Senate: then & now
THE 2021 buzz about the Senate evokes recall about the 1985 Senate with particular reference to alleged or actual costs for election. Around mid-February 1985, my far better half Shabnam…
Towards peace
THE US and the Afghan Taliban on Feb 29 signed a peace deal whereby the US will reduce its troop deployment to Afghanistan from 13,000 to 8,600, with the prospect…
A post- Soleimani region
Politics in the Middle East has taken an ugly turn after the assassination of top Iranian military commander General Qassem Soleimani at the hands of the US. Iran responded quickly…
The Ummah and the nation-state
Contrary to the expectations of many Pakistanis, leaders of the Ummah have not come galloping on their Arabian horses, brandishing shining crescent swords, to help us in our Kashmir cause.…
Discovering – and preserving – Mehrgarh
The word ‘heritage’ means something that we inherit from earlier generations. It comprises both the tangible and the intangible including culture, value and traditions. It represents history and identity. The…
Congratulations Fata
Finally, all the constitutional requirements to merge the (now formerly) Federally Administrated Tribal Areas (Fata) with the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) have been fulfilled successfully. Geographically, Fata is a…
Rethinking Fata
The Ilaqa-e-Ghair – the alien territory – is no longer ghair (alien). Through the 31st Amendment to the constitution, parliament ended Fata’s ‘special’ status last week. It is an occasion…
Culture Pop: A Saudi dressing-down
This week, in the deserted lanes of a heritage site in the tribal backwaters of Najd, a 100 miles from Riyadh, a young Saudi woman caused a conservative sandstorm. A…
Europe’s dark past
Various European powers constructed the image of non-European nations on the basis of three elements: rational, religious and civilisational superiority. The people of Africa became victims of their prejudices. The…
War of ideas
As the political jugglery and circus around the Panama leaks and corruption in continued, a terrorist attack in Lahore left 26 people including, eight policemen, dead and more than 50…
