MONKS & MULLAHS
I remember going to Swat decades ago during a summer vacation from school and vividly remember the tranquil valley with its streams, the mountains, and the forests. Since then much has changed. First came the loggers who stripped the trees away as they have done so from much of Northern Pakistan. And now a different...
BATTLE LINES
There are time to sit on fences and there are times where you need to pick sides, and I think the time has come to pick our sides without any ambiguous grey areas so familiar to Pakistani politics and drawing rooms. Benazir Bhutto’s arrival in Karachi on Thursday and the hundreds of thousands of people...
DOG EAT DOG
On Thursday the 16th of May, the honorable Prime Minister of Pakistan, Mr. Shaukat Aziz decided to grace the citizens of Karachi with his presence with the central aim of “reviewing” the situation. He issued a statement that the police and other State security apparatus had done a “good job” in handling the May 12th...
LOONEY TOONS
I think more has been written about the offending cartoons that the Danes have presented us than has been written on providing clean water and health care in the press for one year. And while I understand why Muslims around the world are furious about the offending cartoons, I cannot understand the level of violence...
WE’RE FROM URANUS, THE REST OF THE WORLD IS FROM MARS
Whether it’s women running in marathons or the religion column in the passport; the Agha Khan University Education Board (AKUEB) or Meera’s confidence building measures across the border; “fahashi” on television or who’s really a Muslim; what exactly is the correct length of the beard or the uniform – the self-appointed guardians of Islam, reincarnated...
