The extremely sad assassination of Salman Taseer has shocked Pakistanis throughout the world and is a shrewd reminder of how Pakistan’s state of affairs have reached a point that not a day goes by without a disturbing news. Living outside of Pakistan, I am trying as quickly as possible to hover all the details, and reactions about the tragic death of a well-renowned governor of the country. There are articles over the net discussing groups that hold the assassin as a hero and others condemning the vileness that is attached with any murder. The incident is a sombre reminder of where Pakistan is coming from, and the direction in which things are leading. For me, it is an episode of bafflement, a reminder that things in the country are no longer wrong or right, they are chaotic and we have ended up in this in a complicated trail of events because of our own short-sightedness and lack of sensitivity. There are speculations on whether the murderer acted under the instructions of a bigge
Monday morning, last day of bank holiday weekend, and I was sleeping in late when a message from a friend in Egypt woke me up - "Osama bin Laden is dead" it read. Being my mother's daughter, any such news on TV and my first reaction is to run to the TV and staye glued to it for the next several hours, if not the next few days, flicking between news channels and hearing every political analysis possible. My first reaction? I thought Osama bin Laden died a few years ago! The next slightly saner reaction? Pakistan is screwed now! But the more and more I think about it, the conspiracy theorist within me continues to stare back at me saying "The war on terrorism is so not over...it might just be the beginning!" Victory is like an opium you get addicted to. The death of bin Laden is a symbolic victory as many are calling it, but it is a huge symbolic victory which makes his enemies feel more addicted to winning, and definitely invokes a stronger self-belief in th
A view of Cairo from the Citadel in Islamic Cairo AUC's old campus in Tahrir Square (downtown) AUC's new campus in New Cairo (both top and bottom pics) I meant to be more consistent with my posts (reporting from Cairo), but I'm lacking a bit in time management skills. Well, attending the American University in Cairo (AUC) has been a completely different, and at times opposite, experience from simply living in Cairo. It's as if they are completely different worlds. AUC has a reputation in the Middle East of being the best university in all of Egypt. And being the best comes with being the most expensive as well. Other reputable universities are Cairo University and Ein Shams University. Al Azhar University was once highly regarded as well, but today it's only considered to be good for learning Arabic. Among these universities and throughout the country, Egyptians know that AUC's student population mostly consists of students from the elite class. Many of them are
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