By Asim Sajjad Akhtar BALOCHISTAN bleeds again. Yet another episode of gruesome brutality against Hazaras — coal miners no less — has brought yet another protest movement into existence. Yesterday it was the death of a Baloch daughter of the soil on foreign shores, tomorrow it will be a Pashtun man falling prey to the Taliban or their makers. Khurram …

by Asad Raza Gokal Since September 2020, when the UAE struck with Israel a deal on normalizing relations, alarm bells began to ring louder for the Pakistani Shia diaspora residing in the country. In the United Arab Emirate (UAE), members of the Shia families, a religious minority, are mostly employed in professions that pay them enough to cater the needs …

PEMA GYAMTSHO Mountains are a barometer of the planet’s health – changes in these lofty parts of the world dictate how rivers flow and crops grow and livelihoods endure elsewhere. And yet, global recognition of these vital regions has been rather underwhelming, in contrast, to say the Amazon or the polar regions. International Mountain Day (IMD), celebrated on this very day …

The top-down conservation policies are meant to dispossess people of their land, livelihood and resources By Ali Rehmat The conservation, environment and development policies and strategies in Pakistan have remained problematic both for the government and the communities living in the protected areas. At times the implementation of the government’s top-down exclusionary policies have met resistance from communities. In the …

By Neelum Wali The word COVID-19 stands for coronavirus disease. Formerly, this disease was referred to as “2019 novel coronavirus” or “2019-nCoV”. COVID-19 is linked to the family of viruses as Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS). Different viruses are given their names according to their genetic structure. The virus was named as SARS-CoV-2 on February 11, 2020, due to its genetic …

by Aziz Ali Dad Let me start this review of the book “Hunza Matters: Bordering and ordering between ancient and new Silk Roads” by indulging in subjectivity. In 2015, I was a Crossroads Asia fellow at Modern Oriental Institute in Berlin, Germany. As a part of socialization, we interacted with different researchers and members of academia. On one weekend my …

Raza Gillani Why have we spent the last four years, presumably the most crucial time of our lives, organising at various campuses across the country and its administered areas on issues pertaining to student life, gender, education, class, ethnicity, race, etc.? Why have we wasted our time in searching for those who share our principles, dreams, and resolve? Why have …

Amir Hussain It might have been a chilly Saturday with clouds of victory hovering over the defence lines of Gilgit Scouts on November 1, 1947. It was a historic day when a legion of local military men of Gilgit Scouts revolted against the Dogra ruler of the princely state of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K). These men in uniform overthrew the …

More than 73 years since its independence, Gilgit-Baltistan remains subject to barely disguised colonial rule to await genuine enfranchisement. While many of Pakistan’s ethnic peripheries harbour deep grievances against the authoritarian and extractive logics of the country’s statecraft, GB is arguably the only region that remains explicitly deprived of even basic democratic, constitutional and human rights. It was only in …

Mushtaq Ahmad There is a long history of global pandemic and epidemics, but there is also evidence that all these have been challenged by man. Consequently, there have been great losses of human lives coupled with social and economic vicissitudes as well. At the same time, every major crisis brings opportunities to rethink our systems and make them stronger to future …

By Ramish Khan You can never think of the hefty weighs I am bearing with a weak shoulder. I hide my panic scars of brutal attacks because I’ve extreme fear of being judged or being treated wrong after all I am a woman right? Surrounded by filthy, sullied and ill-starred mindsets, I am unable to do whatever I want to …

By Ajmal Masood The territory of Gilgit-Baltistan until seventies had been comprised of clusters of autonomous princely states including Hunza and Nager. The two sovereign states had never remained under suzerainty of Jammu and Kashmir. After the Partition of the Indian Sub-Continent, Hunza and Nager were the first states to announce their decision of accession to the federation of Pakistan …

Rizwan K. Qalandar Hunza sit-in for the release of 14 political prisoners incarcerating for over nine years in Damas jail in Ghizer District enters its fourth day. The prisoners of Hunza were convicted by an Anti-Terrorism Court under fabricated charges of sedition and terrorism for destroying government buildings during a massive protest triggered by shooting down of a man and …

By Sana Basim These both are the most famous slogans of our times but connotations and perceptions behind both slogans are completely different. Our religious leaders always have a dominant role to endorse this mindset, despite most of the child abuse cases are reported by Mudrassa teachers, still influential religious leaders normally blame women’s dressing on national TV as one …

By Ghulam Amin Beg The old Indian narrative on Jammu and Kashmir of a democratic dispensation, constitutionally guaranteed local autonomy and unique status has disappeared overnight. Thanks to the fascist actions of Prime Minister Modi and the BJP government last year. The new status quo in Kashmir has created a new narrative for both pro-Indian and nationalist Kashmiris as well …