Pakistanis have seen it all, what next?on February 20, 2020Over seventy years after independence – and many saviours and experiments later – Pakistan is at the moment struggling to stay in the grey list of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) and not be blacklisted, like in Iran and North Korea. International leaders, scholars and commentators keep asking “what went wrong with Pakistan” and […]
Dear Kaptaan, this is not cricketon December 30, 2019While granting bail to Rana Sanaullah, a very prominent and vocal leader of one of Pakistan’s main opposition party, aLahore high court judge made this telling and damning comment: “Political victimisation in our country is an open secret.” That too, in his written order, no less. Now, my dear Kaptaan, you, your lieutenants, and supporters […]
Our blinkers, biases and boastson December 8, 2019It was reported a few days ago that 73 year-old Dr Tetsu Nakamura was shot dead in eastern Afghanistan on his way to work.A native of Japan, Dr Nakamurahad relocated to Pakistan in 1984 to treat patients with leprosy. Two years later, he shifted to Afghanistan, where he had lived ever since, establishing a medical […]
Knowing how much is enough or when to stopon November 16, 2019The first lesson in my first economics class in high school was a basic truth that all adults learn from experience: our wants (and desires) are unlimited but the means (and time) to satisfy them are limited. Since the pursuit of happiness is always our fundamental goal, we have one ear always tuned to listen […]
Fake news and deception on social mediaon October 29, 2019We now live in a new world of fake news, abusive comments, malicious innuendo, deception and self-deception. Their creators and authors, pursuing a wicked agenda, ply their wares on social media, mostly incognito or under false identities. They remain totally unaccountable. The masses-simple, gullible and a trifle self-serving-are duped into believing anything that they are […]
Narendra Modi’s own goalon October 18, 2019Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s hundreds of millions of Hindu followers are rejoicing over the subjugation of the Muslim-majority state of Jammu and Kashmir. But soon they will wake up to a grave new reality – a deeply fractured Indian society and polity. Every Muslim Kashmiri, down to the last man and woman, now feels stabbed […]
India & Pakistan: plague on both houseson October 6, 2019Around the world, the ability to travel without hassle to the country next door is taken for granted. It is not merely desirable but essential, for most international borders rather arbitrarily divide nations, linguistic and ethnic groups, tribes, clans and families. And where they don’t, familiarity through direct contact between peoples promotes understanding and dissipates […]
Speaking of the Khans, so to speakon June 26, 2018I have often pondered over our Khan conundrum, but not until I read an opinion piece in these pages was I moved to actually write about it. The op-ed in question is titled, Khan’s illegitimate child is not our business. Of course, Khan’s whatever child is Khan’s business. But that is another matter. What needs […]
Living long: but how long is long enough?on May 25, 2018I am 68 years of age, with a margin of error of a few months. That is because when and where I was born, almost all children were delivered by traditional dais (midwives) at home and no one kept any records. So, my date of birth is based on a later recollection by my mother, […]
Untapped tourism opportunities in Asiaon May 1, 2018Yes, I have a dream. Not one of those nightly dreams all of us have, nor anything approaching the lofty dream of Martin Luther King, from which the title of this article is taken. But a dream nonetheless, somewhere between our very mundane nightly ones and the soaring visions of Martin Luther King or Nelson […]