Little space for reform on October 2, 2018“For my own part, I openly declare that I am not convinced, and that I do not believe injustice to be more gainful than justice, even if it were uncontrolled and allowed to have free play. For, granting that there may be an unjust man who is able to commit injustice either by fraud or […]
India’s volte-face on September 25, 2018The very prospect of a holocaust between two nuclear-armed states sends chills through one’s being. That is exactly what General Bipin Rawat seemed to be provoking. By stepping into the midst of escalating tensions in the wake of India backing off from its earlier commitment for a meeting between the foreign ministers of the two […]
Of Quaid’s Pakistan on September 18, 2018The dynamics of the sordid story of bigotry, discrimination and prejudice in Pakistan have been reported a million times over since its creation seventy years ago. In the process, the ones who are ever so eager to take to the written and spoken word to make wild pronouncements have attempted desperately to conjure a favourable […]
An ominous partnership for survival on September 4, 2018There is virtual war waging in the country. This is a different kind of war than any other that has been fought so far. It is not a war which is waged against an external enemy. It is a war with ourselves, more particularly with the one who has been elected through a democratic process […]
The moments that were on August 21, 2018A moment could be interpreted as just an insignificant, transient period in time but, in its meaning, substance and relevance, it could transcend a whole expanse of life. The significance of this one moment has been so eloquently illustrated by Albert Camus: “The workman of today works every day in his life at the same […]
The new homeless on August 14, 2018Looking at a cartoon of Fazal ur Rehman, the one who also calls himself a‘maulana’, walking out with his bag of burdens from the ministers’ enclave made me sad — not because I have the slightest shred of sympathy for such merciless merchants of religion, but because, ever so treacherously, they have been provided the […]
Let’s be done with the worms of a past on August 7, 2018Here is an excerpt from a piece that I wrote for The Express Tribune back in 2012: “It is with his credibility that he would be able to gel this nation into a powerful tool to fight and defeat the forces of obscurantism. He is a person who believes in moving forward and has no […]
Pakistan shall never be the same again on July 31, 2018The inevitable has happened — the inevitable that IK’s supporters dreamt of, and his detractors dreaded. He is Pakistan’s next man in the prime minister’s house. May be not wearing the same shades, or carrying the same hues as his predecessors, but he comes riding the crest of a dream that he made his followers […]
Glorifying crime on July 24, 2018It looks like everything is in a state of flux. New coinages, new clichés and new plans are being introduced while the old ones given new meanings and relevance. In the process, crime is being incessantly glorified as if that were the only way to go by. The word liberal is under the scanner. Understandably, […]
Ideological reflections on July 17, 2018Meeting that inveterate ideologue, Amin Mughal, is like an essential part of a pilgrimage. So was it this time around also. But, I was also fortunate to interact with a larger group during my recent visit to a favourite city. London has been unimaginably hot with temperatures crossing the 30-degree Celsius mark virtually on a […]