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Corruption, crime, chaos, Karachi

On gaining independence, Karachi – a modest trading post with 450,000 inhabitants – became the capital city of Pakistan. Over the years, it welcomed all into its magnanimous fold. Today,…

Guerilla gardening

THERE are those who complain, and then there are those who take action … and the residents of Kenya’s Kericho county fall squarely into the latter category. Kenyan roads are…

Planet of slums

“Instead of cities of light soaring toward heaven, much of the 21st-century urban world squats in squalor, surrounded by pollution, excrement, and decay.” — Mike Davis IN the shadows of…

Policing climate change

ISLAMABAD Police have recently been given horses to patrol the walking track on Margalla Hills National Park. The Motorway Police have been given new automobiles and laser guns to monitor…

Life is a struggle

THE last year has been tough for most people up to middle-income levels. Inflation has increased a lot and salaries, though some might have gone up, have not kept pace…

Transforming slums

IT is the slum that earned Hollywood millions of dollars. Dharavi, the slum pictured in the 2008 blockbuster movie Slumdog Millionaire, is estimated to be just around 2.8 square kilometres;…

The world of mercenaries

Mercenary entrepreneurship is thriving across the world partly due to never-ending regional conflicts of a complex nature, ranging from small-scale land mafias to large-scale wars in different places. Outsourcing is…

The Buddha caves

Being the chairman of the Prime Minister’s Task Force on Gandhara Tourism, I have visited the historical Buddha ‘s Caves located at the Shah Allah Ditta town of Islamabad as…