The Aftermath of Musharraf’s Departure

After Musharraf’s departure, there might be some respite in the escalating insurgency and intensifying turmoil in Pakistan’s Northern scenic valley of Swat and Tribal regions.

17 August 1988

An army chief who should never have been the chief in the first place and should have instutionally retired by 1980 was finally terminated by divine design on 17 August 1988.

Roshni

In the stillness of the evening, the quietness of a beautiful garden, the most powerful man in the world has a conversation with his sister.

Solving Amarnath: A New Hope in Kashmir

It demonstrates to the Kashmiris that by resorting to non-violent action, there is a room for manoeuvre and things can be changed through peaceful means.

Delayed Justice

Centre’s decision to award a compensation package totaling Rs 330 crores to the victims of the 2002 Gujarat riots can at best be described as a pre-election effort at applying a healing touch.

Logotherapy: Humanism In Psychiatry

The heart has reasons that reason does not know ... A reflection on Victor Frankl’s “The Unheard Cry for Meaning�

Bridge Mania

Myrtle Bennett of Kansas City shot her husband John to death on September 29, 1929, over a bridge hand. Her husband had opened the bidding with one spade.

Kiss of Death

Unlike cigarettes, gutka comes without a health warning and lack of awareness of its impact on health increases its consumption.

Voting For Change

Despite pre-poll manipulation and irregularities voters have rejected the politics of hate and religious extremism.

Election 2008: Looking Ahead

The election result has come as a touch of healing to the anxious, wounded and exhausted and tense nation.

Cynicism Amongst Pakistani Youth

Today the most disturbing trend amongst the youth is the growing use of narcotics. This phenomenon cannot be viewed in isolation from the socio-political and economic realities.

Can Religious Leaders Redeem the Future of the World?

138 prominent Muslim scholars have written an open letter to Pope Benedict XVI calling for religious harmony between Christians and the Muslims.

Confessions of Webaholics

Has it been five hours since you’ve been watching movie clip after movie clip on You Tube? Or may be you were just randomly searching people’s profiles on Facebook.

Alcohol Use and Abuse

Knowledge about alcohol use and abuse allows people to make responsible choices rather than hiding the problem or relying on traditional myths that are hundreds of years old.

Memsahib

A Poem should always raise more questions than it answers.

An Alternative Approach to International Development

Although many nations have promised 0.7% of GNI to relieve suffering and secure the enjoyment of basic human rights, no one is able to hold them accountable.

Book: Maps for Lost Lovers by Nadeem Aslam

Aslam has really succeeded in portraying the lives, dreams, and fears of immigrant Pakistanis in the UK. That he does it with magical prose is icing on the cake.

Moral Bankruptcy of Political Leadership in Pakistan

The pundits are saying that Musharaf & Bibi are ideological allies. As if these two camps actually have ideologies.

He and She

She ran after him and they looked like two small kids playing in the water.

Shades of Mendacity

“Emma, we have a 7.30 flight to catch. I hope all is packed and ready”, Jacques voice was visibly loud at the door. In 15 minutes, Emma and Jacques were all set for their 7th vacation since their wedding. This time the destination was Zuric

24 Hours in Dubai - Dunes and Dinars

Half the women I see are dressed in full burqas, and the other half look like Britney Spear rejects - this place is so full of opposites, it’s a yin yang of cultures.

Deweaponise Your Thoughts

“..Because of the perpetual — and all-too-real — fear of being hurt, or of death, or of unbearable loss, or even of “mere” humiliation, each and every one of us, the conflict’s citizens, its prisoners, trim down our own

Leprosy

Urvishi is unhappy and silent, walks sluggishly. Did ever Sahil before it watch her slothful? No, no, no. Might a humorous girl grow worried? And much distraught too. She is a silly girl. Silly, silly, silly. Sahil announces.

Of Men And Rats

So it was rats who challenged the human supremacy. Unlike other species they neither ran away from human settlements nor let themselves domesticated; rather, they preferred to stay close … just 14 ft down.

One Man’s Religion as Another Man’s Belly Laugh

The funny side of the Pope’s comments - why can’t people laugh anymore?

Hercule Poirot’s Christmas

Mr. Hercule Poirot, the famous detective, relaxed in his couch and wondered what to do next.

Darfur - Why UN Troops are not the Solution!

The sanctity of human life cannot be simply protected by military means or UN resolutions, it requires a transformational change in our collective values and our political actions.

Mullahs: Dulha Bhais of the World

The flames of hatred are easy to fan and difficult to extinguish. When the flames are stoked by religious fervor, they are even more dangerous.

Waiting for Enlightenment

After almost five years of ‘enlightened moderation,’ it seems there is more continuity than change. And, with each passing day, it becomes harder to see how such a policy can hope to stem the tide of religious radicalism that is overwhelming P

Alka and Ulka

Composed and appearing a bit contrite, fresh ticket with her correct name on the table in front of her, the beautiful lady said, “I’m sorry for creating a scene, but I get very upset when I’m called Alka instead of Ulka.”

Is Iran Headed for War?

If history is a good judge then I can say with some surety that Pakistan will allow Americans to attack Iran from Pakistan border. In fact, it might well become a proxy state for the Americans like it did during the Afghan war against Russia

A Ghostly Night in Sunshine Hospital

Other ghosts sense that I’m a newcomer. One whisks me off to the mortuary, because, it hisses, ‘ it’s a good place to chill out in’. No luck. The mortuary has ‘dance-practice’ going on inside it

Unfit For Command

One Chief of Army Staff directing to gag a poor hapless rape victim for upholding image of the country, the other duly complying with. Welcome to the invincible and enlightened land of pure.

A Whiter Shade of Green

If I have never written a single word against Musharaf then I have neither written a single word for Musharaf either. Until now. Right now.

Mukhtaran Mai vs. the Rest of Pakistan

There are examples in history where armies were dispatched to protect the honour of a single woman. There is however no example of a single woman dispatching herself to fight against an army of institutions that collectively represent an entire countr

Arachnophobia Vs. Nyctophobia

Like Archimedes, I once ran naked straight out of the bath into the street; the reason for this though, was not any significant scientific discovery, but the power shut down! It went pitch black in the bathroom all of a sudden...

The first time I quit

Three of my smoking neighbors pass by outside my window. They are sweet and I have been collected by them already. A collection amounts to a wave and a smile.

Punch Drunk Love

He lay on the drawing room carpet; face down, totally drunk and vomiting. My eyes welled up and I could not stop my sobs.

Desperately Seeking Dictators and Dissenters

Indians might want to celebrate the disclosure that the Pakistani leader is among the worst dicatators, but wait a minute. When was the last time we looked in the mirror? Do we truly believe the West is sparing us because we do not have problems?

Children of Dictatorship

I have always referred to my contemporaries as Zia’s children... We were socialised in a culture of sectarian and communal hate, drugs, guns, Pajeros, and with a false consciousness based only on abstinence. Not much has changed in this generation o

Judicial Murder of a Prime Minister

Bhutto was removed from the political scene of Pakistan to satisfy the power lust and perpetuate the rule of the vily military dictator General Zia Ul Haque

Cosmological Fantasies

We are at a stage where we can construct sophisticated mathematical theories and successfully use them for making predictions but are unable to have realistic insights into the physical reality of the predicted events and phenomena. Considered in this ...

If This be Treason, then Make the Most of It

After having freed from the Western Colonialists almost all Muslim Asian countries have had been under the influence of dictators and kings, who control the absolute power -- the root-cause of Islamic fundamentalism, which has engulfed the Middle Eastern

The Fight

Hai yeh jang zindagi ki mot say
Man will find a reason to live
In the most desolate desert of life
There will always be a worthy fight

International Law: Applicability and Real Politik in the Middle East

For the first time since 1948, an Israeli prime minister or government elect has publicly stated what the Palestinians have been crying out for years

Cast Away Fear

I was not trying to kill myself, I was just running after the sun, I was trying to save it from drowning

A Small Chappati

The doggie wasn’t looking up or down. He was walking two steps behind his master, and smelling shoe after shoe after shoe. Beads of cold sweat appeared on my forehead and trickled down my face. I was transfixed. Anything could happen.

The Grasshopper

I’m a grasshopper. My jumping legs, mechanical marvels to be sure, are attached to my harness around the waist.

Elucidation from the Loony Side

I am a victim of madness, brought upon by very powerful media. Madness, as you may have realized, is a nature. It has been termed as a disease of the brain but eventually it acquires the attributes of disposition.

The Fears Within Me

And I hear her moaning! Weeping with those tears that don’t seem to stop… and I question her Why?...

Acidity - Novellete Part III (final)

A novelette zigzagging along an addict’s (heroinchie’s) pathological observations of the bleak and absurd comedy of 21st century’s social and political neurosis

Acidity - Novellete Part II

A novelette zigzagging along an addict’s (heroinchie’s) pathological observations of the bleak and absurd comedy of 21st century’s social and political neurosis

Acidity - Novellete Part I

A novelette zigzagging along an addict’s (heroinchie’s) pathological observations of the bleak and absurd comedy of 21st century’s social and political neurosis

Dear Mr. Gaddafi

What should I tell Mr. Gaddafi, if he allows me? What I told Saddam.

Musharraf : Self Styled Saviour Stuck in a Rut

Musharraf is in a bit of a quandary, and while he’s stuck so is Pakistan.

When Democracy Failed: The Warnings of History

The 70th anniversary wasn't noticed in the United States

The Great Game for Central Asian Oil

The Imperialist Ring from Yugoslavia to Afghanistan

Open Letter to Those Opposing the Iraq War

And the truth shall prevail. Whether someone likes it or not.

The Urdu Press in New York

We never thought we would flee America

Can we Stop the War

Can do our bit to stop the War on Iraq?

Is It A War On Islam?

What, then, should be the strategy for all those who believe in a just world and are appalled by America's war on the weak?

A Work In Progress

Jinnah put Pakistan in such a location that the future state would always be involved in the geo-politics of world

An All-Inclusive Rejoinder to All the Chronic Complainers

there are few nations on the face of earth blessed with such an omnipotent uniformed force

Hypocrisy Big

Is America an Empire? Is the Pope Catholic?

Islamic Utopia?

Reconciling Islam and Modernity

Democracy is Like Virginity

A Contrary Opinion

why not give the goodwill to someone who has only been brutally honest with us

Deja Vu

General Musharraf should be open and honest

Empty Vessels And All That Jazz

do you think he is up to task to rid us of feudals next?

Here Are the Muslim Feminist Voices, Mr. Rushdie!

Muslim women HAVE been speaking out against the obscurantist Islam he decries

Explaining it to an American Friend

godspeed and prudence in this time of grieving

An Eulogy For The Hawks

Your administrations’ talks with President Musharraf

The Chicken Hawks Of Pakistan

The military should accept the fact that it is a dictatorship

Democracy in Pakistan: The Missing Link?

Democracy has long been a buzzword in Pakistan

DOST of the Hopeless

there, but for the grace of God, go I

Should Pakistan Honor the Lahore Resolution?

why Pakistan failed to become a confederation in accordance with the spirit and content of the Lahore resolution?.

Just another cry in the dark

In our 53 years of turbulent history the country has seen nothing but thieves and self righteous leaders

Pakistan - The Way Forward

An Activist’s Appeal

Who will Bell the Bad, Fat Cats?

A scathing look at journalism in Pakistan

Compilation of Opinions on the Military Takeover in Pakistan

Peoples opinions and reactions

Kargil and the Myth of Losing the Media War

Consider for a moment that you are NOT a Pakistani

Balkan Tragedy: A Re-enactment of the 1971 Genocide in Bangladesh

The escalating human tragedy in Kosovo gives me a sense of deja vu

Getting Ready for ‘Bus Diplomacy’

Vajpayee and Sharif get creative. First bombs then bus rides.

Jinnah, My Hero

Jinnah, the fragile man with an iron will.

Agenda for Pakistani Press

The press has no credibility

Giving Way to Intolerance

During the last many years, religious intolerance and sectarian fanaticism have created a war-like situation in Pakistan

Letter from Nagasaki

I am the grand daughter of a survivor of Nagasaki, and I bear the scars of that living hell

Calling a Spade a Spade

Thus a new historical precedent was established where 53% of the population were denounced as traitors

Poet Sheikh Ayaz

He was incarcerated many times for his seditious writings and was also sentenced to death, but escaped gallows due to the sudden change of government.