Death by taxes
It took a two page report and a video on their website by the New York Times to demonstrate to many young people the abysmal state of tax collection in Pakistan. Social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook were awash with outraged tweets and posts of the article which described how only 2.5 million people...
INTOLERANCE AND HER CHILDREN
I couldn’t bring myself to write my column last week because of the rage I felt at our Government for censoring the Internet. It wasn’t that blocking Facebook or YouTube had brought life to an end but the sheer stupidity of the exercise coupled with the wider implications of censorship for the citizens of this...
HATING ZARDARI
Recently whenever people ask me what the funniest Asif Zardari joke I’ve heard, my response is always, “that he is the most successful President in the 63 year history of Pakistan.” I can picture readers cringing, noses wrinkling, and people asking to be passed the sick bag. What makes this nauseating sensation worse for most...
The Citadel
GHQ is the nerve center of the Pakistani military and is guarded by an Infantry battalion along with a similar number of the Defense Security Guards (DSG). Approximately 1600 military officials work at the GHQ who are responsible for running Pakistan’s military machine. Ten terrorists created mayhem for around 22 hours disrupting normal operations within...
ADVICE FROM DISNEYLAND
The Shaukat Tarin/Hina Rabbani Khar budget for 2009-10 is no different from any other Pakistani budget presented in the last two decades. There is nothing in there which will tangibly do anything for the 180 million wretched Pakistanis who find it difficult to make ends meet. Pakistani budgets are like Pakistani movies where viewers can...
The “But” Syndrome
The 27th of May bombing in Lahore, which has taken a minimum of 23 lives and wounded over 300 people can only be seen as a retaliatory strike by the Taliban who are finally at the receiving end from the Pakistan Army. The highly effective Army operation in Swat and Malakand Division now has the...
NO THANK YOU, WE’RE PAKISTANI
With Admiral Mullen and Richard Holbrooke meeting President Zardari as I write this article, initial reports quote the President telling the two Pakistan specialists from the Obama Administration, “Pakistan needs unconditional support”. As President Zardari knows very well there is no such thing as a blank check or a free lunch. The dynamic duo are...
Raptus Regaliter
Latin and Punjabi have a lot in common. For starters there are just some choice words in both languages, which simply cannot be found in other languages, nor do they translate well. Yet for someone who can’t speak a word of Latin, it sounds really brilliant and makes you sound quite academic. Raptus Regaliter means...
MADNESS IN MUMBAI
The firing hadn’t quite stopped and the Indians, no doubt horrified by the scale and the carnage of the attacks in Mumbai, had already begun pointing their fingers at Pakistan. To say that the leadership in both countries was shocked and taken by surprise by the attacks would be an understatement. From that point on...
THE GORA SYNDROME
“And how does one keep looking so good when one is so busy?”, this being Information Minister Sherry Rehman’s opening line to Sarah Palin, a politician with no real credentials, and now the Republican Vice-Presidential candidate. If this wasn’t bad enough, President Zardari shook her hand and opened with, “You’re gorgeous. Now I know why...
PERPETUAL CRISIS
Ever since I’ve been a child I’ve been hearing that Pakistan is passing through a critical stage and how the nation needs to come together to get through this “marhallah”. I am now 32 and we are again going through yet another crisis. In my lifetime one Prime Minister was hung by a General, two...
THE MESSIAH MYTH
The Supreme Court’s verdict on General Musharraf’s ability to contest the Presidential Elections should come as no surprise to anyone nor should the pre-determined result of this “election” be a shocker to anyone. The verdict is part of an orchestrated campaign which the Government has launched two months ago to ensure that General Musharraf stays...
