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Asad Hashim on Muck Rack

Asad Hashim

Verified
Washington, D.C.
Covers:  politics, anti-terrorism policy, pakistan, security policy, governance
Journalist, sometimes anthropologist. AFP's US Macroeconomics Correspondent. Ex-AJE, Reuters, Dawn, others. AFP Kate Webb Prize '18. Views/opinions my own.

Asad Hashim’s Journalist Portfolio

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Pakistan's Hazara Shias living under siege

Pakistan's Hazara Shias living under siege

Al Jazeera English — Despite a sustained, targeted campaign of killings against them, Pakistan's Hazara Shias have been left out in the cold, fending for themselves against an armed group whose fighters were once allied to the Pakistani state, researchers, analysts and members of the Hazara community have told Al Jazeera. On the evening of January 10, a suicide bomber targeted a snooker club frequented by Hazaras in Quetta, the provincial capital of Balochistan. The initial blast killed several people, but, ten minutes later, as people rushed to the aid of those wounded in the attack, a car bomb exploded just outside the club, killing dozens more. When the dust settled, 96 people, mostly Hazara Shias, were dead. The attack was only the latest in two years of sustained gun and bomb attacks against the community, and on that cold January night, Hazara community leaders told Al Jazeera, something snapped.

Swat Valley on edge after Malala shooting

Swat Valley on edge after Malala shooting

Al Jazeera English — Mingora, Swat - The case of Malala Yousafzai, the 14-year-old Pakistani student activist who is struggling for life after Taliban gunmen attacked her on Tuesday, has captured the world's attention. Reports on her condition are being constantly circulated through the news and social media, while prayer and solidarity events have been held across the globe. She was not, however, the only girl shot in that school van in the Swat Valley on Tuesday morning. Tucked away in a small house in the Makan Bagh area of Mingora, Swat's main town, lies Kainat Riaz, quietly recovering from the bullet wounds she suffered that day after a gunman opened fire inside the cramped confines of their school van.

Interactive: Karachi's killing fields

Interactive: Karachi's killing fields

Al Jazeera English — Click on the image to launch the interactive Karachi, a sprawling metropolis in Pakistan's south, is one of the world's largest cities. Estimates put the city's population at more than 14 million (with some claiming it is as high as 20 million), putting it just outside the top 10 largest urban agglomerations in the world, according to the UN . Of the world's 13 largest cities, Karachi is the most dangerous, according to data compiled by Al Jazeera. Crime statistics gathered from governments, police departments and the UN show that Karachi has the highest homicide rate of the world's 13 largest cities, coming in at 12.3 per 100,000 residents.

The fight for education in Pakistan's Swat

The fight for education in Pakistan's Swat

Al Jazeera English — Mingora, Pakistan - When the local chapter of the Taliban began challenging the state for control of the Swat Valley in 2007, children's education quickly turned into a battleground issue between the extremist group's fighters and the local populace. Between 2007 and 2011, the Tehreek-e-Taliban Swat, led by Maulana Fazlullah, destroyed more than 400 schools, many of them providing education for girls, the local administration says. Analysts say the focus on educational institutions was because government schools were public vestiges of the state, but were also not as secure as police stations or other government buildings.

Karachi: Pakistan's bleeding heart

Karachi: Pakistan's bleeding heart

Al Jazeera English — Karachi, Pakistan - Perched atop a hill by the seaside in Pakistan's largest city sits the mausoleum of Abdullah Shah Ghazi. About 1,400 years ago, the story goes, he came to these shores as one of the first Arab Muslim conquerors. When the armies moved on, however, Ghazi stayed. Today, he is revered as Karachi's patron saint: watching over her citizens and granting the devout a route to God. Over the past year and a half, Abdullah Shah Ghazi may have had a lot of work to do. Karachi, a sprawling metropolis of some 15 million people, has been wracked by fits of crippling violence.

Q&A: Ethnicity, land and violence in Karachi

Q&A: Ethnicity, land and violence in Karachi

Al Jazeera English — Karachi, Pakistan - In 2011, more than 470 people were killed in political violence in Karachi, Pakistan's largest city. Political leaders say that the conduct of violent politics has become the norm in the city - to the point where what often starts as targeted attacks against political workers degenerates into killings along ethnic lines. Moreover, more than half of Karachi's inhabitants live in informally regulated areas: in unofficial housing that exists outside the purview of formal state and civic enforcement. Disputes between rival groups - often enjoying political patronage - over the occupation of such areas has been blamed by both analysts and political leaders for the spike in Karachi's violence over the past year and a half.

Pakistan: a political timeline

Pakistan: a political timeline

Al Jazeera English — Pakistan has alternated between eras of civilian rule and decades under the control of its powerful military.

France's foreign policy: plus ca change?

France's foreign policy: plus ca change?

Al Jazeera English — On Sunday, May 6, French voters go to the polls in the final round of a presidential race that has seen the field whittled down to two contenders: the Socialist Party's Francois Hollande, and conservative incumbent Nicolas Sarkozy of the Union for a Popular Movement (UMP, by its French acronym). It is a race that has become as much about the style of leadership as the substance of it, and nowhere is this more starkly clear than on issues of foreign policy.