Life and literature
FOR five days in the month that ends today a fairly large number of Pakistanis had the opportunity of looking at themselves through the glasses of quite a few worthy…
A reprehensible act
The sheer folly of executing Afzal Guru in Tihar Jail in Delhi on Feb 9 was well described by an ambitious former intelligence chief: `It has the potential to take…
Change: order vs disorder
The Bible says there is a time for every purpose under heaven - "A time to be born and a time to die;...a time to weep and a time to…
Our ‘Renaissance class’
You, probably, have never heard the name Qamar Yourish. When he lived amidst poverty-stricken people on the streets of old Lahore, the rich culture of which inspires you to write,…
Pakistan`s triple front
Pakistan is at another inflexion point in its eventful history. It confronts strategic challenges simultaneously on three fronts: internal, western and eastern. The internal challenge is most palpable: economic stagnation;…
The best government
If the federal law minister is to be taken at his word, the Swiss authorities are not going to reopen money laundering cases against President Zardari. This may be either…
In Karachi’s mirror
That first SMS I received on Friday morning could well have been a good morning wish. But it brought bad news. The message from friend Kamran Arif just said that…
Before disaster strikes
Another high-profile, low-output meeting on Afghanistan has been held. On February 3-4 Prime Minister David Cameron met the presidents of Afghanistan and Pakistan at Chequers, his country residence, for trilateral…
Sectarian threat to polls
The brutal killing of a leading lawyer in Peshawar last Friday, apparently for his belief, should awaken everyone who wields any authority in Pakistan to the dangerous consequences of the…
A judicial murder and desperate politicians
One has often heard Indian Muslim intellectuals warn that there isn’t much of a real difference between the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Their policies are essentially one…
