The road to freedom
It was the summer of thwarted protest in Saudi Arabia. In May 2011, Manal al-Sharif, the woman who dared to drive and then posted a video of her rebellious act…
Mysterious world of the matrix
If this column has a theme, it would seem to be an interface between human and cyber culture – the internet and other networks that flow into it described as…
Syrians flee Houla area after massacre
Residents of a town in central Syria are fleeing after shelling attacks by government forces killed more than 90 people, activists and relatives in neighbouring Lebanon said on Saturday. "We…
Enough history in the making for a lifetime
Whatever else the recent elections may have achieved, they have made newspapers well-nigh unreadable, headlines screaming about historic this and historic that, and television samurais breathlessly, and mindlessly, intoning the…
Unanswered questions
A day or so after last week’s Boston marathon bombings, a local luminary solemnly declared that there could be no possible justification or explanation for the outrage. The first part…
Democracy awards
Ladies and gentlemen, a few weeks ago, in this very space, we hosted an event called ‘Revolution Awards’. Although there is nothing original about this idea, yet our audience feedback…
Is Pakistan finally coming of age?
The clouds lift, methinks, to some degree and the Pakistani prospect looks brighter than it has done for a long time. All because Pakistan with its great capacity for not…
Cold evenings made emptier still
How does one inform the great Pakistani masses, the awam of political discourse, that as they play their juvenile games, obsessed with problems of the faith and the prospects of…
A world of possibilities
Most of you probably still remember learning how to use the internet for the first time. Perhaps with a little effort you can also recall the scratchy sounds of a…
Media without social media?
Audience, once a passive recipient of information and merely cornered to the opinion section of a political talk show or ‘letter-to-the-editor’ is now empowered to not merely regulate but also…
