Dr Amjad Ayub Mirza Mirza

‘Minding Protests’: Poverty of Philosophy!

‘Minding Protests’: Poverty of Philosophy!

In its editorial ‘Minding Protests’, published on 23 April 2018, Kashmir Images complains about the menace of public protests that have engulfed the Valley of Kashmir. Most of the public protests that are held in the Valley of Kashmir take place with the backdrop of a large military presence of Indian troops in the region […]

 Dr Amjad Ayub Mirza Mirza

Misrepresentation of Culture in Pakistan Cinema-Part V

Misrepresentation of Culture in Pakistan Cinema-Part V

In search of an alternate cultural narrative in Pakistani cinema

Riaz Shahid and Khalil Kaiser were among those politically sensitive Pakistani intellectuals who resorted to the medium of film in order to reflect the rage of the masses. In 1962 Riaz Shahid made Shaheed (Martyr). The film is an allegory of the historical visit of Lawrence of Arabia to the Arab lands. A foreigner called […]

 Dr Amjad Ayub Mirza Mirza

Misrepresentation of Culture in Pakistani Cinema (Part IV)

Misrepresentation of Culture in Pakistani Cinema (Part IV)

1980s: The Return of the Men in Khaki

During the 1980s Punjabi films dominated Pakistani cinema. The Muhajirs had lost the dominant position that they enjoyed during the early days of Pakistan’s creation. There has been a rapid rise in the power of Punjabi establishment since 1977, when the (Punjabi ) Chief of Pakistan army, a Wahhabi and salafist General Zia Ul Haq […]

 Dr Amjad Ayub Mirza Mirza

Misrepresentation of Culture in Pakistani Cinema III

Misrepresentation of Culture in Pakistani Cinema III

The Construction of ‘Islamic’ Culture in Pakistan

“Born from the division of the old civilisation of India, Pakistan struggled for constructing its own culture, a culture which would not only be different from the Indian culture but that the whole world would acknowledge.”[1] Pakistan came into being on the 14th of August 1947. The constituent assembly that took over the control of […]

 Dr Amjad Ayub Mirza Mirza

Misrepresentation of Culture in Pakistani Cinema – II

Misrepresentation of Culture in Pakistani Cinema – II

The struggle for a ‘religious’ cultural identity

During the British Raj the provinces of India where Muslims were in minority, “faced the threat of social decline.”[1] The Muslims of these provinces were deeply concerned by the British policy after the 1857 ‘Revolt’ led by the Muslim landlords against their British rulers. The Muslim landlords, “whose members often came from the same aristocratic […]

 Dr Amjad Ayub Mirza Mirza

Misrepresentation of Culture in Pakistani Cinema – I

Misrepresentation of Culture in Pakistani Cinema – I

The beginning of the cinema in pre-partition Indian Sub Continent

In the following series of articles I set out to investigate the kind of cinema that has been provided to the audience in Pakistan to facilitate the birth and reinforcement of an alien Islamic (religious) identify. I utilize three different forms of cinema style (First, Second and Third Cinema) to explain whose political, social and […]

 Dr Amjad Ayub Mirza Mirza

From Afghanistan to Anantnag via Abbotabad – III

From Afghanistan to Anantnag via Abbotabad – III

On May 2, 2011 Pakistani military cadets at the Kakul Academy in Abbotabad, Pakistan woke up to an approaching juddering sound. 100 yards away it also brought someone else’s sleep to an abrupt end. This person was Osama bin Laden. As we now know, on that fateful night, four U.S. military helicopters swooped down on […]

 Dr Amjad Ayub Mirza Mirza

From Afghanistan to Anantnag via Abbotabad – II

From Afghanistan to Anantnag via Abbotabad – II

On 22 March 2018 The Washington Post published Saudi Crown Prince Muhammad Bin Salman’s confession regarding Saudi Arabian government facilitation of the CIA in financing and support to Islamic (read Wahhabi/Salafist/Deobandi or an amalgam/hybrid of these) cultural narrative across the ‘Muslim world’. He was quoted saying the following: “Investment in mosques and madrassas overseas were […]

 Dr Amjad Ayub Mirza Mirza

From Afghanistan to Anantnag via Abbotabad – I

From Afghanistan to Anantnag via Abbotabad – I

 The death of twenty people on April 1, including three security force personal and three passers-by, during pitched battles between Indian security forces and armed Hizbul Mujahedin militants in Anantnag district of Shopian in Indian-controlled South Kashmir is a stark reminder of a criminal legacy of the anti-colonial religious-nationalism that has its modern roots in […]

 Dr Amjad Ayub Mirza Mirza

Baba Jan and the new wave of reprisal against the people of ‘Azad Kashmir’

Baba Jan and the new wave of reprisal against the people of ‘Azad Kashmir’

On 12 February 2018, renowned nationalist leader from Gilgit, Baba Jan was moved from Gahkuch Jail to Gilgit Hospital under high security cover after he suffered a heart attack. Baba Jan and 11 of his comrades-in-arms are serving 40 years (double life sentences) in Gahkuch Jail in Pakistan-administered and Gilgit Baltistan. Baba Jan shot to […]