Syed Bakhtiyar Kazmi

There can be no two opinions as to the role of education in the building of a nation. A nation of illiterate people would eventually end up as a vassal of one or the other state. And in modern times it is not land but moneys borrowed by feudal tenure that demands allegiance. But in […]

As the nation comes out of a prolonged holiday-from-work period, the daggers are drawn amongst the political heavyweights. The outlook for agonising dharnas (sit-in) remain manifestly positive, and one can only hope, albeit selfishly, sitting in the capital that the choice of venue is anywhere but Islamabad. The argument that as citizens of Pakistan it […]

As a self-declared Devil’s Advocate column, it has been the policy to avoid writing about political circuses all together, and Brexit is as big as they can get. However, even otherwise, Brexit is not a homegrown circus and has nothing to do with us; why should we care whether or not the Brits stay in […]

At a recent pre-sehri coffee get-together — that and having sehri in a restaurant is the current fad in the metropolis — the conclusion with complete sang-froid was that “things” would continue the way they are, nothing would change. Admittedly, not a very positive or even meaningful closure after a few hours of coffee and […]

A country that may or may not be facing a double jeopardy in the form of foreign and economic policy crises — depending on whether or not you agree with government’s assessments of the current situation — apparently has enough time for debating a self-created crisis on uncivil behaviour in parliament, arguably one of the […]

“A business that makes nothing but money is a poor business” — Henry Ford. Welcome to another edition of nothing; however, recall that in earlier editions it was mathematically demonstrated that nothing is equal to everything and anything. The greatest challenge when writing about nothing is igniting the expanse of the imagination to dream up […]

The idea for the nothing discourse has its origin in a writer’s block. Pushed by the editor during the holy month of Ramazan to come up with a contribution, all efforts to think or write were met with paralysis. Realistically, thinking during a 16-hour fast or after a scrumptious Iftar is a feat beyond human […]

Dear readers, as some of you might be aware there is new a kid in town, or rather a new editor at the paper, tabdeli aa gaye hai (change has come). And as is the norm in such scenarios, the sentinels of status quo are scampering around to get into the new top honcho’s good […]

“Although gold and silver are not by nature money, money is by nature gold and silver.”– Karl Marx Repeatedly in this space, commitments have been made to take up certain topics in the near future, but due to technical grounds never before could those be honoured, so why now readers might be wondering. Well, the […]

“Money is gold and nothing else” — J.P. Morgan (1912) This is a blatant attempt to increase ratings, if there is such a mechanism for columns; because if writing about gold won’t work, than nothing will. But trying to get ratings up should not in any manner tamper with sanity, hence the limitation of liability […]