BDS ban
The British government has announced a new Tory-led parliamentary measure that will inflict ‘severe penalties’ onto local governments and public institutions that boycott goods and services on an ‘ethical’ (as…
From Srinagar to Karachi
As a student and practitioner of poetry, the find for me in the Karachi Literary Festival (KLF) 2016 was the poetry of Rafiq Kathwari, the middle-aged but youthful Kashmiri-American poet.…
Saudi Arabia, Iran and Pakistan
It is unfortunate that some ‘intellectuals’ are trying to paint the Saudi-Iran rift as an internal issue of Pakistan. It is equally sad to see the religious Right depict this…
The Nawaz and Modi show
WELL, who saw that coming? But now that we have seen it, there’s a big little question — does it make any sense? The reluctant, preliminary answer: it doesn’t really.…
Wars and their consequences
Over history wars have been fought among nations, with all their destructive fallout, but these wars have never contributed to the removal of the irritants and factors that caused them.…
Involving a ‘third party’
“There are many ways of going forward, but only one way of standing still.” – Franklin D Roosevelt The UN Charter requires all member states to “settle their international dispute…
Beyond getting moms to talk
The White House Summit on countering violent extremism continued for three days during last week. Policymakers, community leaders, foreign officials, and representatives of law-enforcement agencies of more than sixty countries…
US and Saudi Arabia uneasy allies in turbulent Middle East
Long-standing ties between the United States, the world's oldest democracy, and Saudi Arabia, an ultra-conservative Islamic absolute monarchy, have strained at times, but the unlikely allies remain bound by mutual…
A game-changing deal
While the agreement between P5+1 and Iran over the latter’s nuclear programme has rightly been hailed as the beginning of a new phase in international relations, its implications for Middle…
Fed on ideology
Recently the International Islamic University in Islamabad held a Model UN conference, where students simulate what takes place at the UN General Assembly, by role-playing as ambassadors of different countries…
