What kind of Pakistani life do you lead?
Hello everyone, long time no see! I’ve been mulling over all that has been happening in Pakistan over the last year and it got me to thinking, its about time I tried my hand at writing a quiz a little more all-encompassing than the Desi elite political identity quiz (though do take that if you haven’t already). The big question: what kind of Pakistani life do you lead, should hopefully provide you with some perspective on whether things are looking up (or down) for you, not to mention give you bragging rights with your peers. Keep score, keep calm and leave your results ...
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Seraikistan is our right
Seraikis are not ‘south Punjabis’, just like Pathans aren’t ‘north Punjabis’. Stop calling them southern Punjabis; it’s in bad taste. Having one’s cultural identity reduced to a geographical variant of an alien ethnicity is unpleasant. People should realise how incredibly offensive it is when they claim that Seraiki is just a dialect of Punjabi and not a different language. Seraiki is an ancient language, rich with heritage that represents its people. Some even argue that linguistically, Punjabi may be a relatively recent relic of the Sikh invasion, while Seraiki, with its original Sanskrit script, might be significantly older. It’s ironic how a ...
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My blue passport doesn’t make me American
There was an incredible comment I read on one of my previous posts about how it’s impossible to live on in the oblivion of being both Pakistani and American. I don’t remember who wrote that to me, but if you’re reading this, thank you. You are a small part of the motivation that inspired this topic you are reading today. I was born in Karachi and lived the first nine years of my life moving back and forth between Karachi and Lahore before moving to the US. Though I can’t recall what the people, culture and society were like ...
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PTI rally: Sights, sounds, observations from Karachi
Participating in the PTI jalsa on Sunday was a transformational experience for me. Originally, I did not plan to attend the rally because I didn’t agree with everything Imran Khan has to say, and felt his policy platform was too vague. Plus, there was a small chance that a bomb might go off, or something else would go wrong – it’s Karachi after all. The tipping point came when Imran Khan positioned this rally as an opportunity to usher a new era of peaceful politics in Karachi. Sitting with friends the night before the rally, we made an impulse decision to attend. “You’ll tell your grandchildren that you were ...
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A product of the 2000′s tries to make sense of 1980 Karachi violence redux
When Benazir Bhutto was assassinated in Rawalpindi, my family and I were in one of the last cars to cross the Islamabad motorway toll booth before the city went into total lockdown. In the midst of the shock, anger and fear felt in the capital as it nervously eyed its neighbour, one image would particularly stick: the receptionist at the hotel leaning forward across the counter saying in a terrified whisper, “Aap log… Karachi say hain?” [Are you folks from Karachi?] The TV was on in the background, and for the first time we were forced to tell frantic ...
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Karachi, my city of violence
Two nights ago, I heard sounds of blaring ambulances as I entered my house. The next day while I was on my way to work, my brother called me and told me to turn back because the situation in the city might get ‘Orangi-ised’ by evening. The ambulances I heard had been carrying the bodies of two men shot at Johar Chorangi, just half a kilometer from my house. For once, I thought it wise to listen to my brother, and went back home. While I stayed at home I was only too aware that innocent people were dying and many ...
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Small provinces have big dreams
Over the past few years people across the country have joined the debate on establishing smaller provinces. But there are constitutional, economic, ethnic and political problems with turning these dreams into realities. The ideas came to the fore after the renaming of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa started the debate about the creation of smaller provinces. The Hazara province The basis for this demand was purely ethnic as people claimed they were happy with the old name NWFP. Protests on the streets for a new Hazara province claimed seven lives. But a deep look into the social, ethnic and political set up of the Hazara Division ...
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Zulfikar Mirza and PPP’s list of woes
That the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) is facing a tough time is an understatement. The PPP was barely getting any support for its Reformed General Sales Tax (RGST) bill when one of its own members, the current Sindh Interior Minister Dr Zulfikar Mirza, went on a public tirade making matters much worse. Mirza was invited to speak at an event organized by the Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Instead of enlightening the business community about perhaps any progressive steps on behalf of the provincial government toward economic stability, Mirza chose to spend 95 per cent of this time attacking ...
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In defense of the status quo
Right now, news of a possible regime change is dominating the mainstream media. Active enthusiasm in some quarters shows that euphoria after the elections of February 18, 2008 has fully subsided and has been replaced by plain disgust. If the demographics of the wary public are to be taken into consideration, it is again some sections of the affluent middle class which are pressing for the regime change and are ready to support even unconstitutional means. However, this time the buck does not seem to stop at regime change as a sizeable number either wants democracy to be completely purged or at least temporarily ...
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Colours of Pakistan
It is an interesting mix. The place where I work and most definitely where I sit. Every ethnicity is represented and deep in my heart I call the Reporters’ Corner, the ‘Colours of Pakistan’. Why? You’d ask. Well, because my beautiful country is represented by a group of ten reporters at The Express Tribune covering different beats and belonging to different ethnic backgrounds and though I see the men folk most notably lost in their political talk, on ethnic lines I have never seen them crossing the line of respect for the other ethnicities. Not all of them are politically ...
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