Restaurants should be kept open on July 16, 2015Despite their personal adherence to fasting, most restaurant owners do not agree with closing down their businesses during daytime in Ramzan. They would rather prefer to serve the people and stay open but they reckon the risk runs too high. They are scared that even when the law allows them to operate behind the curtains, […]
Appeal for army intervention on July 9, 2015Accountability is the last refuge of the scoundrel. With apologies to Samuel Jackson, I had to modify his famous quote, which points at patriotism as being the last refuge. I just did not know how else I could express my outrage and disappointment at the tweet that appeared last week from the self-proclaimed mother of […]
The death of journalism on July 2, 2015Irrespective of one’s professional background, every important person (self-declared or otherwise) shares the same dream about the peak of his career in Pakistan: to appear on television as a ‘senior expert,’ the first reliable step towards hosting his/her own programme. Apart from the young and energetic, retirees with ‘severe’ heart disease are also jumping in […]
Modi and Pakistani liberals on June 18, 2015Clearly, Indian Prime Minister Narindra Modi has brushed aside the initiative taken by Mian Nawaz Sharif, who had yearned for a cordial and trustworthy relationship with India and counted on peace as the only option to bring about long term and sustainable economic recovery in the region. By doing that, the controversial right-wing leader of […]
Punjab police: a forsaken organisation on June 11, 2015As if the whole world has changed in the last eight years. Financial crises shook the US economy and almost sank the whole system. So forceful was its blow that it could only be rescued by pumping trillions of dollars into the markets. Besides that, Barack Obama won the presidential elections and moved into the […]
Journalists or royals? on June 4, 2015Switching channels is as easy as changing clothes for most anchors, if not easier. We observe them hopping from one television station to another like a thrifty old woman at the flea market springing back and forth from one stall to another looking for the best deal, screaming at the vendors, goading them to slash […]
Scholars failing Islam on May 28, 2015“Maybe Adam was pregnant with Eve,” Professor Ahmed Rafique Akhtar, a renowned religious scholar, shared his understanding of evolution with me one day, “This can be the only explanation of Eve coming out of Adam’s rib,” he said. To avoid unnecessary arguments, I did not confront him then. However, his words shook me up, compelling […]
Enemies of the state on May 21, 2015A shockwave has swept through Pakistan after the massacre of 45 Ismailis in Karachi, reminding us both about the complexity of the situation and our disinclination to deal with the threat. The incident happened just a few blocks away from a police station, which, despite its proximity, stayed unaware of the tragedy, a pattern that […]
What plagues us on May 14, 2015Does your head spin when Pakistan performs so poorly in the league of nations with all its natural resources: gold mines, copper reserves, ore iron and natural gas? Does a shiver creep up your spine when you notice that our geographical location can translate into an ideal international trade route generating revenue? However, for some […]
Altaf Hussains speeches on May 7, 2015Even if I pull out all the stops, I cannot make myself listen to the complete telephonic addresses of Altaf Hussain, I just cannot, the same way I cannot stomach a lecture on advanced quantum mechanics or digest talk about the biochemical structure of the cell wall of algae. The only possible exception is if […]