Islamabad diary When it rains it pours. The Nooras are finding this out for themselves. Is their proverbial luck finally running out? What is...
Islamabad diary Because of population and wealth, Punjab is the dominant element in the Pakistani state. Whoever commands Punjab rules...
Islamabad diary Oh, that moment of weakness if only it could be forgotten when Isaac called for pen and paper and in his own hand and at...
Islamabad diary It can now be seen on their faces, the concern stemming from the Panama case hearings in the Supreme Court. As the hearings...
Islamabad diary In a society as stagnant, socially retarded, lie-ridden and hypocrisy-painted as ours disruption and disorder are creative...
Islamabad diary Pakistan has tested a missile with a range of 2200 kilometres and capable of carrying multiple nuclear warheads, and the usual...
Islamabad diary Since when did bricks and mortar, up and down motorways, and a few power stations thrown in, change the fate of nations? What...
Islamabad diary Beyond such things as the law and the constitution lies the power of fate…things that you may not have guessed, would...
Islamabad diary Why indeed? What’s so special about him? He sang and rose to prominence – they still call him the Indian film...
Islamabad diary Call this the revenge of the PML-N. So soon after his stepping down they have managed to make controversial their erstwhile...
Islamabad diary Our outgoing general on the basis of his record was considered a better commander than most in our water-logged history, taking...
Islamabad diary Think for a moment of the Egyptian judge who hanged himself because he was facing corruption charges. May his soul rest in...
Islamabad diary They were the founders, the progenitors, of subcontinental film music. Raichand Boral, Khemchand Prakash, Pankaj Mallick, Anil...
Islamabad diary How many persons died from drinking tainted liquor in Toba Tek Singh? Some reports say 35, others 44. Either way it’s a sad...
Islamabad diary Extremism, hate speech and sectarianism – the ills we are familiar with – are products of Pakistani moderation. The...
Islamabad diary A dictator, Gen Musharraf, gave us the regulatory bodies – bodies to act as a check, in the public interest, over various...
Islamabad diary Why indeed? If the one-man judicial commission comprising My Lord Justice Faez Isa has exposed the glaring shortcoming of various...
Islamabad diary Mediocrity has its uses if it is honest and touched by a semblance of virtue. No society would function without a goodly supply...
Islamabad diary The 1977 movement against Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was a calamity and the subsequent martial law, the path to which was paved by that...
Islamabad diary Winds of change are blowing across Europe and the US. The Brexit vote in Britain was no small thing. Trump’s election as US...
Islamabad diary Gen Raheel Sharif was the fly in their ointment, the ghost at their table, spoiling their feast, poisoning their third prime...
Islamabad diary What an amazing life and what a titanic personality – one of the greats of the 20thcentury, on a par with the likes of Mao...
Islamabad diary It’s not a question of ‘being on the same page’, the silly turn of phrase which has become so popular with us, or...
Islamabad diary The liberation of Kashmir will come when it comes. We’ll cut down our birth rate sometime in the second half of this...
Islamabad diary Even Scherezade who told the stories of the Arabian Nights to King Shahrayar couldn’t have thought of this tale which has...
Islamabad diary That is the Panama leaks, the bone stuck in the gullet, the gathering nightmare all the hoarse talk of the CPEC being a mighty...
Islamabad diary They couldn’t see it coming and now they are into an overdrive of mourning. The Pakistani coverage of the US election has...
Islamabad diary Some of us – I can’t say how many but a good number certainly, in this number included battalions of retired officers...
Islamabad diary Maulana Fazlur Rehman doesn’t realise the debt of gratitude he owes Imran Khan. If it weren’t for Khan would Nawaz...
Islamabad diary As Imran Khan’s assault on Islamabad the Beautiful nears, the distress of the ruling party is becoming comical. See this...
Islamabad diary You and friend Zafar Abbas have done what the dharnas could not. The democracy we all glorify has been delivered such a kick that...
Islamabad diary Back in the old days when Nawaz Sharif was the darling of the ISI and every other agency in the land, and was being boosted and...
Islamabad diary Not the least of this season’s ironies: the threat to assault the capital and shut it down would not have come, indeed...
Islamabad diary The prevailing narrative – and it’s worth finding out from where it has sprung up and how it has spread like a virus...
Islamabad diary The first is the army’s perceived soft corner for such outdated jihadi outfits as the Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Muhammad....
Islamabad diary They said he was all alone and couldn’t do it…couldn’t bring the crowds for his jalsa within earshot of the...
Islamabad diary There is more than one centre of power and this muddles our responses and complicates our situation. There should have been one...
Islamabad diary They claim to be leaders of that mystical concept with no basis in reality, the Ummah. Far from displaying the wisdom that should...
Islamabad diary There we were again, in the PM’s address to the General Assembly, doling out wisdom to Afghanistan: that the way to peace...
Islamabad diary Pakistan is under a double attack: from India because Kashmir, the Indian-occupied part of it, is on the boil and nothing that...
Islamabad diary “The leader must aim high, see big, judge widely, thus setting himself apart from the ordinary people who debate in narrow...
Islamabad diary Anil Biswas was a great name in music in his time. Now I suppose he is largely forgotten, except by aficionados and those into...
Islamabad diary Is Dubai not a Muslim country? Is it not a prosperous country, or call it emirate, doing rather well for itself, with not much...
Islamabad diary In their joint press conference in Delhi, US Secretary of State John Kerry and Indian Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj spoke almost...
Islamabad diary Two things I thought would never happen in my lifetime: driving the Pakistani Taliban out of their Fata safe havens and bringing...
Islamabad diary The Leader is a sick man and his nerves are giving way. No other interpretation can be put on his rant of August 22 when he just...
Islamabad diary The nation owes a collective vote of thanks to their lordships Justice Abid Aziz Sheikh and Justice Shahid Karim of the Lahore...
Islamabad diary For all its faults and omissions Pakistan is a democracy…a country where elections are held, governments change through...
Islamabad diary Corps commanders and assorted generals may torment themselves over that piece of half-fiction called the National Action Plan...
Islamabad diary What can you say that hasn’t been said before? What wisdom can you spout, what startling insights reveal? Wars of any kind...
