Cue the curtain on Pakistani minorities

On 28 May 2010, two Ahmadi “places of worship” were attacked simultaneously during Friday prayers in Lahore. As the siege went on for hours, news channels across the board were strewn with live footage from the scene of attack. For the first time in Pakistani history, Ahmadi community, and the persecution they had faced since the time they were declared non-Muslim in 1974, started being discussed openly on television. Sane people watched the drama unfold amidst increasing horror. In the middle of all this mayhem, a friend at a news channel overheard a colleague begrudgingly say “its live television, so we can’t do anything about it. But we will make sure the issue dies by tomorrow.”

Weaponization of Pakistan

“Weaponisation” as a negative concept was something to which I was completely unfamiliar while growing up. Though I spent most of my childhood in Lahore, my rural, agricultural background meant arms had always been a regular presence in my life. I had learnt to fire, load/unload and clean them as a child. It was an unquestionable truth in my environment that guns were integral to our protection and our status. Though in hindsight, I find it ironic that I was taught to handle weapons but I was never allowed to own them because of my gender.

Changing narratives of animated films

A couple of weeks ago, a friend sent me the most awesome trailers of an animated movie I have seen to date. Kung Fu Panda 2 was set to release in a few days. After watching the trailers over and over again, I wistfully remarked, “don’t you wish Po was real?” The reply was a swift, matter-of-fact, “Yes. I believe that’s because there is a bit of Po in all of us.”