Solution to rural poverty
In her article titled ‘Land Rights and Democracy’, (Dawn, Feb 4,) Zeenia Shaukat has referred to my earlier letter in Dawn and has posed two pertinent questions which deserve to…
Sustainable development
The Rio+20 summit on sustainable development held last June did not attract major headlines in the mainstream media despite its existential implications. In any case, the summit`s painfully negotiated and…
The new normal
It may well be grotesque, but the face of the next generation of Pakistanis is going to make for an interesting study. As evidenced by the lack of concrete measures…
A year in Pakistan
My previous experience in Pakistan included looking down on Peshawar from the Khyber Pass in Afghanistan and receiving some rocket fire from the eastern side of the border while in…
First-cousin marriages
Last year I wrote on the topic of thalassaemia, to which I received many positive reactions. Because of the importance of this disease and its relationship to first-cousin marriages, I…
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…
Godspeed!
Public transport is an essential component of urban planning. All major cities in the world have some form of public transport system to facilitate the daily commute for their denizens.…
A self-defeating advice
Former premier Nawaz Sharif has asked the government to hold "serious, meaningful and result-oriented" talks with the Al-Qaeda-inspired local Taliban militants to bring peace in the country. A review of…
Allying with tax evaders
"Moralists should address their sermons to the legislators, and not to individuals, because it is in the order of possible things that a virtuous and enlightened man may have the…
Afghanistan beyond 2014
The post-2014 situation in Afghanistan, after the withdrawal of the US/Nato/ International Security Assistance Force, has been the subject of a most vexing debate in recent times. The main difficulty…
