By Rafia Zakaria Scene of a suicide blast in Peshawar. “The year 2009 saw 87 suicide attacks in Pakistan which killed nearly 1,300 people — a nearly 40 per cent increase from the previous year.” – AP (File Photo) Columnists Behind the glitz Behind the glitz THE apparently self-inflicted death of a Pakistani activist left a vacuum in a society starving for creative public expression. But this was not an isolated act. In contemporary Pakistan, the tragedy is also a metaphor for the larger constriction and self-destruction that has become a recurrent motif in our demographic, institutional and moral existence. … Continue reading Tragic path ahead

Dr Manzur Ejaz For Quaid-e-Azam, Pakistan was just a creation of a nation where the majority of citizens would be Muslims like Algeria, Turkey or Egypt. After their independence none of these countries adopted theocratic rule A few days back Prime Minister Gilani reiterated that the army is diligently defending Pakistan’s geographical and ideological boundaries. One would like to believe that Mr Gilani is just puttering the oft-repeated cliché of ‘ideological boundaries.’ However, a closer examination shows that the ruling elites, while trying to eliminate armed religious bands, are trying their best to cling to the ‘ideological boundaries’ defined by … Continue reading Elimination of ‘ideological boundaries’

Stephen Jay Gould If God is benevolent and the creation displays his “power, wisdom and goodness” then why are we surrounded with pain, suffering, and apparently senseless cruelty in the animal world? William Buckland, England’s first official academic geologist, discussed this most pressing problem of natural theology. Buckland considered the depredation of “carnivorous races” as the primary challenge to an idealised world where the lion might dwell with the lamb. He resolved the issue to his satisfaction by arguing that carnivores actually increase “the aggregate of animal enjoyment” and “diminish that of pain”. Death, after all, is swift and relatively … Continue reading Providence found

Dr Meekal A Ahmed Apportioning all our economic ills to the IMF is the usual IMF-bashing that we enjoy. First, it is claimed that the IMF programme has increased poverty. I would have thought that it was Pakistan’s recent nightmarish experience with galloping inflation when the headline rate of inflation peaked at a staggering 25 per cent per annum that pushed millions into poverty. The IMF programme has helped bring inflation down in Pakistan, not push it up, thereby helping people climb back out of poverty as prices stabilise and start to come down. Secondly, it is argued that high … Continue reading Blaming the IMF

Shamshad Ahmad President Barack Hussein Obama completes his first year in office today. Last year, exactly on this day, he took oath as first-ever non-white president in America’s history. The son of a black man from Kenya and a white woman from Kansas, Obama shattered two-century-old race barrier. It was Martin Luther King Jr.’s dream come true. Obama’s election as president was a miracle but he won the election not because he was black. He got elected because he was a fresher and smarter candidate with no prior political baggage. There was another reason for this miracle to happen. America … Continue reading Obama’s lost momentum

Sartaj Khan Khan Abdul Ghafar Khan, also known as Bacha Khan, died on Jan 20, 1988. What is the legacy of this great reformer — an adherent of non-violence and anti-imperialism? Bacha Khan was born in the house of a ‘minor’ Khan in 1890. Two important events took place before his birth: the advent of British Empire in the Peshawar valley in 1849 and the Mutiny of 1857. But the most import events that left an impact on his thoughts and shaped his struggle later took place between his birth and 1929. He launched his Khudai Khidmatgar (Red Shirts) Movement … Continue reading Bacha Khan’s legacy