No nehari at PM’s breakfast
Eggs, toasts, a croissant, fruits and a cup of tea. No lassi, no nehari and no parathay. “Is the prime minister on a diet?” I asked a member of the official media who accompanied Nawaz Sharif on his...
View ArticleInside polygamy: Reader response
On October 1, 2014 my article, The problems of polygamy was published in Dawn. It presented two studies, one from the UAE and one from Malaysia that revealed how polygamous family arrangements were...
View Article'Divide their province, not mine'
There aren't many occasions when I agree with MQM, but on this point, I do: the country needs to be divided into smaller units and power devolved to lower levels.Oh, the horror at the thought of a...
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Daryaganj Book Bazaar — where stories never end
It was a so-called heaven for book lovers, and I had read about it everywhere. I had seen photos and heard accounts from visitors as well, and I knew it at least seemed like heaven. Now, as I stood...
View ArticleWhen doctors attack Javed Hashmi, we have a serious problem
We have consistently held our nation’s doctors, lawyers and engineers to a higher standard in terms of civilized behavior and social awareness. The harassment of political stalwart Javed Hashmi at...
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Food Stories: Mutton karahi
Let the meat eating begin! My first recollection of Bakr Eid celebrations (Eid-ul-Azha) is from an October of the 70s; I was five or six and sat fascinated as my father relayed the glorious religious...
View ArticleJust how 'Fit for Purpose' are the Metrobus projects?
As an engineer associated with design and delivery of large infrastructure projects in the Middle East, including a Bus Rapid Transport (BRT) - or what in Pakistan is called Metrobus, I am used to the...
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6 surprises that greet a Pakistani in India
When you cross the Wagha Border, you are struck by so many similarities in the two countries that you may need Google map to confirm your current location.Also read:7 things that make a Pakistani feel...
View ArticlePakathon: Hacking into progress for Pakistan
In the trendiest part of downtown Toronto, hundreds of young entrepreneurs gathered over a weekend in September to find solutions to Pakistan’s development challenges. They were there to engage “the...
View ArticlePakistan in Homeland: Finally, an accurate portrayal!
Spoiler alert: The article produced below contains spoilers of Homeland Season 4.For years (read three seasons), I have watched agent Carrie Mathison fall in and out of love with Nicholas Brody on the...
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The sea is not for the poor
It was a sad scene indeed, this Eid. Men, women and children dressed in their finest Eid attire, were crowding behind barbed wires and looking wistfully at the sea.There were large banners proclaiming...
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Some news and some olds
Some news and some olds...By Fasi ZakaRare in Pakistan, someone expresses contritionNew precedents in the mediaRumours gain currencyAnger at the judiciary doesn't abateNeither does narcissismIf...
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Cross pollination: When left turns right (and vice versa)
In politics, the act of moving from the left sides of the conventional political divide to the right (and vice versa) may generate some surprise in some quarters, but it is not such an unprecedented or...
View ArticleVIP culture: 'Those who ride motorbikes may be shot dead'
Back in 1965, Abida Riaz, better known by her stage name 'Neelo', tried defying the orders of a VIP.The governor of West Pakistan, Nawab of Kalabagh and a man with a thousand other titles to his credit...
View ArticleCelebrating Malala: What Pakistani-Americans have to say
Malala is a Nobel Laureate at 17, the youngest ever. The Pakistani nation has two options: Celebrate her success and use it to promote education, particularly for girls Or Reject it as yet another...
View ArticleShrinking liberalism: When truth becomes Truth
Since its inception, Pakistan has remained a conservative country, where religion played a mammoth role in shaping politics, redefining policies and most important of all, enforcing particular...
View ArticleA letter from Dr Abdus Salam to Malala
Disclaimer: the blog post below is an imagining of what Dr Abdus Salam would convey to Malala todayDear Malala,Despite all that occurred, I’d always lugged around with me a sliver of optimism. They...
View Article6 things Pakistan and India can do instead of fighting
They live side-by-side. They started off their journey together. They share history and in some instances much the same culture. They know it and the world knows all the good that they can do so simply...
View ArticleWhen will we start respecting our teachers?
Sometime between the eras of 1500 to 200 BC, and more than 900 years before the advent of Islam in the subcontinent, Manusmriti, the law book of social norms of the Hindus was written. It instructs its...
View ArticleWe, the VIPs, have troubles too
The VIPs of Pakistan have been getting an unnecessary amount of flak recently. Suddenly, they are the reason for every social ill in the country. As a VIP myself, I want to reach out to the masses of...
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