Saba Imtiaz's Blog

I just listened to Ariel Levy’s The Rules Do Not Apply as an audiobook on Audible. I’ve never listened to a full audiobook before, and I thought I would be easily distracted and unable to focus and follow along. I usually listen to podcasts while knitting, which I find works really well. But surprisingly, listening to Levy’s book was actually a really engaging experience. I was hooked in a way that I hadn’t quite expected. Much like a book you don’t want to put down, I didn’t want to stop lis...

Since my last massive scarf I've knitted a couple of wonky hats, a bag, a pouch, and another scarf. The scarf used the tumbling moss blocks pattern, which I really liked because of the methodical repetitiveness of 20 rows and seeing the pattern form.

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Made this scarf using these glorious colours, the tumbling moss blocks pattern, a design by a Ravelry user, and a hugelyyy useful abacus knitting bracelet. #knitting

A post shared by Saba (@sabaimtiaz) on Feb 1,...

Today I finished knitting a scarf.

It took around five months, and today I cast off the final stitch, and snipped off the last yarn end, while listening to thank u, next on repeat.

I've wanted to learn knitting for ages. I tried a few years ago and gave up: I lacked the patience or discipline or focus.

I'd never really tried again. Then Alanna Okun -- who is also a brilliant editor -- wrote this piece for NYT Smarter Living about how to start knitting. And something struck: I could start it....

On a recent summer afternoon in Lahore, Abdul Qayyum placed naan from the tandoor onto a basket, ready for collection. The Khalifa Naan Shop is opposite the Wazir Khan Mosque in Lahore, a gloriously beautiful mosque that in recent years has become a favorite with Lahore’s moneyed couples as a backdrop for wedding portraits. The naan shop, according to its listing on Google Maps, has been around since 1869. “It’s been at least fifty years working here for us,” Qayyum said. “It’s very old,” sa...

I have something to say, and I don't usually do this, so this is difficult already.

My heart is broken at the death of Anthony Bourdain. Broken in the way that I can’t quite describe. It’s the kind of broken when someone whose work you turn to – in your desperate moments, when it seems like you’ve forgotten how to write the alphabet - is gone.

I mostly started writing about food at the end of my time as a reporter at The Express Tribune. When I quit to freelance full time, I cold-pitched Roads...

A reading list -- in progress - of profiles of Guantanamo detainees

Saad Iqbal Madni

Madni was the last Pakistani detainee to have been released from Guantanamo

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-south-asia-12566027

www.nytimes.com/2009/01/06/world/asia/06iqbal.html?_r=1&hp

Muhammad Sagheer

Sagheer is described in his leaked assessment file as a 'farmer and missionary' who was arrested in Kunduz - on his first trip outside the country. 

https://www.oneindia.com/2006/09/11/pakistani-says-life-in-ruins-aft...

This is a list of first-hand accounts of Guantanamo detainees, published as columns. Detainees began arriving at Guantanamo Bay sixteen years ago today.

For me it is not easy to suppress the images of Guantánamo. I am haunted by my own memories, the isolation cell, the food and sleep deprivation, the beatings, the daily humiliation and the brutality. And I keep thinking about the men I met while I was in that place.

I've been reading through the statements made by personal representatives and private counsel of detainees at Guantanamo during their periodic review boards. In some cases, there are mentions of rehabilitation programs in their home countries. There is also Reprieve's Life After Guantanamo program. In their statements, the representatives and counsel mention what the men they're representing want to do for work after their release. These range from opening a laundromat to running a honey bee...

This description of an Afghan shepherd detained at Guantanamo was in the leaked detainee files in 2011. 

Detainee did not receive any military or extremist training. Detainee and his family are nomadic and follow opportunities to find the best grazing grounds. Detainee was harvesting grain for seven days and was away from his home that entire time. He returned from harvesting grain and went to visit his neighbor for some tea before going home. Shortly after this, he was captured.

During a...

Last year, the U.S. government released a list of video/film and book titles available at Guantanamo, in response to an FOIA request. The entire list is on GovernmentAttic here. I hadn’t looked at the entire list until now, and I did a double take when I saw Bakra Qiston Pe is available.

Carol Rosenberg’s incredibly invaluable reporting on Guantanamo includes updates on the library: Rosenberg reported that the library added Moana last July. In 2013,  she reported on how censors did not approve...