MURAD BASRAWI WRITES – Pakistan faces a growing problem with people disposing garbage, toxic household waste, and chemicals in public areas. In response, some areas in Pakistan are urgently passing laws banning the dumping of garbage in public places, reports Dawn, the widely respected newspaper published in Islamabad. The province…
Full Article PAKISTAN: WHAT COLOSSAL WASTE IN AN OTHERWISE BEAUTIFUL COUNTRY
DIANA JABLONSKI WRITES – Riots and protesting broke out in India last month against the release of the controversial Bollywood film “Padmaavat.” Protesters have filled streets, vandalized cinemas, ransacked shops, burned vehicles, and called for the film’s ban. In fact, protests started a year before the film’s release, with vandals…
Full Article INDIA: PADMAAVAT FILM LEADS TO CONTROVERSY REGARDING RELIGION
FASSA SAR WRITES – Arunachalam Murugunatham’s community once even labeled him a pervert when he decided to create a low-cost sanitary pad for women in rural India. He noticed that the women’s menstrual cycles were considered so taboo, it led to women using old rags, sand, leaves and even ash…
Full Article FILM: WHOEVER SAID INDIA HAS NO SENSITIVE MALES?
MURAD BASRAWI WRITES – Pakistan has condemned Indian soldiers for the brutal killing of three innocent civilians, and the injury of several others, in the Ganowpora Village of Shopian—a district in India-Occupied Kashmir this past month. Pakistan’s Foreign Office in Islamabad delivered an angry statement to the media claiming that…
Full Article PAKISTAN: MORE CIVILIAN KILLINGS, MORE CONDEMNATIONS – WILL IT NEVER END?
AASHNA MALPANI WRITES – Stories of harassment and violence in India made headlines all over the world again when a Swiss couple was brutally assaulted by a group of five young men at Fatehpur Sikri near Agra late last month. Marie Droz and Quentin Jérémy Clerc, both 24, decided on…
Full Article INDIA: INDIA HATES WOMEN (EVEN MORE) WHEN THEY’RE WITH THE OPPOSITE SEX
FASSA SAR WRITES – Films that are bold enough to retrace the disheartening memories of those who died and survived during authoritarian regimes, civil wars and genocide expose the silenced wounds of history. “First They Killed My Father,” directed by Angelina Jolie and produced by legendary cambodian filmmaker, Rithy Panh,…
Full Article FILM: HOLLYWOOD’S TAKE ON KHMER ROUGE
AASHNA MALPANI WRITES – Muslim women in India took the lead in changing the tone of the narrative from being a victim to an activist. The women united against the disputed practice of “triple talaq”—an Islamic law that allows men to split from their wives by saying the Arabic word…
Full Article INDIA: HOW TO DIVORCE IN UNDER 3 SECONDS – THE TRIPLE TALAQ LAW
LAMIYA SHABBIR WRITES- Good fences, it’s said, make for good neighbors. But what about walls? After a recent spate of terrorist attacks across Pakistan, the country’s army said it believes building a wall along the Afghan border could be good for both nations’ security. On March 31, at least 22…
Full Article PAKISTAN: AFGHAN BORDER WALL CONTROVERSY REMINISCENT OF TRUMP’S GREAT WALL
LAMIYA SHABBIR WRITES – Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has been in headlines more than usual lately. He can thank the so-called ‘Panama Papers’ and a ruling last month by the country’s supreme court that there’s too little evidence to oust him from office. The Panama Papers is shorthand for a…
Full Article PAKISTAN: PANAMA LEAKS RULING KEEPS CORRUPTION ACCUSATIONS ALIVE
TOM PLATE WRITES – Indian MP and former high UN official Shashi Tharoor is easily one of the most graceful, intelligent and accessible writers well known to the public-policy world. For my rupees, his 2012 book ‘Nehru: The Invention of India’ might well be the best short political biography in…
Full Article INDIA: NEW BOOK BY BRILLIANT SHASHI THARO0R ON COLONIAL BRITAIN’S DEEP RACISM AND AMORAL CYNICISM
JESSICA LEGASPI WRITES — Indians around the world can turn to the media to see the Diwali celebration in India, but for those living in New Delhi, they can barely see the hands in front of their faces. On October 31, the day after Diwali, the Hindu festival of lights,…
Full Article INDIA: THE FESTIVAL OF LIGHT BLANKETS PEOPLE IN SMOG
Photoshop by Clementine Todorov CLEMENTINE TODOROV WRITES – As a nation struggling with environmental and economic setbacks, Bangladesh has taken a step forward to ally itself with China once again. Previously, the Republic of China had ties with Pakistan which fostered tension with Bangladesh since its rebellion and established independence…
Full Article BANGLADESH: A NEW ERA – BANGLADESH AND CHINA UNITE IN TRADE
CLEMENTINE TODOROV WRITES – In late August, at a press conference for his first official visit to Bangladesh, U.S Secretary of State John Kerry suggested that the Bangladesh media should cool it on terrorism coverage. “Perhaps,” Kerry said, “the media would do us all a service if they didn’t cover…
Full Article BANGLADESH: IS MEDIA PLAYING A ROLE IN TERRORISM IN SOUTH ASIA?
FASSA SAR WRITES – Aniruddha Roy Chowdhury’s new Bollywood film, Pink, combats underlying sexism and androcentrism within Indian culture. The film points out the misogynist culture that justifies violence against and control of women. The film, Pink, tells the story of three girls, Meenal, Falak, and Andrea, who attend a…
Full Article INDIA: NEW BOLLYWOOD FILM GIVES MISOGYNY THE PINK SLIP
CLEMENTINE TODOROV WRITES — Whether they live in the Global North or South, climate change is affecting the way of life for everyone. While people of the Western world seems to be more concerned about their abnormal weather changes, they are less aware and empathetic towards countries like Bangladesh, whose…
Full Article BANGLADESH: FLOODED WITH WAVES OF ANXIETY
LAMIYA SHABBIR WRITES – When people attend a Pakistani wedding, they’re mesmerized by the colors, tradition and culture woven into the event: the gorgeous bride and groom, the laughter of family members, music and dancing going on for days and days. Imagine that the bride and groom are both from…
Full Article PAKISTAN: THE BITTER TRUTH ON MARRIAGES