2011 Knight Fellow Sahar Ghazi describes Hosh, her start-up that aims to creating a space in Pakistan’s mainstream media for young bloggers and online activists. Hosh, www.hoshmedia.org, hopes to give their voice more reach and impact in a country where Internet penetration is only 10 percent and two-thirds of the population is under 30.
After years and years of being neglected by the US and the world, Kashmir made it to the front page
the last few years, Pakistani masses have been watching and living a continuous marathon of violent films; and police officers have been pulled away from their primary duty of maintaining law and order & catching the bad guys, to primarily being security guards or the first line of defense in a suicide attack.
From her home in Brooklyn, NewYork, Natasha Jahangir reached-out to one of the world’s most famous actors, in a rather unusual way. She tweeted: “It’s so sad @TomCruise is ignoring his Pakistani fans. -Help raise awareness/donations for Pakistan. Please RT! #pkfloods.” By using Twitter’s @ or mention function, Jahangir ensured that her message would feature in a tab on Tom Cruise’s page.
Just like the earthquake in 2005, the army has been sent into the floods of Pakhtunkha to head rescue efforts. Why? Where are NDMA’s rescue workers? The federal government had put a hold on their Rs 300 mn budget for 2009-2010. They have been relying on donor money to carry out their training. Why didn’t our media catch it earlier? Why do we have to wait for a disaster to hold the powerful accountable
The truth is the ISI is doing what spy agencies do; their actions are no different from the CIA.
I’ve never been a Vegas fan. Masked by grand shows and stars, the artificial magnanimity of the strip coupled with the pick-your-guilty-pleasure from our round-the-clock menu of booze, gambling and prostitution, seemed like a one-stop-shop to sell your soul.
To me, it made sense that the remote-control toy-operators that have killed over 900 people on Pakistani soil, were running their secret war right outside that very shop, from a base in Nevada. Little did I know, that they are also locking-into and annihilating targets 30-minutes away from my home in Houston, Texas
Michael Hasting, you are my hero. Not for bringing down General McChrystal. Not for shaking things up in the White House. But for doing your job
Their politicians give them nothing but heart ache. Their mullahs nothing but hate. Who are Pakistanis supposed to turn to?
I was deeply upset and enraged. I was mad at Zia-ul-Haq for selling his soul and pulling out the red carpet for all wannabe Jihadis. I was mad at all of Pakistan’s successive governments for turning a blind eye as their country became a fertile ground for breeding terrorism in the name of Islam. And I was mad at all those Pakistanis who are in denial of these facts, who think the problem is external and do nothing about it. But most of all I was mad at Bhutto for wrongly declaring Ahmadis non-Muslims in
A few friends and readers believe the contest was not an exercise in freedom of speech but just an excuse to insult Islam. And from what I understand through sources, most of the drawings that have resulted for the contest are indeed nothing more than demeaning and insulting to Islam and the Prophet. And for that I am deeply upset, hurt and sad
Well i would like to although i am not actually a journalist by education or by profession. Saw ur vid on youtube n then traced it back to ur blog. And yes u shud come back as despite all the foreign remittances inflowing forming the major part of our financial budget, brain drainage is indeed one of the greatest challanges of our society. We really need a more combined and a concentrated effort to educate the under privileged children.
Well for a student living in United States, its very easy to say that through internet these children can be given the position in society they deserve. But the fact that lack of penetration of internet is due to the same social reasons due to which they are force to work 12 hours a day, it is a pretty much difficult task considering no at ground presence of people like you.
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Jahanzeb, thank you for your comments. I am heading back to Pakistan and to tell you the truth there are lots of young people in Pakistan who are trying to make a difference on the ground. All you have to do is visit one of our media newsrooms, where people as young as you are trying to voice the voiceless.