During an afternoon spree of games, Tara is kidnapped from the fields and raped. All seems to be resolved after her parents accept an unexpected marriage proposal for their “dishonoured” daughter. But the nightmare resurfaces when a newspaper clipping emerges, calling the union into question.Determined to rescue her twin, Zara embarks on a harrowing quest for justice, battling keepers of a culture that upholds propriety above all else and braving the unknown dangers of an urban centre.Set in the early 1980s against the backdrop of martial law and social turmoil, Beyond the Fields is a riveting, timely look at profound inequality, traditions that disempower women in our world, and survival as a dance to the beat of a different future.

    It consists of illustrations for each woman along side their stories. It is one of a kind project and such a book does not exist in Pakistan yet. It celebrates women from all walks of life and is designed to inspire girls and help them understand the importance of women empowerment and feminism through these stories.It is seen at times that certain people discourage girls to go after what they are passionate about. In some cultures, basic right of education is denied as well. Awareness and cultural misconceptions play a big role in this. Excuses vary from honour to household responsibilities, although at times the reason told to those little girls is that they are in Pakistan and therefore they cannot achieve something because their country is poor or doesn’t have that many resources. This book consists of true stories of women, from mountaineers to astrophysicists to educators, and it advocates for the idea that if these Pakistani women can achieve their dreams through hard work and dedication, so can all the girls, reading their stories.

    A city brought to its knees by terrorism.Forty one-year old Mona has almost everything: money, friends, social status… everything except for freedom in the repressed Pakistani society. Languishing in her golden cage, she craves a sense of belonging… of love.Desperate for emotional release, she turns to an indulgent friend who introduces her to an alternate world of glitter, glamour, covert affairs and drugs. There she meets Ali, a physically and emotionally wounded man, years younger than her.Heady with love, she begins a delicate game of deceit that spirals out of control and threatens to shatter the deceptive facade of conservatism erected by Lahori society, and potentially destroy everything that Mona has ever held dear.

    It marks the birth of the nation, it's liberation. More than 1000 miles away, in Pakistan too, 1971 marks a watershed moment, its memories sitting uncomfortably in public imagination. It is remembered as the 'Fall of Dacca', the dismemberment of Pakistan or the third Indo-Pak war. In India, 1971 represents something else-the story of humanitarian intervention, of triumph and valour that paved the way for India's rise as a military power, the beginning of its journey to becoming a regional superpower.Navigating the widely varied terrain that is 1971 across Pakistan, Bangladesh and India, Anam Zakaria sifts through three distinct state narratives, and studies the institutionalization of the memory of the year and its events. Through a personal journey, she juxtaposes state narratives with people's history on the ground, bringing forth the nuanced experiences of those who lived through the war. Using intergenerational interviews, textbook analyses, visits to schools and travels to museums and sites commemorating 1971, Zakaria explores the ways in which 1971 is remembered and forgotten across countries, generations and communities.

    For over seven decades, the territorial conflict over Kashmir has locked India and Pakistan in brutal wars and hate-centred nationalisms. The book illuminates how within this story of hate lie other stories - of love and betrayal, loyalty and suspicion, beauty and terror - that help us grasp how the Kashmir conflict is affectively structured and experienced on the ground. Placing these emotions at the centre of its analysis, the book rethinks the state-citizen relation in deeply felt and intimate terms, offering a multi-layered ethnographic understanding of power and subjection in contemporary Pakistan.

    In this body of work, a petri dish of mental illnesses are explored, release the never-ending tension of anxiety & aerate the shutters of the poet's depression, only to find so much resilience within & the work that was produced for this collection.

    Aafia Siddiqui is another such high profile case which has international appeal and much from the trial and her life between the years 2003-2008 remains a mystery.The author who is a Supreme court attorney in Pakistan, fought Aafia's repatriation case in the Supreme Court of Pakistan with the belief that keeping Aafia in US prison is increasing the prospect of extremism in the Muslim world. The author also believes that since the America / Taliban peace process is underway, Aafia's repatriation under condition for peaceful means, as a peace agent, can help Pakistan to counter terrorist ideologies and can help end Aafia being used by terrorist organizations for their own personal gain. This suggestion has been given while considering Dr. Aafia's educational background, experience developing Adult Educational programs, and her lifelong ambition to teach children. In this book the author has relied on Aafia's Siddiqui's court case trial documents, hearing transcripts, defense and witnesses testimonies, and the court orders to offer in depth factual information about this politically controversial figure. It brings forth Aafia's narrative like never before. The author has also touched upon Aafia's importance for US government foreign policy in using Aafia as a bargaining exchange chip for Shakil Afridi who is imprisoned in Pakistan to have helped Americans find Osama Bin Laden in Pakistan. This book is written to raise awareness, encourage dialogue on abuses during the war on terror era, and in hopes of uncovering solutions. It hopes to reach people concerned with human rights, those who love real life mysteries, those interested in the ramifications of the war on terror, those interested in legal issues, a global audience, and more.

    Now exiled to a London mansion, abandoned even by sycophants, Al yearns to relive the glory days of his rise to power. But the old guard has passed, and the colonial hangover in his home country has almost disappeared. Democracy is taking root, and with it is coming a fragile stability to the Third World. In these times, Al s desire for doing his best -- what s worst for the rest of us -- flows into two acts of massive evil: one double-murder that shakes his own complacent party back to full attention; and a countrywide riot -- the biggest the world has ever witnessed. All this Al orchestrates while perched luxuriously in exile in the UK. Woe to the day when he returns to claim the bloodstained crown. But cometh the hour, cometh the man! Sheheryar B. Sheikh s new novel is a ripping rollercoaster ride through shenanigans of subcontinental politics that will keep you riveted.

    Between the chilling piece that opens the collection, and the troubling finale, many poems here will surprise even those who are already familiar with her work in Urdu. There is the beguilingly titled 'Tomato Ketchup' which marches steadily on to its startling conclusion, and the endlessly nuanced 'Those with the Memory of Camels', which unveils a new shade upon every reading.Also included in this collection are some insightful and astutely observed portraits of ordinary men and women in society as well as well-known figures. Rendered with the lightness of a water colour, their readability draws us in, and makes it all the more impactful when the final irony of their situation strikes at closure.All said and done, her signature poems will, perhaps, always remain the ones in which she explores the full spectrum of feminine experience without apology, from its pleasures to its ordeals, and the range of roles it encompasses. Beyond any simplistic black and white notions of feminism and its implied denials, her embrace of womanhood is courageous and nuanced, comfortable with all its inherent contradictions, and revelling in every shade of its experience.The hallmark of her work is her poetic style - simple, and crisp. Her verse maintains an airiness and ease of touch at all times. Even when the realms she explores are inky and opaque, her words never become obtuse ('Macbeth', 'An Unearthly Night'). Similarly, in her shorter, tauter poems, where she plays with the gymnastics of a single sentence, the acrobatics of form do not eclipse the message, and these short pieces strike with the spontaneity of an overheard snippet from a conversation ('Tantrum', 'Reorienting Focus').