In June, 1992, Benazir’s government launched a major offensive against the citizens of Karachi, Pakistan’s largest city and largest contributor to the National Exchequer, called ‘Operation Clean Up‘. The army spent 29 months battling what was commonly considered a terrorist organization at the time. Monthly death tolls during this period, and attributed solely to the [...]
I wrote this over a year ago, when my blog had no readers, and I was writing for myself. Because I have recently become interested in organizing a Society of Graphic Designers into a standard-bearer for Pakistan, I hope to revive dialogue on design, and maybe inject some life into a stale industry.
I spend some [...]
|
sm
|
design
|
Tags: advertising, art, bilboards, British Raj, conceptualize, environment, experiment, graphic design, identity, illustration, inspiration, Mughals, pakistan, photography, portfolios, products, style, typography
|
On October 1, Dawn published a letter from Shazia Marri, in response to a columnist who takes a close look at Zardari in the role of President of Pakistan. Her gushing support for Zardari prompted me to write a reply to her letter, and while I wait to see if Dawn will publish a letter [...]
|
sm
|
politics
|
Tags: Asif Zardari, bhutto, Congress, democracy, Gandhi, Mandela, Nawaz Sharif, NRO, pakistan, PPP, Reconciliation, Shazia Marri, swiss courts
|
I monitor a mailing group on google, LooseEndsPakistan, in which a member fervently argued in support of President Musharraf. In response, one member had this to say:
On Behalf Of naushad shafkat
Sent: Wednesday, August 06, 2008 7:31 PM
To: looseendspakistan@googlegroups.com
Subject: [ankahi:501] Re: PPPPPPPPPPOOOOOOOOOOOO
It is indeed a very sorry state that we have people like Mr. Wadiwalla who [...]
|
sm
|
politics
|
Tags: bangladesh, corruption, democracy, Fareed Zakaria, LooseEndsPakistan, military rule, muhathir, pakistan, politicians, quaid-e-azam, suharto, surrey, swiss courts, yeltsin, zulfiqar Ali Bhutto
|
Enjoin ye righteousness upon mankind while ye yourselves forget (to practise it)? And ye are readers of the Scripture! Have ye then no sense?
Surah-al-Baqarah, verse 44
I sometimes wonder about the blind leading the blind in this world. While this verse from the Quran applies freely to religious leaders who send our children to their deaths [...]
|
sm
|
politics
|
Tags: 15:14, blind, corruption, cronyism, democratic, judiciary, KWSB, loyalists, Matthew, media, Musharraf, nepotism, pakistan, PML-N, PPP, Shahbaz, Sind, Zardari. Nawaz
|
I got a petition in the mail today: A demand that the government address a looming food crisis, a global phenomenon that has Pakistan in second place as countries that may be the worst affected.
Ironically, a news channel flashed a report just yesterday that our fearless new ‘elected’ leaders have just re-opened the export of [...]
|
sm
|
politics
|
Tags: Afghanistan, BB, charter of democracy, coalition, corruption, Dubai, England, export, food crisis, government, judges, KSE, media, Mehsud, Nawaz, pakistan, poverty, starvation, terrorists, wealth, wheat, Zardari
|
Over the many conspiracy theories and hotly-debated views on various blogs and forums regarding Lal Masjid (LM), few have reacted to the notion that one Muslim has the power to doubt another Muslim’s faith. The common theme among many Pro-Lal Masjid bloggers seems to be that a) the Ghazi Brother’s intentions were pure, so their [...]
|
sm
|
civics and society
|
Tags: assault, bloggers, christian right, collateral damage, community, Conservative, court, decadence, drinking, extremism, fundamentalists, gambling, God, hostages, Islam, Judgement, lal masjid, Liberal, media, molotov cocktails, morality, muslims, pakistan, pornography, Prophet, shame, suicide bombings, terrorism, theft, values, vandalism, weapons of mass destruction, women
|
Yesterday, my husband and I got into an argument with an anthropologist, who explained to us that the discipline and civility we see in the West is the result of centuries of evolution, development and modernism, a process that Pakistanis never went through. The argument was that our attempt to bring such civility to this [...]
|
sm
|
civics and society
|
Tags: 160 million, change, civics, civility, civilization, development, difference, evolution, individual, manifesto, modernism, pakistan, political, reformation, West
|