Dear women, all men are not rapists!
It was a regular Monday morning, and I left home early to meet a client. I assist a friend with his event management business and we were meeting this ‘rich’ client and so, I made sure I was dressed well and looked my best. My friend promised to pick me up from a spot close to my place, a spot where I decided to get to by a qingqi rickshaw. For those who don’t know, a qingqi is a motorcycle rickshaw with a compartment that has enough space to accommodate six people — three ladies in the back and three gents ...
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50 girls kidnapped! I’ve heard it from my dad’s friend’s son’s aunt
Have you heard? There’s a rumour epidemic in town. On March 6, when random firing broke out all over the city, the rumour mill went into overdrive. As the afternoon progressed we saw petrol pumps and shops closing, firing around the city and tales of an indefinite strike. There were traffic jams as people rushed to get home and grocery stores were packed due to panic buying. This was all fact. What caused it all was something of a mystery. SMS, phone lines, WhatsApp, Twitter and Facebook were abuzz. Sure, people wanted to make sure loved ones were safe and warn friends ...
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Dolmen City shooting: We deserve answers
My heart skipped a beat when I first heard about the violent shooting incident at Dolmen City mall in Clifton, Karachi. Living close to the mall, I manage to frequent Dolmen City a few times a week, so the news that there had been gun fire and reportedly an attempted kidnapping within the massively popular new shopping mall was especially alarming. Later, when I tried to ascertain the exact details of the incident, I found the accounts to be conflicting. While the official police report claimed that the incident was not a kidnapping, witnesses to the occurrence said that not only was it ...
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We play the blame game while the Balochi’s suffer, why?
Balochistan is a gateway for the development of Pakistan. The treasures hidden here, if unearthed and utilised properly, can bring prosperity and help overcome the woes of both Pakistan and its people. The enemies of Pakistan are aware of this and through different tactics — kidnappings, killings and terrorist attacks — are fuelling lawlessness in the province. Their actions have sowed hatred among the Baloch people. All this did not happen overnight but took years, rather decades. It is a testament to the failure of our power hungry rulers, whether they are in the center or in the provinces. Not one ...
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A week of ‘highs’, lows and highs for the cops
A mixed news week for the police ended on a relative high, which may seem unsurprising considering the week started with news that senior cops in the twin cities were making a few bucks on the side by getting citizens high. I refer of course to the news that a superintendent of the Islamabad police is believed to be supporting abootlegging operations run by the Maliks, a name familiar to any Islamabadis with an interest in famed Scottish, Russian, and Germanic products. While saddening, police connivance with bootleggers is a fact of life in every country in the world where ...
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How not to lose your kid
As any parent will tell you, leaving the house to go for, say, buying bread, is not as simple as you may think. Normal people will grab their wallet and their keys and run out. For parents, it involves a long litany such as taking the kids to the bathroom, getting them ready (which has a litany of its own), packing a bag of toys, snacks and spare clothes, and by the time you are finally ready, a kid will need the bathroom again. So when it’s in the news, that yet again, someone has forgotten their child somewhere, such ...
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Kidnapping culture: They show no remorse
Just like all the other crimes, this one is a part and parcel of life in Karachi. Hearing about a case of abduction did not really give me goose bumps before. However, all this changed the day one of my own kin got kidnapped. Being a professor at a medical college, lecturer of another and a doctor, Reza* possessed all the qualities of being the perfect ‘victim.’ He was kidnapped on the outskirts of Karachi, on his way to the university along with the driver of the university car. His family did not know for hours and only tried to contact ...
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Jinnah had a dream, and we failed him
Hopes were high when Jinnah presided over the Constituent Assembly in 1947 and declared without doubt that freedom of religion was to be respected. It was his wish to lift up the economic and politically deprived Muslims from their backwardness that led to the support of many non-Muslim minority activists as well, notably Christians. In a time where major Muslim political groupings allied themselves with the Indian National Congress, the Christians in their legislation secured Jinnah the desired support the All India Muslim League needed. His close friends and those amongst the founding fathers of Pakistan also belonged to minority ...
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A semblance of security
What kind of country are we living in? This is a question I, as ajournalist, often end up asking myself as I glance through the day’s newspapers. Consider: on the same day, there was a report of a family of five found murdered, in one of Karachi’s relatively affluent neighbourhoods. Then there was a report of a suicide attack in the country’s northwest in which several dozen innocent people had lost their lives. And then there was the demolition of the Osama bin Laden compound in Abbottabad, which was being done for some unknown reason, almost a year after he had ...
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Not just one horror story from FATA
When I read the article “Waiting to receive pieces of daughter’s body” published in The News yesterday, I was reminded of the horrific ordeal my family and I endured four years ago. Whether Shamsul Anwar’s story is true or not, the fact is that such incidents do take place, and the suffering is very real. In 2008, three days after my uncle took charge as the principal of Elementary College Jamrud, he informed my father about a warning letter sent by a local Taliban official. The letter warned my uncle that they would kill him unless he left Jamrud immediately. ...
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