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How India-Pakistan wars tore apart the social fabric of Umerkot
The imposing entrance of the Umerkot Fort. Wars have a way of creating false or incomplete histories. The tales of heroes and victories often obscure the plight of the common person caught in the war...
View ArticleAnimal hunting in Pakistan deserves no applause
This article was originally published on March 13, 2015.An Italian national flew 5,157 kilometers to Pakistan, travelled 234 miles north to Gilgit-Baltistan, trekked through the mountainous terrain to...
View ArticleI was handcuffed and tied but it was worth my fight against One Unit
50 years ago, 4th March, 1967 marked a watershed event in the post-Partition history of Sindh. It was the day when 207 students were arrested en masse at the G.M. Barrage between Jamshoro and Hyderabad...
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How this lesser known festival is celebrated annually by Hindus in Sindh
The Indus is a mainstay of the Indian civilisation. For the people of Sindh especially, its mythical status penetrates each and every aspect of Sindhi life. The mention of River Indus, or Sindhu, goes...
View ArticleI was sucked into my husband’s narcissistic world, but came out of it stronger
I quickly got up from my chair as I heard a loud thud and a door slamming shut across the hallway from my apartment. I looked out and saw my neighbour sitting in the corridor, bursting into tears.As...
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Stadium stories: Famous Pakistan cricket grounds
Gaddafi Stadium City: Lahore (Punjab)Constructed: 1959First Test Match: 1959 (Pakistan vs. Australia)Original Name: Lahore Stadium. Changed to Gaddafi Stadium in 1974.Seating Capacity: 27,000Home...
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Public misogyny: Chronicles of a boy on Karachi's streets
This article was originally published on January 22, 2016. This piece consists of snippets chronicling gender roles on the streets of Karachi through a male gaze, and also tells part of the story...
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In memory of my sister, Perween Rahman
Perween Rahman, Director of the Orangi Pilot Project, was killed on this day in 2013. She was a selfless and dedicated activist, a dear friend, a close comrade, a loving daughter and my younger sister....
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12 stops: A Do-It-Yourself tour of Karachi, Part II
It is perhaps impossible to reach a consensus on which places to include on a list of top attractions in Karachi. The geographical spread of the metropolis makes it difficult for one individual to see...
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The fear of Hindu Rashtra: Should India's Muslims keep away from electoral...
Four months before the Uttar Pradesh election results sent Muslims in India reeling in shock, former Rajya Sabha MP Mohammed Adeeb delivered a speech in Lucknow, which, in hindsight, might be called...
View ArticleAs a Jewish person, I won’t stand idly by as Muslims are targeted in North...
My grandfather Morris wasn’t even 14 years old when he had to flee Kozmyn, a small village in Russia, by himself in 1904. Geopolitics had invaded the young boy’s life. The Czar’s soldiers had come to...
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Here is how Pakistanis actually reacted to Trump's Muslim ban
From a Pakistani TV soap character Dear … sob sob … Sartaj Trump …Please …sob sob … sartaj, don’t put a travel ban on us. Please don’t behave like my mother-in-law … sob sob … even though, I think it...
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By grabbing a cobra by its head, one woman changed her Tharparkar tribe forever
From inside a straw hut she had built, Meeran pulled out a small, woven basket and opened the lid covered in a swatch of azure blue fabric. With quick, nimble fingers she nudged the coiled cobra...
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Concerned US and Canadian Muslims weigh in on rising Islamophobia
Last month, North America witnessed instances of blatant Islamophobia and religious and racial hatred. Not long after the new American president Donald Trump announced a visa ban on seven...
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How the Virgin Mary brings together different faiths in Pakistan and India
For many members of threatened minority communities, places of worship offer solace. Last year, more than 70 Christians were killed while celebrating Easter in a park in 2016. The forced conversion of...
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‘At once silent and eloquent’: a glimpse of Pakistani visual poetry
Whose mischief created a world of beseechers? Each petitioner is seen wearing a garment of paperThis line from Ghalib refers to what he claimed to be ancient Persian tradition of petitioners wearing...
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The hidden 'evil' of Valentine’s Day
We have been warned over and over again about terrorists and extremists. These warnings are entirely biased. They only speak of stereotype terrorists and extremists; or those who may actually be, and...
View ArticleHow shrines helped indigenise Islam and Christianity in South Asia
The blog was originally published on January 9, 2017.At least once a month, I drive down to Lahore from Islamabad using the Motorway. Just before the Jhelum River, as the Salt Range and Potohar Plateau...
View ArticleIf terrorists burst in, where is the nearest exit I can push my brother towards?
It hurts, deeply. Lahore. Quetta. Mohmand. Peshawar. Sehwan.I wonder if we'll ever live without this sense of fear – the fear that you or your loved one will never return as they step out of the...
View ArticleDamadam mast Qalandar is a cry of rebellion against established orders
Sehwan is different. Unlike the more officially-accepted shrines of Pakistan, such as the Data Ganj Bakhsh in Lahore, Bari Imam in Islamabad, and the lustrous tombs of the Suhrawardi sufis in Multan,...
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