Prioritizing the planet on June 9, 2019As Muslims across the world celebrated Eidal-Fitar on 5th June, the UN celebrated World Environment Day. Since 1974, every year, the day has been marked out in an attempt to encourage awareness and actions for the protection of our environment. But the day serves as little more than a decorative piece on the shelf of […]
Be beautiful on May 1, 2019From inside an expensive salon in Defence (Karachi) you can hear the screams of a three year old hitting the walls. The mother brought her in for waxing. A party is being held for the child’s third birthday on which she will be wearing a sleeveless frock. So her arms must be waxed.The woman who […]
The flawed system on April 19, 2019At least three headlines should have shaken us a nation, but didn’t. 25th March: Woman locked in chains for days and tortured by husband. 26th March: Sexually abused young orphan commits suicide after being blackmailed. 27th March: Husband with employees strips and beats wife for refusing to dance. On three consecutive days horrific crimes were […]
Of blood, beards and burkas on March 24, 2019‘When any part of the body suffers, the whole body feels pain. New Zealand mourns with you. We are one.’ With her head covered in a black scarf, standing before the Al Noor mosque, when Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, a white agnostic woman, quoted Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), it was not just humanity’s victory over bigotry. […]
Old but alive on March 16, 2019At the age of 84 Kimani Maruge went to school for the first time, when the Kenyan government introduced free primary schooling for all in 2004. At the age of 80 Yuichiro Miura reached the summit of Mount Everest in 2013, becoming the oldest person to scale the world’s highest mountain. At the age of […]
Men too on March 10, 2019Man: broad, strong, brave. He is the breadwinner who faces the world to bring money home. Man doesn’t cry and he doesn’t feel pain. Women are the weaker sex- the opposite of men. When such stringent beliefs define the identity of the male race, it becomes difficult to imagine men as people capable of being […]
Is banning bollywood the answer? on March 4, 2019Within hours of Indian air force planes breaching our sovereignty and making the ridiculous claim of killing 300 plus Jaish-e-Mohammad terrorists, Pakistani politicians, civilians and armed forces stood fiercely together under one flag. The usual clockwork was set into motion; DG ISPR press conference, Prime Minister’s address to the nation, and a boycott of Indian […]
Fighting Pulwama propaganda on February 20, 2019Since taking office, Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan has made several trips to countries of economic and geographic importance for Pakistan- including Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), China, Turkey and Qatar. Much has been said about the success of these visits, especially in light of the Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman’s […]
An Unislamic Pakistan on February 4, 2019For better or for worse today we are an Islamic Republic courtesy of the 1956 constitution. Did Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah want this? Standing in the assembly on March 12, 1949Liaquat Ali Khan –our first Prime Minister — said: ‘I would like to remind the house that Quaid-i-Azam, gave expression of his feelings on this […]
PTI govt and photo-ops on January 25, 2019If it’s not on social media, did it even happen? Official Twitter accounts and Facebook pages of the government, as well as those belonging to MNAs and MPAs of the opposition, often publish photographs as evidence of something they did or something another individual/political party failed to do. From official meetings with foreign representatives to […]