Jan
11
Islamic Art at Metropolitan Museum NY
Filed Under Art, India, Pakistan, United States, religion | 3 Comments
Imran Khan
Ten years after the “Islamic Attack” on 9/11, some of the saner Americans have overcome the trauma to reflect on the reality that is Islam’s historic legacy. I had the privilege of viewing many pieces of art from various muslim countries made of the period of centuries at the Metropolitan museum in New York. The pain taken in exquisitely presenting these incredible pieces is worth every praise. The curators took the time and effort to dig into the history of each and every piece and present it to the visitor in both written and aural form. The respect shown to the work of muslim artists is in sharp contrast to the negative narrative still in mainstream media. But healthy signs are now manifesting them in different forms where some of the americans are having the guts to standing up to the mainstream media.
Dec
24
OPEN Karachi: Open’s First Chapter outside the US
Filed Under Entrepreneurism, Pakistan, United States | Leave a Comment
Imran Khan
One of OPEN’s goals has all along been to support businesses in Pakistan in a manner consistent with our core principles of staying “Hungry and Foolish” with respect to entrepreneurism. OPEN chapters have historically gone out of their way to assist Pakistani businesses efforts to gain traction in the US and global markets. We started off by assisting those Pakistani businessmen visiting the US, as we were busy establishing ourselves. We, then with the assistance of MIT Enterprise Forum, started the MITEFP-OPEN Business Acceleration Plan competition in Karachi Pakistan. This allowed us to gain traction with the young and budding entrepreneurs their. There were some hesitancy within OPEN about opening a chapter in Pakistan as some other similar organizations did not do as well due to lack of right kind of leadership needed. The winners of BAP competition showed us that there is a new breed of Pakistani businessmen who have the credentials and zest who could be worked with. Read more
Views: 357ShareApr
26
Alive and Well in the US of A
Filed Under Pakistan, Security, US Policy, United States | 7 Comments
Imran H. Khan
I was recently invited to a dinner by a doctor friend where I had the opportunity to meet Ethan Casey and Todd Shea. Ethan has written a book called “Alive and Well in Pakistan” which captures his interactions with Pakistanis in his stay there. Most of the people there were doctors of Pakistani descent living around the Boston area. They had organized a fund raiser a day earlier and the dinner was to get to meet these two gentlemen up close. I had met Todd Shea earlier a couple of years ago and was familiar with his work and admired how he had been able to connect with the people of Kashmir and had decided to settle amongst them. As we got talking it struck me that we in the US of Pakistani descent shared a lot in common the two guests. Todd mentioned that he deliberately travels in T shirt and western clothes without carrying any weapons and the people in Pakistan greatly appreciate it. A lady guest at the dinner,who works in a large retail store, commented that ever since 9/11 she makes it a point to let people know that she is a Pakistani Muslim and that vast majority of people that she interacts with appreciate it. Ethan and Todd in their efforts are trying to convey to the Americans that Pakistanis are like regular people that have been wrongfully demonized in the US press to suit the narrative concocted by the US policy makers to further their goals of hegemony and power projection. Read more
Feb
24
Carolyn Evans: A Multi Faceted Artist
Filed Under Art, United States | 1 Comment
Imran H. Khan
Carolyn Evans is both an artist and a sculptor. Her art appeals to both the child amongst us as well as the thinker. To me her art has been an acquired taste. When I first saw her painting of houses with fish floating in the air, I did not know what to make of it. But over time it is exactly those paintings that have stuck in my mind’s eye. Many of her paintings have an ambiguity that keeps the viewer’s mind active considerably beyond the time the visual pleasures have subsided.
Jan
30
OPEN/MITEFP BAP:Innovation and Entrepreneurism in Pakistan
Filed Under Entrepreneurism, Technology, United States, education | 4 Comments
Imran H. Khan
President Obama’s state of the union focused on investments into education and innovation as the key engines for maintaining USA’s leadership position in the long term. The same is equally applicable for developing countries like Pakistan. OPEN has been facilitating entrepreneurs in America for over ten years. OPEN joined hands with MIT to conduct Business Acceleration Plans as a way to doing the same in Pakistan. It was felt that rather than focusing on start ups it would be socially more effective to take companies whose sales were $1M-$5M to the next level. This is the reason for naming it as an acceleration plan. BAP has impacted 120 companies over the last four years that it has been conducted. The four finalists of the BAP were in Boston today and interacted with OPEN’s New England Chapter members.
Nov
21
Probing the Passengers
Filed Under Security, Technology, United States | 4 Comments
by Imran H. Khan
When I first heard of the pervasive use of the body scanners or the alternative aggressive body pats it made me cringe as this would make air travel even less attractive than what it currently is, with the many security checks. It seems that the Homeland security has already deployed 400 hundred of x ray back scatter type scanners across over a hundred airports in the US. The choice that is now being offered to a passenger is either get yourself scanned over undergo the humiliation of an aggressive pat down, an euphemism for a stranger touching your private parts. These procedures are now in place in 450 airports and 800 million passengers will experience it over the course of the year. Read more
Oct
24
John Evans: An American Landscape Artist
Filed Under Art, United States | 6 Comments
by Imran H. Khan
Even though John Evans is considered as a landscape artist, I consider him an artist who creates the illusion of incredibly vast spaces on a two dimensional canvas and uses cues from landscape and texture of the sky to frame it. When I first became his neighbor and was invited to view his works, I was struck by the vivid colors that he used to stylize his landscape art. Over the years he has toned down his palette and become more of an abstract artist. Read more
Oct
9
An Angle on Sharia
Filed Under United States, religion | 2 Comments
by M.Salahuddin Khan
US Senate Tea Party candidate, Nevada’s Sharron Angle yesterday made public comments about Islamic religious law taking hold in some US cities coupled with equating such a development with a “militant terrorist situation.” We’re in the depths of electioneering silly season. Read more
Views: 2118ShareOct
8
Doing the Right Thing in Afghanistan
Filed Under Afghanistan, Pakistan, US Policy, United States | 6 Comments
by Imran H. Khan
Today is the ninth anniversary of the invasion of Afghanistan by US troops. It is time to reflect on the manner in which US got involved. It is also a good time to look at responsible ways to get out of the Afghan quagmire while ensuring peace for all the nations involved. To re-phrase the line from the movie “Gladiator”, “Countries should know when the war has been lost”. This comment is not a reflection on the proud soldiers serving there, and has more to do with the policy. I had stated in a publicly broadcast show that the war in Afghanistan had been lost early last year. Everything since then has gone downhill, as was easily predictable to those who have the slightest sense of the region. It is already the longest war that US has ever fought. Churchill once said that “America will always do the right thing, but only after exhausting all other options.” It is now time to do the right thing as all the options have been exhausted.
Oct
5
America’s Longest War
Filed Under Afghanistan, US Policy, United States | Leave a Comment
by M. Salahuddin Khan
We’ve just passed the 9th anniversary of 9/11 and in lockstep with each passing year’s remembrance of that awful, tragic day, we’re reminded less than a month later of another anniversary, that of the start of America’s longest war—the war in Afghanistan. Read more
Views: 1212Share