MAY 10-16 2015
MAY 10-16 2015
Not all countries are receptive to Pakistani asylum-seekers
MAY 10-16 2015
Not all countries are receptive to Pakistani asylum-seekers
MAY 10-16 2015
Infographic
Cover Story
Living like a refugee Not all countries are receptive to Pakistani asylum-seekers
A life-saving service All the things you need to know about Executive Protection
32 Travel
The lure of Lisbon The capital is the perfect place to start your journey through Portugal
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36 Regulars
6 People & Parties: Out and about with beautiful people
40 Reviews: Movies and books 42 Positive Pakistanis: Hasna Umrani establishes the first girls school in Bittra village
Magazine Incharge: Dilaira Dubash. Senior Subeditors: Sanam Maher and Ali Haider Habib and Subeditor: Komal Anwar Creative Team: Jamal Khurshid, Essa Malik, Mohsin Alam, Talha Ahmed Khan, Hira Fareed, Maryam Rashid, Eesha Azam & Sanober Ahmed Publisher: Bilal A Lakhani. Editor: Kamal Siddiqi For feedback and submissions: magazine@tribune.com.pk Twitter: @ETribuneMag & Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ETribuneMag Printed: uniprint@unigraph.com
PEOPLE & PARTIES
Hina Z Khan and Hina Ramzi
Farah and Mahira
Zoe Viccaji
Ashail Rizvi and Rabia Aziz Rizvi
6 MAY 10-16 2015
PHOTOS COURTESY BODYBEAT AND PR
BodyBeat hosts its third Unplugged event with two bands at Orrery in Karachi
Muzna Ibrahim
Mr and Mrs Khalid
Amna Aqueel and Hasan Rizvi
Komal Rizvi
Amir Anees and Zhalay Sarhadi
PEOPLE & PARTIES
Sobia Nazir and Amna Babar
Amara, Samina and Sania
PHOTOS COURTESY REZZ PR
Sobia Nazir launches her 2015 lawn collection in Islamabad Nosheen Amer and Sadia Khawaja Abida Numan and Sara Raza
Samya Saifullah and Sara Amer
8 MAY 10-16 2015
Natasha Hussain, Nadia Malik and Cybil Chaudary
PEOPLE & PARTIES Shahbana Sher
Anumta, Saleem Sheikh and Saleena
IMAX Cinestar Cinema hosts the premiere of Jalaibee in Lahore Asad Muzaffar and Anoushey Asad
Tariq Zaman and Ayesha Tariq
Mariam Mamdot and Nosheen Saleem
10 MAY 10-16 2015
Uzma Pervaiz
Nimra and Jehanzaib Shafique
PHOTOS COURTESY BILAL MUKHTAR EVENTS & PR
Aneesha Shehryaar, Mariyam and Maha Ali
PEOPLE & PARTIES
Farheen, Zainab and Sadaf
Lakhany Silk Mills launch Zainab Chottani 2015 Spring/Summer lawn collection in Karachi
Huma Tahir
Beena Hassan
Ushana and Fahad
12 MAY 10-16 2015
Raeesa and Madiha
Sana Shahnawaz
PHOTOS COURTESY TAKEII PR
Ayesha Ibrahim
PEOPLE & PARTIES Celebrities flock to Sunsilk Dream Makeover Lounge at the 2015 PFDC Sunsilk Fashion Week in Lahore
Natasha Nida Azwer
PHOTOS COURTESY GOLIN PR
Anam and Ameera
Selina Rashid Khan
Madiha, Pareesa and Azka
14 MAY 10-16 2015
Meera
Fiza Farooq
PEOPLE & PARTIES Fouzia
Naveen Qazi
PHOTOS COURTESY CATALYST PR & MARKETING
Nomi Ansari and Nadia Hussain
Pakistan International Airlines hosts its one-of-a-kind showcase titled ‘Style PIA Fashion Show’ in Karachi
Tara Mahmood
16 MAY 10-16 2015
Zeba Bakhtiar
Anoushey Ashraf
Maheen Karim
PEOPLE & PARTIES Frieha Altaf and Khadijah Shah
Shehla Chatoor
Élan launches its Spring/ Summer 2015 lawn collection in Karachi and Lahore
Gauhar Bano and Meher Bano Chinoy Faiza
Sania Maskatiya and Umair Tabani
Fizza with her daughter
18 MAY 10-16 2015
Sabra and Shazya Amin
Maha Ali Kazim
PHOTOS COURTESY CATALYST PR AND MARKETING
Shazah Ayub
PEOPLE & PARTIES Kiran and Zahra
Amna and Alieya
Attiya, Saleeha, Aneela, Nida and Sana Shah
19 MAY 10-16 2015
PHOTOS COURTESY KASHIF UD DIN AND FAISAL FAROOQUI AND HIS TEAM AT DRAGONFLY
Zahida and Nisma
Sara Isis Mikaal
Amber Liaqat
COVERSTORY
Thousands of Pakistanis are leaving their homeland to seek safety elsewhere — but not everyone succeeds BY ZAHID GISHKORI
DESIGN BY EESHA AZAM
Aliens do exist. Far from Steven Spielberg’s Reese’s-devouring ET, these ‘aliens’ are no different from humans — but only because they are. Refugees (also referred to as aliens) have been traversing the earth since centuries, with references to them found in texts written 3,500 years ago. With increasing persecution, terrorism and wars, however, the trend of exodus has vigorously picked up momentum in the last decade.
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Despite being the world’s largest host country, sheltering millions of Afghans following the Soviet war, Pakistan has made it difficult for its denizens to live sans persecution. In 2013 alone, the country produced 50,443 asylum-seekers, an approximate 200% increase in migrants since 2009. While the reasons for leaving Pakistan have not changed, the need to leave has become more urgent. As the country continues to grapple with a fledgling democracy, most asylum-seekers leave the country due to a single, overwhelming fear: persecution from terrorists, according to Harnam S Arneja, a Washington, DC-based lawyer who works on asylum cases. “Fear of persecution from terrorists on the basis of religion especially for Hindus, Christians and Ahmadis is forcing people to leave Pakistan,” he adds. An undergraduate Ahmadi student Rana Imranullah left Sialkot in 2013 after a cleric warned him to leave the country or face persecution. His asylum case was successfully pleaded in England this March. Imran is one of tens of thousands of asylum-seekers looking towards safer ground. “My statement for seeking asylum was entirely based on religious persecution that we face in Pakistan,” he wrote to The Express Tribune from London. He now fears for his family, saying, “The lives of my relatives are in danger. We are very scared due to continuous threats by extremists. I’ve put my family’s case before the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). Let’s hope the body processes their case soon.”
Safiya Aftab, co-author of a study on migration conducted by Awaz, a non-profit organisation, says there is either a trend of ‘ghettoisation’ within their neighbourhoods and villages in Pakistan or immigration to other countries in South and East Asia. “Ahmadis are more vulnerable because there is specific legislation targeting the community. Sikhs are being targeted by militants, while Christians and Hindus face systematic discrimination,” she adds. Aimal Khan, an expert on refugees, says many people — minority communities in particular — are leaving the country as “they are being threatened by militants”. The Hindu community is perhaps the worst victim,
My statement for seeking asylum was entirely based on religious persecution that we face in Pakistan Student Rana Imranullah
he claims. When a country becomes a security state, it can only witness more migration, says Khan, who has been associated with a research institute focusing on immigrants in Pakistan. Hindu activist Ramesh Jaipal, who worked on a study titled ‘Exodus of Hindus families… a reality?’ tells The Express Tribune that Hindus are leaving the country due to fear of forced conversions. “When the state breaks the social contract with its people and fails to protect them, minorities are left at the mercy of God.”
To the land of the free In the years after the 9/11 attacks in New York, the US became a country of choice for thousands of Pakistanis looking to escape their fate. According to data available with the
Asylum seekers from Afghanistan and Pakistan argue with Indonesian policemen at a temporary shelter in Merak, Indonesia. PHOTO: FILE MAY 10-16 2015
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More than 80,000 Hazaras have fled Pakistan, and Australia was a popular destination until 2013. PHOTO: Reuters UNHCR, in 2002 close to 20% of the 7,000 Pakistanis looking to the leave the country applied to the US government for asylum. “Asylum-seekers know it’s easy to live freely in the US without the troubles they face in their own country in terms of freedom of speech,” explains a Pakistani-American businessman in Washington, Asad Chaudhry. Freedom, however, does not come easy. According to Arneja, changes to the US application standards along with a decreasing rate of approvals makes seeking asylum a tedious, and often unsuccessful, endeavour. Since ‘fear’ is a subjective state of mind, assessing the merits of an asylum case rests in large part on the credibility of the claim and the likelihood that persecution would occur if the applicant returns home. Two distinct concepts — the credibility of the claim or ‘credible fear’ and the likelihood of persecution or ‘well-founded fear’ — are fundamental to establishing the standards. A third dimension that overlaps these concepts is the issue of ‘mixed motives’ for persecuting the applicant. Additionally, all foreign nationals seeking asylum are subject to multiple backgrounds checks in the terrorist, immigration and law enforcement databases. Those who enter the country legally on non-immigrant visas are screened by the consular officers at the state departments when they apply for a visa. All foreign nationals are inspected by Customs and Border Protection officers at ports of entry. Those who enter the country illegally are screened 26 by the US Border Patrol. MAY 10-16 2015
More and more people are, therefore, disillusioned by the prospect of living in America. In 2013, less than 2.5% of more than 26,000 Pakistanis leaving their homeland were looking towards the US. Majid Bashir, a Pakistani jurist who is dealing with cases of asylum-seekers, states several reasons for the declining trend of those wanting to seek refuge in the US. The US has imposed restrictions on Pakistan by putting it on the watch list when it comes to dealing with trade and intellectual property rights, says Bashir. “New laws of the US and the alleged involvement of Muslims in security-related issues/ incidents could be the major reason behind this,” he adds. Job restrictions on the Muslim community, the indifferent attitude of Americans to Muslims, security threats and consequent checks by the local police and homeland security have further driven the asylum-seekers to the fringe. Nevertheless, since 2002, America has resettled 927 refugees from Pakistan, says a public affairs officer of the Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration, Christine Getzler Vaughan. These statistics, however, do not include those who may have migrated to the US via other means or sought asylum after arrival, she adds.
High hopes and rejections Despite the many hardships, Pakistanis remain undeterred. More than 3,400 have renounced their Pakistani citizenship in the past five years. Born and raised in the country, they voluntarily became citizens of other countries in search
2013
2012
2011
2010
2009
50,443 24,279
35,346 21,126
34,261 14,458
16,513 11,859
17,712 11,898
Greece
14,752 15,155* United States
2,870 528 Australia
United Kingdom
21,610 14,804
France
9,516 7,425
South Africa
17,416 14,520
Italy
Germany Key: Pakistanis who applied for asylum
Numbers in green
4,311 1,791
10,242 4,971
11,805 3,993
Number of rejected applicants Numbers in red * Includes applicants from previous years as well. SOURCE: UNHCR
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COVERSTORY
refugees approach the following countries for asylum
Pakistan 1,616,507 Poland 16,438 Nepal 46,305 Malta 9,906 Netherlands 74,760 Serbia 57,083 norway 46,106 Mauritania 66,767 montenegro 8,476 28 MAY 10-16 2015
Niger 57,661
SOURCE: UNHCR
Pakistan hosts 1.6 million Afghan nationals SOURCE: UNHCR
of a better future. “The 3,400 cases of renunciation of Pakistani nationality have been successfully handled,” revealed Director General of Immigration and Passports, Muhammad Safdar, in an official progress report submitted to the Ministry of Interior last month. “Some 141 cases of citizenship registration which were pending from previous years have also been decided,” the report stated. According to immigration officials, so far, around 171 Pakistanis have become US citizens, 75 of Norway, 251 of Canada, 121 of New Zeeland, 54 of Denmark and 145 of Australia, while the rest opted for citizenship of other European and Middle Eastern countries. Around 1,534 Pakistani applicants who want to renounce their citizenships are also being processed, shared the officials. It is the light at the end of the tunnel that asylumseekers are chasing. But to get to the end of the tunnel they undertake a journey fraught with many challenges. Official details submitted to Parliament reveal that 140 Pakistani nationals have been being deported every day from 49 countries since 2009. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs shared this information on the request of Jamaat-
Asylum-seeker arrive by boat. PHOTO: REUTERS e-Islami MNA Sahibzada Tariqullah. These countries have expelled 253,894 Pakistanis during the past five years. But according to Babar Baloch, a spokesperson for Asia and the Americas, UNHCR Geneva, Switzerland, “Asylumseekers from all countries, including Pakistan, who wish to settle in US and Canada have access to the process that determines the claimant’s refugee status. In accordance with UNHCR’s confidentiality policy, we don’t publicly comment on individual claims and circumstances.” The UNHCR asks governments and other decision makers to “carefully assess the needs of international protection for each asylum-seeker,” when determining the eligibility of asylum claims, adds Baloch.
Fighting for the future The fear has to be immense for someone to leave their homeland for a place they do not know will accept them. While some have the means to fly to their destinations of choice, many risk their lives for the promise of a new one. Tens of thousands have died traversing hostile waters in precarious boats operated by smugglers. Last month, nearly a thousand asylum-seekers died when a smuggler’s boat carrying migrants to Italy capsized off Libya’s coast. These people did not have to die, however. With a little compassion, many lives can be saved. A world without borders may be hard to imagine, but to imagine a world without borders as unyielding as they are, isn’t. T Zahid Gishkori is a 2014 Alfred Friendly/Daniel Pearl fellow and a national correspondent for The Express Tribune. He tweets @ZahidGishkori MAY 10-16 2015
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Executive Protection is all about living, working and travelling safely BY OMAR SAFDAR | DESIGN BY HIRA FAREED
Executive protection (EP) is the practice of safeguarding a key person, including affluent, prominent families, a senior corporate executive (both local and foreigner) or his/her family members, from assassination, kidnapping, extortion or injury. An EP specialist is hired to provide protection to a person by constantly
safeguarding them wherever they go and predicting and preventing trouble rather than detecting and reacting to it later. Advance work is done by a member of the protection team by visiting the location the executive intends to visit. Executive protection is not designed to overprotect top executives, but to maintain the company’s ability to operate and to preserve confidence among its employees, customers and investors. A good EP programme costs less than the benefits it produces or the damage it prevents.
Origins of the bodyguard The earliest well-documented examples include: The Praetorian Guard of Roman generals (a force of bodyguards used by Roman emperors).
Samurai of Japan (they were the warriors of premodern Japan).
312 AD
660 BC
The medieval knights of many European states.
1095
The housecarls of Scandinavia.
1015
The Queen’s Bodyguard of the Yeomen of the Guard formed by King Henry VII.
1485
The Vatican’s Swiss Guard.
Late 15th Century
The United States Secret Service.
1901
Interest in corporate executive protection began to grow after the ‘war on terror’ in Pakistan as terrorists expanded their activities to include soft targets.
Goals of EP Hold the threat at bay until a response force arrives. Ensure that the executive is able to shift to a safe place.
Safety measures when entering a new country
Make sure to ask for a photo and telephone number of the person coming to receive you at the airport including the registration number of his vehicle.
Familiarise yourself with certain foreign phrases, such as “I want to contact the police” or “I require medical assistance”.
Get briefed on the political and social climate of the host country. Make sure in an event of emergency, you have a few contacts who can provide you help.
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Avoid disclosing the whereabouts of staff members.
Commercial airline tickets for executives should be obtained from trusted agents. Otherwise, only the name of the executive should be given with no mention of his position.
Exercise caution when opening mail that might contain improvised explosive devices.
Protective Measures At Office
Limit publicity and keep official biographies vague.
The time of arrival and departure of executives to and from the airport should be kept confidential.
How to eliminate threats while driving Keep security updated regarding the executive’s travel plans by messaging travel details to the concerned person. To prevent communication from being overheard by an adversary, discreet or coded language should be used.
Home risk-assessment
Don’t rent houses previously used by government officials since you may unnecessarily place the executive at risk of being attacked as a result of mistaken identity. Properly secure all doors and windows to the frames and anchor them to the building structure. Create a vestibule ensuring that no one can enter the residence directly and add a separate reinforced masonry wall around the residence.
Install backup power systems for security devices, such as surveillance systems, communication systems and access-control systems.
Install a tracker in the car. The vehicle should be well-maintained and the gas tank should be kept at least half-full at all times. For increased anonymity, the vehicle should be registered in the name of the corporation rather than the individual. Keep changing the vehicle from time to time to avoid recognition and do not take the same route at predictable times. Chauffeurs and relief drivers (one who fills in for another driver in case of injury) should be thoroughly screened before being hired. Additionally, the chauffeur should not be given advance notice of the executive’s destination or schedule.
Keep a check on all delivery personnel. Check the IDs of everyone entering the premises, including electricians, plumbers and telephone maintenance personnel.
Install security lights to aid in viewing entrances.
Fit windows with either Venetian blinds or thick curtains to reduce the observation of activities and hazard of flying glass in case of nearby explosions or gunfire.
Install a panic alarm outside the house with switches on all floors. The alarm should be heard inside the security department.
Social activities which involve hosting dinners, going on a vacation, to parties or other functions that pinpoint the executive’s location, should be avoided, if possible.
Teach the chauffeur how to give distress signals. Keep car doors locked, lower car windows by only a few inches and keep the car at a distance from other vehicles.
Have the home telephone listed under the organisation’s name.
Keep house keys safe.
The vehicle should not be overloaded. If a terrorist roadblock is encountered, either try to bypass it or hit it in the non-engine area. The goal is to knock the blocking vehicle out of the way. Whenever a target vehicle veers away from the terrorist vehicle, it presents a better target to gunfire.
Teach children not to reveal any crucial information while talking to strangers over the telephone.
Be alert on the road and see if you are being followed. Do not stop or force a confrontation, seek police assistance. If you are unable to contact the police, press the horn to attract attention. Abductors do not look for attention or want their victims killed during the attempt. Finally, if the abductors are close enough to fire weapons at the driver, stop the vehicle and submit.
Trim tall grass around the house.
Omar Safdar has served in the Pakistan Army for over 20 years and is a certified protection professional (CPP). He specialises in the fields of loss prevention and corporate security. He tweets @omarsafdar_CPP MAY 10-16 2015
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TRAVEL
The lure of Lisbon
The rustic and beautiful capital is the perfect place to start your journey through Portugal TEXT AND PHOTOS BY AMNA YAMIN DESIGN BY SANOBER AHMED
When I told my friends I wanted to backpack through Portugal, the first reaction I received was, “Since when have you been such a fan of Cristiano Ronaldo?” Their next question was, inevitably, “Why Portugal?” I could have travelled anywhere in Europe; so, why pick a small country where not many tourists from my part of the world venture to? There were many reasons why Portugal was my destination of choice. Perhaps, it was the effect reading the book Night Train to Lisbon had on me. It might also have been a postcard I received from an old Portuguese friend bearing the image of a ship in a vast ocean, with a message telling me to dream, explore and discover. My journey, I decided, should echo the footsteps of this country’s sons, whose voyages and conquests had led to the establishment of the great Portuguese empire — an empire whose influence was felt all across Asia, Africa 36 and Latin America. In a small testament to MAY 10-16 2015
The Jeronimos Monastery — Vasco da Gama’s final resting place.
the empire’s impact, Portuguese is still spoken in Goa (India), Macao (China), Angola and Brazil today. Portugal claims to be the world’s oldest kingdom and my journey into its storied landscape began in the somewhat rustic but breathtakingly beautiful capital Lisbon, or Lisboa as it is called by locals. Here, my brown skin and dark hair did not stick out. On my drive to the hostel in the old district of Belem, the taxi driver chatted with me, pointing out all the shops on our journey that are run by South Asians. “I see more and more of your people here,” he remarked. “They come in hoards and stay.” Lisbon is nothing like the other western European capitals I have been to. The people here are warm and friendly and the city, despite its thriving night life, manages to retain an old town feel. Perhaps this is due to the yellow trams that ply the streets, looking like they are
Despite its thriving night life, Lisbon manages to retain an old town feel. Perhaps this is due to the yellow trams that ply the streets, looking like they are straight out of a movie from the 1930s
Lisbon’s tram 28, one of many yellow-coloured trams across the city. PHOTO: ROBERTO MARTINS
The Padrão dos Descobrimentos is a reminder of the Portugese ‘Age of Discoveries’.
straight out of a movie from the 1930s. My hostel overlooked the ‘Tejo’ or the River Tagus. My first day in the city was warm enough for a stroll along the river, despite the fact that it was February. I was reminded of a friend’s comment that the Portuguese love the sea. Being situated at the western-most point of continental Europe, Portuguese have always been eager to explore the world beyond their borders. The water drove hordes of Portuguese men into its arms, luring them with promises of a better future, wealth and women. On the northern bank of Tagus, I caught a glimpse of the explorer Vasco da Gama’’s voyages carved on the pavement. I was told by another tourist that locals refer to this spot as Calcada square. It serves as a reminder of a bygone era: Vasco da Gama may have been one of many sea explorers but his voyages eventually paved the way for the spice trade from India to Europe. Even as Portugal is a crumbling economy today, one can still see traces of a once-booming spice trade here on the streets of Lisbon through its tiled walls and coloured 37 pavements. MAY 10-16 2015
TRAVEL A little further along the shore of the river lies the famed Padrão dos Descobrimentos or the Monument to Discoveries. Its location symbolises the point in the river where ships departed to explore and trade with India and the Orient. This 52-metre-high concrete monument was erected to celebrate the 500th death anniversary of Henry the Navigator and serves as a reminder of Portugal’s ‘Age of Exploration’ during the 15th and 16th centuries. Across the street from the monument lies the Monastery of Jerónimos. This is perhaps Portugal’s most intriguing building. The monastery, built by King Manuel from ‘pepper money’ earned from a 5% tax on spices brought back from India, does not have a Moorish style, unlike many other ancient buildings in the country. According to legend, sailors prayed here before embarking on unpredictable voyages, while monks were charged with providing solace and comfort to these sailors. Today, this riverside church does not have a functioning monastery. The water has receded and so has the spirituality. Inside the church, you can spot a painting by Leonardo da Vinci and visit the final resting place of Vasco da Gama. I was stunned to discover the burial spot here, as I expected the legendary explorer to be buried in Kochin, India, where he died. The famous Portuguese poet Fernando Pessoa is also buried at this site. Later, I walked by the Tower of Belem, a symbol of voyages made by the powerful. It is said that in Portugal, the Torre de Belem was the last thing sailors saw when they left and the first sight when they returned to Portugal. It was originally planned to replicate at least 16 other Belem towers, but this never came to be. As my first day wound to a close, I did not want to sleep without trying the famous Casa Pasteis de Belém. In other parts of the world, people refer to this wonderful cream tart as ‘pastel de nata’. Here, in its birthplace, it is known simply as ‘pastel de Belém’. As I complemented the tart with aromatic strong coffee, I knew for certain that beginning my Portuguese journey in Lisbon was the right decision.
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Amna Yamin is a social entrepreneur who is on the path to discovering the world one city at a time. She tweets @AmnaYamin MAY 10-16 2015
According to legend, sailors prayed at the Monastery of Jerónimos before embarking on unpredictable voyages, while monks were charged with providing solace and comfort to these sailors
The shore of River Tagus overlooks the 25th of April Bridge, the longest suspension bridge in the world outside the United States of America. PHOTO: ROBERTO MARTINS
Digital Dread The unsettling horror film Unfriended is cleverly set in the broadband era BY ALLY ADNAN
In a world where one’s worth is gauged, increasingly, by the number of friends, followers, likes, re-tweets, subscriptions and responses to online actions, ‘unfriending’ is no trivial matter. It has deep emotional, cognitive, social and societal consequences. The title Unfriended leads one to expect a film that deals with these consequences along with the many manifestations, costs and effects of the phenomenon of unfriending. Thankfully, Unfriended is a different film. It is not a screed about the ills and effects of technology and social networking but an entertaining and enjoyable film about ordinary people dealing with crimes of their past in a hyperconnected world. Unfriended takes place in real-time over a period of 80 minutes. The action is limited to what is seen on the computer screen of high schooler Blaire Lily (Shelley Hennig) who chats with friends on Skype, while listening to music on Spotify, watching videos on YouTube and sending instant messages to her boyfriend Mitch Roussel (Moses Jacob Storm). The film opens with Blaire chatting on Skype with her boyfriend and as the lovers start talking naughty, they get added to a group call with other close friends. The group of teens is in the mood for a long idle chat but they keep getting interrupted by a mysterious online intruder. The intruder may be the ghost of Laura Barns (Heather Sossaman), a friend who killed herself after 40 being relentlessly harassed and humiliated MAY 10-16 2015
online. Each one of the friends is responsible, in part, for Laura’s death. It is the one-year anniversary of the suicide, and Laura’s ghost, it seems, is back for revenge. The teenagers try hard but are unable to get rid of its initially menacing and eventually lethal presence. Unfriended does not chart any new territory. It is essentially the familiar and age-old story of irresponsible teenagers being forced, by supernatural forces, to pay for past cruelty and crimes. Yet, this works remarkably well in director Levan Gabriadze’s taut and disciplined horror film. Three factors make Unfriended a success. One, the movie completely immerses viewers in the online experience. Two, the ghost has a personality and a sense of humour. And, three, fear is generated not through violence and carnage but from horrors abundant in the cyber world. Gabriadze’s idea of setting the entire film on the screen of a computer is both novel and clever. Viewers, familiar with the world of multiple windows and multi-tasking, are likely to identify with the protagonist and get absorbed in the action as they watch it unfold on her MacBook. The film’s primary characters are seen only through their webcams, often simultaneously in Skype’s group video call, in an ingenious manner that pays rich dividends. Lost connections, pixelation, crackling, noise, poor focus, inadequate lighting and awkward camera angles are all used effectively to heighten
tension and to create an atmosphere of fear, panic and terror. The intruder — or the ghost of the dead Laura Barnes — has both a sense of purpose and of humour. It wants to enjoy itself and have fun as it determinedly exacts revenge. The ghost lures the teens into a perverse game which gets deeply hurtful and cruel as the film progresses. It enjoys exploiting the friends’ insecurities, secrets and infidelities to make them miserable and to turn them against each other. In one of the film’s funniest moments, the ghost changes the song on Spotify to Connie Conway’s How You Lie, Lie, Lie after gleefully revealing Lily’s sexual perfidies. The film, surprisingly and thankfully, has very little blood and butchery. Instead, the entire arsenal of cyber bullying — anonymous messages, menacing posts, painful insults, malicious rumours, cruel heckling and much else — is used to create true and identifiable panic, horror and fear. Unfriended succeeds because it understands what very few horror films do — blood and gore can shock but real terror lies hidden in the everyday and the mundane. It is this terror that the film exploits and invokes successfully.
Rating: Ally Adnan lives in Dallas and writes about culture, history and art. He tweets @allyadnan
Hopes and betrayals
The Upstairs Wife is an intimate exploration of state politics and its impact on personal relationships BY NUDRAT KAMAL
The public and private spheres of our lives are always intertwined in unfathomable ways. For instance, as Hindus and Muslims fight over bits of land in India, causing bloodshed and making it dangerous for people to step outside their homes, one woman is forced to give birth at home, in the midst of family chaos. Similarly, as a woman returns to her father’s house determined to carry on his legacy and lead his people and, eventually, the country, another comes home defeated and miserable after a personal tragedy. According to Pakistani law, a man can have up to four wives, which could leave a woman devastated and publicly humiliated after her husband decides to exercise this legal right. It’s this interplay between the private and public that journalist and human rights activist Rafia Zakaria explores in her first book, The Upstairs Wife: An Intimate History of Pakistan. Part family saga, part memoir and part a chronicle of Pakistan’s history, the book parallels Zakaria’s aunt Amina’s experiences as her husband remarries just when important historical events unfold around them. The Upstairs Wife begins on the eve of December 27, 2007. As Zakaria’s family awaits news of the health of aunt Amina’s polygamous husband, another, more shocking, news arrives: Benazir Bhutto has been assassinated in Rawalpindi. As with the beginning, each stage of aunt Amina’s marital saga is paired with a moment in Pakistan’s history. Deftly written, in clear and crisp prose, the book is engaging and frequently fascinating. What makes The Upstairs Wife work is that, as the subtitle suggests, it presents an intimate view of Pakistani history — a view that is mostly missing from the pages of history books which chronicle only the actions of those in power. The history that Zakaria is interested in exploring is that of real people, and her book is at its best when it showcases how the oppressive and ruthless policies and events in the country’s larger political sphere affected the lives of individuals and their relationships with one another. Zakaria writes with particular deftness about the oncelively Amina’s descent into melancholy as she constantly negotiates the dynamics of her new life once her husband’s new wife takes up residence on the floor above her own living quarters. The arrangement was such that the husband would spend one week with one wife and the following week with the other, and so on, as prescribed by the Holy Quran, which demands that every man who takes more than one wife should do so only if he can do ‘perfect justice’ between them. In practice, however, the arrangement proved to be not as simple and Zakaria delves into the minutiae of these relationships to truly understand them.
The book, however, has its flaws. The biggest being that while in some places, the juxtaposition between the public and the private works (Benazir Bhutto returns to take up her father’s mantel the father s house upon hearing her same year Amina returns to her father’s husband’s decision to remarry), at other times, the connection t. Moreover, between them is tenuous at best. tarian the book explores migration, sectarian conflict and military coups, but without a sparate strong thread uniting all these disparate ed and elements, the book feels scattered sting in many of its parts, though interesting their own right, feel random and out of place. Nevertheless, in The Upstairs Wife, oring Zakaria does a skillful job in exploring the personal and emotional cost of laws and policies, especially with regard to women — something which hardly ever becomes a part of the debate on what should and should not be made part of the law. Nudrat Kamal is a freelance writer. She tweets @Nudratkamal
Author Rafia Zakaria
positive
PAKISTANIS
Desert rose
A Thari woman’s love for education drove her to establish the first girls school in her village
BY ABDUL HALEEM SOOMRO
Hasna Umrani established the first girls school in Bittra village, Tharparkar in 2011. PHOTO CREDIT: ABDUL HALEEM SOOMRO.
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ifteen kilometres from Chelhar in Sindh’s desert district of Tharparkar, a differently-abled woman of Bittra village is making sure the blossom of childhood is not stemmed by a fate of abject poverty. Hasna Umrani, 30, established the first all-girls school in her village,in 2011. Born without hands, Hasna did not let her disability overpower her abilities. For the past four years, she has been teaching girls — and later boys — at the school she built for the unprivileged. Hasna was always a responsible child, diligently doing daily chores. Her father Makhan had taken her to school one day but the headmaster refused to give her admission on the basis of her disability. “Being the fifth of six siblings, I often felt envious of my siblings who went to school,” says Hasna. Undeterred, she was adamant to acquire an education through her sister Niyamat and brother Liaquat. Cradling the chalk between both arms, Hasna’s love for all things literary soon bore fruit. She learnt to read and write at a younger age compared to the rest of the family. Seeing Hasna’s passion for education, her father decided to give another shot at getting her admitted to the school where she had been denied admission earlier. This time though, the school staff was amazed at her literary skills and readily accepted her. “After successfully completing her primary education, Hasna enrolled at a government school in a village named Akliyon. There, she completed middle school,” shares her brother Liaquat. Fraught with financial problems, however, Hasna could not finish high school and had to discontinue her education. Her dream of graduation is yet to be realised. However, not all her dreams are unfulfilled. Villager 42 Manthar says Hasna spoke to locals and shared her desire MAY 10-16 2015
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to educate girls. “After having a number of meetings, Hasna established a thatched school called Landdhi at her own residence,” he says, adding that now she is seen as a role model in her community. Impressed by her venture, Canadian philanthropist Abdul Hameed helped Hasna establish two classrooms along with a bathroom for the 30 girls studying at the school. Hasna also managed to get course material from the funds provided to her. Presently, one of the classrooms functions as a vocational centre where girls are taught needlework for free. To support her family, Hasna also does embroidery work at home to sell in the market. Another member of her community, Allah Bux Hajam says Hameed named the school ‘Insaf Girls School BittraChelhar’, putting up a panaflex bearing Pakistan Tehreek-eInsaf chief Imran Khan’s picture holding the World Cup won in 1992. Hasna’s family wanted to name the school after her grandfather Chatoo Khan, but decided to go with Hameed’s suggestion over the fear of losing funding. According to Hajam, the school’s name has sparked a political debate in the village, which has traditionally been the stronghold of Pakistan Peoples Party and the Arbab group. Lauding Hasna’s initiative, political activist Suleman Rahimoon says her efforts are especially commendable keeping in mind the phenomena of ghost schools and ever-absent, incompetent teachers who still manage to draw handsome salaries. Hasna’s project may appear to be modest, but it has had a significant impact in Tharparkar district where female literacy has always been abysmal. Now, the girls can dream and Hasna is making sure these dreams are not swept away by the harsh desert wind. Abdul Haleem works as a social activist and freelance journalist.