People, Pakistan

Favorite thing: One of my favorite things about Pakistan is that its National and Provincial assemblies are very colorful due to large number of women representatives.

The Western media portrays Pakistan as an extremist Islamic country, but this is not true. People of Pakistan have elected Benzair Bhutto as the Prime Minister of Pakistan twice. Even President Musharraf's popularity in Pakistan was attributed to women.

Benazir Bhutto, born June 21, 1953, was the first woman elected to lead Pakistan. She was also the first female Prime Minister of a Muslim state. Benazir chaired the Pakistan Peoples Party and was elected twice as the Prime Minister of Pakistan. Benazir Bhutto, the charismatic opposition leader was assassinated 27 December 2007.

Wikipedia has this to say for Mrs. Benazir Bhutto:

Benazir Bhutto (21 June 1953 – 27 December 2007) was a Pakistani politician who chaired the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), a centre-left political party in Pakistan. Bhutto was the first woman elected to lead a Muslim state,[1] having twice been Prime Minister of Pakistan (1988–1990; 1993–1996). She was Pakistan's first and to date only female prime minister.

Fondest memory: Pakistani women parliamentarians are very friendly with foreign tourists. Any body in need of their time will be quickly rewarded :-)

Favorite thing: I am amazed by the people putting information about the places or cities or people of different countries, without knowing the true facts about those places. There is a big difference in between FACT and Opinion. So please if you don’t know the true facts, don't advice someone it’s almost like misguiding someone, in my book its called “lie”.
Now myself coming from NY, I have lived in Pakistan and its one of the great place to live and enjoy. It depends what are you looking for and what kind a person your. I have lived and worked in Indonesia, India, Malaysia, Singapore, China and Japan before and I would still like to live in Pakistan. Yes! Pakistan do have problems and I am hoping that the country and leaders would come to their senses someday to realize that they are destroying an amazing piece of land with beautiful people.
But still there are lots of places where Americans can live and Pakistanis love Americans. Ye in the case of terrorist, they even don’t like their own people. Look how many are running around in western countries. I taught University courses, I managed educational institutes in different parts of Pakistan. If you like cooler place to life “Gilgit” is really nice place to live, no problems there, people in Gilgit are nice and it’s a place to relax. you can also travel to China by road during summer. Islamabad is also a nice place but I find it very boring, it’s more like a model city. Lahore is a fun place, food is great, local are fantastic, there are music concerts, you will meet lot of different kinds of people there, lot of young people. I meet Pakistani movie starts in Lahore, visited Pakistani film industry. We did short-film there (you can see it on youtube “It’s a Long Life Javed Nisar Film”). I am not a big fan of Karachi but it’s a good place to travel and see how you would feel about the place. So I think you should go to Pakistan for sometime 1st and travel, see how you would feel. Have fun Man.

Fondest memory: Worked with University students made a short-film "Its a one long life" can watch it on youtube enter "its a one long life javed nisar film"

Favorite thing: While my husband, daughter and son have picked international and north American sports, I still enjoy Pakistan's own games.

Pakistanis love cricket, field hockey, squash, polo and other games, not necessarily in that order. Pakistan has women teams for almost all sports, including squash. It has been long since I watched squash, but when I saw Carla Khan play on TV, I thought we may have a chance at world women squash championship.

Maria Toor Pakay of Peshawar (NWFP) is currently girls champion while my neice has seen Sumera Haq of Sindh province play energetically.

Fondest memory: Watching a squash game in Karachi is perhaps my most fondest memories.

Favorite thing: One will find so many Pakistani women working as professionals.

Pakistani women have historically worked as medical doctors, bankers and teachers, but now have started joining such unconventional professions as military. Sabah Khan recently graduated from the Pakistan Airforce Academy as a pilot and will soon be flying F-16s and Chinese F-17 Thunderbirds.

Fondest memory: Lady doctors. They seem to be so much more professional and humane compared to male doctors. I think lady doctors can relate to their patients much more than their male counterparts.

Favorite thing: I am a Pakistani television dramas diehard fan.

Pakistan has produced many women actors who have performed brilliantly on small and large screens. Hopefully, because of their professionalism and beauty, one of these days one of them will get international exposure. Atiqa Odho in the picture below is one such actress. She is elegant and beautiful.

Fondest memory: Meeting with Pakistani musicians and artists on anumber of occasions.

Favorite thing: Pakistani female singers can really send packed houses on their feet.

Pakistan's best female pop singer who won international acclaim for the country was Nazia Hassan. However, she died at a fairly young age in her early 30s due to cancer. At present Hadiqa Kiyani is the torch bearer. She performs all over the globe and was in Toronto, Canada in the summer of 2005.

Fondest memory: Attending a music concert of Hadiqa Kiyani in Toronto reminded me of several concerts that I attended in Karachi and then in the UAE.

Fondest memory: PeopleIn Pakistan, I visited towns where not a single woman was around, in streets, markets, public places; towns where few women were around and they all wear burqa; towns where women seems to be free to walk alone in a street, work, study…
Everywhere, I met Pakistani men, some Afghans, mostly Muslim. They were always very kind to me, hospitable, respectful and helpful.
But, above all, I saw a people, children, women, men living under very hard condition.

Fondest memory: At some moments you ask yourself the question : who is looking who, because the locals are very curious.
If you want to make pictures of ladies , always ask permission, because in general they don't want it (something with their believe). Soo, if they refuse, respect it. Do not try to make a 'nobody sees-it shot', because I did see some furious reactions of Pakistan husbands.

Favorite thing: The mountains along the Karakorum Highway are spectacular!
The Karakorum Highway has been a dream to for a long time. Travelling in Asia I met the most friendly people in Hunza Valley.