Iraq virtuoso to return to troubled homeland
A former Iraqi soldier and prisoner who brought one of the world's oldest stringed instruments back into the spotlight is set to end his exile and take his haunting songs…
A world of possibilities
Most of you probably still remember learning how to use the internet for the first time. Perhaps with a little effort you can also recall the scratchy sounds of a…
Media without social media?
Audience, once a passive recipient of information and merely cornered to the opinion section of a political talk show or ‘letter-to-the-editor’ is now empowered to not merely regulate but also…
Indonesian helps turns page for literacy with library
Kiswanti went to great lengths to get people to read in Indonesia, a nation addicted to social media but with a lackluster interest in books. For six years, as she…
A murderous mindset
As soon as I heard that gunmen had attacked two Ahmadi houses of worship in Lahore, I posted a despairing comment on my Facebook page, condemning the violence and wondering…
Critical choices
“Israel, India and agencies are playing games in Pakistan. They want to capture this country and its nuclear assets”. I was given this piece of news by a few knowledgeable…
The year gone by
As another frantic year comes to an end, I want to know who pushed the fast-forward button. Why is it that life seems to speed up as you get older?…
Ban the smearing of our global image
In a frenzy of activity triggered by the Lahore High Court verdict to temporarily ban Facebook, the Pakistan Telecommunications Authority (PTA) has over the past few days taken hundreds of…
GHQ and dangerous binaries
One of the cardinal rules of public life is that every opportunity to communicate is golden, none should ever be wasted. In the age of information overload, with dozens of…
Pity the nation
The ironies we witness every day in Pakistan would have us shaking our heads were it not for the fact that they usually provoke such deep visceral dread. Take the…
