you must be salam shalom sorry Carl
greetings to all of you from Pakistan it
is often said that we fear that which we
do not know and Pakistan in this
particular vein is very similar because
it has provoked and does provoke a
visceral anxiety in the bellies of many
a Western soul especially when viewed
through the monochromatic lens of
turbulence and turmoil but there are
many other dimensions to Pakistan and
what follows is a stream of images a
series of images captured by some of my
croissants most dynamic and young
photographers that aims to give you an
alternative glimpse a look inside the
hearts and minds of some ordinary
Pakistani citizens here are some of the
stories they wanted us to share with you
my name is Abdullah and I come from
Peshawar I hope that you will be able to
see not just my Taliban like beard but
also the richness and color of my
perceptions aspirations and dreams as
rich and colorful as the satchels than i
sell my name is mujeron this is my
friend eeram i hope to become a vet when
i grow up so that i can take care of
stray cats and dogs who wander around
the streets of the village that I live
in near Gielgud northern Pakistan my
name is Skye lush and I like to enrich
lives through Technicolor glass madam
would you like some of those orange
bangles with the pink polka dots my name
is salmon and I'm an IDP an internally
displaced person from swat do you see me
on the other side of this fence do i
matter or really exist for you my name
is Iman I am a fashion model an
up-and-coming model from Lahore do you
see me simply smothered in cloth or can
you move beyond my veil and see me for
who I truly am inside my name is Ahmed I
Afghan refugee from the Khyber Agency I
have come from a place of intense
darkness and that is why I want to
illuminate the world my name is Babu say
my heart and drum beat as one
if religion is the opium of the masses
then for me music is my one and only
ganja a rising tide lifts all boats and
the rising tide of India's spectacular
economic growth has lifted over 400
million Indians into a buoyant middle
class but there are still over 650
million Indians Pakistanis Sri Lankans
Bangladesh's new Polly's who remain
washed up on the shores of poverty
therefore as India and Pakistan as you
and I it behooves us to transcend our
differences to celebrate our diversity
to leverage our common humanity our
collective vision at now Jeevan which
for many of you as you will recognize
means new life in Urdu and Hindi is to
rejuvenate the lives of millions of
low-income families by providing them
with affordable access to catastrophic
health care indeed it is the emerging
world's first urban HMO for the urban
working poor why should we do this as
Indians in Pakistan news we are but two
threads cut from the same cloth and if
we are our fates are intertwined then we
believe that it is good karma it is good
fortune and for many of us our fortunes
do indeed lie at the bottom of the
pyramid thank
to set me that was fantastic I found
that really moving you know we fought
hard to get at least a small Pakistani
contingent to calm it it was felt like
it was really important they went
through a lot to get here with the
Pakistan cleese just stand up please I
just really want to acknowledge
thank you
you