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Truth or dare
DESI WOMEN HATE SEX By Jasmine “She’s just never in the mood for it.” “She says she’s too tired after her long day.” “She tells me I push too hard.” “She says my thing is too small…” These are just a few of the reasons I have heard from my clients about why their wife won’t have sex with them. Poor fellows. Sometimes, it takes a lot of effort to help them get out of their self loathing and inferiority complex. The … Read entire article »
Filed under: Opinion
Islamic “secularism”? Reframing the Issue
By Yasser Latif Hamdani PTH Exclusive The definition of modernity expressed in political science terms is a system of state and society whereby social justice is aspired to, freedom of belief, ideology and conscience is fully protected and where rule of law reigns supreme. As the Islamic World increasingly finds itself confronted with modernity in these terms, there are two responses that have been recorded as two opposing currents – first response is to accept modernity without any discounting for Islamic principles or any attempt to reconcile the Islamic identity of the Muslims world -wide and the second response is to reject it so completely that the room for negotiation between this response and modernity ceases to exist. Both these responses ignore one basic fundamental contention that most Muslims have i.e. Islamic … Read entire article »
Filed under: Uncategorized
Why Some Liberals Are Supporting Imran?
Raza Habib Raja Most dangerous are those charismatic politicians who are financially honest, dedicated but ideologically right-wing reactionaries. Most careless are those supporters (of the above category of politicians) who are just looking at the first set of attributes while completely overlooking the second. Most sinister are those forces that are propping up such politicians. Most short sighted are those political parties who claim to be ideologically against such politicians but are secretly delighted at the turn of events and may even be supporting the sinister forces. Most hypocritical are those political parties who were once abusing the politician but now are “congratulating” him and calling his show a “fresh” breath of change. Well, for a guy who hates conspiracy theories, I have fallen to the temptation and chalked out one above. If all of you … Read entire article »
Filed under: Uncategorized
Pakistan’s media continues to ignore the accomplishments of PPP government
By Dr. Zaeem Zia: After the ouster of the Military regime in 2008, Pakistan faced ultimate challenges in various forms. The Aftermath of Musharraf’s martial law was deleterious. It may take a decade to overcome its effects and miseries. Elections in 2008 itself proved the anti Martial law stance of people, and the majority of Peoples Party in elections signified the credibility of PPP among the poorer population in the rural and urban areas. It is really strange- that whenever Pakistan came under martial law, PPP was the party to restore democracy in Pakistan- Zulfiqar Bhutto took over the government after Ayub Khan and Yahya khan, Benazir Bhutto after Zia Ul Haq and now Gillani after Pervez Musharraf. To cut a long story short, PPP has always been the savior of democracy … Read entire article »
The taboo of film theory in Pakistan
By Ammar Aziz: Wikipedia, which, unfortunately, stays as a sole source of knowledge for many of our young, pretentious film academics in Pakistan, defines film theory as, “Film theory is an academic discipline, closely allied with Marxist critical theory, that aims to explore the essence of the cinema and provides conceptual frameworks for understanding film’s relationship to reality, the other arts, individual viewers, and society at large.” In the academic realm of blood stricken Pakistan, film studies have begun to emerge slowly. Partly because of the rising trend of private media (which proudly calls itself a ‘revolution’), partly because of the efforts of many old art academics and partly because of our film-going culture, film studies are becoming a part of our educational curriculum. The institutions offering film courses are usually equipped with … Read entire article »
Filed under: Opinion
TRAGEDY OF MUSLIM CIVILIZATION
By Aftab Zaidi: The 2011 Nobel Prize announcements were recently made at a ceremony held in Europe. It is rather sad that no Muslim was able to garner this prestigious award. After all Muslims constitute 21 percent of the total world population and are around 1.57 billion. It is an irony that so far the Muslim world has produced only nine Nobel laureates since the inception of this award by Alferd Nobel in 1895. This statistic seems even more horrifying if the Peace Prize winners are excluded from this list which leaves it with only two Nobel laureates in the field of science namely Dr Abdus Salam in Physics and Ahmed Zewail in Chemistry. Moreover, Dr. Salam was hounded and persecuted in his home country on account of his Ahmedi faith … Read entire article »
Filed under: Arts and Crafts
Guns not books
By Raza Rumi: These two boys are not from KP, FATA or the ‘jihad’ belt of Pakistan. They are from rural Sindh trained to face the real, ugly life in a violent and iniquitous country. (Picture DAWN, courtesy Naeem Sadiq) … Read entire article »
Filed under: Opinion
Cricket and Politics
Prof Farakh A Khan (10.11.11) Cricket these days has become centre stage in Pakistan. At one side three of our star cricketer are behind bars in UK and on the other side our ex-super star cricketer Imran Khan is taking politics by storm in Pakistan. We need to analyse these two phenomenon hitting the press and media. Let take the rather depressing state first. The three were caught red handed fortunately in UK and not in Pakistan. Some people called this a conspiracy where India and UK (not including Israel since it does not play cricket) ganged up to reduce cricketing poweress of Pakistan in the next World Cup. Another version is of legal betting mafia striking at underground betting mafia and in the crossfire the three Pakistanis were shot down. We … Read entire article »
Filed under: Politics
Flawed: Imran Khan’s Proposed NRO for Militants of Waziristan
This is the second in the series on the politics and populism of Imran Khan. Readers are requested to add to this important debate and send us more contributions. Ed. by Ali Usman Qasmi Imran Khan has come up with an ingenious explanation for suicide bombings and increased militancy in Pakistan. According to him, Pakistan’s military committed an act of aggression against its own people by launching a military operation in Waziristan from 2004 onwards. According to … Read entire article »
Filed under: Pakistan
From Bhutto to Imran: populism challenges the status quo
By Saad Hafiz: It is somewhat ironic that Pakistan’s latest populist leader Imran Khan and his Tehreek-e-Insaf are set to confront the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), the party of Z.A. Bhutto (ZAB), the country’s original exponent of populism. The battle between PPP and its official opposition the Muslim League, pitted against the Tehreek-e-Insaf is shaping up to be a classic confrontation between the established political parties representing the status quo and a maverick leader and party promising change. As in the past, familiar emotive themes like rampant corruption, insincere leadership, economic dependency and the role of the United States are part of the popular debate. As ZAB was gearing up to challenge the Ayub regime in 1968, he addressed the Muzaffargarh Bar Association. Some major themes from his address are just as … Read entire article »
Filed under: Politics
Why I Feel Sorry For Nawaz Sharif
Raza Habib Raja Yes, it is early to say anything and there is every chance that the bubble will burst as quickly as it has arisen. But realistically speaking, since I am from the hinterland of Punjab, the descent for PML (N) has begun though it may take a while before electorally it becomes evident. Nawaz Sharif is a conservative and as someone who claims to be from centre to left, why should I even be worried for someone who is in some ways Zia’s legacy. Is he not a conservative and a right winger with poor governance record ? Did he not want to be Ameer ul Momneen back in 1997? Is he not a favourite punching bag of liberal satirists who often poke fun at his mediocre intelligence level, hair … Read entire article »
Filed under: Uncategorized
India declared MFN—A dream come true
By Riaz Ali Toori Without cordial relations between Pakistan and India, peace in the Asian region would always remain a dream that can never translate into reality. Trade is the only thing on both sides of the border through which both nations could come in close contact. We know that war is not the solution for any problem and we have realized that in sixty and more years, war, exchange of harsh words and blame game … Read entire article »
Filed under: Opinion
The Thankless Job of Writing
By BJ Kumar Before I get any further, please let me clarify – I do not consider myself a writer (although some have accused me of being one, at least at heart, but then, who is not?!) In the ideal world, the ideal writer would write something, I mean, it could be anything on any topic, but it would be ideal writing as ideality exists in the eyes of the particular writer – that ideal piece of writing would shine like gold and it would glow all over and it would be something real special and, for all I know, perhaps it would even exude an aroma which will draw the ideal reading public from miles and miles and in the case of internet, from all over the globe. … Read entire article »
Filed under: Uncategorized
Rally Round the flag!
By Ghazala Akbar Welcome to Formula1 Racing— Pakistani style! While our neighbours across the border sip some well – deserved bubbly in celebration of the real thing, Pakistanis at home and abroad witnessed some spectacular entertainment provided by our politicians. They deserve a pat on the back. Three major Rallies organised peacefully across two cities that had people on the edge of their seats. What a contest, what a thrilling climax — and all for free! Who needs Jenson Buttons, Michael Schumacher or Sebastian Vittel when we have the likes of Shahbaz Shareef, Altaf Hussain and Imran Khan! The three-day extravaganza kicked – off in style on Friday in the pot-holed roads of the walled city in old Lahore. This is the home – ground of the Sharif brothers and the source … Read entire article »
Filed under: Politics
THE NEPAL-INDIA-PAKISTAN SPINAL BEETLE DRIVE
The ‘Great Nepal-India-Pakistan Spinal Beetle Drive’ is a journey from Kathmandu Valley through the Indus-Ganga plain to Peshawar in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, starting on 4 November and scheduled to end on 16 November 2011. The drive will take place in a 1973 model Volkswagen Beetle, which previously has supported similar fundraisings ride – to Dhaka, in 2002 and 2005. President of Nepal,H.E Dr. Ram Baran Yadav has graciously consented to flag-off the “Spinal Beetle Drive” at 8:00 am on Friday,4th November, 2011. The drive is sponsored by the Spinal Injury Rehabilitation Centre-Nepal, which has faced a sudden need to expand its services, being required to grow from 39 to 51 beds. The Spinal Centre, based in Saanga in Banepa Valley east of Kathmandu, is run entirely on voluntary contributions. Meera Jyoti is present Chair of the Spinal Centre. For details, … Read entire article »
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