The harsh beauty of the region has been luring photographers since the Victorian age, the most famous of whom were William Baker and John Burke. Their photographs of the "Great Game" - a phrase coined by Rudyard Kipling for the power struggles of British and Russian imperialism - were an inspiration to the writer, and remain some of the most poignant images of the British Empire. This work seeks to piece together the remarkable careers of Baker and Burke. No photographers of the Raj era witnessed more wars, discoveries, news events and human diversity than did these two Irishmen. Few encountered more adverse conditions, hauling heavy equipment and glass plates over steep mountain ranges, and mixing chemicals at dangerously high altitudes, than Baker and Burke. Based on research, this text chronicles the early days in Peshawar and their move to Muree, the Himalayan hill station on the border of Kashmir. It follows their documenting of the Afghan Wars, some of the earliest war photography, and their return to the plains of Lahore, where they continued to photograph the region's people and landscape. Baker and Burke's story is also the story of photography itself, a medium that was evolving at a dizzying pace - as quickly as the world they sought to capture was changing.

    

    It investigates the evolution of this ideal, and reveals a political history played out by presidents and foreign ministers, diplomats and prosecutors, journalists and advocates. Using previously unpublished archival material, this book traces the story of international human rights from World War II to the conflicts in Kosovo and Afghanistan. The book exposes the self-interest and cold-war rivalry that characterized negotiations over the UN's Universal Declaration and the human-rights covenants. Using new material from the United States, Britain and France, the author argues that the human-rights crusade has been designed primarily to enhance the West's self-image and to court domestic public opinion. As a consequence, it has aided its powerful Western advocates rather than its supposed beneficiaries in the broken and war-torn nations of the world.

    It draws on important questions such as: how has the conflict affected women and how have they learned to live with continuing violence? What strategies have they used to cope, to find a space, or to share or express what they are going through? The contributions in this book explore these issues through interviews with Kashmiri women, personal and reflective writings, and extracts from various reports and books. Together they draw attention to a vital aspect of the conflict that has been all but forgotten.

    Six candid interviews introduce readers to a class of professional Muslim women that is rarely, if ever, acknowledged in the West.These women tell of conflicts and compromises with family, kin, and community, while facing violence, archaic marriage rules, and locally entrenched codes of conduct. With brave eloquence they speak of human dignity and gender equality, of economic deprivation and social justice, and of feminism and fundamentalism. Challenging stereotypes, No Shame for the Sun reveals the uniqueness of each person and diversity in the life experience of Pakistani Muslim women, including their world views and the struggles to change their society. Through their struggles, professional Pakistani women have become conscious of their own and other women's situations in their country. Because they exercise power and authority in their chosen fields, they risk losing their families' support and antagonizing their communities.Carefully detailed and meticulously researched, this book offers a much-needed perspective on the changing circumstances of Pakistani women along with a view of established patterns and structural constraints within Pakistan. On a broader level, it examines Western misconceptions regarding Islam, a religion that crosses many borders and cultures.