The writer is an anthropologist and development professional.
What was the most important event of the year 2022? It was certainly not the ouster of Imran Khan’s government. The no-confidence motion that...
While Pakistan prepares to face new challenges and adopt green technology on a large scale, it must have a sharp focus on gender inclusivity and...
Has the PDM government successfully reversed roles in a game that Imran Khan played better than cricket for eight years? In children’s versions of...
The opposition alliance that outfoxed and outmanoeuvred Imran Khan in the political arena has no clue how the master narrator has weaved the web of...
Pakistani ulema and their alma maters are facing an unprecedented challenge to their authority and prestige in society. As if the bombshell of the...
If nothing else, the ruling party is keeping us all entertained in these depressing days of a global pandemic. In the first fortnight of the month...
Between the relentless heat of summer and the ruthless cold of winter, it was these very days of autumn last year when Maulana had arrived in...
Are we hurtling to another crisis, if we are not in it already, at a time when our economic situation remains bleak and there are hardly any...
From heroes to zeroes, lawyers have come a long way since the movement for the restoration of Justice Iftekhar Chaudhury in 2007. The movement was...
The PTI has hit a jackpot and yet it is behaving like a shy bride. The amount, $248 million, received by Pakistan through Britain’s National Crime...
How long can a major youth-bulge country, led by a self-serving power elite, remain immune from a youth-led political turmoil? It is not about 'if'...
We are happily on the way to becoming a pious nation – yet again. And we have happily found a pious leader – yet again. His followers did not...
Activists of JUI-F lodge a sit-in protest on Indus Highway as part of Plan B of Azadi March. -ONLINEMaulana's brigade has lifted the siege of...
“You are the protector of wisdom. Almighty Lord! Our helper and protector ever, restore to us the right and privilege of unhindered and free...
Maulana has pulled the biggest of all the contemporary dharnas organised since 2013. Like the two earlier organizers, Imran Khan and Tahirul Qadri,...
Why should an elected government of a democratic country be bothered about a few thousand protesters marching to the capital?How can one march or...
Maulana, for once, should thank his arch-enemy for reviving his political fortunes. Kaptaan has one again put Maulana at the centre-stage of...
Imran Khan has proved that he can make a great wartime leader. No other politician can weave such perfect narratives, communicate them so...
The English medium is cruel because it is meant to create a class that is one notch above the Urdu medium- a class that can claim best economic and...
Even a lay person can see that Article 149 is totally out of context in Karachi’s situation. Even if this Article carried such farfetched meanings...
ATM thief Salahuddin Ayubi of Gujranwala, who died in police custody last week, can be seen in extreme pain during police interrogation.“On a hot...
Waseem Akhtar wrote in the official letter that the appointment was made in response to the claim that Mustafa Kamal could clean the city of Karachi...
Contrary to the expectations of many Pakistanis, leaders of the Ummah have not come galloping on their Arabian horses, brandishing shining crescent...
Since the British sold it to Gulab Singh for 7,500,000 Nanakshahi rupees, Kashmir has been bought and sold, in reality and in public imagination,...
It is a bit early to identity the unsung heroes of tabdeeli who ensured the continuity of a great symbol of change in the Senate by voting against...
The Pakistani diaspora living in the West is fired up by the enlightenment zeal. Since they live in developed countries, they think they know how a...
Hujra Shah Muqeem, a small town in the Okara district, is known for the tomb of a 16th century saint and a poem associated with him. This poem, that...
For almost a year, our revolutionary government was strutting like a rooster, mesmerised by the beauty of its own red crown, colourful feathers and...
Why did Ghalib drink alcohol on credit when he knew that his habit would land him in prison? We are about to explore this question, even when Ghalib...
The sorcerer’s stone, also known as Manka, Geedar-singhi and Tabdeeli, has not worked and we are back to the clinic of our own dear hakeem to...
Once you are up there, it must be very painful to imagine that one day you will not be the king any longer. It must be even more distressing to...
Pakistan’s parliament is such a barren place these days, failing spectacularly to fulfil any of its three functions – representation,...
It is such shocking news. For months, some Chinese gangs preyed upon hundreds of unsuspecting Pakistani women, trapping them in bondage and the sex...
Despite all the U-turns, we can see some consistency in Imran Khan’s thought process ie the PTI’s ideology. Twenty-three years ago, Imran Khan...
What’s more important: rozi or justice? Rozi is all important, certainly more important than abstract and elusive concepts like justice. In some...
Let’s mourn for Asad Umar. His departure marks the end of a phase of our history that was supposed to transform us magically. It symbolises the...
If comic relief is not available, the grim business of governing can crush the souls of the king, his courtiers and his subjects. The PPP had its...
Imran Khan has finally reached out to Shahbaz Sharif. The four-page letter he wrote last week is the first communication between the leader of the...
Many Pakistanis, including the incumbent prime minister, speak nostalgically of a time when Pakistan was considered an economic success story in...
Bilawal must have waited for this moment for almost a decade. He might have felt frustrated by persistent infantalisation at the hands of his father...
In 326 BC, Alexander gained control of Taxila. His companions found it a “wealthy, prosperous, and well governed” state lying at the cross-roads...
Has the story of militant organisations in Pakistan come full circle? Going by the official statements, Pakistan is taking decisive steps to clamp...
Modi is not mad. He did overreach himself by crossing a red line, but it was a calculated move with clear strategic and political objectives. The...
It has taken me a month to understand the wisdom of not maintaining clean toilets at the fabulous Taxila Museum. Yes, it may be a great...
A hot shower is now a luxury in Pakistan. The new gas tariff is hurting not only consumers but the government as well. The media is asking tough...
The PML-N is at its generous best and this time round its generosity is not focused on its beloved city of Lahore or GT Road where the PML-N’s...
Between Ghalib and Iqbal, we picked Iqbal as our national poet. Iqbal belongs to us more, but in many ways our national situation reflects habits of...
We have been orphaned once again. The man who solved all of our problems has retired and left us for good. For a brief period of six months, we were...
It is a national calamity. The djinn millions of Pakistanis trusted appears to be failing and we are back to building the Temple of Solomon through...
Will the sun shine brighter in 2019? It is the year when Imran Khan and the PTI will have the liberty to shape Pakistan in their vision. We have an...