Pakistani Youth Parliamentarians’ Study Visit to UK and Denmark

                             Group Photo of Pakistani Youth Parliamentarians

Pakistan Institute of Legislative Development and Transparency (PILDAT) organized a study visit to UK and Denmark that aimed to learn about the best democratic practices observed in a developed country. The study tour was of five days; one day in London, UK and remaining 4 days in Copenhagen, Denmark.

The day started off with a tour of the British Parliament, where we were briefed about the history of both the chambers, workings and the separation of powers between the House of Lords and the House of Commons.

Later on the same day we were told about the Britain’s exit from the European Union and the legal framework available to execute it. The Rt. Hon. Ms. Ann Taylor, the Baroness Taylor of Bolton, MP, and Baroness Liz Barker, MP spoke to us about the role of the House of Lords in the British Parliament.

They also highlighted various reform proposals regarding membership of the House of Lords, including introduction of a retirement age, a limited tenure, or having working peers instead of permanent members of the House of Lords.

We then visited the recently established Parliamentary Education Centre. We were communicated that the concept of the Parliamentary Education Centre is of a robust outreach to younger strata of the country’s population, including school-going children. In this regard, the Speaker of the House of Commons held a Skype session every Monday morning with visitors of the Parliamentary Education Center.

We then headed off to Copenhagen, Denmark where we were supposed to undergo study visit under the auspices of the DANIDA Fellowship Centre for four days on various aspects of Denmark’s governance, parliamentary and political system.

The five days stay in Copenhagen was intense but informative, very educating and thought provoking. We thoroughly studied, examined and discussed the dynamics of Danish Political System in different meetings and sessions. We got to interact and ask questions to Politicians of different parties, Members of Danish Parliament, Journalists, Mayors and Municipality members, Youth Activists, Government employees and Locals of Copenhagen city.

The first day in Denmark began with the briefings on the Danish Parliamentary System, Accountability Structures and Labor Policy. We were given an introduction to the DANIDA Fellowship Centre (DFC) by Ms. Maya. Following that, Professor Flemming Juul Christensen, gave us a brief introduction to Danish democracy and covered details on the unique demography of Denmark which has a population of 5.7 million.

Ms. Nanna, Consultant at the Supreme Audit Institution gave a detailed briefing on the Danish Supreme Public Accountability Institution. The last session of the day was conducted by the Member of Danish Confederation of Trade Unions (LO). He briefed us about the workings of the LO, which essentially is a confederation of Denmark’s 18 main labor unions.

The 2nd day was spent at the Danish Parliament, known as the Folketinget, having a detailed set of interactions on various aspects of its workings, including the Parliamentary practices, the Danish Constitution, the Committee System, etc.

In the meeting with Ms. Iben Tybjaerg, we were informed about the Folketing’s strategy and procedure for implementation and maintaining overall relationship with the European Union.

On the third day of Study Visit to Denmark, interactions regarding efforts for integrating ethnic minorities in Denmark, and a short debate session with representatives of Youth Wings of different political parties were carried out.

We then met with Ms. Rushy Rashid, and Mr. Zubair Butt Hussain. Both emphasized that Danish-Pakistanis, as with other immigrant communities, need to co-exist within the Danish society and be Danes.

The day ended with a visit to the Hammad bin Khalifa Civilization Centre, serving as a community centre and mosque for the Sunni Muslims in Copenhagen. We learnt of the organizational structure of the Centre and the efforts being undertaken to integrate Muslims into the Danish society.

On the final day of the YPP Study Visit, we had a rigorous set of interactions regarding all tiers of the Danish Education System. This included learning about the opportunities afforded by the system and some of the major challenges faced by it.

In the evening, we were hosted by the Honorable Ambassador of Pakistan to Denmark, Ambassador Masroor A. Junejo, for a dinner reception.

This study-tour turned out to be a great-learning involvement and surpassed by expectations by far. The political systems in the UK and Denmark are curiously good. As like Denmark and UK We need to have an effective audit and accountability system to counter corruption, ensure democracy, stability and build trust between the Governments and citizens.

To reinforce us as a nation and country we need health and educational reforms on immediate bases. Most importantly involving the locals of an area to deal with their minor problems. Decentralization is the most important thing we need in our current status. 

Donald Trump’s Pledge of Banning Muslims

Recently, Donald Trump was elected as a President of United States. Mr. Trump has pledged during his campaign that he would restrict the entry of Muslim immigrants to the US. This is for sure a step towards racism and goes against every building block of American principles on which the USA was founded. However, looking from different perspective, it might prove to be beneficial for Muslims.

It is all an accepted fact that Muslim countries are struggling behind in development when compared to Western Countries. Developed Western nations have good higher education facilities. Their systems are effective. Despite all irregularities, Eastern countries have good minds and talent but most of the talent is drained out to the Western Countries.Hence, by putting a ban on Muslims’s entry to the US, Mr. Trump will do a great service for them.

Muslims can have tremendous sources of income in their own countries. Our governments can help a lot in enticing such brains to work for their own country. All that’s needed is providing a competitive environment based on meritocracy.

In western Countries, wealth is shared by all while in Muslim Countries all the resources are treated as the personal property by the rulers. Instead of going to the West and serving those nations, the prospective immigrants should stay in their own countries.

They should struggle for the betterment of their own countries. Struggle to bring in true democratic rule. They should not let “monarchies” to spend the country’s wealth on themselves or to benefit west through banks. Instead they should create jobs in their own countries to make them strong.

Surprisingly, Muslim immigrants in the foreign countries turn out to be the critics of the lifestyle there. They become neither Western nor Eastern. In America, they face the same problem. They would enjoy and benefit a lot in their own countries when they would come back. So, Thankyou Donald Trump!

Social Media Likes – Are they Beneficial?

There are different types of posts on social media including videos, pictures and text in the form of memes, critiques, events, offers, quotes, updates etc. According to current affairs or current moods, people share or tag their friends in such posts to be a part of it. As in the documentary, Bonin Bough (V.P., Global Media, Mondelez Intl) said, “When kids like something it becomes part of who they are.”

Facebook is one of the big platform for advertisers. Big brands search ambassadors and volunteers for the expansion of their business. Advertisers also make respective groups for increment of the sale of their products. Some of the names of such groups are, Isloo buy and sell, Isloo camera buy and sell, Isloo Bazaar, and Buy and Sell (For whole Pakistan) etc. Different brands including clothing, food, cosmetics, home appliances, instruments etc use social media as a big means to sale their product and have as many followers as they can.

By followers, I mean a person who supports and admires a particular person or set of ideas. Followers admire the products and posts of their favorite page; brand/musician/public figure/others. They like and share their posts on their timelines.

Social media is also a platform for strugglers, which is a source of their fame these days. We see many artists, musicians, actors and comedians gathering their followers by merely asking them to like their stuff. They strive for a long period developing their fans. They entertain them in every possible way and in return, they ask them to LIKE & SHARE their stuff.

If we take an example from Pakistan, “Zaid Ali”, “Furqan Shykh”, “Rahim Pardesi”, “Uzair Altaf” (The tweet guy), “Shahveer Jaffery” etc are some of the famous bodies who used social media for their fame. They started making and uploading their videos and posts on their respective pages and kept on promoting them. Their videos are followed by a “Must Like & Share” statement.

Now the question is, “How can a single like give them enough fame?

The answer is, when you like a page/post on Facebook, it automatically gets in your friends’ newsfeed. If you have around 300 friends, almost 200 people out of them will see your activity and out of them 100-120 friends will like or share that post; who will have mutual interests with you and the process continue (The mentioned number may vary).

“The icon of this generation is the like button, the tweet button and the reblog button,” Said Bonin Bough in the documentary. Our generation wants to have as many likes on their profile picture as possible. “The profile picture is kind of how you want people to visualize you, you put your best before and the cover photo tells about your personality,” Said one of the guests in the documentary. Therefore, a “like” is one of the most important things in the life of today’s generation. They want hundreds of likes on their profile pictures and thousands are welcomed warmly as well, if possible.

Nowadays, “Chai Wala” (Arshad Khan) and “Desi Bombshell” (Shumaila; Behind the character) are most trending on social media; Facebook and Instagram. By most trending, I mean they are ranked high and one who is ranked high is criticized as well. Comparing these two, Arshad Khan, being a public figure received criticism. Many people think it is his destiny, many claim that there are many beautiful people in Pakistan other than him so why only him?

Many suggest that he was earning Halal until they invited him to showbiz and now his earning is not pure anymore and many think that Allah Almighty gives this rank to him and he deserves it. Different people have different point of views on social media and everyone is independent to show his like or dislike towards anything. Although Desi Bombshell received no criticism until now in fact, it is a source of entertainment for people.

According to 2011 Pew Research data, “Nearly 80% of American adults are online and nearly 60% of them use social networking sites.”



PTI’s Leader, Imran Khan, after elections was called, “The Prime Minister of Social Media” because he had a huge number of followers on social media but he did not get as much votes as he expected in elections. His followers kept supporting him in all his moves and announcements through social media. Imran Khan’s supporters are called “Youthiyaas” as he represents the youth of Pakistan. Nearly 85% of the youth supported Imran Khan in the cause of “Dharna” against government and election commission.

There is another social boy in the documentary named Tyler Oakley, who has hundreds of subscribers on YouTube. He makes random videos of his lifestyle about which he says, “I have made probably over 500 videos in which I talk about everything.” But wait a second, not everything but the things he likes. Social media lets him share his obsessions with the world.

He makes videos of different stuff around him like the date of buying his laptop, the cookie he ate, his backyard and none the less, his haircut. Another little boy made some videos of his skating skills and uploaded them on YouTube, along with another skating fellow he kept making videos and got famous. Usually, these stars merge their videos with other renowned stars and keep on expanding their followers.

After all, getting people all about something is a big business.

Take the issue of same sex marriage, as another example, if you are in favor of it and want the world to know, oreo was there to help, a cookie, which is two chocolate and a cream in the middle. They built it in a perspective that was so profound.

That one post alone had million likes, a million people took an action and all those who supported gay marriages or wanted to be a part of it, claimed, that they associate with that, they like that piece of content. That piece of content spoke them. That profound so big numbers and those numbers are extremely valuable.

Coming to my opinion, there is no such demerit of social media in the documentary but in reality, there are some demerits of using social sites excessively. The majority of young people (56 %) reported spending up to three hours a day on social media.

Dr. Douglas Gentile, Director of the Media Research Lab at Iowa State University reports, “Almost one out of every ten youth gamers shows enough symptoms of damage to their school, family, and psychological functioning to merit serious concern.” Most of all, it is disturbing their study and their concentration. Students may be in class, but their minds are on how many “likes” their picture got last night.

“Teens stay up to 12 or 1 AM scrolling down their newsfeed. They end up only getting four to five hours of sleep, which is definitely not enough to function properly through the day.” (Marwick, Boyd).

Teens are increasingly sharing personal information on social media sites, a trend that is likely driven by the evolution of the platforms teens use as well as changing norms around sharing. Teens are sharing more information about themselves on social media sites than they did in the past. Social media may provide an additional way to connect with others and form relationships. These relationships may result in a good term or may be a bad one.

Another issue of using social media excessively is the privacy issue. If we compare 2003 with 2016, a huge number of people have increased who have started uploading their pictures and videos on social media without any hesitation. Around 65% of people have started updating their hometowns, relationship statuses, institutions and date of births.

In conclusion, it is important for every parent to learn about internet and keep an eye on what their children do online. They should learn different softwares and be aware of what their children upload and when they are online. Parents should also take care of the emotions of their children; they should not tell their children that they condemn their behavior yet tell your child you are concerned about some of the changes you have seen in his or her behavior

A Dream That Died During the APS Attack

File Photo: Blood Stained Walls of a Classroom After the Attack on Army Public School Peshawar.

Alarm rang at 6:00 am; it was his 13th birthday, excited as never before, he woke up early today than usual. Resisting the cold shivering weather, he jumped off his bed and ran to his mother.

“Happy Birthday my child”, she held her son close, wishing him all the happiness. “Thanks mama”, Aahil replied. “Mom, can I skip school today? I know it’s the last day of school but it is also my birthday, I want to spend time at home and rejoice with you and dad”, he added innocently.

“Um hmm… So that is the plan, but you know what? I have a better one, why don’t you go out there, attend the school and then later invite your friends at home? We are going to celebrate all together”, his mother offered. She adored her son and knew how important education was for him and when she put it that way without hurting Aahil’s feelings, how could he or anyone refuse?

Aahil agreed. His mother dressed him up in uniform, and walked him to school. It was a perfect morning of December 16th, the weather was frosty with mist covering the road ways and wind was rough, fabricating beautiful sounds like that of downpour when it howled across the trees, the sun was soft and pleasant on skin.

Aahil sung his favorite song merrily along the way. He fascinated small things like good weather, walking in winters on an empty road, small conversations with friends, reading books and painting when he was sad. He had dreams and goals, a whole list of things he wanted to do in his life.

Aahil kissed his mother goodbye and ran through the main gate to school. At sharp 8:00 am the bell rang, students assembled in the hall way, recited daily prayer and sang national anthem in unison. It started out as an ordinary regular day, scheduled classes, training and finally recess, the 30 most precious minutes of freedom. Aahil tempted all his classmates and his best friend Ali to attend his grand birthday celebration.

It was now time for first aid training session in the auditorium located at the centre of the complex. Students gathered around the hall. Aahil had forgotten that this session was today, the one he had been impatiently waiting for all weekend. “Thank God I didn’t miss my school”, he thought to himself. He wanted to be a doctor and this would be his first practical lesson, finally.

Students were waiting for their trainer. It was around 10:30 am, when a group of men entered the hall, wearing uniforms of Pakistan paramilitary force. They were aged, holding heavy weapons, not an odd sight to witness because of school’s affiliation with the military personnel, though students were devastated by their unusual positions and attitude. Aahil smiled at them; he always did in respect for army as his father was a respectable army officer.

It was just a millisecond of time run, before anyone could figure out the presence of these men, before Aahil could stand straight up right to salute, there was a thunderous bang of fire bullets, the massacre of students, shook the ground, blood spilled like water on the floor. The air became rusty and all the colors in the surrounding emerged in red.

Aahil stood still, his eyes which were filled with joy went blank, and the continuous thud of his heartbeat shivered the very existence of his soul, he tried to breathe but there was something stuck in his throat. He was shouting, screaming, crying with no voice and tears. He was lost in the midst of the chaos.

One of the men came closer to him, pushed him to the ground. All that he could manage himself to say at this moment was “It’s my birthday”. The man laughed. “Happy Birthday”, he said, and shot him.

Hold Her Hand and Protect your Woman

Every woman has a past. Some are physically abused. Some have violent parents and a broken family. Some have had pubertal issues. Some have endured sexual abuse as a child from their own family members. Some have messed up love stories. Some were forced to have sex in the name of love. Some were drugged, date raped and photographed. Some have been blackmailed by their ex-boyfriend. Some have menstrual problems. Some have gone through a divorce. Some have an obesity issue. Some have financial droughts. Some have drug or alcohol addiction. Some have gone through unsuccessful suicide attempts.

If you see a woman who has gone through any of these, don’t stab her with her past. Don’t act like a righteous being and try to confront her. Commend her for her courage, for being strong enough to be able wipe her tears, tie her hair up, and masking her sorrows with a divine smile. If she has started walking towards her future by hanging on to that little bit hope, help her out, and do not grab her down.

If she still has not given up on the concept of love, please, do not stab her with her past. Do not slap her with more abuse. Do not treat her like she is nothing to this world. Give her strength and walk beside her. Hold her hands. Try to understand her. Maybe then you’ll understand how sweet that soul is and how strong her hopes are! You will be amazed at how she carries herself after all her energy has been sucked out.


Remember she could be any one. It’s not necessary that she’ll only be the women next door. Someone else’s woman. She may be one of your own, your own sister, your own best friend, your own wife, even may be your own mother. Do not judge her by her past. Understand her feelings, her actions, her smile, her anger, her silence. Gift her peaceful future that she deserves. Hold her hand and protect her against the world, the world that only knows how to judge. Give her trust, something she has always yearned for.

To all those women who have gone through such difficult times, I know it’s hard, I know it’s hard to face the world, but remember, the storm will clear soon, and the sun will shine. If someone is making you feel bad about yourself, delete them from your life. If you feel like you are completely alone, open your eyes and look around you. There are so many people who appreciate and love you just as you are.

You can do everything in your life. You can achieve every goal, every dream. Breathe! if there is an anchor dragging you down, see your way through it. You are the most important person and you mean so much. You are successful and you will be the reason behind every successful man.

God has created you is such a way that you can take do and achieve everything. So just get up from your bed, wipe your tears, smile like a cute baby and fly like a bird. Never stop dreaming and never stop striving to achieve your dreams. Never look back never make any excuses. Just fight for your inner peace, fight for your old smile. Just go for it.

AfPak: Integrated – Transit Trade Management System

Regional integration and intra-regional trade have played an important role in the economic prosperity of many countries, the Association of Southern Asian Nations (ASEAN) being one such example. The first attempt to regulate and codify all the scattered provisions – under the auspices of trade between Pakistan and Afghanistan in 1965, when Pakistan and Afghanistan signed a bilateral Transit Treaty. The treaty recognized the right of Afghanistan to access to seaports of Pakistan, but did not address Pakistan’s access to Central Asia through the territory of Afghanistan.

In spite of the bilateral Afghanistan Transit Trade Agreement (ATTA, 1965), Pakistani stakeholders still held the perception that the extension of transit facility to Afghanistan was being used for unauthorized trade, causing injury to the domestic industry and loss of revenue. Negotiations between Pakistan and Afghanistan on a new transit treaty commenced in 2008 after visiting a delegation from Afghanistan tabled a draft text for Pakistan’s consideration. The text of the Agreement was prepared by the World Bank’s consultants.

A significant concern regarding Afghan imports transiting through Pakistan has been the issue of unauthorized trade. Unauthorized trade could occur as (i) transit diversion, whereby goods in transit to Afghanistan are diverted in Pakistan for consumption/sale; and (ii) transit goods intended for Afghanistan brought back to Pakistan across the porous border after physically entering Afghanistan.

There are currently five security levels under Afghan Pakistan Transit Trade Agreement;

Insurance Guarantees
Tracking devices
Bank Guarantee for vehicles
Bonded Carrier license
Container security deposits
Afghanistan objected to the black list for transiting certain goods (e.g. Tobacco, spare parts, batteries) through Pakistan in light of various measures applied by Pakistan on transit trade including insurance guarantee, cross-border certificate, tracking devices, and bonded carriers. The Pakistan delegation agreed to look into this matter.

It was pointed out that transit goods to Afghanistan are going from Pakistan to Iran due to lack of infrastructure at transit points in Pakistan. The project of Integrated Transit Trade Management System would make Pakistan a hub of transit. Steering committee on integrated transit trade management system in 3rd meeting chaired by finance minister senator Mohammad Ishaq Dar discussed and approved broad contours of the Land port Authority which is to overcome all the cross border movements of some goods and people.

The potential of transit trade through Pakistan warrants immediate attention of the government to put in place a robust and efficient transit trade management system that is capable of providing maximum facilitation to Pakistan’s trading partners as well as countering the threat of illegal trade by strengthening custom control.

To achieve its goals of better connectivity with neighboring countries and expansion of trade links, the government has announced the initiative of economic corridor which aims to build a high quality modern expressway linking Gwadar with Kashgar as a modern equivalent of ancient silk route. The Economic Corridor will open up countless economic opportunities for Pakistan from China to Central Asia. In addition to this, Afghan government has been signed to connect Pakistan with Afghanistan through a reliable rail and road network. Also, the government realizes that future economic growth depends on the development and modernization of transport and logistics infrastructure. It is the government’s vision to develop transport corridors that open up new areas, facilitate trade and give benefits for maximum people for uplifting socio-economic condition.

Below, describes the current situation with respect to these provisions; there are major delays in transit trade due to filing, poor infrastructure, and time consumed at borders to negotiate through the overcrowded border crossings. The Trade Project has initiated a dwell time study which is expected to be completed in May 2014. The study highlights the points of delay on the Transit route from the Port of Karachi to exit points. The challenges in implementing trade facilitation measures have resulted in diversion of transit trade to the ports of Iran.

I think, Pakistan must facilitate transit trade to bring back the traffic lost from Pakistani ports. Poor infrastructure at Customs border posts (Torkham and Chaman) also has a negative impact on the free flow of transit traffic. Efforts are being made to establish data exchange facilities between Pakistan and Afghan Customs authorities at Torkham and Chaman border crossings.

The railways have been a preferred choice for Afghan traders for the transit trade of their goods due to cost advantages; however, due to excessive delays and lack of space in railway transit, transit traffic has diverted to road transport. Roads accommodate a larger share of transit trade traffic. The up-gradation and proper maintenance of roads will ensure timely movement of goods.

This article provides a series of stand-alone and integrated solutions and recommendations related to ITTMS. These are mentioned below as following;

Recommendations

Improve custom and trade facilitation.

Identify the major points of delay in transit and take necessary action to address the policy , infrastructure and logistics issue and ensure these are implemented within reasonable timeframes.

Infrastructure development at the land border crossings of Torkham and Chaman will improve capacity so as to enable them to cater to the needs to overland traffic.

Separate transit for pedestrians traffic and vehicle movement at border crossings points is recommended.

It is recommended that Pakistan continue the policy of following the private sector to develop and manage seaport facilities on long leases under BOT.


Establishment of new dry ports is recommended.

Under international transit system such as the TIR, containers are not checked en-route unless there are exceptional circumstances. In the case of Pakistan, goods are subject to multiple checks en-route. These excessive checks need to be curbed to expedite transit trade.

Security is a major concern highlighted by many stakeholders and impact transit trade. Better safety measures along the transit corridors will help strengthen confidence among traders and the stakeholders and encourage use of the ports of Pakistan.

There is a need for both the sides to notify the regulations facilitating the commercial presence of freight forwarders and transport operators in their respective territories.

Improve trade policy and export PROMOTION.

Enhance economic zones regime, focusing on areas of conflict and vulnerable populations.

Improve security of supply chains.

Pakistan should improve the clearance procedures for perishable consignments at Chaman and Wagha to facilitate Afghan exports.

The contracting parties should develop a module in their automated clearance system to monitor the transit of dangerous goods.

There is a need to amend laws and regulations in the context of trade agreements.

Provide infrastructure for developing better controls.

Provide advance use of technology.

Integrated use of technology.

Swift custom operations.

Provide transparent and corruption free system at land ports with strong hold on the ground.

It is recommended to introduce monitoring mechanism to match the International standards.

Visit the sites to review the existing arrangements and identify the impediments for future up gradation of the land ports.

Scanning facilities at Karachi port and Wagha border.

Trained workforce.

Check on delayed clearances is recommended.

Standing Up To Sexual Harassment

Man touching shoulder of uncomfortable woman co-worker

Sexual harassment is a grave crime that leaves the victims in mental agony and distress for life. No one should tolerate sexual harassment. Everyone has the right to be treated with respect and dignity.

Inappropriate behavior is a developing issue everywhere be it work areas, schools or anywhere a woman goes. Even though there are various laws against this but they are largely ineffective.

So what constitutes harassment? Well, it’s any undesirable or sexual innuendos intended to make a woman uncomfortable. Behaviors such as touching, ogling , inappropriate comments or signals, they all come under the domain of harassment.

Sadly, when females raise their voice against such harassment, they are not taken quite seriously and are given excuses such as “young men will be young men”. This somehow conditions our women to think that such harassment is normal and should be condoned. However, what they fail to understand is that such type of harassment have a deep and adverse impact on the women.

Instead of reprimanding the harassers, women are asked to dress in a modest way. “You should cover all of your body except face and hands, and your dress should never be tight, short, or too long”, they tell women. Instead of seriously pondering over the issue and bringing the harassers to justice, our society only cautions the victim to behave. It is the job of law enforcement agencies that they take the matter seriously and do not take harassment lightly.

As far as our women are concerned, they should actively report harassment incidents. When we don’t, when we overlook these negative behaviors towards us, we are in return encouraging them. So speak out ladies!

na main waqt hoon na main bakht hoon

نہ ميں وقت ہوں نہ ميں بخت ہوں جسے آپ راہ ميں پائيئے

اجی جائیے ، مجھے ڈھونڈيئے ، مرا انتظار نہ کیجيئے

16th December 2016.....Remembering 16th Dec 1971

Pakistani dramas on Zindagi Channel: Why Indians love them?

“Pakistani Dramas being aired on Zindagi channel in India receiving huge appreciation”

The girl is a strong-minded introvert. Unlike her sisters, she’s not interested in pursuing romance. The boy is wealthy and flirtatious. In college they clash, until the boy gets close enough to fall in love with her.

It’s a typical Pakistani drama, but with a twist – Indian audiences are tuning in. For the first time, an Indian TV channel is broadcasting syndicated programs from Pakistan, a country that India has gone to war against four times in 67 years. The serials are giving Indian viewers a peek into the daily lives of Pakistanis and also shattering some stereotypes about the neighboring country.

“It was the best drama serial I have ever watched,” says Priyanka Kapoor, a Delhi-based software professional. “It felt like a Jane Austen story. It was good to portray a heroine who wasn’t just caught up in her looks and make-up.”

When plans for the channel, Zindagi TV, were announced, there was speculation that it would be rejected by Indian viewers. Instead, it has become a hit among many national TV critics and urbanites who are tuning in and buzzing about it on social media since its debut in June. The industry site IndianTelevision.com called it “a bet that worked.”

Ratings are up, too. According to India’s Television Audience Measurement, a private ratings company, the channel exceeded expectations for early viewership, beating several other Indian entertainment channels. It still lags far behind the most popular shows.

What sets Pakistani dramas apart, according to Indian TV critics, is their fast pace (Pakistani dramas are over in three months, compared to years for Indian shows), more realistic settings (middle-class houses instead of mansions), and, unlike Bollywood-inspired dramas, a lack of singing.

The warm reception is “prompting Indian producers to do a rethink on the content they churn out,” a columnist for the Indian news site DNA wrote recently.

Zindagi TV dramas include one centered on a poor orphaned girl who goes through turbulent times, a family drama that revolves around the lives of sisters, and one that shows the extreme divide between Pakistan’s rich and the poor.

Cross-border fans

While Bollywood has a huge fan following across the border in Pakistan, Indian love for Pakistan’s drama serial is also no secret. In the late 1980s, Indian audiences were queuing up outside video shops to get their hands on Pakistani TV shows – Dhoop Kinare and Tanhaiyaan. Many were installing TV antennas to access Pakistani TV channels.

Now about three decades later, when Zindagi was created to show nothing but Pakistani TV shows, the Indian audience has connected again with the shows. And this time the soap operas are more widely available across the country. The channel is available with a basic cable package, costing about $6 per month. (India is estimated to have more than 100 million homes with cable and satellite television, out of a population of 1.2 billion.)

Parveen Kaur, a housewife in Delhi, grew up listening to her father’s stories about his home in the Pakistani city of Lahore, which he had to leave during the partition of the subcontinent in 1947.

“I have never been to Pakistan,” says Ms. Kaur. “The channel fills a vacuum. It gives us a sense about the land which our parents left behind. Their stories are so similar to ours.”

The channel attempts to draw upon cultural similarities and the vast numbers of people on both sides of the border speak essentially the same language – Urdu, Pakistan’s national tongue, have strong similarities to Hindi. Although TV shows from Turkey and Egypt will be added to the lineup, the channel will initially only offer Pakistani serials.

Pakistan media has also praised the success of Pakistani serials in India. The headline of Pakistan’s newspaper Dawn read “Pakistani drama serials win hearts in India.” But Fawad Khan, one of the most popular Pakistani actors who played a leading role in Zindagi Gulzar Hai, one of the most popular Zindagi shows, has drawn flak back home in Pakistan for his decision to enter Bollywood. He is unperturbed, though, and says art is something that travels across all borders.

“There will be people who will criticize. They are entitled to their opinion,” Mr. Fawad told reporters in Mumbai. “Even if someone from India goes to work there, someone or the other will make noise.”