Babar Ayaz

There is no dearth of patriotic discussions and sermons on the strengthening of the centrifugal forces and the need to build national cohesion in our country. But there’s very little discussion on how the centre deprives the provinces, and how the provinces are reluctant to share the revenues with the local governments. To establish genuine […]

Islam was exploited during the British Raj by driving a wedge between the masses of India on a communal basis to serve the interest of the Muslim elite and the middle class. That is why the religious leadership continues to insist that ‘Ideology of Pakistan’ was to implement Islamic laws and Shari’a. At the same […]

If the records and cassettes of master ghazal singer, Mehdi Hassan, were not pirated, he would not have needed anybody’s help today on his sickbed. He would have been a millionaire in terms of dollars from his royalty earnings. He is not an isolated case. Many singers, musicians, writers, film and television producers and even […]

States are heartless creatures. Ruling establishments claim that their policies are to serve the people, but more often in practice these are hollow claims. The benefit of people is only a byproduct of some of the policies of the state’s ruling class. Many a time right things happen for wrong reasons, and people are crucified […]

A friend recently quipped, “What the establishment of Pakistan couldn’t do to MQM, perhaps a bottle of Johnnie Walker did it.” That was the lighter side of this show. Whether the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) godfather was drunk on his brand of alcohol or not cannot be said with certainty as this statement is hearsay. […]

The induction of the new Sindh government is now complete, hopefully. By any standard, a large cabinet was sworn in to aid the new and younger chief minister, Murad Ali Shah, who has replaced the octogenarian “man for all seasons,” Qaim Ali Shah. Stanford-educated Murad is 30 years younger than his predecessor. These two personal […]

Relentless attacks by the so-called “Islamist” terrorists have rocked the world. In 2016 alone there have been 1,272 terrorist attacks killing over 11,772 people across the world. In the ongoing month of July, 39 terrorist attacks were reported in 13 countries taking a toll of 615 lives and injuring 740 people. The countries that have […]

Can Pakistan become a neutral, social democratic and secular country for a prosperous future? That is the question deliberated by some “practical socialist” intellectuals — to borrow Fabian socialist Blatchford’s term — as against the ideas of the “ideal socialist.” In the latter part of an idealist’s life he/she usually become a realist and practical, […]

Trajectories of tragic events in Pakistan have sidelined some of the fundamental political issues of the country. One of the most important issues, hardly discussed by politicians and the media, is the revival of the local government system. Without an effective and participatory local government system, democracy hangs in the air. That is precisely one […]

Kumar Krishan Katyal who passed away last week at a Delhi hospital after a brief ailment was a gentleman journalist. He had the knack of asking tough questions without raising his voice and being rude to an interviewee unlike most of the television journalists these days. Perhaps it was because he believed that a journalist […]