By Selina Haider cross-posted from here
An enthusiastic applause followed soon after Mehreen Jabbar’s ‘Ramchand Pakistani’ ended in a in a packed downtown cinema in New York last night!
The movie had recently been nominated for the competition section of the Tribeca Film Festival 2008, New York.
The film portrays the story of a family torn apart as [...]
This is a rather strongly worded piece authored by a concerned Pakistani based abroad. Whilst I do not agree with all the contents of this article, it surely is ‘another’ view of the ongoing GEO TV saga! In light of Pak Tea House’s efforts to promote debate and air unfashionable views, we are posting this [...]
Pak Tea House’s poet in residence, Kashkin, muses on the long march to Islamabad, they say…. (Raza Rumi)
“Dedicated to all who have contributed in this struggle”
Arrival of a dawn of this new beginning
As the nation march, with prayers and hope
In preparation, the state and its machines
In preparation, the nation and its voice
Brings them together, the [...]
By Yoginder Sikand
Islamabad is surely the most well-organised, picturesque and endearing city in all of South Asia. Few Indians would, however, know this, or, if they did, would admit it. After all, the Indian media never
highlights anything positive about Pakistan, because for it only ‘bad’
news about the country appears to be considered ‘newsworthy’. That realization [...]
by Shaheryar Ali
Of the three great systems of exclusion governing discourse — prohibited words, the division of madness and the will to truth ———”
“I believe we must resolve ourselves to accept three decisions which our current thinking rather tends to resist, and which belong to the three groups of function I have just mentioned: to [...]
Who said politics is a noble profession. I don’t think it was mentioned for us as a nation or as a society as it clearly dictates in our attitudes and behavior that we are not politically matured and secondly no notion of integrity and honesty in what we do and how we do it. Every [...]
by Yoginder Sikand
One of my many major grouses with the ‘mainstream’ Indian media (and this applies to the dominant Western media as well) is the despicable way in which it treats Pakistan. It is as if bad news about Pakistan is always good news for the media. It is also if there is nothing at [...]
Posted by Raza Rumi
Pakistan ambassador: “Are you satisfied?”
Fauzia Mufti Abbas is Pakistan’s ambassador to Denmark. She suspects that the recent bombing of the Danish embassy, in which six people were killed, was indeed linked to the publication of a cartoon.
It isn’t just the people of Pakistan that feel they have been harassed by what your [...]
PTH author Kashkin wrote this article in October 2007. He believes that it is valid even today and “holds true the message” and “how we portray ourselves as a nation and society”. Hope the readers would enjoy this piece. Raza Rumi (ed.)
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There we go again- the arrival of Benazir Bhutto after 8 years of her self-imposed exile, [...]
A blast from the past: a relic of the great works of a musical legend of the Subcontinent - Ghulam Ali.
Rafi Mohammad ka Kalaam:
Hum ko kiss kay ghum nay mara,
yeh kahani phir sahi,
Kiss no tora dil hamara,
yeh kahani phir sahi
posted by kinkminos
John Cusack is one of my favourite Hollywood actors, having won me over with roles in films like Hi Fidelity, Grosse Point Blank and Being John Malkovich. The following is an excerpt from a review of Cusack’s new film War, Inc. — a film depicting the corporatisation of the war in Iraq. Where [...]
Faced with problems of commerce and trade,
In slogans we raise, our misery and fate
Great comfort we draw from rallies and protest
From voices we raise, from beatings we take
Remain there in place, the old hate in wait
From practitioners and proponents of their faith
Hold us in nearness as we move into this state
As change will come as [...]
HRCP’s report on May 12, 2007 violence in Karachi
The aftermath of the events of May 12 has been filled with recrimination and bitterness. There were mutually conflicting claims about responsibility and culpability, and attempts at initiating processes of legal and political accountability. This report does not presume to pre-empt or anticipate the outcomes of the [...]
by Feisal Naqvi
Imagine you are a monkey being offered a grape in exchange for pressing a lever. I imagine you would be a happy monkey.
Now imagine you see another monkey who is also being offered goodies in exchange for pressing a lever. Except, that the other monkey gets two grapes for doing what you did.
Back [...]
Karachi at dusk
We’ve had a lot of angst, and whatnot about the events in Karachi. Please do read the piece below. Kamal is a friend, too, but he’s evolved into one of the most objective observers I know in the business–anywhere. [Yes, more so than I.]
Much as it is tempting to get angry at this [...]
Text and photo from this useful website
Raza Rumi
On the flourishing ‘column’ industry despite the slow growth of readership’
What is so peculiar about the Pakistani media opinion factories churning out problems and solutions products day after day? Frankly, they are self perpetuating oligarchies and boring at best. The slightly discerning mortals who browse the daily newspapers in English and vernacular languages or [...]
I have no comments on this news-item published in the Daily Times. Since it is still not verified by either of the parties, it remains uncertain whether this incident ever happened?
NAUDERO: PPP Co-chairman Asif Zardari is reported to have ticked off Aitzaz Ahsan in an after-dinner gathering of the PPP’s Central Executive Committee (CEC) members in [...]
By Raza Rumi
IT is a truism that media freedom in Pakistan today has been earned after a long struggle which will perhaps continue in the years to come.
Deepening of democratic traditions and their permeation in society are sine qua non for a free media. Whilst there can be no two opinions on the independence of [...]
posted by Soniah Kamal
‘Jab We Met’ (2007) is a prime example of an Indian movie meshing traditional and modern India in its characters but coming off confused. Poor little rich boy Aditya (played perfectly by Shahid Kapoor) and madcap Geet (Kareena Kapoor) meet on a train, the singular motif in the movie and, as [...]
Things are likely to change for Zareen Gul…?
Read this story from the Daily Times.
Zareen Gul sits on the floor of his small recording studio in the Pakistani city of Peshawar and complains that he feels like a criminal for wanting to make music.
A dusty computer and several recording machines are stacked on [...]
This is a brilliant summary of Human Rights Watch’s reports on Pakistan during the last one year. These are diverse topics that cover the entire range of key issues concerning rights. Pak Tea House would like to acknowledge the hard work that its staff and researchers have undertaken in their tireless advocacy. Most importantly, HRW [...]
Afshan Khoja
“I was very disturbed after watching the video that Geo and Dawn TV have been airing, where the Lahore bomber runs over a guard to enter the building gate. It is such a traumatic video. DAWN TV went ahead and showed it in slow-motion. This was all without any warnings for disturbing content.
While I know [...]
temporal
Democratic New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer has admitted involvement in a prostitution ring, He was reportedly caught on tape in a federal wiretap investigation concerning the Emperors Club VIP prostitution ring, making ‘escort’ arrangements.
The hardball-playing Governor Spitzer did not elaborate on the scandal, or talk about a potential resignation. He said in a news conference.
“I [...]
Salman Rashid debunks a few myths here:
There is no historical evidence of Alexander or his men straying north of the ridges of the Hindu Kush Mountains into Kafiristan. But we know that the Greeks and the Kalasha themselves are today sold on this piece of charlatanry. The simple answer would thus be to turn [...]
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BBC Urdu DAWN reports Opinion - the NEWS
