O, Jeremy Corbyn on June 14, 2017In all of my adult life, I have occasionally felt relief at the outcome of an election, but never hope. Last Thursday’s British general elections were the first time that I actually felt hope. It is a curious statement to make, by an unreformed left of Marx, Socialist like me. After all the right wing, […]
Empathy shall set you free on May 30, 2017This Ramzan, the faithful have many physical trials to face — from fasting long hours in searing heat, to demands of labour to feed one’s children who may not fast, or to even earn an Iftar or Sehri meal. But there is also the mental aspect of Ramzan that the government cannot and will not […]
Of Ehtram-e-Ramazan and secularism on May 20, 2017The amendment to the Ehtram-e-Ramazan Ordinance 1981 is worrying on many counts. To most secular-leaning people, the state’s attempt at enforced piety is worrying because it violates the basic principle of the separation of religion and the state. To me, the original law and the amendment to it are deeply troubling, but not because it […]
Juggling water and life on May 3, 2017In practically all water-related meetings I have attended in Pakistan, I have seen people argue with each other, the way two Ocean liners would cross each other at night — miles apart, just aware of each other’s lights. It seems to me, that water, like life, is predominantly talked about in three registers. One is […]
Time for calmer hydro-diplomacy on April 23, 2017Public discourse in Pakistan has been replete with almost hysterical claims about India’s violations of the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT). Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has also quite unhelpfully ratcheted up the rhetoric against Pakistan by threatening to pull out of the IWT. During every flood season, it is standard mantra in Pakistan, Punjab in […]
Violent polities and terrorism on April 8, 2017Barbed wire around schools or Lawrence Garden on the mall is a symbol of our utter defeat and the victory of terror in Pakistan Every year I am invited to give lectures in training workshops for the security establishment of Pakistan on terrorism. This year a colleague said something to the course participants that I […]
The unbearable lightness of water on March 29, 2017Kalabagh dam ke jo bhi khilaf hai, mein kehta hun ghadaar hai! Ghadaar hai! Ghadaar hai! (Anyone against Kalabagh dam, I say is a traitor! A traitor! A traitor!) The above quote to your scribe, by a top business leader in Lahore sums up the structure of feeling and debate on water issues in Pakistan. […]