Lone rangers in the drone zone
For several months last year, I was at the receiving end of occasional emails that conformed to a particular pattern. They all began with a reasonably uncontroversial critique of the…
Convoluted expectations
All and sundry continue to protest the lending behaviour of commercial banks and their large `spreads` (the difference between the interest rates on their lending and the interest rate that…
A condolence book for Raja
Unable to cope with poverty and deprivation, Raja Rind, a jobless father of two, died in Islamabad after setting himself on fire a day after Begum Nusrat Bhutto’s death. While…
Away from the madressah
In the movie The Book of Eli, Eli (Denzel Washington) is charged by Providence to take a westward journey to deliver the very last copy of the King James Bible…
Brazil’s reforestation plan
The misty forests of Miguel Pereira, just two hour’s drive from Rio’s Copacabana beaches, show the scars of development. Over the past century, this part of the Atlantic forest has…
Visiting Bangladesh
Shrugging off its traditional reliance for foreign-exchange earnings on jute goods and tea, Bangladesh has economically made giant strides, with home remittances and garment manufacturing giving momentum to a whole…
The Baloch mourn again
Nawab Akbar Bugti was killed in military action on August 26, 2006, and Balochistan has yet to recover from the tragedy. Now Habib Jalib Baloch has been assassinated and we…
Performance or…
On the 27th of December, 2012, Benazir Bhutto's fifth death anniversary, a major political event took place with Bilawal Bhutto Zardari addressing those who came to pay their respects to…
Political and social matters
At the moment our country is witnessing a bloodbath, and when the rulers are questioned as to why this is happening and why they don’t do anything to stop it,…
Our march of folly
Pakistan, in its current state of affairs, presents the remarkable spectacle of a country that seems bent on committing suicide. Remarkable it is because there is also an obvious scope…
