Urdu Articles & Columns

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Pakistani journalist and documentarian Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy’s latest venture Saving Face has won an Oscar award under the category‘Best Documentary, Short Subject’. In her acceptance speech, Chinoy dedicated the award to the women of Pakistan. “All the women in Pakistan working for change, don’t give up on your dreams, this is for you,” she said. ‘Saving Face’ chronicles the work of British Pakistani plastic surgeon Mohammad Jawad, who performed reconstructive surgery on survivors of acid attacks in Pakistan. The documentary, which is filmed across Islamabad, Rawalpindi and the small towns of Punjab, released in the US in November. It is due to release in the UK in March 2012, following which it will be released in Pakistan. “The women...

ISLAMABAD: The National Police Foundation (NPF), which was established for the welfare of police officials, has ended up scandalously allotting Islamabad land worth billions of rupees at throwaway prices to the ruling elite, including generals, bureaucrats, ambassadors, close relatives of top police officials and well-connected civilians. The loot sale of a facility created for the welfare of the poor cops has been going on in sectors E-11 and O-9 of Islamabad, which were purchased by the government-controlled NPF on nominal prices for the benefit of all police forces in the country. Now it turns out that the privileged ones have gobbled up everything, generously. Such has been the largesse of the NPF that some were allotted two and...

Lahore: The son of Chief Minister of Punjab Hamza Shahbaz will tie the knot with a Kashmiri origin US citizen lady doctor next week. Hamza, also the member of National Assembly, will leave for United States next week with a flow of congratulatory messages from party workers. According to party sources, the wedding ceremony of Shahbaz Sharif’s son will be held at New Jersey state. Some circles have shown their amaze over ‘simple’ program of the marriage saying claims of Shahbaz Sharif of bringing revolutions for poor seems only to be boastings. “Such a lavish program for marriage and then honeymoon is contradictory to claims of CM Punjab,” they say. Hamza’s would-be wife Dr. Rabia belongs to a famous religious family of Kashmir. The...

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The writer is an author, most recently of Slum Child (2010). She has written for numerous publications including Dawn, The Friday Times and Chowk Imagine this: you are a young Pakistani woman walking in a Karachi park with a young man. He could be your brother, cousin, university friend, fiance, or husband. You are wearing a full burqa, and your companion is walking beside you, carrying on a conversation. You are a middle to lower-middle-class girl, with a lot of restrictions on your life, and this time in this public space, where you are modestly dressed and doing no harm, give you a bit of respite in a life that carries a lot of expectations about how you conduct yourself and what weight that places on your family’s respectability...

Washington: Leon Panetta as head of the CIA had sought setting up a parallel spy body inside Pakistan hidden from its premier intelligence agency ISI, a noted Pakistani author has disclosed, adding that the recommendation along with others were accepted by the Obama Administration. In his latest book “Pakistan on the Brink: The Future of America, Pakistan and Afghanistan”, noted Pakistani author Ahmed Rashid said on Monday such a recommendation by Panetta, who then headed the CIA, was given sometime after September 2009, when the White House was conducting a long assessment of his options. The book, published by Viking, hit the stands on Monday. The ex-CIA chief had sought setting up a parallel spy body inside Pakistan hidden from its...

BERN: Director Swiss Bank said that Pakistan has 97 billion dollars in Swiss Banks and the messages being sent on the cell phones are without director Swiss Bank’s name. Director Swiss Bank said ‘Pakistanis are poor but Pakistan isn’t a poor country.’ He added that 97 billion dollars of Pakistan is deposited in respective bank and if this money would be utilized for the welfare of Pakistan and its people then Pakistan can make tax less budget for 30 years, can create 60 million jobs, can carpet four lanes road from any village to Islamabad, endless power supply to five hundred social projects, every citizen can get 20000 rupees salary for the next 60 years and there is no need to see IMF and any World Bank for loans.

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SKARDU: An avalanche buried about 135 Pakistani Army soldiers including a colonel at Gayari sector near the Siachen Glacier, Geo News reported on Saturday. ISPR spokesman Major General Athar Abbas told, “At six o’clock this morning this avalanche hit a (military) headquarters. Over 100 soldiers and personnel are trapped,” adding that rescue teams were headed to the scene. He said the army would comment later on whether there were any casualties.