Kosova is finally independent
The ultimate frustration of not being able to vote, sitting miles away from home, was somewhat compensated by the moving images of the Kosovo's declaration of independence.
I have lived and worked in Kosovo for a couple years - and it was a delightful experience despite the after effects of war and tragedies. Independence from Serbia is something that runs through the Kosovar collective consciousness and defines the large, attainable dream.
Shaheen Sultan Dhanji’s art
Bordering between abstract and socio-political, Shaheen Sultan Dhanji's photography, painting and writings are at once striking to readership. Her art transforms the humble into amazing objects of desire.
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 Sultan's large scale of black and white photographs are at once contemporary, mingled with socio-political messages. Themes of war, poverty, women and sanitation, globalisation and various pressing subjects are provocatively captured on film. She has had some of her works exhibited in Ottawa and Toronto Canada.Â
Luminous yet subtle abstract and figurative paintings reveal a fusion cultural influences, and experiences endured in Sultan's journey in assmililating between life in Africa and North America.Â
Her art punctuates and pierces a wave of questions of human dignity, colossal loss of wars, life of a courtesan and major other social themes. Sultan is senstive to light and colour. Her work can be calssified with using strong oil base, and lots of blues, yellows, red and burnt orange.
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Apart from visual art, Sultan is a writer for several newspaper. Her subjects include politics, literature, poetry and eastern philosophy. She does not shy away in dialoguing concerns facing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, not to mention the genocides in Congo. A constant worker, Sultan is convinced that tenacity and perserverance are the deepest, firmest pillars to create the enigma out there.
JR is grateful that Dhanji has shared the images of her two recent paintings that are shown above. The write up has been adapted from a review of her works.
Pakistan diaspora and the politics of the Hijab
The suggestion of violent disputes between a 16-year-old girl in Mississauga and her father over her desire to show her hair and live a "normal" lifestyle raises questions about tensions between parents and children in the Muslim community...But members of the community particularly young Muslim women say the tension can exist both ways.
...research into the readership of her publication shows that the decision to wear the hijab, the traditional Muslim headscarf is almost always a choice the girl makes on her own.
Text from here
Complex, sordid and tragic. And, I wonder what would the head honcho of Al-Huda (these days based in Canada) has to say on the sad story of a girl who died at 16? What is this obsession with the Hijab when you live in a non-Islamic country. There is no consensus on this within Islamic jurisprudence. As my friend Asma (who sent this story) said: "Is this more important than hayya - the inner modesty; and the ability to discern the right from the wrong?"
Hillary’s Mystery Woman – Huma Abedin
I am grateful to Nabeela Apa - our dear friend - for sending the link to this story published in the New York Observer. Apparently, Huma Abedin is an energetic and trusted associate of Hillary Clinton. She is media shy and works in the background to manage the campaign of the Presidential candidate. This is what the NY Observer had to say: Read it here >>
Two striking poems by Alvi
 It is a pleasure to have read Pervaiz Munir Alvi's poetry. ...For now I have selected two poems - personal and profound - for this post. The first echoes what many Pakistanis (or any other diaspora for that matter) observe on their visits to the homeland.....
Read the full post here
Mohsin Hamid on Indo-Pak perceptions
Hamid thinks that India is more jingoistic than Pakistan. There were some interesting moments in the interview as the quote below indicates. Full entry here >>
Bridging the Divide – “Ham’Asar Urdu” from Denmark
We remember the Danish Cartoons controversy and the reaction it evoked across the Muslim world. I was pleasantly surprised to find out about this amazing treasure of a website that also happens to be perhaps the first on-line Urdu journal of its kind.
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The journal is called Ham-Asr (contemporary) Urdu edited by Huma Nasar & Nasar Malik. In its introduction the website states:Â
"URDUHAMASR.DK , is an internet magazine of studies in URDU & DANISH literature, is aimed at URDU-readers who are not familiar with Danish language but would like to read its literature. URDUHAMASR.DK provides them large varieties of Danish literature translated into URDU. "
 "URDUHAMASR.DK is also intended for those who, prefer to retain their link with their heritage language URDU. Urdu is a beautiful language of the Indo-Pakistan Sub-continent, and its literature is rich and vast, comparable to those of the few better known modern languages of the World . On the other hand the study of the Danish literature translated into Urdu can in itself be a rewarding act, regardless of the reader's orientation. Like Urdu, Danish is not only a language, it is a culture."
The website has several Danish short stories and poems translated into Urdu. In particular, the  Danish writer Hans Christian Andersen (1805 - 1875) famous for children's stories finds a special place here.
This is a remarkable effort and deserves to be commended. This also proves that not all of [Pakistani] Muslim diaspora is an inward looking, gun-friendly community out to 'destroy' the West as Fox news would make us all believe.
Literature, with universal relevance and appeal, has an important role in bridging divides in the fractured world we live in.
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Posts Archive
Raza Rumi @ flickr
- Asim Butt's mural for T2F, Karachi
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- Asim's friends will always miss him
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- In attendance -
- The tribute to Asim Butt
- Asim's picture published by GT
- Another mural for The Second Floor-Asim Butt
Pak Tea House
- Our dogmatic liberals
- Lord Chief Justice Of Lahore High Court Is At It Again!
- An Article On Tahira Mazhar Ali
- Precautionary Blood Measures
- Be Part of the Change
- Samina Khawar Hayat: 200 kilos of Reason Why The Pakistani Reservation System Is Flawed
- Let Pakistan Make Its Own Progress
- Roving Report – Ayub Khan Era
- Total National Backlash Against Shahbaz Sharif
- Understanding Islamic Revival In Its Proper Context
Development Industry
- Pakistan: 92 per cent of USAID projects go to US NGOs
- Learn from the UK. Open up data sources in South Asia
- Kiran Bir Sethi teaches kids to take charge
- State of research in Pakistan…
- Reforming Pakistan Civil Service
- Pakistan – Restructuring of PSEs
- Newinpk
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- Dissent as Democracy
- Pakistan 4th on regional list of adult illiterates
World music on NPR
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- Solas: America's Wild Irish Rose
- The Thistle And Shamrock: Fiddle Styles
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Pages
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- I will meet you yet again – Amrita Pritam
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- Peace to Beirut with all my heart… 2/3
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- Raza Rumi
- Revisiting Kabir – the Weaver, the Myth, the Master
- Sadequain 20 years later
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- Standing Alone in Mecca (book review)
- Surveys show that Pakistanis (and Muslims) reject “terrorism”
- Teray Ishq Nachaya – Bulleh Shah – full text
- The Lost Jewel – Rediscovering Hazrat Ali’s Letter
- The roar of Rumi – 800 years on
- The Sultan of Hearts – Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya
- This world without Dr. Schimmel… 2/3
- Tum bilkul hum jaisey nikley
- Ustad Bismillah Khan is no more
- Web resources on Qurrutalain Hyder
- Why I love Pakistan? Top 5 reasons
- Darwin and the grand unity of life
- Khusrau: The shadow of power
