Adil Najam

Some really disturbing news from Pakistan. Yet another Pakistani journalist – Dilawar Khan Wazir, Dawn‘s correspondent in South Waziristan and occasional stringer for BBC – has disappeared under mysterious circumstances. Earlier this year his 16-year old younger brother had been kidnapped and later killed (here).

All of this comes on top of a rapidly deteriorating situation of press freedom and journalist safety in Pakistan. On November 1, Mohammad Ismail – the Islamabad Bureau Chief of PPI – was found dead in Islamabad. Earlier, Hidayatullah Khan was found shot in the Tribal Areas. More recently, a Sindhi TV station was banned in Pakistan by the authority regulating electronic media. And Pakistan was once again placed near the bottom of the Press Freedom Index of Reporters Without Borders.

In short, things are not good. According to a source at the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), “Of the nine journalists who have been killed since Danny Pearl in 2002, only two cases have been competently investigated. One was Danny, the other was Hayat’s case, but the results of the High Court investigation into his case have not been made public.”

Adil Najam

Looking at this picture just makes my blood boil (click on picture for a larger view). I do not know the details of the situation, nor who did what or said what or who is at fault or what fault. But the body language and attitude depicted here just has me reeling.

What is being said and how did this end? I would love to find out, but I suspect I know already. Does anyone want to reconstruct how this conversation and confrontation might have gone?

By S A J Shirazi

Being at Khunjerab Pass is a unique experience for those who like the mountains. On the way up on Kharakorum Highway (KKH), there are innumerable options right from simple sight seeing to hard adventure, or a mix of both. Khunjerab surpasses them all. It is one of the world’s highest passes connecting two countries, and mountains on either side.

In summer, a stream of buses from down country, motorcycles and bickers (through China) reach Khunjerab. KKH has become one of the world famous routs for bikers and motorcyclists. At times the pass seems like a place where international cultural diffusion takes place.

Travellers are seen clicking the shutters of their cameras standing around milestone situated at the pass for memory sack or exchanging addresses and promises to send the photographs to each other. From this place one is 400 kilometres away from Kashgar and 880 kilometres from Islamabad. Those who are not acclimatized, experience a degree of altitude sickness, headaches, and or drowsiness as well. And in winters, it is lonely out there.