An American high school teacher, who is friend of mine was going about her schedule of teaching classes one fine morning. She glimpsed her colleague teaching a class with a world map displayed on the board. My friend saw something unusual in the map. Pakistan was placed next to Saudi Arabia. After the class ended, […]
My name is Khan and I am no Trump
Trevor Noah made many people laugh by highlighting the similarities between Imran Khan and Donald Trump. However, while his assessment was funny and he did point out some clear similarities between the two characters, in other regards the two men could not be more different. All influential and relatively successful people have certain commonalities, and […]
Bridge of pastors
The United States and Turkey are at odds which each other, over the case of two religious preachers. The Trump administration imposed sanctions and tariffs on the Lira, causing it to nosedive. Furthermore since Washington doesn’t have an extradition treaty with Ankara, the Pennsylvania based preacher Fethullah Guleh, despite having mountains of evidence against him for […]
Imran needs a strong National Assembly line-up
Imran Khan won the 1992 World Cup when he was in the twilight of his cricketing career and had the right team that he use\d efficiently and skillfully. He had the charisma to enthuse them to give their best. Imran Khan wasn’t the best batsman or the fastest bowler when Pakistan became the world champions, […]
Imran needs a strong National Assembly line-up
Imran Khan won the 1992 World Cup when he was in the twilight of his cricketing career and had the right team that he used efficiently and skillfully. He had the charisma to enthuse them to give their best. Imran Khan wasn’t the best batsman or the fastest bowler when Pakistan became the world champions, […]
Highlights from Being Pakistani book launch
It was a delight to meet with Raza Ahmad Rumi at the Sattar Buksh cafe here in Islamabad. The occasion was the launching ceremony of Rumi’s book titled Being Pakistani. As soon as I arrived, he welcomed me very cordially and commented sweetly on my writings. Very decent, a true intellectual, and a focused man […]
Only the smallest of fish are on the ICC agenda
The International Criminal Court (ICC) established by the Rome Statute repeatedly chooses to be a court devoid of neutrality, defying all logic. Just this month, a second arrest warrant was issued for the Libyan military commander Mahmoud Mustafa Busayf al-Werfalli who is accused of killing ten Takfiri prisoners after a Benghazi mosque attack. ICC judges […]
All’s not well between North Korea and US
United States Secretary of State Mike Pompeo visited North Korea to follow up on talks between Trump and Kim, which prompted Trump to claim that, “There is no longer a nuclear threat from North Korea.” He urged his countrymen to “sleep well tonight” since he neutralised the enemy with his legendary deal making skills. Truth […]
Hope and despair
Two news headlines flashed across the TV screen one after the other. The first one was about a blast in Afghanistan targeting Muslim scholars who had gathered to discuss peace efforts. The second news story was about the possible rise in fuel prices to be decided by the caretaker government. Interestingly, the fuel story felt […]
Retired spies need hobbies too
When spies or ex-spies are working out in the open, it is likely that they aren’t engaged in any spying. However, they feel most at home when they are undercover, posing as average people with common jobs. This is the nature of their jobs and these are the conditions they thrive in. It is important […]