Eradicating torture
IT is often said that no one truly knows a nation until one has been inside its jails. This statement was starkly illustrated in October 2022, when the National Commission…
Teenage blues
THE teenage years are not a trouble-free phase in a young person’s life. The transition to adulthood poses many challenges, mainly due to physiological reasons, including hormonal changes in the…
Juggling judicature
IN Pakistan’s vastly fractured society, there appear to be sub-cultural groups which overlap with, and cross over from, the usual socioeconomic classes. One sub-cultural group, which is quite the majority,…
Democracy and dystopia
IN Ireland, ordinary people are hoarding firewood, afraid that they will not be able to heat their homes in the upcoming winter owing to the Ukraine-Russia conflict. In Iran, protests against the…
Quotidian quotas
‘WE’ were fewer in number, yet a large swathe of the subcontinent came under us. Then came the British, yet fewer in number, to rule over both ‘us’ and ‘them’.…
Our agony aunt
THE IMF behaves towards Pakistan like an indulgent aunt. It waits until Pakistan runs out of pocket money and then gives a handout with a homily on the need for…
It’s an ant’s life
THERE are some clips that go viral time and again, because they’re absolutely incredible. One such clip on social media feeds is from a 2006 documentary named Ants! Nature’s secret…
Eat cake
IF everything from oil to the roads being built under the CPEC have a political economy angle, then we must say ‘wheat a minute’, before going any further in our…
Sustainable housing
The availability of affordable housing remains a nightmare for middle and lower income groups in Pakistan, despite the government’s ambitious agenda to build five million affordable housing units in five…
Crisis in journalism
TELEVISION doesn’t get an Eid break, so those of us who make a living from this medium are more than familiar with the idea of an Eid show. As Ramazan…
