Dam Poetics on January 30, 2019The other day, at a friend’s place I was on the same table as a sixth grader doing her Urdu homework. She was asking about the tashreeh (interpretation) of various verses. I said to her that if you want to put someone off poetry start testing them on tashreeh. Something that the Pakistani educational system […]
Happy New Year Pakistan! on January 3, 2019I am happy to turn the page on 2018. It was a year of despair in many ways for Pakistan. (Forced?) Disappearances continued apace, in fact accelerated. And by all indications they will pick up pace in 2019. The only bright spot was the Pashtun Tahafuz Movement (PTM) and its band of young activists, who […]
What we could learn from Nepal on December 21, 2018I recently had an opportunity to do some intensive field work with the Tharu, Boate and Musahar indigenous people in the Tarai (plains) of Nepal. I have been working, off and on in Nepal for more than a decade. But this time around, I was particularly moved transitions caused by remittances and the new constitution. […]
Intoxication of poverty? on December 8, 2018One of the most odious people in Pakistan put the words in the title together. He shall remain unnamed because his pathetic identity doesn’t matter. He is just symptomatic of a deeper disease among the powerful. He called the anti-encroachment drive in Karachi to be a cure to ‘gharee bikanasha’ (intoxication of poverty), on national […]
The unbearable stiffness of soft Pakistan on November 28, 2018The last two weeks have been eventful for judicial activism in the urban and water sector in Pakistan. The Chief Justice has been in the UK stumping for the dam fund. I have questioned the wisdom and necessity of Diamer-Bhasha dam in this paper, as have many others elsewhere. So I won’t rehearse the argument […]
Pakistan and the question of Palestine on November 16, 2018Every time Pakistan gets closer than usual to the Americans, the sounds for recognition of Israel seem to leave their drawing room sanctuaries. The reasoning goes that Pakistan has no independent quarrel with Israel; Israel is a physical reality that should be recognised; Arab countries have extended recognition to Israel, why shouldn’t we? Israelis know […]
Who is the Protector of Islam on November 5, 2018The glorious legacy of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) is etched in the greatest achievement of his followers — from the halls of Al-Hamra to the Taj Mahal, from Alif Leila to Firdausi’s Shahnama, to the theory of optics by Ibn-al-Haytham — in architecture, literature, sciences, and politics great men and women inspired with his message have […]
Women and water on October 18, 2018I have been following with some interest the ongoing debates on social media regarding the lack of women’s representation on the government’s ‘Task Force to Prepare Roadmap, Action Plan for a Water Secure Pakistan’. I do share the discomfort of many of my colleagues regarding the lack of women’s representation on the task force, and […]
Geography in schools before dams on rivers on September 21, 2018Over the past two weeks I have had the surreal experience of being trolled on social media. Never happened before, as out of a hundred and something followers that I have on Twitter — most are friends and family. But then I wrote my previous piece on Bhasha and the flood gates opened. I have […]
Folly, thy name is Diamer-Bhasha on September 10, 2018I noted with some disbelief the Prime Minister’s pledge to build Diamer-Bhasha dam amongst others, with donations from overseas Pakistanis. According to the World Commission on dams, on average all dam projects suffer about 98 percent cost escalations. Our recent Neelum-Jehlum project has suffered a cost overrun of 500 percent. Meaning it will cost five […]