Dear all, December 31 is a rather sad sort of a date for me. Not because it’s the last day of the year and there’s a sense of an ending as one looks back at another measure of time completed, or muses over deaths and disasters or missed opportunities, but because it is also the […]
In a narrow lane in a district of Punjab, a woman calls out for people to come and watch, banging on a tambourine. Within minutes, a curious crowd collects and makes themselves comfortable on the dusty ground in front of her. The performers announce to the circle of people around them that they’re there for […]
Pakistan is a country that is rapidly developing as an online market. There is a rise in e-commerce that is linked to the explosion of mobile phone and smart device ownership, and the increasing availability of the internet even in remote areas. With a growing number of customers that rely on the numerous courier services […]
With 2017 coming to a close, we are awaiting the release of last film of the year, Chupan Chupai that marks Ahsan Khan’s big screen debut in the new wave of Pakistan cinema. Currently busy with the promotions of the film that premieres in Karachi tonight, Khan talked to Instep about film promotions, being honest […]
ISLAMABAD: The identity of the indigenous Kalash people is facing extinction, the National Commission on Human Rights (NCHR) has warned in a report. Titled The Protection, Preservation and Promotion of Constitutional Rights of Indigenous Kalash People, the report said that “unwilling conversions and cajoled marriages with non-Kalash” are some of the “immediate threats” facing the […]
The five bloggers and activists that were abducted (and later released) at the beginning of 2017 will end the year with at least the vindication that an FIA investigation into their activities yielded no evidence that they were involved in any way with the charge of blasphemy. Since December 2, a young activist named Raza […]
WHEN the FIA informed the Islamabad High Court the other day that it had no evidence that the five bloggers abducted and detained for many days had committed blasphemy, it did not add anything to the people’s knowledge as they had known this fact all along. The FIA admission, however, confirms this case as one […]
KARACHI: 2017 saw the deaths of many celebrities, especially musicians. Chester Bennington from Linkin Park committed suicide, while AC/DC guitarist Malcolm Young lost a three-year long battle with dementia. Aamir Zaki, Pakistani’s most iconic guitarist passed away in June this year as well. I remember the day like yesterday when I heard one of Aamir’s […]
ISLAMABAD: As mobile phones and internet access become ubiquitous, governments, the digital technology sector and telecom industries must make expanding access to the internet and protect children online a priority. This was stated in the latest iteration of the annual ‘The State of the World’s Children (SOWC) 2017: Children in a digital world” report launched […]
ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Tuesday sought reply from electronic and print media bodies, their regulators and ministry of information on a petition seeking end to ‘indecent’ coverage of the judiciary. IHC Justice Aamer Farooq on the petition of Sardar Shahbaz Khosa directed the ministries of information and broadcasting, information technology, Pakistan Telecommunication […]
ISLAMABAD – After the removal of Absar Alam as chairman Pakistan Electronic Media Regularity Authority, no one is there to look after the affairs of the authority as the federal government could not appoint the executive member of the regulator during the last two years, The Nation leant. Last week, the Lahore High Court had removed Absar […]
ISLAMABAD: Threats to the internet landscape, including arbitrary administrative shutdowns, misplaced judicial activism against internet freedoms, the rise of cyber-armies, enforced disappearances of activists and the abuse of cybercrime legislation have been on the rise across the country, according to a report titled Internet Landscape of Pakistan 2017, reported a private media outlet. The report […]
KARACHI: Major Urdu poets Kishwar Naheed, Iftikhar Arif, Amjad Islam Amjad and Afzal Ahmed Syed shared their perspectives on poetry at a session, ‘Urdu Poetry – in the perspective of study’ at the 10th International Urdu Conference on Friday. The session also featured speeches by Dr Naumanul Haq, Jawed Hasan, and Tanvir Anjum on ghazal, […]
Stressing on the need to fight fanaticism by literature, Arts Council of Pakistan President Ahmad Shah said that the tenth edition of International Urdu Conference was proof that a counter-narrative would be harboured through culture. Shah who was speaking at the launch of the five-day event on Thursday, said that this year’s conference was dedicated […]
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