Qandeel Shaam

Honton ko si kar dekhiye pachtaiye ga aap
Hangame jaag uthte hain aksar ghuttan ke baad

Any anodyne effect this sher might have had on me was lost forever when my neo-Trotskyite friend decided to give me his interpretation of it. I didn’t ask for it, but there it was. A multi-headed hydra called “having coffee” – where the conversation starts off polite, turns to prittle-prattle , turns to poetry, turns to politics, turns to polemics, turns to punches. Lucky for me, he hits like a girl.

“Religious extremism is the new communism,”

he hissed, spraying spittle in all directions. I laughed. He carried on, unperturbed but passionate:

“The poor man has found his outlet – the injustice, the exploitation, the degradation, the desperation he’s suffered has found its expression. Islam, like communism, is based on egalitarian principles and promises them justice and equality. You think religious extremism has got anything to do with religion? It is nothing but the collective voice of a people who’ve been wronged their whole lives.”

Owais Mughal

Pakistan’s famous TV, Radio and Film artist Shafi Muhammad Shahpassed away on Saturday, November 17, 2007. He was 57. He was suffering from many ailments. After a severe pain attack on saturday he was rushed to the hospital but he couldn’t survive. Quoting the Daily Times:

Shafi featured in more than 50 drama serials and over 100 long plays on PTV and other channels.

Shafi started his career as a broadcaster at Radio Pakistan Karachi. Later he moved to Lahore and lived at the home of Mohammad Ali and Zeba for few years. There he started his movie career. He became famous after doing few leading roles in Ashfaq Ahmed‘s series ‘ek haqeeqat sau afsaane’. In early 80s Shafi worked in a very famous serial ‘deewareN’.

Darwaish

After the Martial Law, crackdown on lawyers, civil society, media and politicians, now we have seen yet another shameful act by authorities in Pakistan. The latest disturbing news is that Geo Television Network has been shut down and ARY has also been ordered to do the same.

After failing to bring them down on their knees, finally government of Pakistan has decided to cross every civilized limit asking UAE government to close Geo TV and ARY from their Dubai headquarters. The Geo shut down has now taken place (around 12 AM UAE time today) and while ARY was ordered to shut down late night. This is quite unfortunate and will be a big loss for free media and freedom of speech in Pakistan (whatever little is left) and most importantly, for the people of Pakistan.

It will also be a huge setback to fast growing media and journalism sectors in Pakistan and thousands of people will lose their jobs. But then again, anything is expected in a country where entire judiciary is sent home illegally and arrested just because of danger of an unfavorable verdict. Geo and ARY were the only rebel channels left after most of the others have compromised.