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The shadow library

This year served as a reminder for avid book readers about the changing landscape of information accessibility in the digital era. The Internet Archive faced a major setback recently as…

Talking to children about Gaza

HOW do we talk to our children about what’s happening in Gaza? It’s a quandary that most parents in Pakistan are confronting as the conflict continues, one month and approximately…

To read or not…

DO our children read books? In the absence of reliable statistics, one must turn to anecdotal evidence, which suggests that the book reading culture does not exist in Pakistan —…

A reattachment

AN encounter with Mr Edward Gibbs, Chairman of Sotheby’s Middle East & India, at the Lahore Biennale 02 recently brought back memories, buried, one thought, beyond retrieval. Usually, I try…

Killing creativity

HAVE you ever seen a yellow and white Pakistani flag? How about a grey giraffe? While it’s obvious that they don’t exist in real life, you will find them in…

Publishing Pakistani fiction

IF you happen to be a Pakistani writer, particularly a writer of fiction, you are out of luck. As a recent discussion I had on the topic with several other…

How to fix the textbook problem

The extension of school vacations by a fortnight in Sindh – until August 14 – has triggered speculations about the actual reason behind the decision, beyond just the ongoing spell…

An ill-advised law

Much has been said about the Punjab Defamation Act of 2024 which has already been passed by the Punjab Assembly on May 20. It is a bad law and should…