Category Archives: Terrorism and Violence

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.
Continue reading Nadia attends the KLF →

The polio story

Children and Youth, Development and Poverty, Health, Terrorism and Violence

By Zubeida Mustafa

PAKISTAN has failed to educate its children. It is now failing to protect them from communicable diseases like poliomyelitis, an untreatable crippling disease caused by a virus.

Preventive vaccines have however been developed and large regions of the world have been declared polio-free. It is, therefore, a pity that Pakistan is losing its war against polio. A spate of stories in the print media lately point to this tragedy. This is not at all surprising, given our criminal neglect of the health sector.

What is the polio story? When Pakistan launched itself on the long road to polio eradication in 1994, it showed remarkable success. It set up an effective surveillance cell and national immunisation days were undertaken. Continue reading The polio story →

Freedom or license for TV?

Media, Politics, Social Issues, Terrorism and Violence

By Zubeida Mustafa

THERE is much to be cherished about the freedom that our media, especially the electronic media, has come to enjoy. The extent to which this freedom — it was called licence in earlier days — has gone is provoking a debate. This is a positive development because there are some media heavyweights who are now ready to admit that something is amiss.

When critics first started speaking up against the electronic media a few years ago, the issue that gave rise to controversy was the portrayal of violence. The Pakistan Medical Association raised this issue and invited some journalists for a dialogue to explain how scenes of violence impacted on the minds of young children. Continue reading Freedom or license for TV? →

Violence: beyond statistics

Media, Mental health, Social Issues, Terrorism and Violence

By Zubeida Mustafa

A NEW book that is making waves in the West these days is The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined.

Written by Harvard’s professor of psychology Steven Pinker, the book argues that “violence has declined over long stretches of time, and today we may be living in the most ‘peaceable era in our species’ existence”. Continue reading Violence: beyond statistics →