Urban dimension
AFTER several weeks of protests in Sindh, the canals controversy is now also being echoed on national platforms. President Asif Zardari had to retreat from his earlier endorsement of these…
The climate cost of urban misplanning
“The earth does not belong to man; man belongs to the earth. Whatever he does to the web of life, he does to himself." – Chief Seattle (Native American leader).…
Margins to mainstream
In the shadows of Pakistan’s booming industrial hubs, millions of women power the country’s informal economy -- often unseen and unprotected. Their labour sustains critical circular economy systems from waste…
Mainstreaming the Taliban?
On Wednesday Amjad Sabri was assassinated on the streets of Karachi in cold blood. The Hakeemullah Mehsud group of the TTP reportedly claimed ‘credit’. Sabri’s stirring voice helped many recognise…
Shattered lives, lost dreams
Fareeha (not her real name) introduced herself as a 28-year-old, but her haggard appearance made her look older than her years. “You start looking much older than you are when…
The romance of activism
WHEN considered as an agent of social, economic or political change, activism possesses an anti-status quo value. Nonetheless it can also entail efforts that are meant to impede a change…
Tariffs and non-neoliberal globalization – I
When there is something fundamentally wrong, it needs to be fixed to the extent that those fundamentals get corrected through a policy that takes least time, and minimum disturbance. It…
Tariffs and non-neoliberal globalization – I
When there is something fundamentally wrong, it needs to be fixed to the extent that those fundamentals get corrected through a policy that takes least time, and minimum disturbance. It…
Literature hostage to the elite
There was a time when literature throbbed with the heartbeat of the people, a time when the pens of writers shook empires, exposed social inequalities and sparked revolutions. Literature was…
Two decades of failure
STATES will not tolerate secessionist movements. In fact, not tolerating secession is central to how a state is defined, ie, as an entity that claims legitimate monopoly over violence in…
