Bonding values
TIME flies, and we fail to realise that someone who had departed has been gone for over a year. Then an event shakes us out of our reverie to remind…
Modern facsimiles
MUSTAFA Kemal Atatürk was born in Turkey, in 1881. Since then, facsimiles have been spawned many times: Soekarno in Indonesia, Lt-Col Rawlings in Ghana, Col Nasser in Egypt, Field Marshal…
An icon of the left: Part – II
Saeeda Gazdar’s short stories are not all about politics and repression; some are full of nostalgia and recall the pre-partition days. Her story ‘Hindustani, Pakistani’ is one such story that…
Lost heritage
In Mithi recently, as Hindus in India and across the world celebrated Diwali, the town also joined in the festivities. Muslims participated alongside their Hindu fellow villagers and other residents…
Enlightenment at home
Enlightenment represents a collection of ideas that transformed a poor, medieval Europe into a rich, modern, and powerful continent. It liberated people’s minds from the oppressive grip of the state…
Rule of violence
WITH 245 terror attacks on security forces, police check-posts and public places — mostly in KP and Balochistan — in the first quarter of 2024 alone, it is obvious that…
No country for the young
A STUDENT is expelled for bringing a rubab to the university hostel and playing it. A university in Lahore expels two students when they embrace each other after one of them proposed to the other publicly.…
Gaza war impact
EVEN before the Israel-Hamas war began on Oct 7, the Palestinian territories were subject to horrible violations of international law and occupation by Israel. As a result, there were two…
Silencing Afghanistan’s women
THERE is no doubt that many have had a role in Afghanistan’s destruction, but the question of who exactly is to blame for the country’s current condition is a thorny…
Four plays in review
The Arts Council, Karachi that Ahmed Shah has been leading for over a decade now, has become the most dynamic centre of art and culture in Pakistan. He has assembled…
