Unpleasant twists
Pakistan has been making almost heroic efforts over the last few months to put its relations with Afghanistan on an even keel and make a vital contribution to the reconciliation…
The two Pakistans
The world of Pakistani officialdom is no place for the faint-hearted. It is not that the system hasn’t been improved. Until fairly recently, getting any sort of document from the…
Desperate Syrians flee – with little hope of return
Tears filled the face of the Syrian woman and her daughter sat waiting for their passports to be checked at this Lebanese border checkpoint. Their country, they said, has entered…
Putin hits out at opponents: ‘We have been provoked’
Russian President Vladimir Putin adopted an avuncular tone during his lengthy press conference with 1,200 journalists, but he nevertheless took a hard line in defending his policies against a rising…
Towards a stronger Saarc
As the 6th Conference of the Association of Saarc Speakers and Parliamentarians (ASSP) gets underway in Islamabad, serious issues continue to bedevil the South Asian region. While the conference focuses…
Beyond elections
Looking beyond the coming elections, Pakistan’s future looks bleak. There is little question that elections 2013 will prove more divisive and chaotic than anything we have seen before. Mere transfer…
A note to the ‘nearly departed’
The visa stamp is beautiful. There it sits regally amid the hopeful pages of your passport, the promise of a tomorrow that takes place elsewhere, the dividing line of a…
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…
In transit
As I write this on the terrace restaurant of a hotel in the hills in Sri Lanka, there’s a small river tumbling over huge boulders a few feet away. The…
View from US
Every year when July 4 comes around and America celebrates Independence Day, I wonder how many Pakistani-Americans have realised their desi dream. A passage to America means a ticket to…
