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Showing posts from February, 2012

Being politically incorrect in Pakistan

I am one of those that does regularly enough watch the Morning shows on Geo TV and I must confess they do entertain me. Recently though, I understand it was to celebrate diversity and to show the hidden talents of Pakistan that Baluchis were invited as guests to the show. This was timely as there are talks recently in the political scene, whereby those speaking of an independent Baluchistan spoke more actively and opened a debate on media. Although excited about the show, what disturbed me was the language and its nuances throughout the show. They appeared extremely politically incorrect and furthering the stereotypes prevailing in our society about Makranis. I do have utmost respect for the guests in the show who despite such comments from the well-meaning host, handled themselves gracefully. Here's my blog post about this:  http://www.chowk.com/FizaPK/iLogs/tv/Being-politically-incorrect-in-Pakistan

Sports or politics? Lessons from two nations...

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More often than not, sports have shown to have a life and significance beyond the realm of  “sports”. Defined as a form of “physical activity” and mostly coupled with culture and media by world governments, sports is often seen as a form of  “entertainment” for its audience. The tragic events at Port Said earlier this month where the Al-Masry met Cairo’s Al-Ahly for a football match, was far from the description above when it turned into a debacle with 74 dead and many more injured. More sadly, it was yet another moments in history where politics killed innocent lives and the sport became the “murderer”. To me personally, the incident was a stark and painful reminder of the attacks on the Sri Lankan team in Pakistan and the Pakistani driver who lost his life. It is still unclear who was behind those attacks but it was extremely clear that this wasn’t sparked by hatred for the Sri Lankan, probably the only team after Pakistan that Pakistanis actually have a