They tried and they failed.
In 2017, Pakistan High Court ruled that Valentines Day was un-Islamic and is not to be celebrated in public places or government offices. An individual had petitioned the court with the plea that it was a cultural import from the West and against the teachings of Islam.
UN-OPPRESSED
Are Pakistani women oppressed?
Yes? No?
Maybe some? Maybe most?
Today is International Women’s Day, and I am celebrating. Whom do I celebrate? Gloria Steinem, Meryl Streep, Malala Yusufzai…ahaaa! I will start with the land of my birth—Pakistan.
My Mother Got Arrested Giving Birth to Pakistan
Mohammad Ali Jinnah, Founder of Pakistan
Once upon a time, I was born in a newborn land, far, far away from my home today, in the ‘Land of the Pure’. Pakistan was just 4 years old.
Read moreCan Eid Be Bittersweet?
Ramadan is over and yesterday we all celebrated Eid ul Fitr. But for many, Eid was bittersweet.
Read moreAround The World In Ramadan. Part 1: Pakistan
Communal iftar in a mosque
My earliest memories of Ramadan are in Pakistan. A child of seven, I would plead with my parents, ‘please, please, can I fast?’ It seemed exciting, such a grown-up thing to do. Mummy let me fast for half a day when I turned 10, but just for a day.
Read moreWhere Are You From?
"Where are you from?" Forty-five years later—well almost—I am still asked this question. At first—and I am talking 1971—I would proudly proclaim: “Pakistan”.
“Where is that?”
I am insulted and appalled at her ignorance?
Now of course, even the most least-informed, under-informed and misinformed has heard of Pakistan. Except that the look I get is one of sympathetic concern, as in ‘do you have family in that unsafe region?’ Except that when asked this question, I am offended. Why? Because I feel that my American-ism is being questioned. So I tease.
Matchmaker, Matchmaker, Make Me A Match
Is she pretty? Is he tall?
While in Pakistan, I was hanging out with friends when her phone rang. She excused herself and returning, apologized:
Matchmaker (MM): Sorry, it was a rishta call.
Me: What do you mean rishta call? [Rishta is ‘match' in Urdu]
MM: I am a matchmaker.
Terror In Lahore
Only last week: Jash-e-Baharan in the park
Saba Masood was marked safe in Lahore’, flashed on my Facebook.
Another earthquake?
My fingers got ahead of me as I pulled up the news. A bomb blast had killed dozens in a park where Christians were celebrating Easter.
I was just there—in Lahore. I was in the parks,
A View On Marriage
Why did I marry my husband?
On the treadmill this morning, I clicked open David Brook’s Op-Ed ‘Three Views of Marriage’. Hmmm! Did my decision to marry Khalid fit into any one of those views?
My Downton Abbey in Pakistan
Mummy & Daddy in the 1950s
My parents were not rich, but we did have a Carson and a Mrs. Patmore. In Pakistan, domestic help was the norm—still is. And I am talking middle-class. Aurangzeb—our Carson equivalent—was the valet,
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