A publication that was once the pride of the Washington Post group fell from grace and was actually sold for one dollar.
In the aftermath, a local energy billionaire picked up the rights of the publication for Pakistan. Glossy paper or not, suffice to say, it’s certainly not what it used to be.
The magazine is now serving as a vehicle of appeasement of the political powers that be, as you can see from the image of the Punjab chief minister here.
The businessman, whose progeny also runs the country’s premier literary festival, was given a bit of rough treatment by the Punjab government last year, when the usual venue of the festival was ruled out because of a “security issue.” The venue shifted next door to a hotel, which didn’t quite cut it. The reason for the League government’s anger: the same progeny also sided with civil society organisations against the League’s favourite Orange Line project.
Expect more cover stories like these if you want better literary festivals.
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What do we have here? The ICC chief here in Pakistan? Here to present our Test team captain Misbah ul Haq with the Test mace for being the number one Test team in the world?
Well, an honour! We shall certainly roll out the red carpet, right, Mr Chairman PCB? Mr Chairman? Where are you?
Oh, off to London to be operated upon? Well, health comes first. Okay, so we’ll try the power behind the throne, the Chairman of the Executive Committee of the PCB? Mr Sethi? Mr Sethi?
What? Off for a holiday?
So no one was minding the store, then? Couldn’t make it from London to Lahore when the ICC guy flew from — irony alert — London to Lahore.
