The author is an educationist. Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it                                                                                                         .

Aditya Sakorkar is a researcher in International Relations. His main interests are identity politics, psychological aspects of terrorism, security issues, and International Relations' theory. He also holds a Master's in History and Diploma in Journalism. Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it  

A. K. Biswas is a renowned educationist and former Vice-Chancellor of B.R. Amedkar University, Bihar. Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

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The writer is a freelance columnist who has contributed to Pakistani news publications and outlets such as , Dawn, Daily Times, Express Tribune and The Friday Times. He can be reached at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Asim Sajjad Akhtar is associated with the Workers Party Pakistan. He is also Assistant Professor of Political Economy at Quaid-e-Azam University, Islamabad.

Abdul Khaliq Shah is Focal Person of Campaign for Abolition of Third World Debt, Pakistan.

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Achin Vanaik is a Professor of 'International Relations and Global Politics' in the Department of Political Science, Delhi University as well as a Fellow of the Transnational Institute and a founding member of the Coalition for Nuclear Disarmament and Peace (CNDP), India -- a national network of organisations and individuals for Indian, regional and global nuclear disarmament, committed to promoting people to people friendship between India and Pakistan, and opposed to the occupations of Afghanistan, Iraq and Palestine

Adaner Usmani works with the Labour Party of Pakistan. He is currently a PhD student in the Sociology Department at NYU.                       

Adnan Farooq has worked with daily The Nation, Lahore and  daily Jang, Lahore. He has also volunteered for Milieudefensie, Amsterdam. Friends of the earth, Europe, on environmental issues. He has been working with ON FILE, an Amsterdam-based publication run by journalists from all around the world. He studied Conflict Resolution at University of Amsterdam. He is the editor.

Amit Ranjan is a PhD student at Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

The writer is a sociologist based in Karachi. She has a background in women's studies and has authored and edited several books on women's issues. Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

The writer is a leading human rights activist based in Lahore.                                                                                                                      .

A. Asif lives in New York City. Currently he is working on a collection of short stories and a novel about Pakistan

Ahab Minhas is a Pakistani national and works as Vice President at an investment bank in Saudi Arabia

Ajmal Butt is a seasoned left activist based in Stockholm, interested in Urdu literature and climate questions. Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Alan Bradley is an Australian who became a socialist in 1985, and hasn't seen any good reason to change his mind.

Alan McCombes was the founding editor of the weekly political newspaper, the Scottish Socialist Voice. He is currently a freelance journalist with a strong interest in the politics of Pakistan and Afghanistan.Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Ali Arqam is a Peshawar university graduate, and blogger who edits a political blog Criticalppp.com                                    .

The writer is a psychiatrist and a trustee of the Faiz Foundation, Pakistan and Faiz Ghar, Lahore (www.faizghar.net). He can be reached at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

The writer is an independent filmmaker and Marxist-Leninist political activist. He can be reached on twitter at http://twitter.com/ammar_aziz

Arsham Parsi is the founder and Executive Director of the Iranian Railroad for Queer Refugees (IRQR), an international queer human rights non-governmental organization (NGO) based in Toronto, Canada. The primary mission of IRQR (www.irqr.net) is to aid and assist Iranian Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgendered refugees in countries all over the world, and who now face the threat of deportation back to Iran, in obtaining asylum status in safe countries. Today, IRQR is the only active NGO that works on behalf of the global population of Iranian queers, i.e. Lesbians, Gays, Bisexuals and Transgendered Persons.

Ayesha Ijaz Khan is a lawyer and political commentator. She has worked for American and Pakistani law firms, written a novel ,and regularly comments on socio-political matters for several Pakistani English dailies, and has also contributed to The Guardian, CounterPunch, Ebony Magazine and The World Today outside of Pakistan. Website: www.ayeshaijazkhan.com Twitter: @ayeshaijazkhan

The author is an economics graduate, has worked in various Muslim communities in three different countries. Her expertise include Islam, women's rights, and religious minorities. She is based in Richmond, USA. Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

The writer is a renowned political analyst and a visiting professor at Johns Hopkins University, US. She is author of Military Inc.

Dr Ayub is a consultant psychiatrist in the UK.                                                                                                                                                                         .

Dr. Azhar Ali Shah teaches at University of Sindh, Jamshoro

Beena Sarwar is a Pakistani journalist and documentary filmmaker who blogs at Journeys to Democracy www.beenasarwar.wordpress.com. Twitter @beenasarwar                                                                                         .

Bente Ramona Krohn has MA in history of religion and Islamic studies. Currently, she is working on a PhD thesis about gay and lesbian Muslims in Norway. Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Dr. Cara Cilano is author of National Identities in Pakistan: The 1971 War in Contemporary Pakistani Fiction (Routledge 2011), Dr. Cara Cilano is an associate professor in the department of English at the University of North Carolina Wilmington. She is also the editor of From Solidarity to Schisms: 9/11 in Fiction and Film from Outside the US (Rodopi 2009). Her work on Pakistani literature has appeared in journals such as ARIEL, The Journal of Commonwealth and Postcolonial Literature, and Kunapipi.

Carol Mann is a Franco-British social anthropologist and art historian writer and novelist. She specialize on Gender and Armed Conflict, from a historical point of view, but especially on Bosnia and more than anything Afghanistan. A PhD in Sociology, she has been involved with aid projects in war zones since 1993. She has been involved with aid projects in Bosnia, Pakistan and Afghanistan. She blogs at: http://carolmann.net/wordpress/

Dil Nawaz blog at Bradistan Calling, a Viewpoint contributor from ‘Bradistan’( Little Pakistan in film 'East is East') Bradford UK. 

Dianne Feeley is a retired autoworker who lives in Detroit. She is an editor of Against the Current  (www.solidarity-us.org/atc/). She can be reached at: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

The writer is the Secretary of Norfolk Coalition Against the Cuts and also a Unison Shop Steward. Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it                

The writer is a freelance journalist based in Srinagar, Kashmir. He has worked with reputed newspapers and magazines of the valley. Currently he writes for a local magazine and works with some international web portals. He is also the editor of online magazine, The Kashmir Walla (www.thekashmirwalla.com)

Faiz Al-Najdi is a Riyadh based Engineer and a Writer. Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Faizan Khan is an economics graduate from Queen Mary, University of London currently based in Karachi, Pakistan. Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Faraz Talat is freelance contributor and writes about science and prevalent social problems.

Farhat Taj is a research fellow at the Centre for Interdisciplinary Gender Research, University of Oslo and a member of Aryana Institute for Regional Research and Advocacy. She can be reached at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Farooq Sulehria is working with Stockholm-based Weekly Internationalen (www.internationalen.se). Before joining Internationalen, he worked for one year,2006-07 at daily The News, Rawalpindi. Also, in Pakistan, he has worked with Lahore-based dailies, The Nation, The Frontier Post and Pakistan. He has MA in Mass Communication from Punjab University, Lahore. He also contributes for Znet and various left publications in Europe and Australia.

Farooq Tariq is spokesperson for Labour Party Pakistan. Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Fawzia Afzal-Khan is a professor at Department of English, Director of Women and Gender Studies. Montclair State University.

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Ghulam Haider is Pakistani journalist and development practiotner. He has worked for ten years in Pakistan's leading newspers (Daily The News and Daily The Nation). Currently he is associated with development sector.

Harry Pasha is management consultant based in the USA. He  has a keen interest in Pakistani politics and US –Pakistan relations. He occasionally writes for the Sindhi daily, Kawish.

The author is a student at Lund University, Sweden. Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

The writer is a Lahore-based journalist and currently working as City Editor for upcoming English language newspaper, Pakistan Today. He can be reached at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Ikram Ali Ghumro is election management expert. Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it                                                                                       .

The writer is a Professor Emeritus of Political Science, Stockholm University. He is also Honorary Senior Fellow of the Institute of South Asian Studies, National University of Singapore. He can be reached at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Jamshed Iqbal is a media critic, freelance writer & peace activist.

John Reimann is a retired carpenter and an expelled member of the Carpenters' Union in the United States. (He was expelled for leading rank and file struggles against the union bureaucracy.) He is a long-time socialist, who organized for a number of years in Mexico. He is presently a member of the Industrial Workers of the World.

The author is a PhD candidate at the University of London. Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

The author lives in Dublin. A trade unionist since 1966, he has been member of Technical Engineering Electrical Union (TEEU) Executive Council. A former member of Irish Labour Party (25 Years) and also of Militant Tendancy and Socialist Party (1972 to late 90's). He currently supports WIN, a global network of left activists. Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Khaled Ahmed is a best known Pakistani political analyst. He regularly contributes to The Friday Times and The Express Tribune.

Kunal Chattopadhyay teaches history and is a long-time left activist based in Calcutta. Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it                                                                                             .

J. Sri Raman is a freelance journalist and a peace activist, based in Chennai, India. He writes regularly for US web journal Truthout.  He also contributes to the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, Chicago, US and the Japanese newspaper Chugoku Shimbun, Hiroshima.

He likes to think of himself as an India-Pakistan journalist. He contributes a fortnightly column to the Daily Times, Lahore, Pakistan. He also writes for the Tribune, Chandigarh, The Hindu, Chennai and The Hindustan Times, Delhi, India. He is also author of the book Flashpoint published by Common Courage Press, USA.

He is the convener of the Journalists Against Nuclear Weapons and the Movement Against Nuclear Weapons, Chennai. He is a member of the National Coordination Committee of India’s Coalition for Nuclear Disarmament and Peace.

Julian Silverman is teacher, musician and political activist, currently involved in the campaign to protect council services in Barnet.

Justin Podur is a Toronto-based writer. Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Kamran Shafi is a leading columnist and a public debater frequently appearing at TV talk shows. He writes a regular column for Dawn.

Khadim Hussain was born in Siraiki speaking poor family of Dera Ghazi Khan. During the early seventies when he was studying Mechanical Engineering in Lahore, revolutionary ideas attracted him. Later he spent time in the US; besides receiving two Master degrees (Engineering and Politcal Science) there, he remained active watcher of political affairs of Pakistan, Central America and the world in general. Back in Pakistan in 1986, he heavily researched about the political affairs of India while he was employed by a government institution. For the last 15 years he is knwon as a civil society activist in Islamabad.

The writer is Director Labour Education Foundation and Member Executive Committee International Federation of Workers' Education Associations

The writer is a professor retired from Gothenburg University. He worked with a Pak-Swedish NGO as a teacher trainer a few years in the 1980s and has since 1995 onwards been attached to various trade union projects in Pakistan. He is a member of the Left Party in Sweden and a keen reader of Socialist Pakistan News (SPN).

Born in Sweden, Linn Hjort has lived in South Africa for many years where she studied and worked. She has a Master in Political Studies from University of Cape Town and is currently completing a degree in Media and Communication at Stockholm University. After many years as a freelance journalist and researcher in South Africa, she returned to Sweden to work as chief editor of Stockholm-based weekly, Internationalen before resuming studying and freelancing for various left-wing newspapers. She has a keen interest in feminist issues, racism and class struggles. She writes a lot on issues concerning the African continent.

The writer is a Hubert Humphrey Fellow at Arizona State University’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication and the editor of The Baloch Hal, Balochistan’s first online English language newspaper: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Mike Wayne teaches Film at Brunel University, London. Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Martin Wicks is a trade union and political activist, a (retired) member of the GMB and have just finished a 20 year stint as Secretary of Swindon Trades Union Council. He edits the trade union magazine Solidarity (http://solidaritymagazine.blogspot.com/) and blogs at http://martinwicks.wordpress.com/. Email:  This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

The writer is consulting editor, The Friday Times

Masood Hasan has written satire for more years than he can recall – his easy style and taking pot shots at the more pompous idiots around, have earned him a great following. In his other life he runs a multinational ad agency, hosts a jazz radio program and hangs out with people half his age.

Mazhar Jadoon lives in Lahore and is a senior journalist. He has worked with Lahore-based English dailies like The News and The Post.
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Dr. Mohsin Riaz Khalique is a child psychiatrist working in private practice in California. He has periodically written about self inquiry and analysis in Muslim world. He is interested in highlighting how certain Muslims are devoid of identity and how that draws them into this orthodoxy called fundamentalism.

The writer is a freelance journalist and researcher. He can be reached at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Dr M. Nazir Mahmood is a teacher, free lance writer, and a development professional. He hold a Doctorate in Education from the University of Birmingham, and Master's in Education from the University of Leeds, UK. He has translated over a dozen books from English to Urdu, including Stephen Hawking's best seller A Brief History of Time published by Mashal Foundation, Lahore. Currently, he is based in Islamabad and working as a consultant.

Emalid: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

The writer practices and teaches Medicine at the University of Florida .He contributes to the think tanks www.politact.com and AIRRA.He can be reached at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Mushtaq Gaadi teaches at Quaid-i-Azam University.

Dr. M. Husain Sadar is a former Canadian civil servant and retired Professor of Environmental Sciences. He has travelled frequently in several O.I.C. member countries on UN-sponsored training missions. 

Naeem Ashraf is a social an environmental analyst.

 Naila Inayat is a Lahore-based journalist. She can be reached at www.facebook.com/nailainayat 

Nathaniel Missildine is a freelance writer currently living in France.

He can be reached at http://www.nathanielmissildine.com

Nazish Brohi is a social activist and an author. Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Ovais Jafar is a Karachi based broadcast journalist affiliated with Geo News. He graduated from Kingston University London and is currently hosting a daily news show from Dubai. Presently he is engaged in coordinating the flood coverage across Pakistan

The author is a professor of physics and teaches in Lahore(LUMS) and Islamabad (QAU)                                                                         

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Dr. Qaisar Abbas, a U.S. based free lance journalist, grant writing consultant and a published Urdu poet, frequently writes on media, literature and society. With a Master's degree in Journalism from Punjab University, Lahore, he worked as Public Relations Officer for the provincial government of Punjab. Later he joined Pakistan Television as News Producer before moving to the United States where he did Ph.D. from University of Wisconsin-Madison in Mass Communication. After working on administrative and teaching positions at several universities in the U.S., he is currently working as Assistant Dean at the University of North Texas. He can be reached at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Qalandar Bux Memon is editor of Naked Punch, a UK-based politics, culture and arts journal.

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Rabayl Manzoor is a development economist and self-identified feminist working with Rural Support Programmes in Sindh for Monitoring, Evaluation and Research of the Landless Peasants Project. She also volunteers at Gender Interactive Alliance that works for the rights of transgender people in Pakistan. She teaches Economics and History at SZABIST and blogs at http://obamasaysdomore.wordpress.com. She's based in Karachi and can be reached at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

The writer known for his investigative stories works for The News Islamabad as its Editor Reporting. He also writes weekly columns for daily Jang and weekly Akhbar-e-Jahan. He did his Masters in English Literature from Bhauddin Zakria University Multan and MSc in Political Communication From Goldsmith College London on Chevening scholarship in 2007. He has, for three consecutive years, won APNS Best Reporter of Year's Award. His exposed a billion dollar LNG scam and proved his findings before Supreme Court of Pakistan after a legal battle against government. He has also translated Mario Puzo's Godfather to Urdu besides two French novelis. His book, Akhir Kuin, a collection of his columns in daly Jang has recently hit the stalls and was an instant hit. Currently he is working on two books on Pakistani politics. Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Riaz ul Hassan has been actively involved in Social Media studies since 2006. He has held diverse editorial positions in different literary magazines including Ravi and Patras. Currently studying in Sweden and plans to pursue his PhD in the field of Social Media. Riaz graduated from Government College Lahore and has worked at the same institute for about one year as lecturer. He has keen interest and involvement in arts, theater and Social Media studies.

A seasoned British activist, Roger Silverman has a keen interest in South Asia. Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Roz Paterson is a journalist, whose credits include the Sunday Herald, Scotland on Sunday, the Scotsman, Red Pepper and the Daily Record. She is a member of the Scottish Socialist Party and a regular contributor to the Scottish Socialist Voice.

Saad Ahmed Javed is a Lahore-based freelance contributor, who graduated with a science degree from the Punjab University, Lahore and is currently pursuing his Masters in Business Administration from UET Lahore. He can be reached at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or on Facebook as Saad Ahmad.

Safeer Ullah Khan has done masters in English Litrature, and has been actively involved in development work with various communities for nearly a decade now. He has made extensive use of various means of communications to raise awareness on different social and political issues. He has made use of street theater, pamphlets, newsletters, radio and Internet. Currently, he is working with a national NGO 'Bedari' as Communications Manager.

Sahar Saba is an Afghan women rights' activist. For many years, she was spokesperson of Revolutionary Afghan Women Association (RAWA). Also, she has worked with RAWA for many years in refugee camps in Pakistan and in Afghanistan in different capacities. She has traveled to many countries in the past several years to speak on behalf of Afghan women. She was born in Kabul. Her family migrated to Pakistan where Sahar Saba became active with RAWA. She has a law degree from London University and writes on issues facing Afghan women.

Sain Sucha: a graduate from The Punjab University, Pakistan and The Stockholm Universirty, Sweden with post graduate life experience working for Taxi Stockholm for the last 34 years. Also an author and publisher. Homepage: www.vudya.se

The author blogs at: http://syedashahidashah.blogspot.com/. E-mail: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Sana Safdar is a young ecosocialist and feminist. She has developed Environmental Management Systems for various industries in Lahore. She is M.Sc in Environmental Sciences from Punjab University, Lahore and is currently doing M.Sc in Environmental Policy in UK.

Shafiq Ahmad has been working in electronic as well as print media for the last 16 years. Currently, he is associated with Times Now TV channel as a special correspondent based in Islamabad. He has also served Geo English as correspondent at its Peshawar. He has recently produced a documentary on Pashto music and films, which is under threat from Taliban. Shafiq has also worked as freelance producer with several international TV channels, particularly RTL of Germany and Channel 4 of UK. Besides, Shafiq worked for monthly Herald and daily Dawn. Besides, he has contributed several feature stories to Swiss newspaper Neue Zürcher Zeitung (NZZ), Geographical Magazine of London, Cutting Edge magazine of Lahore and The News on Sunday.

Shafqat Aziz a socio-political analyst based in Islamabad. He is founding member of the online community “Liberal Pakistan”.

The writer studied international relations at Quaid-i-Azam University and media at the London School of Economics. He has done extensive research on Pakistan’s Urdu press. This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

The writer is in journalism since 1979 when he joined daily The Muslim Islamabad as a Special Correspondent. Later he joined daily DAWN and worked till 2009 followed by a litigation with the management of daily Dawn. Currently he is busy in trade union activities and holds various offices of the Journalists bodies. Currently he is a Secretary General of the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists.

The Author is a journalist who blogs at tigerali.wordpress.com and tweets under the username Sherakhan46.                   .

Sholeh Irani is Chief Editor of Iranian Women's magazine Avaye Zan, published since 1991. She also free-lances and is engaged in feminist struggles.

Shora Esmalian is a Swedish activist. She blogs at : http://shoraalyoum.com/2011/03/01/alla-torg-ar-tahrir/

Syed Hussan is a writer and activist based in Toronto who struggles for migrant justice and indigenous sovereignty. He is presently being criminalized for community organizing related to the G20 Convergence in Toronto in June 2010. Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Syed Mujahid Ali, is a Pakistani born journalist who has lived and worked in Norway since 1975. He worked a few years as a newspaper journalist in Pakistan before he migrated.

Syed Mujahid Ali blogs at Karwan.no. This essay was first posted on his blog. It has been posted here with writer’s permission.

Tufail Ahmad, a former journalist with the BBC Urdu Service and Press Trust of India, is Director of South Asia Studies at the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI), Washington DC. He can be reached via www.tufailahmad.com

Waris Raza is a Karachi-based Journalist.

The author is an analyst writing on socio-economic issues and media. Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

The writer is a law student at Kabul University                                                                                                                   .

Yousaf Ajab Baloch is a journalist based in Balochistan’s historic city of Kalat.

The writer is Peshawar based a social and political activist and can be reached through his email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Zafar Iqbal is a freelance writer and campaigner. He writes on political, environmental and geo-strategic dimensions of contemporary South Asia. He could be accessed via : www.pressforpeace.org.uk

The writer is based in Bahrain, Swat and belongs to Torwali tribe of Dardic origin. He writes for different national dailies of the country. He is a coordinator of an independent organization IBT, Center for Education and Development. He believes in liberal and secular values and studied English literature and Political Science from University of Peshawar.

The author is a political analyst and development practitioner. Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it