My father, who is a PIA pilot and flies the A320, is weeping in his room right now because someone forwarded the distress call to him on WhatsApp, and an aunty then called to ask if he thinks the captain is responsible.
People are grieving. Please, khuda ke liye, be responsible.
Still haunted by what I learned about old folks when I was researching in banks across Pakistan. They come to the bank often dressed in their best & stay longer than needed, just to have something to do, just to have someone to talk to, just to feel like they’re still of service.
The floods in Pakistan are what the compounded climate crisis looks like. It is a humanitarian crisis, a health crisis, a food crisis, a supply chain crisis, an education crisis, a mental health crisis, a refugee crisis, etc etc.
In 2006 I borrowed this book from my school library and my lil brother happened to borrow the same in 2022 🤗 And not many people wanted this book in between it seems.
Women must own their own homes. They will never belong anywhere else. Even after 30 years it will be your husband’s home, your in-laws’ home, your parents’ home. It’s not even your mom’s home until your dad is dead along with his parents - if the uncle doesn’t try to take over.
my driver (who has covid) called my mother (who has covid) to ask about her health since she's been very sick. he said he's got her in his prayers, which he's been praying.... at the mosque.
I'd really, truly appreciate it if men could please not use this as an opportunity to hound my inbox unnecessarily. You came to my profile because of a tweet about a plane crash... Thori sharam karlain.
It’s freezing cold and they’ve unleashed water canons on everyone, including children. So abhorrent. Tomorrow the oppressor will cry crocodile tears for Gaza.
Islamabad Police have deployed water hoses and baton-charged peaceful Baloch demonstrators protesting extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances in
#Balochistan
since November 23. This evening, the police prevented the demonstrators from entering the capital city.
A car was stalled on main Shahra e Faisal with a family inside, & no one was helping them. My friend & I stopped to ask how we could help. The car had to be pushed. So I helped push the car. That’s when all the other cars and motorcycles slowed down - to watch, not help. Nice.
i was just a girl begging my case for scholarships to Stanford and Fulbright then i got them and now i’m on the interview panel listening to other hopefuls shoot their shot. the dejavu feels like some version of the matrix or a frida kahlo painting.
Got a call from a woman saying that her car broke down today and many men in Vigos kept honking at her and it was v distressing, until a young boy came to calmly ask about what’s wrong with the car and if he could help.
That’s my lil brother ♥️🥹
Everytime I hear about a plane crash, my heart goes out to the pilots' families. If a pilot passes away, his family has to endure double pain. While dealing with the trauma of death, they also have to pray that the pilot isn't blamed for the crash by armchair aviation experts
My friend’s luggage was taken at the airport by someone even tho she put a tag on it with her name. When she contacted the person he said “I’m pretty sure it’s my own suitcase - I’m from Harvard I wouldn’t make a mistake like that.” Lol they don’t teach u how to read at Harvard?
Those comparing how Maula Jutt was released without problems to Joyland.. please don’t. One of these is a film about sexual desire, sexual assault, gore and extreme violence. Of course it’s clear which one reflects Pakistani values and is in line with our culture.
#ReleaseJoyland
TransPeshawar is doing amazing work for a holistic service 🚍❤️🏆
Instead of segregated buses, they focused efforts on gender sensitive design that's inclusive. Female ridership increased from 2% to 20%. Khwaja sira passengers feel safer. 70% of the city is covered by the BRT.
Is he coaxing the snake out? Is he feeling the music in his soul? Where did he find the snake charmer? How long had this been going on until my other brother found him like this? Was the snake guy playing the basuri or my brother? Why is there so much dirt?
Visited the Sindh Archives today. They have rare books, the oldest maps, private collections, and everything accessible to researchers. Want to see all of Jinnah’s bank account details? Letters from colonizers or hand written family trees? Persian manuscripts? They have it!
If they were Ukrainian they’d have been welcomed immediately. I do not care about cancellation on account of comparing tragedies because white people and countries CANNOT compare to the dehumanisation of brown bodies and countries they cannot even COMPREHEND the scale.
The more I work in terms of cooking, cleaning, budgeting, paying bills and then doing my full time parhai + work on top of that -- the more resentful I am of any excuse at all that desi men use to belittle, control, not contribute to the labour required to manage a house.
At my first ever job, I was sexually harassed by my manager. I reported it, and quit that job.
I was young, just graduated high school. I've always been passionate about what I do, and I would stay as long as I needed for the work to be done. I hate staying over time since.
I tried my hardest to go "abroad" for my undergrad, and despite all the admissions and scholarships I wasn't able to. I resented it for a while. But studying the amazing things that I am now, I find myself searching for context and familiarity. The universe is not one place.
I just saw a video of a Palestinian man carrying the broken pieces of his child’s body in two plastic bags. I mean, I don’t understand a single thing beyond this. This entire world makes no sense to me beyond this moment. How anyone can even think anymore is beyond me.
@Bilal_Amjad
I'm so sorry. I think the PIA crew, staff and their families really understand this devastation and the conditions that lead to it. My father was very good friends with him too. It's so heartbreaking.
Feminists are writing international statements, organizing protests, holding multiple meetings to pressure for a stoppage on the Israeli siege of Gaza.
Ali Zafar is choosing to tweet hate to his 3m followers instead of doing anything of consequence or helping them. Loser.
one of the biggest forced migrations of recent history is taking place in pakistan, and according to recent polls, there is overwhelming support for it. i don't think anyone who supports the forced expulsion of afghans from pakistan has a moral compass i could trust.
when I studied world history, Joseph Goebbels was introduced as some kind of mastermind who was an evil genius, bec how else could so many people have been convinced to allow a holocaust? looking at the west consenting to genocide rn, I don’t think it takes a genius at all.
I see images of demolished homes in Gaza and I know all people with beating hearts have the same reaction: indescribable grief and rage.
I would like to gently point attention to demolished homes in Karachi, where working class people have been mercilessly targeted.
Just had a moment that low-key had me weeping.
I was on the train (S-Bahn) from the airport to the city in Berlin with a friend. An elderly woman was sitting close to us, asking about a stop with worry on her face. The people she asked didn’t help or ignored her.
I want to be on every train station and bus depot helping every fob looking immigrant with their transit route. I want to be kind to them and explain it softly and slowly with tips and reassurance. It’s the scariest world, and when you look foreign, people can be so unkind.
Buses of Punjab police women's force have arrived to beat Baloch women and abuse them and "deport" them from Islamabad. Every Punjabi, especially Punjabi woman needs to speak up now. We stand with our Baloch sisters. Stop this violence.
#BalochLongMarch2Islamabad
as we march for palestine i beg pakistanis to remember there is an ongoing cleansing of afghan origin families in our country and to also feel similarly motivated to speak and move for them
*Me prepping for my visa interview*: lmao what if I answered to sacrifice my own life 4 Pakistan to sth. lol but yes let's not do that
Visa officer: what is your name
Me: Pakistan
@CephasTendereza
Yeah, no. Please tell men to stop harassing women, instead of telling women to avoid men. I shouldn't have to close off my inbox, men should be respectful.
on a tangent. I met some Pakistani men in the US who could not WAIT to move back to Pakistan because they were tired of having to cook and clean themselves. the alternative they considered was importing a bride from PK to the US bec girls raised there wouldn’t make good maids.
Rich Pakistanis not wanting to leave the country despite having the privilege to do so have always baffled me. I thought maybe it was patriotism but NOOO it’s all the ~servants~ that they get to keep with below minimum wage. And what do they call it? “COMFORT”
Amazing. If this happened in Karachi, ~40% of the land in the city would be released back to authorities answerable to the people of the city. Imagine golf courses converted to public parks 😍 and the tax you'd collect and give to the city.
north nazimabad is undergoing massive evictions, demolitions and land grabbing. the most interesting thing about Hazim Bangawar is his contribution to this issue. i hope the spotlight shines bright enough to highlight something that actually matters about such officials.
idk why anyone would deny how inaccessible scholarships are. the tests required are so expensive. travel to interviews too. they also mostly choose the students who already speak the best English. that’s a lifetime of privilege right there. it’s never just merit.
Realised that keh pakistan main ziada tar scholarships per bahar woh log jatay hain jinke abbu jees can easily afford the fee.
Kiunke ghareeb ke bachon ko tou maloom bhi nahi hota keh Fulbright bhi kisi bala ka naam hai or na he woh application fee afford karsakta hai or na he
Karachi ki spirit dying a slow death. Every one used to stop, always. Now people are so scared.
If my own car hadn’t stalled recently & made me feel absolutely miserable to be alive, maybe I wouldn’t have stopped either. But someone stopped for me, even tho it was inconvenient.
Over the past 2 weeks, 250+
#Shia
Pakistanis have been taken away in the UAE. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs says that "ye tou international crackdown hai hum kuch ni kar sakte". The Pakistani Embassy there is of no help & the police stations there are refusing to file our FIR.
An Ismaili Hazara family from Afghanistan tried to escape persecution from the Taliban and crossed the border into Pakistan. They’re being deported. Is there absolutely anyone at all in my network who can help?
So what was she wearing? Did she fight back? What time of the day was it? Was it a deserted a place? Any 4 good Muslim male witnesses? Any video evidence this happened?
What other questions would our helpful law enforcement officers ask to blame her?
I wonder if you could take a minute today to imagine a situation where your class and network does not protect you from state backed violence and terror.
#mujahidcolony
My course got approved today! I’m so excited to teach an elective I created from scratch that’s an exploration of questions I’ve been thinking about for a while, esp about cities in the global south.
It’s called “Right to the City: Urban Design and Public Space” 🌃🌿🚔🚶🏾♀️🤍
Every other day someone asks me about studying urban planning bec they’re interested in pursuing it too. That makes me so excited. Pakistan desperately needs qualified planners. Respectfully, not engineers or architects as substitute - but urban planners doing urban planning🤸🏽
This is the conversation that should be taking place EVERYWHERE in PK. Across the country police are being used for PRIVATE commercial development. They close lights at 4am, give residents no real notice & force them to evict their homes. Lux housing societies are the death of PK
The drastic shift we’ve seen recently is in the power of the collective voice. Speaking for Palestine or Balochistan is dangerous in different contexts, but it is less dangerous when more of us do so. That’s why every voice counts, to make it safer for all and to ensure justice.
Pakistan emits less than 1% of the worlds share of Co2 and will 100% be one of the worst places hit by the consequences of carbon emissions. But what has Pakistan done to prepare for it’s vulnerability and the lives of its people?
Men who could slow down to watch a ladies push the car could stop to help push the car but oh well.
Things to think about. I’ve been a helpless ladies in the backseat too many times in my life to either judge another or take it myself anymore.
We’ve been told our whole lives that women have a shelf life and that’s been used to control us in so many ways. Our desires, our perceptions of self, our choices.
But I’m so EXCITED about my 30’s. Financial independence, independence from other people’s desires, agency!!!
It was just a strange interaction overall bec there was a grown woman sitting in the car who stayed there the whole time. She didn’t know how to drive, and woh toh ladies hain push kaisay karay etc. Her husband was embarrassed another ladies was his best option.
A completely opposite timezone, joint family with no space + regard for education yet requiring your assistance all the time, 5 random hours of load shedding and the internet just suddenly malfunctioning - it's just not a level playing field.
Already exhausted by the idea of formerly colonized people being asked to “respect the dead” and her death taking over the news cycle like the floods in Pakistan have ended. If you post today, post about climate justice.
Beaches shouldn’t be private. The sea and its shore should be enjoyed by all.
OPs seem to take issue with congestion of a very specific type: High roof instead of Vigo or Fortuner. Yellow shalwar kameez - ancient cultures where masculinity isn’t as threatened by color.
I've studied in 3 vastly different places in the US as an international student without a car or driver's license. I know how absolutely miserable, vulnerable, and helpless I felt when I was in a city without a functional public transit system, and then also a private car.
Hello from Berlin 🇩🇪
I’m here to attend the Berlin Energy Transition Dialogue
#betd23
& PGREF study tour. Can’t wait to meet all the incredible people from Pakistan + around the 🌏 that are working on urban infrastructure and concerned about its sustainability
@greensofa_betd
I got into my top schools for grad school (🧿🧿🧿alhamdulilah x1000🧿🧿🧿) but now I need to choose and make a case for Fulbright.
Any Urban Planners/Designers/Researchers I can talk to for guidance?
tried to explain what joota chupai is to an angrez and settled for "you extort money from the groom in exchange for their shoes, which you steal, so they can't run off without paying. has a bit of an extra edge since it's also a tease to delay the couple... from consummation."
It’s the consequence of colonial extraction & 1st world industrial discharge & the corruption of governance. We have to understand the problem is multifold- global AND local. Conversation directing all blame outwards are incomplete. But the external is central to the conversation
there are little things more devastating than watching your parents age. i don't know if your heart ever forgets the chill the first time you see it. and yet, you would rather they age than any alternative. and you must reconcile then with your own aging too.
Karachi did not have then means to house all migrants coming in post partition. Eventually, they housed themselves. The government provided them with electricity, gas, water lines, etc. Much of Karachi has been built this way. Mujahid Colony is one of these neighborhoods.
instead of doing the most inane activities that mean nothing this women's day, HR could look into:
- the wage gap women suffer in their company
- maternity and paternity policies
- trans hiring
- day care facilities/discounts
- transportation vouchers
- female leadership gap
If you didn't know there are detention centers in Pakistan right now where Afghan people are being detained.
As there is no FIR against them, they don't have access to legal counsel.
As a result, lawyers, media, civil society, no one can enter these, and they're heavily policed
I’ve always maintained getting married is the easiest thing and worth the least congrats in the ranking of congrats. NOT getting married tho??? I’m almost 30 and still here. Mashallah!!
No unelected government should be able to make these decisions, esp not when they’re piecemeal anti poor eyewashes. Compare the investment in car based infrastructure & the lack of thought given to holistic transit journeys. All these people do is make life difficult.
2 years ago I was crying almost every other day trying to manage my 12 hour job and GRE studying and scholarship applications wondering if anything I did would amount to fruition. who even was I back then. idk. but I’m much happier now.
I want to be on every train station and bus depot helping every fob looking immigrant with their transit route. I want to be kind to them and explain it softly and slowly with tips and reassurance. It’s the scariest world, and when you look foreign, people can be so unkind.
Would like to bring your attention to this bec a giant victory (a home for the home demolished) is so close. After the hearing today, another has been scheduled for Thurs. The mutasireen are able to show up in might foregoing a day’s wage bec of donations that provide transport.
If you're from the global north, here's an exercise to help you: just replace "Palestinians" with "Ukrainians" when reading the text. Unlearning white supremacy takes time and we are here for you ❤️
every oppressed person in Pakistan who has their home demolished by the State will ask you, without fail, if they are in Israel or Kashmir instead. it is beyond me how people do not recognise the cruelty in the mirror when it is easy for them to recognise it everywhere else.
the president of pakistan tweeted that his signature was essentially forged on a bill that gives the military even more power on paper than it has always had in reality. this is a real timeline we are witness to.
sure, it’s annoying when women start sentences with “idk if this makes sense” and then say the most sensible thing - but when women say things with confidence, too many of you can’t take it at all. I’m more annoyed by that.
Romanticising something is often a disservice that robs the thing of its reality & paints it into sth it isn't. Which can lead to many material problems.
Now that I've prefaced this, let me say I can't even explain how much I love Karachi and everyone who owns Karachi as theirs.
also the way people from karachi love karachi is actually bizarre considering it is more often than not a hotbed of misery and inconvenience. and yet. maybe its an obvious bias but ive never seen a people love a city like this
Anger is the first resistance. It is an insistence to recognize wrong, and commit to accountability. Anger is the first struggle, because it is not allowed. They cage you in a box, label you a species suffering a disease which anger is a symptom of. Angry feminist. Always angry.
many fulbrighters return and become teachers. i completed my first semester well enough, but there were some tricky terrains to navigate. thinking once again about junaid hafeez and the robbery of his peace and life.
Throwback to me,
@ShaheeraPesnani
and
@NehaPanjwani_
presenting our papers at LUMS. & then scrambling to meet our thesis deadlines at night. I really miss how our batch always made it feel like we were truly in it together through each assignment.
Not having children in your 20s is not a waste of your 20s ♥️ If anything, it truly feels the opposite ✌🏽
Giving birth can be harrowing & exhausting for any woman at any age, & many aspects factor in. Be a mother when you’re ready, it’s totally okay if that means 30+ or never.
Just wanna add: I’ve had my kid at 31. It is so draining physically. I’m not as healthy as I used to be in my 20s. I really wish I hadn’t wasted my 20s and gotten a baby around 27-29. But Chalo gods plan ig.
As a woman, I don’t identify myself by my uterus. That would in fact be offensive. I could have one, or I could not. It wouldn’t change my gender identity. It doesn’t define womanhood.
People w/ uteruses” obvs means everyone with a uterus, who may or may not identify as a woman.
People w/ uteruses typically menstruate for 4 decades & account for about 50% of the population. Despite this, societal attitudes toward
#menstruation
reek of misogyny — which is found inside schools, universities, workplaces, homes, and even the healthcare sector!
#AuratMarch
Domestic labour is LABOUR. & there is a science, strategy, process to it. Society is built on the back of this unpaid, UNACKNOWLEDGED labour.
I still meet men who have NO shame in mentioning they want wives/mothers to take care of all the domestic stuff. Absolute pigs.
I was informed today that he was fired. So were two of his most loyal cronies. One of whom he was dating, despite being married with at least one kid.
Immunity?
Sabh taaj uchalay jaain ge.
People who live here have lived here since the creation of Pakistan. They populated this vacant area and brought commerce, housing, life here. Multigenerational homes, multiethnic mohallas. Now this land is valuable for luxury developers and greedy builders.
Anger is my first right. The right to my body and peace comes with anger as a safeguard. If my body and peace is violated, anger is my right. Haq. And I have struggled for my right to anger. Gaslighted myself until anger distorted to doubt, self hate, loss of reality.
How many kids were bombed in Pakistan and Afghanistan during these years? I remember all the think pieces that argued it was necessary. This whole system needs to shut down. The one including racist blood hungry consultants from the west who don’t see brown people as human.
This man wearing a green jacket was berating and harassing a halal cart vendor off 83rd and 2nd Ave in NYC. Does anyone know who this man is? Planning to report to the authorities.
🤢 i guess my biggest gripe with PTI supporters is always how they don’t show up for others, how they make it about morality overall when it’s always super selectively just about IK. they don’t care about the bigger picture or other oppressions. and the cognitive dissonance: