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Opera on former Pak PM Benazir Bhutto to premiere in Pittsburgh next year

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Here’s what’s happening across the border: Journalist arrested for possessing hate literature gets bail, and indigenous Kalash community’s practice figures in UNESCO list of ‘Intangible Cultural Heritage’.

Opera on Benazir Bhutto to premiere in Pittsburgh next year

Pennsylvania-based Pittsburgh Opera will produce a musical play on the life and legacy of former Pakistan PM Benazir Bhutto, who was assassinated in 2007, reports The News International.

The opera — the brainchild of Mohammed Fairouz, a prominent Emirati-American composer, and award winning British-Pakistani novelist Mohammed Hanif — and is set to premiere in Pittsburgh, US, next year.

“The opera focuses on Benazir Bhutto’s extraordinary life and the influences upon her, and the effect that her stand for women and their ability to lead has had on the world stage,” Pittsburgh Opera’s general director Christopher Hahn was quoted as saying by The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

Fairouz thought about doing an opera on Bhutto six years ago, according to The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. It says, the opera has undergone a number of readings and workshops since the time the noted composer first mooted the idea of it.

“Everybody has an opinion about Bhutto,” he was quoted as saying.

“When you write an opera, you have to start with research to find out why the story or idea compels you so much,” Fairouz added.

Hanif also revealed his fascination behind agreeing to create an opera on Bhutto. “As soon as [Mohammed Fairouz] suggested Bhutto as an opera I said yes. It’s a bizarre story, really over the top for a novel,” he said.

“It’s a family story that centres on power. It’s not intended to be divisive, but it’s political, so of course it will be. But that’s not a bad thing,” added Hanif.

Journalist accused of possessing banned literature gets bail

An anti-terrorism court in Pakistan Wednesday granted bail to a senior journalist Nasarullah Khan Chaudhry who was arrested for allegedly possessing proscribed literature, reports Pakistan Today.

Chaudhry, a Karachi Press Club member, is associated with Urdu daily Nai Baat. He was kept in police custody after the Counter-Terrorism Department arrested him on 11 November. The agency had accused Chaudhry of possessing anti-state and hate literature related to Afghan jihad and the Punjabi Taliban, which he would allegedly use to influence people into taking part in jihad.

In Wednesday’s hearing, the journalist’s counsel Muhammad Farooq argued that CTD did not have evidence against Chaudhry. The court eventually ordered the journalist to pay Rs 1 lakh as bail bond.

Chaudhry’s arrest had stirred anger in the media fraternity which had termed it an “illegal detention”. Earlier this month, journalists had staged a sit-in outside the Sindh Governor’s house in protest against a raid on the Karachi Press Club on 8 November.

Pak indigenous community’s practice figures in UNESCO list

The ‘Suri Jagek’ practice of the indigenous Kalash community has been approved by the UNESCO to be added to its 2018 list of Intangible Cultural Heritage (IHC), reports Geo TV.

The decision was finalised at the 13th Session of UNESCO’s Intergovernmental Committee for Safeguarding the Intangible Cultural Heritage, held in Mauritius Wednesday.

‘Suri Jagek’ is an age-old meteorological and astronomical practice of the Kalash people. The community observes the sun, moon and stars with respect to the local topography. The Kalash community lives in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province’s Chitral district.

According to a Dawn report the 24-member UNESCO committee accepted Pakistan’s nomination because Suri Jagek is a “ruling custom, integral to the formation of the traditional luni-solar calendar dictating times for festivals, feasts and social events, as well as animal husbandry and agriculture of the Kalasha and Muslim community residing in the three valleys”.

The committee addressed several concerns and issues which are vital to conserving and safeguarding the living heritage across the world. The 2018 list also includes cultural heritage in countries such as Kenya, Algeria, Cambodia, Syria, Egypt and Azerbaijan.

Woman bureaucrat launches anti-encroachment drive

Additional assistant commissioner of Peshawar, Sara Tawab, is unfazed by the challenges of motherhood as she has set an example by carrying her child to office.

The woman bureaucrat has initiated a campaign against illegal encroachment on government lands and against shop owners who sell items at inflated prices in evening hours.

According to a Express Tribune report, “Throughout her successful campaign in Dilzak road, Faqirabad, and Hashtnagri on a daily basis, Tawab always keeps her child, Maham, with her.”

People are seen applauding and cheering for her whenever she’s seen passing by.

Her inspection has led to arrests of multiple shop owners and eviction of shops that encroached on government land.

The federal government has launched campaigns to raze illegal encroachments in the capital while the provincial administration is following it through in the suburbs of the country.

Wasim Akram’s wife accepted a video challenge and it’s going viral

A video of Shaniera Akram, wife of former cricketer Wasim Akram, trying to identify the names of vegetables in Urdu while playing a challenge has gone viral on social media, reports The News.

In the video, she’s seen competing with a British man, George Fulton, in a bid to recognise the names of vegetables in Urdu.

Both of them can be heard speaking a few lines in Urdu. Initially posted by Fulton, the video has gone viral since it was retweeted by Shaniera.

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