HAH Report Islamabad (Feb 27): Two books on the oral tradition of Pamiri Kyrgyz people living in Turkey have been published. Authored by renowned Kyrgyz folklorist and ethnographer Dr Sulaiman Kaiypov, the books Proverbs and Sayings of the Pamiri Kyrgyz Living in Turkey, and Funeral Laments of the Pamiri Kyrgyz Living in Turkey, have been published with the support of the University of …

Ali Ahmed Jan & Asif Sakhi Islamabad Police in Pakistan has gained notoriety for their misuse of authority, corrupt practices, brutality, highhandedness, and violence against the working class and hapless people. The Punjab police have become a symbol of fear and brutality which is evident from the rising number of complaints against the force. People, mostly from far-flung areas like Fata …

HAH Special ISLAMABAD (Feb 26): A Russian-Polish mountaineer has launched the first solo attempt to summit K2 — the world’s second-highest peak — during winter, in what fellow climbers described as a reckless decision. Denis Urubko, 44, was part of a team of Polish mountaineers attempting to be the first to scale the 8,611-meter (28,251 feet) K2 in winter, but broke …

Amir Hussain “What makes us think critically when we know the consequences [are] really harsh in this country,” says a political worker who wanted me to highlight the case of Advocate Ehsan Ali who was arrested at his residence in Gilgit on February 13 for sharing a Facebook post and released on bail on Monday (Feb 19) after a strong …

M. Saleem Beg Leh, the capital of Ladakh and the first major town as one descends from the Tibetan plateau and the Karakoram mountain range, has been variously described as a “true little capital, the seat of a tiny cosmopolitan world” and it has been said that “what Port Said is to the Suez Canal, Leh is to the Central …

Amir Hussain In an era of plummeting optimism for peace and prosperity, the prospects of a better life begin to vanish from the popular memory. This is bound to happen when hopes for betterment are dashed, voices of dissent are muffled, the choices of a decent life are marred and freedom of expression is barred. All this happens under the …

Correspondent GILGIT, Oct 6: The federal government has approved the establishment of a special protection unit (SPU) in Gilgit-Baltistan for providing security to foreigners working on the mega China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) project as well as tourists visiting the region. “The steps are being taken to foil the conspiracies being hatched by the country’s enemies against the CPEC project,” GB’s …

Farman Ali ISLAMABAD, Oct 5: Media watchdogs, political and rights activists have voiced concern at the abuse of anti-terrorism and other laws to silence freedom of expression and dissent voices in Gilgit-Baltistan (GB). They have asked the authorities to withdraw Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA) and cybercrime law from GB, and drop what they called, the trumped-up charges, against journalists and political …

“Teaching is a political process. It must be a democratic process to avoid teaching authority dependence. The teacher must learn about (and from) the student so that knowledge can be constructed in ways that are meaningful to the student. The teachers must become learners and the learners must become teachers. Teachers must have humility, coupled with love and respect for …

Alyna Rahim, 23, was born and raised in Karachi, Pakistan. She spends her free time doing origami, listening to music, occasionally singing, and reading mystery novels. Prior to joining the University of Central Asia (UCA), Alyna did volunteer work in her community and believes living in UCA’s diverse environment will enable her to learn diverse cultures of the world and …

PARIS: Asia’s mountain glaciers will lose at least a third of their mass through global warming by century’s end, with dire consequences for millions of people who rely on them for fresh water, researchers said Wednesday. This is a best-case scenario, based on the assumption that the world manages to limit average global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees …

Aziz Ali Dad Gilgit-Baltistan has historically remained at the peripheries of the power centres of Central Asia and South Asia. This relative isolation enabled local communities to develop indigenous social, state and economic structures that allowed small principalities to remain autonomous in decision-making. Despite its political marginality and geographic inaccessibility, GB managed to develop trade routes with Central Asia and …

News Desk The University of Technology, Sydney (UTS), and the University of Central Asia (UCA), Kyrgyzstan have joined hands to strengthen relations in the fields of curriculum development exchange of faculty and students strengthen the relationship between the two institutes. The representatives of the two institutes Tuesday (Sept 12) signed an agreement of cooperation in the field of communications and …

Foreign Minister Khwaja Asif has grabbed headlines with his statement that “we need to bring our house in order, to prevent facing embarrassment on the international level”. He went on to admit Pakistan’s “mistake” in participating as a “proxy” in America’s war in Afghanistan against the USSR in the 1980s. “We have baggage. We need to accept that history and …

Karim Ullah CHITRAL: The poverty-stricken people of Broghil Valley, like others in the marginalized areas of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (KP), have been robbed of their fundamental right to employment by none other than a political party that claims to be the proponent of ‘change.’ In 2010 the KP government declared Broghil Valley a community- managed national park spread over 1,34,744 acres. On …