baithak: Baithak Desi Jun 04: Anjum Niaz on Aitezaz's Backtracking, Kailash, NPR from Karachi, DT on Aitezaz, Tariq Butt, Kamila Shamsie, Headlines, Cartoons

Endnote: a word about the New York Times 'misquote' as Aitzaz would have us believe. The barrister is not a dimwit, loose-tongued bumbler nor is the NYT a cheap tabloid, the sort that carries girlie pictures. So whodunit? We have a right to know. Anjum Niaz

It is time therefore that Mr Ahsan should realise the logic of his own stand which squarely pits him against his own party. There is absolutely nothing wrong with Mr Ahsan’s decision to plough a different furrow. He may even decide to form a new political party, one that is wedded to pushing Pakistan in the direction of constitutionalism. But by holding on to everything, he may be left holding nothing. Daily Times Editorial

The Article 45 of the current Constitution reads: "The president shall have power to grant pardon, reprieve and respite, and to remit, suspend or commute any sentence passed by any court, tribunal or other authority." After the PPP amendment, it would read: "The president shall have power to grant pardon, reprieve and respite, and to remit, suspend or commute any sentence passed by any court, tribunal or other authority or indemnify any act whatsoever." The insertion of indemnifying any act whatsoever means the president would have the powers to indemnify any action, including subversion of the Constitution, acts of high treason, suspension or abrogation of the Constitution for any period of time, an expert said. President can indemnify any act, even his own. Tariq Butt

BATRIK, Pakistan — On the northwest tip of Pakistan, bordering Afghanistan's Nuristan province, the inaccessible Chitral district has long been thought to be a possible refuge for Osama bin Laden. With the high peaks of the Hindu Kush range and its narrow valleys, it's easy to dodge through secret mountain routes between Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Chitral is also the home of the Kalasha, a unique pagan civilization that's lived in the area for 2,000 years or more, now boxed in by an increasingly militant Islam. Thinly populated, Chitral covers 5,800 square miles, with war-torn Afghanistan to the north and west and the extremist strongholds of Swat and Dir to the south.

Graphic | Pakistan's Kalasha people

View larger image By Saeed Shah | McClatchy Newspapers

According to locals, bin Laden lived with a Kalasha family in Chitral for some time during his first Afghan jihad, against the Soviet Union in the 1980s. With his now much more severe ideology, the al Qaida leader wouldn't be able to easily live among these polytheistic people, whose men and women mix freely. Pagan sect at Pakistan border lives amid conservative Muslims

Enlarge Alice Kreit/NPR Karachi is Pakistan's largest city, with population estimates ranging from 12 million to 18 million.

NPR.org, June 2, 2008 · By the end of this year, half the world's population will live in cities, according to the United Nations, and the proportion will only increase. The way we develop our cities may determine our collective future, living standards, culture, politics, freedom — even our survival. This is also the year that Morning Edition begins a series called "The Urban Frontier," an occasional examination of the world's cities. Series Overview: The Urban Frontier — Karachi