· July, 2009

Stories about Pakistan from July, 2009

Pakistan: Handling The Return Of Refugees

  31 July 2009

The Government of Pakistan has finally announced a schedule for the Swat refugees outlining their return to home. Pakistani bloggers feel that a lot more needs to be done to ensure their safety and for their rehabilitation.

Pakistan: Breaking Western Stereotypes

  31 July 2009

Pakfactor writes about a documentary called “Made In Pakistan”, which “documents the lives of four ordinary Pakistani citizens during military rule in an effort to break Western stereotypes about the country.”

Pakistan: Citizen Media Vs. Print Media

  30 July 2009

Hina Safdar at Chowrangi informs of a recent dispute between a blog vs. some journalists. The pkpolitics.com blog exposed some journalists on various corruption issues and some of them responded by publishing articles in a Pakistan daily.

An Indian View On India-Pakistan Relations

  27 July 2009

Supriyo Chaudhuri at The Sunday Posts comments on the relations between India and Pakistan: “we should indeed try to create a new Pakistan based on democracy and tolerance rather than pakistanizing the whole region based on violence and chauvinism.”

Pakistan: Rain In Karachi

  24 July 2009

The recent record breaking rainfall in Karachi has made the lives of Karachites miserable and Kashif Aziz at Chowrangi questions “why Karachi suffers when it rains?”

Pakistan: A Fatwa To Stop Electricity Theft

  22 July 2009

Kalsoom at CHUP! – Changing Up Pakistan informs that “the Karachi Electricity Supply Company (KESC) has reportedly obtained a fatwa [religious decree] from 12 senior Islamic scholars against the theft of electricity, which is costing the company 1 billion rupees ($12.3 million) a month.”

Pakistan: Cyber Crimes Act Threatens Freedom Of Speech

  21 July 2009

Pak Tea House criticizes the move of Pakistan government to “trace SMS (or text messages) and e-mails that ‘slander the political leadership of the country’ under the vague Cyber Crimes Act.” Mistakenly forwarding a joke about the president via SMS can cost someone a 14-year prison sentence and properties seized.

Pakistan: The power of the Fatwa

  17 July 2009

The Karachi Electricity Supply Company (KESC) has reportedly obtained a fatwa [religious decree] from 12 senior Islamic scholars against the theft of electricity. Kalsoom at Changing Up Pakistan writes in this post how the idea of a major corporation using religious fatwas to give religious legitimacy to their cause is...

Pakistan: Is the proposed E-crime bill a form of Democratic Dictatorship?

  14 July 2009

Mystified Justice wonders what purpose the proposed E-crime bill will serve other than obstructing freedom of expression. She feels that it would be much more constructive if instead, the government was to focus its energy on dismantling the illegally operated, infamous,provocative and inflammatory FM radio channel broadcast by Maulana Fazlullah...

Only Pakistan can help Pakistan

  13 July 2009

While discussing the problem of the growing number of internally displaced persons (IDPs), Mosharraf Zaidi at All Things Pakistan comments: “Pakistan is in this mess because this is a state that does not deal with small problems until they become big problems,” and “in the long run, only Pakistan can...

Communicating via missed calls

  11 July 2009

Uber Desi on the recent ICT research conducted by Lirneasia.net across 6 Asian countries. The findings indicate that communicating via ‘missed call’ signals is a common way for people to save on calling costs.

Pakistan: The President Vs. Chief Justice

  10 July 2009

Farhan at Guppu Blog discusses the recent row between the president and the chief justice of Pakistan and cautions others from using sensationalist remarks while describing the tensions as that can incite fresh political agitations.

Pakistan: Political Party Over Nation

  9 July 2009

Rehmat Yazdani at Islamabad Metblogs criticizes the public display of Pakistan Peoples Party's (PPP) flags in Islamabad and comments: “these flags are giving Islamabad a look of PPP’s own capital rather than Pakistan’s capital.”

Pakistan: On Halal Tube

  7 July 2009

Pakistani Blog Deadpan Thoughts comments on Halal Tube: “The latest chapter in the non conforming attitude of our religion is Halal Tube. [..] Perhaps ‘Halal Tube’ should cache ips and compare them to ‘YouTube’ to do a study on how many Muslims actually watch ‘halal stuff’.”