The Pakistan Experience

The families of the victims of the PIA plane crash, PK8303 in Karachi, come on the podcast to discuss their fight for justice over the past year. From the absolute callousness of the officials to the inhumanity showed by PIA, the families discuss all the hardships they have faced to make air travel safe in Pakistan. The Pakistan Experience is an independently produced podcast looking to tell stori...

Afia Salam comes on to discuss the recent attack on Asad Ali Toor, and the history of Journalists being threatened in Pakistan, from self-censorship to disappearances, we discuss what more can be done to push back against these tactics against journalists. We also do a deep dive discussion on human development, climate change and activism.  Is Individual responsibility or corporate culture mo...

Babar Khan Javed is an investigative journalist that covers the $2B advertising & media industry in Pakistan. Currently reporting via Profit, he is credited with helping the marketing community understand the value of data-driven influencer marketing, the path to repositioning media as an investment, creating a platform for female executives to share POVs that deviate from the status quo, and...

Ali Aftab Saeed is a singer, journalist and digital content creator.   Adeel Afzal is an actor, writer and digital content creator.  The two juggernauts come together on this very special episode of The Pakistan Experience. On this episode we discuss the 'Dehhari' philosophy, dealing with trolls online, Waqar Zaka, virgin murghiyan, kohta karhai, garmi aur Nat Geo kee batameeziyan!&...

Tabish Hashmi, Stand-up Comedian and host of the hit show, To Be Honest, comes on The Pakistan Experience to discuss his career, the show, and the industry.  On this deep dive podcast we discuss 'Problematic jokes', Political correctness, Marriage, Children, Activism, To Be Honest, The Media Industry, and Cleaning Bathrooms. Tabish also remembers his father and talks about his life growing up...

Arif Hasan comes back on the podcast to discuss why Pakistan has struggled in the past 74 years, the systematic destruction of our institutions, Zia's legacy, the land mafia, Bahria Town, forced evictions, Katchi Abadis and Thar.    On this deep dive podcast, Arif Hasan discusses talks about the corruption in International projects, why development needs to be human-centric, how people a...

Syed Muzammil Shah is a news anchor, political analyst and vlogger.  Muzammil comes on The Pakistan Experience to discuss the culture of irrationality, how religious extremism was promoted in Pakistan, the damage PTI is causing to the ideology of the youth and debate what is keeping us ignorant.   On this podcast we discuss the News Media Industry, Hasan Nisar, Nietzsche, Zulfiqar Ali Bh...

Danish Husain is an actor, poet, Dastango, and a theatre director. He lives in Mumbai, India & runs a theatre company called The Hoshruba Repertory. He was instrumental in reviving the lost art form of Urdu storytelling, Dastangoi. Later he initiated a multi-lingual storytelling project called Qissebaazi. Lately his screen works like Bombay Begums & Taj Mahal 1989 on Netflix & Mee Raqs...

None of us realizing the toll this pandemic has taken on our mental health. We are all feeling burnout, done with this and looking to put the pandemic behind us.   Sharmeen Khan, Clinical Psychologist and a Therapist, comes on The Pakistan Experience to discuss how to protect your mental health through this. How to recognize a burn out? What to do when you feel one?   We get in...

The podcast ends at 2:04:33 but there is ten minutes of dead space after that, sorry about that, I put the outro at 2:13 but I forgot about it and when it rendered it rendered till then.    Natasha Humera Ejaz is an indie musician who shot to fame with "The Right Way to Fall", and she has continued to soar over the past decade with her music, acting and comedy. She recently launched...

Starting our second hundred episodes with a bang, and a very special episode with Physicist, Intellectual, Academic, and Professor, Dr. Pervez Hoodbhoy.    On this episode of The Pakistan Experience, Pervez Hoodbhoy exposes the corruption of HEC, the involvement of the Government in it, Ata-ur-Rehman, and we go deep into a discussion on the ideology of Pakistan.  Do we need a nation...

Imaan Zainab-Mazari Hazir, an activist and a lawyer, comes on the podcast to discuss why the comments of Prime Minister Imran Khan about 'Fahashi' are problematic, what women face when they go to the courts after facing harassment, the disinformation around the Meesha Shafi-Ali Zafar case and living as Shireen Mazari's daughter.   From facing backlash online to being in the public eye si...

Tariq Ali is a British political activist, writer, journalist, historian, filmmaker, and public intellectual. He is the author of many books, including Pakistan: Military Rule or People's Power (1970), Can Pakistan Survive? The Death of a State (1983), Clash of Fundamentalisms: Crusades, Jihads and Modernity (2002).    Tariq Ali comes back on the podcast to discuss dynastic politics, the...

Uzair Younus is a senior fellow at The Atlantic Council looking at the region of South Asia.  Uzair Younus comes back on the podcast to discuss why Bangladesh is surging ahead of Pakistan, the geoeconomics of South Asia, what impact Biden's presidency may have on Indo-Pak relations and if the recent comments by Pakistan suggest a strategic policy shift.   We also discuss the new State Ba...

A lot is said about Partition, Pakistan and the role of Quaid-e-Azam; we had the pre-eminent scholar on Partition, Ayesha Jalal, come on the podcast to set the record straight.   On this deep dive podcast, Ayesha Jalal discusses writing history, 1947, 1971, the role of Bhutto, Fatima Jinnah, the legacy of colonialism, whether writing Peoples History is actually writing History,  The Sole...

Kanwal Ahmed is the founder of the Facebook group, Soul Sisters, and the creator of the show, 'Conversations with Kanwal, aimed towards breaking stigma around certain issues and openly talking about them.  Soul Sisters was created as a community and a safe space for women to discuss their lives. Kanwal Ahmed comes on the podcast to discuss her entire journey - from being misunderstood, bullie...

Ali Usman Qasmi, Professor (History) at LUMS comes on the podcast to unpack the history of Pakistan, starting from discussing the varied perspectives of Muslims pre-1947. On this podcast we discuss the Pakistan Resolution, the Punjabi Identity, whether Muslim League was a movement of the elites, how Pakistan came to be, the anti-Ahmadi riots, election rigging, Fatima Jinnah, Ayub Khan and Zulfiqar...

Sami Shah is a Pakistani Stand-up comedian who has now moved to Australia to become one of the top performing comedians in the country. Sami is also an author, after winning numerous awards for his autobiographical work, "I Migrant", Sami ventured into fantasy fiction with 'Earth Boy' and 'Boy of Fire and Earth'.   Sami Shah comes on the podcast to discuss how he found his voice performing St...

Junaid Fazal runs a cosmetics distribution business and an investment company that funds SMEs, Junaid found religion after graduating and has been on a spiritual path ever since.    Junaid also happens to be an old friend of mine, I invited him on the podcast to discuss misconceptions about the Aurat March that ended up being a much wider conversation about how religion is misused in our...

Lilith and Mariam Shafqat Goraya join us to co-host the special podcast on the Aurat March. We are also joined by Amna Shafqat, Sajeer Shaikh, Ekta Shaikh and Usman Rana with other special guests dropping by.  Maleeha Mengal from Shirkat Gah comes to talk about marginalized communities organizing together.  Qurrat Mirza, organizer Aurat March Karachi, comes on to discuss the labour of or...

Lilith and Mariam Shafqat Goraya join us to co-host the special podcast on the Aurat March. We are also joined by Amna Shafqat, Sajeer Shaikh, Ekta Shaikh and Usman Rana with other special guests dropping by.  Maleeha Mengal from Shirkat Gah comes to talk about marginalized communities organizing together.  Qurrat Mirza, organizer Aurat March Karachi, comes on to discuss the labour of or...

Dr. Shahram Azhar is a Marxist and Professor of Economics at Bucknell University, Pennsylvania. Dr Shahram Azhar is also a lover of poetry and a singer, he was the former lead singer of the band 'Laal'.    Shahram comes on The Pakistan Experience for a deep dive discussion on the Pakistani left and the economy of Pakistan.    We discuss: 1. Why the Pakistani left is stuck in th...

Kapil Dev is a Hindu rights activist living in Pakistan.    Kapil Dev comes on The Pakistan Experience to discuss the discrimination he has faced as a Hindu in Pakistan, facing backlash online, dealing with Pakistani Expats and the state of Tharparkar.  Kapil also discusses the recent post by Aamir Liaquat Hussain. The Pakistan Experience is an independently produced podcast looking...

One of your favourite guests, Natalia Gul, returns to the podcast after her wedding for a check in about married life, her work with The Jungle and radical comedy.   Natalia tells us how she fell in love, discusses how she got married and tells us how she is living her life these days. Always a pleasure to listen to her!   Natalia Gul is a stand up comedian and content creator. She...

Karamat Ali is a labour rights activist and the Executive Director of the Pakistan Institute of Labour Education and Research in Pakistan. An eminent labour and development activist for the last four decades, Karamat Ali is the founding member of PILER.   We get into a deep dive discussion about why there is so much apathy in the country about the issue of Bonded Labour and what happened at t...