Media Sites: 'Newspapers'

The snazzily website of the daily Dawn has its own domain name, the site is extremely easy to navigate despite linking over 100 pages together. Brief blurbs of the top stories give a quick peep into the longer contents, while you may go directly to any of the local, national, international, editorial or sports pages. Forex rates and the Karachi Stock Exchange's listings are also easily accessible and even Ardeshir Cowasjee and Mazdak have their own personalized buttons.

The home page for The News takes a bit long in downloading since it contains some rather fancy graphics. Unlike some other local newspaper on the net, however, it gives you much more than just the news and views, with editor's note and sections on stock information and classified advertisements. There's even a page on fashion culled from the Sunday edition for a better idea of the paper's overall flavor as well as facilities for chatting. The circulation stats for the paper are maintained by Jamal's Yellow Pages web site.

Turn to Indus News at this address for an invigorating site on Pakistani news, culled mostly from other sources but presented in a highly engaging format. The online newspaper bills itself as "Your South Asian News Source", has both a graphics and text only version, and is obviously, directed at the same expat market that Pakistan Link and others talk of that ilk cater to. Has a regular 'Arts' feature, a book review section, a Weekend Edition and a Kid's Corner. Also has links to other Aleph sites and to an Urdu version named Urooj.

Based out of Los Angeles, Pakistan Link claims to be the first Pakistani newspaper on the net, and probably is. It came online way back in 1994 when the World Wide Web was still in its infancy. Contains a summery of the news primarily intended, one supposes, for Pakis in the land of the brave. Has a link to Urdu edition accessible from the main page.

Political Sites:

Official Homepage of the Islamic Government of Pakistan

"WARNING: contains images of violence against people of Pakistan, especially against mohajirs, by Benazir Bhutto's government." The headlines screams in red when you enter this site, "dedicated to the people of Karachi" and devoted to venting steam about atrocities against the Urdu speaking population of Karachi. Obviously designed by an MQM sympathizer, the page takes full advantage of the net's freedom of expression, and lists its connecting pages under such stark headings as 'Karachi Violence Page', 'Fake-Encounters Page', 'Mass-Arrest Page', 'Dead-Mohajirs Page' and 'People Murdered in 1996 by Pakistani Govt. - Part 1'. There are images upon images of atrocities, many gruesome and bloody, with some taken perhaps from news videos. Former interior minister Naseerullah Babar is featured as the "Butcher of Karachi" and "A strong supporter of TALIBAN", as is former chief minister Abdullah Shah ("Assistant to Butcher"), former IG Sindh Police Mohammad Saeed Khan and DIG Shoaib Suddle (ditto) and Haqiqi "ghunda" Afaq Ahmed (ditto). Audio clips of selected Urdu news items and a list of people on the new government's exit control list can also be downloaded.

But provocation apart, the page has alot more to offer, with some "thanday links" to images of Karachi's skyline and specific areas such as Nazimabad and Clifton. Each link has an array of pictures, about nine different ones of Karachi's skylines for example. With so many graphics some pages take a lot of time to access. In addition to connecting to many different news sites, you can also access NASA satellite images of Pakistan and Karachi's coastline, a street map of Karachi, US State Department security assessments about Pakistan as well as the World Bank's views on the country's economy. Quite an exhaustive visual feast, or shall we say assaults.

Commercial Sites:

Home page for the Aleph site Design Company based out of Karachi. Has links to all the sites designed by them, including (among others to those of the Internet Society of Pakistan, the now dormant Pakistan Software Export Board, the Pakistan Software House Association and hip city introductions of Karachi, Lahore, Multan, Quetta and Peshawar. The first time I visited, the city sites contained information under sub-heads such as 'Eatries', 'Resorts', 'Shopping', 'Culture', 'Information' and 'Hangouts', though why the Karachi Grammar School was a 'hangout' was beyond my comprehension. Since then, however, at least the Karachi site has been redesigned substantially to make it more attractive to travelers in the area. For example, you may search restaurants by type of meal, mealtime, area and price level. For those planning on moving to the city from elsewhere, there is an extensive guide to schools with information on tuition fees, results and extracurricular activities. Not bad at all.

Outer Sites:

It takes a while to figure out that this site is maintained by the Indian defence ministry but the archival photographs of Indira Gandhi, Pakistani POWs and Bengali refugees in Calcutta are somewhat of a give-away. Perceptive surfers might also get clued in by the fact that the page on "The Causes of the War: is intelligently but one-sidedly Indian in content. Jump around a bit, however, and you will come across the credits for the write-ups, which include an army brigadier and other ranking officers of the Indian army. Full marks to the Indian military for being right on the ball. The Pakistani afwaaj, meanwhile, are probably too busy with more important things.

Want to know what some multinationals are thinking about Pakistan? Check out what Vantage Systems Inc. is feeding them about the security situation in the country, though the reportage is curiously stuck between Murtaza Bhutto's Death and Benazir Bhutto's ouster. Among the significant risk factors in the Islamic Republic, we are told, are bombings and assassinations. "Pakistanis, for a number of reasons that have to do in part with American support for the Indian government and for religious reasons," the report goes on, "feel no particular closeness to Americans." The brief goes beyond security from criminal and political threats, however, to state that "Pakistani drivers are notorious for their disregard of proper and safe driving techniques. One must drive extremely defensively, expecting the unexpected." Another choice lure to foreign travelers: "Because of the condition of many public restrooms in Pakistani cities, It is common for men to relieve themselves against the walls and in bushes; experienced travelers take the behavior in stride." Vive la difference.

This page will give you the Pakistan entry in the renowned Lonely Planet travel guide series.

The American Library of Congress' page on Pakistan has some links to different types of info for Pakistan.

Institutional Sites:

Though watching PTV can be a cumbersome experience to say the least, its web site is definitely more interesting and engaging. There is material on PTV's music, drama, documentary, history, stage shows, awards and much more. For example, the drama section is divided into three categories: series, serials and independent plays with a picture and short summary of each drama. Expecting to find a web site in as much disarray as PTV affairs, this site was pleasant surprise with its good organization, lots of info and visually attractive page.

Provides a selected listing of Pakistani schools and addresses from all over the country.

A bit confusing at first, this page will hook you up with some selected Pakistani Lawyers and also point you in the direction of the law firm bible, the Martindale and Hubbel Directory, which will probably give more of a choice. It is part of the Hieros Gamos web network of legal sites.

Entertainment and Cultural Sites:

Pakistani Music Site One of the best archives of Pakistani music I have come across is maintained by Mr. Bilal A. Bhutta who is a student at MIT. The digitized music is divided into four categories: patriotic, devotional, classical and modern. Each song file lists with it details of the poet, the length of the piece, the source etc. The patriotic section contains such quirky numbers as Hum Pak Gunners (theme song for the Gunnery regiment of the Pakistan army), Hum Log Piffer Kehlatey Hain (theme song for the Frontier regiment) and generous selections from the album of 1965 classics, Khitta-e-Lahore Tere Shehr. The devotional section contains several 13-minute plus qawwalis of the Sabri Brothers and Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan as well as numbers by Habib Wali Mohammad, Abida Parveen, Ustad Amanat Ali, Attaullah Eesakhelvi, Runa Laila, Pathane Khan, Malika Pukhraj and Nayyara Noor among others as well as naats and hamds. Want to check up on Chief Saab, Billo De Ghar or Najam? Check out the 'modern' section which also contains a couple of numbers by the intriguingly named 'Hanif Noor Mohammad & the LA Supremes.' The classical section is however, actually folk music divided by provinces. You may also download the entire constitution of Pakistan from the main page. Given the large size of most files, however, expect long download times.

This is the 'official' page for our greatest export, Ustad Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. Well designed by one Rosina Samadani for Wired Rose Inc., the page includes an exclusive interview with the maestro himself. Also includes information such as concert dates, news about NFAK, discography, and articles on the man as well as downloadable audio and image files. Real Audio allows you to play the qawwalis directly while doing other stuff on the net. An interesting bulletin board is mehfil where you may contribute your thoughts on the big man, though the level of the comment observed by me was usually limited to supplicatory prose at the Ustad's feet.

Along with Nusrat Fateh Ali, Junoon makes up the total presence of Pakistani musicians on the net, though various other people have set up sites in tribute to their favorites. "The Official Junoon Site", designed by Aleph, is pretty easily navigable and contains discography information, photos, articles (all laudatory of course), and some audio clips. Other than the novelty of finding the Paki group here, however, there's nothing terribly exciting for hardened web surfers.

Links to romanised Ghalib A decent personal page with romanised Ghalib and links to a very basic Urdu dictionary compiled by one Dinesh Prabhu.

Personal Sites:

Links to Other Pakistan Related Sites : If you can get past the byzantine URL, you'll find an interesting bunch of links to Pakistan-related sites on this page. One of these is a personal page by one Samir Imran whose Java-driven page has his own versions of a Nusrat Fateh Ali page, soccer and cricket pages and a page on his alma mater, The Lyceum, where you may even chat with former Lyceum-ites. Maintained by a University of Minnesota student, Saqib Saadi.