Love it or leave it
By: Dr Zehra Saqlain The deafening noise of horns & fast cars zoomed by me as i walk briskly towards gate no. 3. The Smell of early morning, slightly chilly breeze of october gave me goosebumps. The guy on the gate of the embassy checked my id & let me in. There i saw a long queue & thought only if i would’ve gulped my bed-tea rather than savoring it. Standing in that long que i wondered why … Read entire article »
Filed under: Opinion
Kaleidoscope
Gunfight at The Not-OK Corral By Roxane Akhtar Roxane Akhtar has been writing for thirty years. She is a trained Yoga Instructor (Spain) and has a Diploma in Holistic Counseling (Australia). She has traveled extensively, including a five-year stay in Australia. Her passions are music, especially western rock music, writing, reading, dance, fantasy art and spectator sports (tennis and cricket). She presently lives in Karachi, where she writes, attempts to put together her first book and takes … Read entire article »
Filed under: Opinion
Outside in
The 3 Lies By Shahbaz Ali Khan Shahbaz, a former Industry relations and PR professional, has spent the past 8 years experimenting with the frontiers of professional competence by insisting on not specializing in anything but thinking, communicating and writing. He tweets at @intensedesigns He rose to his feet, as he could take it no more. He needed to speak, to shout, to address them all and do it immediately. “My friends, please, I implore you, listen to me… I will … Read entire article »
Filed under: Opinion
Pakistan: Women’s struggle for their rights
The contemporary socio-political and economic discourses in Pakistan are restrained strictly in the paradigm of patriarchy and capitalism. The slogan of change and revolution has been shouted out loud by some, but they are riding on the same old horses who have won in the past by the virtue of their venality to the mighty forces of status-quo, that is, the military establishment of Pakistan. There is not a single mainstream political party including PTI which questions larger socio-economic questions, i.e. patriarchy, capitalism etc. Change does not mean replacing old faces with new ones; in fact in the case of PTI they don’t even bother to bring new faces, they are so brazen that they have brought old faces with their new make-up artist. Those who have studied revolutionary movements … Read entire article »
Filed under: Opinion
Satire: Two spies arrested in Lahore
By The Satirist Two American backpackers were arrested yesterday in Lahore on suspicion of being Indian spies. Neither the police nor the intelligence agencies have yet to confirm or deny the reports. According to a source who does not wish to be named, alarm bells were raised when one of the two men in question was heard to say “Holy cow that’s cheap” whilst dining out at a Chappal Kebab restaurant. “It was an incomprehensible error of judgment” he said, “how can you go to a kebab eatery and start extolling the sanctity of bovines. We knew from that moment that these boys were spies.” In other telling evidence both suspects were captured wearing crocodile skin shoes and in possession of wallets made from elephant hide. None of their belongings were leather products. “They … Read entire article »
Filed under: Opinion
No taxation with representation
By Saad Hafiz: One is probably familiar with a inspirational slogan of The American Revolution: ‘No taxation without representation’, originating in the 1750s and 1760s, which meant that the British imposition of taxes on its American colonies was unacceptable without the expressed will of the people. In Pakistan an arguably perverse view of this American proclamation has been historically in the vogue; ‘No taxation with representation’ which means that rich Pakistanis including a significant percentage of national and provincial legislators, among others, do not pay taxes, forcing the government to rely primarily on foreign assistance to prop up finances. US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has said that Pakistan must tax its elite if it wants to continue receiving financial assistance: “This is one of my pet peeves; Countries that will not tax … Read entire article »
Hate Virus in Our Society
By Obaid Ullah Khan: Ours is a diseased society and anyone with sanity would hardly differ with it. Many a times a single disease causes multiple symptoms in a body. A deep study of our diseased society may reveal that there is a virus of Hate in our society causing many deteriorating symptoms. Our society as a whole is suffering from the effects of Hate, whether be it individually, socially, politically and most important of all religiously. Anyone can understand that hate is the opposite feeling of Love which is a positive emotion in the human and essential in nurturing positive and constructive tendencies in human character, in contrast to that we are the followers of hate, causing a downfall in our individual and national character as a whole. The outcomes of … Read entire article »
Filed under: Reviews
Forget Siachin… What’s a Glacier?
By Josh Shahryar: As an Afghan refugee in Pakistan, the first time I heard about Siachen I thought, “Black China? What’s that?” Since in Farsi, Sia is black and Cheen is China. To my young mind, it was just another Urdu word that I needed to learn and then get excited over. I read the one rupee Tarzan and Omroo Ayyar story books and the first time I learned what chalaang meant, I literally jumped! Back to … Read entire article »
OLD FACES IN PTI
Nowadays Pakistan Tehrik e Insaaf (PTI) is being criticized for including few controversial faces whose past is not clean as they are part of former governments. Like many others, I had same reservation against these inclusions, especially SMQ, Mian Azhar, Khuwaja Asif, Azam Sawati and etc. however, after going through Imran Khans’s life History, his game plan, and strategy I have extracted the probable reason and logic behind these old faces, and i feel that … Read entire article »
Filed under: Opinion
Siachen what next?
By Prof Farakh A Khan (22.4.12): On April 7, 2012 an avalanche (or Glacier Surge) buried the battalion headquarter under hundreds of feet of snow and boulders in Siachen’s Gayari sector killing some 130 people (Syed, Baqir Sajjad and Ali Farman. Intense rescue efforts under way. Dawn. April 8, 2012; Baabar, Mariana. US, India offer help in Siachen search operation. The News. April 9, 2012). This suddenly jolted Siachen in focus. Unfortunately we know very little … Read entire article »
Filed under: Reviews
Will mainstream media speak for the voiceless?
By Amaar Ahmad: The last counsel by the Holy Prophet (pbuh) right before his passing away was for Muslims to guard against violating the rights of women and the slaves. In the Islam Republic of Pakistan today, that should have automatically meant that the rights of vulnerable and weak are safeguarded zealously. Instead, a declaration of war seems to have been made against the dispossessed and the powerless – especially the women and religious minorities of this country. The last few years have witnessed a horrific increase in incidents against vulnerable people. To add insult to injury this is often justified in the name of religion one way or another. When it comes to the treatment of women we know that domestic abuse, acid attacks and honour killings have become an utterly ugly but inseparable feature of our society. The few legislative measures … Read entire article »
The Magical Hands of Physiotherapist
By Abbis Haider: In an equally poised India Pakistan match, with 10 balls remaining and 20 to get, boom boom Afirdi on strike, gets his hamstring pulled and falls down. With the toppling of Afridi, the enthusiasm of the whole Pakistani nation gets tumbled, suddenly, a hurricane of fluster spreads all around the world. Then, out of a blue, there appears a man with a small bag, running fiercely towards the batsman, followed by a break of advertisement on a television channel. Hey folks! We return after a 2 minute break and at once our eyes witness a bang hit for six, out of the park by boom boom. What has happened in these 2 minutes, which brought our master player back on his feet. Is this a magic! Or some kind … Read entire article »
Filed under: Opinion
When Torture Became Virtue
By Ayesha Noor: On March 30th, 43-year-old Master Abdul Qudoos lost the battle of his life in Rabwah, Pakistan. A relatively young man, he did not die of a heart attack, nor did he die of a fatal accident, neither of a lethal bomb explosion. Instead, he was tortured to death. His tormentors were not the Taliban nor do they belong to any banned militant organization. They were not even his opponents from a never-ending land dispute. Instead, his tormentors were the very policemen committed to protecting him. Master Abdul Qudoos was born as a Muslim in 1960’s Pakistan, with every equal and free human right afforded to all Pakistani citizens. But, in the 1970’s, Prime Minister Bhutto took away his right to call himself a Muslim. Then, in the 1980’s, Dictator General Zia ul Haqq took away his right to “pose” as a Muslim, under threat of imprisonment and death. In the 1990’s, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif … Read entire article »
Intrigues to Incriminate Ahmadis in State Rebellion
By Aziz Bilal: Remembering Qadir & Qudoos It would not be inappropriate to commemorate the sacrifices that the Ahmadiyya community has offered in its commitment for peace and promoting unity in Pakistan and elsewhere. Ahmadis – who have greatly developed the instinct of being peace loving, law abiding, respectful of every nation they dwell in, affectionate and welcoming to every religious communities they live with, watchful of always defending the integrity of Pakistan & Islam throughout the … Read entire article »
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