Stories by Asif Akhtar

A look at media censorship during the British Raj leaves us asking how much progress Pakistan has really made

It is paradoxical that the state would feel justified in curtailing the press that was instrumental in making Pakistan.

Updated 17 Jul, 2019 01:53pm

Blogging in Ramazan

So it should have been established by now that Ramazan is Islam on steroids. Anything ordained in the religion under...

Published 12 Aug, 2011 01:19pm

An Open Letter to Open Letter Writers

Dear Open Letter Writers, Good day, hope this open letter finds you in the best of spirits. The reason I am writing...

Published 27 Jun, 2011 12:42pm

A parable of martyrdom for minorities

It was time for Asr, the afternoon prayer. Through the windows of the mosque, daylight flowed in waves of golden...

Published 13 Jun, 2011 12:28pm

Shock and awe: Where art and culture collide

Where viewers of western media are rarely subjected to the blood and gore of war, victims of violence in the local...

Published 24 Jan, 2011 07:48am

A soap opera on repeat

While the old General seems to have made his way back in to the headlines, it often occurs to me how the Pakistani...

Published 19 Oct, 2010 12:36pm

A nuanced reality

The second out of three events held to launch Granta Magazine's Pakistan issue was held in collaboration with the...

Published 04 Oct, 2010 11:55am

Reporting Pakistan

By now Pakistanis must have gotten used to seeing dossiers and special reports on their country by esteemed Western...

Published 25 Sep, 2010 01:06pm

U-Turns please, we're Pakistani!

From lofty and very lonely heights, the foreign writer tries to decipher what went wrong with the game of cricket...

Published 14 Jun, 2010 03:32pm

What do Facebook and cricket have in common?

So looks like its double-whammy for Pakistani entertainment enthusiasts this time. First we get beaten out of the...

Published 21 May, 2010 04:08pm

Moving beyond the megawatt

As the summer kicks off with the onset of the full-on load-shedding season, the Punjab government is trying to show...

Published 12 May, 2010 11:47am

The media and the marriage

It has been over a week since a private television channel broke the story about Pakistan cricketer Shoaib Malik...

Published 08 Apr, 2010 05:19pm

You're a Taliban. No! You're a Taliban!

The past few days have been very eventful as far as public statements in Pakistani politics go. Punjab's Chief...

Published 19 Mar, 2010 01:47pm

How to talk to the Taliban

Lately, there’ been a lot of talk about talking to the Taliban, and talking to the Taliban about talking to the...

Published 12 Feb, 2010 02:09pm

Piyo Pepsi forever, free Pakistan from terror

Pakistan’s recent appearance in the infamous US ‘countries of interest’ list, which isn’t exactly the list of most...

Published 18 Jan, 2010 03:21pm

Calendar antics

Today I woke up to the fact that this was in fact the first day following the conclusion of the first decade of the...

Published 01 Jan, 2010 07:11pm

From the KLB to NRO

In a previous post I had alluded to a seemingly spontaneous process through which the Pakistani media jumped from ...

Published 21 Dec, 2009 01:55pm

Tuned out by The New York Times

A few weeks ago, The New York Times was thoughtful enough to do a little feature in a video blog titled 'Tuning out...

Published 07 Dec, 2009 04:38pm

A debate derailed

Last week, in a blog titled 'The Convenient Curtain of Myth', I tried to show the dangers of viewing international...

Published 20 Nov, 2009 02:12pm

The convenient curtain of myth

Recently, I met some jihadis who have been in the business of holy war since the 1990s. I was surprised to hear that...

Published 14 Nov, 2009 09:58am