Path of democracy
On the International Day of Democracy (Sept 15), many Pakistanis may still wish their state to stay on the democratic path. Around the same date the crucial task of rehabilitating the flood-devastated ...
Missing humour in religion
Sartaj, the impish waif, would double as house help and resident clown when one day my mother assigned him the onerous task of accompanying Zaheerun Bua to her first and only movie. Zaheerun ...
Pakistan’s human cockroaches
Pakistan, you are a failed state. Not because of Zardari. Not because of America. But because you are a failed people, all of us undeserving of sympathy. We are diseased, rotten to ...
Liberalism of the chattering classes
The writer is a freelance journalist with over twenty years of experience in national and international reporting This class wants democracy. Who doesn't? But do these sophists understand how democracy functions. Not really. ...
Threats and opportunities
The Saudi rulers' appeals to their people to help in flood-relief efforts in Pakistan have won them accolades across this country. Our friends China and Iran have for the first time proved ...
Aid and NGOs
Last month USAID announced the $40m Gender Equity Grants Programme in Pakistan to advance women’s rights and support government policies discouraging gender inequities. According to the announcement, the “United States will work with ...
American wars without end
It is hardly surprising that the primary victims of what the world knows as the Vietnam War employ a different nomenclature for that conflict. The Vietnamese, quite logically, call it the American ...
The ‘dark arts’ and the media
After winning the third match of the Test series after two defeats, Salman Butt, the beleaguered captain of the touring Pakistan cricket team, was quoted in the Guardian as saying that he ...
Scraping the barrel
What else again, but the disgrace heaped on our country by these hoodlums who also go by the name of cricketers? How much more disgrace will be piled upon this country by ...
An inconvenient truth
Once upon a time there stood a building that housed a cheap retail store going by the name of ‘Burlington Coat Factory.’ It was near the World Trade Centre in New York. ...
No protection for media
The Sialkot lynching has by now become emblematic of the failure of the Pakistani state to serve and protect its citizens. The brutal images of mob justice may have left our television ...
Needed: the truth
It was William Randolph Hearst, American press baron, who came out with a valid truth: ‘A politician will do anything to keep his job — even become a patriot.’ We have no dearth ...
Kashmir’s struggle and the injustices
A particularly disturbing slogan heard in the Kashmir Valley, where its young school-goers and old patriarchs, angry women and restive youth are courageously defying Indian rule, is enough to put off any sensitive ...
Smokers’ Corner: Hot yuppie soup
Sometimes I feel that the human condition in Pakistan is actually a medical condition. At this point, Pakistan does not need politicians, technocrats or economists to improve its lot. It needs psychiatrists. I ...
Get another passport
As if the ravages of the floods, the incompetence of the government, and the shenanigans surrounding cricket were not bad enough, there is an additional cause of national depression: a ...
Flood of negative soundbites
The floods ravaging Pakistan are biblical: 20 million affected, 16 million displaced, 1 million homes washed away and 2 million jobs lost. Hunger, disease and exploitation loom large. The disaster response to ...
Our culture of neglect
Over the last 63 years our skewed priorities have perpetuated a culture of neglect in Pakistan that infringes the citizens' right to life, dignity and livelihood as a matter of routine. As ...
Opportunity in tragedy
Every disaster presents opportunities. There are several strategic opportunities offered by this flood. People's social and economic positions resulting from such factors as class, gender, ethnicity, caste, race and age determines their ...
The quantum of solace
Everyone seems to be following the ruthless murderer who is running around freely on an endless killing spree. Some are trying to run from him, while some are guiding him to the ...
Disaster governance
Disasters are a true litmus test for governance. Many attributes of governance interplay in disasters, before, during and after a situation. This comment flags five governance lessons, evidenced by the response to ...
Blame it on Butt!
Skipper Salman Butt and his two co-accused in spot-fixing have declared their innocence. So before I bash the little Butt (accused of being the ringleader), my beef is towards the big Butt ...
Need for cohesion
Muttahida Qaumi Movement chief Altaf Hussian's call for imposition of martial law by patriotic generals to weed out corrupt politicians has few takers. So much so that, as a result of the ...
Questions, questions, questions
As the carnage and destruction, both manmade and nature’s wrath, around us continue, it’s hard to figure out what to do. Or even what to figure out. Curl up in the foetal position ...
Crunch time in Kashmir
Slowly, ever so slowly, the ongoing crisis in Kashmir is seeping into the world’s consciousness. For years, this unfolding tragedy was explained away through Indian charges of Pakistani involvement in the freedom movement. ...
Democracy, MQM & military
How can a political party like the MQM invite martial law? This call is meant to settle scores with the PPP, which is covertly supporting political forces challenging the MQM. The MQM ...