China’s new red Star – in space
When I was growing up, the space race between NASA and the Soviet space program was a major topic of conversation. The race to the moon between the United States and Russia was a major avenue of Cold...
Category: Asia
Backlash against India’s landmark “sodomy ruling”
Section 377 of the India Penal Code is no more, at least for now. The former law criminalized LGBTQ Indian citizens and sex workers for acts of sodomy, thus restricting these groups from receiving...
Shanthi Sekaran on The Prayer Room, writing, and the state of indian lit
Shanthi Sekaran has a lot to celebrate this year. This past spring, MacAdam/Cage published her debut novel The Prayer Room to wide acclaim. Readers are quickly absorbed by the winding story of George...
Tamils in Toronto: the graceful protest
Over the past several months, members of Toronto's large Tamil community have organized a number of protests meant to draw attention to the dire situation in Sri Lanka, where, up until recently, the...
Collateral damage: protesting the Swat flogging
A cell-phone video of the flogging of a 17-year-old girl in Swat has garnered much public attention in Pakistan over the last two days. Barely recovered from the previous attack on Manawan police...
Unity, faith, discipline, terror and the Manawan Police Training School
Rahman Malik, the Prime Minister's Advisor on the Interior, calls on the nation of Pakistan to party like it's 1965. Which is to say - unite, be nationalistic, perceive an external threat to the...
Standoff between the Pakistan People’s party and… everyone else
Last night, Lahore waited uncomfortably for the night to pass. The morning would bring the third day of the Long March. Lawyers, students, party workers, activists and ordinary people have been...
Sri Lankan cricket players attacked in Pakistan
Late Tuesday morning, the Sri Lankan cricket team was driving towards Qaddhafi Stadium in the centre of Lahore to continue its test match against Pakistan when gunmen leapt out at them and shot from...
Look, it’s an Orphan Soul Hanging like a Dead Crow from the Tree!
Every time I visit a supermarket or a mall to buy something, I come away with a sense of guilt because invariably I am holding a plastic carry bag like a dead rabbit. I say dead rabbit because a...
After Mumbai: India, Pakistan staring across the border
These last few weeks, Indian-American filmmaker Sarah Singh has been touring in Pakistan, screening her documentary, “The Sky Below”, and taking questions from an energetic Pakistani public. The...