Category Archives: Books

Letter from Haripur jail

Books, Children and Youth, Education, Human Rights, Notable Personalities, Social Issues

By Zubeida Mustafa

I FIRST learnt of Sohail Fida from his fascinating book Soul Unshackled. The book is an autobiographical account of a young man from Swat who lands in prison on false charges of murder and makes a confession extracted through torture when he was not even 18.

While behind bars he finds solace in books — reading them and then going on to write one. Books become the means of his redemption. They facilitate his studies, shape his mind, help him overcome depression brought on by his wrongful confinement and in the span of 12 years — five of them in the death cell — he passes five examinations: Intermediate, BA and three MAs. The son of a petrol station owner, Sohail Fida could build on the schooling he had already received.

What makes this story special is not so much Sohail’s success in his exams as his extraordinary response to his adverse circumstances from April 2000 onwards. Continue reading Letter from Haripur jail →

Nadia attends the KLF

Books, Children and Youth, Culture and the Arts, Education, Terrorism and Violence

By Zubeida Mustafa

ON the weekend of Feb 11-12, the Karachi Literature Festival unveiled a treasure of intellectual delights for the third consecutive year to those who attended.

Graced by eminent writers from Pakistan and abroad with whom one doesn’t always get the opportunity to interact, the event allowed one the luxury of disconnecting oneself — though momentarily — from the brutal realities of life in Karachi.

At the time when Vikram Seth, the author of A Suitable Boy, was engaged in a one-on-one conversation with Prof Shaista Sirajuddin, a few kilometres away, the Defence of Pakistan Council was indulging in India-bashing at its rally near the Quaid-i-Azam’s mausoleum. An umbrella organisation of 40 reactionary parties, including some banned ones, its message was quite the opposite of the themes the KLF was expounding.
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Pakistan’s struggles with democracy

Books

Nearly nine years after I joined Dawn in 1975, Pakistan’s most respected and widely circulated English language newspaper, a young woman came to this newspaper’s office looking for a job. She had studied in the US and had worked for a paper there. She had also written for Dawn and I was quite familiar with her writings. Since Dawn had started opening its doors to women and Nafisa Hoodbhoy (that was the name of the young journalist), had proved her mettle in journalism she was taken without much fuss.
Continue reading Pakistan’s struggles with democracy →