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Category: Lifestyle

  • Fatima Bhutto, Kamila Shamsie, 600 authors sign open letter protesting after Frankfurt Book Fair shuts down Palestinian author

    Fatima Bhutto, Kamila Shamsie, 600 authors sign open letter protesting after Frankfurt Book Fair shuts down Palestinian author

    Pakistani writer and columnist Fatima Bhutto and Pakistani-British author Kamila Shamsie were among the 600 writers, academics and translators who signed an open letter in support of Palestinian author Adania Shibli. The ceremony was set to celebrate Shibli’s novel ‘Minor Detail’ by giving her the 2023 LiBeraturpreis, a German literature prize annually awarded to authors from Africa, Asia, Latin American or from Arabia.

    Fatima shared a screenshot of the letter on her Instagram account and urged her followers to read ‘Minor Detail’.

    This outrage arrives after Frankfurt Book Fair postponed the awards ceremony which was due to honour Shibli, providing the explanation “due to the war started by the Hamas, under which millions of people in Israel and Palestine are suffering.”

    In the original statement, LitProm said this was a joint decision made with the author. However, Shibli’s literary agency revealed to The Guardian the decision was not made with her permission, and had the awards ceremony been held she would have taken the moment to reflect on the power of literature during these cruel times.

    The open letter which includes Bhutto, British historian William Darlymple, Shamsie, Irish novelist Colm Toibin, called out the organisers behind the Frankfurt Book Fair writing it holds “a responsibility to be creating spaces for Palestinian writers to share their thoughts, feelings, reflections on literature through these terrible, cruel times, not shutting them down.”

    The event was due to honor Adania’s 2020 novel ‘Minor Detail’ which details the true story about the rape and murder of a Palestinian Bedouin girl by Israeli soldiers. The English translation was nominated for a National Book Award in 2020 and the International Booker Prize in 2021.

    Controversy surrounding the book began this week when the German newspaper, Die Tageszeitung, accused the book for portraying “the State of Israel as a murder machine.”

  • Pakistan to send humanitarian aid to Gaza

    Pakistan to send humanitarian aid to Gaza

    Pakistan has announced it will send humanitarian aid to Gaza.

    In the light of severe dearth of food, water and healthcare, about 2.3 million Palestinians are struggling to survive. The spokesperson of the Foreign Office has thus stated that aid will be sent to the Palestinians.

    “In the wake of indiscriminate Israeli aggression and siege of the Gaza Strip, the already oppressed people of the densely populated Gaza are in urgent need of humanitarian assistance,”, the statement read.

    Pakistan is currently contacting the Egyptian government, the Red Crescent and the relevant agencies of the United Nations. Moreover, Pakistani missions abroad are also being contacted to finalise the delivery of aid.

    On Monday, Minister for Foreign Affairs Jalil Abbas Jilani spoke to his counterparts in Iran and Egypt and discussed the current atrocities being committed against Palestine.

    The spokesman said that the oppressed people of Gaza are in urgent need of humanitarian aid.

    However, how or if Pakistan would be able to send aid remains unclear as Israel has prevented other regional countries from sending aid. This includes Gaza’s neighbour Egypt whose borders meet the strip. It was proposed that Egypt would send relief goods through Rafah Crossing in exchange for allowing Americans and other foreigners to leave Gaza but Israel has not yet agreed to it.

  • BBC admits to ‘misleading’ coverage of pro-Palestine protests

    BBC admits to ‘misleading’ coverage of pro-Palestine protests

    British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) News has admitted to “misleading” sentences used to describe recent pro-Palestine protests when one of its presenters, Maryam Moshiri, termed the marches supportive of Hamas.

    Moshiri posted on X (formerly Twitter), “Earlier we reported on some of the pro-Palestinian demonstrations at the weekend.

    “We spoke about ‘several demonstrations across Britain during which people voiced their backing for Hamas’.

    “We accept this was poorly phrased and was a misleading description of the demonstrations.”

    Notably, BBC did not apologise for the statement.

    People around the world have been coming out on the streets against Israeli attacks on Gaza. So far, more than 2,800 Palestinians have been killed while the survivors are deprived of basic necessities including food, water, healthcare, electricity and internet.

  • Five Palestinian accounts to follow for live updates from Gaza

    Five Palestinian accounts to follow for live updates from Gaza

    Here is a list of five Instagram accounts of Palestinians who are currently present in Gaza and have been actively updating on the Israel-Palestine escalation since October 7.

    1. Plestia Alaqad @byplestia

    2. Motaz Azaiza @motaz_azaiza

    3. Ali Jadallah @alijadallah66

    4. Hind Khoudary @hindkhoudary

    5. Lara @gazangirl

  • Israel-Palestine war: 10 days in 10 pictures

    Israel-Palestine war: 10 days in 10 pictures

    Here are 10 pictures from the past 10 days following Hamas attacks on Israel on October 7.

    Israel has been accused of using white phosphorus in Gaza and Lebanon [File: Mohammed Abed/AFP]

    An airstrike destroyed buildings and cars around Jabaliya in Gaza on Monday.Credit…Mohammed Abed/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
    A fireball erupts during one of the latest Israeli bombardments of Gaza Strip on Monday night (October 9) and early Tuesday (October 10) [Mahmud Hams/AFP]
    Palestinian men carry bread through a heavily bombed street following Israeli airstrikes on Gaza City on October 10, 2023.   © 2023 Mahmud Hams/AFP via Getty Images
    Palestinian relatives stand with bodies wrapped in funeral shrouds with their names written for identification, at a hospital following Israeli military attacks on Rafah, in the southern of Gaza Strip on October 16, 2023. – The death toll from Israeli strikes on the Gaza Strip has risen to around 2,750 since Hamas’s deadly attack on southern Israel last week, the Gaza health ministry said October 16. Some 9,700 people have also been injured as Israel continued its withering air campaign on targets in the Palestinian coastal enclave, the Hamas-controlled ministry added. (Photo by SAID KHATIB / AFP)
    A protestor is detained by French Police during an unauthorized demonstration in support of Palestinians at Place de la Republique, in Paris, on October 12, 2023. Dimitar Dilkoff/AFP/Getty Images

    People rally to protest against the Israeli air strikes on the Gaza Strip, in Sanaa, Yemen [Khaled Abdullah/Reuters]
    A man man works on moving the body of a Palestinian, who was killed in Israeli strikes, from an ice cream truck where it was kept, as the hospital morgues are packed, amid the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict, in the central Gaza Strip October 15, 2023. REUTERS/Stringer

    Graphic content / The foot of a young Palestinian sticks out from under the rubble of a home following an Israeli attack on the town of Deir Al-Balah, in the central Gaza Strip, on October 15, 2023, amid the ongoing battles between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas. – Thousands of Palestinians have gathered in the south of the Gaza Strip, laying out beds on the streets after UN-run schools filled up following Israel’s warning to evacuate the north of the impoverished enclave. (Photo by Mohammed FAEQ / AFP)
    Israeli civilians volunteers feed soldiers at a barbeque and check their wellbeing prior to their deployment to the zone along the Israel-Gaza border near southern Israeli city of Ofakim on October 16, 2023, amid the ongoing battles between Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas. – Thousands of people, both Israeli and Palestinians have died since October 7, 2023, after Palestinian Hamas militants based in the Gaza Strip, entered southern Israel in a surprise attack leading Israel to declare war on Hamas in Gaza on October 8. (Photo by Menahem KAHANA / AFP)
  • Six labourers in Turbat killed in terrorist attack

    Six labourers in Turbat killed in terrorist attack

    Six labourers, natives of Shujaabad, 50 kilometres away from Multan-were killed in their sleep in Turbat, Balochistan in a terrorist attack.

    The victims were all from the same family, including two brothers. They have been identified as Rizwan, Shehbaz, Waseem, Shafiq Ahmed, Mohammad Naeem and Sikander.

    The two survivors of the attack are Ghulam Mustafa and Tauheed.

    Earlier today, their bodies were sent to Multan via Quetta by the Balochistan Government. Caretaker Chief Minister Ali Mardan Domki was present at the Khalid Military Airbase to send off the dead bodies via helicopter, brought to Quetta from Turbat last night. He expressed condolences to the families of the victims and stated that, “Everyone in Balochistan is saddened by the killing of innocent workers”.

    The poor labourers were shot by unknown gunmen while they were asleep in an under-construction house, said the police. An investigation has been initiated.

    PM Kakar also condemned the “heinous act” and reasserted the Government’s resolve against terrorism.

  • Constable suspended in India for a pro-Palestine post

    Constable suspended in India for a pro-Palestine post

    A new wave of anti-Palestinian hatred is sowing seeds in the religiously charged environment of India.

    The latest victim is UP constable Suhail Ansari, a Bareilly resident posted in Lakhimpur Kheri district since the past few months.

    A departmental enquiry has been launched against the constable for sharing a post, two days ago, in support of Palestine amid the ongoing war between Palestine and Israel, as per a report from The Hindustan Times.

    The Deputy Superintendent of Police in Kheri, Sandeep Singh informed media that the constable was suspended for sharing an objectionable post in which one dollar was to be donated for Palestine on sharing that post through his Facebook account. He said, he’ll be probed and if found guilty then stern action will be taken against him.

    The post read, “Help save Palestine. 1 repost=$ 1. All donations are directly to IslamicRelief USA. Add to the story to help save Palestine.”

  • We don’t take sides, says BBC journalist

    We don’t take sides, says BBC journalist

    Journalist John Simpson recently responded to criticism on why the BBC did not refer to Hamas’ gunmen (who attacked Israel on October 7) as terrorists.

    Referring to government ministers, newspaper columnists, and “ordinary people”, the foreign correspondent and world affairs editor of BBC News pointed out that it is not the job of a news agency to take sides or hand out labels.

    “Terrorism is a loaded word, which people use about an outfit they disapprove of morally. It’s simply not the BBC’s job to tell people who to support and who to condemn – who are the good guys and who are the bad guys,” he said.

    He reminded the people that the basis of his answer goes right back to the BBC’s founding principles.

    “The key point is that we don’t say it in our voice. Our business is to present our audiences with the facts, and let them make up their own minds.”

    With 50 years of reporting experience on the Middle East, Simpson has seen the aftermath of of Israeli bombing and artillery attacks on civilian targets in Lebanon and Gaza.

    “The horror of things like that stay in your mind forever”, he said. “But this doesn’t mean that we should start saying that the organisation whose supporters have carried them out is a terrorist organisation, because that would mean we were abandoning our duty to stay objective.

    And it’s always been like this in the BBC. During World War Two, BBC broadcasters were expressly told not to call the Nazis evil or wicked, even though we could and did call them “the enemy””

    He also quotes a BBC document stating, “there must be no room for ranting” and that the “tone had to be calm and collected”.

    “We don’t take sides”, he concluded. “We don’t use loaded words like ‘evil’ or ‘cowardly’. We don’t talk about ‘terrorists’. And we’re not the only ones to follow this line. Some of the world’s most respected news organisations have exactly the same policy.”

  • McDonald’s in Turkey, UAE, Oman donate to Gaza: Pakistani twitter users question their franchise

    McDonald’s in Turkey, UAE, Oman donate to Gaza: Pakistani twitter users question their franchise

    After controversy rose a few days ago when #BoycottMcDonalds began trending on X (formerly Twitter) after the fast food giant’s Israeli franchise announced that they were providing free food to soldiers carrying out operations in Gaza. Several McDonalds country franchises, including Pakistan, released statements distancing themselves from the Israeli chapter. However a few of them have announced donations for Gaza.

    Read more: McDonalds Pakistan, Turkey, Lebanon release statements; dissociate themselves from Israel

    The Turkey franchise released a statement where they distanced themselves from the Israeli branch and announced they were donating $1 million dollars to provide relief and aid to the communities currently suffering in Gaza.

    McDonald’s franchise in UAE wrote they were deeply saddened by the events in the region, and announced that they were sending AED 1 million dollars to Emirates Red Crescent for their ‘Tarahum for Gaza’ campaign.

    In Oman, the McDonald’s franchise wrote that the company was standing with Gaza in these difficult times, and have donated $100,000 dollars towards relief efforts.

    The McDonald’s franchise in Pakistan released a statement on Saturday, distancing themselves from the Israeli branch, but many Twitter users questioned why the company did not announce solidarity with Gaza and donated to provide humanitarian aid like the rest of the countries had.

    Veteran actress Nadia Jamil was among the critics as she wrote: “But do you stand with Palestine? That’s the answer we all want.”

    “If you are a Pakistani entity then where is your condemnation of Israel bombings? Where are your meals for Gaza? This wouldn’t cut it unfortunately,” another user wrote.

    “Spineless chain. Could have supported Palestine but all they care about is their commercial interests and not making international stakeholders unhappy,” another user wrote.

  • Pulitzer prize winning journalist Azmat Khan shadow-banned by Instagram on Gaza posts

    Pulitzer prize winning journalist Azmat Khan shadow-banned by Instagram on Gaza posts

    Shadowbanning by Instagram continues as Israel’s war on Gaza is being criticized. This time Pulitzer winning journalist Azmat Khan has been targeted by the social media giant.

    Azmat is an investigative reporter with New York Times, a Carneige Fellow and the Birch Assistant Professor at Columbia Journalism School.

    She took to Twitter (now X) and wrote, “After posting an Instagram story about the war in Gaza yesterday, my account was shadowbanned.”

    Khan expressed concerns affirmed by fellow journalists, “It’s an extraordinary threat to the flow of information and credible journalism about an unprecedented war.”

    She laid it all out for the world to know that the situation is getting dire for the journalists reporting from the war-zone. There are already extraordinary challenges to getting information from the ground — the killing of journalists, internet blackouts and electricity cuts— but these reports from journalists raise troubling questions about free press in this war.

    Other journalists weighed in by pointing out the rampant shadowbanning which may cause the valuable on-ground documentation to be lost. Alessandro Accorsi hinted at the “mistake” by which meta banned all content related to Sheikh Jarrah back in 2021.