Hafeez Khan

We live in the moment as a nation. Be it a national debacle like the loss of East Pakistan, or a glorious event like Pakistan becoming an atomic power. We grieve or rejoice in the moment, and then discard it in the bin. Few people question this onset of amnesia. This raises another question: have […]

Pandora Papers are a reality check. Really and truly, the political divide is a façade. There are the takers and those who get taken every five years. Corruption, money laundering, bribes and loot have no ideology. This common thread runs across party lines. It does not end there. It has permeated into media, uniforms, bureaucrats, […]

I was talking to Barkat Bibi. She goes around different households to cook food on a contract basis. Formerly, she was a primary school teacher; raising four kids with her husband, Hanif, who owned a motorcycle repair shop. COVID hit her with a double whammy. She lost her job when her school closed due to […]

Those of us who have been around long enough would recollect the hijacking of an Indian aircraft “Ganga” in January 1971. A Fokker Friendship F27; was one of the oldest planes in the Indian Airlines fleet. It was decommissioned due to age and re-inducted days before the hijacking. It was a short hop from Srinagar […]

Elections in Canada can be boring when compared to the razzmatazz of a Pakistani campaign. The Canadian election writ period is much shorter than our minimum (three months). There are no “jalsas” with hundreds of thousands of attendees or throngs of people and vehicles in a “jaloos.” There are hardly any animated discussions, fistfights or […]

September 6 was celebrated as the “Day of the Martyrs,” to commemorate those who offered the ultimate sacrifice for the motherland. These tales of valour inspire those who stand on guard to protect the nation. The occasion was celebrated with dignity and honour in Rawalpindi and around the country. “Shahadat” and “Jehad fi Sabilillah” are […]

The NATO forces landed in Afghanistan as “deliverers.” As many as 20 years later, they ended up being the occupiers. How did this happen? Postmortems will be done by multiple tiers of policymakers, analysts and historians. Blame-game and finger-pointing shall keep the public confused for years to come. The US will continue to be at […]

Desi dramas are an integral part of many lives in the subcontinent. I also have sat through some of them. Invariably, there is the main story and then some side plots serve as a distraction to prevent monotony and prolong the drama. At times, this distraction becomes the main plot. That is what happened to […]

There is no way of safeguarding respect in a defeat unless the victor is gracious and shows humility. That will determine the future course of events in Afghanistan. After the Taliban took over the surrounding provinces in 11 days, they encircled Kabul. On August 15, 2021, they overran Kabul without any resistance. Predictions by pundits […]

It was August 2002 when I last visited Kabul, I was accompanied by Niaz Ali Shah, a scion of the Syed family of Peshawar. His father, Syed Taj Mir Shah, was a loving elder who mentored me when we were organizing PTI in KP in late nineties. He left us early, spending his final days […]