The Nobel Peace Prize is one of the six awards given each year to the world’s most elite human rights leaders. Recommending Donald Trump for the most prestigious prize is like nominating a family patriarch from The Godfather for a humanitarian award. That’s exactly what Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has done. Trump’s nomination is […]
Pakistan Drowning in Someone Else’s Carbon
One and a half million people stranded by floods in Pakistan face a crisis that feels ripped from ancient mythology. In those ancient stories, harpies descended from storm clouds with sharp talons to snatch the innocent, carrying them away like scattered straw. Today, modern harpies born from carbon emissions sweep across Pakistan’s floodplains. Climate change, […]
Shepherd with a Moral Bucket List
G.M. Sikandar’s death on August 6 marks more than the loss of a distinguished civil servant. It signals the closure of an era when public service carried moral conviction in Pakistan. Jean Giono wrote that a truly exceptional character reveals itself over the years-through quiet generosity, without egoism, and by leaving a lasting mark on […]
From Shutter to Server
In an age defined by connectivity and pervasive surveillance, the boundaries between public and private life have eroded, giving rise to a culture of normalised voyeurism, where the medieval cautionary tale of Lady Godiva and solitary Peeping Tom now mirrors a world in which privacy is increasingly sacrificed to curiosity, technology, and the relentless gaze […]
When Ritual Becomes Spectacle
The quiet ritual of sindoor, vermilion powder pressed into the parting of a married Hindu woman’s hair each morning, and wiped off if one is widowed. It is as delicate as the first light touching temple stones and has been revered as sacred for centuries. Now, politicians hand it out like campaign flyers. This vermilion […]