Syed Kamran Hashmi

If you want to burst into laughter, turn on your television sets and watch Imran Khan, the chairman of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI), addressing a group of reporters. He sounds serious, I know, but it is not the tone that cracks you up, it is the content. Listen to him saying: “I will end corruption […]

Like an expert predator, the terrorists swooped down on Badaber airbase in Peshawar last week, killing 30 people, including an army officer, and wounding many more. Without counting the numerous smaller attacks that afflict two to three individuals every time, the jihadists have carried out their third successful major strike in the last one month. […]

A bomb blast in Multan rocked thecity of saints last Sunday, killing at least 10 people and injuring dozens more. Among those who survived, their are many who have lost their arms or legs, eyes or ears, rendering them permanently disabled, dependent on others for the rest of their lives. Will they ever be able […]

Committed to its newly discovered passion last week, the Punjab government seized more than 10,000 pounds of meat throughout the province, an action that most folks, including myself, admire as a step towards improved governance in the largest province of the country. The captured merchandise did not only include the meat of dead and sick […]

Extremism does not only infest the mosques, seminaries and pulpits, it contaminates all of us, even those who claim to be moderates, the flag bearers of peace, the ‘true’ Muslims. Sure, the moderates do not endorse violence as a meaningful strategy but, most often than not, they do hold the same religious ideology and political […]

Even if you consider him to be enemy number one or detest him as an arch-terrorist more dangerous than Osama bin Laden, you can still appreciate the political acumen of the self-exiled leader of the MQM, Altaf Hussain, who has run the organisation alone via a microphone, a loudspeaker and a telephone for over two […]

It is about time that Altaf Hussain, the founder and the supreme leader of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), retires from active politics and allows someone else to lead the party. Maybe such fresh leadership will steer the MQM out of the crises that it faces on multiple levels both in-house and abroad. The party’s […]

As soon as my plane landed at the Lahore airport, I texted my friend that we would have dinner at a nice restaurant. “Sure,” he typed in, “we will have a nice dinner… at home.” To tell you the truth, his response surprised me, as Ahsan, a 42-year-old general surgeon, is not one of those […]

Impressed by her passion for the education of women, the west lionises Malala Yousafzai. They believe the courage and perseverance she demonstrated against the Taliban even after she was shot in the head, demand worldwide recognition. Her struggle is so compelling to them that it has become a part of the curriculum in some middle […]

Zaid Hamid, a controversial televangelist with fantastic (if not completely insane) ideas was arrested in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) last month for making controversial speeches against the ruling Royals, an illegal act according to local laws, which can result in years of imprisonment and hundreds of lashes.Wrapped in a shroud of secrecy, very […]