Jinnah returns to Pakistan...

I am guilty of seeing these toons at least a year-and-a-half-late. Still, I think this is the best toon series I have set my eyes upon in Pakistan. I know little about the creator of Jay's Toons, Jahanzaib Haque, except for the obvious fact that he has a fantastic sense of humour and that he also makes time to edit The Express Tribune's web edition. For more of Jay's Toons click here. 

Headturner in a headscarf…

Mehmal Sarfraz

Mehmal Sarfraz is my reason to believe that hijab can be a liberating experience for women too!

We met Mehmal a few months after we moved to Pakistan. I liked the way she held her own in a roomful of men and didn’t keep pulling at her headscarf self-consciously.

The only time I have seen Mehmal without her trademark scarf is in a Facebook picture where she poses in a rainbow wig grinning ear-to-ear: “This is why I cover my head!”   

When we were to meet Mehmal in Lahore, her hometown, I decided to carry my safed malmal ka dupatta along – just in case! Much like a famous Hermes scarf-wearer, my dupatta kept sliding off my head and I kept tugging at it as our very gracious hostess showed us her town.

By the time she dropped us back it was past midnight and as I tucked in I concluded that hijab need not be a restraining force.

The next day when Mehmal came to pick us up I did not bother with my dupatta. There was no point faking it. Also, by then, I was sure that she wouldn’t have been impressed this way or that.

Having known Mehmal for about four years, I am certain that a hijab/headscarf is not necessarily stifling. However, I am not so sure if a hijab/headscarf serves its other more popular and basic function – distracting the male gaze – just as well.

I think not – in Mehmal’s case, at least. Blame it on her beauty or her brains the scarf makes her more visible than many non-hijabi women and, if I may say so, a piece de resistance!

What say Mehmal?

Meet Marvi Jr...

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Sadaf Mujeeb may not have taken on a Zaid Hamid yet, but she could well be the next Marvi of Pakistan.

Sadaf is an atheist, an LGBT rights supporter and an animal rights activist who spent a fortnight before Eid gently convincing the faithful to “sponsor” an animal instead of “sacrificing” it. I watched her keep her cool on an animal rights page on Facebook where the faithful threatened to hand her over to the Taliban to be “sacrificed”.

This week Sadaf was busy taking up Rabia Saleem’s case. Rabia, an Ahmadi, was expelled from her university for allegedly tearing up an anti-Ahmadi poster.

“I called COMSATS university about six times to ask them why they hadn't taken any action against people putting up anti-Ahmadi posters around the university, and how what Rabia Saleem did was being considered as anything other than courage and integrity in the face of unrelenting, institution-sponsored bullying...” 20-something Sadaf wrote in an email.

Sadaf openly talks of her religious beliefs (or lack thereof) and is quite sure that "it is evidence of stupidity more than courage”.

“I have, like everyone else who's a minority in this country, faced discrimination based on my beliefs. But  the resulting frustration and anger only encourages me to fight harder for all minority rights, which includes the freedom to express a religious opinion, freedom of sexual orientation, and basically the freedom to live without fear of persecution or rejection from the society as a whole,” she wrote.

However, she considers LGBT rights as her most “controversial fight” yet. “People especially get offended when there is any talk of reconciling ones faith, Islam, with ones identity as a homosexual, transgender or queer.

“It's sad that people fail to recognize religion as something that's personal, and always seem to feel the need to make it part of something that rules an entire nation irrespective of whether the citizens of that nation share those views or not.”

Sadaf has also rescued scores of animals from the streets of Karachi. But, for her, animals rights is not just for the four-legged. “I believe in fighting for animal rights, which includes humans as social animals (irrespective of race, religion, sexual orientation, gender or class), and non-human animals (irrespective of breed)”

This loss was a sure win...

Ayesha and Salman's last picture together

I became aware of 23-year-old Salman Mehmood's existence on October 19, 2009. That was also the day he stopped being. Prominent Pakistani bloggers had been posting updates about Salman's condition, who was fighting it out at a Karachi hospital, and praying for a miracle.

Salman, a Thalassemia major and founder of Thalassemia.com.pk, blogged and tweeted about his condition to make sure no other patient suffered the way his family and he did. Salman had lost elder brother Nauman to Thalassemia, and Ayesha, his youngest sibling, was also living off blood transfusions.

I checked Salman’s blog "Salman Namah" and Twitter timeline shortly after his death. It was hard to believe that he had ceased to exist.

"Dear Diary: Well, right now my mom and sis are giving me ‘pittay’ that I’ll have 12 kids. Khair… I tweeted after three days. Feels weird, it’s like riding a bike after 10 years.

“Dear Diary: Umm hi again. I am very tired right now (it’s 11:23 pm). I have not been very fortunate with sleep this week. But that’s normal...Khair.”

I soon became addicted to Salman’s little sister Ayesha’s blog too – who decided to carry forward her brother’s mission. I recently learnt other details – such as their trip to Chennai in search of a cure shortly after Nauman’s death in 1999. After spending three months at Apollo Hospital the family returned empty-handed, but packed with information on Thalassemia, which was unavailable in Pakistan then.

In 2003, Salman decided to spread awareness about Thalassemia and launched www.thalassemia.com.pk even as he checked in and out of the hospital for “different problems”. Their father’s untimely demise hit them in 2007. However, the biggest blow was Salman’s eventual death due to meningitis.

“It was the biggest loss to our family. It was really hard to get back to life. But as his mission was to spread awareness I took up the responsibility and started managing the website. I also started arranging blood camps and free screening camps, started writing more blogs….” says Ayesha.

Ayesha manages www.iwritealot.com too, Salman’s last project to generate funds for needy patients. She has also started “Sponsor a child programme” and has sponsored five children in just a year.

Each year, 5,000 to 6,000 children are born with Thalassemia in Pakistan, yet there is no government-aided facility for such patients.  

Bindiya chamkegi....

I first met Marvi Sirmed -- a "Bindi wali Hindu" -- at a dinner in Islamabad three years ago. Apart from the fact that I loved her crisp cotton sari, her large round bindi and her shudh Hindi -- I also loved what she stood for -- PEACE. She wished for a truly secular Pakistan and debunked the two-nation theory.

I have spotted Marvi, a Muslim by birth, several times since. Always in her trademark sari and bindi. I am sure many mistake her to be Indian (read Hindu), even though Indians never step out in a sari in Pakistan (at least not in public spaces), let alone sport a bindi!

A few months ago, I saw Marvi being promoted from being "Indian" to "Indian agent" in a television show. I wasn't surprised at all. After all, my little-known and low-profile Pakistani Hindu neighbours are "Indians" too. I once raised the issue with one of the younger members of the family. "We've been living here for decades and everyone knows we are Pakistanis. Still they call us Indians, because we are Hindus!" he said. I felt sad for the boy.

I asked him if he would like to visit India. "Never," was his answer. "If we go to India Pakistanis call us Indian spies, and Indians call us Pakistani spies," he added.

Marvi, of course, is a bigger sinner. She has taken on the high and mighty because she believes in a Pakistan where Hindus and Christians enjoy the same rights as Muslims. For those of you who still haven't seen Pakistan's Jhansi ki Rani take on Zaid Hamid, famously famous for hating all things Indian and, more recently, for calling Marvi a bindi wali Hindu -- please do see this. Bindiya chamkegi!

Peace, not pieces...

Shahvar Ali Khan is a “proud Lahori” who is “madly in love with Mumbai”. No Saazish, No Jung, his peace anthem, tells both mullahs and foreigners to stop messing in the region. The song also combines the voices of Mahatma Gandhi, Mohammad Ali Jinnah, Benazir Bhutto and Barack Obama to make an impassioned plea for peace.

“I am a born and bred proud Pakistani Lahori, who is unapologetically and madly in love with Bombay with no qualms in saying that again and again! Unlike my parents’ generation that was born in the midst of the partition hangover, my Pakistaniat (identity as a Pakistani) is beyond being just ‘anti-India’,” says Khan.

Khan released the song on the internet two years ago, but the video was shot only recently in India. “I always felt that the shooting of the music video in India would be a litmus test for peace. Lots of people questioned me as to why I was so gung ho on shooting a music video in India when Pakistan specialises in this sphere.” 

Mullayae na kar tung 

Oo guraya na kar tung 

Meino rahen dae malang

Mein nach nach kai larni 

Yae jang de nal jang 

(Don’t bother me mullahs

Don’t bother me foreigners

Let me remain a free spirit

I will dance away 

And fight your war)

The voice of Gandhi can be heard intoning “...in the midst of death life persists, in the midst of untruth truth persists, in the midst of darkness light persists” while Jinnah is heard saying: “Our object should be peace within and peace without. We want to live peacefully and maintain cordial friendly relations with our immediate neighbours...”

Milne do...

Milne do, the ad campaign by Aman ki Asha, a peace initiative by Pakistan's Jung group and India's ToI. Couldn't agree more (and more).

Pakistan's bravest girl...

Malala Yousufzai

One of the bravest girls in Pakistan, who as a 11-year-old wrote about the Taliban banning girls from going to school in the picturesque Swat Valley and missing watching her favourite Indian serial Raja Ki Ayegi Baraat on Star Plus, has been nominated for the International Children's Peace Prize.

Malala Yousufzai, now 13, was a victim of the ban imposed on girls' education by the Taliban in the troubled Swat Valley over two years ago. Malala wrote about her pain and anguish in a diary for BBC Urdu online.

In one of her very first diary pieces written on January 14, 2009 -- just a day ahead of the Taliban ban -- Malala wrote, "I may not go to school again...The principal announced the (winter) vacations but did not mention the date the school was to reopen. This was the first time this has happened."  

Some of her pieces gave me goosebumps. "The night was filled with the noise of artillery fire and I woke up three times. But since there was no school I got up later at 10 am. Afterwards, my friend came over and we discussed our homework."

She mentioned Maulana Shah Dauran, the Taliban leader behind the ban on girls' education, once. "We discussed the rumours about the death of Maulana Shah Dauran, who used to give speeches on FM radio. He was the one who announced the ban on girls attending school."

Her diary entries included discussions with classmates about the Taliban, who then controlled large parts of the Swat valley and gunned down dozens of people who opposed them. In one entry she describes a "terrible dream" about military helicopters and the Taliban.

"Only 11 students attended the class out of 27....On my way from school to home I heard a man saying 'I will kill you'. I hastened my pace and after a while I looked back if the man was still coming behind me...But to my utter relief he was talking on his mobile and must have been threatening someone else over the phone," she wrote.

       

She also wrote about Maulana Fazlullah, the leader of the Taliban in Swat, who “cried” for a long time on his FM radio channel. “He was demanding an end to the military operation. He asked people not to migrate but instead return to their homes.”

In another entry, Malala rued that she did not like wearing the burqa. “There was a time when I used to like wearing the burqa but not anymore. I am fed up with this because it is a hindrance in walking.”

Pakistani text messages to go halal...

Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has directed cellular service providers to filter all text messages from tomorrow (November 21). The national telecom regulator has banned over a thousand English/Urdu words/phrases -- some quite innocuous -- with a promise to strike back with more!

By sheer coincidence I saw the list just as I had finished reading Karan Thapar's column on "Speaking English" in The Hindustan Times.

"First, consider how the English language has changed. When I was 10, rubber meant eraser, ass meant donkey, gay meant happy, straight was linear, cock was a rooster, pussy a cat, a prick was a jab, a poke a nudge and a screw was what a carpenter used. Oh yes, in case I forget, a tit was a response for a tat. Now, today, even if you're gay, you're unlikely to admit it whilst many more are pricks and don't know it. And very few use a rubber! We prefer to use pens or type," Thapar wrote.

I am not from the 1950s, but my **** word vocabulary is bad. For me, too, like Mr Thapar, the word "gay" still (also) means being happy. Not surprisingly, I was unfamiliar with 80 per cent of the words on the PTA list which made me sick and conclude like a lot of Pakistanis that PTA, the self-appointed guardian of linguistic purity, is a pervert.

In less than 24 hours the cellular service providers will start screening text messages, but there’s no stopping mobile phone users from thinking up ways to dodge PTA's banned word list. The list is being circulated amongst friends as “halal texting list” and the “pervert” creators have become a butt of jokes at parties. "Butt", incidentally, features on the banned word list.

Many have gone into overdrive thinking up alternatives for swear words suggesting memorising number of banned word and texting it; or “evolving” new “abuses”, “swear words”, “obscenities”; or sending “expletive filled text msgs every 10 minutes and wait(ing) for the networks to collapse”; or making “PTA” the new swear word!

“Everyone in Pakistan should start using PTA or the names of public figures as swear words and get them onto the PTA banned list,” reads a message on Twitter, where PTA's banned list has been trending all week.

The list has not only become a talking point in Pakistan, but also in India and across the world. Jemima Khan, former wife of politician Imran Khan tweeted: “I'm going to make sure I include 'monkey crotch' in every text to Pakistani friends from this day forth...” she tweeted. “Monkey crotch” is a banned word, just as Jesus Christ is.

Abrar Kureshy, a Pakistani blogger, commended PTA for its "hard work" and thanked it for including almost every "abuse/curse" word. Kureshy also had a suggestion: “You cannot teach ethics, people observe and learn by themselves. For this purpose, our so-called leaders should set the example.”

Filmmaker Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy summed up the sentiment of most Pakistanis best. "#PTA have the filthiest minds - I mean disgusting freaks - they had 2 make up names 2 add to the list!”

Dog without borders...

I am really intrigued by this female dog (at 6.52 in clip) who crisscrosses/d the India-Pakistan border near Pul Kanjri, a small village near Amritsar, for her lunches and dinners . 

Sarah Singh has documented the dog in her award-winning film The Sky Below. Singh wrote about the dog in her blog too: "...got to the fencing that denotes the border area of the two Punjabs near Pul Kanjri, a small village about 20 km from Amritsar -- quite a lot of barbed wire that weaves in and out and circles around itself as it creates a barrier about 10 ft high and 5 ft thick -- with an electric current running through to fry those who test the division at night...

"I was there during the mid-day sun, and against this metallic web of lines, a black female dog edged her way through from one side to the other, negotiating the twists and turns of the barbed wire in a manner which suggested her familiarity with the routine. A deft approach by hungry dog in the rising heat."

When I heard about the dog I sent an email to Singh. "Yes, towards the end of the film there is a story which correlates to a dog crossing the border to be fed by security forces on both sides --- as luck would have it, I did get a chance to film a dog crossing through some barbed wire ---but the barbed wire is next to the border, not on it.  It serves as an initial barrier," she wrote back.

Interestingly, this isn't the only story of a friendly dog caught between two unfriendly security posts. Pakistani writer Saadat Hasan Manto's The Dog of Tetwal is also about man's best friend who wagged his tail happily at both Indian and Pakistani soldiers but sadly "died a dog's death".

Mere desh ki mitti...

Kanak Dixit (in blue) collecting mud for Barkat Singh

It is not rare to hear of old people craving for a fistful of mud from their native village. Today I met a gentleman who dug up a field to fulfil the wish of a 96-year-old man. What makes the incident even more endearing is that the old man is an Indian and he wished to hold earth from his native village in Pakistan and the person who helped out is Nepali!

I met Kanak Dixit, a man with many feathers in his cap, in Islamabad where he is on the last leg of his "The Great Nepal-India-Pakistan Spinal Beetle Drive".

The Beetle parked at the Wagah Border

Dixit, a person from Nepal (he prefers this as opposed to a Nepali), is driving though Nepal-India-Pakistan in his 1973 model Volkswagon Beetle to generate funds for his Spinal Injury Rehab Centre in Kathmandu. Dixit, himself a spinal injury survivor, embarked on this journey on November 4 and has driven through Lucknow, Delhi, Agra, New Delhi, Jalandhar and Amritsar. His last stop in Pakistan (after Lahore and Islamabad) is Peshawar.

When Dixit reached Amritsar yesterday his heart sank -- he had left all passports (also his wife's and son's who are travelling with him) at a roadside restaurant in Jalandhar. He took a U-turn and sped back to Jalandhar lucky to find his passports safe with the owner, Pahalwan Barkat Singh.  

When 96-year-old Barkat Singh heard about Dixit's trip to Pakistan he told Dixit that he longed to hold mud from his village in Sialkot. Dixit took a detour and headed towards Sialkot to collect mud for the old Sardarji. The mud will now be delivered by Dixit's co-travellers on their return journey to Nepal.

Going vegan in Pakistan...

For vegans it's a choice between French fries and French fries!

It is almost impossible to go vegan in Pakistan -- a country where one collects points for buying meat and more meat.

The 10 types of meats at dinner tables don't surprise me anymore. I also know too well that the section for vegans, if at all, may have a few greens thrown in with chunks of meat (palak-gosht). The dal may also be special -- because it has been cooked in meat.

It is not that I am a compulsive vegetarian -- I do like to eat meat once in a while -- but sometimes when I am in a mood to eat veggies I just don't know where to head. The options in Islamabad are almost always limited to khatte baingan with khatti daal or khatti daal with khatte baingan at Cafe Lazeez or more recently at Lahori Chatkhara.

Today I learnt of a Pakistani blogger who is vegan. Abdul Majeed is a medical student and it was such a pleasure reading his post.

"Folks, I confess to being a minority. No, I am not a non-Muslim, gay, lesbian, atheist or fat. I am a vegetarian. I have spent most of my life answering stupid questions like 'why aren't you eating anything beta, do you have a medical problem?'" Majeed posted on his blog "Courage to Differ".

Majeed confirmed my fears that there are no exclusive vegetarian restaurants in Lahore, Islamabad or Peshawar. "The maximum I can get at fast food restaurants are French fries," he wrote.

Majeed also mentioned a Facebook group dedicated to Pakistani vegetarians (has only 30 members!!!) -- which is also where I learnt a new conspiracy theory: being vegan = weak = Indian!!

Majeed quoted Maryam Arif, another Pakistani vegetarian: “Being vegetarian in Pakistan is highly suspect, Indian-like; even though most Indians I know ask for beef kebabs first thing they come to Lahore. Yet in our minds vegetarian = Hindu = Indian = weak. The popular thinking is that meat gives us an edge over them grass-eaters across the border. Carnivores are stronger and taller; even light-complexioned than herbivores. Isn’t that so? It has to be.”

The going has obviously not been easy for Majeed. "It is a bit like blasphemy to live in Lahore and not eat meat. Lahoris are often offended when you tell them you are a vegetarian. It is an insult to their intelligence. How can anyone voluntarily give up the meat delicacies that constitute our cuisine?"

"I have decided that enough is enough.  I am out of the closet now. I am sick of your siri paye, qormas, seekh kabab, gurday kapooray..." Majeed added.

My feelings exactly.

Aloo Anday: satire at its best

"Aloo Anday" -- the latest Pakistani song to have gone viral on the internet -- is a commentary on Pakistani politics and the Pakistani psyche. Beyghairat Brigade, the Lahore-based band, pokes fun at Ajmal Kasab, the lone surviving Mumbai attacker, being treated like a “hero” in his home country and slain Governor Salmaan Taseer’s assassin being treated like a “nawab”. The song’s video starts on an unassuming note with three boys in school uniforms complaining over their mother packing “Aloo Anday” for lunch, but in the following three minutes, the band takes on everyone from Sharif brothers of the PML-N to the “good-looking fundamentalist” Imran Khan.

Pakistan fashion's 'deepak'...

Deepak Perwani

Deepak Perwani is one of Pakistan's top fashion designers. He studied fashion at New York and has been retailing his stuff for the past decade or so globally.

He wears a Ganesha tattoo on his right arm and an ayat around his neck. His fashion philosophy is much the same: "The Deepak Perwani man and woman have no fashion boundaries. They do not belong to a country or religion. They are the children of the global village."

DP's creations

Deepak is also Pakistan's cultural ambassador to China and Malaysia and has secured a place in the Guinness Book of World Records for designing the world's largest kurta.

I have no clue if Deepak is married or not, but some years ago he was looking for a nice Hindu bride. "Mathematical chance isn't on the side of a Sindhi Hindu looking for a suitable arranged match within the small community. The girl has to be imported..since I am doing too well here to be exported," Deepak told The Outlook magazine.

His mother Renu was planning to "parade him" in Bombay, Dubai and Hong Kong. "I would never accept a Muslim girl in my house. All my friends are Muslims and I know they are very beautiful people, cultured and nice. But a daughter-in-law is a different matter." 

Deepak, according to Pakistani law, cannot marry a Muslim girl: "I'd have to convert. And I would never do that."

DP's premium Eid collection

Veni, Vidi, Visa...

Once in a while people seek our help to get a visa to India. Sometimes it is difficult to ignore such requests because visa-seekers have been referred by senior colleagues or predecessor/s.

We entertained one of our first requests right after we moved here. The man was known to a colleague and needed a medical visa for his wife, an ex-Indian. The man walked into our house with six bottles of Coke and Sprite each. I ignored the bottles thinking it was summer and that he needed to quench his thirst on his way back to Lahore, his hometown.  

He had just given his "interview" to the Bhais and didn't look very comfortable. He briefed his case quickly to my husband and was ready to leave -- minus the bottles. "These are for you sister!" he announced and walked out. 

We were angry -- because we felt so bribed. 

Months later he dropped by again this time with his wife to say his thank-yous. The husband and wife came in with several large plastic carry bags. The wife said I was like her "behan" and that she had shopped for me in India. We were horrified. We told them we could not accept the "gifts". 

"Can't I give something to my sister?" she pleaded teary-eyed. We agreed to keep the "gifts" on the condition that the couple would never "shop" for us again. As we passed the plastic packets to our help we realised that she would not have to shop for soaps, toothpastes, shampoos, detergents etc etc for at least one full year!

Another visa-applicant, known to our predecessor, sent us a Rs 500 note to cover the charges we would have to incur when we couriered his passport back.  

These, however, are simpletons who mean well. The smart ones, usually frequent travellers to India, make those smart calls to meet us requesting us to introduce them to officials in the high commission and once the introductions have been made they look through us. A colourful fashion designer of some repute had no memory of me when I bumped into him at a recent dinner.  

And then there are those who remain friends till the time their visas are being granted -- once, twice... However, if their visa applications are rejected on some ground at a later date they not only snap ties but also make sure we get to hear an earful.

This, too, is Pakistan...

Tapu Javeri, Pakistan's fashion photographer and Radio Jockey, shot this video earlier this year. "I Love Karachi & its people. Duck Sauce inspired me to make this video & its all about people of Karachi.....Thanks to all the lovely people of my city, without your support this project was impossible... ...Love, Peace, Happiness," says Javeri, who also features in the video.

The Bhai files...

Tell me NOW!

With the Bhai brigade or their chamchas keeping a close tab on our visitors, especially the Pakistani variety, sometimes we get to hear strange accounts of what transpired between the two parties during the “interview” outside our gate.

The accounts of our friends almost always match centering on two questions: a) who are you; b) how do you know them? Aware of their no-panga policy our friends usually “cooperate” with the Bhais and are let off easily.

Sometimes the “interview” with the Bhais gets long and messy. A couple of years ago an ex-help got into trouble with the Bhais because he refused to “cooperate”. The help obviously had no clue about Bhaigiri.

“We are here to make sure they do not do anything wrong,” said one of the Bhais when our help sought their introduction. The help replied: “I am there to stop them from doing any wrong” – and that did him in. With time the help learnt to deal with the Bhais and we would often spot him chit-chatting with his new-found friends.

Some other helps have been more cautious. Some time ago, our maid asked me about a visitor. “Is she Pakistani or Indian?” My look must have said it all because she quickly added, “I asked because she spoke English differently.” Another time she was itching to know if our dinner guests would be Indian or Pakistani. Her explanation was obviously lame: “If they are Indian I would serve them in bowls!!??”

Occasionally accounts of the encounter with Bhais are exaggerated. I am told that for some it is a status symbol to be stopped and followed by Bhais. Some examples:

I said I knew his boss. He let me past.

He said sorry for stopping me.

He said salam to me.

Knows my dad/uncle/etc is a cop/politician/etc.

I sped away and he could never catch up.

I slipped someone else’s visiting card in his hand and fooled him.

Last month, I heard someone being slapped outside our gate after a heated argument. I could hear Bhai shouting. He wanted to see the man's  (I wish I knew who it was) ID card. The man refused and Bhai started slapping him.

However, the saddest cases are when good friends are forced to sever ties because Bhaigiri is so disgusting.

Pakistan's party people....

A lot of us Indians continue to live with our many stereotypes of Pakistan and Pakistanis (Are women allowed to step out in Pakistan??!! Oh! You don't wear the burqa there??!!), much as Pakistanis continue to live with their many stereotypes of India and Indians (Are there mosques in India??!! What! Muslims are not treated unfairly??!!)  

Here are a few pictures of Pakistan's party people from Daily Times' Sunday Magazine to show that there is life beyond burqas and beards. I must admit that some of the Page 3 pictures in the weekend magazines shook me too when we got here. But I learnt early that not all hijabis are jihadis and not all jihadis are hijabis! 

Ali Zafar celebrating the success of his film.  

Freiha Altaf (in yellow) is a Page 3 fave.  

A birthday extravaganza.

The bold and beautiful at an event.

Halloween in Pakistan...

Youngsters at a Halloween party in Peshawar (pic: Shabbir Imam)

Hush-hush Halloween parties have been a norm in Pakistan, but a big first was added two days ago when the event was celebrated in Peshawar -- where it feels like Halloween every other day.

More on Peshawar's Halloween night here:
http://tribune.com.pk/story/286418/halloween-celebrations-no-militants-involved-in-peshawars-night-of-horror/

Diwali in Peshawar...

Temple in Peshawar (pics: Shabbir Imam)

Hindus celebrated Diwali at this historic 160-year-old temple at Peshawar in northwest Pakistan after it was reopened to the minority community after six decades on a court’s orders. Scores of Hindus, including women and children, visited the Goraknath Temple at Gor Khatri, which was reopened after Phoolwati, the daughter of the shrine’s cleric, petitioned the Peshawar High Court.

Phoolwati and her son Kaka Ram have claimed that the temple, which has been controlled in past decades by the police, Evacuee Property Trust Board and the provincial archaeology department, belongs to their family.

Though a two-judge bench of the High Court ruled last month that Phoolwati had failed to provide evidence of her family’s ownership of the temple, it directed authorities to reopen the shrine for religious purposes. The court observed that stopping religious activities at a place of worship was against all laws.

Kaka Ram said his father, Pandit Kamoram, had refused to move to India at the time of Partition in 1947 and decided to settle in Pakistan. The temple is small and surrounded by nine rooms on two sides. The white temple with three domes in the middle of an enclosure has two small rooms with statues of deities. Red, black and yellow pennants and flags have been hoisted over the temple.

Women get busy with food preparations

Two little girls pose inside the temple 

Om Namh Shivay written in Urdu