In a rare autobiography book, Alberto Cacopardo suggests ‘Peristan’ for Dardistan and Nuristan dubbed as ‘Kafiristan’ By Zubair Torwali An Italian researcher and scholar has deconstructed the myths around the Kalasha community living in Kalash valley for centuries. In his work, he has tried to remove the stereotyping of the most peaceful community and the many identities imposed on them by …
Raza Naeem offers a translation in which the late Enver Sajjad (1935 – 2019) writes about himself and his art by Raza Naeem Translator’s Note: One of Pakistan’s last true Renaissance men, writer, novelist, artist, actor, dancer and playwright, Dr Enver Sajjad passed away on June 6 last week. He was one of the last Pakistani writers who wrote fiction of an …
Raza Naeem on the politics and worldview contained in the work of Kaifi Azmi (1919–2002) by Raza Naeem “Stone Kaifi to death, the rulers cried The Messiah? We do not know where he hides!” Born Syed Athar Hussain Rizvi, a hundred years ago this year, Kaifi Azmi, who passed away into eternity seventeen years ago on the 10th of May earlier …
Aziz Ali Dad thinks about the flux and fixity of ideas over the past two millennia by Aziz Ali Dad When the Indian Subcontinent came under the rule of the British Empire, it came into contact with the ideas dominating the European intellectual scene. Discussion about the Enlightenment and its by-product modernity was made necessary in India by the need for …
Harris Khalique’s new English poetry collection documents people’s suffering Farman Ali Noted poet Harris Khalique’s new collection of poetry in English hits the stands. The book “No Fortunes to Tell” documents personal experiences and human sufferings — from Waziristan to Balochistan to Aleppo and Yemen and evolution of his craft in English. “It is the culmination of a decade of …
by Raza Naeem “I am the trader of sighs To versify blood is my mission Remaining winds of the garden! Gather your refuges…for My fiery songs Are about to cause an upheaval within depressed bosoms” When the Jallianwala Bagh massacre occured in 1919, Saadat Hasan Manto was nine years old. The hero of Jallianwala Dr Saifuddin Kitchlew was a close relative …
Najam Sethi reviews Nasim Zehra’s book From Kargil to the Coup: Events that shook Pakistan The Kargil story or “misadventure” is now well known, thanks in no small part to Nasim Zehra’s chilling thriller From Kargil to the Coup: Events that shook Pakistan. The book was published last year, twenty years after the event. You can understand why it took so …
Writing is the most appropriate way of expressing trauma and complications, and I will be the last one to make rules for writing in terms of impression and style, said acclaimed Indian Booker-winning author Arundhati Roy. She was speaking on her novel The Ministry of Utmost Happiness while addressing a conference at International Islamic University Islamabad (IIUI) through Skype. The conference, ‘Getting …
In Gilgit-Baltistan, exists a remarkable oasis with high literacy rates and gender equality. By Sam Dalrymple In the disputed Karakoram mountains, the isolated Hunza valley feels cut off from the fractious politics surrounding it. As one approaches 8,200 feet, pine forests and orchards envelop villages that glint orange with apricots drying on their rooftops. The blue and mustard shuttlecock burqas, …
Herald Report An unprecedented change is taking place in global capitalism regarding the spatial shift from old advanced capitalist economies to emerging capitalist economies. This change is arguably qualitatively and quantitatively different from the usual pattern of uneven regional development under capitalism. For the first time in the history of global capitalism, the shift is taking place from relatively less …
