How to Pakistan

In this election eve of election "chained raat" episode, we compare the party manifestos of the PPP, PML-N and PTI. We use the great summary of the manifestos prepared by PILAP. Find PILAP's manifesto comparison document: https://pilap.pk/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/PILAP-Primer-Party-Manifestos-for-Election-2024.pdf Find the PML N manifesto: https://pmln2024.com/manifesto-in-english/ Find the PPP...

Welcome to How to Pakistan 2024! We kick off with some Big Democrat Energy from Mr Fasi Zaka. Holla at ya boys

We're back! Why is Malala Yousafzai a feminist icon? Why is Firdous Ashiq Awan not a feminist icon? The punches. The stupidity. The genius. How to Pakistan's first episode in over a year. Come back! The links we promised: 1) Rafia Zakaria’s brilliant piece on Malala - https://thebaffler.com/alienated/free-malala-zakaria 2) Dr Ayesha Razzaque’s piece on the HEC - https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/84...

Journalist Nadir Hassan died on April 30, 2020 at the age of 37. He was a prolific writer, clear headed, unambiguous and intellectually gifted. Fasi and Mosharraf talk about Nadir, and his generation of writers, academics and public intellectuals in Pakistan, with Omar Waraich and Shakir Husain.

On Episode 03 of How to Pakistan's Season of Covid-19 we talk about the demolition of illegal settlements in Islamabad, the Corona virus attacking members of our little How to Pakistan family in the UK, and whether this represents a moment of real, substantive change, or just a speed bump in our collective global dysfunction.

Our Season of Corona continues with Episode 02, in which we talk to economist and the former Chairman of the Board of Investment, Haroon Sharif. How does an economy like Pakistan's survive this pandemic? We talk about sugar cartels, the role of the bureaucracy, the opportunity for reform, and the future of economic diplomacy. We also discuss Haroon's recent paper for the Jinnah Institute, which yo...

Everything has changed. So we have too. Our Season of Corona begins with Episode 01, where we try to establish how to talk about this pandemic. Our first How to Pakistan with video - clips of which will be uploaded on our Twitter handle. If you love us, you'll find it. Meanwhile, the Dave Chappelle clip referenced in this episode, upon the mention of Care Bears? Here it is: https://youtu.be/VfgwEp...

The global conversation around sexual violence has created the space to engage on vital issues of justice, equality and fairness. The manifestations of the #metoo movement in Pakistan, such as Jami's allegations, often get entangled with other, concurrent but unrelated power dynamics. How do we engage with the issues? How do we fulfill our responsibility to protect? How do we avoid unfairness or l...

Fasi and Mosharraf are joined by lawyer Umer Gilani and strategic affairs expert Hassan Akbar of the Jinnah Institute. They discuss the General Musharraf verdict, the imminent Indian attack on Pakistan and the state and fate of Prime Minister Imran Khan. Umer Gilani has studied law at the Lahore University of Management Sciences and the University of Washington, Seattle. He is an Advocate of the H...

Zaka and Zaidi summarise Pakistan's week: hair extensions, rage against Dawn, Britishstani terrorists, and much much more.

After the Shaheen Chemist raid, Fasi and Mosharraf discuss other similar cases of service provision failures in Pakistan, and how the public response to such outrages only tackles our need for InstaGrat, or instant gratification. But shutting down drug stores or pharmacies, or penalizing private schools, or terminating restaurant licenses does not actually produce regulatory effectiveness. It only...

Fasi and Mosharraf return to the podcast to explore how to talk about Imran Khan, Nawaz Sharif, the economy and the meat of the matter.

How do we navigate the terrain where the conversation becomes impossible? Thirteen dead citizens. A post conflict zone. A military that has won a war that seemed over just five years ago. Vultures all around. Compassion. Humanity. Compromise.

The news from Pakistan doesn't sound great. The economy is supposedly in a shambles. But are things really as bad as the mass media makes them out to be? Is Pakistan really in a such bad place? What happened to PTI's promise of reform? All this & more...

Welcome to Season Four of How to Pakistan! Pakistan's former Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar joins Fasi & Mosharraf to discuss mayhem in the skies above Pakistan & India, the impact of Pulwama, Balakot, and hopes for peace.

A conversation with Shaan Taseer

The new government is now approaching a full month in power. How well has it done? What has been good? What has been unnecessary? Was the Economic Advisory Council fiasco avoidable? Fasi and Mosharraf examine this government's predilection thus far, for unforced errors.

By popular demand, Omar Waraich is back on How to Pakistan, and he is joined by Salman Naveed Khan, a political analyst based in Islamabad. We discuss the election results, and whether the country is poised for a stable era of Imran Khan and PTI.

Fasi and Mosharraf talk to two iconic Pakistani journalists. Ziauddin Sb is an institution in journalism with stops as editor of Dawn and Express Tribune. Asma Shirazi is one of the country's most recognized television talk show hosts. We talk about press freedom and the elections that may make Imran Khan prime minister.

Join us as we discuss the prospects of the various parties in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. To help us navigate the amazing diversity of the province, we were joined by Imran Khan (not THAT one) and Najiullah Khattak. Both offered superb insights on the province.

Political pollster and researcher Azeema Cheema returns to the podcast, and Dr Ali Cheema, joins for the first time. Dr Cheema is Associate Professor of Economics and the Head of the Economics Department. He is a former Rhodes Scholar and a PhD from Cambridge University. Both Azeema and Ali have worked on political opinion polls and surveys for the last several years, with Ali's most recent work p...

Join us for a conversation with Omar Waraich. Waraich has covered Pakistan for TIME Magazine and The Independent. He has reported from South Asia, Europe, the Middle East and North Africa. He has also written for The New Yorker, The Atlantic, The Washington Post, Slate, Sports Illustrated, The Caravan, Al-Jazeera America, Roads & Kingdoms, The Guardian, The New Statesman and The Economist Intellig...

Another devastating weekend. Fasi and Mosharraf try to talk about Mastung. A place where terrorists murdered over 200 Pakistanis. A place far, far away. How can we make such places closer to us? How can we be closer to places like Mastung?

In an increasingly fractured public discourse with extreme positions, deep injury, legitimate grievances, and excessive emotions defining the competing political narratives, it is hard to have reasoned and sincere conversation. We initiated this podcast to have exactly these conversations. Thank you for taking this journey with us. Don't give up on each other. Don't give up on us. Don't give up on...

Fasi and Mosharraf speak to Adil Najam, Dean of the Pardee School at Boston University, former Vice Chancellor of Lahore University for Management Sciences (LUMS). Professor Najam is a UET Lahore alum, with a PhD from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). He founded the All Things Pakistan blog, and has worked on a range of policy issues in Pakistan, including the national environmental...