Pakistani-American Female Superhero Debuts in 2014

The new Ms. Marvel’s real name is Kamala Khan, a 16-year-old Muslim Pakistani-American girl from Jersey City, New Jersey. “Kamala has all of her opportunities in front her and she is loaded with potential, but her parents’ high expectations come with tons of pressure,” says Marvel's press release. “When Kamala suddenly gets powers that give her the opportunity to be just like her idol, Captain Marvel, it challenges the very core of her conservative values.”

Source: Marvel Entertainment
Kamala Khan as Ms. Marvel is the first comic book character from Marvel Entertainment who is both female and Muslim. It is part of the American comic giant's efforts to reflect a growing diversity among its readers.

The new Ms. Marvel series is mainly the work of two women: G. Willow Wilson, a convert to Islam who created the character, and Sana Amanat who edits it.

Here's how Wilson describes the main character of the comic: "Islam is both an essential part of her identity and something she struggles mightily with. She's not a poster girl for the religion, or some kind of token minority. She does not cover her hair –most American Muslim women don't—and she's going through a rebellious phase. She wants to go to parties and stay out past 9 PM and feel “normal.” Yet at the same time, she feels the need to defend her family and their beliefs".

Ms. Wilson says the series is “about the universal experience of all American teenagers, feeling kind of isolated and finding what they are.” Though here, she told New York Times, that happens “through the lens of being a Muslim-American” with superpowers.

Source: Marvel Entertainment
Elaborating on the superhero character, series editor Sana Amanat said the following in an interview published on Marvel.com website: "As much as Islam is a part of Kamala’s identity, this book isn’t preaching about religion or the Islamic faith in particular. It’s about what happens when you struggle with the labels imposed on you, and how that forms your sense of self. It’s a struggle we’ve all faced in one form or another, and isn’t just particular to Kamala because she’s Muslim. Her religion is just one aspect of the many ways she defines herself".

The Marvel series is set for launch in February, 2014. Earlier this year, Pakistan's GeoTV launched Burka Avenger. Its superhero is a mild mannered school-teacher who fights feudal villains and terrorists getting in the way of girls' education.  Burka Avenger series is inspired by the story of Malala Yousufzai, a Pakistan teenage school-girl who  miraculously survived an assassination attempt by the Taliban in Swat valley last year. Malala has since become an international icon for girls' education worldwide.  The United Nations declared Malala's 16th birthday this year on July 12 as Malala Day to focus on girls' education.

Related Links:

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Burka Avenger: Pakistani Female Superhero 

Burka Avenger  Videos on Vimeo Channel

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Comments

Riaz Haq said…
Here's a Men's Journal story of Pakistani-American Mixed Martial Arts champ Bashir Ahmed:

In April 2013, Bashir Ahmad stood bleeding in a cage before a 12,000-person stadium crowd in Kallan, Singapore. Having defeated his Thai opponent, the mixed martial arts (MMA) fighter draped the green-and-white Pakistani flag across his shoulders and hoisted his gloved hands as the stadium. The crowd – along with a 500-million-person Asian TV audience – cheered for Pakistan's first national MMA champion. The accolade was made all the more precedent-breaking considering Ahmad's true identity: just a few years earlier, he had served in Iraq as a U.S. soldier. As relations between the U.S. and Pakistan remain strained due to drone strikes, Taliban attacks, and lingering resentment over the unauthorized commando raid on Osama bin Laden, Ahmad has become the unlikeliest of national heroes – an American soldier turned MMA champion. "I've gotten Facebook messages asking how I could be a part of the U.S. army and support the killing of Muslims," he says. "Does it get to me? No. My whole life has been a paradox."
Born in Lahore in 1983, Ahmad moved as a child with his family to Great Falls, Virginia. In 2002, he joined the National Guard to fund his tuition at Virginia Commonwealth University – thinking he'd only spend one weekend a month doing military drills. "When I first got there and asked if they'd served in Afghanistan, they laughed and said 'We can't even make it to the highway without getting lost,'" Ahmad says. Yet nine months after the beginning of the Iraq war, in 2003, Ahmad was deployed to work as a medic on a bomb disposal unit in Mosul – a stronghold of the Sunni insurgency. "Have you seen the movie Hurt Locker?" he says. "That was my day-to-day life. We'd drive five times a day to wherever in the city there was a suspected IED or car bomb."
------
Despite his rising star in Pakistan, Ahmad says his time there has shown him how essentially American he remains. "When I came here I was like, 'oh I'll fit right in'," Ahmad says. "No, I was definitely different – a foreigner." Pakistan's pervasive anti-American rhetoric and uncritical nationalism irritated him. "It's so mixed up, it's so ridiculous," he says about the country's political climate. "There are Pakistanis whose whole family is in the U.S. and they want a visa, yet they hate America." One of Ahmad's proudest achievements, beyond the fame and growing success of MMA in Pakistan, is having created something that erases, however modestly, Pakistan's social divides. "These two young waiters at a roadside restaurant told me their lives had changed," Ahmad says. "Guys who would usually order them around were now the same people looking up to them and saying, 'This guy fights for my gym.'"
Ahmad is now splitting his time between Virginia and Pakistan while courting Pakistani expatriates to help fund his league – and admits to not feeling quite at home in either country. "The TSA held me for seven hours at Reagan airport, but then only questioned me for a couple of minutes," Ahmad says, "I expected it but was still like 'Screw you, I'm a vet.'"


http://www.mensjournal.com/adventure/races-sports/pakistans-fight-club-20140313
Riaz Haq said…
It’s just another day in the fictional town of Halwapur, when mayor Vadero Pajero orders local thug Baba Bandook to shut down the girls’ school. “What will girls do with education when they will grow up to scrub floors and cook meals,” they mock. But then the now-famous Burka Avenger swoops in. Using her takht kabaddi skills — combat with pens and books — she thwarts the evil plan and the school is reopened.
But Jiya, aka Burka Avenger, heroine of the eponymous TV series, isn’t the only one. The country is in overdrive, creating animated characters who are regular people by day and crimefighters by night. Kachee Goliyan, possibly Pakistan’s first comic book company, recreated Umru Ayar, a phenomenal figure in Urdu literature, in a comic book. Nofal Khan, Editor, Kachee Goliyan, says, “Whenever we visualised the stories of Umru Ayar, we thought of them as action-packed, exciting adventures, with Ayar moving in and out of different realms, fighting off evil wizards. A lot of people grew up reading his stories and we wanted to invoke nostalgia.”
Role models
A silent cultural revolution is brewing in Pakistan’s art, entertainment and literature scenes. It’s bold, tough and the people’s desperate desire for real change is unmistakable. “Positive role models are very important for Pakistani society. Real-life people can turn out to be imperfect but fictional characters can be projected with the highest morals and values. Wonder Woman or Catwoman may not resonate in Pakistani society, but Burka Avenger does,” says Haroon Rashid, its creator, who is a pop star. The character was number nine on Time magazine’s list of most influential characters of 2013 and there are talks of broadcasting the show in 60 countries soon.

Burka Avenger’s key theme is educating girls and women, which is especially significant in a country with profoundly conservative areas. This is also reflected in real-life hero Malala Yousafzai’s goals. Yousafzai is known for being an education and women’s rights activist, which got her shot by the Taliban in 2012.
Rich narratives
Syed Hamdani created Sergeant Pakistan as a comic and a set of ongoing novellas so that Pakistani kids could look up to someone with humble beginnings who stands up against terrorism. “While watching the news one day, I saw a report of children playing suicide bombers in a game. I have a six-year-old son and I couldn’t stand watching that. It is a failure of humanity if children portray themselves as terrorists,” he says. The first novella is out on Amazon’s Kindle device and proceeds from the project will go to charity.
Meanwhile Pakistan’s first superhero film, Nation Awakes, an ambitious project produced by Aamir Sajjad Ventures, is scheduled for global release in 2016. The superhero, Pakistan, will be portrayed by Aamir Sajjad and the
English-language film has already garnered 148,922 likes on Facebook. “Nation Awakes will deal with things on a global level, where Pakistan will fight for humanity in general. For most people it will be a very different experience to watch a Muslim superhero in action for the first time. The basic aim of this film is to change perceptions,” says Sajjad.
These superheroes reflect the Pakistani people’s desire for social and cultural change. Dr Chloe Gill-Khan, Post-Doctoral Research Fellow at the University of South Australia, who studies Pakistani culture and politics, says, “The rise of animated characters and Pakistan’s first-ever superhero film form a crucial part of the broader urban media revolution that is reformist in its outlook, appealing to visions of national reconstruction on multiple levels. The urban popular and underground music scene, television dramas and shows indicate the strengthening of civic voices. Such cultural expressions have the potential to strengthen Pakistan’s cultural economy, revive healthy debate, educate and also challenge national and international stereotypes.”...

http://m.gulfnews.com/http-gulfnews-com-gn-focus-pakistan-superheroes-1.1306794
Riaz Haq said…
How comic books are combatting extremism in #Pakistan. #terrorism #TTP http://www.csmonitor.com/Books/chapter-and-verse/2015/0706/How-comic-books-are-combatting-extremism-in-Pakistan?cmpid=addthis_twitter

The graphic novel, entitled "The Guardian," chronicles the disparate journeys of two young men, Asim and Munir. Wooed by its charitable activities, the pair decide to join a militant organization, but when they land in a training camp, Munir embraces the group's violent message while Asim questions it and ultimately leaves, reports the Associated Press
Riaz Haq said…
#Pakistan defies West's stereotypes of #Muslims: More #girls in #Pakistan colleges than boys. #MalalaYousafzai http://wpo.st/a0H91

Malala is made to tell a particular story about people in the global South, generally, and Pakistan, specifically.

She is represented as the girl who defied the culture in Pakistan, and who now embodies a transnational, secular modernity exemplified by her emphasis on independence, choice, advocacy for freedom, and arguments for gender equality.

Instead of being a symbol of the courage of Muslims and Pakistanis to stand up against local forms of violence, Malala is presented as an exception.

This narrative of Malala sustains the façade of Islam as an oppressive religion and Muslims as embroiled in pre-modern sensibilities.

Transnational girls’ education campaigns, such as the Nike Foundation’s “Girl Effect” and the White House’s “Let Girls Learn,” similarly paint a picture of black and brown populations as pre-modern, and still not educating girls. They call on the feminist sensibilities of benevolent citizens to save their Muslim sisters.

Such formulations, however, not only re-articulate the binary of victim/heroine, but also abstract education from a complex web of issues such as state corruption, the hollowed-out welfare system, and lack of access to jobs, among others.

In the case of Pakistan, for instance, research shows that girls are in school; in fact, there are more girls in higher education than boys!

Girls’ education – or, lack thereof – thus, has become a way in which Western institutions have established their own superiority and, simultaneously, the inferiority of Islam and Muslims, deeming interventions necessary and even ethically imperative.

In the context of these deep and emotional attachments to girls and education, girls who advocate for education (like Malala) and the school infrastructure itself have become prominent targets for extremists as a means to express their anti-West, anti-United States and anti-Pakistan sentiments.

It enables them to strike at the heart of what liberal global North deems as its most prized project.

Importantly, the extremists represent their attacks as a continuation of their fight against what they perceive to be colonial and foreign influence – mass schooling in Pakistan being a legacy of the British colonizers who displaced local, indigenous traditions and systems of learning.

This is a serious critique that we must take into account if we hope to curb this war on education.

It is time, therefore, that we scrutinize the loud debate over girls’ education and dislodge the monopoly of Western perspective on it, thereby making it a less potent site for extremists.

A critical way in which we can further both these ends is by recognizing the long traditions of learning that are indigenous to Muslims and Pakistan, attending to the areas and systems of support identified by girls themselves, as well as supporting organizations such as the Aga Khan Development Network, which ground their efforts in their Muslim ethics and seek to improve the quality of life of populations in Pakistan (and beyond).


Doing so will not only allow us to further our efforts for global education, but make space for alternative traditions and recognize humanity’s many histories.
Riaz Haq said…
The #Karachi Whiz Kid And #Pakistan's First Hand Drawn Animated Flick, The Glassworker via @forbes. @usmanriaz1990 http://www.forbes.com/sites/sonyarehman/2016/02/21/the-karachi-whiz-kid-and-pakistans-first-hand-drawn-animated-flick/#8fadf015e98a …

In 2012, a young, unassuming Pakistani musician from Karachi created waves after being selected as a TEDGlobal Fellow, following the success of his brilliant composition, Fire Fly, which went viral a year before.

Sharing stage space at TEDGlobal – a conference that brings together trailblazers from across the world to deliver inspiring talks – with his idol, the renowned guitarist, Preston Reed, Usman Riaz was quickly propelled into fame.

This year, while still in its initial stages, Riaz’s The Glassworker, Pakistan’s first hand drawn animated production, brings with it the magic and innocence of a Studio Ghibli film.

Judging by the production’s teaser, which was also showcased at TED this year, The Glassworker is an enchanting visual treat.

Little wonder then, the fact that Riaz successfully met his Kickstarter funding goal in just sixteen days, this month.

“I’ve always loved the beauty of glassblowing,” Riaz said, speaking about the production’s concept. “It’s one of those rare art forms where the process of creating it is as beautiful as the finished result.”

Riaz, who stands as the production’s writer, director, and unsurprisingly, composer of The Glassworker’s musical score, began drawing well before his interest in music blossomed. “I’ve always loved art and animation,” the Studio Ghibli fan stated, mentioning that after studying a degree in fine arts, music and film overseas, he felt a strong desire to channel each medium into a work of art.

“What better way than to combine my work in art, music and storytelling than with animation?”
Riaz Haq said…
#Pakistani feminists' #Urdu #television series "churails" (witches) on #Indian streaming service Zee5 features a gang of 4 burka-wearing female avengers who wield fists and hockey sticks in anger. They dispense rough justice to abusive and philandering men https://www.economist.com/asia/2020/09/03/a-tv-series-about-female-vigilantes-breaks-taboos-in-pakistan


“Not all heroes wear capes,” declares the trailer for a new Pakistani television series. Some wear burkas. The stars of “Churails”—which means “Witches” in Urdu—are a gang of female avengers who wield fists and hockey sticks in anger. They dispense rough justice to abusive and philandering men.

Sara is a lawyer who gives up her career for her husband before discovering that the rotter has sent explicit messages to scores of women. Jugnu plans weddings for rich couples, and happens to be an alcoholic. Batool served 20 years in prison for murdering her husband, who was a paedophile. Zubaida has long suffered under a domineering and violent father.

Thrown together by chance, the quartet run a secret agency that aims to help wronged women exact revenge. They use a clothes shop in Karachi as a front for their activities. The heroines drink, swear and take drugs. There are lesbian characters and a trans one.
Female characters in Pakistan’s television dramas are often depicted as helpless damsels. Their conflicts are usually with children, mothers-in-law or rivals in romance. Lately tv producers have sought to introduce more challenging themes, such as rape and child abuse, but advertisers and channel bosses are not keen. “The most refreshing thing about ‘Churails’ was that it was completely uncensored,” says Aamna Haider Isani, a journalist who covers entertainment for The News, a Pakistani daily. One enthusiastic reviewer called it a “feminist masterpiece”. Another hailed “a monumental moment for representation”.
Asim Abbasi, the show’s creator and director, who lives in Britain, explains that he “wanted to tell a story that was authentic to women I know and to the society I know”. He is able to do so because “Churails” is airing over a web-streaming service, instead of a television channel. It was created for the Urdu-language unit of Zee5, an Indian video-on-demand service. Going digital “allows us to take risks”, says Mr Abbasi.
Pakistan has no domestic streaming services, but Zee5, Netflix and Amazon are all gaining users. Lockdowns imposed to fend off covid-19 have helped to boost subscriptions. Ms Isani says her children no longer watch conventional television channels. “They say, ‘Why are you watching the same woman cry day after day?’” That tv-streaming youngsters are now watching completely different things to channel-hopping elders may explain why “Churails” has not provoked more of a backlash. Many conservative Pakistanis have yet to discover it.
Riaz Haq said…
#Pakistani police arrests cleric over threats to kill #Malala. A video of him went viral on #socialmedia, in which he threatens Nobel Laureate #MalalaYousafzai over her recent comments about #marriage. https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/pakistani-police-arrests-cleric-over-threats-to-kill-malala/2021/06/10/adc66134-c9f3-11eb-8708-64991f2acf28_story.html?tid=ss_tw


Pakistani police have arrested a cleric after a video of him went viral on social media, in which he threatens Nobel Laureate Malala Yousafzai over her recent comments about marriage, officials said Thursday.

The cleric, Mufti Sardar Ali Haqqani, was arrested in Lakki Marwat, a district in the northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, on Wednesday, said Waseem Sajjad, a local police chief.

In the video, the cleric threatens to target Malala with a suicide attack when she returns to Pakistan, allegedly because of her comments earlier this month to British Vogue magazine about marriage that he claims insulted Islam.

Yousafzai has been living in Britain since 2012, after the Pakistani Taliban shot and seriously wounded her. She was just 15 years old at the time and had enraged the Taliban with her campaign for girls education.


At one point in the Vogue interview, Malala says: “I still don’t understand why people have to get married. If you want to have a person in your life, why do you have to sign marriage papers, why can’t it just be a partnership?”

The remark caused a stir on social media in Pakistan and angered Islamists and clerics like Haqqani. Under Islamic laws, couples cannot live together outside marriage.

Malala’s father, Ziauddin Yousafzai, defended her on Twitter, saying her remarks were taken out of context.

Malala, now 23, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2014 for working to protect children from slavery, extremism, and child labor. She briefly visited Pakistan in 2018.

She remains highly popular in Pakistan but is also widely criticized by Islamists and hard-liners.

In February, Malala’s 2012 attacker threatened a second attempt on her life, tweeting that next time, “there would be no mistake.” Twitter subsequently permanently suspend the account with the menacing post.


The threat prompted Yousafzai to tweet herself, asking both the Pakistani military and Prime Minister Imran Khan to explain how her alleged shooter, Ehsanullah Ehsan, had escaped from government custody.

Ehsan was arrested in 2017, but escaped in January 2020 from a so-called safe house where he was being held by Pakistan’s intelligence agency. The circumstances of both his arrest and escape have been shrouded in mystery and controversy.
Riaz Haq said…
#BulliBai takes its name from a slur against #Muslim women. It was filled with profiles of dozens who were purportedly for sale. Most were #Indian, and some were high-profile figures, such as the #Pakistani #Nobel laureate #Malala Yousafzai. #Islamophobia https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/01/04/india-online-auction-muslim-women/

Quratulain Rehbar, a journalist in India, found a profile of herself on a website on Saturday. The page was unauthorized, labeled her as up for “auction” and invited people to bid to own her.

The fake auction website Bulli Bai, which takes its name from a slur against Muslim women, was filled with profiles of dozens who were purportedly for sale. Most were Indian, and some were high-profile figures, such as the Nobel laureate Malala Yousafzai. Many were also opponents of Hindu nationalism who have publicly criticized Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s treatment of ethnic and religious minorities in India.

The website, which was built on the popular U.S.-based coding platform GitHub, was no longer accessible Tuesday, after a burst of online outrage against its misogyny and racism. A GitHub spokesman said in an email that it had suspended a user account that violated its policies on harassment, discrimination and the incitement of violence.


----------

The auction sites exemplify the “extreme xenophobia and misogyny used by Hindu nationalists to foster ascendancy,” said Angana Chatterji, an anthropologist specializing in Indian politics at the University of California at Berkeley.

Police in Mumbai have detained a man in connection with Bulli Bai, said Satej D. Patil, a junior minister in Maharashtra state, which is governed by a coalition including the Congress Party that sits in opposition to the BJP at the national level. He said a “large group of people who intend to disrupt … communal harmony” could be behind the website.

The operators of the fake auction websites aren’t known, but they appear to be part of a “decentralized apparatus of attacks, trolling and vilification of Muslim women,” said Gilles Verniers, a politics expert at Ashoka University in India. He added attacks on Muslims were often downplayed or tolerated by Indian leaders, many of whom are BJP members.

Riaz Haq said…
Marvel Studios will be releasing Ms Marvel exclusively in cinemas only in #Pakistan. #Disney will create a cinema format version of the 6-episode series for Pakistan, split into 3 parts, to celebrate the first Pakistani Marvel #superhero Kamala Khan. https://images.dawn.com/news/1190034

Episodes one and two will debut on June 16, three and four on June 30 and five and six on July 14.

"This decision was made to celebrate the introduction of the first Pakistani Marvel superhero, Kamala Khan (played by Iman Vellani), into the MCU. The series also features a diverse cast both in front of and behind the camera," said Obaid-Chinoy. "Disney and Marvel did not want Pakistani audiences to miss out on seeing Ms Marvel and her story as Disney+ has not yet launched in their country."

Vellani plays 16-year-old Kamala Khan, who lives in Jersey City. Kamala is an aspiring artist, an avid gamer, and a voracious fan-fiction scribe, she is a huge fan of the Avengers — and one in particular, Captain Marvel. But Kamala has always struggled to find her place in the world — that is until she gets super powers like the heroes she’s always looked up to. The trailer for the series released on March 16 and the show will start streaming on Disney+ from June 8.
Riaz Haq said…
Why #Christians are trying to cancel ‘Ms. Marvel’? Why are they upset about a young #Muslim girl when a Norse God had four movies and appeared in every Avengers film? #Pakistani-#American #MsMarvel #Islamophobia https://wegotthiscovered.com/tv/why-christians-are-trying-to-cancel-ms-marvel/


Phase Four of the Disney MCU has introduced us to new and diverse characters from different backgrounds. But it seems that Christian groups are against the new Ms. Marvel show for *checks notes* being Muslim.

TikTok user frankdomenic has noticed that the new Disney Plus show is being review bombed on IMDb. As of writing, the show currently has an average rating of 6.4 out of 10 stars on the website. This TikToker theorized that the show would have received a higher rating if it wasn’t being bombed by “racists”.

The TikToker theorized that the cause of the review bomb was because of a private Facebook group called “Christians Against Ms. Marvel”. According to their about page, this group believes that Ms. Marvel is “the biggest slap in the face” for conservative Christians and that Carol Danvers should be the face of the show. Their goal is to get the show canceled as they believe that there will no longer be more “white straight Christian characters”.

Ms Marvel might be the biggest slap in the face for conservative Christians to date!!! Disney has decided that the face of this franchise should not be Carol Danvers but should instead be a gay Muslim. no more straight Christian characters from Marvel. those days are over. please join us as we let Disney know that we will not BE CANCELLED!!!

It seems like these people have not seen or read Ms. Marvel as the show clearly dictates that Ms. Marvel and Captain Marvel are two different characters. Even the show indicates that Kamala Khan looks up to Carol Danvers. These “Christians” should be flattered. Also, Kamala Khan is not (at least not yet confirmed) to be a gay character. Just because a pride shirt appeared in the show doesn’t mean she’s automatically gay.

Also, why are they upset about a young Muslim girl when a Norse God had four movies and appeared in every Avengers film? If these are truly “conservative” Christians, shouldn’t they be up in arms against that too, especially if they remember the first commandment? One TikToker noticed this and FrankDomenic gave a possible reason as to why Thor gets a pass.

MCU fans mocked the Facebook group after the page was shared on social media. Some believed it was just a troll page while others, especially Christians, said that they enjoyed the show.

So far, more people praised the show than the ones who gave negative ratings. And hopefully, by episode 2, more people will appreciate the show. Also, it’s 2022 guys, let others be represented on the big screen.

Episode 1 of Ms. Marvel is now out on Disney Plus and new episodes come out each week on Wednesday.
Riaz Haq said…
Critics have hailed the release of Ms Marvel, Disney's first on-screen Muslim superhero story, as a "joyful" slice of "pop culture history".


https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-61743910
Riaz Haq said…
I have a confession to make. My introduction to Marvel wasn’t conventional. I didn’t grow up reading and re-reading comic books; I never stood in long queues and waited for the latest paperback of the next superhero comic. I fell in love with Marvel the way very few did; I fell in love with the Marvel Cinematic Universe first and later with the comics. Thankfully, it turns out I am not alone in this universe.
The last offering of the third phase of MCU, Avengers: Endgame, saw the end of many beloved characters. It was indeed heartbreaking, but the future of the MCU looked brighter than ever. As Marvel entered its fourth phase, we saw diverse characters and more inclusive storylines in an otherwise whitewashed cast *cough, star Avengers, cough*.
However, there was one particular web series I was anxiously waiting for. In 2018, rumours about Marvel bringing Ms Marvel, its first-ever Muslim superhero that has roots in Pakistan, to the screens made rounds. The woes of casting, and getting the representation right loomed over. Who would portray Kamala Khan? How well could Marvel intercept the true Pakistani culture? Who would helm the said series? Several questions popped into everyone's mind – and rightfully so.
All discussions regarding the show were kept under wraps for a while. Ms Marvel has been helmed by not one but four directors – each roped in for different episodes. One of those four directors was Pakistan’s first-ever Oscar-winning filmmaker, Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy.
For more: https://tribune.com.pk/story/2363072/1
Riaz Haq said…
Islam is the second largest religion in America

Buddhism, Islam and Judaism have the most followers after Christianity in most of states.

By Reid Wilson

https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/govbeat/wp/2014/06/04/the-second-largest-religion-in-each-state/


In 20 states, mostly in the Midwest and South, Islam is the largest non-Christian faith tradition. And in 15 states, mostly in the Northeast, Judaism has the most followers after Christianity. Hindus come in second place in Arizona and Delaware, and there are more practitioners of the Baha’i faith in South Carolina than anyone else.


Christianity is by far the largest religion in the United States; more than three-quarters of Americans identify as Christians. A little more than half of us identify as Protestants, about 23 percent as Catholic and about 2 percent as Mormon.

But what about the rest of us? In the Western U.S., Buddhists represent the largest non-Christian religious bloc in most states. In 20 states, mostly in the Midwest and South, Islam is the largest non-Christian faith tradition. And in 15 states, mostly in the Northeast, Judaism has the most followers after Christianity. Hindus come in second place in Arizona and Delaware, and there are more practitioners of the Baha’i faith in South Carolina than anyone else.


All these data come from the Association of Statisticians of American Religious Bodies, which conducts a U.S. Religion Census every 10 years.

The data the ASARB release every 10 years are revealing: Adherents to any religious faith — that is, those who actually attend religious services — make up more than half the population in 28 states. Utah has the highest percentage of adherents, at 79 percent of the population, while just over a quarter of Mainers are adherents. North Dakota, Alabama and Louisiana are near the top of the list, while Oregon, Vermont, Alaska, Nevada and Washington sit near the bottom of the rankings.


Catholicism dominates the Northeast and the Southwest, and Southern Baptists have a strong foothold in the South. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints dominates Utah and surrounding counties in Idaho, Wyoming and parts of Nevada. Lutheranism has a strong following in Minnesota and the Dakotas, while Methodists make their presence felt in parts of West Virginia, Iowa, Nebraska and Kansas.
Riaz Haq said…
(Pakistani-American) Amna Nawaz and Geoff Bennett Named Co-Anchors of PBS NewsHour
Nawaz and Bennett to Succeed Judy Woodruff on Monday, January 2, 2023

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/press-releases/amna-nawaz-and-geoff-bennett-named-co-anchors-of-pbs-newshour

"Today is a day I never could’ve imagined when I began my journalism career years ago, or while growing up as a first-generation, Muslim, Pakistani-American. I’m grateful, humbled, and excited for what’s ahead.”


Sharon Rockefeller, President and CEO of WETA and President of NewsHour Productions, today named PBS NewsHour chief correspondent Amna Nawaz and chief Washington correspondent and PBS News Weekend anchor Geoff Bennett co-anchors of the nightly newscast. The PBS NewsHour, co-anchored by Nawaz and Bennett, will launch on Monday, January 2, 2023. Nawaz and Bennett succeed Judy Woodruff, who has solo-anchored PBS’s nightly news broadcast since 2016, prior to which she co-anchored it alongside the late Gwen Ifill.

Bennett has reported from the White House under three presidents and has covered five presidential elections. He joined NewsHour in 2022 from NBC News, where he was a White House correspondent and substitute anchor for MSNBC. In his prior experience, he worked for NPR — beginning as an editor for Weekend Edition and later as a reporter covering Congress and the White House. An Edward R. Murrow Award recipient, Bennett began his journalism career at ABC News’ World News Tonight.

On being named co-anchor of PBS NewsHour, Geoff Bennett said, “I’m proud to work with such a stellar group of journalists in pursuit of a shared mission — providing reliable reporting, solid storytelling and sharp analysis of the most important issues of the day. It’s why PBS NewsHour is one of television’s most trusted and respected news programs and why I’m honored and excited to partner with Amna in building on its rich legacy.”

Nawaz, who has received Peabody Awards for her reporting at NewsHour on January 6, 2021 and global plastic pollution, has served as NewsHour’s primary substitute anchor since she joined the NewsHour in 2018. She previously was an anchor and correspondent at ABC News, anchoring breaking news coverage and leading the network’s livestream coverage of the 2016 presidential election. Before that, she served as foreign correspondent and Islamabad Bureau Chief at NBC News. She is also the founder and former managing editor of NBC’s Asian America platform, and began her journalism career at ABC News Nightline just weeks before the attacks of September 11, 2001.

On being named co-anchor, Amna Nawaz added, “It’s never been more important for people to have access to news and information they trust, and the entire NewsHour team strives relentlessly towards that goal every day. I am honored to be part of this mission, to work with colleagues I admire and adore, and to take on this new role alongside Geoff as we help write the next chapter in NewsHour’s story. Today is a day I never could’ve imagined when I began my journalism career years ago, or while growing up as a first-generation, Muslim, Pakistani-American. I’m grateful, humbled, and excited for what’s ahead.”

In making the announcement, Rockefeller noted, “PBS NewsHour continues to be dedicated to excellence in journalism. Amna and Geoff bring to their new positions three essential qualities for the role – accomplished careers in substantive reporting, dedication to the purpose of journalism to illuminate and inform, and a deep respect for our audiences and the mission of public media.”


Riaz Haq said…
#Afghan Man Takes #Daughters To #Pakistan To Get Them An #Education. Asif Shakuri moved his family to #Balochistan, Pakistan from #Kandahar in #Afghanistan after his eldest daughters were shut out of university by #Taliban ban on girls' college education.

https://www.rferl.org/a/afghan-man-daughters-pakistan-education/32194242.html

The Taliban in Afghanistan has prevented many women from attending university and suspended secondary education for girls since retaking power in 2021.
Riaz Haq said…
Why was Pakistani pop culture so big in 2022?
December 28, 20223:59 PM ET
Heard on All Things Considered

https://www.npr.org/2022/12/28/1145854096/why-was-pakistani-pop-culture-so-big-in-2022


2022 saw a rise of Pakistani pop culture worldwide, punctuated by a Grammy win, Ms. Marvel and an ovation at Cannes.



SHAPIRO: The first Muslim superhero to have her own comic.

SURBHI GUPTA: Showing a Pakistani American teen in a Pakistani household, that felt amazing.

SARAH MCCAMMON, HOST:

Journalist Surbhi Gupta wrote about this banner year for Pakistani pop culture in New Lines Magazine.

GUPTA: We in South Asia know of this, but there were too many global moments, you know. And I was like, OK, this needs to be out there.

MCCAMMON: Gupta was born and raised in India. She writes that this is far from the first time Pakistani culture has made a global splash.

GUPTA: So, like, in the '80s, you know, my parents would talk about the Hassan siblings. They were the rage with "Disco Deewane."

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "DISCO DEEWANE PART I")

NAZIA HASSAN: (Singing) Disco, disco, disco deewane.

SHAPIRO: That 1981 album broke sales records in Pakistan and India, and it charted worldwide, including places like Russia and the West Indies.

MCCAMMON: This year, a Pakistani hit again drew global attention.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "PASOORI")

SETHI AND GILL: (Singing in non-English language).

MCCAMMON: The song "Pasoori" by Ali Sethi and Shae Gill climbed to the top of Spotify's global viral charts, and Google searches for it beat out tracks by the K-pop group BTS and the singer Harry Styles.

SHAPIRO: Then in April, the Brooklyn-based Pakistani singer and composer Arooj Aftab won a Grammy for best global music performance for her rendition of the traditional song "Mohabbat."

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "MOHABBAT")

AFTAB: (Singing in non-English language).

It's important to define this moment, I think, for everyone and ourselves.

MCCAMMON: We spoke with her earlier this year before she won that award. And while Aftab was excited about being nominated in a global music category, being part of the best new artist category sent a bigger message about her place on the world stage.

AFTAB: The industry has put us in these other categories for such a long time because of the sort of racial climate of America for all this while. And so this moment where I'm in this best new artist category next to all these other artists is a monumental moment.

SHAPIRO: Pakistan had monumental moments in film this year, too, with the first Pakistani film ever officially selected for the Cannes Film Festival, a transgender love story called "Joyland."

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "JOYLAND")

SHAPIRO: Here's Gupta again.

GUPTA: It's about a family in Lahore, and it unpacks, like, different nuances of gender and patriarchy. And then, like, his relationship with this trans starlet, this was almost banned. But the international recognition that the film had had kind of forced the federal government to intervene and then pave the way for its release.

MCCAMMON: We asked her, what's spurring this renaissance? One theory - the world is ready.

GUPTA: I think it's been 20 years since 9/11. So there were a lot of stereotypes also associated to Pakistanis and Muslims, which I think now perhaps we are shedding.

MCCAMMON: Still, she says, Pakistani artists are doing it on their own terms, being authentically themselves.

GUPTA: American pop culture has such a strong influence globally to kind of define what local culture has become. But I think the beauty of Pakistani culture is that it is not pretending to be something it is not.

SHAPIRO: That's Surbhi Gupta. Her article, "Pakistani Pop Culture Has Had A Global Year," is in New Lines Magazine.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "PASOORI")

SETHI AND GILL: (Singing in non-English language).

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