The curse of losing weight on July 17, 2014Have you ever tried to lose weight? The idea of shedding a few pounds and improving your sex appeal or staying healthy may dawn upon you as a curse, eventually leading to your alienation from family and friends. If you doubt my observation, which I know you do, then just try going out with them […]
The future of the MQM on July 10, 2014Sure, the news about the arrest of Altaf Hussain, the founding leader of the Muttahida Quami Movement (MQM), in London cannot be ignored as a little hiccup. It is, by every means, a striking development, a step confirming the rule of law in the west and a fact reflecting the gravity of the situation for […]
Conflict of interest in the media on July 3, 2014Seriously, how can someone claim to conduct a ‘neutral’ political talk show when he is an active member of a political party? It is like having an umpire in cricket who plays for the opposing team. Surprised by this notion of neutrality, if you raise an objection, do you know what they are going to […]
The man who runs an entire province on June 26, 2014A young officer seized the protestor by his arm and dragged the old man towards the van as if he were hauling a goat by grabbing one of its ears. The tall, dark and skinny man was in his 60s, his long grey beard covering most of his face, his loose and ill-fitted white shalwar […]
The blame game begins on June 19, 2014Even though reporters were screaming at the top of their lungs and newscasters were bellowing in their hourly updates, the television screens still seemed mute to me last week. Do you know why? There was not a single word of strong criticism, as far as I know, directed at the intelligence agencies on their poor […]
Imran Khan and the Waziristan operation on June 12, 2014Why does Imran Khan disapprove of a large-scale army operation in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA)? Some of his opponents claim that he has a natural alliance with the Waziris because of his ethnic background. But ethnicity must not be discussed here: it is too subjective to evaluate and too controversial to expound any […]
A dead nation on June 5, 2014Besides being boarded for Toronto instead of Ohio this time, I am also able to stretch my legs and lay down straight on my back in the airplane. It feels like business class: comfortable, dark, quiet and cold. But, it is not; instead, I am lying in my coffin dead, travelling back to meet the […]
Medical care in Punjab and Zafar Iqbal Jhagra on May 29, 2014With a bulky gauze dressing taped across his right temporal area, I saw Zafar Iqbal Jhagra, the secretary general of the Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) lying straight on a medical stretcher, his eyes closed, his mouth half open, his hands folded on his chest and an intravenous cannula inserted in the back of his […]
A lesson learnt on May 22, 2014Never in his life would Mir Shakeelur Rehman have imagined what he is going through nowadays: severe public indignation, harsh resentment from a political party, bitterness from the smaller media outlets, widespread irritation of civil society, growing wrath of the military and, on top of all that, blasphemy charges. How else can one define trouble […]
How to spot enemy agents on May 15, 2014On average, I add one new person every day to my list of Pakistanis who are working as Indian agents. It usually includes public figures but, sometimes, government officials like bureaucrats, judges of the apex courts and retired military generals also become a part of my record. Being an ordinary Pakistani, I am confident that […]