By banning Manto, we belittle ourselves on December 18, 2018“It is not our differences that divide us. It is our inability to recognise, accept and celebrate those differences.” Audre Lorde The news of Manto being banned for screening in Pakistan is not shocking. It reiterates the fact that we continue to suffer from a guilt complex that refuses to go away. What is there […]
Frozen in time on December 16, 2018Much has been written and said about the sagacity of accepting changes that keep occurring within our lives as well as around us. If, however, one tries to confront these changes by the measure of brute force alone, or by refusing to accept because these are out of sync with a narrative no matter how […]
The drumbeats afar on December 9, 2018A state of deep anger and desperation seems to be taking over in the country. Everyone around appears to be on the edge as if heavens were about to fall down. Instead of engaging in rational discourse to achieve a level of clarity and move forward, there is an increasing propensity to be smitten by […]
Supping with the devil on December 2, 2018Things appear to be in a flux in Afghanistan. After the initial few rounds of direct talks between the US and the Taliban, there appears little progress with regard to convincing the latter to agree to engage with the government in Kabul. The stance appears to be firm and unshakable. So, various alternatives are being […]
The Sikh connection on November 28, 2018“This stained light, this night-bitten dawn – This is not the dawn that we had yearned for, This is not the dawn for which we had set out, Hoping that in the sky’s wilderness We would reach the final destination of the stars. Surely, the night’s turgid sea will breathe its last On the inevitable […]
The lull before on November 25, 2018It is a veritable reality that we are the victims of an interest-driven drama repeated often, only changing hues, shades and slants in the process. What are the factors which have forced the elite interest groups to take a position that is so untenable and so detrimental to the prospect of the country becoming a […]
Come, tell me another name for a thief on November 18, 2018What would you say of a parliament where calling a thief a thief is not allowed and where the punishment for doing so is to be barred from entry into the house? For much of the life of this country, thievery has been a norm which virtually everyone indulged in commensurate with one’s lust or […]
A murder most foul on October 23, 2018“The ultimate tragedy is not the oppression and cruelty by the bad people, but the silence over that by the good people.” – Martin Luther King, Jr The brutal murder of the Saudi dissident Jamal Khashoggi poses a huge challenge to the world conscience. Will there be a concerted effort to unfurl the reality behind […]
No pit is deep enough on October 16, 2018When despair for the world grows in me and I wake in the night at the least sound in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be, I go and lie down where the wood drake rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds. I come into the […]
The old order changeth not easily on October 9, 2018“Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player That struts and frets his hour upon the stage, And then is heard no more. It is a tale Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, Signifying nothing” – Shakespeare: ‘Macbeth’ Pakistan’s political scene, whether inside the parliament or outside, is sprayed with the colours […]