Babar Bhatti

The concept of E-village has been discussed in email groups for a while. Recently, Pakistan’s first actual E-Village was launched, courtesy of various organizations and hard work by a few key passionate people. I guess this makes Mira Bagwal, a village located some 30 km from Islamabad, Pakistan’s first E-village.

In practice, this means that Mira Bagwal has been wired with 2 MB Broad Band internet connection and provided access to medical professionals. One hopes that such e-access to key development needs will come to more places, and in more ways, as we move along.

Sehar Tariq

We all remember the barbaric footage of the Taliban flogging a young girl in Public. Chillingly similar was the story of the police in Faislabad, flogging a woman who had gone to report a theft.

We all remember the months of debate on whether the flogging of the girl in Swat was authentic or not. We argued about whether this was planted by the NGOs with their liberal agenda of destroying our pious and well-functioning society by encouraging women to run around demanding things such as rights. The recent news reports of flogging a woman in Faislabad, seem to confirm my worst fear that what happened to Chand bibi in Swat is by no means unique. The Taliban are not the only ones brutalizing women in Pakistan.

Apparently, there is a bit of barbarian in most Pakistani men.

Bradistan Calling

Mother Beloved moved to her Heavenly abode on 27 December 2008, but a part of her died a year earlier in the catastrophe that struck Pakistan on 27 December 2007 when prime minister Benazir Bhutto was killed.

Benazir Bhutto used to come to her house for delicious Pakistani food, during her exile in England. Once she invited Mother Beloved for a state dinner in central London. A lot of water had gone under the bridges after 1989 and Peoples Party rescinded on its promise of “Muslim Socialism,” Mother never looked at the PPP the same way again. Afterwards, when Mr. Asif Zardari was declared the self-appointed leader of Pakistan Peoples Party, she broke all links with that painful memory, even though the whole family used to cry every time a Bhutto was ‘martyred’ in Pakistan. Mother safely stored all memorabilia, portraits and family photos with Bhuttos’ visit to Bradford and never opened that closet again.