Euphoria in the London Games
I’ve been watching the Olympics on BBC’s full-spectrum coverage that allows viewers to switch to any competition in real time. And frankly, after a week of swimming, diving, tennis, sailing,…
Law of unintended consequences
Nine years ago today, a friend rang me in Karachi and told me to turn my TV on immediately. In a live feed, the BBC was showing images of smoke…
A new paradigm
I recently saw a TV programme on BBC World that examined the circumstances leading to the declaration of a `nofly zone` over Libya. Such a zone was declared after the…
Dark side of a public broadcaster
Myanmar’s Aung San Suu Kyi has lately been pictured in the company of Barack Obama, but on her first trip abroad in more than two decades one of her ports…
Religious intolerance
On September 8 BBC Radio 4 and the World Service will broadcast a dramatised documentary about the murder last year of Punjab’s Governor Salmaan Taseer by one of his security…
Pakistan’s image problem
The recently published 2011 BBC World Service Country Rating Poll, which surveys global perceptions about “16 major countries, plus the European Union”, has confirmed for many Pakistanis that they are…
They’re trying to kill the future
Almost four years ago, when Malala Yousufzai first came to public attention as an 11-year-old whose poignant diary entries, contributed to BBC Urdu, offered an invaluable insight into conditions in…
Behind the Afghan imbroglio
Moscow offered to train a few officers of an Afghan law-enforcement agency. Kabul was ready to accept the offer, but the US killed the proposal. After the rebuff, the Russian…
A Pakistani story
In a BBC interview about her novel The God of Small Things, Indian author Arundhati Roy was asked a familiar question: “With all your talent and gifts, why do you…
Raising funds for The Citizens’ Foundation
Last week, I was invited to join a panel discussion chaired by the BBC’s Mishal Husain to raise funds for The Citizens’ Foundation. The event actually centred round Anatol Lieven’s…
