What do the militant groups of Pakistan, the Irish Republican Army (IRA) and the Tamil Tigers have in common with the rash of murder/suicide US gunmen, including Roger Elliot, the young man who murdered half a dozen people in Isla Vista, and James Boulware, who launched a suicidal attack on a Dallas police station? Everywhere […]
Time for a change
Sir: Before asking the government to change its ways, let us change something in ourselves. The people should change their way of thinking about a woman. If a woman comes out of her home for getting education, or for doing a job, it is totally her decision and we are no one to raise a […]
The other and I
We are a nation being crushed under the weight of difficult questions. This article concerns two in particular. Both concern conflict and for both we will find an answer in the same space. First: how can men and women, who have lived unremarkable and therefore largely blameless lives, who fret over graying parents and cradle […]
A laymans look at advertising
Surely there must once have been a world without adverts, but advertisers would thank us to forget it. What follows is in most part a completely untutored analysis on advertising. I defend myself only by saying that while it takes an oceanographer to detail every specific of the sea, any layman can talk about how […]
Hearts and minds
We have a great deal to learn from our defeats, for only a fool refuses to acknowledge when he has met his match. Who will not learn the how and the why, and will dogmatically follow a losing strategy? Who exactly is the ‘we’? Who is the ‘enemy’? A fair question. The enemy is nothing […]
Seen but not heard
Think of the children. Think of the youth. When we summon forth these clichés, so badly worn now that they are indistinguishable from a soothing mumble, what do we mean? Almost without exception, we mean to say that we should sally forth, even though we beggar our energy and resources, to protect our children (and […]
Stopping a suicide bomber
The attack on the PNS Mehran naval base was another reminder that, though tanks do not crush the gravel of our streets and our young men do not queue to be drafted, we are a country at war. However, it was the twin suicide bombings that struck the Shabqadar paramilitary academy on May 13th that […]
A living culture
Far too often, at those moments where we should be poised to take up arms against our oceans of troubles, someone holds up ‘culture’ and ‘tradition’ as shields and, flinching, averting our eyes, we lay them down again. The poorest among us have children they cannot possibly support, who are put to work, while every […]
Indo-Pak: the obvious road never taken
As I wrote the bulk of this article, a humble game of cricket — called the mother of all matches — was bringing the Pakistani and Indian heads of government together for the first time in India since the attacks in Mumbai. The semi-final (with all due respect to Sri Lanka and New Zealand, THE […]
There is something about cricket
The game on the line, the trophy before us, triumph and too much tragedy behind. A nation biting their lips, affixed immovably to television screens and radios. The Cricket World Cup is in full stride. So what? It is just a game, is it not? Not on your life. Calling a sport “just a game” […]