* Everybody knows everything. * Nobody ever says anything except about himself or herself. * Desperation is the source of all evil. * Always go with the flow but empower yourself to change its course where necessary. * Nothing big can be done in secret. * Man without woman, and woman without man, is only […]
The simplest of questions
Pakistan is a country infested with vested interests and manipulative masters. So much so that it is usually impossible to get an unbiased and untwisted view from any of the mainstream players on even the most obvious problems. To illustrate this pervasive malaise, we present below the answers of major institutions and political parties to […]
The new establishment
For 70 years now, Pakistan’s establishment — the army generals, the feudal lords, and the industrial tycoons — has brazenly exploited the poor, illiterate and gullible people of this country and made itself rich and healthy. Is there any hope that these all-powerful overlords may be replaced by the true servants of the people or, […]
US should leave Afghanistan
The Pakistani state is all set and primed for a fundamental change in its constitutional ethos from a theocratic state to a secular state. However, the matters are so arranged at the moment that withdrawal of the United States and allied armed forces from Afghanistan is a condition precedent for such a turn of […]
In the footsteps of the bagpiper, and back
They said the bagpiper is a mere clown; he would never cross the bridge — pull siraat, as it were — that he exhorts others so heartily to pass. But the bagpiper has done it: he has crossed the bridge, all by himself, but only to find himself in enemy territory, within range of enemy […]
On the religious sentiment
Regardless of the merits of the ongoing national and international “debate” on blasphemy, recent history makes it clear that the “people” of Pakistan do not forgive even the clinically insane if they are perceived to be publicly defiling the sacred name of the Holy Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), much less the smart alecks fooling around with […]
On Military Courts
Presently defunct military courts, though hailed as part of an existential war for Pakistan, were an oxymoronic appendage to the constitutional framework of the Pakistani state and were never justified or sustainable under any recognized principle of constitutional governance. In our criminal justice system applicable to ordinary citizens in general, we have the regular courts […]