The fog of peace
Many narratives led to the decisions taken at the APC. These narratives have resulted in what one could call the fog of peace, since they have misguided many and created…
This is all right
The pendulum of political ideology has not just moved from one end to the other in Pakistan. It has completely shifted its coordinates. It was not left-centre-right in the classical…
Need of the hour in Fata
The British put together a well-crafted system for dealing with the Federally Administered Tribal Areas. The centrepiece of this system is the allowance-holders. These include the maliks or elders (small…
The revenge argument
In 2004 Corps Commander XI Corps decided to meet Nek Mohammad to seal a peace deal. The political agent responsible for South Waziristan warned against the enterprise. He argued that…
Stronger response needed
The killing of army officers in the terrorist attack in Upper Dir was condemned in the most apt terms by someone who failed to curtail militancy during his stint as…
Back to Bollywood
There’s a scene in many Bollywood and Lollywood movies where the comic actor pretends to threaten the muscular villain while whispering to a friend who is holding him not to…
The BJP woos Muslims
Not long ago, Narendra Modi, the chief minister of Gujarat and Bharatiya Janata Party candidate for the office of India’s prime minister, famously refused to accept a skullcap that was…
The worst of times
A Church in Peshawar gets blown up by suicide bombers sent in by religious militants, killing over 80 worshippers. In their view, by killing non-Muslims these suicide bombers would go…
Return to the fold
Obviously everyone has an ancestry; it is only a matter of rummaging deep enough into the past to discover who one’s forebears were. The British aristocracy has made a fetish…
The enemy within
Few incidents of terrorism have caused such large-scale outpouring of grief, anger and shame as the massacre in the Peshawar church last Sunday. But will this outrage awaken the Pakistani…
