Educational Practices in Private Schools in Pakistan

Education has becomes an act of depositing. Instead of communicating, the teacher issues communiqués and makes deposits which the students patiently receive, memorize, and repeat.

School Days

I was passing through St Patrick’s the other day when quite out of nowhere memories of my time spent in that gentle and noble place came flooding in.

Quarter No.5

It had been raining for two hours. The heavens were in a generous mood that day. The sewer behind the 'servants' quarters' was overflowing with rainwater...

Lighting Up My Fire

I switch on the radio, and a good song from the eighties is playing. I start reminiscing about the olden days, the fake Ray Ban Wayfarers and the Sony Walkmans...

Freud and Jung and Their Secret Affairs

Of all of Freud’s admirers and critics, the most complex, complicated and troubled relationship was of Carl Jung. He started as an admirer and ended as a critic.

The Cruel Expulsions

Reaction to “Twenty Three Students Expelled From Punjab Medical College, Faisalabad�

I Spy Hindutva

Attempts have been made to 'saffronize' at both the ground level (by editing textbooks) and by challenging conclusions of scholars who have attempted to rewrite history.

Judah Folkman

History may yet end up remembering Judah Folkman, who passed away earlier this year at Denver International Airport, as the man who cured cancer.

Mediocre vs. Mediocre

As expected the report by Scotland Yard on Benazir Bhutto investigation came up with nothing helpful. Now what remains to be seen is the reaction of Pakistan People’s Party.

Pakistan's Universities - Problems and Solutions

300% jump in research publications, nine new engineering universities with European faculty, 3000 Pakistani students sent overseas for higher-degrees...self-serving lies, half-truths and deceit.

Search for Origins of Mahayana Buddhism

The land of Pakistan is blessed with one of the most important treasures of the world, the glorious civilization of Buddhism flourishing in the North Western areas of Pakistan.

Foreign Factor in our Higher Education

Our whole system of education is working in such a way to produce good high-tech workforce for European and American markets. Irony is we do this at our own expense.

Artifice of Scholarship : CSPI on FrontPage

Where will Mr. Warner hide when faced with the ignobility of logic deserting his beloved Christianity? What will he do when the devil of duality is discovered in his own sacred texts?

Neoliberalism and Madrassas: An Unholy Connection

How these schools (madrassas) are perhaps an indirect consequence of structural adjustment policies that are dictated by the IMF and the World Bank.

Ragging: A Sickness in our Educational System and Society

Several incidents of ragging have been reported at Indian colleges, some involving acts of brutal violence perpetrated on helpless first year students by groups of senior students.

Metamorphosis

He was terrified of anyone spinning the cocoon off him, terrified of anyone looking at him closely.

Ultimate Fate of the Universe

Observations of the supernova carried out by two groups in 1999, showed clearly that the universe was not only expanding but undergoing in a wild accelerated expansion.

Rote Learning Vis-à-vis Physical Comprehension

It’s beautiful to design an experiment. It’s equally beautiful to construct a working theory from the empirical information.

Science and the Islamic world --- The quest for rapprochement

With well over a billion Muslims and extensive material resources, why is the Islamic world disengaged from science and the process of creating new knowledge?

He Dared to Call His Own

He screamed and he screamed, until he was certain his lungs were forced empty of fury intermingling with paining love. And still, nobody listened.

One Wall

Hidden in silence
Surrounded by one wall

Bad Vibes

One should, at all costs, try not to enrage an intelligent man with authority and if one has to, it should be by the expression of one’s stupidity and not by the display of one’s intelligence

Carl Friedrich Gauss

It is said that Archimedes knew all the mathematics that was developed up to his time and some more. The same is said of Newton and Carl Gauss.

Alex

A tall, broad, handsome 21 year old who loved basketball, on the outside he was the same old Alex. But he had become someone he did not want to be.

Nietzsche – the Overman and the Three Metamorphoses

The overman can only prevail when God (and the likes of him) is dead and when that age comes “which is to carry heroism into the pursuit of knowledge and wage wars for the sake of thoughts and their consequence” .

In the beginning, God created the Heavens and the Earth

If religion is to follow the scientific lead, it then becomes falsifiable like science. When a religion becomes falsifiable, it loses its divine base and its God ceases to be as mighty as we conventionally believe It is.

Medical Lessons from the Death of a Poet

Can a breast specialist, however eminent, take over the role of a gynaec specialist? ... Are drugs like combiflam which many people do not tolerate require to be prescribed for our patients?...

The Hypocrisy of the Indian Leftists

A great victory for the cause of the OBCs was proclaimed by Karunanidhi though the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) estimated the loss due to strike at Rs. 2.5 billion.

Johannes Kepler – A Mysterious Cosmographist

He lived his life in poverty and misery but he immortalized himself by formulating his three laws of cosmology. He was a humble person who said, “there was nothing I could state that I could not also contradict.”

The Role of Mystics, Artists and Scientists in Human Evolution

Creative people have been in a minority but they have lead the majority on the path of human evolution.

Teaching Science Badly – and Well

Dogmatism kills science. Students should therefore experience science as a process for extending understanding, not as unalterable truth. Never should the teacher say X or Y is true just because that’s what the textbook says.

Can We Defy Time or Be Contacted from Outer Space?

As social human evolution is progressing at a faster rate, so are our capabilities to decode information. We are getting rather more accurate in our understanding of the universe and unraveling more complicated universal phenomenon while retaining our na

Memento Mori

Thoughtful and intriguing quotes, paintings and pictures on and about death and autopsies, gave the take-home message: live life, and embrace death.

Is “Strings” a Dud Theory?

String theory is criticized by its critics mainly because they claim that it doesn’t make any testable predictions. The few predictions that it does make are the ones which other existing theories had already made. So in their opinion, string theory

Venus, Earth, and Mars - The Untold Story

Some scientists speculate that the three planets, Venus, Earth, and Mars, shared approximately similar geology at the time of their cooling from their molten newly-born states. The evolution of these three planets along different lines from a similar dist

Bio-Science at the Crossroads

If there ever was a time to call science into discipline, it was now. It was widely stated that contrary to the Biblical injunction, man was playing God. Cloning of humans meant that the natural process of insemination and procreation would be made redund

An Untouchable Apology

The untouchables of Hinduism are a wretched lot. While it is not at the level of genocide, it is an institutionalised social discrimination over a very long period of time.

The Quality Of Pakistani Research

A first glance at the publication lists that are now popping up will lead anyone who is not a domain expert to believe that the HEC’s strategy of throwing money at the dismal state of higher education in our country is bearing fruit. However, a clos

Which Islam?

Although many of us despise the western style secularism, western science and philosophy, western democracy, and modernity, we do not have any reasonable and pragmatic substitutes for them. The result is an intellectual schism.

Religious Conservatism and Science

Those who seriously object and obstruct the stem cell research do so on moral grounds. They know that the embryo from which the cells are obtained is destroyed in the process. Destruction of an embryo is tantamount to killing a human being.

The Path of Self Destruction

I crush their skulls and eat eyeballs to quench my hunger
i long for a heart but that is with the living.

Dilemmas of Creative Children

Creative children prefer to follow the trails of their hearts rather than the highway of tradition. If their efforts are supported then their trails become the highways of the next generation

Nature and Natural Disasters

Today, astronomers can predict eclipses with high precision for thousands of years. One day we will be able to do the same for earthquakes. Such an understanding will only come when we stop seeking supernatural explanations for natural phenomenon.

Subramanyan Chandrasekhar - an Astrophysicist Par Excellence

Although Chandra was bitter about Eddington’s treatment, they let “bygones be bygones” eventually. Eddington promoted Chandra’s election to the Royal Society in 1944. According to Eugene Parker, a colleague at University of Chicago

Comprehending Time

We usually have an intuitive perception of time but when we are asked to explain what it is, we find ourselves at a loss to describe it consistently.

Nasty Karma

On his way out, one of the attendees opened his bag, took out a celebrated deodorant, placed it on the table before me and said, “This might drill some holes into the O-zone, but is darn good for body odor!”

The Science Performer

Hooking people, especially children, on to science, is Arvind Gupta’s game. And he has mastered it well. For 25+ years he has been practicing activity-based science teaching.

On death of a Terrorist

I did not know what to feel about the death of the most dreaded murderer and terrorist. I thought I should feel something.

The Birdman of India

I had never heard of Salim Ali before in my life because I was not interested in the birds and bird-watching. Seabrook’s article intrigued my curiosity and I set out finding who the distinguished Indian ornithologist, Salim Ali, was...

A Rant Against Reservations

Facts on education in Pre-British India leads to the conclusion that Backward Classes (OBCs) are responsible for their own backwardness and for not transferring to the schools that the British opened in India like the Upper Castes did who had the most to

Islam, Prophet and Blasphemy

Dreaming/Nightmaring in a Perfectly 3+1 Dimensional World

I was born and raised in Tehsil 786, the only place in modern-day Pakistan that was never colonized by the ‘takers’ from Britain. I’m a cow, a living organism just as you are

BPOnama

Global Warming and Hurricanes

Therefore there are not many conclusive and definitive studies of the effects of global warming on hurricanes. However, there is a preponderance of consensus that the global warming

I Miss You Chili Chips!

Her Urdu was worse than Benazir’s yet that didn’t stop me from dreaming about her – in English.

The Wicked Witch Of Western Literature

True for any of us who has had crazy teachers going against our creative endeavors... this story is an exercise in narrarational exorcism.

Chickens are Coming Home to Roost

According to washingtonpost.com, “John Hannah, an aide to Cheney and one of two dozen people questioned in the CIA leak case, has told friends in recent months he is worried he may be implicated by the investigation, according to two U.S. officials.

Devrai: Story of a Schizophrenic

You’re married living in a small Indian town, have a school-going child, and besides are burdened with an elder brother who is a patient of schizophrenia.

Flying Spaghetti Monsterism

In the mean time, a new theory of intelligent design, which I call intelligent design II, has sprouted. The creator of this theory is Bobby Henderson who is a graduate of Oregon State University with a degree in physics. He propounded this satirical theor

The Dance of the Damned

'We Dalits are like animals. The moment we are born we are on our own. There is no support system. We are constantly made aware that we are apart.'

Decline of Science in the Muslim World

They (Muslims) tried to find reasons and rationale for every thing in religious terms. This mode of thinking which some like to call Islamic occasionalism is part of the collective psyche of the orthodox Muslim world and has existed from the very beginnin

Was Muslim Astronomy the Harbinger of Copernicanism?

In as much as the mathematization of the planetary movement was concerned, the Musilm (Arab) contribution cannot be ignored particularly in view of the fact that they developed trigonometry, algebra, and spherical trigonometry, and this knowledge was fund

Fraud and Forgery in Science

Fraud and forgery is rare in the science world but it’s there.

Einstein’s Love Life

In spite of his marriage to Elsa, Einstein sought sexual favors from other women also. In the early 1920s, he fell in love with a friend’s niece. To keep her in Berlin, he hired her as a secretary. Elsa permitted Albert to see his mistress twice a w

Paleoanthropology and Evolution of Humankind

The idea of descent from a common ancestor was given by Charles Darwin in 1850s. This idea was so revolutionary that almost all the scientists who were trying to understand the biological evolution accepted

Age of the Earth and Its Measures

As a footnote, I started this essay with an ayat from the Quran, which enjoined people to study the signs of God. Ironically, it is the non-Muslim world that followed this injunction, studied the signs of nature, and developed the human knowledge to its p

The Utility of Art

What could be the cause of an American’s life of “happy mediocrity”? Why do Americans spend their money on charity and space travel over artwork?

A Summer’s Nightfall

Her eyes reflected compassion. Somehow, I felt I could tell her anything. I talked about home and my family. I talked about Nadia. I was stunned at how much my heart had held back all these years.

A Letter from the Village

His mother’s voice, rising like ribbons
In the molten sky, fetching him home.

Did Wallace forestall Darwin?

As the historical facts bear out, (Alfred Russel) Wallace did not forestall Darwin in formulating the theory of natural selection but he did rattle Darwin to the extent of enervation, and forced his hand to publish his research immediately. ....

The Call

Was I not in a position to pray? Would I be committing another big sin by responding to the call whilst being intoxicated? I didn’t have the answers. I still don’t. but that’s not reason enough … to not respond.

Intelligent Design versus Natural Selection

Both parties interpret the scientific data from their own vantage point and seek support for their respective positions. But it is only the scientists who collect such data not only to refute the creationists but to do what they normally do, namely, to ad

The Easy Path to Publication is paved with Your Dollars

The phrase refers more specifically to the working of those organizations which claim to promote writers/poets and their work, yet in reality, their sole function is to extract money from them in the name of contests, services or anthologies.

Corporal Punishment

The moment a child is admitted to school, he or she starts serving a sentence of corporal punishment and verbal abuse. No doubt, every child today is somehow affected by violence and abuse at home, on the streets, in the media

Promoting Research in Pakistan: A Few Ideas

This article was presented in National Policy Dialogue Series initiated by Virtual Think Tank Pakistan in collaboration with MoST.

Prize and Prejudice

According to Helge Kragh (2), “Until 1922, Einstein had been nominated no fewer than 62 times, and only one of the nominations mentioned the photoelectric effect specifically. The Swedish physicist who wrote the report on Einstein’s theory of

Arey Larkay!

“Arey Larkay, go to the fourth room, third shelf from the right and fourth from the top, bring me the seventh book from the right.”

India Through Pakistani Eyes

Is India now set to become a science juggernaut, a leader of the coming 'Asian Century'? A nascent superpower of the East?

What is Islamization of Science?

If science developed by Muslim scientists is to be called Islamic science, sure, it can be created if the Muslim scientists concentrate and produce some original work in scienc. But this sort of symbolization is apocryphal...

Some of My Mentors in Professional Life

When I opened his paper, my heart jumped into my throat and I was overcome by excitement. The point of departure of Henderson’s paper was the same as that of mine (Einstein’s bed load formula)...

Caste and the City

Caste discrimination operates via exclusivism. We won’t live with you, we won’t eat with you, and we won’t socialize with you. So it should not be surprising that such marginalisation extends to the job market.

Losing It

The beloved Lahori culture known only for its eating and ‘Heera Mandi’. This is the city where I spent my youth. There is no denying here that losing it in Karachi can be quite different from losing it in Lahore, and a hell lot different from

The Hazardous Mix: A Peculiar Act and the Perilous Energy

India's Atomic Energy Act 1962 - its intent and the reality

Our Minds Our Existance

If our existance is solely dependent on our ability to use our minds, and be able to reap the benefits or suffer the consequences, then, why is God there, at all?

Dr Abdus Salam - The ’Mystic’ scientist

Dr Salam won the Nobel Prize in Physics 1979 for his research in “Grand unification theory”. This theory was inspired by his spiritual beliefs that all forces emanate from a single source.

The Genie

I say a silent good bye to him and look up at the ceiling again. I imagine the stars and slowly they start to appear one by one. They are back. And now maybe the magic will return too. I smile to myself and start connecting the dots.

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 ...

Madrassahs and Schools

The void, at present, is getting wider.

Jacques Derrida, Founder of Deconstruction, is Dead

..Make it your last question because it sends deconstruction into paroxysm of rage. Yet the theory of deconstruction was the rage...

The Allahabad I Knew

A customer was looking for Jacques Derrida’s works. He and the owner lamented Derrida’s death before launching into a passionate discussion on deconstruction. I smiled to myself. This was the Allahabad I remember, where words and books and wri

Physical Theory and Empirical Verification

As more and more diverse phenomena were related in the threads of mathematical theories, these theories became ever more sophisticated and complex. For this reason, they were getting....

Synchronicity (Novella part 2 of 2)

..in my restless dreams...I shall await you... forever..

Synchronicity (Novella part 1 of 2)

'I wont tell you to remember me, but I cant bear for you to forget me..'

Of Brane New World!

It has been the most cherished dream of man ever since he evolved into homosapien to comprehend the world in which he lived...

Mute Goat Dilemma

Perhaps there will come a day when I will step out of my door without bracing myself against another wolf-whistle or cheap comment or body-piercing gaze following me at every step towards my destination.

Mathematics for All University Students

The role of mathematics in science, and society generally, is misunderstood by common folk. Such lack of understanding is also prevalent in educational policy makers

Science versus Non-Science

Generally, even a neat and tidy scientific theory bound together with immaculate logic does not get published or if published does not receive acceptability until it is verified by actual observations or laboratory data. Exceptions are there but ..

Abdus Salam - The Miracle Scientist of Pakistan

To some people, Salam’s genius was a kind of mystery. His approach to the problems that he worked on could be illusive and not self-evident...

Club X

Ashish, the guy with the perma-smirk, was feeling happier with his life than he had right to be. Lately, he had been haunted by the fear of becoming engulfed into The Sea of Mediocrity. He had tried several diversions like paid sex to kinky sex to paid an

Tragic Deaths of Three Great Scientists

The great era of Greek mathematical science, which began with the birth of a man, ended with the death of a woman.

What Should be the Top-10 S&T Policy Priorities for Pakistan?

It is critical that we build upon these successes of the past few years to create a more permanent and sustainable foundation of technology-led growth for the future.

Needed: A National Dialogue on Science, Technology, Research and Higher/Basic Education

Prioritizing Science and Technology

This article presents a few ideas about bringing positive changes in science and technology sector of Pakistan.

The Grasshopper

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

September 12

you toss my brothers in the water– sink or float? now tell me– what separates the sheep from the goats?

Writing the Encyclopedia of Britannica on the Head of a Pin

Feynman was not only a great scientist, but he was a great seer and a sage also. He could perceive and think of objects which ordinary scientists found hard to imagine.

Recent Accounts of US Perfidy in Iraq

While President Bush may believe that he is carrying out ‘a mission that has been sanctioned by the divine’, as he recently indicated in a White House press conference, there is significant evidence from noteworthy sources which reveals otherw

The Travelogue of an Astronomer

An astronomer’s journey to the volcanic island of La Palma, located off the coast of Morocco.

Stone Walls and Metal Gates

Some nights she dreamt of flying through the darkness, over lands and seas until she stood in the balcony of her home. She would hear muted sounds of her family from behind the glass doors and heavy curtains

The Nuclear Father

Under Munir’s dedicated leadership, Pakistan’s nuclear programme developed into a multi-faceted and dynamic center of science and technology, both on the peaceful and deterrence sides.

Limitations of Science

Science does not have answers to all the questions ... Religion may not be true in every thing ... we need other things to have a harmonious life.

Quantum Computer - New Technology for the New Century

The quantum logic is different from the classical logic. The Schrodinger cat can be dead, alive, or dead and alive at the same time........

Quantitative Science in Evolution of Humanity

Through the evolution of natural science how successful we have been and to analyze the possible factors that serve as impediments in the improvement of the human condition.

Memory and other Poems

My mother says
if women did not forget,
they would have just that one child.

I am the result of her forgetfulness.

Is Physical Science Socially Constructed?

Physical science has its own methodology and tests of verification and validation.

Only $5 Million

Despite its low price tag, our national pride satellite Paksat-1 is underutilized; according to reports from the finance ministry, it will continue to face and generate losses for its entire five-year lifespan.

Revelation

a revelation, a satanic discretion, an external idea, or a plea within?

Is Science without Religion really Lame

Science generally inculcates a sense of humility in the scientists who are overwhelmed by the realization how little they know about nature and our universe...

Of faith, Engineering and the Human Visual System

The creator of the human body must have had perfection in mind when he sat down on the drawing board.

Thinking of Home

Friends and siblings are too busy to write. And my mother, I know is too old to make it to the post-office.

Dark Mysteries of Our Mysterious Universe

The dark energy story began in 1998 when astronomers reported that the most distant galaxies seemed to be receding far faster than calculations predicted

Flashbacks from School

Those were also the days when we grew by an inch a month and the body chemistry was changing rapidly. Our voices changed and hair began to grow at odd places. Unfamiliar powerful forces, of which we knew little about, were building up inside us ...

The final story of the day

The problem is not that people do not like our computer generated stories based on creative and original ideas penned half a century ago. The problem is that science fiction has become science fact!

Can Science Survive?

It rains because God wills it, And God has created the sun to provide heat and daylight...

India Ascendant: Gravity’s grasp versus poverty’s clasp

On August 15th 2003, Prime Minister Vajpayee announced - “Our country is now ready to fly high in the field of science. I am pleased to announce that India will send her own spacecraft to the moon by 2008. It is being named Chandrayaan I.”

Religion without Science is Blind

Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind -- Albert Einstein

Free Thought is Key to Progress

Aazadi-e-afkar sey haiy unn ki tabahi, Rakhtay naheen jo fikr-o-tadabbar ka saleeq
(If a person is forbidden from indulging in free thought, how he can acquire the skills and the right attitude for free thinking)

Being a Girl...

In our society gender seems to be a sky high barricade on the road to ambition.

Barriers: A Review

It is about five individuals (four from the Abbas family and Roger) who are trying to deal either directly or indirectly with the fallout of 9-11

Conflict of Science with Theocracy

Although all the various governments in the Muslim countries are not constitutionally theocratic in structure, all of them do indeed have constitutional provisions forbidding divergence from the fundamental beliefs based on religious tradition and the Hol

Bombs and Beards

It traverses my face like a helmet strap, as if trying to keep my lower jaw from falling. What started as an urge to make something different out of myself has now maintained a debilitating and deceptive permanency, making others believe what I am not

Simulated

Then, without warning, the ship exploded, or at least seemed to explode, as thousands of fragments ejected simultaneously, and radiated out from the former position of the ship, in almost all directions, except those angularly close to the exact opposite

Can Muslims Become Part of Mainstream Nationalism?

Whenever any disturbances involving Muslims take place anywhere, the Hindu community is automatically blamed - though sometimes justifiably.

Admissions Open

Universities have turned admissions process into a money making scheme - admit this.

The Lady-Charmers of Laloo-Khait

For adolescent adventures involving girls Laloo-Khait provided an unusually harsh environment. In highly conservative and poor town there was no easy access to girls

Sheedah Badma’ash

Abdul Rasheed Butt and I were class fellows at high school in the senior years. Our School was an Islamia School but was more popularly called the “Khudd School” – a hole of a school

Women in Religious Scriptures

Gender relationships in religious frame-work

Protest March on the 30th of March (no pun intended!)

We call ourselves citizens of the world.

Stranger than Fiction

I never realized that stories stranger than fiction lay right next to my pillow

Whatever Happened to Eve?

The epic struggle between an angry Italian and a UFO cult to create the first human clone baby!

Islam in Crisis (part 1)

Once Upon A Time: When The World Spoke Arabic

A survey of the Golden Period of Islamic Civilization, during the Umayyad and Abbasid Caliphates

Our Master Jallaludin Rumi

A nation of Love has a different religion, God alone is their nation and religion

Uniting Muslims on Eid

Muslims are unable to get together even on the occasion of Eid

Skeptical And Counter-Skeptical Trends In Medieval Islam

There are hundreds of religions in the world, each one of them claiming to be the only true religion

Problems with Universities in Pakistan

Who is the real culprit, the educated class or the mullah?

Intellectual Diversity of Human Thought

Man is a rational animal and is ensnared in his own web.

Looking For Life on Other Worlds

Are ingredients that make up life on Earth common in the universe?

Promises of A Brave New World

A profound question that confronts religious thought in general is whether or not the idea of 'change' may be reconciled with the 'eternal' and 'perennial' truth that religion is expected to convene. And if at all so, then to what extent.

How Not to Reform Universities

By a stroke of some bureaucrat’s pen, the ’University of Malakand’ has now been deemed to exist

The Great Illusion

How pure is our bloodline?

Night of Burning Terror

It was a clear, cold night early in February 1948...

Caste, Technology and Religious Conversions in India

the segregation of human ability and skill from one’s social status has perpetuated an imbalanced perspective about how economic processes work

The Forgotten Children of God

Beneath the four main castes is a fifth group, the Scheduled Caste

The Cling Effect

there is a persistence of the non-rational in the human belief system

End of Physics

The Theory of Everything, if you dare to be bold

Is IT the Panacea?

most high-end technologists in areas such as computer science will leave for better opportunities in the West

Women in India: Are We Better Off?

What should the wife do if her husband beats her and troubles her?

India Unvarnished

An unemotional examination of some of the main questions about India’s history

Cracking the Code of Life

Having knowledge of our biological essence has its dark side

Should Pakistan start a Virtual University?

India, China and Malaysia have made considerable progress in providing university level course through the Net

Family Laws in Bangladesh

family law codes are inconsistent with the Constituion on three counts

Sadia Afroze Ali

Without going into didactic or dialectical discourse, let me say I apologize. .

Life on Earth: Chance or Deliberate. A Reply

The fact that we have survived in our universe does not mean that we are the sole purpose of the universe.

Life on Earth: Chance or Deliberate

...atheist scientists who believed that everything in this universe was a mere coincidence

Dear Chowk Readers

A call for action from Pervez Hoodbhoy to the Chowk community for Science education in Pakistan

Obituary: Munir Ahmad Khan

Pakistan’s historians are unlikely to be kind to Munir Ahmad Khan, the former chairman of the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission, who died in Vienna in April 1999

Bombs, Missiles and Pakistani Science

The Chaghi tests, and more recent Ghauri-II and Shaheen-I missile launches, have been deemed heroic symbols of high scientific achievement... Are they?

Pagans and Competitive Conversions

On conversions and reverse conversions

The Origin of Life

A thought provoking enquiry

Growing up an American Muslim

You’re related to Saddam aren’t ya?

An Evolving Conversation

A One-Act Play on the topic of biological evolution

Dissection of Evolution Theory

The author argues that pure reason is fallible and bounded

Job Churn

Are engineers being traded like commodities?

The Environmental Impact of a Nuclear Explosion

What happens after a nuclear detonation?

Science, Delusion and the Appetite for Wonder

Is science a superior form of knowledge?

The Bride Burning

Mankind will not stand by and witness our burning:  Mankind will not immolate truth.

Is Science a Religion?

A case can be made that faith is one of the world’s great evils.

Evolution 101

Darwin and Islam

The Incoherence of the Man-made Man

Does ’Man Make Himself’?

Infinite in All Directions

An introduction to the art of Elementary Particle Physics.

Is Islam Undemocratic?

Reconciling modernity and tradition.

A Conversation with Dr. Ali Hussain Rajput

How a mischievous little boy from Chukk Number 30, District Sanghar, made it to the top echelon of Neurological Sciences.

The Impossible Fundamentalism of Doubt

What has been lost in the furor over the Fatwa, however, is the immorality of Rushdie’s gospel of doubt.

The Confusion and the Foggy View

This process of humility is not just an individual phenomenon, but also a collective one. As we continue to learn, we increasingly realize that we know less about the universe and ourselves than we previously imagined.

Where in the Brain is the Mind

The author, who has a background in neuroscience, tries to grapplewith the question of what makes us aware of our own existence.

Abdus Salam

Salam’s proposal met with great resistance, with one delegate from a developed nation saying, ’Theoretical physics is the Rolls-Royce of sciences - the developing countries need only bullock carts.

Fifty years of Science in Pakistan in Socio-Economic Contex

Transcript of the speech delivered on August 5, 1997 at the International Nathiagali Summer College.

Remembering Abdus Salam

...Pakistani children should grow up reading story books about a hero named Abdus Salam...

Professor Abdus Salam

A recollection of Salam’s accomplishments.

Science and Religion

It is generally believed that science is anti-religion and that science and religion battle against each other for the minds of men. Is this correct?

Tribute to Abdus Salam

To him Evil flourished through ignorance, and was to be fought to the bitter end by knowledge.

Salam, Science and Secularism

...I have chosen to talk not about Salam’s brilliant successes but, instead, his most spectacular failure ...

Why didn’t the Scientific Revolution happen in Islam?  

Every great civilization writes its own history, selectively extracts data from the past, and then proves to its satisfaction that its greatness has no peer or rival.

Teaching and Popularizing Science

Striking demonstrations that destroy deeply entrenched ideas are essential -- it is through them that minds open and newer pathways of understanding develop.

The Science of Moon Sighting

Many of us have taken Sister Moon to be our guide, especially in matters religious, but few of us know where its leading us. First of a series on moon sighting and some common misconceptions.