Our planet, us and Covid-19on April 24, 2020Howsoever one looks at it, Covid-19 is unprecedented in living memory. A microscopic, non-living organism has battered every economy and humbled all the great powers. It has exposed man, with his awesome arsenals, supercomputers, interplanetary rockets, and sophisticated hospitals as weak and helpless. Before this coronavirus, all are equally vulnerable. Rich countries and poor tremble […]
Covid-(20)19 and Stupid-2020on April 10, 2020Practicing social distancing at the officially vulnerable age of 70 as far as practicable and hoping to keep Covid-19 at bay, I would rather not get into controversies. But the number of theories regarding Coronavirus now floating on the internet, and proliferating like the dreaded virus itself, compels me to speak. Only one of the […]
Of patriots, liberals and traitorson March 11, 2020Liberal-bashing is becoming fashionable in Pakistan.Liberals are regarded as unpatriotic and pro-West, inclined to malign and defame their own country. The dictionary definition of a liberal is a person “favourable to progress or reform, as in religious or political affairs, free from prejudice or bigotry, tolerant”. Sounds like the kind of person who can bring […]
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 […]