” The post, based on a calendar launched by the Alliance Against Sexual Harassment (AASHA) portrays various caricatures of perverted men who harass and intimidate women on a regular basis. The characters, noted Jezebel, “cross cultural boundaries.” Agreed. According [...]

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Pakistan’s Day of Reckoning – Tariq Tufail

Below, Tariq Tufail, based in Karachi, discusses what he calls the country’s “most clear and present danger” – Pakistan’s economic viability (or lack thereof): Governor Salman Taseer was murdered in cold blood, [see this powerful piece for the NYT by his daughter, Shehrbano Taseer]. What followed will send a chill down the spine of every [...]

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RIP Salman Taseer

Pakistan lost a brave man today. Punjab Governor Salman Taseer died after he was shot nine times by his bodyguard outside of Kohsar Market in Islamabad Tuesday, reported news sources. According to the Guardian, Interior Minister Rehman Malik said the gunman, Mumtaz Hussain Qadri, told police he had killed Taseer for “criticizing the country’s blasphemy [...]

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