The past that wasn’t
Before Pakistan makes the cultural choice of going back to the glory of its mythical past, it must remember that that past never existed Nationhood is a cultural artefact. It mixes political…
How to look at vulgarity on Internet
Our government’s got it wrong Criticising a proposed Internet surveillance and censorship program last week, I had argued that the Internet is not just a public communications network, but a culture. Because…
Pakistan hacking Pakistan
Freedom be damned As people from around the world work together to create a new public space on the Internet where they can freely learn, share and express, Pakistan is spending $10m…
Politics of the Face
The American invasion of Afghanistan is a classic rape and rescue fantasy, according to my friend Vicki Sung at New York University. After American masculinity came under attack on 9/11, its feminisation…
A game called Snake
Playing against yourself At the core of Pakistan’s most popular mobile phone game Snake is a paradox: we are constantly manoeuvring to seek rewards that will make our lives harder. Since the…
Ahmadis, leprosy and plague
What is it about a Shezan juice box that makes it so infectious? A team of lawyers will raid canteens to cleanse Lahore’s courts of a juice drink produced by a company…
In ISI’s defence
If the law can’t protect us, the spy agency must Pakistan’s influential spy agency is in an uncomfortable spotlight once again, after being asked to explain to the Supreme Court the deaths…
Sex, TV and Maya Khan
Good riddance? “In Bombay, European prostitutes were concentrated at Cursetji Sukhlaji Street in the Kamathipura area. Here, the missionaries who formed themselves into a vigilante midnight mission to stamp out the nefarious…
Leave Aitzaz alone
A lawyer’s unwarranted media trial There is something gratifying about humiliated celebrities – Veena Malik’s bitter black mascara tears, Salman Butt going to jail, or VJ Mathira embarrassed by a caller live…
If Zardari must hang
Everyone else should too Top leaders of Pakistan Army decided in a meeting last week that they would make no compromises on ‘national security’, and according to reports, also promised to provide…
The army’s ghairat
Pick-and-mix outrage Twenty-five Pakistani soldiers were bound, gagged, brutally tortured, and killed in cold blood in two mass slayings in a week. Their naked mutilated bodies were dumped in ravines. Most of…
PTI’s propaganda techniques
Pathos and bathos “The conscious and intelligent manipulation of the organised habits and opinions of the masses is an important element in democratic society,” according to Edward Bernays, the man behind the…
USA is not our enemy
It’s in our own backyard “We are going to cut these soldiers into pieces one by one, and we will send these pieces to their commanders,” a Taliban spokesman said about the…
How to kill journalists
A step-by-step pocket guide Anderson Cooper was beaten up by pro-Hosni Mubarak men while covering the uprising in Egypt earlier this year. Moammar Gaddafi’s men shot at Geraldo Rivera who was covering…
A Taliban manifesto
Policy guidelines for a new Pakistan WHEREAS Pakistan’s esteemed leadership has called for a review of the foreign policy and stated that we shall end duplicity and truly, openly, and sincerely support…
Invisible enemy
Pakistan fights terror like Europe fought the plague “Everyone locked up in his cage, everyone at his window, answering to his name and showing himself when asked – it is the great…
Business as usual with India
Twins always end up on opposing sides of a fight: Bollywood After six decades of ups and downs, the people of India and Pakistan have finally come to an historic agreement –…