No more martyrs please on July 9, 2017The JIT is going to present its report to the Supreme Court. Depending on the contents of the report, the Supreme Court once again will sit in judgment on yet another elected Prime Minister of the country. There is no cavil with the proposition that corruption at all levels must be combatted forcefully but there […]
Strange bedfellows on July 2, 2017In 2015 Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) made a wonderful short documentary about the Quaid-e-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah of which I was also a part as a young professional lawyer who believes in Jinnah’s Pakistan. The documentary also featured veteran politician Elahi Bux Soomro speaking about Jinnah. This, as a student of history, I found quite […]
Of Indians who troll Pakistani sites on June 25, 2017Given Pakistan’s thumping victory over India in the final of the Champions’ Trophy in England and Wales last week I feel it is opportune to vent on an issue that has personally troubled me for while now. When the “Mauka Mauka” ad first came out in 2015, I was not amused at all primarily because […]
EU and our human rigthts situation on June 18, 2017The European Parliament has recently, through a resolution, criticised Pakistan’s ‘alarming rate of executions’ as well as the appalling human rights situation in the country. Pakistan’s response as usual has been one of defiance. Our Attorney General Mr Ashtar Ausaf Ali linked this resolution to India’s attempt to hurt the standing of Pakistan in the […]
How to look at our colonial past on June 11, 2017Mr Shashi Tharoor, the Indian politician and author, is a walking talking anachronism. I refer to his recent blistering attacks on British colonialism, all delivered masterfully in the Queen’s English. Surely Mr Tharoor belongs to that age of Indian Independence Movement, when Oxbridge graduates and London trained Indian lawyers would out-English the English while enumerating […]
Our putrid national narrative on June 4, 2017My article last week received more than average attention from the readers. There was one elderly gentleman who lives in Canada who wrote in to declare that a person like me could not be happy in Switzerland either. It is unfortunate that such readers completely missed the point. I chose to live in Pakistan at […]
Pakistan never fails to disappoint on May 28, 2017The only thing I wanted to do as an undergraduate in the US was to return to Pakistan and serve it to the best of my ability. I did not plan on staying there after I was done. There was no temptation to seek a better life in the US. I was wildly optimistic about […]
Who is Maryam Jinnah? on May 21, 2017A few years ago I was amused to read in the newspaper that Nazaria Pakistan Workers Trust in Lahore was holding a meeting to commemorate the life of Maryam Jinnah as a model Muslim woman. I was amused because it was the first I had heard of a Maryam Jinnah. Upon further inquiry, it was […]
ICJ decision to stay Jadhavs hanging was not surprising on May 18, 2017The International Court of Justice in its provisional measures order has directed Pakistan to take all steps at its disposal to ensure that Mr Jadhav is not executed pending the final decision of the case. Though Pakistan’s counsel had put up a stout defence against such a provisional measures order it was fairly certain that […]
Ahraristan not Pakistan on May 14, 2017I hate to keep repeating myself, but repeat myself I must so long as necessary. Majlis-e-Ahrar-e-Islam was a party founded in late 1920s. Its leading lights were people like Ataullah Shah Bukhari, Mazhar Ali Azhar and Daud Ghaznavi. Later these gentlemen were tasked by the Congress’ increasingly Machiavellian leadership under Gandhi and Nehru to divide […]