The Public Sphere: The Almeida-shaped Independence on October 17, 2016The Cyril Almeida story had news value and a spin. The imperative headline made it more so. Running a story driven only from “sources” and speculation is debatable; however senior editors may have approved and defended it. It is an exaggeration to equate it with Pentagon Papers. That the story carries verifiable facts is beyond […]
The Public Sphere: Co-modifying scare in EU on September 30, 2016For a sales agent, it is a success if she sells a fridge in South Pole. Similarly for Erdogan, the success that will outlast him is gate crashing the EU during his stay in the half-a-billion-pound White Palace in Ankara, banishing its 30 times smaller White House to shame. Inclusion of Turkey in the EU […]
The Public Sphere: Like Trump, like Imran on September 29, 2016 It was nothing like the past in the US – Donald Trump vs Secretary Hillary Clinton in the presidential debate. As it is nothing like anything in Pakistan – Imran Khan vs all. I knew that Secretary Hillary Clinton will make it but the way she did swept me off my feet. In the […]
The Public Sphere: A cat to watch milk on September 5, 2016Islamabad is a city where highly educated people sell poverty, human rights, democracy, terrorism, abuse of children and plight of women etc. to donors in lavish halls of five- and three-star hotels. They smell the dollars and become experts onthe subject that gives them a chance to grab these dollars. The calamity is compounded when […]
The Public Sphere: Epitaph for a non-digital Altaf on August 25, 2016The world we live in stands on perceptions, where reality is an irrelevant concept. Let me admit at the start that being an editorial writer, my job has long been about contextualizing the events that make news but Altaf Hussain’s “emotional stress” has caught me off guard. Should we or should not we now call […]
The Public Sphere: A Law of Silence and Gags on August 13, 2016Bulldozing the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Bill (PECB) through the National Assembly (NA), Anusha Rehman, a state minister in a set-up where even the federal ministers say they are helpless, told the opposition that they are working on “NGO agenda” while she is acting on behalf of the “young girls (who) have committed suicide” due […]
The Public Sphere: Race and Religion in Munich on July 26, 2016Parents of Ali David Sonboly, 18, had gone an extra mile to camouflage their son as a member of the western society by naming him David. Complexion was also in his favor as he was white, not easy to be differentiated from white crowds in western malls. But they failed…to safe him and nine other […]
The Public Sphere: The Sizzling South on July 10, 2016Information flows from north to south internationally, emboldening the line between haves and have-nots. Nature also seems to toe to this emboldened line. Don’t believe! Try travelling from Islamabad to anywhere in the south of Punjab, spend a few days there in summer and you will stand disillusioned. The mighty of the north and the […]
The Public Sphere: Merkel the EU future on June 25, 2016 The chicken has come home to roost. Policies of the European powers to tacitly let, if not outright orchestrate, bloodshed continue in Middle East has finally led to beginning of disintegration of European Union (EU) with Brexit, or departure of the UK from the EU through Friday s referendum, setting off a wave of […]
The Public Sphere: Bull in the China Shop on June 12, 2016 The stark difference between the quality of debates in the Senate and the National Assembly, not least on gender matters, draws an analogy with the presidential primaries in the US. In March, Marco Rubio attacked Donald Trump saying that his hands are small. “And you know what they say about the men with small […]