BetweenTheLines

Sameer Arshad Khatlani Follow  on Facebook W hen a rightist coalition bagged 11 per cent of votes in the 2002 Pakistan national elections, it was the first time conservatives managed a double-digit vote share in the country's electoral history. The conservatives had never won more than five per cent votes earlier. The trend continued after 2002. Much of the support the conservatives got in 2002 stemmed from anti-US sentiments sweeping Pakistan after military ruler Pervez Musharraf signed up for the war on terror in Afghanistan post 9/11 attacks.  Also Read | Clubbed With Urdu-Speakers, Biharis Retain Identity In Pakistan Pakistan’s biggest conservative party Maulana Fazlur Rehman-led Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (F)’s vote share dwindled to 3.2% in the 2013 polls. Yet Rehman remained part of Islamabad’s power structure even as Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had a comfortable majority after repeated fractured mandates. Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal, the rightist coalition, and newly-formed Tehreek-e

Sameer Arshad Khatlani Follow  on Facebook A t the 2014 Bangalore Literature Festival, I got the first real sense of the bursting of the bubble of spaces one could relatively speak one's mind freely in. The event ended on a bit of a disappointing note when a hostile crowd surrounded us over the inconvenient perspective on Kashmir. Overall, the festival was a memorable experience. I moderated a session and got to meet some interesting people with the highlight being the meeting with Chinese writer Lijia Zhang and getting to know her fascinating story. Over coffee at the festival's writers' lounge, Lijia told me how she was pulled out of school at 16 to work at a factory to make ends meet in the impoverished China of the 1980s. But she did not give up. Lijia would struggle to go on and learn English, circumvent control in China, overcome the trauma of its manifestations such as period policing to realise her dream of becoming an author and journalist. Also Read | Why India Su

Sameer Arshad Khatlani Follow  on Facebook I n the second year of my decade-long stint with the Times of India, I got what I then thought was my first big break — covering the 2008 Jammu and Kashmir assembly elections. My mentor late Ranjan Roy agreed to depute me for the coverage at the request of Rashmee Roshan Lall, who was then the paper's weekend editor. I was at the top of my game thanks to Ranjan and Rashmee's support and encouragement at the beginning of the best phase of my professional life. I could not wait and hopped on to a bus as soon as I arrived in Srinagar to Pattan near Srinagar to meet Member Of Parliament Abdul Rashid Shaheen, who was contesting the elections on a National Conference (NC) ticket. Shaheen, who had seen better days in politics, appeared downcast. He was in his living room addressing half-a-dozen supporters when I walked in. Shaheen spoke about NC's heyday when iconic Sheikh Abdullah, the NC founder, held sway over the Kashmiris. Also Read

Sameer Arshad Khatlani Follow  on Facebook A bdul Kadir Khanzada represented Karachi’s Orangi Town in Pakistan's parliament when Nitish Kumar, the chief minister of the eastern Indian state of Bihar, visited his country in 2012. He wanted to invite the visiting leader to his constituency given the composition of the area, where a bulk of the voters have roots in Bihar. Khanzada told me violence uprooted his family from Alwar in Rajasthan at the time of partition in 1947 when I called him for a Times of India piece on Kumar's visit. But since 70 per cent of his constituents were of Bihari origin, he was keen on inviting Kumar. Khanzada emphasised his Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), which represents Pakistan's Urdu-speaking people, has always supported peace with India and hoped Kumar’s visit would help the process.  Also Read | How Kinship Bonds Impact Pakistan's Electoral Politics Kumar visited the archaeological site of Mohenjo-Daro, a temple, and addressed a Hindu pan