Anmol Irfan

When I first started out as a freelance journalist I was excited about going down a career path that allowed me the freedom to navigate my own timings and gave me more room to explore. I soon realised that getting that freedom was easier said than done. Living in Pakistan means I work in a timezone that is roughly 5 hours ahead of the UK, and anywhere between 9-12 hours ahead of the US, both of which are where the majority of my clients are often based. It also means that I end up scheduling ...

While there is no one right answer to the climate crisis, through faith based conversations, more people are willing to try and find what works, and that’s a start
"Acknowledging global histories and social structures is just one of the ways in which climate action can be brought to a community level with more holistic efforts towards change."
With unprecedented flooding across the globe, oil spill disasters and wildfires in the past year, the upcoming COP26 in Glasgow is landing at a crucial...

As videos of police violence spread across American social media in the summer of 2020, Julie Khan’s name was popping up in feeds across South Asia. The Pakistani trans rights activist’s profile rose along with the popularity of The Centrum Media web series, “Naked Truth,” which she used to unravel discrimination and question the deep cultural roots of transphobia. Shared widely on Facebook and viewed hundreds of thousands of times on YouTube, Khan’s videos captivated audiences with her disse...

In early September, the Guardian published an interview with Judith Butler only to edit it post publication and remove her criticism of trans-exclusionary feminists (TERFS) where she connected it to fascist movements. Such significant edits garnered a lot of attention online, calling out the publication for being transphobic. But it also made people question why such edits needed to take place, which leads one to think about who makes such decisions and the social and financial pressure that ...

In late September 1947, a month after the India-Pakistan Partition, 10-year-old Muhammad Mukkaram Amin joined his family in moving to Pakistan from India. Riots and violence had started in most cities, and Amin’s father thought it best for the family to move. He arranged transport with an army convoy, and the family began traveling on the famous Grand Trunk Road that links from Delhi to Lahore and Peshawar.
Only 40 miles in, their truck faced a tire puncture, and the convoy moved on without t...

How Pakistan’s artists are reinventing the genre to subvert their own status quo
In a short, animated film set in 2071, viewers watch as the supreme leader of Pakistan passes a law declaring all expressions other than smiling a crime.
The new future shown in the film “Shehr e Tabassum” is based in a Pakistan where “freedom of expression has been repressed entirely in the name of social order stability and peace,” film director Arafat Mazhar wrote in DAWN, Pakistan’s largest national newspaper...

When you think of ordering a healthy meal, what do you think of? Growing up, I was taught that healthy meals mean no carbs and lean protein, so I’d probably say grilled chicken or a salad. But even if your idea of a healthy meal looks different, takeout from the South Asian eatery around the corner probably wasn’t a contender, was it?
You wouldn’t be alone in leaving curries and parathas off your healthy-eating list. Maha Naz Jamil is a 33-year-old Pakistani entrepreneur and writer who goes b...

“When you meet with faith leaders, everyday citizens and see the work that is needed — and is being done — it helps you understand belief systems and how they impact everyday lives,” says Eliana Abdo, project manager at interfaith women’s organization Nisa Nashim. Abdo also shares how recently a public pool dispute in the U.K. became a turning point for understanding diversity within the community that used it. Due to the large Muslim population in the area, the borough council approved a req...

Countless incidents of gender-based violence and assault against females have been reported in Pakistan but nothing has changed despite the media outcry, with women across the country scared to step out of their homes or be around men in public.
More than one month has passed since the horrific murder of 27-year-old Noor Mukadam in Islamabad, Pakistan, while it has been just over a year since the motorway rape case where a young mother was raped when her car broke down. Between the two incide...

When Chadwick Boseman passed away in August 2020, fans across the world mourned the loss of the Black Panther. Boseman was a talented actor in his own right, but it was who he had personified as the powerful superhero that had empowered viewers across the world to view superheroes as someone they could aspire to. For too long superheroes have been white American men, and Black Panther shook up what we had accepted as normal for far too long. The movie turned Boseman into an icon, and the powe...

On 1 September, a new law, known as S. B. 8, came into effect in the state of Texas, which would now ban abortions after six weeks – based on when initial fetal activity can be detected. Proponents of the ban have taken to supporting it as the ‘heartbeat law.’ The term is undoubtedly one used to invoke emotions around preserving the life of the fetus, but medical experts often say the term is misleading as the fetal heart is not actually developed at six weeks. The law also seeks to overturn ...

"Instead of pushing myself onto a seat at a table, I’ve decided to create a new table for all those who deserve to have their voice heard.”
“When you know what it feels like to want to run away from your culture, and how long it took you to understand financial documents and protocols, you want to help people who are struggling."
With Afghan refugees already numbering 2.2 million in the countries surrounding Afghanistan, and another 500,000 estimated to attempt escaping via land borders, Paki...

The last few weeks have shown that little has been done to help a region that has been victim to America’s longest war, and as the Taliban take over Afghanistan, news outlets are constantly tuned into Kabul sharing heart-breaking videos, pondering over what is to come under their rule.
But the way social media and news outlets are reacting isn’t new – we’ve seen this before with Kashmir, and Palestine and so many more countries that have faced conflict after conflict. After a few days the int...

South Asian norms have for far too long maintained women's roles as passive, unquestioning and subservient to her husband, but feminist movements in the region have begun to challenge those ideals with literature also heavily impacting the movements.
In 1941, famed Urdu writer Ismat Chughtai wrote Lihaaf (The Quilt), a short story that explored the possibility of a relationship between two women and the world of Urdu literature exploded. Chughtai was tried for obscenity and the popularity – a...

A few weeks ago, when Twitter allowed users to apply for the famed blue tick verification, it seemed like every journalist and media industry worker on the app started applying for it. This was followed by days’ worth of conversations about whether or not those applications were accepted and while it started out as a bit of fun, it somehow transformed into something deeper.
Freelance journalist Zesha Saleem points out why verification became a huge issue on twitter. “Some people were really a...