Comment

The rescue of 33 miners in Chile is both a matter of pride for humanity and a cause of concern as well. Now that they are save and brought back to the normal world, we should start thinking as to why they had to face such an incident? Why could they be not provided with better safety measures? And what steps, if any, are being taken to avoid such an incident in the future? In a country like ours, where there are no hard and fast rules on workers' safety, it is even more important to

Many of the diseases in our country are spreading due to unawareness about them. Our public is totally ignorant of what causes even the most common diseases as flu and malaria. There is an urgent need to spread awareness about these diseases so that the population could be saved from cruel clutches of these diseases. It takes only a little to do away with the ignorance while it can save valuable human resource. It would also save huge amount of money being spent on the cure of these

Our part of the world has always been known for calligraphy. In one form or another, the Asian calligraphers have been in the limelight. From Arabic to Persian and from Chinese to Pakistani calligraphers, Asia has produced calligrapher of top class level. But unfortunately, this subtle art is being forgotten slowly as there are no more training institutions for them and no one is making a serious headway in this regard. Names like Sadequain, Shakir Ali are now legends of the past. We

Lahore, the capital of Punjab and the heart of Pakistan, is totally mismanaged and seems to be forgotten by the authorities. The roads in Lahore are broken at more than comfortable ratios. They are also not repaired regularly. They lack balance, road signs and traffic signals. Many vehicles are meeting their fate sooner than expected due to the lower quality of carpetted roads. Accidents have been reported in the media but the authorities seem deaf to all the pleas. When the tax

Turkey has been a friend of Pakistan through thick and thin. It has stood by with Pakistan in many issues on the global level. Turkish PM is on a visit to Pakistan nowadays.
Being a Muslim country and among the fastest growing economies in the world, Turkey enjoys great esteem and respect among the world community. It would be a useless and futile effort by the Turkish PM if our political leadership does not learn any lesson from them. We should ask for their help in the

Pakistani media got some of its freedom in the government of a dictator. Though the new found freedom gave it a chance to bring to fore many problems of the country, it has also taken to exaggeration and creating hype over nothing. The example of NRO review petition is a case in point. Media had started sounding ominous about October 13, the date when it was supposed to be decided. Though nothing happened, media has again started whipping up new dates and has made the issue

The Pakistan Cricket Board has made it a habit to announce the name of the captain in a controversial manner. They have taken to appointing captains who were not in the team and been sidelined for sometime. The recently announced team also comes with a captain who was sidelined for more than a season. Misbah-ul-haq was not even in the playing eleven but he has been chosen as team captain. It seems the PCB knows only one way to bring a player in the playing eleven: make him captain.

When Musharraf took over the country in a coup in 1999, he dethroned an elected government. He sent the democracy packing and the Sharif family into a mutually agreed upon exile in Saudi Arabia. He also banned their entry into Pakistan. But now it seems the time has come to repay the debt. Now the PML-N has issued a charge sheet against him in the same manner he charged them in 'Plane Highjacking case'. Now he is in exile and cannot return to the country because of fear of persecution

What the people of Afghanistan deserve after three decades of foreign aggression, civil war and terrorism is peace so that they can reconstruct their country which has been destroyed many times over. What they require from other countries in the region, irrespective of their systems and mutual rivalries, is assistance to realise their dream. Naturally, the Afghans would welcome help coming from any quarter in overcoming terrorism and in the subsequent nation building. <br

Wednesday morning, I switched on the BBC and was engrossed watching the live saga of the rescue of 33 men trapped since August 5 when San Jose mine collapsed in Chile's Atacama Desert. Such are the moments that lift the spirit and strengthen your faith in human resolve and determination. From the depths of darkness to the light of day, it is one edifying odyssey reflecting the coming together of a nation in a bid to rescue the trapped miners alive. From the president of the country

Musharraf may be in North Carolina picking up every speaking opportunity to do some hard Sharif bashing but the conscientious London police is still on the job, guarding the "Paki" President's residence. We hear that even in Mush's absence, his flat in a square behind London's Edgware Road, is heavily guarded by plain clothes police personnel. Any casual passer-by enquiring "Does Musharraf live here?" is simply asking for it. He is promptly greeted by "Musharraf who!" but no sooner

Despite the government getting a temporary respite till November 1st, when its review petition regarding the declaration of National Reconciliation Ordinance as illegal by the Supreme Court will be heard, the gauntlet thrown at Mr. Zardari and his cohorts is still very much in place. In the end analysis, being allowed to change the lawyer representing the government proved to be a pyrrhic victory.
The tension in the air can be judged by the crisis created by media reports on

The report about the arrest from South Punjab of seven militants who wanted to blow up the Prime Minister's camp office in Multan once again underlines the urgent need to cleanse the region from terrorists. The issue has come under focus several times during the current year. It would be too dangerous to ignore the issue on account of the rivalry between the federal and Punjab governments. As things stand, this is what one sees happening. The matter of Punjabi Taliban was raised by

It was like a bolt out of the blue. The Supreme Court's order stating that the judges initially deposed by the Musharraf regime could not be denotified through an executive order the way they were brought back has puzzled a number of court-watchers. Not because the order's logic is flawed but because it remains to be seen what the need for the action was. That, too, by a full court bench past midnight.
That the motive behind the order was reports in the media that seemed to

There are times in one's life when one is overwhelmed into silent awe and one cannot help but project those moments endlessly. I've had the opportunity of visiting China three times since last December and let me say each occasion has been a magnificent revelation. The instant, perpetually lasting impression is that of an elaborate, sophisticated dynamo churning out immeasurable energy.
The essence of development is the creation of infrastructure that then becomes the launching

Pakistan cricket has been through crisis before, having witnessed some of its worst turbulence in the last decade and a half. But none quite equals the present one in terms of despair, for the opprobrium of the world body is ringing and unmistakable.
Terms of the diktat are humiliating, and the consequence of not abiding indeed with them is harrowing indeed as sanctions stare us in the face.
What the ICC's entire Board has told us with one voice - which means that all its

General-President Pervez Musharraf, now former on both counts, has set up a political party. If and when he comes to Pakistan to stake a claim on political space, it would be interesting to see how he would interact with the army, the institution he once headed and on whose strength he rose to power and exercised it for eight years. As a general he presented to Pakistan his theory of the army's place in the system through an epigram: if you want to keep the army out, bring it in. Does