Ahmadis and middle-class anxieties on October 24, 2017Dr Eqbal Ahmed was probably one of the most eloquent anti-imperial post-colonial voices of the 20th century. Unlike the minions of the corporate academia — like me — he left behind an inimitable record of activism and public engagement, and not incomprehensible refereed journal articles — that no one reads — to his credit. Through […]
Of Blue Whales and young lives on October 4, 2017Two young women were expelled from a college in district Jehlum for engaging in the game ‘Blue Whale’, last week. The women were in grades 11 and 12, most likely between 16-18 years of age. The game is evidently internet based where, mostly young, people are encouraged to inflict self-harm, and often the game ends […]
The case for colonialism? on September 21, 2017 In its most recent issue, the academic journal Third World Quarterly (TWQ), published an article title, “The Case for Colonialism” by who else? A political scientist named Bruce Gilley of Portland State University. The article is in the finest tradition of excremental scholarship, sadly more pervasive than we academic would like to acknowledge. Most […]
Looking through the Rohingya mirror on September 7, 2017As a young man I was quite enthralled of Aung San Suu Kyi, the Nobel Laureate and state counselor of Myanmar/Burma. She seemed very personable and brave to be standing up to the military regime in her country. As a Pakistani, I knew a thing or two about military regimes, of the Zia-ul-Haq variety at […]
Producing Pakistan: just say its beautiful on August 24, 2017On a recent trip to Deosai Plain in Skardu, my British friend, Franklin Gin and I, briefly stopped over at Sadpara lake, Skardu. We stepped out of the car, took a look at the lake and jokingly said to each other, ‘it’s a dam and it’s a lake. Not much to see. Let’s go’. As […]
And now some real news on August 8, 2017I recently came across some real news about Pakistan which merits sharing, and commenting. According to a July, 2017 article by Carole Dalin at University College, London and fellow authors, in Nature, world’s top journal for scientific knowledge, Pakistan is the largest exporter of depleted groundwater embedded in agricultural exports in the world. We account […]
Lets talk about Jain Mandir and not the JIT on July 28, 2017I am not going to add my voice to the electronic bandwidth already devoted to the financial high crimes and misdemeanors of the Sharifs, and the delicious intrigues that seem to be afoot around them. Instead, I am going to talk about Jain Mandir, Lahore and why that, now physically erased, part of my personal […]
Lets talk about Jain Mandir and not the JIT on July 28, 2017I am not going to add my voice to the electronic bandwidth already devoted to the financial high crimes and misdemeanors of the Sharifs, and the delicious intrigues that seem to be afoot around them. Instead, I am going to talk about Jain Mandir, Lahore and why that, now physically erased, part of my personal […]
Whither Population Day? on July 12, 2017I was trained in the social sciences, and grew up in a progressive milieu. It had been an article of faith with me, and still is for most around me, that run away population growth is at the core of Pakistan’s developmental problems. Today I believe that the so called, ‘population problem’ is probably one […]
From Grenfell to Bahawalpur on June 28, 2017 In twenty years of teaching and researching environmental and technological disasters, I have learned there is nothing natural about them. The damage from an earthquake, flood or forest fire is as much God’s will as the invention of the wheel, airplane or computer may be God’s will. It is not God’s will that only […]