Let’s not forget my brothers, the men of Siachen
The sentries changed duties and the humble started preparing to bow before their Lord, oblivious of the misfortune they were about to meet. Just about the time when darkness cracked and light approached, with an intimidating thump and a spine chilling swish, thousands of tons of glistening snow descended on the 150 helpless souls, crushing and destroying all that came in its way. The entire Battalion Headquarter was gone within seconds and I, along with thousand others, lost their brothers in arms. Once again we are left to mourn and bewail the deaths of the brave sons of the soil, ...
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The politics of Kashmir killings
On May 1, the Supreme Court of India asked the Ministry of Defence to take a call on whether the six army officers accused of carrying out the “cold blooded murder” of five innocent civilians in the Pathribal village in Kashmir valley should be tried by court martial or in a regular civil court. The Pathribal incident dates back to then US President Bill Clinton’s visit to India on March 20, 2000. This was when 35 Sikhs in Chattisinghpora village of Kashmir were shot dead by unknown men carrying automatic weapons, alcohol bottles and a lust for blood. The massacre was blamed on the men ...
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NATO conference: A tale of too many non-attendees
For quite some time, the world has been talking about this month’s NATO conference, which will be held in Chicago on May 20 and 21 and shall focus in great part on Afghanistan’s future. Yet with the event now just days away, the roster of attendees makes it hard to take the conference very seriously. How many of Afghanistan’s neighbours are confirmed participants? One, and that is Pakistan. (Incidentally, Russia has also now announced it will be present—another example of a nation at odds with the policies of certain Nato countries yet nonetheless willing to hold its nose and travel ...
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Bringing cricket back, the South African way
So, the latest news is that eight companies, including Ten Sports, Nimbus and Geo TV, have already made their recommendations to the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), while another three are expected to do so this week. Chairman PCB Zaka Ashraf is working on what can easily be called the Pakistani ‘mission impossible’. He wants Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and India to visit Pakistan; his players to be a part of the Indian Premier League, Sialkot to play the Champions League and to start the Pakistani Premier League in couple of months. What the PCB needs to understand is that they are repeating a ...
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What’s with the South Asian inferiority complex?
As a Pakistani who has lived most of his life in Canada, I have had many experiences in which I have observed the often bizarre and complex ways of the South Asian (Pakistan, India, and Bangladesh) community. One of the most prominent of these is their ability to deny any connection with their background. Now, keeping in mind that this does not apply to all the people in the group mentioned earlier, it certainly does cover several of them. Once, when I had just entered my teenage years, I had a Pakistani girl tell me that all the people who lived ...
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Bombay slums: Dark, dingy and full of hope
Bombay (now known as Mumbai) enamours me like it has many people. While the plane lands over the city, you see a seamless mix of shanties and high rises. It is not so inconspicuous on the ground. Riding a local train from Santa Cruz to Malad East, I gazed at the best and the worst of living conditions of the people of Bombay. I was in the city to report on the raising real estate prices in the city’s slums. As I reached my destination in Dharavi, one of the largest slums in Asia, there was a strange sensation in my stomach ...
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Vicky Donor: Of fertility and revolutionary ideas
There was a time when an action sequence was all that was needed to capture the audience. Vengeance and thrill always succeeded at the box office. Add a little romance to the story, and you were sure to have yourself an award winner. Now, however, modern audiences have grown tired of the same old stories. Movies today have different plots, a lot of which address social issues and real life concerns. These would previously have been condemned by people at large which is why taking them to the big screen was never an option. Interestingly enough, the audience of the 21st ...
Read Full PostIndian ‘nationalism’: Why Kashmir won’t move on
Manu Joseph, a senior Delhi based journalist and the editor of Open magazine recently asked why it was obscene to accept that a historically wounded group of people is ready to move on. He was, of course, referring to the people in Kashmir, where a war has left 70,000 people dead and 8,000 victims of enforced disappearances – in short, a gruesome trail of death and destruction which has few parallels in modern history. As Mr Joseph points out, it is difficult, almost impossible to convince the highly nationalist Indians about how merciless the war in Kashmir has been. If ...
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Pul-e-Jawan in India: How talks can bring peace
The Pul-e-Jawan country forum in India, organised by the Citizen Media Network, convened in Delhi on April 14. It was a follow-up to an event in Kabul where citizen journalists and young peacemakers from Afghanistan, Pakistan and India had met in February. This event was organised just two days after the Pul-e-Jawan forum in Pakistan, which was hosted by Bytes for All in Islamabad on April 11 and April 12. So, where does the name Pul-e-Jawan come from and what is its aim? As their website states, “Pul-e-Jawan literally means ‘Bridges of Youth’ in Dari, as well as in Urdu and Hindi. The aim of Pul-e-Jawan is to transform the conflict in ...
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Hate Story: Vengeance with vulgarity
We all know Vikram Bhatt as the infamous director who dares to be different. Remember Raaz, the horror movie starring Dino Morea and Bipasha Basu? Well this time Bhatt is back with a film that he penned himself. Hate Story brings to screen the same old Bhatt formula; the story of a scorned, wounded woman seeking vengeance. However, the very first promo of the movie makes quite an impact; with audacious and explicit scenes and lines, this film promises to be the “the most controversial film of the year“. Hate Story revolves around a journalist, Kavvya Krishnamorti (Paoli Dam) who conducts a sting operation and successfully defames a corporate house. ...
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