Zaair Hussain In a country where a Senator has stood before the House and declared, with a gall that must surely have blotted out the sun, that the respectable tradition of burying women alive should not be unduly interfered with, it is the trappings of westernisation that are still the object of venomous ire What is it to be a ‘true’ Pakistani? The appropriation of this term by the conservative wing of this nation is staggering in its vulgar daring, and in its unqualified success. By and large, the liberals of this land accept this annexation of ‘Pakistani-ness’ with either … Continue reading The New Pakistan

Farrukh Khan Pitafi Those who advocate negotiating with the Taliban have actually been brainwashed by them and are still labouring under the delusion that somehow Pakistan can control Kabul through such groups. The only way Pakistan can play a role in today’s Afghanistan is by winning the hearts of the Afghan people Bonds are important. In Philip Pullman’s legendry trilogy His Dark Materials, the bankers of Cittàgazze invent a knife that, among other things, can cut through the bonds of nature to such an extent that they manage to create windows between parallel universes. In ‘Avatar’, on planet Pandora every … Continue reading Sleeping with the Takfiri Mullahs in Pakistan

Joseph Mitchell McSorley’s occupies the ground floor of a redbrick tenement at 15 Seventh Street, just off Cooper Square, where the Bowery ends. It was opened in 1854 and is the oldest saloon in New York City. In 88 years it has had four owners — an Irish immigrant, his son, a retired policeman, and his daughter — and all of them have been opposed to change. It is equipped with electricity, but the bar is stubbornly illuminated with a pair of gas lamps, which flicker fitfully and throw shadows on the low, cobwebby ceiling each time someone opens the … Continue reading The old house at home

Miranda Husain The inquiry surely demonstrates Downing Street’s unwavering commitment to grassroots democracy, while silencing those who claim that Britons are, perhaps, still unready for democracy, given their spectacular re-election of the Blair Witch Project two years after the fall of the Saddam regime So, here we have it. A decade in power and the legacy is still being reinforced, if not redefined. And while he may not have been a chap of the officer-and-gentleman variety, he was certainly of the dove-among-hawks sort. Or at least that was the public façade. The subliminal undertone being that he had been thrust … Continue reading Chilcot Inquiry — wagging the poodle

Syed Talat Hussain For all the rhetoric of ‘politics of reconciliation’ that we hear from everyone who takes the podium, national politics is badly fractured. Sindh, which is the stronghold of the PPP, was supposed to be a haven of political peace. Yet it is this very province that has become the most hurtful Achilles heel of this government Just when rescue workers were pulling the dead and the injured from the rubble of the Girls School in Lower Dir, Pakistan’s interior minister was on his way to the Governor’s House in Karachi. His agenda was obvious: to broker a … Continue reading Politics of survival

In the UK, a new law is created to overturn its decision. In the US, they slug it out. And in Canada? Bland indifference Jeffery Ewener guardian.co.uk, In western democracies like the UK, the USA and Canada, the role of the supreme court can be revealing. Constitutionally, it is straightforward enough – the court lays down the law, and the other civil institutions listen carefully and respond. But this can be stressful for the institutions and the politicians who inhabit them. A politician’s ears must be exquisitely attuned to every subtle harmony in the symphony of power; a supreme court … Continue reading What our supreme courts say about us

Israelis believe in peace, yet the Palestinian issue is met with apathy – except by our leaders, who see it just as a PR problem Aluf Benn guardian.co.uk, Israel‘s image problem abroad is down to one issue: the stark and growing difference between how Israelis view their country, and how it is seen from outside. This explains the anger and insult that Israelis feel when they watch themselves on the BBC or CNN. It can’t possibly be us, they protest, the networks must be biased and pro-Arab. From the outside, Israel is defined by its everlasting conflict with its Arab … Continue reading Israel’s dual reality – time for Israel to grow up

AP (File Photo) ISLAMABAD: Pakistani police are investigating whether the suicide bomber who killed three US soldiers on Wednesday had prior insider information on the location of the troops. Police official Naeem Khan said Pakistani authorities were trying to ascertain whether the suicide bomber knew that soldiers would be passing through Shahi Koto town, a former Pakistani Taliban stronghold in Lower Dir where the attack occurred yesterday.  The US soldiers were training Pakistani forces to fight the Taliban and al Qaeda. ”We launched a massive search in the area yesterday, and now about 35 suspects are in our custody and … Continue reading Dir Bomb Attack and the Informant!

Posted by Nadeem F. Paracha When ‘Islamic’ televangelist, Aamir Liaquat, traveled to Saudi Arabia to perform (his umpteenth) Hajj late last year, intelligent, sensitive and rational Pakistanis let out a sigh of relief. The more mischievous ones among us even prayed to the Almighty to let the Saudis fall in love with this eminent ‘Islamic scholar’ and fund his outlandish theories. The whole idea behind this sincere pray was for Liaquat to stay put in Saudia Arabia playing the Saudi faith’s Dr. Frankenstein (remember Dr. Maurice Bucaille?), leaving television viewers in Pakistan ever so grateful to the Saudis for keeping … Continue reading The Naked Mullah – and the unquestioning mindset!