Imran Khan is the target of your Goebbels’ vendetta!
Apropos to the excessively grandiloquent, wastefully voluble and patently frivolous attempt The Express Tribune has been part of subjecting Imran khan as prime target of its Goebbels’ vendetta. Now, what shall I say about The Express Tribune? The blog has started to give me an impression as if its raison d’etre is to have a unifocal soliloquy on publishing literally anything against Imran Khan without realising how ludicrous the writer may sound or implausible the publisher. If I were to describe The Express Tribune in a nutshell, I think I’ll marginally settle for this definition: Camelot of an erudite savant ...
Read Full Post
Honouring heroes: A tribute to the men of Siachen
Disaster and tragedy struck the Siachen glacier in the early hours of the morning of April 7, 2012. More than 135 of our finest were buried under snow and suffered a painful death. This is the biggest avalanche that has struck our army men over the last 20 years and a loss that cannot be measured in words. One can hardly imagine living under such extreme conditions, leave alone suffocating under over 80 feet of snow. It is a terrible tragedy indeed. The army’s presence in Siachen is especially close to my heart as my late uncle was stationed there a few years ...
Read Full Post
Veena Malik: Scorned for being different
Is a woman simply labeled a whore or a saint, a mother or a prostitute in Pakistan? It seems that having more than one dimension to her description is just not acceptable – it is a sad country for an an independent woman. People complain about feudalism and a system that favours patriarchal dominance, and yet today I see everyone around me acting like a feudal trying to force an opinion on a single woman again and again till she submits. Veena Malik is controversy’s favourite child, or so it seems. You either hate her, or love her, but nobody ever lets ...
Read Full Post
PTI and Marvi: A love story turned sour
When the PML- Q joined hands with the current PPP government, Marvi Memon took a stand (along with some other MNAs and MPAs of her party) and decided not to join the federation. She even went a step ahead and tendered her resignation from the National Assembly. This move improved her image in the public eye and people began to feel that she will take revolutionary steps in politics; that she will use her political standing for the people of her country. Political analysts and critics were of the view that Marvi Memon will join the PTI after she left her parent party. But due ...
Read Full Post
The fundofication of PTI
Three and a half months into the tsunami, things do not seem to be going in the direction many had hoped. What started out as a campaign to bring about positive and lasting change by bringing the youth and Pakistan’s moderate majority on board has now turned in to a lota/fundo-fest. But the believers still cling onto the words that were said on October 30, during that historic jalsa in Lahore. The idea was that Pakistan was for everyone – liberals, conservatives and moderates coming together under the banner of one party that promised to build an Islamic welfare state and ...
Read Full Post
Who trashed my comment?
Earlier this week we asked our readers what they wanted to know about policy, coverage and reporting at The Express Tribune. A lot of you wanted to know why certain reader comments never make it online. On our Facebook page Rabia Kashan wrote: “U publish comments which only support ur argument or not condradictory with themn thats very much TRUE” Ahsan Ullah wrote: “I never saw my comments on any post. Why is that?” Nur Momand asked: “The policy of comments moderation is murky. Sometimes very harsh comments get published but many a time even relatively milder critique gets censored. Is it because of the the person ...
Read Full Post
Why firing Maya Khan is not the solution
The protest has borne fruit: Maya Khan has been fired and her show has been taken off air. One more host of Samaa TV has been shown the door, after a clamour of complaints following the fateful episode of her morning show. This is the moment of vindication for the online community of journalists, bloggers and ordinary citizens who were incensed (and rightfully so) after watching Maya and her coterie of minions prey on couples dating in a public park. But lest these critics lapse into complacency over an accomplished mission, they must know that there’s more to the story. There’s ...
Read Full Post
Shaming Maya: Two wrongs don’t make a right
The Book of Love is full of charts, and facts and figures, and instructions for dancing, at least according to The Magnetic Fields, later confirmed by Peter Gabriel. Both the indie band and the legendary former Genesis lead singer also agree that they love it when someone reads to them from it. Unfortunately, it seems that nobody ever read to Maya Khan from it. That can be the only reason she takes so much offence to young love. Now, I’m probably wrong on both counts, given the amount of pictures and video of her indulging in extra-mehram-al relations with men, ...
Read Full Post
Reader comments: Do not feed the trolls
Think of reporters as bards and warrior-journalists on an epic quest. The Kingdom demands new songs and tales so we are forced to enter the wilderness regularly. There are many hurdles along the way— harsh climbs, Aabpara Road, local fauna. A lucky few are allowed to pass unmolested by the indigenous population of internet trolls. Others come face to face with the terror of wet jaws and a big club ready to wham their journalism degrees to a thin paste. These cyber-beasts are active 24/7. When offended (their list of offences is exhaustive, tyrannical) they show no mercy on news ...
Read Full Post
Imran Khan’s PTI: New face, same old lines
Has Imran Khan’s party started to crumble already? The Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf Nazriati (ideological) is a recently formed faction consisting of those who stood by Khan when he started his mission to clean Pakistan’s politics. Khan took pride in them because they were honest, educated, and hard-working people who had vowed to help him bring about a revolution in the country. Recently, however, his right and left have been hijacked by the Makhdoom’s and the like. Honesty, education, and hard work are not traits that will win ballots today. This is not very different from the history of Pakistan People’s Party (PPP). The PPP ...
Read Full Post
