Happy #Pakistan day! #log #Islamabad #photos #events (at Tehzeeb Bakers)
How India treats its women (by Soutik Biswas)
With more than 24,000 reported cases in 2011, rape registered a 9.2% rise over the previous year. More than half (54.7%) of the victims were aged between 18 and 30. Most disturbingly, according to police records, the offenders were known to their victims in more than 94% of the cases. Neighbours accounted for a third of the offenders, while parents and other relatives were also involved. Delhi accounted for over 17% of the total number of rape cases in the country.
And it is not rape alone. Police records from 2011 show kidnappings and abductions of women were up 19.4%, women being killed in disputes over dowry payments by 2.7%, torture by 5.4%, molestation by 5.8% and trafficking by an alarming 122% over the previous year. (Complete article)
To the most stylish man and founder of Pakistan, happy birthday!
He was a visionary and at that one who had the best taste in suits and shoes. I hope we Pakistanis can remain true to his words:
“You are free; you are free to go to your temples, you are free to go to your mosques or to any other place of worship in this State of Pakistan. You may belong to any religion or caste or creed - that has nothing to do with the business of the State…We are starting with this fundamental principle that we are all citizens and equal citizens of one State…I think we should keep that in front of us as our ideal and you will find that in due course Hindus would cease to be Hindus and Muslims would cease to be Muslims, not in the religious sense, because that is the personal faith of each individual, but in the political sense as citizens of the State.” (August 11, 1947 address of Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah, to the members of the Pakistan Constituent Assembly)
Some photos from the screening of T20 semi-finals between Pakistan and Sri Lanka at University.
Cricket is much more than a Sport in Pakistan.
Eid Mubarak, Şeker Bayramı and Hari Raya Aidilfitri to Muslims all around the world. We’d be celebrating Eid tomorrow in Pakistan but as a friend just said, Eid Greetings (+/- few days) to everyone!
Wish you and your family a wonderful time together, and may we can carry this feeling of sacrifice and compassion forward for next 11 months! amen.
*picture above is from Wazir Khan mosque, Lahore.
What Pakistan meant for my elders: three stories
On this 65th Independence day of Pakistan when everyone is in a jubilant mood, patriotic songs which many deemed paindo (villager-taste) are blaring out on every Radio and TV channel, while some armchair-Internet-pundits are discussing the relevance of Pakistaniat and Government is as usual busy doing everything but Nation-building. Makes me wonder how many of us still remember what Pakistan meant for our elders? Here are just three stories among countless others which personally touched me.
First story is of my Maternal Grandfather who until 1947 was a relatively successful businessman in Amritsar (now Indian Punjab). Being informed about political dynamics, he was smart enough to safely move all his family before time to the present Pakistan. Being one of the last to reach Pakistan amongst his family, he witnessed first hand how friendships were tested and how centuries of connection were lost in mere moments. (for rest of my article, click here)
Historic moment for China as Liu Yang, first female Yuhangyuan (astronaut) is launched into space. It is pretty interesting how US reservations on letting in China to the International Space mission (ISS) has led China to come out even better in this field and of course a lot cheaper.
(news: China launches space mission with first woman astronaut)
Got published in Asia Society blog: Some of my photographs from the Urs of Sufi Saint Ali Hajveri got published on Asia Society blog earlier today (Photos/Video: Desperately Seeking Spirituality in Lahore).
Am thankful to Nadia Rasul for finding them worthy enough for an inclusion. However for the kind of interest it has generated, I understand that it will not have many people pleased but that is what my opinion of the gathering was. You might consider me myopic in my approach here, but well that is my approach and as always I shall stick to it unless proven wrong. And of course as always when I am proven wrong I will admit it publicly.
Complete set can be found here.
edit: I will eventually start proofreading….in not so distant future!
Asfandyar Khan - About her
Shot at 968th death anniversary of Sufi Saint Abul Hassan Ali Hajvery (Data Gunj Baksh) 990-1077 in Lahore, Pakistan.
Artist: Asfandyar Khan (check/buy his music: asfandyarkhan.bandcamp.com)
Track: About her
Director: Usman Malik
Post-Production: tisvr Media Studios (tisvr.com)
Shot on Canon 7D with 50mm and 15-85mm lenses.
Photos from the event can be found here: flickr.com/photos/ujmi/sets/72157628980808247/
Ladies and gentlemen, finally I am ready to share my first music video with you. I know I could do things different, but it was a pretty spontaneous shoot. Looking forward to your comments and critique.
(Source: vimeo.com)
Shooting at Data’s Urs in Lahore with Aun after quite an interesting Exchange with the officials. (mobile)
PFDC L’Oréal Bridal Week 2011: Rouge Collection
From the PFDC L’Oréal Bridal Week 2011 (20/12/2011), Lahore. Couldn’t get the best angle thanks to incredible amount of bad guest management, shot these with Sony NEX-5D. You can see rest of the photos in the Flickr set.
*not my best work
Thousands of people took to the streets in Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Peshawar, Rawat, Gujjar Khan, Faisalabad and few other cities against not only the raise in Natural gas prices but also on announcement of limitations in availability to domestic and some commercial users to facilitate Industrial users. I was able to cover one of these near Islamabad for a news agency (NNI) and today two of them found their way into newspapers.
It is however sad that the newspapers had no basic courtesy to credit the photos properly, but that is also down to the weird Agency-Paper relationship or for that matter lack of one in Pakistan.
You can see the whole set with details here on my flickr page.
Overall an interesting first photojournalism experience, wouldn’t mind doing it again.
Director of “annay ghorray da dhaan” after the film screening at SAFMA answering questions. Based on a classic Punjabi novel. Will write more about it later. BTW at the moment audience is literally patronizing the director. (mobile)
Hope everyone from London is safe.
Latest in news: Croydon on fire, London riots: Violence erupts for third day (Croydon as a war zone) meanwhile trouble seem to be spreading towards Birmingham now, Windows smashed in Birmingham as youths gather (for video news clip). Conflicting profile of the guy is emerging whose death started it all, Mark Duggan: profile of Tottenham police shooting victim.
Will post more in case of a drastic change in events.
Meanwhile in USA, Obama seems to be trying to downplay the credit rating downgrade (Obama downplays rating agency’s ‘negative’ outlook on U.S. bonds). If you ask me Zawahri needs to die two days before election in a CIA raid to get Obama another term at office.
