‘We ask the state to honour its constitution. Is that an anti-state demand?’ on March 7, 2018Lahore: “We are asking state institutions to act in accordance the country’s constitution. Is that an anti-state demand?” Manzoor Pashteen, a leader of the Pashtun Tahafuz Movement, asked a gathering of students from various colleges and universities of the city on Tuesday. “If that is so, then are the constitution and the laws drafted under […]
Cameras at attempted abduction site found inoperative on January 13, 2018Lahore/Islamabad: The police team investigating the failed abduction attempt on journalist Taha Siddiqui on Friday revealed that cameras installed on Islamabad Expressway under a Safe City project were not operational. The main cable supplying power to the cameras installed at the point where Siddiqui reportedly escaped the abduction attempt was cut a few weeks ago […]
Qasba Aligarh massacre: a leaf from Karachi’s violent history on December 15, 2017Lahore: As #Kaptaanforkhi made it to top10 trends on social media platform Twitter on Thursday (yesterday), MQM-Pakistan leader Faisal Sabzwari posted a tweet with the hashtag #QasbaAligarhMassacre. He said, ‘can’t, won’t forget the #QasbaAligarhMassacre and the total ignorance and apathy of entire nation’. On December 14, 1986, over 400 people had died in clashes in […]
Lesser known victims of Orange Line on December 15, 2017With the Supreme Court’s majority judgement in the Orange Line Metro Train project, contractors hired by the provincial government have started demolition work within 200 feet of the proposed track at the 11 sites where work remained suspended during court proceedings. One of the demolition sites near Mauj Darya shrine is Maharaja Building where many […]
Political elites seem incapable of countering bigotry on November 30, 2017The crisis is far from over for the government even after the shameful surrender [of the state] to a handful of fascist clerics who had manged to rally a few hundred men for the Faizabad sit-in. To careful observers, it must be obvious that the chaos that spread across the country following Saturday’s operation was […]
How does the constitution envision army action in aid of civil power? on November 27, 2017Lahore: The civil and military top brass on Sunday agreed that army personnel would not be used in the Faizabad operation. The huddle at the Prime Minister’s House decided to put Punjab Rangers in charge of the Faizabad operation. The decision came at the end of a chaotic weekend that saw coordinated riots across the […]
Session on Pakistani Left moves to the lawns as debate continues past schedule on November 20, 2017A group of around 50 youngsters from a packed out Hall 3 moved with the moderator and two of the three panelists to the lawns to continue discussion on Pakistani Left: What is to be done? at the third day of the Faiz International Festival on Sunday. At the lawns, the gathering comprising students from […]
New book highlights Muslim voices marginalised in official discourse on October 13, 2017Every once in a while a new book on Pakistani history is published on Muhammad Ali Jinnah’s success at rallying a broad segment of Indian Muslims in support of his vision for the post-Partition political arrangement between Muslims and other communities of British India. And I am none the wiser because of this strand of […]
Extreme rights electoral ambitions on September 28, 2017Three religious groups — from different schools of thought — have expressed willingness to contest next general elections in the country. Two of them have already fielded independent candidates in the NA-120 by-poll to test the waters, as the issue of their registration with the Election Commission of Pakistan remains unsettled for now. The third […]
About 42 percent polling stations in NA-120 can swing either way, detailed result shows on September 23, 2017Lahore: Though the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) has lost its share of votes polled in the NA-120 from 59 percent in 2013 to 49 percent in 2017, the party has still managed to secure a simple majority in a good three-fourth of the polling stations in the constituency. Polling-station wise results issued by the Election […]