Archive Page 2
Pakistan: Nice and Courteous
You would think going off to Europe for a week would be fun, yes? Think again if you’re taking a flight out of Karachi’s Jinnah Terminal.
I’m one of those people who leaves home three and a half hours before my flight is meant to leave. For a 6:15 am departure, that means being in the car at 2:45 in the morning. There is some attempt to sleep — basically a three hour ‘nap’ or a euphemism for tossing and turning. In these less than ideal circumstances we (Yes, that’s right. I just pulled the royal we) are not amused. By anything. Continue reading ‘Pakistan: Nice and Courteous’
Filed under: Satire, Travel | 15 Comments
Tags: Pakistan
I am a terrorist and so are you
There are many before me who have written about Friday’s attack on the Ahmadis in Lahore. By the time this piece goes into print, still more will have written – and written better – of the audacious attack on Jinnah Hospital by the terrorists who came back to save their own. However, if I do not write of these attacks, I will become more complicit than I already am, for isn’t it true that every time I renew my passport I am complicit as are you? Every minute that I hold my national identity card, I may as well be holding a gun to the head of any Pakistani minority. Continue reading ‘I am a terrorist and so are you’
Filed under: MInority rights, Politics, Taliban, Terrorism | 10 Comments
Tags: Lahore attack, Lahore Jinnah Hospital attack, Pakistan, Pakistan Ahmadis
I won an award!
Pic by Sana Saleem
I’m honoured and humbled to report that I’ve won in the Best Celebrity Blogger category of the Pakistan Blog Awards. The Unconference organized by CIO Pakistan and Google Pakistan for the first time ever in Pakistan was a fantastic venture and a glitzy ceremony! Their aim was to ‘discuss, recognize and platformize one of the the fastest growing online mediums in Pakistan, the blogging community.’ And I for one think they pulled it off fabulously!
Thanks so much to Rabia Garib and her team, all the fellow bloggers who convinced and helped me to start a blog (Ammar Yasir of Teabreak, Jehan Ara of Pasha, Sana Saleem of Mystified Justice, who actually arrived at my home to set it up along with Poppy Agha), and DiscoMaulvi/Aly B who nominated me. I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention Faisal Kapadia and Awab Alvi for encouraging me by featuring me repeatedly on The Laidback Show.
A big thank you to everyone who voted for me! 
Filed under: New Media, Twitter | 30 Comments
Tags: CIO Pakistan, Google Pakistan, Pakistan Blog Awards, Pakistan new media
The Ticking Bomb
The ‘ticking water bomb’ that is Attabad lake in Hunza has already exploded for many. Caused by a major landsline on January 4, the expanding lake has already killed 20, left about 25,000 people stranded, and blocked the Hunza river about 750 kilometres north of Islamabad. It has destroyed the Karakoram Highway, breaking the road link between Pakistan and China. But as is often the case with environmental disasters, this is a bomb that will just keep going off. Nadeem Ahmed, the Chairman of the National Disaster Management Authority has warned that as many as 40,000 may be affected. Continue reading ‘The Ticking Bomb’
Filed under: Environment, Media, Politics, Social Issues | 6 Comments
Tags: Attabad lake, climate change, Hunza, IUCN, Pakistan
The President Is Indeed In Town
When I left my home a couple of days ago, I noticed that there were more cops of many different varieties than is the usual in my neighbourhood. Has anyone else noticed how many different kinds of cops there are these days? Special forces, extra special forces, the not-so-special-more-like-extra forces, the forces-in-black, the forces-in-khaki, the forces-in-khaki-with-accessories-like-hats, and my favourites, the forces on horses.
Oh no, I groaned. Is he in town? Continue reading ‘The President Is Indeed In Town’
Filed under: Politics, Satire | 3 Comments
Tags: Asif Ali Zardari, Pakistan, Rehman Malik
