Posted in Pakistan, USA, political on June 25, 2008 | 4 Comments »
As my brother in Pakistan tells me, Pakistanis are talking about Pakistani Harvard student Samad Khurram, who declined to receive an award at Roots Academy from U.S. Ambassador Anne Patterson in protest of US policies and actions, such as the bombing in Mohmand Agency.
He’s been in the papers and all over virtual Pakistan. It may [...]
Posted in Pakistan on March 9, 2008 | 3 Comments »
This is Black Flag week. As CM says, “The point is simple enough: Pakistan needs a return to Law now that the elections have happened and the people have spoken.”
Posted in Pakistan, spiritual on March 8, 2008 | 2 Comments »
This is an old post from autumn of 2006 that I thought deserved a re-run.
A couple of nights ago, I went out a night stroll.
I went out, leaving Svend doing his homework in front of “The Towering Inferno,” and Raihana playing on the carpet. I must be selfish and seek my inner space, I thought.
Then [...]
Posted in Pakistan, race, religion on February 10, 2008 | 16 Comments »
I was nervous when I waited that cold morning in 1983 for Sister Rose. At 15, I was a senior student at school, at the Convent school in Lahore, established over 100 years ago by Catholic missionaries from abroad. Later that year, I would be taking my O-levels, sent over from Cambridge University, so [...]
Posted in Pakistan, USA on January 30, 2008 | 13 Comments »
Abdussattar Edhi helps the destitute, children, women, victims of natural disasters - and even the dead, by providing burials. In a country where need is high and government infrastructure for such work is desperately lacking, Edhi helps those whom no one helps. He takes nothing as a salary and lives very simply. He is an [...]
Posted in Pakistan, USA, desi, fun, gender, religion on January 21, 2008 | 9 Comments »
I have a paternal uncle who arrived in the deep South 50-some years ago. He was the only foreigner the area. His face was splashed all over the newspapers as “Mo” the tennis star from Pakistan, who had a tennis scholarship at Clemson. Wherever he went, he was recognized: “You’re Mo, aren’t you!”
So 50 years [...]
Posted in Pakistan, political on January 8, 2008 | 2 Comments »
Sorry for taking so long to post this article from Tariq Ali in the “London Review of Books.” I’ve had it in my inbox for a while now (thanks, Ahmed), but it’s an interesting read.
The title is a play on the title of Benazir Bhutto’s autobiography “Daughter of the East.”
“A triumvirate consisting of her husband, [...]
Posted in Pakistan, desi on January 8, 2008 | 1 Comment »
An evocative piece about Pakistani life by Mohsin Hamid, author of “Moth Smoke” and “The Reluctant Fundamentalist.” (Hat-tip to Baraka).
‘As an admiring American roommate of mine once said, “All you guys do is hang out.”‘ For which, see my most recent post.
Posted in Pakistan, political on January 2, 2008 | 1 Comment »
On Benazir Bhutto and Pakistan, please read this from Baraka, a series of pieces at All Things Pakistan and an article from Junaid Ahmad, president of NMLSA (his interviews on the subject are here (15 minutes into the show) and here (5 minutes into the programme).
Posted in Pakistan, political on December 28, 2007 | 22 Comments »
Pakistan is on my mind. My family, relatives and friends in Pakistan are on my mind. The poor are on my mind, since the hangama on the streets will obviously wreak more havoc in their lives than anyone else’s. Average people aren’t able to find petrol/gas to get to work. The fear of demonstrations and [...]
