Reasserting the Pakistani state
In the last couple of weeks, I’ve come across two particularly intriguing accounts by intrepid reporters from different parts of the world. Both deal with human suffering, but the critical…
Acrimony at the heart of Asia
Sadly, a forum established to encourage security, political and economic cooperation between Afghanistan and the surrounding nations turned into yet another event of Pakistan-bashing. What happened at the Heart of…
The news from Kabul…bleak
Islamabad diary Alissa J Rubin, a journalist, has written a dispatch in the New York Times about the situation in Kabul. It is eye-opening. Americans in the city, even the…
Missing the point
Sharif just doesn’t seem to get it. After his meeting with Kerry at The Hague last Monday, the prime minister once again pleaded for US mediation to help resolve the…
Cloud cuckoo land
WITH Donald Trump and his brood shifting to the White House again, who do you think is bracing the most for the worst that can happen without really hoping for…
Beyond schools
IN 2019, when I was teaching full time, our institute collaborated with a university in Canada in their Global Reporting Programme where three of our students, along with students in…
Syria on my mind
IN the mid-2000s, my sister was living in Damascus and I planned a visit to her and then a trip to Lebanon, together. But I could not secure a visa…
The punishment for being a journalist
Pakistan has witnessed over 150 killings of journalists in the past 25 years, but that is hardly something that has ever bothered our successive governments. A report – ‘Crime and…
Sick sector
YOU’VE almost certainly heard of Multan’s Nishtar hospital; as south Punjab’s largest public sector hospital, it is visited by thousands of patients every year. Even if you’re not familiar with…
Conflict reporting
CONFLICT is an essential component of news. South Asia’s history is a tale of conflicts that have grabbed global attention. Media attention has been focused on conflict since 1979, when…
