By Rozina Ahmed Marriage is a social contract between an adult man and woman with their free will to live a life together. The success of this relationship depends on shared ideals, mutual respect, dignity and equal distribution of economic and social responsibilities. However, historically, women have always been disadvantaged and exploited in the name of customs and traditions associated …

News Desk When I cycled to Shimshal last year to document the stories of high altitude porters, little did I know where this journey would take me? If there is one thing I learnt from this visit, it was how to nurture your dreams despite adverse circumstances, writes blogger, climber Kamran Munawar on Bike on his Facebook page. “Passion, positivity, …

News Desk QUETTA: Journalists, political parties and lawyers have expressed their resolve to fight for the freedom of the press, expression and speech guaranteed in the Constitution. They vowed to take every possible measure including a long march for safeguarding these fundamental rights next month from Quetta. These and other demands were made on the concluding day of a seminar …

Asim Sajjad Akhtar FREEDOM is an extremely powerful idea, glorified by those who want it, reviled by those who want to keep status quo intact. We Pakistanis have a particular affinity with the word. Most of us relate viscerally to chants of ‘azadi’ whenever they ring out in Jammu, Kashmir or Ladakh, on account of the state’s public patronage. Yet …

BISHKEK (Kyrgyzstan): Activist Altyn Kapalova says she broke “patriarchic norms” in Kyrgyzstan by giving her three children “middle names” that derive from her own first name. The matronymics on the children’s new birth certificates replaced the traditional patronymics that originated from their fathers’ first names. Kapalova, 37, also gave her children — who are five, 10, and 15 years old …

By Abdullah Rana Unab Sumble’s figurative painting in acrylic and ink on canvas. Credit: Gallery6 Islamabad: What comes to mind when you wake up in the morning? Clear images, or abstract thoughts? Buoyant faces, or empty, shattered visages? Blue skies, or the darkest grey thunderstorms? What rings in your ears? Is it the silvery voice of a loved one, sweet …

Slovenian climber Tomaz Rotar shares his experiences and the chaotic unsuccessful bid to summit K2 in winter and the tragic incident of Ali Sadpara and companions High Asia Herald Report John Snorri and Tomaz Rotar in 2020. Photo: Apricot Tours/ExplorersWeb Slovenian climber Tomaz Rotar has given the firsthand account of the K2 winter expedition that claimed five lives including Muhammad …

By Ghulam Amin Beg Global research into mother languages shows that changes in demography, migration, cross-culture marriages and the medium of teaching in schools impact minority ethnic languages severely.  In Pakistan coupled with these trends, the apathy of the state, class consciousness, use of Urdu and English as lingua franca as well as means of jobs and businesses as well …

The California-based Sadequain Foundation has published the 25th book on the 34th anniversary of the legendary artist, poet and intellectual. By Farman Ali The title cover of the new book From the Sketchbook of Sadequain. Credit: Dr Salman Ahmed Islamabad: A new book of drawings by Sadequain, an internationally-acclaimed and Pakistan’s most revered calligrapher, muralist, poet, intellectual has been published. …

High Asia Herald Report Baltit Fort. File Photo Islamabad: Two world tourism and culture bodies have joined hands to produce new guidelines on the restart of cultural tourism in the post-Covid-19 era, said a statement. “The shared values and close ties between tourism and culture means both sectors can work together to ensure inclusive access to heritage, as countries around …

I lost my brother but not the courage we shared, says the award-winning documentary ‘Unsung Heroes’ Pakistan Shero fame climber Shakela Nazar By Raheem Sherazi Shakeela and Nadeema during the climb of Yazghel Sar Peak in Shimshal. Photo: Qudrat Ali “Look! I did what I could not in your life without you.” These are the words of Shakila Numa, one …

‘State has systematically manipulated, denied the right to freedom, says Senator Raza Rabbani in his keynote speech at the second Asma Jahangir Memorial Lecture High Asia Herald Report (left to right) Human Rights Commission of Pakistan general-secretary Harris Khalique, HRCP chairperson Hina Jilani, I.A. Rehman, and Senator Raza Rabbani at the second Asma Jahangir Memorail Lecture on Tuesday, Feb 16, …

High Asia Herald Report Islamabad, Feb 17: Pakistan National Council of the Arts (PNCA) will set-up its regional culture centre in Gilgit-Baltistan (GB) for the promotion of the unique but secluded art and culture of the mountainous region. A Memorandum of Understanding to this effect was signed here on Wednesday between PNCA Director-General Dr Fouzia Saeed and GB’s minister for …

Only 0.35m tourists visited the Central Asian country last year as compared to 1.25m in the previous year, says an official News Desk Coronavirus pandemic hit the global tourism sector hard in 2020, proving to be the worst year in tourism history with 1 billion fewer international arrivals, says the United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNETO). The direct contribution of …

The tremor have been felt by millions in northern Pakistan, Afghanistan and Kyrgyzstan News Desk Islamabad: A moderate earthquake jolted Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan and China’s western Xinjiang province on Friday (February 12) evening causing panic among millions of people in these countries. The epicentre of the relatively deep earthquake was Murghab, Gorno-Badakhshan autonomous province of Tajikistan, media and seismic research …