The Islamisation of Pakistan

In my last piece, I highlighted four observations, which, because of one reason or another, give proof of increasing ascription to religion as the...

State of separation

For families of missing persons, autumn is here to stay
You may be lost in the eyes of the world,
but how can I set you free;
When there's a whole empty world in my aching heart,
You're the missing part of me.
- Susan Musgrave
Seasons come and go but for the families of the missing persons - as those picked up by the ubiquitous intelligence agencies have come to be labeled - autumn is the one permanent fixture.
They know not when the wait will end

A failure of imagination

I grew up on stories of Gama Pahalwan, the iconic champion of an age when wrestling in red langotis still captured the imagination of north India. It seems that apart from ever-increasing quantities of buffalo milk, he ate two dozen raw eggs a day. Like a good Indian, I compromised. Raw eggs seemed the diet of a potential bully, and hard-boiled too wimpish. The solution was clearly half-boiled eggs.
India's foreign policy is the ultimate half-boiled egg; more Indian than foreign

A mad world

The lights have gone out once again in the city of lights, this time swallowed within the dark cloacal depths of Zulfiqar Mirza’s maw....

It may take time, but…

…avoid pessimism in watching Arab change Navigating this period marking the two-year anniversary of the uprisings and revolutions that started to change the face of...

New law outlawing its own criticism found ridiculous

Islamabad - Our Special Correspondent: A new law tabled in the Senate yesterday received a massive backlash after it was found that criticising the law would...

Take a deep breath

And not overreact to rumours and the hyper-ventilations of the Israeli right At this point we have no idea what US Secretary of State John...

The ‘talks’ scenario

The TTP senses an upper hand By now all the bits and pieces of information on the All Parties Conference (APC) proposal for talks with...

Let us be united!

Our political immaturity is going to cost us   Agitation-politics is trending in Pakistan which has serious economic and socio-political repercussions. It is true that Pakistan...

Float a tender

The system will change you before you can change it The Prophet (pbuh) lost a tooth in the Battle of Uhud, not Badr as I...

Blackout

The heat and the humidity on the plains of the Punjab are soul-searing, indeed asphyxiating. Down south the mercury hits even higher. On its...

Why we love to hate the US

If one were to put a date on which terrorism in it’s present form came to Pakistan, it would be the 30th October, 2006....

One after another…

Across the vast swathes of the Arab world, Their Highnesses have either been running helter-skelter or cowering in their gilded palaces, scared out of their wits for the deceptive but rapid shift of sand that has put them all in serious jeopardy. Who could have predicted this seismic change that many have dubbed as the Arab Renaissance with millions nodding in assent? Who could have contemplated, only three months back, that the winds that started blowing from Maghreb down, would

Who pit Sharif against Sharif?

And why now? A press release by the media wing of army set it all off. There is tension between civil and military institutions over...

Anger begets revolution; revolution begets salvation

Worrying about small things is good, for in small things lie answers to big questions   “I know you have been asked this so many times...

India and CPEC

Why it doesn’t approve of the project     Conceptually speaking, characterisation of the CPEC as a game changer, an epoch making step towards eternal strategic partnership...

Cities of fear?

I have never lived in Mumbai. My visits too have been few and far between. Therefore, it is difficult for me to visualise how...