Taliban & liberalism
IT has been 14 months since Afghanistan was handed over to the Taliban by the most fearsome military force the world has ever known, the US army. For most of this time…
Unstable states
We face today one of the worst bouts of political instability to have plagued us since 1947. Some states like India are stable with regular fair polls. Others see polls…
Right-wing creep
MANY Pakistanis take pride in the fact that the religious right wing has never really gained much traction in any general election. This sense of jubilation is heightened by the…
Mired in extremism
THE clumsy uproar of a religious group on filmmaker Sarmad Khoosat’s film Zindagi Tamasha and an appeasing response by the government reveal only a part of the extremism problem facing Pakistani state…
Clinging to the ‘master narrative’
THE forced ouster from power is hurting Imran Khan hard. His failure to stay in the good books of the military establishment has forced him to return to the people…
Shock to the system
SHOCKED millions glued to their TV screens saw a three-hour Bollywood-type political thriller unfold before their eyes on the evening of April 9. An intense day-long struggle in the National…
The letter
FOR days ‘the letter’ has triggered unending speculation and intrigue. Our teetering-on-the-brink prime minister has become the subject of yet more memes amongst his opponents, while his supporters’ siege mentality…
The nation at 75
OUR major freedom anniversaries have all seen us in or near major crises. The 25th one saw us healing the trauma of 1971; the 50th one saw us about to…
Question of age
UNDOUBTEDLY, it was a big birthday bash. Though Aug 14 fell on Sunday, the celebrations had begun shortly before midnight a day earlier. Apart from the lights and people on…
Dichotomous behaviour
PAKISTAN’S power elites are grappling with a ‘Jekyll and Hyde syndrome’, showcasing starkly different behaviour in their attention and actions. Their purported focus on fixing the economy is contradicted by…
