Who killed Hassan Zafar Arif? on January 17, 2018On January 14, a Professor of Philosophy was found dead in the backseat of a car in Karachi. The deceased was identified as Professor Hassan Zafar Arif. He was a senior faculty member of Karachi University. He was known for his vocal criticism of the capitalist system and his struggle against dictatorships. He strongly believed […]
Time to revisit America’s national Twitter narrative on January 6, 2018Up until last year no one would have thought that a social media platform like twitter will shake up the ruling power houses in Pakistan. This was until the morning of Monday January 1st 2018, 7:12 am. The President of United States of America either woke up on the wrong side of his bed, or […]
The year 2017 in review on January 1, 2018At this time of year, questions about how good the previous year had been and how good the upcoming year will be are all too common. Forecasters, analysts and pundits make different claims every New Year. Many of these are replicated every December. This year, there was none of Obama’s influence on our foreign policy, […]
Benazir murder — mystery remains unsolved on December 24, 2017On December 27th 2007, Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) lost its party chief, and the nation lost a sincere leader with the murder of Benazir Bhutto. Born in Karachi to a politically important, aristocratic family; her father, the PPP’s founder and leader Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was elected as PM on a socialist platform in 1973. Bhutto’s […]
Journey from an eastern-wing to a nation-state on December 16, 2017In 1966 Sheikh Mujibur Rahman emerged as the pre-eminent opposition leader in Pakistan and launched the six-point movement for autonomy and democracy. Hold on folks!! This is not the beginning of a story, it’s a chapter in between. Let’s start over again, once upon a time “East Pakistan” was a provincial wing of a country […]
Canadian elections and the Pakistani community on December 10, 2017Even when abroad, Pakistanis continue to carry their distinct flavour in all walks of life. This also involves taking an interest in politics of their new country of residence. Recently, a new wave of political activism has emerged in Canada as provincial and federal Canadian elections are approaching and new ridings (constituencies) are either being […]
We live in a strange world, don’t we? on December 5, 2017Ours is a strange world where zealots are portrayed as pastors, and enemy of past have become good enemies turned friends. Moulvi Khadim Rizvi reminded all of us of a character from old Punjabi movies which fashioned ‘Gandasa’ culture but Rizvi took it to the next level, breaking all barriers of profanity. The majority of […]