Managing Trumps administration on November 12, 2016For exact reasons unknown, Donald Trump is the new face of the American democracy and their commander-in-chief at least for the next four years, and maybe for eight. While everything that can be said about this political upset is being said, I do not intend to waste the time of the readers in fancy political […]
Dont fight in the streets, please; prosperity is not far on November 5, 2016Despite all the pandemonium, hubbub and mayhem in country’s streets for the last many years, there is still light at the end of the tunnel. At least, I can see the glimmer of hope, but it is an irony that the Pakistani media doesn’t highlight positive developments much. Yes, I am referring to the recent […]
Lets march towards sanity on October 29, 2016Quetta bled again for the umpteenth time last week. It was the usual nightmare repeated all over again. We had seen such scenes of pain and agony before. This state of constant mourning, this helplessness, this fury and frustration is not new. It is now a part of our collective psyche. But with every attack, […]
Have some Punjabi, folks, it doesnt bite on October 22, 2016Some of our children who are lucky enough to be born in families who can afford to spend three to four times more on their primary school bill than what an average lower middle class family makes in an entire month were cautioned last week by a certain enterprise to not use Punjabi within the […]
Liberal democracies and offensive social media activists II on October 16, 2016Critics viewed that Pakistan should allow freedom of speech, without mentioning that many liberal democracies, claiming to be the champions of free speech, have arrested and convicted innumerable social media activists for a wide range of Internet crimes. Following examples of such legislation all over the world show that the concept of social media crimes […]
Liberal democracies and offensive social media activists I on October 15, 2016Punjab government’s decision to initiate crackdown against bogus and misleading social media posts under the recently-approved Cyber Crime Law is surely a little belated but still welcome. Doctored and photo-shopped images galore on social media sites such as Facebook today, with nobody to check the authenticity of these pictures, have the potential of ruining family […]
A permanent war on October 8, 2016Now that the nation has exhausted all the humour that a so-called surgical strike could contain lets spare some time for some critical thinking. Whether the strike happened or not should not even be the question. Firstly, because all the empirical evidence suggests that it most certainly did not take place, and secondly, because Mr […]
Imran Khan: his controversies, U-turns and elusive dreams on September 30, 2016The other day I heard a learned journalist saying on television: “Since the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan claims to be a tiger in the jungle, therefore, he cannot afford to be humble.” Well, with all due respect to the highly educated newsman, I hereby wish to add (if not correct him) that during […]
The myth of our isolation on September 16, 2016A trick question: can any one point out at a time in our history when it was generally assumed that our foreign policy was going where it ought to? Perhaps the answer to this question is no, but that is the not the point here. The fact that almost all of us are made to […]
News rating is the clear winner here on August 30, 2016The recent episode involving the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) showed once again that if you are a party to the political confusion that exists in Pakistan you can do whatever it is that you do without really fearing for its consequences. It is how the people of Pakistan have come to live with the version […]