AUSTIN SZABO WRITES: You can’t trust your kids once the sun goes down. At least that’s what Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N) officials say. The News reports that the Pakistani government has demanded wireless companies stop selling late-night cellphone packages to teenagers, claiming such deals will ultimately destroy the country’s culture. Their logic? Discount…
Category: Pakistan
HONOLULU: East-West Center Announces Pakistan US Journalist Exchange
The East-West Center has announced it is now accepting applications for the 2014 Pakistan-United States Journalists Exchange, March 30-April 19, 2014. This program, now in its fourth year, is designed to increase and deepen public understanding of the two countries and their important relationship, one that is crucial to regional…
Pakistan: Everyone’s on the Same Page
LIZA HERNANDEZ WRITES – Mohammed Waseem Ahmed was recently ousted from the Karachi police force after a Supreme Court hearing concerning his alleged illicit activities as the man in charge of hundreds of illegal gambling dens in Karachi. Though Ahmed, according to government records, has flown the coop to Dubai,…
PAKISTAN: None of Your Business, United States
Pakistan’s gutsy decision to continue building its share of the Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline against the warnings of possible sanctions by the US has made its way into the headlines. Within the next two years (and 1.5 billion dollars later), Pakistan plans to finish the construction of 781 km of the…
PAKISTAN: The Debate Drones On
Debates concerning the use of drones in Pakistan, and other countries, by the CIA are not new. Recently US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, in an AFP interview, was forced to defend the policy and practice; “The whole purpose of our operations were aimed at those who attacked this country and…
PAKISTAN: Lessons on Courage
Author Maya Angelou stated, “One isn’t necessarily born with courage, but one is born with potential.” If this is true, Malala Yousafzai was born with an unlimited amount of potential for courage. Quite frankly she has shown more courage in her first 15 years of life than most adults ever…
PAKISTAN: True Story in ‘Zero Dark Thirty’?
The new movie about the successful hunt to find and kill Osama bin Laden will surely cop a few Academy Awards. It is well done and worth seeing. But this is not intended to be a movie review. Rather, ‘Zero Dark Thirty’ raises difficult issues about the morality of America’s…
PAKISTAN: World Condemnation of Taliban Bullies’ Attack on a 14-Year-Old Girl Education Crusader
SPECIAL FROM LATIFAH RAHMDEL AT UNITED ARAB EMIRATES UNIVERSITY IN AL AIN, ABU DHABI — Not only in Pakistan, but from all over the world people have been following the case and sending prayers for Malala Yousafzai, the brave 14-year-old girl targeted and shot in the head last week by…
INDIA: A Techno Solution forTouchy India/Pakistan?
The recent blowup of the Innocence of Islam and the detrimental effects that the provocative video (or is it a mere trailer?) is forcing many to question the power of technology. However, a new program in India may redeem hope that technology, the media, and entertainment can also be a…
PAKISTAN: Forced Conversions or Cultural Assimilation?
Of the 180 million population in Pakistan, little more than one percent are Hindus. But increasingly they are said to be fearing for their religious identity — and lives — as more and more coerced conversions have been reported. The Independent Human Rights Commission in Pakistan (HRCP) claims that the…
PAKISTAN: Zardari Meets with Indian PM for a ‘Play Date’
This past week, President Asif Ali Zardari of Pakistan flew to India to meet Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to discuss the countries’ volatile relationship. Tension has accumulated over the past half century, starting with the military three conflicts since independence from British rule in 1947 and the ever-present nuclear threat…
BANGLADESH: Media Turn Up the Volume for Independence Celebrations
Forty-one years ago, Bangladesh gained independence from Pakistan in the bloody nine-month Liberation war. Now, with the help of its media, the country honors this day. On March 26, 1971, the Bangladeshi government informed the public via radio that the Liberation War had reached its conclusion. On Monday, March 26,…
PAKISTAN: Obama and Gilani at Nuclear Security Summit — Easing Tension
On Tuesday, US President Barack Obama and Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani met on the sidelines of a nuclear security summit in South Korea to discuss relations between their respective countries. How Pakistani citizens view such a meeting however, has been entirely dependent on its presentation in the media.…
PAKISTAN: Trying to Get Its Political Act Together
On February 14, 2012 – however fleetingly — love was truly in the air in politically torn-Pakistan, although, it had nothing to do with Valentines Day. Pakistanis of all partisan stripes appeared to agree that the action of the National Assembly to make future elections as free and fair as possible was a critical step in the right direction.
PAKISTAN: Two Different Media Ways of Describing a Reason to Duck!I
Two top Pakistani newspapers recently reported the same basic story, and it came as no shocker: Mansoor Ijaz, the Pakistani-American business man described as being at the center of the memo (Memogate) scandal and now abroad, will not come to Pakistan to testify.
PAKISTAN: Beyond Memogate
It looks as if the military is still firmly in control of Pakistan, judging from one nuanced assessment on the website of The Dawn, one of the two dominant English-language newspapers in Pakistan. Written by well-regarded feature writer Waris Husain, the analysis suggests that the nation’ highest court, in its…