Stories from Quick Reads and Pakistan
Pakistanis Use Twitter To Raise Their Concerns On The Proposed Cybercrime Bill 2015
The proposed Prevention of Electronic Crimes (PEC) Bill in Pakistan has raised concern among local and international human rights organisations as it could put at risk freedom expression and privacy in Pakistan. Mariam at Catalyst Woman blog reports: After the dedicated efforts of numerous advocacy groups, ngos and private citizens,...
Global Voices Partners With The Balochistan Point
The Balochistan Point was launched in 2010 to highlight the most important news from an area which Pakistan's national online, broadcast and print media, largely ignores.
A Nobel Prize for All Malalas in the World
The blog MujeresMundi is an infoactivism project run by Belgium-based Peruvian Xaviera Medina “committed to gender as a key to development”. Their most recent post refers to the Nobel Peace Prize that has been awarded to education Pakistani activist, Malala Yousafzai: […] Nevertheless, it should be pointed out that Malala...
Updates on the 18th SAARC Summit On Social Media
The ongoing summit of the The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) was covered by international media with different perspectives. However non-official initiatives such as 18th SAARC Summit blog, Facebook account, Twitter and Google+ account are aggregating updates on the summit for easy archiving. Here are some examples: This...
Pakistan's State Owned TV Under Siege By Protestors
Last update at 7:45PM GMT, September 1, 2014 Hundred of protestors of Pakistan Tehreek e Insaf (PTI) and Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) have stormed into the Head Office of Pakistan's state-owned TV channel PTV. On 1st of September at around 11:20 am protesters broke open the main gate of Pakistan...
Sri Lanka Plans to Deport 1,500 Pakistani and Afghan Refugees
Facing persecution in Pakistan, many Ahmadiyya Muslims and Christians have taken refuge in Sri Lanka. These refugees are mostly held in Boossa and Mirihana detention centers and have to live on government-provided rations as they are not eligible for work. According to the media, the Sri Lankan government is preparing to...
Mobile Phones Drive Social And Economic Changes In Pakistan
From a slow start in the late Nineteen Nineties mobile phone penetration in Pakistan has jumped up in recent years to 77% nationally and amongst urban class people to almost 100%. Dr. Tahir Rauf at Pak Tea House reports that the ubiquitous mobile phone use in Pakistan has brought a...
The Unintended Consequences of Pakistan's Operation Zarb-e-Azb
On June 15, 2014, the Pakistan Army launched Operation Zarb-e-Azb, a joint-military operation involving Pakistan against armed insurgent groups such as the Taliban (TTP), al–Qaeda, the East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM) and the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU). The operation started exactly a week after the terrorist attack on the...
Pakistan's Sindh Province Still Wants to Censor WhatsApp, Viber and Skype
Aamir Atta at ProPakistani reports quoting local media houses that social media applications like WhatsApp, Viber and Skype may be blocked in Pakistan's Sindh province to maintain law and order. The Sindh government had proposed a similar ban in October last year, citing security concerns. However, experts say because a...
Helping Children Learning Urdu Alphabets
Chowrangi blog informs about a free interactive mobile app which introduces kids to Urdu alphabets and words. The app titled “Urdu Ustad” originally had the diaspora Urdu-speaking families as its target audience, but recently majority of download requests have come from Pakistan proving its usefulness.
Talk Show Hosts In Pakistan: There is Nothing Holding the Showman Back
You can imagine the irony when talk show hosts take over primetime news broadcasts and become more relevant to the pursuit of “facts” than their colleagues in the newsroom or out in the field. “Talk show hosts and TV anchors are the stars of the media revolution” as per Hassan...
Global Voices Author Raza Rumi Attacked By Unknown Gunmen In Lahore
Notable Pakistani, columnist, TV anchor and blogger (also a Global Voices author) Raza Rumi was attacked by unidentified gunmen near Raja market on Ferozpur road in Lahore, Pakistan. At 8:55PM tonight he tweeted: Was fired at near Raja Market. My driver is wounded. I was dreading this day — Raza...
Lahore Brigade Working To Solve Civic Problems
The first meetup of the Lahore Brigade members took place on Sunday, 23 February, in Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS). The brigade consists of civic hackers – software developers, designers, urban mappers who will be working to solve civic problems in Pakistan. Code for Pakistan and Technology for People...
Pakistan, Stay Out of Syria's Civil War
A day after a tiny news items titled, “Saudi Arabia ‘seeking Pakistani arms for Syrian rebels” appeared in Pakistani newspapers, political blogger Ahsan Butt posts a provocative piece warning Pakistan's foreign policymakers against tiptoeing into Syria's affairs. In “This is not our war (Syria Edition)” on the Five Rupees Blog, Ahsan...
10 Reasons Why I Do Not Want Shariah In Pakistan
One of the Taliban negotiators pulled out during a recent talk with the Pakistan government demanding that the agenda includes the strict imposition of Sharia law. Pakistani Blogger and Journalist Beena Sarwar highlights a protest note posted in Facebook titled '10 reasons why I do not want Shariah in Pakistan’...
Photos from The Fashion Pakistan Week
Fashion blogger Amara Javed posts photos from the ongoing Fashion Pakistan Week in Karachi showcasing the Summer 2014 collections by many Lahore designers.
The Only Pakistani at the Sochi Olympics Taught Himself to Ski on Wooden Planks
While he has growing up in northern Pakistan, close to some of the highest slopes in the world, Mohammad Karim taught himself to ski on home-made equipment made by his uncle from wooden planks. Now he is his Pakistan’s sole representative at the Sochi Winter Olympics. More about his journey in this...
Tanqeed's Bi-Weekly List of Recommended Readings On Pakistan
Tanqeed, a quarterly magazine on politics and culture on Tumblr, is an experiment in critical reflection on Pakistan. It is a blogzine, a scrapbook and a reporters’ notebook. This year, Tanqeed is accepting recommendations of lectures, essays, articles, videos on a range of subjects including politics, culture and society from...
Pakistani Superhero Ms. Marvel
It's a comic book. And yet, while I did a lot of laughing [it's got a lot of funny moments] I also couldn't stop the tears. Because I was so happy to see a version of myself reflected before me, not sensationalized or stereotyped. Blogger Aisha Saeed posts a review...
Lebanese Blogger Spoofs Study on Middle Eastern Women's Clothing
The question “How Should Middle Eastern Women Dress in Public” posed by the University of Michigan is attracting hilarious spoofs online. The content is so rich that an additional post to our first one was necessary. When Washington Post Max Fisher shared the original image on Twitter, he wasn't expecting...
French Restaurant In Pakistan Closed For Not Allowing Pakistanis
Blogger Farzana Versey from Mumbai weighs on the hypocrisy regarding alcohol consumption by Pakistanis while reporting on a recent incident: La Maison, run by Frenchman Philippe Lafforgue, in a part of his house at an upscale area of the capital Islamabad, has been forced to shut down after there was...