Adil Najam

I do not like being taken for a fool. Especially, when the trick being pulled off is offensive as well as stupid. That is why I am feeling really angry at these emails people have been sending me.

Over the last many hours I have now received five different copies of (a much forwarded) email with the title “House of Akbar Bugti.” One of them from a Pakistani blogger who asks that we “MUST put these pictures on ATP to expose the lies of Bugti supporters” and that “these pictures prove he was only interested in his own comfort and not the Baluchi people.” Other versions of the email simply has long, very long, strings of email addresses of hundreds, possibly thousands, of people it has already been forwarded to (which is itself bad Internet etiquette) and then carries a string of photographs, including the ones below.

Did you really think we woudl fall for something as imbicile as this!

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Guest Post by Ali Eteraz

The women’s protection bill of Pakistan — which will dramatically alter the rape laws of Pakistan — has a chance of being passed this coming Monday. The bill is an attempt to reform the draconian rape laws of Pakistan from 1979, passed by then dictator Zia ul Haq under the auspices of the religious establishment (part of the hudood ordinance).

The laws require that for a woman to make an allegation of rape she must produce four male witnesses. If she is unable to put forth the witnesses she herself is liable for adultery (and can be imprisoned or put to death for adultery). Absurd. In one case, a blind girl, Safia Bibi, who had been raped was convicted on charges of adultery because she could not identify her attacker.

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Owais Mughal

National Stadium Karachi saw its first International match played here on April 21, 1955. The dimension of time however, had to wait 29 more years before I first set foot here. My chance came on February 29, 1980 (leap year). I was 9 years old and Australia’s cricket team was visiting Pakistan.

With my friends from the neighbor hood, all packed up in a Suzuki pick-up, and with an elder guy to keep an eye on us, we went to see the third day’s game. The starting time for the day’s play was 10:00 a.m. but in excitement of watching the test match we reached the stadium at 7:00 a.m.

National Stadium used to be very different in those days. Only VIP enclosure had a covered roof and it was also located on the Square-leg side. Pavilion also used to be under the VIP enclosure. We sat in the ‘shamiana’ (tent) covered Citizens enclosure which was next to the pavilion and it gave us the best view of the players. I still remember that the ticket price for our stand was Rupees 50 a day.

Pakistani team came out on the field around 8 a.m. to warm up. Zaheer Abbas was hitting the ball high in the air while the rest of the players were trying to catch it. Crowd started going wild with excitement just by looking at players doing practice. Pakistan’s team had lots of superstars in the team. Javed Miandad was the captain. And it was the first ever match of Tauseef Ahmed. Four days earlier, he had come to bowl in Pakistani nets from Malir, and Javed Miandad picked him up for the National team. Tauseef Ahmed used to look like the famous singer Lionel Richie in those days. Look at the photos above and try to determine yourself who is Tauseef Ahmed and who is Lionel Richie.

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