Slackistan follows the lives of a group of well-off 20-something friends in the capital, Islamabad. They have been to the best schools but have yet to make something of themselves. Not an unusual dilemma for 20-somethings the world over. But in a country like Pakistan what makes this significant, and worrying, is that it is a privilege to be given the opportunity to get a quality education that will allow you to do something. Yet it is precisely that opportunity that has resulted in some of them being so privileged they feel they can afford to do nothing.

Everyday, the cocky but charming Sherry pulls up in his dad’s large Mercedes, with the ever perky Saad in the backseat, picking up Hasan and going through their routine of shisha cafes, house parties, high school stake-outs and lots of driving around town. Sherry is secretly borrowing cash from local rich loser Mani, who is trying to buy his way into Sherry’s social circle and contacts.

So why so much fuss over a bunch of slackers? For anyone who was a high school kid circulating in the upper echelons of Pakistani society in the 1990s or today there is nothing the movie depicted that would tell you anything you didn’t already know. You would have met or gone to school with characters like those depicted in the movie; or you were one of those characters. Except urban centres in Pakistan in the 1990s were not what they are now. And the Taliban were over the border, not in the cities, or constantly on your television screen. There are a few more options for the privileged youth of today than ‘your house, my house’, ‘my car, your car’, Snoopy’s (think Ben n’ Jerry’s with a lot less variety of flavours) or Mr Burger (think super spicy McDonald’s hamburger).

The following is from the press release that describes the reasons for the ban:

“The CBFC have demanded that the filmmaker remove all dialogue references in the film to the Taliban and Osama Bin Laden, as well as any mention of Islamic beards and related religious attire.”

The director’s response:

“Maybe the establishment’s view is that young Pakistanis saying words like ‘Taliban’ and ‘Lesbian’ represent a more potent threat than the bullets and bombs that are, day by day, finding increasing legitimacy in the country. Apart from being an undemocratic restriction on the filmmaker’s right of expression, the verdict shows the disdain with which the authorities regard local film culture and liberal ideas, in the face of growing extremism and intolerance.”

The sense of frustration that certain characters, particularly the male and female leads, exude is palatable across the country today. However, the protagonist in the film does eventually muster the courage to follow his dream as a film maker. So even for a slacker, there is a sliver of hope amidst the uncertainty.

While it is only a snapshot of a minuscule portion of the Pakistani populace, the film’s audience lies both inside and outside the country. Slackistan has already had successful screenings at festivals in London, Abu Dhabi, New York, San Francisco and Goa.

Yet the movie can only illicit a reaction if it is actually screened in Pakistan and Pakistanis from all types of backgrounds get the opportunity to see the film. While Hollywood and Bollywood movies flood the country both legally and illegally, movies about Pakistanis and made by Pakistanis are being banned.

According to the Motion Pictures Ordinance 1979, “A film shall not be certified for public exhibition; if, in the opinion of the Board, the film or any part thereof is prejudicial to the glory of Islam or the integrity, security or defence of Pakistan or any part thereof, friendly relations with foreign States, public order, decency or morality or amounts to the commission of, or incitement to, an offence.”

Here’s where the line between Slackistan and Hypocristan blurs. Idleness in Pakistan can indeed be a threat. It appears idleness breeds slackers within the elites and idleness fosters desperation in the poor under both ‘democratic’ and military rule. While the film doesn’t consciously delve into politics, it does underscore how futile it is to try and completely dismember politics from everyday life in Pakistan. I have little doubt this film will be seen, someway, somehow, from Karachi to Lahore and Islamabad to Peshawar.

In the same month, in the same city that the former Punjab Governor, Salmaan Taseer, was murdered for his comments on Pakistan’s blasphemy laws and thousands took to the streets to support his murderer, a movie like Slackistan is banned, and Islamabad hosts its first fashion week.

Welcome to Hypocristan.

See trailer.

The views expressed by the author are personal.

The post Pakistani Slacker Film Banned appeared first on The Faster Times.

The bomb blast in Karachi on Thursday was the latest in a series in the city that have attacked sufi shrines, and Shiite processions. It struck in the heart of the metropolis’s commercial centre, also marked off as a high security zone because of the five star hotels and embassies in the area. As the city sweeps up the glass that shattered in homes, shops and offices miles from the Criminal Investigation Department that was destroyed killing 17 and injuring hundreds more, Pakistan continues to struggle with problems created by the ongoing battle against militants which left millions of internally displaced people, a number which has multiplied after the floods that ravaged the length and breadth of the country in the summer.

Yet, civil society continues to help in any which way it can. DawnRelief, officially known as the Dawn Relief Earthquake Welfare Organisation, is a non-political, non-sectarian, voluntary social welfare organisation established in October 2005 by The Dawn Media Group.

PHOTO ENCOUNTER PAKISTAN is an initiative aimed at raising funds for Pakistan’s flood affected people and will feature over 300 photographs by Pakistan’s top photographers including Arif Ali, Umair Ghani, Tapu Javeri, Pervaiz A. Khan, Arif Mahmood, Mahmood Qureshi and Ayesha Vellani. The exhibition will take place in several cities throughout the United Kingdom, from the end of November to early December 2010.

Here’s a selection of some of the photographs that are due to go on display:

Boy scouts and girl guides outside Mohammad Ali Jinnah’s (Pakistan’s founder) mausoleum in Karachi on August 14 (Independence Day). Photo by Dawn

These tent peggers with lances aloft ride away after a day in the arena. Tent pegging is a popular equestrian sport in Pakistan. A rider, carrying a lance or sword, attempts to pull out a peg screwed into the ground. He wins four points if he is able to carry the peg for a distance of three metres. If the peg drops before, he only wins points. If he is unable to pull the peg, he is dropped from the game. Photo by Dawn.

Shah Abdul Latif Bhittai’s Shrine, Bhit Shah, Sindh. Elaborate kashi tiles in shades of blue decorate the surfaces of Shah Abdul Latif Bhittai’s shrine, which is built in typical Sindhi style with limestone domes, minarets, tile and mirror work. Photo by Dawn.

A local man throws a net into the glistening waters of the Chitral River, which is well known for trout fishing.

Photo by Dawn

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Number of people affected: 20 million and counting (or one in nine Pakistanis)

There are no words. The United Nations announced that this catastrophe has affected more people than the Asian Tsunami of 2004, the south asian earthquake in 2005 and the earthquake in Haiti combined.

From the peaks of the Himalayas to the Arabian Sea, the floods waters show no mercy. But in the midst of this both ordinary Pakistani citizens and ordinary people around the world have shown great generosity. The British public alone have donated

The post The Worst Floods in a Century Wreak Death and Destruction Across Pakistan appeared first on The Faster Times.

As more information comes to light in the wake of the ill-fated Air Blue flight’s black box having been found, the 152 victims’ family grieve; the newly joined families of a couple on their honeymoon; the proud brother of a young man returning home from a job interview; and the colleagues of a group of young parliamentarians who represented the best of Pakistan’s next generation. What went wrong? Once the investigation is underway we’ll know more, until then it could have been one or a combination of the following: bad weather, human error and/or a technical fault.

The anguish of the families was intensified by what has been seen in Pakistan as ‘irresponsible’ coverage by many media outlets that were spewing out information without any verification or caveats. This caused much confusion for relatives in the minutes and hours that followed the tragedy and there has been widespread criticism over how certain Pakistani media outlets covered the event and the lack of information from official channels. There has subsequently been a call for more guidelines over coverage of these kinds of accidents.

Below are comments from Dawn’s blog & editorial

Airblue’s crash on July 28 was tragedy enough but the stream of unchecked information and unguarded comments over television channels made it worse, especially for the families of the 152 victims. Desperate relatives rushed to hospitals after learning from the channels that some passengers of the ill-fated Flight ED-202 had survived and were being brought to hospitals. They vacillated between hope and despair there for hours and returned home more distressed as none had.

…the scenes of out-of-breath reporters gloating they were the ‘first’ to report from the site of the crash were also unnecessary. As were the camera shots that zoomed in on body bags swollen with the remains of the passengers. The microphones thrust in the faces of numb family members was a master-class in ghoulish voyeurism. Yet, it went beyond just the tasteless. The early reports that there were survivors were irresponsible and possibly failed the basic test of ethical journalism. (Only an investigation will determine the facts, but there is some suspicion that some channels pre-empted the interior minister’s announcement of ‘survivors’.)

In a time of tragedy, there are always opportunists, and much like the earthquake in 2005 in the northern areas of Pakistan, there were people (reportedly some volunteers at the crash site) who out of greed or desperation stole human body parts for jewellery as well as mobile phones.

The monsoon, which is often greatly desired to cool the scorching plains of Pakistan in the summer, has also caused flash floods which have claimed the lives of over 800 people and affected 400,000 more in three of the four provinces in Pakistan.

One can only hope that the lethal monsoon has wreaked all the damage it can.

Photo by Dawn

The post Pakistan’s Lethal Monsoon appeared first on The Faster Times.

“A degree is a degree! Whether fake or genuine, it’s a degree! It makes no difference!” Baluchistan province chief minister Nawab Aslam Raisani, who claims a master’s in political science, shouted at a gaggle of reporters.

The education system in Pakistan is in shambles. Just over half the population is literate, and there are no signs of politicians taking the situation as seriously as they should either for themselves or their constituents. Yet, they have time and time again been asked to provide evidence that they are university graduates.

The controversy has its roots in a 2002 law imposed by former military ruler Pervez Musharraf that required candidates for office hold a bachelor’s degree or equivalent. Musharraf supposedly wanted to improve the calibre of lawmakers, but critics said the move was more about sidelining certain opponents. Unsurprisingly, in order to get elected politicians have been able to produce certificates that have later been deemed fake. Countries across the world have severe penalties for holding bogus degrees; yet in Pakistan there are no improved systems to keep this in check. The Higher Education Commission recently confirmed that the degrees of 46 members of parliament and the provincial assembly are fake.

Traditionally, feudal ties or business success are said to count for more in politics in Pakistan than academic achievement. The unfortunate fact is that fewer than 5% of Pakistanis are enrolled in higher education and the government spends just 2% of GDP on education. While there may be those who contend that what matters most in Pakistan are ‘contacts’ and ‘family networks’, both are transient and reinforces widespread nepotism.

In the government’s latest budget, 32% of spending will be on servicing debt and 16% on defense expenditure. Given education is such a prized commodity in Pakistan by those who are fortunate enough to receive it at any level, there needs to be a focused and steady investment into the education system at all levels, but particularly at the primary and secondary level. The politicians today are not going to be going back (or for the first time) to school any time soon. It’s time we focus on the lives that can be improved by knowing the alphabet.

The views expressed by the author are personal.

The post Pakistan’s Fake Degree Scandal appeared first on The Faster Times.

So for the headline below to appear on a Washington DC commuter paper leaves us wondering: what does it mean to be ‘made in Pakistan’? More poignantly, in light of what happened in Times Square what does it mean to be made in Pakistan and moulded in America?

As one popular Pakistani blog site CHUP states:

Faisal Shahzad may be a Pakistani-American, but he was not only “Made in Pakistan.” Yes, Pakistan is plagued with a vast number of issues. We have an undeniable terror problem. But the right solution in this case is to have both countries – the U.S. and Pakistan – look inward at their own societies and take responsibility for the issues at hand

The Pakistani Taliban has reportedly denied training Faisal Shahzad while government officials state there are links between the 30 year old and militant training networks.

Whether this is a ‘one-off, lone-wolf’ as initially suggested, or a more sinister link to a wider network, it is fundamentally disturbing for the social fabric of Pakistan and America. When there is a terrorist attack, attempted or successful, particularly in Europe or the US, most Pakistanis living abroad and in Pakistan just sit and hope that there is no link to Pakistan.

Yet time and time again there is. In the same week that Pakistan was in the headlines first for a terrorist who tried to blow up a bomb in Times Square it is also in the headlines for a terrorist who succeeded in murdering dozens of innocent men, women and children in Mumbai and today convicted of ‘waging war against India’ and sentenced to death.

Frankly, the first thought that ran through my mind was: ‘not again’. I imagine it did for many New Yorkers too.

Photo by Expressnightout.com

The views expressed by the author are personal.

The post Faisal Shahzad: Made in Pakistan? appeared first on The Faster Times.

It says ‘Karachi is ours, not yours’. Karachi is a cosmopolitan megacity of over 15 million people. For any one group to claim it is absurd. This group claims to be a ‘committee to save Karachi’. No one seems to know who is behind these graffiti messages that are plastering themselves to walls across the city.

This city is hardly unfamiliar with sectarian violence and ethnic tension. So is this a message from Karachiites to the militants? Or the militants against Karachiites? Does it even have anything to do with the militants? Is it just plain and simple vandalism, or as it’s referred to locally: chalking. Who the ‘we’ is has yet to be discovered. Below are a few suggestions from the original feature on Dawn’s Blog:

“Has anyone thought about who these people are targeting? there are people talking about Karachi belonging to all of Pakistan. But we might be missing the point here, whoever wrote this message may have been referring to the terrorist and militant activity which has taken place in the city over the past few years.”

“Graffiti rarely delights the visual barometer but we are living in a time of ‘urban warfare’ where the ‘land mafia’ is a potent force changing rapidly this city’s landscape. The graffiti is deliberately in your (or our) face as all graffiti is meant to be. Cast your minds’ eye back to the state of US cities in the 1970s and 1980s. The symptoms of their malaise were different but the frustrations of the ordinary citizens were inscribed on the walls of neighborhoods everywhere from NYC to LA. How does the ordinary citizen express his/her voice? The media doesn’t care because urban warfare is not a hot topic. We will continue to see more graffiti like this everywhere because it is a ‘SIGN’ of our current urban condition.”

“I think this is a signal for all those, who are spoiling our society not only of Karachi, but the Whole Pakistan. It would be far better to write like ” Pakistan is ours ,Not yours”. Any how, it’s good to maintain a peace in respective locality first. I think, this is political games, they(our leaders) are doing so, so that the mob will not demand from them. Besides, I think, no Pakistani can behave like this, But the question arises, Who are them? It’s the responsibility of our Govt to highlight them.”

See here for further comments.

Photo by Dawn

The views expressed by the author are personal.

The post Postcard from Pakistan: This Land is My Land Not Your Land appeared first on The Faster Times.

The amendment takes away the president’s powers to dismiss the parliament and shifts to the prime minister the authority to appoint the chiefs of the three military services. Those powers were acquired by Mr. Musharraf to strengthen his hold on power.

“This is an historic day,” Law Minister Babar Awan told dignitaries gathered at the presidential offices.

“For the first time in the history of this country, a democratically elected president has voluntarily given up his power back to the parliament of this country,” he said.

“It is my hope that the doors of dictatorship are closed forever,” Zardari said after signing the 18th amendment to Pakistan’s 1973 parliamentary constitution.

The bill also abolishes a clause barring the election of a prime minister for more than two terms. This would allow the popular Sharif, who was toppled by Musharraf in 1999, to become prime minister again. And what a misuse of the amendment that would be. Sharif who has been prime minister twice and failed to serve a full term is far from the kind of new leadership Pakistan so desperately needs.

The amendments will effectively make Zardari a titular head of state who can only formally appoint heads of the armed forces, dissolve the national assembly and appoint provincial governors on the advice of the prime minister. As part of the reform package, North West Frontier Province (NWFP) has officially been renamed Khyber Pakhtunkhwa as part of the reforms (more on that in another post).

Yet in the same day as this apparent ‘victory’ for democracy, Pakistan is once again rocked by suicide attacks. The fact is that while this may be a small step towards reeling back the draconian rule of previous military rulers it makes little or no difference to the majority of Pakistanis. Security remains an issue but not just in the context of terrorist attacks. Food, water and energy security is what most Pakistanis would like their government to be able to provide for them. And few governments military or ‘democratic’ have ever given Pakistanis ‘roti, kapra, ghar’ (food, clothes, house). Before a government can expect its people to ‘rejoice’ in the democratic process it has to provide them with security first.

Photo

The views expressed by the author are personal.

The post Democracy without Security? Pakistan’s Return to Parliamentary Democracy appeared first on The Faster Times.

“Good morning, ma’am”, said the very apologetic voice, “so sorry to bother you but the police are here and they need to speak to you”.

I begrudgingly opened my eyes to look around my hotel room and remembered the city I had woken up in. So in my best ‘I wasn’t asleep at 11 am’ voice I said “could you please ring room 212 they will take care of it’.

“Sure ma’am, no problem. So sorry to disturb you.”

I was lying in bed at the Taj President hotel in Bombay (or Mumbai if you prefer) two weeks after the terror attacks in November 2008. The occasion: a family wedding–it is South Asia after all, the wedding must go on. I had just told the very polite duty manager to call my parents room as all our passports were together and my father would have to sit with a few Indian policemen whose task it is to check that every Pakistani national who enters India is who they are and are staying at the address they gave on their immigration form.

If I hadn’t been fortunate enough to have been issued a non-police reporting visa I would have had to have gone down to the police station atleast twice during my five day trip. Having seen my home city of Karachi reel from dozens of terrorist attacks, I was curious to see what the atmosphere would be like in Bombay. Visiting a city in the days after a horrific terrorist attack teaches you a great deal about that city and its inhabitants; the good, the bad and the political opportunists all rise to the surface and battle it out before any dust has settled. Apart from the hysteria on the television channels (I hadn’t realised India and Pakistan were close to war again until I landed in the subcontinent) the city was, as expected, getting on with things. The new wing of the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel opened its doors again the day after I arrived as a symbol of the city’s resilience. I expected nothing less.

It is odd to think that with all this global communication there is still an element of mystery as to how and what people over the border think. I gather there is probably less curiosity about India in Pakistan but you can never evade talking politics when Pakistanis and Indians meet. And you generally avoid talking cricket.

India-Pakistan relations suffered a major set back in the wake of the terror attack in Bombay. For ordinary Pakistanis the most practical gauge of relations is answered by the following: ‘how difficult is it to get a visa’? Most of the traffic is Pakistanis wanting to visit India, not so much the other way around. In 2007 there were roughly 1 million Pakistani tourists visiting India. After the terror attacks, not only has the Indian government made it more difficult for applicants from Pakistan to apply but even the US, UK and other countries. Pakistan in turn makes it difficult for Indians to apply for visas as well. Better known as tit-for-tat engagment.

As talks between the Foreign Ministers took place in Delhi in February it was no surprise that there were no substantial outcomes. This was the primer meeting before potential talks at the level of heads of state, possibly in April at the sidelines of the UN conference on nuclear security. While no one would downplay the importance of India and Pakistan engaging at the negotiating table again, the outlook for future talks which would address key issues of terrorism, territory, Kashmir and water is limited. While India still reprimands Pakistan for not doing enough to counter terrorism in Kashmir and elsewhere in India, Pakistan holds India accountable for insurgent activity in Baluchistan. Moreover, since the attacks in Bombay, Afghanistan has been brought into focus as another area of contention between the two countries.

India and Pakistan have fought four wars and held dozens of talks since parition in 1947. As India assumes a more prominent role on the world stage it will only reinforce its stance of dealing with the conflict bi-laterally. Yet, after over 60 years of on and off bi-lateral dialogue there has been limited progress made in their relations, let alone them being really close to solving the pivotal issue of Kashmir (although Musharraf has stated they had come close when he was in power). While the US has reiterated it will not mediate between the two countries (at India’s behest, Pakistan has frequently asked for mediation), it begs the question of whether the countries really can sort things out bi-laterally and have ‘composite dialogue’?

The stability of the region is of paramount importance not just to India and Pakistan but the global community. But there is also substantial money to be made via increased trade links and perhaps most importantly (if superficially), there is joy to be had in being able to go to Bombay for the weekend from Karachi instead of dusty, colourless Dubai; the possibilities in peace would be endless.

Photo of Taj Mahal Palace

The views expressed by the author are personal.

Photo of Indian and Pakistani Foreign Ministers by Dawn

The post India and Pakistan: the Engagement Must Go On appeared first on The Faster Times.

Daniyal Mueenuddin’s collection of short stories, In Other Rooms Other Wonders, is a maginificant encapsulation of the diversity of Pakistani life. Very simply, I read a lot about Pakistan in a historical or political context or Pakistanis in disapora, and now we have a beautifully written novel about Pakistanis from the mud-walled huts of the Punjab to the apartments of Paris. If you want to understand Pakistan in a truly nuanced way beyond op-eds read this novel, if you haven’t already.

Here’s a snippet of reviews:

NYT: Reading Daniyal Mueenuddin’s mesmerizing first collection, “In Other Rooms, Other Wonders,” is like watching a game of blackjack, the shrewd players calculating their way beyond their dealt cards in an attempt to beat the dealer. Some bust, others surrender. But in Mueenuddin’s world, no one wins.

The Telegraph: The writing here has a clarifying beauty: two labourers climb on a pile of wheat, “their bare feet digging into the hot grain, sinking to their knees”; a middle-class woman has a laugh that “while it did not seem entirely genuine, by its musicality caused the hearer to join her in a heightened response”. This is a marvellous collection.

The Wall Street Journal: Much as Isaac Bashevis Singer recreated the lost Jewish shtetl in many of his short stories, Mr. Mueenuddin unveils a nuanced world where social status and expectations are understood without being stated, and where poverty and the desire to advance frame each critical choice.

The views expressed by the author are personal.

The post Must-read Pakistani Novel appeared first on The Faster Times.