Syed Kamran Hashmi

Can you believe that Aristotle resides in Pakistan nowadays? Yes, it is true, he really does. And no, I am not ‘under the influence’; I am talking about the same person, the great Greek philosopher, the tutor of Alexander and the student of Plato. Fully active in politics, teaching his pupils logic and playing his […]

“So tell me, are you going to donate the animal hides at this Eid to Imran Khan?” I asked my hafiz-e-Quran nephew, who is a 21-year-old, shy, college student in Karachi. I knew he typically stayed away from active politics but I thought I should inquire about his predilections. In my opinion, he possessed all […]

After a brief moment of solidarity and a genuine outrage on Malala’s shooting incident, Pakistanis have once again succumbed to conspiracy theories, disinclined to take the bull by its horns. We have leaned towards appeasement instead of confronting the Taliban for their atrocities. Just after two weeks of the attack, as we have witnessed, we […]

I was shocked for a moment that night, as I listened to the renowned anchorperson on television casually calling Barack Obama an extension of the Republican Party, incautiously displaying his misconceptions about the internal politics of the Unites States without any sign of remorse as if it was no big deal. But, in fact, it […]

aThe duplicate prime minister was impressive. There were some minor differences in his facial expressions but overall he looked very similar; his voice was identical and his peculiar accent was copied magnificently. After a few minutes, I flipped the channel and watched President Asif Ali Zardari being mocked in a different comedy programme; then it […]

While we thought of curiosity as the cat killer and missed the train of the Renaissance, the west reckoned it to be the mother of all inventions. In just four centuries, we realised our mistake and found out that our reasons to disapprove curiosity were both myopic and bigoted. As curiosity challenged our old and […]

We all know him well: Ali Bin Usman Hajveri, the most influential mystic of the subcontinent, the person who introduced Islam in northern India and enlightened thousands of people with his knowledge, wisdom and character. Although he was from Ghazni, Afghanistan, and probably spoke Persian throughout his life, Lahore is the city he is known […]

In a magnanimous tweet, Junaid Jamshed, the former pop singer turned preacher absolved the people who assaulted him a couple of weeks ago. “I forgive all my attackers at Ibd [Islamabad] airport. I pray that may Allah give us the strength to love and respect each other irrespective,” he wrote. “Let us all love and […]

For centuries, Islam has fostered the message of equality, peace and patience to humanity. Through its inherent forbearance and magnanimity, it has won over the hearts and minds of Muslims, conquering their souls, and permanently settling in it. Muslims therefore, are always passionate about their religion and are protective of its ideology. Even those Muslims […]

The loss of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) in the 2013 general elections was inevitable. The way it ran the administration during its last tenure even a toddler could tell you about the imminent catastrophe. From the restoration of judges to the revival of economy, and from the horrendous corruption scandals of its leaders to […]