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...
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...
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...
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...
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 HIGH COST OF PARALYSIS
General Zia’s dentures at Jabra Chowk in Islamabad must be grinning that sleazy lop sided grin of theirs as the chickens are coming home to root in the NWFP. The seeds sowed by General Zia and his cohorts are now bearing fruit and how. For the past 9 years we’ve been told that all is...
DELUSIONS
I usually don’t write follow up articles, but my last column titled “Our Heroes” published in this newspaper on the 10th of June brought in such diverse feedback which I wanted to share with readers. The emails were broadly segmented into three categories – the first ones being the easiest to dismiss as they struggled...
THE NEED FOR SPEED
While the PPP and the PML-N dance this perverted version of political polka on native and sandy shores over the “judges” issue, the glee which is being generated in the camps of the PML-Q and the Presidency has not been seen since the first US aid package was received. Back at the farm, the plebs...
THE DOMINO EFFECT
From New York to Paris, the financial sector has been rocked with scandals, scams, massive oversight by regulators, and an erosion of shareholder value at a scale that the international financial markets have never witnessed. Bear Stearns, a name which could evoke such passions in young Pakistani bankers to which even 40 virgins couldn’t compare,...
STAR GAZING
Nothing can be as bizarre as watching events in the motherland from afar and the past three weeks have helped me get a better understanding of how and why we seem as we do to the rest of the world. Landing in California three weeks ago there was not a news outlet in the country...
SEPERATING THE BOYS FROM THE MEN
I’ve used this quote before but a year later it seems much more appropriate. Sir Winston Churchill said, “Dictators ride to and fro upon tigers which they dare not dismount. And the tigers are getting hungry.” Given the curbs on free media in Pakistan, I can’t say who this quote is most appropriate for but...
