Zoha Fareed Chisti – The LUMS Post

“Well, what else are you going to do?”: Dr. Mohammad Moiz on Drag, Activism, and Spirituality in Pakistan.

26Nov

By Zoha Fareed ChistiNo Comments

Arts & Culture, Features, Profiles, Top Story

“Well, what else are you going to do?”: Dr. Mohammad Moiz on Drag, Activism, and Spirituality in Pakistan.

By Zoha Fareed Chishti '23 The GPS tells me I have arrived at the destination-- a house, in a closed-off street in Gulberg, where Dr. Mohammad Moiz (aka Unrellently Yours, Phuddina Chutney, and Shumaila Bhatti) was getting ready for their drag-comedy show happening later that evening. I call Moiz to confirm whether I am at the right destination. “Brown gate, colorful tyres on the wall?” they ask me. It is the right house. I, along with a friend, am escorted into the house, and up the stairs, to a room. Moiz, already in a bright orange lehenga-choli, is getting their make-up done as we enter the room. They apologise for the state they are greeting us in: the room is scattered with makeup products, and there is a certain sense of hustle all around. Even wit...

Art as Existence: Hum Ahang in Conversation with Dr. Muhammad Moiz

13Nov

By Zoha Fareed ChistiNo Comments

Campus News, Features, Profiles

Art as Existence: Hum Ahang in Conversation with Dr. Muhammad Moiz

By: Zoha Fareed ChishtiAt 4:00 pm, on October 16, around thirty people, including myself, sat scattered on the cushions placed on the floor of one of the rooms of Cloud 9 Wellness Centre, in Gulberg Lahore. At the front of the room, three people were seated; Arhum Sarfraz ‘23, co-president of Hum Ahang, Mahnoor Ghani ‘22, LUMS alumnus and moderator for the day, and Dr. Mohammad Moiz, Khwaja Sira Activist, Drag Artist, and an expert on Public Health and Policy. The discussion session slated under the second season of Hum Ahang’s Art as Existence series had just begun. Hum Ahang’s Art as Existence series began last year, when Ghani, then Director for Seed of Change, wanted to look at how art engaged with lived realities of people, especially during the pandemic. The series has hosted photogr...

(No) Memory of War and Violence: Conference Series on 1971 War Cancelled.

13Sep

By Zoha Fareed ChistiNo Comments

Campus News, Top Story

(No) Memory of War and Violence: Conference Series on 1971 War Cancelled.

By: Zoha Fareed Chishti ‘23, Aiza Nadeem ‘24, and Zainaab Basil ‘24 Towards the end of the day, on the 20th of March, the LUMS community received an email from the Dean’s Office MGSHSS notifying the cancellation of the much-anticipated conference series “War, Violence, and Memory: Commemorating 50 Years of the 1971 War.” The email stated that the cancellation was a result of “unavoidable circumstances.” The conference series was to be held virtually, from 23rd March to 27th March, under the moderation of Dr. Ali Usman Qasmi, assistant professor of History MGSHSS, and Dr. Ali Raza, assistant professor of History MGSHSS. In collaboration with the National Institute of Pakistan Studies (NIPS) at the Quaid-e-Azam University, the talk was organized to commemorate 50 years of the 1971 Ba...

“Home is All You Have:” Mohammed Hanif on Home, Writing and Censorship

23Jan

By Zoha Fareed ChistiNo Comments

Features, Profiles

“Home is All You Have:” Mohammed Hanif on Home, Writing and Censorship

By: Zoha Fareed Chishti At 10 PM on 16th of December 2020, in a relatively quiet corner of my house, I sit facing my laptop screen. I get a notification, “Changez is in the waiting room.” I click on admit. A few seconds later, Mohammed Hanif, author, journalist, and professor, appears on my screen. On the wall behindI thank him for taking out time to speak to me, amidst his busy schedule. He laughs and tells me to bring out the questions for him. “Toh batayen,” he says, as he takes a bite out of his breakfast. I ask Hanif what he thinks about his works being labelled as being “about home, written from away [from home], in the same line as say, Kamila Shamsie or Mohsin Hamid.” We can hear his children speaking at the back, as he replies, “Uh, I have no idea.” Hanif says he understands that ...

1Apr

By Zoha Fareed ChistiNo Comments

Features, Investigative

Data (In)Security at LUMS

By: Zoha Fareed Chishti“It is important to understand that malicious users always look for easy prey, first, and use social engineering to set up traps. Even if you have spent millions on hardware, one weak link internally can expose all that you have protected,” says Tariq Sheikh, Senior Manager at Information Security (InfoSec) LUMS. On 9th September 2020, just a few days before the commencement of the fall semester, Ayman Fuad ‘24 received an email on her outlook account that was meant for another student. The email thread which contained another student’s private information was mistakenly forwarded to Fuad. She told The Post, “[The email] contained a password, as well as the student’s phone number and address. This is the second time something like this has happened.” Over the past...

LUMS goes Online, But Do All the Students?

1Sep

By Zoha Fareed ChistiNo Comments

Features, Investigative

LUMS goes Online, But Do All the Students?

By: Zoha Fareed Chishti“I was home in the middle of the semester. I was quick to realize this was not a comfortable set-up for classes.” - Wardah Noor ‘23As the university admin geared up to take the classes online during the spring of 2020, it soon became clear that not every student was equipped with the necessary resources required to adapt to this change. Wardah Noor ‘23 from Layyah, Punjab, found herself facing a mountain of problems. Her working space had to be crafted out of the family living room- which was perpetually occupied by other members of the family. “When you are at home, there is no concept of privacy- your classes mix with all that is happening at home,” she told The Post. Since Noor lives in a joint-family system, she was always surrounded by people, rarely finding the...