People amaze me. With their strength; their courage; their resilience; their tenacity; their compassion. I think there’s nothing more powerful or empowering than feeling inspired by the personal story of another – learning from their struggles and triumphs, gaining strength from their patience and determination, feeling emboldened by their resolve…
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“It was not enough to be born in Karachi to be from Karachi. It was not enough to live in Karachi to be from Karachi. It was also not enough to be born in Karachi and to live in Karachi to be from Karachi.” As Rafia Zakaria explains in “The…
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Chinese President Xi Jinping’s two-day visit to Pakistan has been replete with flowery rhetoric extolling mutual love between both countries, but the name chosen for a new joint think tank has left some social media users in titters. Dedicated to research on the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, a $46 billion dollar…
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Moving is never easy. Moving away from your home country is, well… at first, the thought of a brand new place, unknown people and fresh experiences feels thrilling and even dangerous. You approach your new home wearing rose-colored glasses and a surprising determination to discover everything. But then, after the…
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The book that Ender wrote was not long…And he signed it, not with his name, but with a title: SPEAKER FOR THE DEAD Most who read it found it interesting; some who read it refused to set it aside. They began to live by it as best they could, and…
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There are days when I wish I never stepped foot into Pakistan. The leers from strange men older than my grandfather and the constant electricity shortages in above 100 degree weather can compel anyone to consider fleeing the country. And yet, I can’t help but love it. I was born…
Read MoreMuslims complain the West portrays Islam as violent, misogynistic and unforgiving. As a Muslim woman myself, I confirm ‘Muslim’ brutality is best portrayed only by ourselves.
This week in Multan, Pakistan, 36-year-old Farzana Bibi was allegedly dismembered by her husband for refusing to wear a niqab. Waiting until their three children had gone to school, he allegedly took a knife used for slaughtering an animal in the halal fashion to dismember her into ten pieces.
In 1856 when Mount Everest was definitively identified as the world’s highest mountain what began was a series of early Everest expeditions, mostly led by the British, which, in 1933, included efforts to deploy the British Union Flag on top of the mountain by flying a formation of aircraft over the peak (an expedition funded by a British millionairess, Lady Houston).
Read MoreAs a student in Karachi, I met a 10-year-old boy who I’ll call Ali. Ali was a disruptive student; generally what we’d call a problem child or a nuisance. I believe that he came from an abusive home. Though we never talked about the physical abuse, he would occasionally come to school with fresh bruises on his arms and legs, and once even a black eye. The school administration was aware of the alleged abuse and they never took any action to address it; they did, however, hesitate to call Ali’s parents regarding disciplinary issues.
Read MoreWith one-fifth of a nation under water and sluggish donations to fund relief efforts for flood victims, there is a fragile element within a drowning, disenfranchised population, a group that has historically and categorically been cast as a lower-grade victim in times of disasters – women. The Association for Women’s Rights in Development notes that “Gender-biased attitudes and stereotypes can complicate and extend women’s recovery, for example if women do not seek or do not receive timely care for physical and mental trauma experienced in disasters.”
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