Oh, only if one had the eyes to see all this on July 3, 2018I see an increasing number of self-anointed pontiffs — the ones who have made it a habit to sit on judgment on people — to be suffering from one or another version of a fundamental ailment. One may call it being blind to reality, or creeping senility, or just plain downright lunacy. It is all […]
US should engage in talks with Taliban on July 1, 2018The taste of the three-day peace in Afghanistan lingers with everyone contemplating ways and means to making it permanent. This was one of the key occupations during two days of engagement at the track-II Afghanistan-Pakistan bilateral dialogue held in Islamabad on June 28-29. Originally scheduled for June 27-28, it had to be postponed by a […]
A song of hope on June 26, 2018The two videos which have gone viral on the internet — the one involving the Sardar of Choti and the other a miserly operative of the curse of feudalism — are encouraging signs of growing awareness at the grassroots level laced with the confidence to question the decrepit masters who have exploited the powerless and […]
Echoes of peace on June 19, 2018In this age of expanding strife, a bolt from the blue — the phone call made by the Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to the Chief of Army Staff General Qamar Javed Bajwa — led to the agreement and subsequent implementation of a three-day ceasefire by the Taliban which was the first of its kind […]
Time to bury Machiavelli on June 12, 2018Did you hear that classic one from the one in the dock, that there was no load-shedding when his government completed its tenure? That was on May 31 earlier this year. If that were to be taken on its face value, it would mean that energy was in abundant supply till he ruled with his […]
A bolt from the blue on June 9, 2018The two telephone calls made in quick succession by senior US administration members to the Pakistani Prime Minister and the Chief of Army Staff have sent the pundits scurrying for reasons – both within the plausible and the implausible domains. Vice President Pence calling the caretaker Prime Minister seemed more of a routine nature, complimenting […]
Long and dark has been the night on June 5, 2018There is no denying the deepening perception about the growing darkness around. Yet, there is also no denying the need for cultivation of desire for people to get across a desolate landscape pockmarked with the ravaging lust of a few. The story of Pakistan is replete with an unending sequence of murderous assaults in the […]
The religiosity conundrum on May 29, 2018Absence of reason is an ailment that has plagued this nation for long. With the passage of time, it has become even more pungent, poisonous and lethal. There is no avenue where it leaves a more devastating impact than when it concerns matters of religion. According to a report, a medley of religious zealots and […]
From weaving dreams to breeding contempt on May 22, 2018“Every time I hear a political speech, or I read those of our leaders, I am horrified at having, for years, heard nothing which sounds human. It is always the same words telling the same lies. And the fact that men accept this, that the people’s anger has not destroyed these hollow clowns, strikes me […]
Can China do what others could not? on May 20, 2018For some time now, China has been engaged in the onerous task of helping Afghanistan and Pakistan tide over their differences with a view to advancing the cause of peace in the region and opening up the prospects for progress of their impoverished people. With every passing day, there appears to be more energy and […]