Category: Pakistan

Pakistan, Published Features, Published Work, The Friday TimesLeave a comment

Eid Mubarak, Balakot

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The Friday Times | Oct 6, 2006 Imaduddin Ahmed On my second visit to Balakot – the first was made three weeks before the October 8th earthquake – I found the city levelled. The shop where my father had bought his cigarettes, on the left side of the bridge across the bank, was gone. If I could have imagined the horror of Dresden and Coventry after British and German bombers had had their way, the sights, sounds and smells of Balakot would not have been that different. An estimated 7,000 of the 30,000 inhabitants died according to the Red Cross. I was here … Continue reading Eid Mubarak, Balakot

Pakistan, Published Features, The Friday Times, Women's rights1 Comment

What is a Pakistani man?

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Imaduddin Ahmed’s week | The Friday Times Another Independence Day and we’re still here! Yes, we lost our more democratic half and there’s a bit of turmoil here and there, but we’re here and we can say “Up Yours India!” and that’s what counts, right? Well, besides being here, what do we Pakistanis have to show for ourselves? Two things that spring to mind are a few sporting achievements (a confidence booster for Pakistani male virility) and the “Muslim” nuclear bomb coupled with a few missiles – which means we’re good at erecting phallic tools that cause massive explosions (testimony … Continue reading What is a Pakistani man?

Lahore, Pakistan, Published Features, Published Work, The Friday TimesLeave a comment

Degrees of mediocrity

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Imaduddin Ahmed | The Friday Times Pakistan’s newest university has a campus in cyber space Mention ‘online university’ and conjure up images of illiterate Pakistani politicians with degrees worth as much as their rhetoric, earned by exercising a MasterCard. This is an image that Universitas21Global will fast overcome. New marketing challenges, however, await the online graduate university, entering the “ripe and promising” Pakistani market (words Dr Murkesh Aghi, “CEO” of Universitas21Global). A stream of examinations can ease readers’ minds that paying one’s way won’t be enough to earn a certificate with this university, whose flagship courses are its MBA and … Continue reading Degrees of mediocrity

Lahore, Pakistan, Published Features, The Friday TimesLeave a comment

Search and thou shalt find

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Imaduddin Ahmed | The Friday Times BNU’s School of Visual Design provides vocational training to artists; it also offers a liberal arts education and the promise of an educated, cultivated citizenry Lahore is touted as Pakistan’s cultural capital and if you’ve visited danka.com.pk, you’ll see why. Information about the where and when of art exhibitions, lectures, music recitals, theatre and dance performances reveal that seldom is there an evening without a cultural event in our midst. One such event that I took a visiting college friend to was the end of semester show at the School of Visual Arts (SVA) … Continue reading Search and thou shalt find

Lahore, Pakistan, Published Features, The Friday Times, Women's rightsLeave a comment

You are what you eat

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Imaduddin Ahmed | The Friday Times A holistic vision of health, identity and ethical farming Developments in the laboratory have enabled cultivators to grow more food for the world’s burgeoning population, but at a cost. People in the developed world have been worrying about health hazards associated with pesticides, nitrate fertilisers and (genetically modified) GM crops. All these are believed to be linked with cancer, damage to the environment and other health problems. This consciousness has spread all over the world; regrettably, unhealthy eating is not as big a concern in Pakistan as it should be. But things are changing, … Continue reading You are what you eat

Pakistan, Pakistani Initiatives1 Comment

Story time

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The Friday Times Imaduddin Ahmed | April 3, 2006 The Alif Laila Book Bus has inculcated the reading habit in thousands of children “The classroom our primary school-goer enters is bereft of colour. Stark walls stare her/him in the face and dilapidated desks and chairs must do. . . In walks the teacher, who must shout if she is ever to be heard by what has now become a medley of high-pitched sound . . . Lessons commence with facts being repeated by fifty odd disinterested voices, each trying to outdo the other in loudness . . . and so … Continue reading Story time

PakistanLeave a comment

Wagah Border – Amitava Kumar

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‘In the distance, I could see Pakistani viewers sitting on a similar structure on the other side. As I watched them, an energetic man in a cream shalwar-kameez got up and began to lead the Pakistanis in shouting slogans. “Pakistan . . . ” he would say, “Zindabad!” the crowd responded. The Indians watched this for a while, and then around me the voices rose in response. “Bharat Mata ki . . . Jai!” Then, the tone changed and both sides began to shout slogans calling for the death and destruction of the other [ . . . ] There was genuine passion present there, but it was … Continue reading Wagah Border – Amitava Kumar

Lahore, Pakistan, Published Features, The Friday TimesLeave a comment

Marx out of ten

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The Friday Times | Jan 3, 2006 Imaduddin Ahmed Why Pakistani communism lags behind India’s – an encounter with Taimur Rahman “Marxist” is not a term of abuse in India, at least not to the voting majority in West Bengal or Tripura where the Communist Party of India (Marxist), or CPI(M), currently holds government, or to its over 800,000 paying, participating and versed members. The CPI(M), also a dominant force in Arundhati Roy’s Kerala, is only one of several communist parties in India and boasts to be India’s third strongest party in the national parliament. CPI(M) Marxism is an institution … Continue reading Marx out of ten