Zafar Aziz Chaudhry

Poetry is a medium whose true message can never be conveyed in any other language. The total ambience woven around its texture by the poet’s imagination during those moments can never get across to the reader not familiar with the original language. The poet’s true imagination is based on the wealth of allusions, metaphors, similes, […]

Colonialism started in antiquity with ancient Greek, Roman and Egyptian empires. These empires extended their borders and drew the resources of the people they conquered. Modern colonialism started from the age of Discovery (15th century) during which Portugal and Spain sent their explorers to discover great colonies, including the US, and explore several trade routes […]

After 9/11 and the rising wave of “Islamophobia” in the West, writing or reading about Islam is regarded as a taboo. To pull the West out of their ingrained prejudice against Islam was almost impossible, and all attempts made so far had miserably failed, with just one exception. Reza Aslan’s No god but God published […]

They say, “Old is Gold,” and I suspect, it is true. Everything grows with age. Knowledge, wealth and experience, you name it. The only things that suffer attrition are man’s health and vitality. Quite understandable since the cycle of life has to end with decay and death. But in most cases, old age is more […]

At last the PTI government has launched t he Single National Curriculum (SNC) for all schools, including public, private and even religious seminaries across Pakistan. According to the Ministry of Federal Education’s website, this step will ensure that “all children have a fair and equal opportunity to receive high quality education”. To keep a check […]

Recently, in an interview with British Vogue, Malala Yousafzai, a Nobel Laureate from Pakistan answered a question about marriage thus: “I still don’t understand why people have to get married. If you want to have a person in your life, why do you have to sign marriage papers, why can’t it just be a partnership?” […]

We have in recent times seen the deadly consequences of Israel-Palestinian conflict, extending over 11 days, where 13 casualties on Israel side were answered by nearly 300 casualties on Palestinian side. Then came cease fire which prevented further damage. Prior to that in the conflict of December 2008, 13 casualties on Israel side were answered […]

The other day a friend of mine sent me a brief video clip where an Israeli soldier was seen crushing the head of a Palestinian child. On hearing the shrieks of the little boy, who couldn’t have been more than six or years old, my blood curdled. I couldn’t stomach watching the footage to the […]

Local Government is the most fascinating word in our political lexicon. It indeed is supposed to brings order to the lives of our people of rural and non-urban areas and gives the society equal opportunity at the grass root level to partake in expending public finances on projects of construction and development of their own […]

Earlier this month, a group of Muslim nurses took over a chapel within the grounds of the Punjab Institute of Mental Health. Their sole objective was to raze it and turn it into a mosque. They reportedly began reciting Islamic prayers while threatening their Christian counterparts with (false) charges of blasphemy unless they converted to […]