Daring to exist — The Pakistani woman's fault
Should Pakistani women exist? People seem uncertain. A while ago, there was a billboard on the road back from the Karachi airport, assuring weary travellers that a girl is a gift from God too...
View ArticleDharnas, cotton crop... What’s going to be the PML-N’s next budget scapegoat?
Last year, it was the blasted Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) dharna. This year, it's the cotton crop. Any guesses on who will be the government's fall guy next year?It’s now a predictable drama: this...
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Of pictures and permission — Do they know they're on your cell phone?
Picture this: a family is comfortably seated at a high-end restaurant, enjoying each other's company and the fine cuisine laid out in front of them. To their table's left sits a young girl, who doesn’t...
View ArticleA history of slander — Good language vs. bad language
Sometimes it is really tiring to explain the difference between good Taliban (GT) and bad Taliban (BT). It is actually self-explanatory and not so hard to decipher, yet, there are many out there who...
View ArticleKhawaja Asif, the parliament’s dignity awaits a real apology
It doesn't matter that I am not an Insaafian — one doesn't have to be a PTI supporter to call out the appalling attitude towards women in our National Assembly. What does matter, however, is which side...
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Has Pakistan overeducated its middle class?
Recently, thousands of applicants with a master's degree applied to become gardeners and door attendants in the Department of Education in Chakwal. The mushroom growth of colleges and universities...
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Pakistan's only cricket museum — Guarding the wicket for the Gentleman's Game
I’ve always believed Lahore is the cultural capital of Pakistan. Famed for its architecture, one of its lesser-known marvels is the Lahore Gymkhana Cricket Ground, the second oldest cricket ground in...
View ArticlePakistan and the pill — Check your male privilege at the door
I recently had the pleasure of feeling my ovaries constrict when reading a news item: the Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan seems to think it is quite dandy to warn Muslims against family planning...
View ArticleWant to stay fit in Ramazan? Here's your guide to the perfect workout
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View ArticleThe Orlando attack — Fundamentally American
The Orlando shooter turned out to be a Muslim. In all honesty, that threw me off a little. It surprised me because there has never been a terror attack of this scale on the LGBTQ community in the West...
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Suddenly holy — A Pakistani celebrity's spiritual awakening
It's that time again — the time to go suddenly holy and appear on special TV shows to preach piety to the believers and also have some fun doing it. Honoured to be with two of my favourite holies,...
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Has Omar Mateen won Trump the US presidency?
Police were calling it a scene of mass casualties in Florida when the thought crossed my mind for the first time: “What if this lone shooter turns out to be a Muslim?”Hours later, when it was confirmed...
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From Uganda with love — When my family had 90 days to leave their home
In the summer of 1972, Idi Amin, tin-pot dictator and self-styled ‘King of Scotland’, ordered the expulsion of Uganda’s South Asian community, to which my grandmother belonged. He gave them 90 days,...
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Pakistan's last 200 snow leopards — and one man's unrelenting efforts to save...
The first time I saw the magnificent snow leopard was on film. BBC’s Planet Earth series aired some incredibly beautiful footage of a snow leopard stalking its prey in the wild. On the craggy cliffs of...
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Are we okay with politicians threatening rape on TV?
For us urban folk caught up with frivolous concerns, truths like rape, gang-rape, tribal verdicts for rape or gang-rape and honour killing because of rape have always been relegated to corner stories...
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Ramazan, Pakistan and Rooh Afza: An ode to laal sharbats
Undivided India was experiencing a crisis under Viceroy Lord Minto. This was 1906, the year of the Simla Deputation. It was also the year in which Hakeem Hafiz Abdul Majeed laid the foundation of the...
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The beheading of Udhaw Das
In 1980, a curious new statue appeared in a courtyard in Sindh University: the statue of Udhaw Das, who started the Udhaw Das Hospital in Shikarpur.The sculpture shows signs of damage, and Das’ carved...
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Amjad Sabri — The man behind a towering legacy
I first met Amjad Sabri during the month of Ramazan. The year was 2011. On a quiet Friday afternoon at FM 101 — a channel of Radio Pakistan where I then worked — I walked in to find one of the radio...
View ArticleLeave it to Amir. Here's what Pakistan can do to tame England
From the looks of it, Pakistan’s tour of England is a challenging affair. The latter just finished bashing Sri Lanka 2-0, maintaining an undefeated home record since July 2014. If a side of such...
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My father Omar Asghar Khan, my hero
Omar Asghar Khan was a Pakistani politician and social activist born on July 3, 1953. He taught economics, philosophy and politics at Quaid-i-Azam University.He formed a non-governmental organisation...
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