Pakistan’s free media – free in what they make up

In response to the following article, published in Daily Times Pakistan, Lahore Edition, on 5th of March 2008 I wrote a Letter to the Editor to somehow make clear what’s spooky and whose bed has shaken harder …

A curious case of Raymond Davis – 2

So much is coming out, on what he was doing in Pakistan, after NYT’s statement that the so-called US diplomat is indeed a CIA contracted spy in Pakistan. One media report links it to drone attacks and other with supplying Al-Qaeda with nuclear fissiles. Now the Punjab government has finally seeks him to be investigated [...]

Paleejo’s ‘prehistoric’ aeroplane

If Sindh’s culture minister Sassi Paleejo is to be believed, an aeroplane dating two centuries back has been discovered at Jharak (Thatta) in Sindh. Apparently, this aeroplane or ‘jahaz’ to be exact is actually a British ship that sunk in Indus about 150 years back. So much for the competency of Sindh government and its [...]

Berichterstattung am Prüfstand – neuere deutschsprachige Literatur zu Pakistan

Die Tatsache, dass sich auch Spezialisten immer wieder bewusst und unbewusst auf medial verbreitete Stereotype stützen, zeigt wie beladen diese Region mit voreingenommenen Vorstellungen ist. Gerade Hippler und Hörstel plädieren, entsprechend unterlegt von weitaus umfassender Literatur, für eine aktive Auseinandersetzung mit dem Land und zeigen, dass man dafür nicht nur eine sicherheitspolitische Argumenation anführen muss.

“deeper than the ocean and higher than the mountain” – Teil I der Sino-Pak Serie

Jänner Ausgabe der Sino-Pakistan Serie – Anlässlich des 60 Jahr Jubiläums der sino-pakistanischen Beziehungen wurde heuer ein China-Pakistan Freundschaftsjahr ausgerufen. Im Zuge dessen werden wir hier unregelmässig auf Aspekte dieser Beziehungen eingehen.

Of boots, horses and lands

If ever there was a doubt about President Asif Ali Zardari’s love for horses over his people, he established another stable in President house with horses supplied by Pak Army – raised on taxpayers’ money. This time, though, Army gave a hush call to political parties and popular media to neglect the incident. And like [...]

[Satire] ‘Tumhara dil nahi chahiye yar!’

I just saw this small interview of Imran Khan where he talks about recent incident in Lahore where a US diplomat(?) shot two people dead. Khan’s statement that ‘US has lost battle for our hearts’ reminds me of this funny scene from an Indian movie; a sultry heroin warns the villain who is about to [...]

Creation of new provinces in Pakistan

While surfing through facebook, I found this interesting write-up by Ayub Khattak where he proposes to divide Pakistan into 18 administrative units or provinces. I am not aware of any other concrete proposal but this one looks an interesting starting point.

Hitler’s Popularity in Pakistan – Jumping to conclusions

Kazim is right though in not jumping to a wrong conclusions that many Europeans immediately take – adoration of the person Hitler and Aryanism being equal to Anti-Semitism. Still he points out (and thus suggests a link)

In the Islamic world, not just in Pakistan but right across from Iran to northern Africa, anti-Semitic sentiment of course plays a role. Conversations with German visitors rapidly turn to the injustice being suffered by the Palestinians who were robbed of their land.

Why North Waziristan is a bad idea for Pakistan

Ejaz Haider in his Friday Times article explain the Pakistani perspective ‘Why North Waziristan is a bad idea‘.