Upward mobility
THE main title is misleading: Dear Mr Jinnah. It implies a familiarity between the book’s author Salman Faruqui and the Quaid. In fact, Faruqui was only eight years old in…
Irrepressible poet
THE story goes that Chiragh Deen, a tailor based in Baghbanpura on the outskirts of Lahore, often entertained clients with his verses — many of which focused on India’s quest…
Remembering ABS Jafri: Part – I
It was 1989. I was 25 years old and had just come back from Moscow – yes, the Soviet Union was still around. I started writing for the Urdu daily…
Judiciary’s debacle
ON the International Day of Democracy in September, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif extolled the virtues of democracy, calling it the “cornerstone of a just and progressive society” and stressing continued efforts to…
Time to find out
HOW could 74.5 million Republican voters in the US have got it right, and the rest of the world got it wrong? Nothing in recent history can match Donald Trump’s…
An icon of the left: Part – I
Those who believe in progressive ideas are leaving us in quick succession. Rahat Saeed – one of the founders of the Irtiqa literary journal and a prominent mobilizer and trade…
An icon of the left: Part – II
Saeeda Gazdar’s short stories are not all about politics and repression; some are full of nostalgia and recall the pre-partition days. Her story ‘Hindustani, Pakistani’ is one such story that…
26th Amendment a ‘suicide attack’
The 1973 Constitution was enacted unanimously by a legislative assembly elected through free and fair elections held on December 07, 1970. There were no street protests to any clause of…
Disunited legal community
EVER SINCE the passage of the 26th Amendment to the Constitution of Pakistan, influential lawyers, one after the other, have come out to threaten a widespread lawyers’ movement. Notable lawyers leading the…
The 26th Amendment in judicial focus: Part – III
Rule of law dictates that citizens and their representatives participate in the legislative process with an open and timely access to the draft and without any violation of their democratic…
