Outside Islamabad

A week ago, I logged onto twitter and facebook to see an image of an absolutely stunning painting of a ‘desi’ Marilyn Monroe being shared like crazy. The picture had been uploaded by the artist only a few hours earlier, so I found her on facebook and sent her a message requesting an interview. Here’s my close-up feature with the ridiculously talented Summaiya Jillani for Hosh media published on dawn.com.

Meet the maker of ‘Pakistani Marilyn’

Hosh Media: An image of the painting received hundreds of shares and likes in a few hours on facebook and twitter. Did you expect this response on social media?
Summaiya Jillani: I was expecting a lot from this painting, but the response that I received in just one day has definitely exceeded all of my expectations! People know me as a very unambitious person and they keep telling me that I always underrate myself by always being over-surprised at people’s response to my works so you can imagine how overly over-surprised I must be to see my painting being shared across the world via facebook and twitter. My facebook inbox has literally gone berserk. Every two seconds I am getting messages from people from different places. The number of shares this one picture has attained in just one day is almost magical!

I have always been open to the Internet as it has brought me many commissions and I would say social media rocks! You can become a star in no time. All you need to have is something original to say or show and … voila!

HM:How would you describe the Marilyn piece titled, ‘Baar baar dekho, hazaar baar dekho’?
SJ: I don’t want to sound pompous about my work, so I will simply quote what other people have been saying about it. For those who are aware of art, it is like a new Pakistani Warhol. Elders love it because its taking them back to their times, while young kids love it for its vibrancy. Mature youngsters are all for it because of its witty sensuality. And I love it for being universally attractive!

HM: What compelled you to give Marilyn Monroe’s iconic racy pose a Pakistani makeover, what’s your larger message behind the piece?
SJ: This is not the first time that I gave Marilyn this makeover, this I have done before as well in 2010 during my thesis days. And then, it was not only Marilyn but with her was an equally celebrated male hunk of her time, James Dean with a “beeri” stuck in his mouth, giving his look a very “local tapori” touch!

As far as the message is concerned, I never try too hard to forcefully foster my work with some deep meaning. Being very honest, I tell you that all I care about is the “BANG!”, I want my work to give to the viewers! That is my main intention and then its up to the people whatever they like to extract conceptually out of my paintings. And one can see my paintings substantiating my intentions very clearly as they just hit both the masses and the elites in a jiffy!

HM: Was the piece a part of a larger collection?
SJ: This piece was part of a huge group show, which opened at the VM Art Gallery in Karachi on the 4th of June. I exhibited only two pieces in the show so it is not really a part of some bigger body of work by me.

HM: What is the inspiration behind your artistic style?
SJ: There are many inspirations. I keep on surfing through the Internet all the time studying great painters of our times! Artists belonging to the impressionism epoch were my main inspiration initially regarding the technique for using paints. Then gradually I moved forward and started taking inspiration from some living Masters of our times like Belinda Eaton, Francoise Nielly, Alexa Meade (although she’s almost my age she’s doing a great job with paints!) and a few more using paint very boldly! Young Pakistani artists that really inspire me a lot include Samar Zaidi from Karachi University, Sausan Saulat and a few more crazies like them.

The ethnic touch in my work is part of my upbringing and also a matter of personal preference. I’ve always had a proclivity for “desi” things and the indigenous colors of Pakistan! It is a blessing to have a rich cultural background as a native of some place. I find it very easy to bring out the Pakistani feel in my work just by being true to the colors we get to see in our everyday routine! Living in a country like this is truly an inspiration for producing such works, where nothing is too basic and plain. Textures and colors play an important role and these two things are to be found everywhere around us; from a cracked door to a rusted bicycle to a vibrantly colored overcrowded bus and so on and so forth! You can view some of Summaiya’s past work here.

HM: How was the social media response different from reactions at the exhibit?
SJ: Both the responses had their own fun. Social media response was of course very oceanic and it spread like fire! While the gallery had its own charm. People standing in front of your painting for long minutes, then moving around a bit and coming back to it again definitely make you feel very good. And I am always very much interested in seeing young kids’ response to art, which you don’t get to see much on facebook or twitter as at this age ‘art’ has not yet become their cup of tea. But when they’re brought in a gallery, their body language tells how mesmerized they are to see some original piece of art! That thrill in their conversations is exciting and something very positive. I even find uninterested kids very funny in a gallery because they’re honest with their expressions.

HM: How important do you think social media is for young artists in Pakistan?
SJ: I believe it is playing the strongest role in almost any field these days! We all need to be open about our work here on the social network. You never know what strikes the masses here as something very extraordinary. I never understand people who put up their work under severe privacies! What is the point of putting them up then? I mean your family and friends can always come over to your place and see them! Show it to the real world out there. Don’t forget to put dates and watermarks to avoid plagiarism though!

HM: Could you give a little background on yourself: where you graduated from, the different mediums you use, and how long you’ve been exhibiting your work?
SJ: I graduated from the University of Karachi in 2010. Having studied there, I can say I have become a much better human being. It certainly is the place to be! People who fret about going there need to start living a little roughly and toughly. Despite being a government institute of Pakistan, it offers you the best environment where you get to experience all the different classes of Pakistan: many different religions, sects, and races co-exist. You get to experience “Life is not a bed of roses!” at its best, and you get out of there a tough survivor!

As far as the colors are concerned, I’ve become an Acrylic savvy artist. I hardly work in oils anymore although in past I have some of my most favorite paintings done in oil. I have restricted myself to acrylics because they are quick, plus much more vibrant than oils. For the base of the paintings I have been using not only plain canvas or paper, but a wide range of other surfaces, for instance- used coke cans, printed fabric, worn out records (lds), vegetable cutting boards, shoes, bags, jackets, jewelry, actual skin (inspired by an American artist Alexa Meade) and walls.

I’ve been making proper art since 2009, which was the 3rd year of my graduation period. And I started exhibiting right after my thesis from the beginning of 2011.

HM: What are you working these days?
SJ: I am working toward a couple of shows after the summer break. Still concocting ideas in my head and sketchbooks. Apart from that I teach as an Art instructor at one of the branches of the Beaconhouse school system. I also conduct painting lessons to different people of varying age groups!

Published on dawn.com, June 12th.

My last day in New York for the Echoing Green Finals, Kalsoom Lakhani of i2i, an organisation that is helping connect Hosh media with funding opportunities and better business practices got in touch and told me Kathleen Reen from InterNews was hosting a panel at Google’s Internet at Liberty Conference at DC and they wanted Hosh to participate the following week!

So as soon as I got back to San Francisco (along with Ami who had flown in from Pakistan to attend my brothers graduation from University of San Francisco) I started prepping for the conference.

Luckily my mother was cool with me drowning myself into work the first few days of her visit, then leaving her for a few more days, even through her trip was only 2 weeks.

So on May 22nd I made the cross-country trip back to the East Coast. I presented at the conference on both days, the 23rd and 25th, along with Kalsoom Lakhani, Storify’s Burt Herman and UStream’s Ruby Tugade on New Frontiers in Citizen Journalism.

Here’s a video link to the panel discussion:

Besides getting to present Hosh and get some really great feedback from an informed audience, I also got to hang out with the talented and accomplished Kalsoom and the BoloBhi team from Pakistan! I have been wanting to meet Jehan Ara and Sana Saleem ever since I got into the digital space, but somehow things never worked out my last few trip to Karachi. So it was great to finally meet them half way across the world! And I must say in person they are just as humble and amazing as they are online. And I also got to reconnect with Afia Salam, who I used to work with at DawnNews. She has been doing some pretty impressive environmental and digital advocacy the last few years.

I also got to take a picture with Riz Khan (thanks to Jehan Ara) who is an amazing speaker and moderator!

He had the most interesting anecdotes that he would slip into the middle of discussions or in the beginning or end just to add umph or grab the audiences attention. I real broadcaster through and through! You catch a glimpse of that here in a discussion he moderated.

Hosh media and I got selected as an Echoing Green 2012 Finalist. Reaching this stage is huge, because we had a 1% chance! There were 3,508 Fellowship applications, out of which they chose 37 for the final round. What is even more exciting is besides Hosh media, two other women-led enterprises from Pakistan made it the finals: Justice Project Pakistan led by Sarah Belal and Bliss led by Saba Gul!

More details from the EG website:
Finalist Facts:
-40 percent plan to launch for-profits, 50 percent will launch nonprofits, and 10 percent will deploy a hybrid model.
-The Finalists strive to work in fourteen countries, with three planning to have a global footprint.
-Twelve Finalists will focus their impact in the United States, seven in India, and three in Pakistan.
-The most highly represented area is poverty alleviation and economic development.

The Weekend
I flew into New York late Wednesday night to receive a folder with details of the next three days, which would be made up of interviews, pitching and networking. For the first time I got to read up on the judges, an impressive array of powerhouses from the social enterprise space. I also got to read up on my co-finalists, who were all impressive in their own right. I realized there and then, that the highlight of the next few days would be the meeting and getting to know the very people I would be competing with for a spot. I have always been a bit of fatalist, but I guess the state I am in currently in, has made me a complete fatalist, so I decided I would make the most of the weekend and not stress about getting the fellowship.

So I had a great time meeting some amazing people who had put all personal worldly ambitions aside to change the world. Some people that truly enjoyed extended conversations with besides Saba and Sarah (who I met for the first time and are doing amazing, amazing work) were:

Danny Auron who is trying to Enable law schools in developing countries to educate tomorrow’s legal advocates by linking these institutions to western-trained lawyers for support in developing a sustainable curriculum in national justice.

Byomkesh Mishra and Christopher Turillo whose Mehda is preparing India’s youth for post-graduate life by providing employability training, leadership mentoring, and career services. What’s amazing is they are based in Lucknow and basically they are trying to bridge the gap that ‘private tuition and connections’ create between the privileged and not so privileged in Lucknow; (I told them they need to expand to Pakistan!)

and

Vijaya Priyadarshini Thakur whose Resolve Network builds lasting peace by empowering Congolese women affected by genocidal conflict by providing tools of literacy, microfinance, and collaboration.”

Update
Unfortunately the fellowship didn’t work out for me, but Echoing Green finally got its first Pakistani fellow: Sarah Belal! I am really excited about the growth that Justice Project Pakistan, which provides free legal assistance to the poorest prisoners facing the harshest punishments in Pakistan, will be seeing from receiving this huge opportunity! The Medha guys made it through too, which is pretty amazing!

I meant to write this post last week, right after the workshop had ended, but alas other work priorities coupled with that hidden lurking beast called procrastination trumped my intentions.

Last Monday while I sneaked glances at the sun rise over the tremendous San Francisco horizon, I had the pleasure of speaking to about 60 A levels students in Lahore at LUMS University via skype as part of the CARMA media conference.

The topic was media freedoms in Pakistan and the world, and I tried to keep it as interactive as a video conference with a slight time delay could allow. And I was blown away by how well informed and worldly these students were. When I asked them which country they thought was most ‘free’ in terms of media freedom, one student replied North Korea with a chuckle and a few others said some Nordic countries. Between the sarcasm and genuine answer they had the spectrum pretty well covered according to the World Press Freedom Index which ranks Finland, Norway and Netherlands at the top with North Korea second to bottom followed by Eritrea.

They were most engaged when I talked about self-censorship and press independence using the cases of slain Pakistani journalist Saleem Shahzad and trigger-happy American spy Raymond Davis. My main argument was despite of the very tangible threat many Pakistani journalists boldly came out and spoke up against the ‘elephant in the room’ in the Saleem Shahzad case: the ISI. Compare that too the Raymond Davis case, which barely got coverage in the US, until he was safely home. Glenn Greenwald wrote a damning piece in Salon about that, the NYT’s journalistic obedience.

In fact last year while Pakistani newspaper headlines and TV’s channels were consumed by the Raymond Davis story, I presented the case of selected coverage to a graduate class in media ethics at Stanford University. Of the 80 students no one had heard Davis’s name. No one had even heard that an American spy had been caught in a murder case in Pakistan. When I asked them if they thought it was newsworthy, only half the class raised their hand. Some looked very annoyed. When I asked them why it wasn’t newsworthy, I got a mix of its too far away, and a few people who agreed with the NYT’s ‘national security’ trumps editorial independence. When I re-phrased the question and told them what if Pakistan received $1.5 billion in American tax-payer money every year to win hearts and minds, was it important then? Almost the whole class raised their hand.

So given that happened to me with a mix of undergrad and grad students at Stanford I was not only surprised when all the Pakistani high school students were well aware of both the Shahzad and Davis cases, but also that no student lashed out at me for accusing the ISI (being a journalist, I used allegedly whenever I said ISI.) Not even when I said if they really want to know what happened to Shahzad, they are best off googling Dexter Filkins piece for the New Yorker, because the truth won’t get published in Pakistan. When I said I wish Americans would read more Pakistani newspapers so they know the truth on the Davis end, they laughed.

But I have to say the Q and A was the best part. I was asked such intelligent questions, about the Shahzad case, being a female journalist and even how the media should handle the religious right.

My response to the last two questions got me an applause, which is what really surprised me. First of all because my talk was on media freedom, second because on the surface religiosity in Pakistani urban youth has risen. The class that I was speaking to was about 30% female and about half of them were wearing hijab. But I saw something else in these students: tolerance and an appreciation for diversity.

When I started O levels we had one ‘hijabi’ in our class who had returned from Saudi Arabia I believe. I had not even heard the term hijab before. Then Farhat Hashmi started her first dars session at my school OPF. Within 2 yrs the Al Huda phenomenon had taken hold in Islamabad. A few students willingly took the hijab by the time I was done with my A levels in 2000. A few of my close friends took it while they were studying abroad in the US and UK.

So when I started speaking about the religious right, I was a little nervous. But when I said there is no homogeneous religious right–we have a sizable Shia population and the vocal Sunni groups Barelvis and Deobands hardly see eye-to-eye. So it is the responsibility of the media to not show them as one group, as representative of the ‘mullah,’ because its simply not true and exaggerates their influence. Before I could explain myself further, I got an applause.

Interestingly, I also got an applause when I told them the story of my first on-camera piece as a reporter for Geo. It was 2005 and it was for a human smuggling case, I had done short reports and interviews before, but nothing on-camera. When my boss saw my report, he thought it needed a P-T-C (piece to camera), so I headed to the roof with a cameraman to record it. I asked the cameraman to give me a countdown and he said, “ready ho ja aye phelay” (get ready first.) So I practiced my lines again and said ready. But he repeated, “ready ho ja aye” So then I said, “aur nahi ready ho sakti, Allah malik hai” (I can’t be more ready.) Then he rather uncomfortably asked me if i didn’t want to fix my dupatta? So I rather uncomfortable asked him what was wrong with it? And he replied saying the other female reporters ‘phelao their dupatta’ (spread out their scarf.) I had taken it as a scarf around my neck, because frankly I thought it looked more professional, and I never ‘pheloed my dupatta’ even when I was in high school. So I told him that was their choice, it wasn’t a Geo policy and that I wasn’t going to change the way I wore my dupatta for the camera.

The students burst out in applause for that too. I guess tolerance is the new creeping urban youth phenomenon.

In 2005 while I was working with Geo, I had this idea to do short culture reports on Islamabad, because I was sick of hearing that Islamabad had no culture. How is that possible, after all? My boss at the time, Fahd Husain liked the idea but thought it would translate better into a newspaper column. Besides being an anchor on Geo, Fahd was also the resident editor of the News, so that worked out well. I wrote the first column, which got the title ‘Born and Bred in Islamabad,’ and we invited readers to start contributing. The weekly column got some great contributions from retired bureaucrats, army-men, students, and environmentalists and continued on for quite some time.

After reading my dear friend Sami Shah’s lovely piece in the Tribune today, A Karachiite in Islamabad, I decided to dig up the article. This is before the paper was online, (some would say it still isn’t). Unfortunately, the only soft copy I could find isn’t the final edited version. I have the hard copy, but I’m really not in the mood for manual edits right now. So I’ll let this fly! (edited version published in March 2006)

Born and Bred in Islamabad: Living politics

“Islamabad?? That isn’t even in Pakistan. It’s ten miles outside Pakistan.” If only I had a penny for the amount of times I heard that from Lahoris and Karachites—let’s just say I’d be one rich lady.

For those who have grown up in Islamabad—home to the Presidency, the Secretariat and the National Assembly—the power hub of the country—such comments seem absurd. How can educated green-passport-carrying citizens of this country make such comments?

Recently I, a green-blooded Islooite, have started wondering whether there is some truth to such statements. Beyond the obvious well-manicured green belts, spotless streets and respectful fellow drivers that are so un-Pakistani, maybe this detachment to Islamabad which is growing by the day, is a symptom of something larger.

The charisma of Karachi is in its bustling financial activity, the lure of Lahore is in its mouth-watering cuisine. So what about Islamabad? What is it about our identity that makes it distinctly our “identity?” Is it our stunning hills that engulf every sun down—is nature our “nature”?

“Can I get a table outside?” A frequent request on sunny days in European cafes and American restaurants, but an unheard of concept in our part of the world. Yet a few of my NGO friends and I found ourselves waiting in line for a table outside a popular restaurant in Islamabad. The restaurant itself was empty, but the mix of suited-booted diplomats and hippy foreigners apparently had set another trend that we Islooites had bought into. So there we were: ready to dine outside under the sun and soak up the first rays of spring.

Gone are the days of economic embargos and faltering donor presence. Foreign aid is now ready for our taking. As an added bonus, we Islooites are also ready to be taken by foreign ways. Instead of introducing them to an age old culture that is distinctively Islamabadi, we absorb their ways. The beauty of Islamabad is that we are only a few decades old. We are trying to find ourselves. Our “Islooness” is eternally transforming—the way of life, the residents and the ‘scene’ swaps with every change in government or political system.

My teens were spent in the longest democratic decade of Pakistan. Back then, corruption was the buzzword. It was as in-your-face as the traffic police is these days. In my semi-government all-girls’ school we saw kids climbing out of privileged Pajeros while their fathers were in government. A few years sweep by and the same kids would be dropped off in Altos. Soon there would be a whole new set of kids being dropped off in Pajeros. Things got so bad in Islamabad that often I thought that corruption was not even considered an evil, but a way of survival. That was the political Pakistan I grew up in. That was the Islamabad I grew up in.

One thing I do miss about Islamabad in the ‘90s is that political dissent and criticism was easily accessible—in classrooms, in restaurants, in parties and on the street. It was not reserved for selected drawing rooms, as it is now. These days, I find myself loving Musharraf and my consumption-friendly way of life, thinking that every Pakistani feels the same way.

All I had to do was hop on to a plane for a reality check. Seated behind a federal minister and a young female parliamentarian perfectly accessorized in Gucci shoes and a matching bag, I arrive in Lahore. There I hear stories about distrust, corruption accusations and complete dissatisfaction with the current system. At first, I get a little defensive, because this is ‘my people’, ‘my politics’ and ‘my Islamabad’ they are talking about. But then very politically I stop myself and just listen.

Undeniably politics is our identity and our selling point. When our fellow Lahoris or Karachites say that Islamabad is ten miles outside Pakistan, is it is more than our squeaky cleanliness that drives them to do so? Or is it a symptom of their detachment from politics? Or is it a symptom of our detachment from them? Islamabad has become a sort of political Pleasantville, after all. Everything has the appearance of being ‘nice and dandy.’ To me the splendor of Islamabad is that our culture isn’t fixed, it absorbs and acclimates itself to every new political wave in the country.

Back at the restaurant, under the sun over chaat platters, mixed thalis and puris, my friends and I try to keep our voices down complaining about our own respective jobs and lives. All recent foreign graduates, we chose to move back to Islamabad. We didn’t know what to expect, but with the mountains in our rear view mirror, we knew we had to come back and rediscover ourselves, our Islamabad.

Disclaimer: The title of this blog gets inspiration from this column I wrote 6 years ago, even though the title of the column doesn’t fully apply to me, because I wasn’t born in Islamabad! But I spent my summers at my grandparents place in Islamabad till I was 8, after which time my family moved to Islamabad. So that’s where I went to school, went through my adolescence, essentially grew up. I considered Islamabad my home base till my parents moved to Lahore two years ago. At which time I moved my books (my true prized possessions) to my in-laws place in Karachi, so I guess Karachi is my home base now?

Alefia T Hussain, a consulting editor with the News on Sunday, asked me some questions relating to TV news in Pakistan. Here are the responses I sent her. I believe her feature piece will be published this weekend.

1- Do TV channels follow any editorial guidelines?
Some TV channels in Pakistan follow informal guidelines or codes that have developed organically through trial and error. But to the best of my knowledge no one has complied and documented a formal list. If you go to any credible news organisation around the world, they have a carefully deliberated code that is available for their reporters and staff to go through and consult when faced with ethical questions. These organisations also make their guidlelines available for download for news consumers on their website. All Pakistani channels and media outlets need to do the same to be considered transparent, accountable and ethical.

2- Who runs the show on TV in the true sense: editor (controller news/news directors/executive directors) or the presenter?
That really depends on the news channel. Some channels have tight editorial control, some don’t. But all news stories should go through a process of verification and editorial oversight before hitting the screen. I can tell you from my experience running the news shift as an Senior Duty Editor at DawnNews TV in 09-10, that when stories were filed by reporters in our news scripting software they were marked blue, after that they had to be edited and checked by our copy editors who changed their status to orange, then our producers would check if the story had accompanying footage and turn the status to yellow, then the editor of the shift had to make one final check and change the story’s status to green. Only green stories would make it to the prompter for a news presenter or anchor to read on screen. The exception however is in breaking news, when the news presenter is often relying directly on a reporter at the scene for news. During such situations, editors and/or news directors need to be in the control room, to make sure that the news anchors have constant editorial support.

3- Do TRPs dominate editorial discretion?
TRP’s have nothing to do with editorial decisions and should never be taken into consideration while deciding content. That goes against the grain of being a journalist, our ultimate pursuit is the truth not ratings.

4- Is TRP race the only force that drives/defines the business of TV?
If a channel is run by a creative management and editorial team, then no. There is always room to ensure your news broadcasts are independent of ratings and also have some programming that is independent of ‘news’ that comes high on rating charts. Running a news channel is about balancing these two.

5- To quote from New Media vs Old Politics, a study conducted by Marcus Michaelsen, “… quality of journalism. Due to the rapid evolution of the media landscape. The number of journalists has grown within a short time. Although there are various universities and institutions offering courses in journalism and mass communication, new graduates are generally not prepared for requirements of the profess”(or they do not guided by competent editors (as mentors) as some of us were lucky to have). Is TV under-resourced or has it got the wrong people in the job?

From 2004 till 2010, the broadcast industry in Pakistan grew six-fold to 24 news channels. Few would argue that the liberalisation of broadcast media, in a country where few can read and write, has changed the way Pakistanis are informed. But many question the massive proliferation of the industry without appropriate institutions and colleges to train its professionals. Our universities offering journalism courses did not grow with the same ease nor did they adjust their curricula to the needs of 24/7 live news. At the same time the news environment in Pakistan was on fire-— starting from the lawyer’s movement, to the Lal Masjid siege, to the return of Nawaz Sharif and Benazir Bhutto to the numerous bombing and attacks that followed. Many untrained and inexperienced reporters were pushed into a dizzying environment of breaking news.

Few media professionals come into the field with an education or training in journalism. News organisations need to fill the gap, by offering training courses to its employees. To be fair, some news channels (Geo, Express, Dunya and DawnNews to name a few) did hire international journalists and consultants to train their team as they prepared for their launch. But few offered or offer refresher courses for its existing employees or new courses for its incumbent employees, despite their massive growth.

6- What should be the minimum standard/qualification for including new professionals coming into TV broadcasting?

Some of the best journalists I have met were not trained to be journalists, so I am not one to advocate a minimum level of formal education in the field. For me, the most important traits in any journalist is a curious open mind, the intelligence to sift through disinformation, desire to constantly learn, empathy and a complete commitment to the truth. For TV journalists, the ability to stay grounded under the pressure of live news is also very important. That ideally should come from training off-camera, instead of on-camera, which is what we often see now in Pakistan.

7- Credible regulator: Would you agree that TV in Pakistan needs an independent system, a credible regulator, with its own powers to investigate/point out and punish wrongdoing? What can be its constitution and structure?

I am not in favour of any government regulation of news. In a country like Pakistan that has been tossed back and forth between weak governments and army generals this can have lethal consequences. In my ideal world, each news channels would develop their own codes and guidelines through viewer consultation, make them available for anyone to see, and enforce them internally.

But the situation in Pakistan is far from ideal. I am currently involved with a group of activists, academics and journalists that are trying to independently regulate TV channels based on viewer complaints. We came together during the Maya Khan debacle, and successfully received a few thousands signatures on our petition which we sent to Samaa’s chairperson. He was very cooperative, apologised and sent us Maya’s first reluctant apology. We replied to him and thanked him for Samaa’s apology but asked for an unconditional apology from Maya Khan, with assurances that guidelines had been put in place to prevent such intrusion of privacy from happening again on Samaa. The email that went around from Mr Siddiqui after the Maya episode was addressed to our group. Our name is Citizens for Free and Responsible Media, Pakistan and now any viewer can register a complaint on our facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/C4FRM) , our volunteers will investigate the matter, and after due diligence, approach the offending TV channel with a petition asking to correct behaviour and put guidelines in place. Our goal is not to get people fired, but for channels to create guidelines or codes and follow them.

Maya Khan’s ‘chasing-couples in parks’ episode that aired last week caused quite a stir in Pakistan and even received coverage abroad but it’s a series called “where is your daughter? ” that aired in October on the same show and channel, that is truly disturbing.

In this particular episode aired on October 5th of last year, the recipe for “Beti ka Achar” (pickled daughter) with ingredients that will create the perfect obedient daughter or daughter-in-law is given in grueling detail.

The ingredients include one daughter, a fist-full of trust, a pinch of ‘anger’ salt, a tablespoon of crushed ‘question’ pepper, and a spoon of ‘good breeding’ essence. The narrator of the recipe recommends that you keep the mixture in a corner of the house where there is shade and no sunlight; otherwise she warns the mixture might go bad.

There is something especially sinister about educated women who were born into liberated and privileged families in Pakistan advocating this nonsense on live TV. Do they believe that only they are God’s chosen few who have the right to be independent and work?

But this wasn’t the only ridiculous, insulting and chauvinistic recipe aired on her show, two days later they ran another recipe for “Beti ki Curry”.

Along with the first unappetising achar recipe, they also ran a report in which a girl named Misbah is accused of killing her father with her boyfriend. In the report a police officer alleges that Misbah was being ‘treated indecently by her father’ and the reporter goes on to say that Misbah says her father ‘used to make her do things to him.’ I don’t know about you, but to me that sounds like accusations of sexual assault. But instead of investigating further, the Maya brigade ignore this detail and focus on the ‘rebellious’ girl killing her father with her boyfriend.

Maya Brigade Background
Maya Khan’s parks episode aired on January 17th, started making the social media rounds on Jan 21st. Within 12 hours, the video went viral and was addressed in op-ed’s and blogs on mainstream media (Tribune, Dawn, BBC Urdu.) Thousands signed an online petition and letters were sent to Samaa’s chairman.

Soon Samaa issued an apology, featuring a rather reluctant half-apology from Maya Khan. Blogger and journalist Beena Sarwar gives more detail about the social media movement here.

As someone from inside the industry, I say rather guiltily that I have seen many things go on air that should have never made the light of day. I have also rarely seen a news channel willing to apologise for its misconduct or misstep. So Samaa’s apology is a brave and welcome change.

But, I also believe that if the ‘parks’ video didn’t go viral, we would not have built enough pressure through social media to make Samaa take notice and issue an apology. Samaa will surely scrutinize all of Maya’s shows in the future.

Imagine if the “Beti Ka Achar” video went viral in October, maybe the parks episode wouldn’t have happened.

Beyond Maya Brigade
What I am getting at is Maya Khan is a symptom of a larger problem, where our news channels are a slave to ratings rather than an ethical guideline or code of conduct. I wrote a piece for dawn.com detailing the larger debate and the dangers to media independence if a government body enforces codes in Pakistan. But to summarize and give context to this particular Maya Khan case:

The problem with these morning shows, not just Samaa, is that they bring in a lot of revenue through advertising. Many news channels run their operations off the money they make in these shows, but the show often operates in “no man’s land”, with little or editorial oversight and accountability from the newsroom. (As an example the Maya Khan episodes with the “Beti ki Curry” recipe (04:05-04:20) and the “Beti ka Achar” recipe (05:16-05:24), both run with disclaimers saying the content of the show does not necessarily represent Samaa’s views. )

That is simply not on, if the show is airing on a news channel, and that is what Samaa is registered with PEMRA as, they have to be held responsible for all content.

My appeal is that we cannot lose steam with the parks episode. We have to continue to build pressure, for all news channels to realise that they cannot afford to sacrifice ethical standards for ratings and money.

Furthermore, now the New York Times is reporting that ‘four local nongovernment organizations (are filing) a civil suit against Samaa TV in Pakistan’s Supreme Court, hoping to galvanize the country’s top judges into action.’

With this latest petition in the Supreme court, the time for news channels to get their houses in order has become all the more pertinent. Here are three tangible suggestions from my original article on Dawn.com, tailored to the latest Maya fiasco for these channels:

1. The editorial staff in news organisations need to draft their own ‘code of conduct or editorial guidelines’. News channels can use the Society of Professional Journalists code, which had been adopted by news organisations around the world as a starting point. Once complete they need to make their guidelines available on their news sites. They also need to open their codes to greater public scrutiny, as is suggested by the SPJ code, maybe through a comments section on their website.

2. The ‘letters to the editors’ format in newspapers needs to translate on to our TV screens for news channels to be held accountable and to be considered ethical. This can be done by opening up ticker streams to viewer feedback. Some news channels already do this; but unfortunately, many are usually moderated to show the good, rather than the bad. This feedback mechanism should be taken seriously. News outlets should respond to the criticism they receive either through a half-hour weekly show hosted by their editors with live calls or through short segments scattered in their news bulletins.

3. News channels need to train their reporters and staff. Few media professionals come into the field with an education or training in journalism. News organisations need to fill the gap, by offering training courses to its employees. (From 2004 till 2010, the broadcast industry grew six-fold to 24/7 news channels. Our universities offering journalism courses did not grow with the same ease nor did they adjust their curricula to the needs of 24/7 live news. Many untrained and inexperienced reporters were pushed into a dizzying environment of breaking news. To be fair, some news channels did hire international journalists and consultants to train their team as they prepared for their launch. But few offered or offer refresher courses for its existing employees or new courses for its incumbent employees, despite their massive growth.)

By advocating these three concrete steps, which are key ingredients to an “ethical media recipe’ we will protect the media’s independence and prevent further ‘Beti ka Achar’ recipes from being propagated by Maya-like brigades in Pakistan.

Also published on dawn.com

Gunny bags, chopped body parts and a kidnapping. Were you sick to your stomach when you read the horrific tale of Shamsul Anwar that recently went viral on social media sites? Were you equally appalled when facebook status updates and tweets started to suggest the story was a hoax?

While the details of the case have yet to be investigated, this week another video ignited social media fumes: morning show host Maya Khan and her vigil-aunty brigade harassing couples in Karachi parks and demanding them to show their nikkanamas (marriage certificates) on live TV.

One question we have to ask ourselves is: how did we get here?

Ten years ago for a few hours everyday, we could tune into our radios and TV sets to get the latest state approved news bulletins through PTV and Radio Pakistan. Now, 24 hours a day and 7 days a week we can surf between two-dozen independent news channels and numerous radio stations that bring us the sights and sounds of the latest political fiasco, tragedy and terror attack.

Few would argue that the liberalisation of broadcast media, in a country where few can read and write, has changed the way Pakistanis are informed. But many question the massive proliferation of the industry without appropriate institutions and colleges to train its professionals. Some have even called for regulation of the industry and the enforcement of a ‘code of ethics.’

Which is easy to demand, but difficult in practice.

Around the world

There are different schools of thought when it comes to the enforcement of journalistic ethics.

Most journalists would argue that if the government comes up with a code, or is any way linked to enforcement, then our media is entering water that threatens its very independence.

Globally, many credible news organisations have drafted their own code which they make public, like the New York Times available here the BBC’s editorial guidelines, the Guardian’s guidelines and Al-Jazeera English’s code.

Currently no news outlet in Pakistan follows this practice.

Many smaller companies voluntarily follow the code prescribed by the Society of Professional Journalists-an independent organisation of journalists that came together in 1923 in the US. From their website: ‘The SPJ Code of Ethics is voluntarily embraced by thousands of journalists, regardless of place or platform, and is widely used in newsrooms and classrooms as a guide for ethical behavior. The code is intended not as a set of “rules” but as a resource for ethical decision-making. It is not — nor can it be under the First Amendment — legally enforceable.’ In fact their code has been translated in dozens of different languages and is used as a guide in many countries around the world.

The code dilemma

But in recent times, leading academics in journalism, Theodore L. Glasser of Stanford University and James S, Ettema of Northwestern University have called for codes to be developed organically through the consensus of its consumers rather than being imposed from the top by news organizations or journalists. Their argument is there is a conflict of interest in the media regulating its own behavior. In a paper published in the journal Journalism Studies in June of 2008, they argue:

“Written by and for professionals, codes of ethics normally serve to isolate professions by insulating their members from outside pressure; they protect professionals by letting practitioners decide for themselves and by themselves what matters in the realm of ethics.”

For them, “being ethical requires the facility to argue articulately and deliberate thoughtfully about moral dilemmas, which in the end means being able to justify, publicly, compellingly, their resolution. The aim of ethics, in a word is accountability.”

While Glasser and Ettema are calling for something that has never been done before—developing a code outside the tight grasp of professional journalists—the SPJ has laid out some ways in which the larger public can play a greater role. In their code which was revised in 1996, the Society calls for journalists to “Be Accountable, –to their readers, listeners, viewers, and each other. Journalists should

• Clarify and explain news coverage and invite dialogue with the public over journalistic conduct.
• Encourage the public to voice grievances against the news media
• Admit mistakes and correct them promptly
• Expose unethical practices of journalists and the news media
• Abide by the same high standards to which they hold others.”

Everything they suggest can easily be enforced in Pakistan in today’s age of technology.

On websites, news outlets can open up all their stories to comments and respond to criticism and feedback. Some news organisations already do. But you rarely see an editor responding publicly to the criticism. Some news sites, only allow comments on select sections like blogs and opinions. To be truly accountable, all content should be opened up to debate. And news sites should set aside staff to handle moderate comments and respond to queries.

Pakistan’s broadcast problem

But let’s not kid ourselves; the real problem is the 24/7 beast—TV. I worked in the industry from 2005-2010, and saw Pakistan go from 5 news/entertainment channels to 24 round-the clock news channels. I also witnessed what we in the industry call modular news (pre-recorded segments) quickly transition to live 24/7 bulletins through satellite and new-bee TV reporters. So I speak guiltily, from the inside.

The availability of DSNG (Digital Satellite News Gathering) vehicles changed everything. First, a news organization invested in one in 2006, a few others quickly followed suit. By the time Gen. Pervez Musharraf pulled the plug on media in November of 2007, dozens of DSNGs were everywhere. The same year also marked the year our news cycle was on fire–starting from the lawyer’s movement, to the Lal Masjid siege, to the return of Nawaz Sharif and Benazir Bhutto. Simultaneously, there was also a tangible spike in violence. According to the South Asia Terrorism Portal, 2006 witnessed 1471 terrorism-related deaths; in 2007 there were more than double, with 3599 fatalities, 6715 deaths in 2008 and 11585 lives were lost to terrorism in 2009.

From 2004 till 2010, the broadcast industry grew six-fold to 24 news channels. Our universities offering journalism courses did not grown with the same ease nor did they adjust their curriculums to the needs of 24/7 live news. Many untrained and inexperienced reporters were pushed into a dizzying environment of breaking news.

To be fair, some news channels did hire international journalists and consultants to train their team as they prepared for their launch–Geo, DawnNews, Dunya and Express to name a few. But few offered or offer refresher courses for its existing employees or new courses for its incumbent employees, despite their massive growth.

Besides continuing to train their reporters and staff, these news organisations need to draft their codes, either through public consensus or through discussions with their editors. Once complete they need to make their guidelines available on their news sites. They also need to open up to greater public scrutiny, as is suggested by the SPJ code.

As a first step, the ‘letters to the editors’ format in newspapers needs to translate on to our TV screens for news channels to be held accountable and to be considered ethical.

Journalist Matiullah Jan launched an interesting cross-industry experiment in 2011 with his show, Apna Gareban where journalists were called out on some dubious ethical issues. Sadly, the show did not last beyond a few episodes. In an interview with Slate magazine Jan said, “(I’ve) reconciled to the fact that there were pressures on the organization from the highest levels of the media industry.”

Some news channels have opened their tickers to SMS comment streams. But unfortunately, many are usually moderated to show the good, rather than the bad. This feedback mechanism should be taken seriously. News outlets should respond to the criticism they receive either through a half-hour weekly show hosted by their editors with live calls or through short segments scattered in their news bulletins. The media has to remember to ‘abide by the same high standards to which it holds others.’ Otherwise, soon the industry will be in murky water, where our readers and viewers look at us with more skepticism than trust, some would argue we are already there.

Sahar Habib Ghazi worked as a TV producer and editor in Pakistan from 2005-10 and later launched Hosh media. The volunteer-based organisation of bloggers and journalists recently put together a crash course on some of the stickiest ethical dilemmas journalists in Pakistan face. The first part of the video series ‘News vs. Opinion: The Litmus Test,’ featuring veteran journalist Abbas Nasir is available here.

Originally published on dawn.com.

“I am so happy I didn’t plan anything, because everything worked out,” said 25 year-old Moin Khan with a laugh.

That laugh must hurt. After all, his ribs are broken from an accident in Arad, Romania, which has forced him to pull the brakes, temporarily, on his ‘epic solo motorcycle journey.’

With a Pakistani and an American passport in his backpack, Moin is travelling from San Francisco, California to Lahore, Pakistan on his Honda F4i.

After posting dozens of videos and thousands of pictures on his facebook page “ADifferentAgenda” from the 15 countries he has already conquered in more than a 100 days, a man crashed into him on October 20th deconstructing his bike and hospitalizing him.

But Moin doesn’t seem the slightest bit disappointed.

For him the crash has simply given him an opportunity to cement “ADifferentAgenda” just a little bit deeper in Romania. His first post after the horrific crash was titled “My bike’s totaled, a couple (of) bones are broken and new Romanian friends are made.”

The man who crashed into him visited him everyday in the hospital. And local bike enthusiast Daniel Jula, after hearing about Moin’s crash, showed up at the hospital and offered to help put his bike back together. He searched for parts all over Romania, and even managed to procure some.

As Moin recuperates at a newly discovered distant relatives place in Bucharest, Romania finding a radiator proved to be a huge challenge. But then another complete stranger named Adi, showed up at his doorstep with a brand new radiator, which he called “a gift from the (bike) stunter community in Romanian” in the video below.

The video elicited dozens of thanks and prayers for Adi from Moin’s fans in Pakistan on his facebook page.

Moin has been overwhelmed by the kindness extended to him from complete strangers, ever since he bid farewell to his friends at the Golden Gate Bridge on July 10th.

“Before the trip, I would have never have thought of inviting some stranger into my house,” admits the biker who grew up in Lahore.

“But it happened to me, not once, but a few times on the trip; in Canada, in Germany and even in Switzerland, which was so random and so beautiful. “

Here’s a video where Moin introduces us to his new friend and host in Martini, Switzerland. After a long journey on the road, Moin arrived exhausted in the enchanting town, only to realize that all hostels and affordable motels were booked. He was parked on the street, when after a five-minute conversation Moin got an invitation from a local to stay at his home.

The ignition
In 2005, Moin moved rather reluctantly from Lahore to California to start college. “My parents forced me to go to the U.S. for college,” he admits. He soon made friends and started loving life in the Bay area.

“After waking up, I’d go to dawn.com or Geo’s website,” said Moin in an interview on skype.

Everyday Moin would be rudely greeted with a headline bearing bad news. “Starting from Lal Masjid to the drones. You barely hear anything positive out of Pakistan.”

“I am not political in any way. I just wanted to tell the world that we Pakistanis are just regular people,” said Moin.

And one day while he was sitting with some friends it hit him. “I’m going to drive my bike from San Francisco to Pakistan,” he announced.

So started Moin’s mission. He worked two jobs, 7-days a week, and survived on ‘rice and ketchup’ to save up for the trip and to buy a bike and gear worthy of the journey.

“I didn’t make the facebook page or the website, till the 3rd or 4th day into the trip, I wasn’t expecting anything at all.”

Moin now has more than 5000 fans on his facebook page.

The journey

Moin’s Honda F4i’s tires have already touched concrete in the U.S., Canada, England, Scotland, Germany, Czech Republic, Liechtenstein, Switzerland, France, Italy, Slovenia, Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, and Romania.

One of the key things keeping fans hooked to his journey on facebook, besides his skill to always find an Internet connection to upload pictures and videos, is his storytelling ability, which is playful and informative.

On the 15th day of his trip he uploaded some pictures from Yellowstone Park. One caption read, “I had to stop to take a picture with the Lulu Pass board, haha.”

“These (are) some pictures of the mud volcano in Yellowstone, it smelled of rotten eggs. I wonder why people drive thousands of miles just to smell rotten eggs. Well I too sadly rode 3000 miles to see this. Yes I reached my 3000 mile mark today!” exclaimed another one.

I asked him which place surprised him the most.

“The Selvio Pass in Italy…I have never seen anything like it,” replied Moin who started pinning up motorcycle posters in his room when he was just 7-years old.

“My love for Pakistan has always been there, nothing can match that, but motorcycles have been a big part of me and riding through the Swiss and Italian Alps was a dream since childhood. ”

Moin’s first time on a motorcycle is just as epic as his journey. At the age of eleven, a carpenter was working inside his house, when he decided to steal his motorcycle and cruise around Lahore.

“I didn’t know how to ride it,” admits Moin.

“I was somewhere in Cantt, it was summertime, (I had) no helmet, no gloves, nothing at all. I was wearing shorts and buzzing through cars. The way the wind hits your face. It’s just an amazing feeling,” he recalls with amazing detail.

“Since then it has only been about motorcycles and motorcycles,” he said with a grin.

The family

“My parents didn’t know anything about this trip.” Moin told his mom about his plan two days before he left San Francisco. When she found out how hard he had been working overtime to make it a reality, she backed him up.

When he crashed in Romania, he skyped his parents from the hospital, to show that he was okay. His mom suggested that he fly home, but his father was even more determined for him to continue.

“My dad’s first reaction was ‘so when are you getting a new bike, then’?”

“My parents have been amazingly supportive. Pakistani parents aren’t ‘supposed’ to be this supportive. (My parents) have proven this stereotype wrong,” he said proudly.

The agenda

Before Moin started his epic journey, he was worried about how some people in remote places in America would react to him being ‘from Pakistan.’

“I never had to face racism. San Francisco is very chill like that. But I had heard stories. I thought all they know about Pakistanis and Muslims is through Fox News. So, I was a little scared,” he admitted.

“But whoever I talked to, the first thing I’d say is ‘I am from Pakistan and I’m going from San Francisco to Lahore’.”

And that line, along with Moin’s charm seemed to do the trick at many places, even in British Columbia where he met a man named Phil Dawson at a gas station.

Phil invited Moin to his place. “His wife made us dinner. We had a bonfire. We watched movies together. I spent the night there,” narrates Moin.

“I think not only am I educating people I am being educated myself, anyone who can learn through me (and my experiences) that is the idea of this whole journey.”

And from the dozens of comments he gets on his videos and stories on facebook, it is clear he is changing perceptions in Pakistan.

“This is just amazing … there are no boundaries or countries or religions … just simple human beings. This is just the perfect example you want people to see, how we all can help each other to live happily, survive perils and support one another to grow,” commented one fan.

“The friends you are making are the bridge to (the) future. Congratulations and safe travels,” commented another.

After his crash, Moin posted a list of bike parts he needed on his facebook page. The response from his fans was tremendous. Bikers around the world pitched in to help him find parts. And in Pakistan many offered to raise money.

“Moin Bhai I can put posters of Moin Khan – ADifferentAgenda all over my university (University of Karachi) and ask people to make donation online.” offered Fowad Khan Niazi

Another 15-year-old fan from Dera Ismail Khan edited a video using Moin’s pictures from the trip to help raise funds.

I asked him if the journey has changed his perceptions.

“I don’t know why, but I had a bad image about Germans. Maybe because all I had heard about Germany was Hitler. This is how the media plays with you. I just thought Germans are really negative people,” he replied, “but Germans are the friendliest people I’ve met on this trip.”

“Some random people took me in.” He stayed with them in Germany for 5 days. “They took care of me like I was their little child, I was just amazing.”

They introduced Moin to their friends and even entertained him. “They took me to the BMW motorcycle museum and the motorcycle factory.”

Moin also got some stellar coverage in Germany press. DW-WORLD.DE even published an article on him in Urdu.

The road ahead

For Moin the best part of his trip lays ahead—Bulgaria, Turkey, Iran, and then finally Pakistan.

“Before the journey started, the two places I was most excited and looking forward to were Iran and Balochistan in Pakistan.”

“Everyone talks trash about Iran and Balochistan, I think people just hear stories and get scared, I want to go check it out for myself.”

Iran is the only place Moin actually made an effort to get a visa for. He took a detour and flew to DC from New York in the first leg of his trip to go to the Iran embassy.

“I know it’s going to be very hard to get into Iran.” But Moin is excited about trying. I asked him if he was worried about travelling through the Iran-Balochistan border.

“Nothing is decided before hand in my life, and so nothing is decided before hand on
ADifferentAgenda either. I’ll cross Iran and go to the Baluchistan border, if they let me, I’ll ride through Balochistan but if not, then I’ll figure something out there.”

Moin says he never really saw much of Pakistan, besides Lahore. “Just an occasional trip to Islamabad and Murree from Lahore. And once on the train to Karachi.” So he is ‘stoked,’ about riding his bike through the country.

He showed me his helmet on skype. The asphalt marks ran deep. “If I didn’t have this on I would for sure be dead.”

“Whenever you crash it’s hard to get back on the bike, because that whole feeling comes back. But I’m really excited and cannot wait to hit the road again.”

After his crash, which from the pictures seems pretty horrific, his doctor told him to rest for two months.

“I have been breaking bones my whole life. And I know doctors tend to be extra-cautious,” said Moin.

“So I think I should be back on the road by the 20th of November.” He hopes to reach home by December 20th.

I asked him about the kind of a reception he was expecting on his arrival in Lahore.

“It will be awesome if some biker fans from Lahore can join me from Thokar (Niaz Baig) to my house in Cantt. There we can talk for some time,” said a rather excited Moin.

“Then everyone can go home and I can go inside with my mom parathas waiting for me, that’s really what I am looking for.”

Sahar Habib Ghazi interviewed Moin Khan and wrote this piece for Hosh media, an organization that aims to put youth voices on to the mainstream media in Pakistan. She hopes you will start following Moin Khan’s epic journey on “ADifferentAgenda”

This summer I met some fascinating ladies in Karachi. They belonged to an NGO called ‘Connect‘ which had come together in reaction to the 2010 floods that hit Sindh. Dr Talat Pasha, the brains behind the operation, had enlisted a few friends to help her set up mobile medical camps in the affected areas in July of 2010. After a few months of running between Karachi and interior Sindh, they soon realized they needed to cement their efforts. Some of the villages they visited were completely cut off, they had no paved roads and electricity before the floods. The devastation from the raging waters had swept their homes away too, they were clearly going to be set back even further.

So the ladies, most of whom are working women–executives, doctors, and entrepreneurs–between the ages of 40 and 60 decided to pool their efforts and resources to adopt 6 villages around Sujawal, to rebuild their homes, invest in a school, set up water pumps and light their lives for the first time with solar energy. Below is a video I made of their visit to Mohammad Urs, one of the villages they adopted in District Thatta for Hosh media and dawn.com

On a side note, I had never been so deep into Sindh, the furthest I had been was Hyderabad. So the journey itself, was a treat. The ladies were gracious hosts, inspiring and truly entertaining. I met Dr Talat Pasha a day before they planned to take their bi-monthly trip to their adopted villages. They were leaving the following day, a Monday at 5 am, so I had little time to get together video and audio equipment. I tried, but unfortunately it being a Sunday and Karachi’s ‘halaat’ being atrocious at that time, I couldn’t even manage to swing by and borrow a friend’s equipment. (So I shot the whole piece without a tripod or external audio equipment on a flip camera and a camcorder. Both are hi-def, so the quality wasn’t bad.) Coming back to the ‘halaat’ just three days before I had done a piece on Karachi violence for the NYT.
So I knew how bad things were, but nothing stopped these ladies from their mission. Dr Pasha said they had to make this trip, because Ramzan was coming up and it would be difficult to frequent the area then. So the Connect team arrived promptly to pick me up at 5 am in their coaster. Their punctuality, was the first thing that impressed me. The next was their high spirits that early in the morning. I entered a coaster full of laughing women. Through out the journey, they were chatting about politics, cracking jokes, making fun of each other, and just having a plain good time. As a precaution, as I often do when I travel to far-flung areas, I had taken my wedding rings and earrings off. I was surprised to see most of the ladies had their jewellery on. They weren’t even traveling with a gunman, but they said they had in the past, when the floods first hit and they were transporting large amounts of relief goods. This time they took the longer, but safer route leaving the city, but no one seemed to be worried about getting caught up in the bitter bloodshed taking place in Karachi. In fact, as soon as the last few were picked up–Mr Haider, a gentlemen who was helping them set up the solar energy units and a photographer–one of the ladies pulled out packed snacks for everyone.

After another hour so, another lady pulled out breakfast boxes. Steaming hot cups of tea followed. The Connect ladies had their logistics down. Once we got to the village, it was all business though. Mr Haider, the solar energy guy, went straight to check on the solar units, and some of the other ladies started distributing lunch to the students in the school. Dr Talat started pouring over accounts and paperwork from the school, while Shahida, the general-secretary set up a make-shift medical stall, to screen patients for Dr Talat. I was pretty much on my own hoping from one jhompri (hut) to the next, relying on the few men who speak Urdu in the village to fill in as interpreter when I spoke to the men and women in the village. I met a lot of pregnant women on their 4th or 5th child. Often times I was told that they were between 25-28 years old. When I told one family that I was 29, they didn’t believe me, honestly because I did look a lot younger than the women who had been popping out babies since their teens and living under the beating sun of Sindh. When I told one family, that I had been married for four years but have chosen to wait to start a family until my husband and I could afford to have a good life with children, the reply was “be patient, God will bless you soon, we will pray for you.” But after a few households of seeing those malnourished pregnant women, with toddlers and babies swarming around, I started to get preachy again. One soosur (father-in-law), who was staying back from the fields to watch over his three pregnant daughter-in-laws said, I was completely right, and that they were in this state because none of his daughter-in-laws had gone to school. But he said his female granddaughters were going to the school that Connect had rebuilt, so their was hope for his future generations. I didn’t like him putting the whole blame on his daughter-in-laws and I don’t know if he said, what he said, because he thought that was what I wanted to hear. But every time I do go into rural areas of Pakistan, it is stark reminder of what I believe to be Pakistan’s ‘biggest” problem, over-population. Yup, I said it, not terrorism, but over-population.
Other pictures I took at the village below.