D Asghar

Had he given Pasha’s message from his former institution some heed, he would be enjoying the good life, trotting around the globe. But our dear commando, who was done with his innings and was told by all and sundry to stay away from Pakistan, decided to follow his gut instinct, rather than his head. Without […]

It all started with just a casual tweet about an ongoing discussion on Twitter. It was about the ongoing diplomatic row between our edgy neighbour and my country of residence. The two countries are at loggerheads with one another on a rather trivial issue, as compared to the major issues paralysing this world. It has […]

The sovereign state of Bangladesh decided to punish a Bangladeshi citizen named Abdul Qauder Molla for 1971 war-related crimes. Mr Molla was hanged according to Bangladeshi laws (right or wrong, which is of course debatable) after the review of their Supreme Court. A foreign office ‘babu’ (bureaucrat) in Islamabad drafted a vague and vain (in […]

People often ask me on social media why I am digging into the past, especially about a chapter like Bangladesh, which we want to overlook. I simply say that you can never gauge your future unless you reconcile with your past. If one looks they will see that one of the major reasons for our […]

How can a song bring back so much nostalgia? Photos, poetry, music and songs contain that mysterious, magical characteristic that one just cannot resist at all. The song that I am referring to is from a Pakistani movie of yesteryear, filmed in Dhaka, called Chand Aur Chandni (moon and moonlight). It was sung by the […]

Once upon a time, there was a country ravaged by war all because of evil Soviet invaders. Then, by sheer faith and belief, its neighbouring country rescued it by sending pious and upright students laced with their unfettered determination and religious resolve. These valiant students drove the evil Soviets out and established a historical Islamic […]

It was said somewhere that art is the true mirror of human emotions. It reflects all the emotions that are pent up inside a human heart and mind. Without artists, a society cannot function. Imagine getting up one day and discovering that there are no mirrors on the wall. Try going out of your house […]

Quite a nerve, one would say. One religio-political leader called a dog getting killed by the US a martyr. One may just ask the learned cleric if it was meant to elevate the status of the recent drone victims or was it meant to give solace to canines that there is a special place for […]

Even though I have spent most of my life in Sweden, still the scenes from my childhood often surface in my mind and replay like a movie. I have one such vivid memory of a ‘human chain of blind men ‘, a row of 30 or so blind persons, steering along, each with his hand […]

The slow but steady barrage of tweets indicated that something big had happened. Then there were a few gloating and tweeting at the same time. My timeline was filled with confirmations from all credible news sources of the world. A high value target became the victim of the latest drone strike in Pakistan. Another wanted […]