Afrah Jamal

First Published in SHE Magazine / Dec 2012 The other day cricketer turned politician Imran Khan was unceremoniously hauled off a plane and detained for questioning in Toronto over his anti drone stance . Khan does not like drones. The Taliban do not care for them either. Ordinary Pakistanis are passionate about sovereignty, and conflicted about how to handle the ‘safe haven’ situation, which leaves them reaching for the pitcher of outrage after every violation. The past six years has seen a noticeable spike in drone strikes followed by rising temperatures on the ground. The people on ‘ground zero’ interestingly do not necessarily share these sentiments and might even go along with the idea of using targeted strikes to eliminate a common enemy. More on these people can be found in Irfan Husain’s excellent book Fatal Faultlines – Pakistan, Islam & the West . WikiLeaks cables place the State on the scene when covert wars became an active part of the scenery. Pakistan i...

Published by Daily Times / 5 May 2012 When characters in a modernised version of Sherlock Holmes make a passing reference to Karachi — they only have Daniel Pearl in mind. When the ISI agents are featured on TV shows — it is because they can stand in for the US’s favourite Cold War foes. Such imagery goes well with the popular narrative doing the global rounds. A widening gulf between Islam and the West, the oscillating nature of the Pak-US relationship, and the alarming levels of toxicity within, is a source of concern and confusion. Now, it is the subject of a book. At the launch of Fatal Faultlines: Pakistan, Islam and the West, veteran columnist Irfan Husain briefly touched upon these incongruities. In the book, he delves deeper into a cheerless terrain where reason has been cast adrift and paranoia is king. Fatal Faultlines: Pakistan, Islam and the West meticulously sifts through centuries of suspicion and decades of scorched earth left behind by Palestine, Iraq and Afgh...

At Book signing with Irfan Husain- Author of Fatal Fault-lines Pakistan, Islam & the West Liberty Books at Beach Luxury Le Book Signing Irfan Husain with Moderator Zohra Yusuf Chairperson HR Commission Pakistan & an EXPRESS Tribune fotog Asif Noorani At Q/A Session (Below) What I was aiming for.. (From Sarah Haris's Album) All Images Copyright to Moi