kahkashankhan

Pakistan is famous for a lot of negative reasons in the world. One of the most pervasive world belief is that the country is plagued with religious intolerance where minorities such as Christians and Hindus find it hard to survive. Here we present an interview with Dr. Rajesh Kumar, a Pakistani Hindu from Jamshoro, Sindh. He candidly replies various questions asked from him and documents his life as a Hindu in Pakistani. Q: Could you tell us about you, where you live, a bit about your family, what you do, etc? I am Dr. Rajesh Kumar, Youth and Minority rights activist, graduated as a Medical Doctor from Liaquat university of Medical & Health Sciences, Jamshoro, Sindh. Pursuing post graduation in the field of Psychiatric Medicine from the same insitution. I was born in a town namely Thana Bula Khan, a Hindu Dominant town of Sindh, serving the biggest economy to the country because of most people into Business. Half of family is into medical profession, so my father inspired me to be ...

MOHMAND AGENCY, June 13: Slaughtered body of a kidnapped army personnel was found early morning in Darwazgai area of Ekkaghund tehsil in Lower Mohmand of Mohmand agency here on Monday, said officials. Unknown militants had kidnapped a soldier Hayat Khan from Shanow Ghundi area of tehsil Ekkaghund last night. He was on leave from Punjab regiment centre Mardan. Hayat khan was busy in Isha prayers where unknown militants kidnapped him, according to local residents. After the incident, security forces conducted a search operation in the adjoining areas but no arrest was made. Monday morning, the body of Hayat Khan was found in Darwazgai area of Ekkaghund from where it was shifted to Shabqadar hospital and later handed over to his relatives. Three days ago, unknown militants had kidnapped a Subedar of Khasadar force and another security personnel whose dead bodies had been found later.

The National Action Plan, drafted in the aftermath of tragic Peshawar school carnage, surely was the right move in the right direction. It promised to bring not just an end to the widespread terrorism and terrorist outfits but also aimed at providing the concerned institutions with a mechanism to deal with this menace. The 20 points document was widely accepted and appreciated by one and all across the state. It was also the first time that the civil and military leadership were unanimously agreeing on a plan of action to rid the state and society of extremism. However today, three years onward, the objectives laid out in the document seem to have remained unattainable while the perils of terrorism in various forms appear to have engulfed the society even further. This is not to undermine the efforts like Zarb-e-Azb, military operation in Karachi and the endeavors being carried out in Balochistan, which definitely restored the faith of a common man back into the sincerity of security f...

Every year billions of rupees are allocated for the development of rural areas which gives a ray of hope to the rural population that it will change their fate this year. People who hardly manage to eat one meal per day expect that this year they will be able to get enough food for their families. They expect that this might be the year their government will improve the condition of local hospitals so that they will not have to go to the big cities for medical treatment. They expect that government will build roads and bridges. The school kids expect the roofs and walls of their schools will be repaired so that they will not take a day off when it is raining. They also expect that they can finally get clean drinking water and toilet facility in their schools. Similarly girls expect that government will arrange impeccable security for their schools so that they will not study in a state of fear and uncertainty. The rural farmers expect that they will get subsidies from the government an...

I cannot recall my last “pure” Urdu conversation with someone, not even with a person who has a university degree in Urdu literature. It is very unfortunate that most of the times we struggle to find appropriate Urdu words for a situation, although we know English words for the said situation. Our conversations are a mix of Urdu, English and regional languages. The more a person uses English words in his or her conversation, the highly educated he is considered. I have also seen people get into a fit of laughter because someone used a common Urdu idiom; it was like meeting entitled tourists. Same is the case with Urdu writing. More than two third of the young generation are not proficient in Urdu writing due to the excessive use of Roman Urdu. This generation has actively helped blur the distinction between Urdu and English in Pakistan. At first, they started sneaking in an English noun or two despite the presence of perfectly serviceable Urdu words. We went from skipping some words, t...

National Stadium Karachi was surrounded by armed personnel on 9th July at Pakistan’s greatest philanthropist Abdul Sattar Edhi. Everyone had to go through several security barriers to enter the stadium. Thousands of common people, who wanted to attend this great man’s funeral were not allowed to enter the stadium. The so called reason was, VVIP protocol. The people were barred from attending the funeral because a few national dignitaries were attending the funeral. Thus the farewell of a great person was hijacked by VVIPS. The person who dedicated his entire life to the welfare of poor people and always resisted the idea of VIP protocol, was at the mercy of the same VVIPS on his death. Edhi always lived among the masses and never carried a guard or any other security with him. The common people should’ve been at the front rows and the VIPs at the back but it was unfortunate that VIPs pushed some of the poor back and most of them out of the stadium. If these VIPs were adamant to attend ...

Diverse cultures, countless spoken languages, brilliant architectural heritage, and full of history, Pakistan’s largest city, Karachi, is the heart of the country. What started out as a small fishing village, courtesy of an old fisher woman named Mai Kolachi, has now become the most populated and largest revenue-generating city of the country.  From being home to different religions, languages, and cultures, to sporting a natural harbor in its south, here are a few reasons as to why ‘The City of Lights’ is, in fact, the greatest city of Pakistan. 1. Rich history According to historians, Alexander the Great camped in Krokola (Greek name for present day Karachi) in 325BC to prepare his troops for Babylonia. This was also one of the places from where, in around 710AD, a young Umayyad general called Muhammad Bin Qasim brought his conquering army into South Asia. A painting by Charles Le Brun depicting Alexander and Porus during the Battle of the Hydaspes near modern-day Jhelum, Punjab....