Moborate

Last month, while other pyalas scuttled off to the Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf's (PTI’s) Karachi jalsa with visions of free potty training seats in their heads, I stayed at home with a copy of Imran Khan ’s Pakistan, A Personal History . I read it with the intention of reviewing it here immediately but, like certain Bufo toads that can, at will, secrete a noxious hallucinogenic substance that acts as a deterrent to predators, the book did not encourage further handling. I revisited it today because I chanced upon Amir Zia’s review for Newsline last month. He succinctly articulated some of my biggest problems with the content of the memoir, saying: “Khan’s personal analysis of the origin and spirit of the Pakistan Movement underlines his simplistic and superficial understanding of those times. In fact, it appears more akin to former military ruler General Zia-ul Haq’s distorted and twisted propagandist history, which still remains a part of our curriculum. For instance, Khan, in his z...

In the preface to his book Inside Al Qaeda And The Taliban: Beyond Bin Laden and 9/11 , the late Syed Saleem Shahzad wrote: “I have never worked for any well-funded international news organizations. Nor have I worked for the mainstream national media. My affiliations have always remained with alternative media outlets. This has left me with narrow options and very little space to move around in… However, independent reporting for the alternative media best suits my temperament as it encourages me to seek the truth beyond “conventional wisdom”. ” Available outside Pakistan Before it led him to a tragic death, Saleem Shahzad’s quest for that elusive truth beyond conventional wisdom took him from walks on Clifton Beach with a military officer-turned-Al Qaeda strategist to nights spent in mud huts with Taliban militia men as helicopters passed overhead and drones struck in the distance. It took him from Pakistan to Iraq to Lebanon to Afghanistan and back to North Waziristan to meet ra...

The 6th Karachi International Book Fair was held in Karachi this week. More than 300 publishers/ booksellers, more than a quarter million visitors over five days. You might have read about the importance of such events, you might have heard about the achievements of the fair and you might have been told about the diversity on offer. But since more than 70 percent of the stalls were trying to make money by making the readers better Muslims, we concentrated on the free goodies on offer. 6th Karachi International Book Fair (Photo: Suhail Yusuf / Dawn.com) Things We Got For Free A DVD of the first-ever documentary about Maulana Maududi ’s life, produced by Al Khidmat , Jamaat Islami ’s charity wing. A CD of the Jamaat’s current ameer Maulana Munawar Hassan ’s speeches. We accepted it under extreme duress. Four pamphlets: 1. Sins of the Tongue (the Urdu version is called Zaban ka Gunah ) Not what you think. It’s all about Islamic punishments for gossiping and backbiting. 2. Music: Quran a...