Charles Saatchi showcases thirty-five Indian and Pakistani artists dissecting the social and political processes around Indian politics and identity. Obscure, provocative and partly amateur though undoubtedly complex, The Empire Strikes Back intertwines medium and message for an unapologetic display of Indian Art today. The show runs at the Saatchi Gallery in London until May 7th.

Slackistan is an Independent fictionalized story of the apathetic, beautiful, young and privileged of Islamabad, Pakistan. The same Islamabad known to be a few short kilometres from the dangerous “Taliban territory” and vulnerable to unexpected carbombs. The plight of the young elite traversing from one social engagement to another while discussing their hair and what weekend party to go to sounds like any teen drama on American networks. So what exactly could be so interesting or “counter-culture” about the trial and tribulations of Pakistan’s privileged set?

Current TV has produced a documentary on Pakistani immigrants in Barcelona. Spain has one of the highest numbers of Pakistani migrants in Europe, second to the UK. Current TV’s documentary shows some of the challenges …

“Exotic locales” in “far and dangerous places” are not new muses for musicians from the West. Although most of my own iTunes playlists consist of music and musicians from around the world - fitting into the too broad “world music” category - I am always wary of such collaborations and how they represent the muse/country in question, and of how these musical encounters can turn into self-indulgent congratulatory efforts for the recording artist. A new collaboration comes from Swedish songstress Victoria Bergsman, lead singer of The Concretes and famous for lending her soft, feminine voice to indie darlings Peter Bjorn and John. For her latest project, Bergsman travels to Pakistan with producer/guitarist/engineer Andreas Soderstrom to record her solo album “East of Eden”.

For those who are not especially politically inclined, there is the enormous, rambunctious Carnaval that is Independence Day. Cars, streets and houses sprout dark green flags. Fairy lights that belie the national power crisis hang in ropes off monuments and shopping plazas. Young men (always men, mind you), high-spirited gaggles, swathes and hordes of them, pile into cars and onto motorbikes and careen down main thoroughfares. It’s a much-needed release.

Although the hijra community has always had some influence in Pakistani popular culture - from songstresses, to television talk show hosts, talking about a “third gender” in Pakistan is as taboo and disgraceful as ever. I am well acquainted with the derogatory and inflammatory names and perceptions Pakistanis from all statuses hold of the hijra.

Special blog contribution by film maker and journalist Arshad Khan. His observations during the filming of his latest project, Daraar: Fault Line, are chronicled in this piece, Health Diagnosis Pakistan: Obvious psychological pathology however complete and utter denial of any and all problems.