Samira Shackle

On the margins: a look at race, culture, and world affairs.

The elections in Pakistan: After the street parties, will it be politics as usual?

By Samira Shackle - 13 May 12:51

The general election in Pakistan saw the largest voter turnout since the 1970s. But what of the accusations of vote-rigging and violence, and what does the future hold for Imran Khan?

7 Comments

Campaigners protest the killings of Ahmadis at a mosque in Lahore.

The Pakistan general election is fast approaching - but one community will not be casting votes

By Samira Shackle - 10 May 13:10

Samira Shackle talks to members of the Ahmadiyya, a minority numbering 4 million. The Ahmadis are branded as "non-Muslims", suffer violent attacks on their mosques and will boycott this weekend's elections.

7 Comments

“I am a double target because I am a woman and I am Hazara”

By Samira Shackle - 09 May 14:30

The Hazara are a Shia minority who face constant persecution in Pakistan. Ruquiya Hashmi - the first female Hazara candidate for the national assembly - faces death threats daily.

2 Comments

Khan speaks from his hospital bed. Photograph: Getty Images

On tour with Imran Khan, Pakistan's wildcard candidate

By Samira Shackle - 08 May 14:18

With Khan laid low by an accident at a rally, Samira Shackle reports on his campaign so far.

9 Comments

Politicians of the third gender: the "shemale" candidates of Pakistan

By Samira Shackle - 07 May 10:35

The Pakistani trans community is unlike the West's: hijras, as they are known, consider themselves a third gender, neither male nor female, and refer to themselves as "shemale". Samira Shackle meets Pakistan's first hijra electoral candidates.

2 Comments

Chaudhry Zulfiqar Ali, prosecutor over Benazir Bhutto assassination, murdered in Pakistan

By Samira Shackle - 03 May 10:43

Ali was gunned down in Islamabad’s G9 area this morning as he drove to a court hearing for the Bhutto case.

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Supporters of Pakistan's Islamist party Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Fazl (JUI-F) hold f

How the Taliban is having a chilling effect on the Pakistani election

By Samira Shackle - 25 April 16:09

As the country gears up for its first ever democratic transition, the secular liberal parties have been threatened into silence.

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Acid attack victim Asiya Bibe, 35, poses with a portrait before disfigurement

Acid attacks: “I couldn’t look at myself, let alone let others look at me”

By Samira Shackle - 15 April 11:06

Throwing acid, along with other forms of gender-based violence, is endemic in Pakistan and elsewhere. Often, the victims are already disenfranchised, poor, and from conservative backgrounds - they have nowhere else to turn.

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Badam Zari becomes Pakistan’s first ever tribal woman to stand for election

By Samira Shackle - 02 April 15:53

"I want to reach the assembly to become a voice for women, especially those living in the tribal areas."

3 Comments

Supporters wave flags at Imran Khan's rally in Lahore on 23 March.

Manoeuvres and rallies as Pakistan's election campaign heats up

By Samira Shackle - 25 March 12:32

It's set to be a tight race, and nothing - not even assassination - is beyond the realms of possibility.

1 Comment

President Asif Ali Zardari. Photograph: Getty Images

Historic moment as Pakistan's elected civilian government completes full five year term

By Samira Shackle - 19 March 12:27

There are still challenges to be overcome, but merely surviving is something of an achievement.

6 Comments

Sherry Rehman, who was appointed Pakistan's ambassador to the US on 23 November

The Kafkaesque reality of Pakistan's blasphemy laws

By Samira Shackle - 28 February 14:23

Sherry Rehman, Pakistan’s ambassador to the US, is under police investigation for alleged blasphemy after making the case on television for the law to be re-examined and for the death penalty to be removed.

10 Comments