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Who will dare to be Parveen Rehman?
That is the question that the NGO world, still reeling from the shock of Parveen’s target killing in Orangi Township in Karachi, is now asking itself. At a memorial meeting held in Islamabad this week,...
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How the land gradually devoured the sky
-Illustration by Khuda Bux Abro. The skies come down to the ground and are eventually devoured by the hungry ground. For centuries, wars were fought and partitions made over land. Lines were drawn in...
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Crazy diamonds – VI
In this sixth installment of our ‘Crazy Diamonds’ series, we continue our tributary look at those promising Pakistanis who experienced the flip side of genius – an awkward state of being that some...
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The mother/sister/daughter mantra
I asked for bread, and I got a stone in the shape of a pedestal. –Louisa May Alcott “We are mothers, we are sisters, we are daughters. The honour of our nation lies with us.” I still remember the first...
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The city, the slum and the savior
In the beginning there were no slums. When the city of Karachi began, there was enough for everyone. Enough for the British that came searching for a port from where they could lug goodies from their...
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This is blasphemy, let’s kill him tomorrow
This blog is Part 2 of a two-part series. Read part 1 here. In the morning, the custodians of faith came to the man who had argued that lack of religious knowledge does not prevent a person from loving...
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Death by bullet, not noose
One can’t but be inspired by Bhagat Singh who wanted to be treated as a war prisoner. He wanted to be shot dead by a military detachment, not hanged. It’s not so much the name of Bhagat Singh, but the...
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Education: A din falling on deaf ears
BLC students. -Photo by author. While going about day to day activities, there is nothing to suggest that education for everyone aged 5-16 years is defined in the Constitution as a fundamental right....
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My favourite club
I participate regularly in protests and vigils related to social, political and human rights causes. For most of such events, the location is the Karachi Press Club. Since there is no dearth of...
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Shoot a teacher: Kill a country
Illiteracy they say is Pakistan’s scourge. It is what shackles people in the chains of ignorance, condemns them to begging at corners, to injecting drugs, to selling their daughters and waiting in vain...
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A new face of an old struggle
Women protesting Zia’s Law of Evidence at The Mall in Lahore in February 1983 – Photo courtesy Azhar Jaffri Women’s struggle in this particular region goes back a good few decades to the pre-Partition...
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Pakistan and the Human Development Index
The UNDP recently launched its annual global Human Development Index (HDI) along with the report at a ceremony in Islamabad. The HDI ranks countries in terms of economic and human development...
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Generation landslide
An extensive survey by the British Council Pakistan released on the 3rd of April this year points at an emerging middle-class with a growing number of young people in it. Though the survey attempted...
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If Jinnah had lived
Nelson Mandela, the man who led South Africa past the racial discrimination of apartheid is seriously ill and in the hospital. The nearly ninety-five year old Mandela is the winner of the Nobel Peace...
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Election season: Thriving crop of conspiracy theories
– Photo by INP Islamabad has changed, but only physically. Culturally, it is still as much a hub of conspiracy theories as it used to be. And with the elections so close, theory makers are working...
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Let the dead remain buried
Almost a year ago on April 7th a massive avalanche killed around 139 Pakistani soldiers stationed near the Siachen Glacier. They were buried under more than three million cubic feet of snow at Gyari...
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The free and the fair
-Illustration by Khuda Bux Abro. This army of district-level honourable judges – declared as the ‘face of the judiciary’ by the Chief Justice after being entrusted with the authority to hold free and...
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Dr Taj Kirmani – A blessing for the blind
World-renowned Dr Tajuddin Hasan Kirmani passed away on Friday in his sleep and in doing so, marked the only time he did anything peacefully. A congenitally restless spirit, he fought frantically all...
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The hero who didn’t die young
The one person who had a sustained and wholesome influence over my life from birth to green youth – a man called M.M. Alam – died recently, without ever meeting me, or even hearing about me and his...
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A revolution in Pakistan?
There is a general consensus in Pakistan that the country is heading in the wrong direction. The same perception exists outside Pakistan with the term “failed state” raising its ugly head more...
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