Fasi Zaka on old comic books, mediocre achievements and valuing substance in a woman. What is your idea of perfect happiness? Being happy with what I have now. What is your greatest fear? Being happy with what I have now. What is the trait you most deplore in yourself? Donating blood every day at 7 pm to help the poor. What is the trait you most deplore in others? I don’t like brutally honest people. Not all opinions deserve voicing. What is your greatest extravagance? Junk food. What is your current state of mind? Have become a bit pessimistic, the … Continue reading Not all opinions deserve voicing: Fasi Zaka

Mr Cameron doesn’t understand Pakistan. Sadly, he is not alone We see the extremes, but ignore those in the middle and our blinkered thinking is not only stupid, but dangerous Jason Burke The Observer, Sunday 8 August 2010 Article history A week before her death, travelling through the same lowland towns of the North-West Frontier province of Pakistan that are now half-buried under mud, Benazir Bhutto said to me: “Pakistan has changed Mr Burke, Pakistan has changed. And I need to learn about it once more.” Bhutto had returned to her native land three months earlier and after an eight-year … Continue reading Pakistan – Can you understand ?

VIEW: Friedman and Pakistan-bashing —Yasser Latif Hamdani Both Robert Gates and Hillary Clinton have admitted on record that much of Pakistan’s current dilemma is directly attributable to the way the Americans mishandled the post-Afghan war period. For some smug New York Times columnist to then get up and bash the country for ills that the US is partly responsible for only adds fuel to the fire Oscar Wilde once described patriotism as “the virtue of the vicious”. In the many articles published in this newspaper, I have tried to steer clear of the vicious kind of narrow chest-thumping patriotism, preferring … Continue reading Friedman and Paki-bashing

VIEW: Does Pakistan make sense? — II —Haider Nizamani If persistence of Baloch nationalism points towards limited success of the Pakistani national project, the dilution of Pashtun nationalism shows that Pakistani identity can co-opt regions by making them economic and political stakeholders in a united Pakistan Punjab’s nationalism is often subsumed in Pakistani nationalism, but there have been instances in the recent past when Pakistani nationalism did not serve the interests of various segments of the Punjabi elite, forcing them to resort to the narrower version of Punjabi nationalism. The 1988 elections for the National Assembly showed the PPP emerging … Continue reading Does Pakistan make sense?

COMMENT: Drowning in a sea of incompetence —Dr Syed Mansoor Hussain Over the years, more and more people in positions of relative power and authority assume those positions because of connections or outright bribes and once employed, hone their skills of sycophancy and develop connections to assure promotions or lucrative appointments Sometimes things look so bad that even an optimist like me has a hard time finding some silver lining to the ‘dark clouds’ hanging over Pakistan. Man-made disasters, natural disasters, terrorism, target killings and now the complete collapse of the Pakistani cricket team. What has emerged most forcefully out … Continue reading A sea of incompetence

COMMENT: Why does the PPP not govern? —Shahzad Chaudhry Politics at the moment is about power, not about serving the people. It seems that the president knows the difference well, but he is content to pursue his own plan even if it means handing over the reins to the PML-N at the end of his five years Within the last two weeks Pakistan has faced three major disasters. An Airblue flight went down in the Margallas, and exposed the inadequacies of the governing structure in proffering an organised effort to search and rescue. We became the laughing stock of the … Continue reading Politics is about power, not serving people

By Ardeshir Cowasjee It is time that the sea around us is known as the Pakistan Sea: Ardeshir Cowasjee.—File photo This country is suffering manifold miseries, as it has for many a year, but now more than ever, mainly inflicted by the forces of nature ably aided by the incompetence and follies of mankind. That every nation has the government it deserves does not right now aptly apply to Pakistan since it has, to all intents and purposes, a non-government incapable of doing what it was elected and is paid to do. Amidst the massive loss of life from north … Continue reading Why not the Pakistan Sea?

COMMENT: Can the discount rate hike curb inflation? —Muhammad Aftab To foot the bill of reconstruction of flood destruction and continue the war against terror, the people have to pay taxes, which should be equitable Can the latest hike in discount rate curb inflation and help bridge the government’s yawning budgetary deficit? Highly doubtful. I say this while looking back at nearly two years of the operation of a failed tight monetary policy. But the hard fact is that the latest discount rate hike again hits business — already slowed by high interest rates and rising cost of doing business. … Continue reading Can the discount rate hike curb inflation?

Humans ‘subconsciously mimic other accents’, psychologists claim People who interact with a person with a different accent subconsciously mimic their twang because they want to “empathise” with their conversation partner, psychologists claim. telegraph.co.uk Spain and Netherlands fans at the World Cup Scientists found we mimic foreign accents. Photo: REUTERS American researchers have found human brains imitate the speech patterns of other people, even complete strangers, without meaning to. They say a humans want to “bond” with others, even when a voice cannot be heard or, somewhat embarrassingly, even if another person is a foreigner. Related Articles US accent best for … Continue reading Do you subconsciously mimic other accents?

Sleepless Knightsbridge residents protest over super car races outside Harrods For neighbours of Harrods it has always been a relief when the shutters come down and the thronging crowds of shoppers and tourists disperse for the evening. telegraph.co.uk A Bugatti Veyron in Knightsbridge Photo: Frantzesco Kangaris But now residents in Knightsbridge, west London, say their night-time peace is being shattered by the super-rich racing their sports cars through the streets. They claim residential roads surrounding the world-famous department store have become “like the starting grid of 24 Hours of Le Mans” since the Qatari royal family purchased it in May. … Continue reading My Arab brothers please stop racing in Knightsbridge!