Audio false shahran.asim@gmail.com http://www.copyright.gov/ Spoken Word(interviews, reading, etc) Shahran Asim shahran.asim@gmail.com 11/26/2006 false false Dr. Mujahid Ghazi Over the years Chicago Urdu Talk radio have been providing quality programming to the South Asian community. On Nov 26, 2006 when people were enjoying their thanksgiving retreat, Urdu Talk Radio Chicago made history when in a limited time of 3 hours, a myriad of topics were discussed-ranging from politics, community issues, arts and literature. This is probably the first time that Urdu Talk Radio that had three guests in the show. The first guest was Dr.Adil Najam, Associate Professor at Tufts University who called in to provide an insight into one of the most popular Pakistani Blog website named www.pakistaniat.com which was his brainchild. He elaborated the idea behind this website which is to provide a forum of expression for the Pakistanis living around the world. Their aim is to promote a healthy discussion on various topics. The website contains a lot of information including the pictures and some audio on video clips related to the issues. As he is in well versed in the environment issues, he provided a detailed account of the environmental issues faced by the world. On the change in environment around the world and how the global warming can be disastrous for the thickly populate coastal cities. He went on to say that this is not an individual issue and therefore a collective effort at the world level is needed. He mentioned that the Cholro Fluoro Carbon (CFC) one of the contributing factors in Ozone layer depletion, is banned in Pakistan. There is considerable effort going on in Pakistan at the private sector to preserve the environment. He also provided his insight to the recent cricket controversy whirling around the Pakistani team. The second guest was Khalid Hassan, a renowned journalist resident in Washington DC, who used to be the Press Secretary of Ex-PM (Late) Z.A Bhutto. He gave his opinion on the current political climate of Pakistan which he thinks is rather bleak. Everything is being controlled by one personality. Khalid Hassan also said that whatever the situation is currently in Pakistan it is what we normally see at the very end of every military dictatorship be it Aye, Zia or Yahiya . He emphasized on the fact that Pakistani journalists are free now but those due to their struggle and it is not a blessing in any way of the recent government. He lamented on the fact that the Pakistan is making a U turn on its Kashmir policy. He said that if Pakistan had to do buy in to India’s claim then they should have done that in 1960. Why they had to waist the blood of 80,00 kashmiris in the freedom struggle. He quoted Yusuf Buch who said, “India does not want resolve the Kashmir issue but it wants to dissolve the issue”. The renowned journalist also indicated that Pakistani economy is not doing good contrary to the government claims. He provided his fond memories of Pakistani team winning the world cup in 1992. He was on the tour with the team and related an incident where he asked Late Omar Kureshi, how come Imran is saying that he will take the World Cup home when we are poorly performing and lost a couple of matches. Omar said that he should better take Imran seriously. He said that it was Imran Khan and the players determination which made them succeed. They were all playing for Pakistan. He said that Pakistani team needs a captain that has a killer instinct like the legendary Imran Khan. Khalid Hassan also has a website: www.khalidhasan.net where you can read his weekly columns and his old memorable moments. The last call in guest was a rather surprise for the audience. Shabana Azmi, renowned actress, activist and daughter of Kaifi Azmi who is in the US on the tour of his literary programme based on a book “Yaad ki Rehguzar” written by Shaukat Kaifi. Javed Akhtar, renowned Urdu poet is responsible for dramatization of the whole play which contains excerpts from Kaifi Azmi’s interview and his wife’s letters. Shabana cited the reasons of having this play en-acted which is to provide an insight into the social work of Kaifi Sahib and the work Kaifi Azmi and Shabana Azmi did with the slum dwellers of Mumbai which is rather unknown to common people. She said that her show is a huge success and they are overwhelmed on the response they got in US. Shabana Azmi also staged a play in Pakistan named “Tumharee Amrita” in Karachi and Islamabad to help raise the funds for the earthquake victims. She favored joint film productions which will help both countries come close together. Ms.Azmi mentioned that a broader alliance of the NGOs of India and Pakistan needed to handle the issues faced by the slum dwellers. On listerners request, she also sang Faiz Ahmed Faiz’s famous poetry Bol Keh Laab Azaad Hain Teray…on the show which signifies her musical talent and was real treat for the listerners. One can safely say that Asian Broadcasting Network did a great job in making this week’s show a success. The team deserves a due credit for the show . The show will be remembered for its variety of topics and for months to come. It had all the ingredients of a good talk show. If anyone missed the show hopefully he will be able to listen to the archive on their website. It has been communicated that Asian Broadcasting Network will have an audio archive of the show on their websites shortly which is www.abnchicago.com Urdu Pakistan Urdu Talk Radio Urdu Talk Radio Chicago ourmedia 2006-12-02 06:02:35 Dr.MujahidGhaziChicagoUrduTalkRadioNov262006