Syed Kamran Hashmi

In the last seven years, the current Chief Minister (CM) of Punjab, Mian Shahbaz Sharif, a man known for his ‘good governance’, who completed the Lahore Metro Bus project in record time just before the 2013 elections, has not taken a single step to lift the ban on kite flying, a centuries old tradition that […]

For how long can we fool ourselves, insisting the terrorists were foreign nationals? That based on their physical (genital) exam, they were all non-Muslims? Some disagreement notwithstanding, most of us I hope will recognise the perpetrators of the Peshawar massacre as Pakistanis. Their picture says it all: sitting relaxed in a row with their guns […]

Maulana Tariq Jamil, a renowned Islamic evangelist from the Deobandi school of thought and an active member of the Tableeghi Jamaat is not only known for his connections with movie stars, singers and politicians; he is also known for his emotional speeches, his message of peace and tolerance and for his insistence on high moral […]

How dangerous is the Islamic State (IS)? Given the barbarism, ruthlessness and brutality of the IS in establishing a caliphate, in part by absorbing or coercing acceptance by Sunnis, Baathists and former Saddam loyalists disenfranchised or persecuted by the Shia government in Baghdad, will that amalgam hold? Or will IS’s inhuman behaviour ultimately provoke a […]

Instead of being crippled by attacks, the Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N) should have kept a strong grip on its narrative and displayed a higher level of administrative performance. Above all, they had to stay polite in all circumstances avoiding rude arguments in public debates that can be counterproductive, representing anger, weakness or fear. However, the […]

Rummaging through a pile of books for my Mac Book Pro on the side of my bed, I struggle to wake up, my eyes still heavy and closed, my mind still sleepy and disoriented. It is five in the morning. The alarm clock has already gone off to remind me to get ready for work. […]

Drenched in corruption and shrouded in incompetence, district headquarter hospitals (DHQs) are supposed to provide advanced medical care to rural communities. However, they lack both the equipment and human resources to serve their purpose. Earlier this year, after a roadside accident, Zafar Iqbal Jhagra, a prominent leader of the Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N), had […]

When compared to the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), the Afghan Taliban strike us as a group of moderate nationalists with a religious tilt entangled in a web of local traditions and tribal pride. Of course, there was nothing moderate or reasonable about the Taliban; after all, the memories of public executions of […]

The legend goes that, one day, as the two girls were riding the bus home, a young, ordinary looking man hopped into the vehicle. Upon getting in, he prowled towards the girls like a wolf focusing on its prey. Once he reached them, he inquired about their names as if he were a distant relative […]

Let us suppose for a moment that the protestors succeed. That the twin sit-ins of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) and Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) seize ‘new’ Pakistan from the claws of the old and corrupt status quo. That they galvanise enough people where Prime Minister (PM) Nawaz Sharif has to step down, realising the only […]