History | Pakistan Press Foundation (PPF)

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A leaf from history: KU students take a journey through time

Pakistan Press Foundation

KARACHI: University of Karachi’s history department took the city on a walk through historical events one may not be familiar with as it opened a three-day exhibition at its art gallery where models of architectural wonders, replicas of world-famous paintings, sketches and maps were exhibited on Tuesday. Students from second, third and fourth years put up […]


Literary notes: Urdu’s first essay writer and Sir Syed’s selected essays

Pakistan Press Foundation

Dr Jameel Jalibi thinks it was Sir Syed Ahmed Khan. In his Tareekh-i-adab-i-Urdu, or history of Urdu literature, Dr Jalibi has mentioned Sir Syed as “pioneer of the genre essay writing in Urdu literature” (vol. 4, page 874). But in the same book Dr Jalibi admits that “when Sir Syed began writing essays, he benefited […]


Develop plan to preserve dying arts: Fawad Hussain

Pakistan Press Foundation

ISLAMABAD: Minister for Information and Broadcasting, Chaudhry Fawad Hussain Friday directed the Lok Virsa authorities to develop a substantial plan for concrete measures to preserve and document the dying arts in Pakistan. Speaking at a briefing during his visit to Lok Virsa he said that the preservation of dying art was imperative to promote indigenous culture […]


Literary notes: Urdu books on etymologies and word histories

Pakistan Press Foundation

ONE of the blames that our beloved (read: poor) Urdu language has to bear with is that it does not have the kind of reference works that the English language boasts of. For example, on the topic of word history and etymology one can find scores of books in English but Urdu, say the naysayers, […]


A history of public spaces, newspapers and crowd politics

Pakistan Press Foundation

KARACHI: Coffee houses established in 17th Century Europe were the first nurseries of democracy. Print media in Pakistan has many a time welcomed the imposition of martial law. Crowd politics in India has led to a larger debate about democracy. These were some of the thoughts expressed by different speakers on Friday at a conference […]


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Common chords and borders

Pakistan Press Foundation

LAHORE: The first thing that strikes you about Dr Virinder Singh Kalra’s latest book, Spiritual Music of Punjab, is the unique – and somewhat unusual – typeset of its title on the cover. While the name of the book appears in English, it is accompanied by the original title in Punjabi – Punjabi Mouseeqi dey […]


Snapshots of a vanishing city

Pakistan Press Foundation

KARACHI: With towering new buildings and shopping malls springing up around Karachi, one can be forgiven for forgetting that Karachi is actually 150 years old. Historians have repeatedly contended that Karachi, which was previously known as Kolachi, is older than we think it is. However, as far the condition of buildings in the metropolis is […]


Urdu idioms and their cultural connotations

Pakistan Press Foundation

AS young boys, my peers and I used to address the elders, especially strangers, as chacha (an Urdu word for uncle) to show respect. Any shopkeeper, hawker or passerby was a chacha. In case of women, we addressed them as khala (Urdu for aunt). Any woman in the neighborhood was our khala. But today the […]


French experts discover artefacts at Chahun Jo Daro

Pakistan Press Foundation

NAWABSHAH: Consul General of France in Karachi Francois Dall’Orso on Friday visited Chahun Jo Daro — a site where traces of a 4,500-year-old civilisation similar to Moenjodaro were discovered in 1930 — to meet a team of experts from his country who have been excavating a specified piece of land for the past two weeks. […]


‘Vernacular languages and history have a strong link’

Pakistan Press Foundation

KARACHI: Students and scholars of history were treated to some stimulating pieces of research on language and literature’s connection with history as a discipline on the third and last day of the 25th International History Conference at Karachi University on Thursday. In a session on ‘History of Language and Literature’, presided over by French historian […]


IBA preserves its history for generations to come

Pakistan Press Foundation

KARACHI: The mark the 60 years of Institute of Business Administration (IBA), the institute decided to preserve its history on the shelves for the generations to come. The faculty, students, alumni, board of governors came together to attend the launch of the book, titled ‘Chronicling Excellence: A history of IBA Karachi’, on the last sunset […]


‘Sindh has witnessed the rise and fall of many civilisations’

Pakistan Press Foundation

KHAIRPUR: A three-day international conference titled ‘Sindh: history and culture’ organised by the Shah Abdul Latif University in Khairpur opened on Monday on the premises of the university. In collaboration with The National Institute of Historical & Cultural Research, Centre of Excellence, Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad, and the Higher Education Commission (HEC), the conference saw different […]


‘People’s history of Pakistan’ screened

Pakistan Press Foundation

LAHORE: An international film screening on the theme ‘People’s history of Pakistan’ was held at Punjab Institute of Language Art and Culture on Monday. The screening was part of the 6th International Thaap (Trust for History, Art and Architecture Pakistan) conference that kicked off on Nov 6 in Lahore. The Thaap international film screening was […]


CAP digs out Pakistani cinema’s gold

Pakistan Press Foundation

LAHORE: In an effort to recreate and celebrate the golden moments of cinema in Pakistan, the Citizens Archive of Pakistan (CAP) screened the 1960’s blockbuster ‘Armaan’ starring Waheed Murad and Zeba. The screening under the title Lollywood Night ‘Old is Gold’ took place at Ali Auditorium on Ferozepur Road on Saturday night. It was the […]