Saroop Ijaz

The only thing worse than unexpected tragedies is when they are expected. Anticipated and probable catastrophes do not allow for the luxury of pleading jolt and disbelief. Shahbaz Bhatti’s martyrdom, while infinitely tragic, had no element of sudden shock. Lamenting the pervasive barbaric intolerance in our society cannot obscure the fact that Shahbaz Bhatti was […]

“In France’s July Revolution of 1830, after three days of riots, the Statesman Talleyrand, now elderly, sat by his Paris window, listening to the pealing bells that signalled the riots were over. Turning to an assistant, he said, ‘Ah the bells! We’re winning.’ ‘Who’s “we”, mon prince?’ the assistant asked. Gesturing for the man to […]

The Supreme Court, in an unprecedented move a few days ago, passed a full court reference of the Supreme Court proposing an extension in service for Justice Khalilur Rehman Ramday as an ad hoc judge for another year. The resolution also proposed the appointment of Justice (retired) Rehmat Husain Jafferi as an ad hoc judge, […]

The prime minister has appointed a new cabinet. The move has evoked a sense of hope against the backdrop of usual pessimism permeating our statecraft. The rationale for the dissolution of the previous cabinet was to ‘rightsize’ it by removing members who were the cause of undue burden on the government exchequer without corresponding utility. […]

The shooting in Lahore by an allegedly American diplomat Raymond Davis has been the subject of much controversy. The primary focus has rightly been on the legal position governing an incident like this. The diplomatic status of the shooter has not been clarified yet. The extension of the Vienna Convention’s immunity is being debated, although […]

Uncertain times in Pakistan have given currency to a variety of new terms. The terms currently in vogue are ‘liberal fascist’, ‘Jinnah’s Pakistan’, ‘the common man’, ‘silent majority’ and, most recently, ‘rightsizing’. Most of these terms have been in existence for some time now, and have just been reinvigorated by the recent political and social […]

Pakistan seems to be living the ancient Chinese curse, ‘may you live in interesting times’. It is a season of protests; on the one hand the deafening chants of thousands congregated to eulogise a murderer and on the other a few hundred conducting vigils to remember a martyred hero. Ignoring the huge discrepancies in size, […]

“We were never more free than during the German [Nazi] occupation. We had lost all our rights, beginning with the right to talk. Every day we were insulted to our faces and had to take it in silence. Everywhere, on billboards, in the newspapers, on the screen, we encountered the revolting and insipid picture of […]

Recently, we saw one of the most extreme outbursts of emotions in recent Pakistani political history. With innuendos and explicit references to wives, daughters, rehabilitation, sexual proclivities and hair transplants, this has to be amongst the most intense ad hominem attacks that we have witnessed. The immediate reaction intuitively is to condemn such attacks while […]

The assassination of Salmaan Taseer is profoundly tragic, not only because we have lost perhaps our only brave, vocal and liberal statesman but also because it is a sad commentary on how pathetic our society has become. The media discussions immediately after the horrific attack were very cautious, the political leaders economised their words, and […]