Adil Najam
This rather striking picture, taken by Associated Press in Peshawar Pakistan is remarkable just for it captivating composition. But I have no doubt that our readers will not disappoint in making more of this than probably needs to be made!
Dear Readers,
While All Things Pakistan has remained alive and online, it has been dormant since June 11, 2011 - when, on the blog's 5th anniversary, we decided that it was time to move on. We have been heartened by your messages and the fact that a steady traffic has continued to enjoy the archived content on ATP. While the blog itself will remain dormant, we are now beginning to add occasional (but infrequent) new material by the original authors of the blog, mostly to archive what they may now publish elsewhere. We will also be updating older posts to make sure that new readers who stumble onto this site still find it useful.
We hope you will continue to find ATP a useful venue to reflect upon and express your Pakistaniat. - Editors
In response to Aamer: Every country have their own publishing and copyright laws. As far as internet publishing especially blogs, do they have to comply with getting permission from the person/s before publishing the photo is an interesting topic on it own, and I wonder what is ATP’s policy as far as copyright/publishing.
But come on lets cut the chase, the real controversy here is whether M. Ishaq’s islam is in danger just because a woman’s photo is published in the context of a .Valentine Card’?
i am NOT endorsing anyone’s comment here, but.
Tina,
i think that taking anyone’s picture (even in the western world ) is not allowed. Unless it is taken as part of a broader background which certainly was not the case here, so you could have interpreted M. Ishaq’s comments that way. (again, i am not saying she was/was not consulted).
Temporal,
I like the criteria you list for a ‘perfect leader’ i don’t see anyone with those qualities, to represent our country in the near future. So keep your card in a safe place until then
First: I like the photo and this is the reason why I really like your website, you dared your audience to find the most sensitive aspect of this photograph and your audience gladly responded with passion. Mohammad Ishaq blindly started the mullah bantor and then the counter argument and so on…….
Second: Amazing that a simple greeting card can generate a debate and the deep divide between mullahs and liberals becomes very apparent.
Well, Adil, you should be happy. Your readers did NOT disappoint you:
M. Ishaq remembered to bring up the issue of mothers and sisters…all because of a simple photo.
M. Ishaq–
are you a member of one of those stone-age tribes who thinks that taking a picture is stealing someone’s soul?
Or just one of those people who wants to live in the last century where everything to do with women has to stay in the haram?
Just because the lady is not looking at the camera does not mean she was not consulted. However, even if she was not, there are much much bigger sins against women in Pakistan to get excited about. Where is your outrage when that “nice lady, maybe someone’s sister” is eve-chased or teased in the streets?
If she is shopping in such a store, maybe buying a Valentine for a loved one (a Western holiday) with her dupatta down and her hair showing, she is probably okay with having her photo looked at (I’m speculating, but well).
She is probably less okay with being terrorized in the street if she dares appear dressed like that and alone, but that’s her life as a Pakistani girl.
Yes, she might be your sister. Are you going to be excited by her lack of educational opportunities, her vulnerablity in Pakistani society, the level of violence she is likely to face in her life…any of it?
No. You are going to get upset over a picture.
You know, maybe if you had to look at a lot of pictures of women, see a lot of women, and live and work with them, you would grow up.
This attitude is part of the problem. Also I would find it hard to believe an AP photographer who took the trouble to frame the photo and set it up through a heart-shaped aperture would be able to get a shopper centered in it completely unaware. Maybe, but not likely? Also this is being used as a news photo, not a sexy pin-up.
So I think we can conclude this is not the work of some sick voyeur, so Ishaq’s objection becomes–well, kind of grotesque. By extension all news photographs, or even all photographs, featuring women are exploitative and bad. Of course there are plenty of Muslims who do think this. Those who think so do not have a normal psychology towards women, and that’s very sad.