Best of Magazine

A round up of some of the best work featured in the Sunday Magazine.

Among the Blasphemers

This story really stands out. It was painstakingly compiled by a journalist named Taha Siddiqi, who travelled to the village of blasphemy accused Aasia Bibi – the same woman Salmaan Taseer so famously defended before his murder. From the streets of Gojra, barely recovered from the anti-Christian riots, to a rally staged in support of the Blasphemy Law and attended by many of the mainstream political parties of Pakistan, this story had interviews and witness accounts from both sides of the divide. We had kept it on ice, and when Shahbaz Bhatti was gunned down in Islamabad we decided to run with this story as it clearly highlights the intolerance and hatred that has marked the entire ‘debate’ on the controversial law.

The story of how we came by this cover design is also an interesting one. Our original idea was quite ambitious: we wanted to have the outline of a face which we would fill in with reflective paper, the idea being that when you look at the cover, you see your own reflection.

Unfortunately, the plan fell through at the last minute and so we took a picture of our own designer Jamal Khurshid and stuck a tape on his mouth … all with just five minutes to go before the deadline!

Jews of Karachi

This piece was done by Huma Imtiaz. The inspiration for this came from the Star of David on Karachi’s Mereweather Tower and the Jewish graveyard in Karachi. While both these landmarks have been covered separately, we thought it would be interesting to map out exactly where the longgone Jewish community of Karachi had left its mark. The old synagogue now no longer exists, and the graveyard itself is endangered by land-grabbers and vandals. We wanted to document this part of our shared heritage before it disappears forever. For side stories, Naveed Hussain wrote on the legend that the Pathans are descended from the lost tribes of Israel and Zarrar Khuhro wrote on Zionism and how, contrary to popular belief, not all Jews subscribe to this racist ideology. The cover art took a great deal of debate and editorial discussion. We wanted to go with a graffiti-type touch with a partially white-washed Star of David on the cover. Another idea was to use the iconic I ‘heart’ KHI graffiti stencil and replace the heart with a Star of David. However, wiser counsel prevailed and we instead went with what you see displayed on the page. We thought it was the choice least likely to get the office burned to the ground.

Zaid Hamid

Conspiracy theorist, soldier of Islam, prophetic leader, demagogue, fascist, patriot... Zaid Hamid has many faces. His notions of nationalism attracted the middle class youth, with the nation tuning in to his show Brass Tacks and even rock star Ali Azmat becoming an avid and public admirer. Then, in March, controversy erupted around the popular television figure. Rumours circulated that Hamid was a follower of Yusuf Kazzab, who had claimed prophethood in 2000. At the same time, the Aalmi Majlis Tafaffuz Khatam-e-Nabuwwat alleged that he was involved in the murder of their leader Mufti Jalalpuri. The magazine decided to unearth the man behind the facade. Writer Amber Rahim Shamsi suggested the story, and the cover art was done by Essa Taimur Malik.

Gwadar: an unfulfilled dream

One complaint we always are faced with in Pakistan is that the media does not follow up on stories and that Balochistan is severely under-reported. Guilty as charged. This story is an effort to not only correct that imbalance, but also delve beneath the surface of Gwadar and see what is really going on in that oncepromising part of Pakistan. Moign Khawaja travelled to the city and spoke with all and sundry, returning with a detailed and very informative piece on the issues plaguing the port. Sabin Agha and Shehzad Baloch also wrote in the same issue on the Sui Education city and the target killing of teachers in Balochistan. It was a humble effort, but one that was long overdue.

The cover art is simple yet effective, taking a picture of the coastal highway and superimposing blueprints on to it. The same theme is carried on the inside pages as well, and works pretty well given the potential of Balochistan and the reality.

Scenes from a Sikh festival

This was one of our favourite pictorial portfolios, masterfully captured by Humayun Memon for the Citizens Archive of Pakistan’s minority project. It shows, as the title implies, scenes from a Sikh festival in Nanakana Sahib, near Lahore. In the second week of January, Sikhs from all over Pakistan gathered here. The birthplace of the first Sikh Guru, Guru Nanak Dev, the small town of Nanakana is transformed into a bustling hub during the birthday celebrations. The town has nine gurdwaras. We included it as a potent reminder that Pakistan is home to many different ethnicities and religions, and that we would all be poorer if any one of these groups were forced to leave or go underground. This land is our land, and it’s their land too.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 12^th,  2011.