LAMIYA SHABBIR WRITES – Being a student in Pakistan is a high-risk occupation. In December, Taliban militants attacked Army Public School in Peshawar, killing 141 people. Though bloodier than most, the attack was by no means the first on institutes of learning. Taliban militants have shot up campuses, set schools ablaze,…
LAMIYA SHABBIR WRITES – Leading Republican presidential candidate Donald J. Trump has called for a ban on Muslims entering the United States and proposed changes to the country’s immigration and visa policies. While millions of his supporters have cheered the proposal, most Democrats and even many top Republican figures have opposed…
ADRIAN NARAYAN WRITES — With more than 15 million users in 24 countries, Facebook’s Internet.org, has charmed the eyes of many Indians. The program aims to bring free Web access to the developing world, but because of controversy over the number of websites a user can visit, the project’s been renamed “Free Basics.”…
LAMIYA SHABBIR WRITES – Raheel sharif, the army chief of Pakistan, is more famous on social media than Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and President Mamnoon Hussain. The huge billboards in Karachi with his picture – and being on front page of newspapers everyday – has made it very hard for…
ADRIAN NARAYAN WRITES – On Nov. 16, “India’s Daughter” will air at 10 p.m. ET on PBS’ “Independent Lens.” This critically acclaimed documentary originally aired on March 8, 2015 in a number of countries, but was banned from Indian TV. British filmmaker Leslee Udwin’s film exposes the Dec. 2012 incident of a 23-year-old female…
ADRIAN NARAYAN WRITES– Can online declarations of love defeat real-world violence and intolerance? A few thousand Indian and Pakistani social media users are trying to find out. Connected by a mutual concern about the current state of Indian-Pakistani relations, internet users have been posting photos of themselves and short statements of peace…
LAMIYA SHABBIR WRITES – It was the tweet heard across the subcontinent: India and Pakistan’s leaders play nice at a conference designed to save the world. Spokesperson for the Ministry of External Affairs of India, Vikas Swarup tweeted, “On a chilly November morning, PM @narendramodi is welcomed warmly by President @fhollande…
LAMIYA SHABBIR WRITES – At least four media reporters were shot in less than 24 hours, leaving two dead and two injured. M Ilyas Khan, a reporter for BBC in Islamabad, reports, “Police said the motives behind the shootings were not immediately clear.” On September 9th, Aftab Alam, a former…
ADRIAN NARAYAN WRITES– With the second highest number of internet users in the world, the Indian government’s new flagship program, ‘Digital India,’ has potential to become a great success. With Prime Minister Modi’s trip to Silicon Valley in early September, hype over this new government initiative has wooed the CEOs…
ADRIAN NARAYAN WRITES – Online crime is on the rise in India and the nation’s cyber cops say beware digital extortion. As this continues to become a major issue, India has ranked as the world’s sixth most targeted country (second in Asia), in terms of financial institutions that are hacked. Internet hackers have…
HAIG TER-GHEVONDIAN WRITES – Here in the United States, someone can say or write a controversial opinion and be protected from government intervention or the public. Some abuse it and some take it for granted, but having a right like freedom of speech implemented and enforced in Pakistan would be a…
HAIG TER-GHEVONDIAN WRITES – Since the controversial imam Abdul Aziz’s refusal to openly denounce the murder of 134 children in the Peshawar Army School in Pakistan by the Taliban, the Pakistani Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has begun cracking down on terrorist propaganda on social media. A new cyber-crime bill introduced to…
ADRIAN NARAYAN WRITES—A government initiative to make a difference in the third largest Asian economy hasn’t gotten off to a very productive start. Announced back in September 2014, Make In India is an undertaking to invite international companies to manufacture their products in India. Since it’s launch, Make in India has…
HAIG TER-GHEVONDIAN WRITES – According to an interview between Pakistani teacher Rubia Akram and Feminist: Stories from Women’s Liberation director Jennifer Lee, in 1947, during the war of independence in Pakistan, a woman named Dr. Fatima Jinnah fought alongside male soldiers. After the war ended, she became a national legend. Today she…
TRISTAN WILLENBURG WRITES – Beware what you click on Facebook. An Indian is under arrest in Saudi Arabia for what he says was simply taking a look at an image authorities have since deemed blasphemous. The rub: To see the photo, the man says he was tricked into giving it…
PEYTON CROSS WRITES- International Women’s Day has been observed since the early 1900s. Since then, it has grown in popularity as more countries have began observing and celebrating it. To commemorate the special day, The Independent Television Network (ITN) organized a special day-long program titled “Liya Waruna.” According to the ITN…
