Stories about Pakistan from February, 2007
Pakistan: On Basant and Kite Flying
Light Within on the colourful festival of Basant that involves a lot of kiteflying and the prevalent controversy. “First it was the Punjab government announcing that they would set up a body to ensure safe kite-flying. Then there was the proclamation that Basant WILL be celebrated in Lahore with traditional...
Pakistan: Online freedom of speech as collateral damage?
This flash animation is converted from the Powerpoint Presentation made by Dr Awab Alvi for “The Battle for the Internet.” conference (His presentation can be viewed here-original file .ppt) One year ago, on the 27th of February 2006, when the Danish cartoons controversy exploded, spawning waves of protest, anger...
Pakistan: On Basant and Kiteflying
Things Asian on kiteflying and Basant in Pakistan. “A man flies a kite at sunset after a day-long kite flying festival, locally known as ‘Basant’, in Pakistan's eastern city of Lahore, 09 February 2003, as officials said around 100,000 people from inside and outside the country had arrived in the...
Pakistan: Train to Pakistan
I, Me, Myself on the train to Pakistan. “I can not help comparing this against the kind of security that was provided by the government of the Pakistani province of Punjab to the ‘Sikh Pilgrim Special’ train, aboard which I travelled across the border in April 2006. Each bogie had...
Bangladesh: Celebrating the Mother Language day
Today is the International Mother Language Day, an annual event in UNESCO member states to promote linguistic and cultural diversity and multilingualism. This is mostly the international recognition of Language Movement Day called ‘Ekushey February’, which is commemorated in Bangladesh since 1952, when a number of Bangla-speaking people were massacred...
India, Pakistan: 66 people killed on the “Peace Train”
66 people were killed on the Samjhauta Express with homemade bombs last night. According to Wikipedia, The Samjhauta Express is a bi-weekly train — Tuesdays and Fridays — that runs between Delhi and Attari in India and Wagah and Lahore in Pakistan. Until the reopening of the Thar Express, this...
Pakistan: Organized Love
Wayward Mind writes on Organized Love. “Now a days love reigns supreme; it’s everywhere, on the idiot box, on radio shows, trashy songs and exploitative marketing and urbania is drifting away in an oscular hysteria. It appears that Cupid has shaken hands with the prophets of neo-liberalism.”
Pakistan: Ulema and Family Planning
Metroblogging Islamabad on a seminar on Ulema's views on family planning. “The research showed that many Ulema did not support family planning as it meant to them limiting the number of children one can have, which is not permissible in Islam. However, majority of them believed that Islam permits birth...
Pakistan: More censorship
After Blogger, it's WordPress.com to be censored in Pakistan. “The heavy hand of the govt. strikes again. First they came for blogspot, but the teeming masses said nothing, and moved on to wordpress.com. Now they’ve come for wordpress – where will they go now? “
Pakistan: Moving the mountains
Shirazi has a post on porters – the people who carry the load up the mountains. “The agile, tireless, hardworking people, primarily from local communities, ferry massive loads of gear on their backs. Like the more familiar Sherpa people of the Himalaya, the Pakistani porters are respected among fraternity of...
Pakistan: New Blogger and Censorship
Moving to the new Blogger platform can make circumventing censorship a little harder. Teeth Maestro has an update. “a few contacts at Google since he has been interacting very closely with them for the past year and a half, probing the option if the blogspot back-end can remain on an...
Pakistan: A suicide bomber
A suicide bomber at the Islamabad International Airport causes much alarm. Metroblogging Islamabad asks “Is this what our city has been reduced to? This will be our claim to fame; the capital of a Muslim state identified by the blood of innocents spilled by their own brethren in the name...
South Asia: unemployment, congregation, cricket, richest beggar and extra bed for bloggers
South Asia is one of the poorest regions in the world. Unemployment is one of the major problems for all the countries in this region. South Asia Biz writes a series on the employment situation in South Asia. The biz blog reviews online job portals from Nepal, India, Bangladesh, Pakistan,...
South Asia: British Identity Debate
Sepia Mutiny on another round of the British Identity debate. “This moves the discussion into the realm of public policy, which is the whole point of course, but does so with an off-hand definition of “multiculturalism,” a term that is bandied about a great deal in the UK political conversation...
Pakistan: Bridges in the country
A delightful post at Light Within on bridges in Pakistan. “Pakistan in the last six decades has not built a bridge of any aesthetic or architectural value. Most of the new major bridges are of the economic variety built for the roads out of pre-cast concrete boxes or beams, or...
Pakistan: Blog-o-vacation
I'm back! …or didn't anyone notice I was gone? Anyway, as I was not able to attend the Global Voices summit in Delhi (as I am still waiting for the approval for my Indian visa after three months), I consoled myself with a trip to my homeland, Kingdom of Lesotho....
Pakistan: Visit Pakistan 2007 website
KO has a scathing review of the Visit Pakistan 2007 website, launched to promote tourism to Pakistan. “No tourist cares that the Ministry is working on policy formulation and development, as well as promoting and executing tourism investment projects. The only thing this page is going to do is tell...
