Suchergebnisse

The 1980s proved critical not merely for contemporary Afghan history but also for the women's struggle in Afghanistan. Showcasing Afghan women's struggles, this article argues that the 1980s proved crucial in shaping feminist debates in Afghanistan. Arguably, Afghan women's lived experience from the 1980s drove home the conclusion that foreign occupation does not bring women freedoms, while religious tapestries to sugarcoat secular women's demands reinforce patriarchy. They learnt in the 1980s that their struggles antecede and should succeed foreign interventions. It was, therefore, understandable that the first demonstration against the Taliban, when they re-entered Kabul in August 2021, was held by women.

In order to understand the growth of Islamic fundamentalism in Pakistan, it is important to go beyond culturalist and orientalist explanations. As an alternative, this article foregrounds four factors that have been instrumental in projecting fundamentalism to a near-hegemonic position in the country. First, the fact that Pakistan has been imagined as a community of Muslims offers the fundamentalist an edge over secular rivals. This confessional intrinsicality is compounded by an official appeasement and patronage of the fundamentalists. Second, elaborate charity networks offering an 'alternative society' that caters to basic needs such as health, education and jobs have helped Islamic fundamentalism expand its outreach during a neoliberal period when the state shunned its welfare role. Third, the radical decline of the Pakistani left spawned a political vacuum that allowed the fundamentalists to become a mainstream platform for the public to vent their anger. Finally, imperialism, in particular the United States, contributed to the growth of fundamentalism in Pakistan in the context of the Cold War. This process apexed during the Afghan Jihad of the 1980s, and it laid the grounds for 9/11 and beyond.

Preface Contributors Chapter 1Walking in Circle: Democracy, State and Freedom of Expression in PakistanQaisar Abbas and Farooq Sulehria Chapter 2Journalism in the Service of JihadFaizullah JanChapter 3Jihad on Screen: The Role of Jihadi Drama, Film and Their Press Coverage, 1979-89 in Islamising PakistanFarooq SulehriaChapter 4The Politics of Pity and the Individual Heroine Syndrome: Mukhtaran Mai and Malala Yousafzai of PakistanFawzia Afzal KhanChapter 5TV News as Merchant of War Hysteria: Framing the Kashmir Conflict in India and PakistanQaisar Abbas Chapter 6Performing Piety and Sexuality in PakistanAfiya Shehrbano ZiaChapter 7Cost of Doing their Job: The Online Harassment of Women JournalistsAyesha KhanChapter 8Counterterrorism Perspective and the Pakistani TV Channels: A Case Study of Osama bin Laden's AssassinationAmir Hamza MarwanChapter 9The Journey of Pakistan's Oscar-success A Girl in the River: An Insider's AccountHaya Fatima Iqbal Chapter 10What Freedom? Reflections of a Working JournalistFarah ZiaChapter 11 Covering the Periphery: Balochistan as a Blind Spot in the Mainstream Newspapers of PakistanAdnan AamirChapter 12Interviews with I. A. Rehman, Mehdi Hassan, and Eric Rahim: Freedom of Expression and the Sham DemocracyQaisar Abbas and Farooq SulehriaIndex

This book unpacks the media dynamics within the socio-cultural, political, and economic context of Pakistan. It provides an in-depth, critical, and scholarly discussion of contemporary issues such as media, state, and democracy in Pakistan; freedom of expression in Pakistani journalism; Balochistan as a blind spot in mainstream newspapers; media control by state institutions; women and media discourses; TV talk shows and coverage of Kashmir; feminist narrative and media images of Malala Yousufzai and Mukhtaran Mai; jihad on screen; and Osama bin Laden's death on screen, to understand the relation between media and terrorism. The book covers diverse media types including TV, radio, newspapers, print media, films, documentary, stage performance, and social media. Detailed, interdisciplinary, analytical, and with original perspectives from journalists as well as academics, this volume will be useful to scholars and researchers of media studies, Pakistan studies, politics and international affairs, military and terrorism studies, journalism and communication studies, and South Asian studies. It will also interest general readers, policy makers, and those interested in global journalism, mass media, and freedom of expression.

As a new nation-state in 1947, Pakistan's relations with the larger Arab world were fraught with many tensions and contradictions. Ever since, many readjustments have taken place on both sides. These rearrangements derive from such tectonic shifts as the ebbing away of Arab nationalism 1967 onwards, petro-dollar rush in the 1970s, Iranian revolution in 1979, end of Third worldism, Afghan war, unipolarity post–Berlin Wall, 9/11 besides labour migrations, military alliances and domestic imperatives of various states and polities. Presently, Pakistan is tied to the Middle East in a three-pronged manner. Economically, it is dependent on petro-dollar rich Gulf Sheikhdoms. This relationship can be described as pure clientelism. Next, geographical proximity and Cold War compulsions have implied an unavoidable Iranian nexus. Finally, with the rather recent rise of Turkey as a subimperial power in the Middle East, Pakistan has also tilted towards Turkey of late. However, beyond geopolitics and economy, Pakistan's embrace of the larger Muslim world has ideological connotations as well. Imagined as a Muslim Zion, commissars at the helm of ideological state apparatuses in Pakistan have always imagined Pakistan as an integral part of the larger Muslim community, numerous contradictions notwithstanding. Hence, informed by the theories of clientelism and subimperialism, this study argues that Pakistan's relations with the Middle East are anchored in economics, geopolitics and identity.

In the mainstream narratives on the Afghan conflict, primacy is assigned to a binary of 'Mujahedeen' and People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA) regime. The struggle of organisations, beyond this binary, such as the Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan (RAWA) against and during the communist rule, belies these narratives. Consequently, this article argues that women's liberation is not possible when a state/society is run by an autocratic regime denying democratic freedoms in general. This is equally true about present-day Afghanistan despite the staging of a mainstream intellectual/political spectacle to show that Afghan women were rescued by the USA. In the case of PDPA, we argue that through the harsh measures to subdue the opposition, the 'communist' regime introduced policies with huge consequences for women. Regarding the post-9/11 regime, we flag up its ideologically anti-women character. Therefore, we conclude that women's liberation cannot be achieved under foreign occupations.

AbstractIn 1960s Pakistan, every woman was giving birth to more than 6 children on average. In 2021, Pakistan still has the second-highest fertility rate in South Asia with every woman giving birth to 3.4 children on average. This paper uses four waves of Demographic and Health Survey data to empirically analyze trends in fertility in Pakistan between 1990 and 2018; accounting for wealth, education and locational differences, this paper looks at three additional pathways for reducing fertility: (i) electrification, (ii) access to TV and (iii) family planning commercials broadcast on television. Results show that electricity does not reduce fertility whereas access to television has a significant effect in reducing fertility rates. The content and evolution of Pakistani soap-operas are also discussed, and it is argued that the role models, the types of households and the messages conveyed by these soap-operas may represent strong pathways for the fertility decline.