I’ve been distracted in and by my little pocket of Central Africa, and meanwhile, Pakistan is floating away. I’ve known this, of course — I do still do all the world news headlines — but something about being reminded today that one-fifth of Pakistan is under water jarred me.
What have you read on Pakistan that you think is informative, telling, surprising or otherwise rises above the ordinary news reports? Would love some recommendations, especially from the non-American press.
I found this enlightening; http://www.thecommentfactory.com/pakistan-floods-a-doctor-writes-p-4-3423/
http://www.guardian.co.uk British daily provides good coverage.. it’s been said that Al-Jazeera English channel is providing the best coverage – look for their video coverage on you tube…
Do you want books or reportage? If the former, I love:
– Pakistan: Eye of the Storm (Owen Bennett-Jones)
– Military Inc.: Inside Pakistan’s Military Economy (Ayesha Siddiqa)
And I agree that Al-Jazeera is great.
Allow me to jump on the Al-Jazeera bandwagon. They have a their own corespondents there, some local stringers and a diary from an aid worker. To the extent that anyone can cover this big a story they are the best.
Also, for a real insider’s look, the main English speaking paper in Pakistan, Dawn is excellent, obviously providing a view of the internal debate going on…
http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/the-newspaper/columnists/ardeshir-cowasjee-sixty-three-and-down-on-our-knees-580
I agree with AJ as the prime source on this story. The editors started featuring the story in a number of special editions and sending in several correspondents as early as August 1st. It took western media two weeks to decide that this wasn’t ‘the usual flooding news in Asia’. The story only broke ‘big’ after Zadari arrived from Europe and after Ban’s ‘worst disaster ever’ statement.
Thanks all for the wonderful suggestions!!