Personal Political: The tragedy of Karachi

Posted on September 7, 2011 by beenasarwar

Holding up a 'I ❤ KHI' t-shirt at Itwar Bazar, July 2011. Photo: Beena Sarwar

My column for Hardnews India — written on Aug 25, 2011 (although much has happened since, this provides a context and an overview of the Karachi situation).

Personal Political: The tragedy of Karachi

Beena Sarwar

“Will it be possible to write about the tragedy of Karachi…?” asked my editor.

Possible, yes. Easy, no. In two words: turf wars. But behind that is a long, complex history, bound up in money, crime, politics, power and greed. Continue reading →

Filed under: Pakistan | Tagged: , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment »

PERSONAL POLITICAL: Confessions of a tweet addict

Posted on March 18, 2011 by beenasarwar

My column Personal Political in Hardnews, India, written a couple of weeks ago. Was too caught up in event on the ground and forgot to post it. Still relevant.

Beena Sarwar

I admit it. I’m addicted to twitter.

Like many others, the first time I heard about this ‘social networking tool’, my initial response was, “What’s the point?”

It was in spring 2006, at the end of a journalism fellowship in the USA. “Try it,” urged Jeb Sharp, a radio journalist. “It’s cool. You can update friends about what you’re thinking or doing and you have to do it in 140 characters or less.”

Out of curiosity, I made myself a twitter account. The whole thing seemed a bit silly. The twitter icon is a little blue bird. The messages you post are called ‘tweets’. It all sounds very fluffy and twittery. And why create a twitter account if you have facebook? Continue reading →

Filed under: Media | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , | 7 Comments »

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