Bollywood, India’s Hindi language cinema, has millions of ardent fans across the world. Among them are the people of Pakistan. People like me. Now that love affair is souring. Unlike a lot of other Pakistanis, my interest in Bollywood developed much later in life. I was already in my late 20s when I took the…
Tag: islam
Short Story : MashAllah Man
“Sister Humaira has a question now…” Raees Ahmed, the bushy moustached bespectacled host, had the camera on him as he read out a message from a card infront of him. “She says Asalamualikum Aalim Sahib..” “Walakumasalam “ muttered a voice in the background. The camera was still on Raees. “My daughter recently completely her Intermediate…
ISIS and Pakistan
There is the lush screen scenery. There are the picturesque Margalla Hills. There are the curve-friendly roads on these hills that remind one of Vital Signs and Junaid Jamshed. There is the crisp and cool weather. There is a particular calm never found in other major cities of the country. Then there is the Lal Masjid – the antithesis of everything in Islamabad –…
The Curious Case Of Tarek Fatah
Unless you’re fairly active on Twitter, and/or have a genuine interest in expat Pakistanis who are active within sociopolitical circles, you might not be aware of who Tarek Fatah is. Originally from Karachi but now based in Canada, he writes a regular column for one of the country’s largest newspapers and has a frequent broadcast…
Left-Wing Islam
When I was 10 years old, I asked my Islamic Studies teacher, then a mandatory course in Pakistani secondary schools, a question. “Why if on the day of judgement, we realize that Islam was wrong, and some other religion was right?” Her answer “Islam was the last of all Abrahamic religions. It was perfected, fixing…
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