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Is Misbah Pakistan's greatest Test captain?
The recently concluded Abu Dhabi test was Misbah’s 14th test win. He now holds the joint record for the most Test wins by a Pakistan captain, along with Imran Khan and Javed Miandad. That is just for...
View ArticleHaider's chutzpah
There are so many reasons to watch Vishal Bhardwaj's latest movie Haider, the Shahid Kapoor starrer — a modern-day adaptation of Shakespeare's Hamlet.Despite its cinematic gloss and compelling cast,...
View ArticleLynched in Pakistan
The lynching of a Christian couple in Kot Radha Kishan near Lahore has shocked Pakistanis and the rest of the world. The despicable act is shocking indeed, yet hardly surprising in Pakistan where, like...
View Article'We are OK with sexual harassment'
I learned to drive when I was 16 years old. It was essentially my first foray into a world outside my rather conservative home setting. Insisting that I learn to drive the ‘correct’ way, my father...
View ArticleWill ‘lame duck’ Obama find legacy offshore?
The results of the United States House and Senate midterm elections on November 4, 2014 were a major setback for President Barack Obama. With his job approval ratings hovering at around 40 per cent,...
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From an avid reader: Akhbar-e-Jehan in (modern) perspective
The timeless Urdu magazine Akhbar-e-Jehan is over 46 years old now. It is the most widely circulated Urdu weekly magazine in all of Pakistan (both urban and rural areas) and UAE. Back in the day,...
View Article'Leave your faith or leave your country'
“We are not Muslim, we are not Hindu, but first and foremost, we are Sindhi. There is a conspiracy to force Sindhi Hindus to leave Sindh, but we will not allow nefarious elements to succeed,” a...
View ArticleWhat genuine electoral reforms would look like
Reforms of any kind are problematic. Although this statement is painfully obvious, it is overlooked in nearly all cases. The assumption is that initiating reforms is like turning the lights on in a...
View ArticleA memo to the HEC: Define 'nationalism' please
Why does one go to a university? This is a question very few of us ask ourselves even though all of us should. Is it to guarantee employment, because global trends increasingly show that no amount of...
View Article5 things Imran Khan did wrong
In times like these, when the rot in our politics keeps getting worse and worse, and things keep getting more convoluted, people are desperate for a true and just leader. For many, Imran Khan has...
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Food Stories: Haleem
Every year the coming of Muharram meant a month of haleem eating and Nani Amma made a delicious wheat, barley, lentil and meat haleem, savory and so beautifully balanced in flavour. My first memory of...
View ArticleSurvival of the fittest
It was late at night and Tanveer was sleeping in an abandoned Shehzore truck in Saddar. The vehicle had mattresses and pillows made out of old soft drinks bottles and a number of boys took turns...
View ArticleDil bola Ebola
It might sound like the latest soda beverage to hit the Pakistani market, or a Pakistan-only instant messaging service launched after Whatsapp is inevitably blocked by the government, but Ebola is...
View ArticleAfter Asad Umar, LUMS should apologise to students too
What could be more embarrassing than extending an invitation and then rescinding it? If a private club had revoked the invitation to Asad Umar, it would have been awkward at most. However, when this...
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Anti-Americanism in Pakistan: A brief history
Though anti-Americanism during the Cold War (1949-89) was mostly the ideological vocation of leftists, today — some 25 years after the collapse of the Soviet Union — one can safely suggest that America...
View ArticleLahore and Quetta: How the media treats rape differently
In October 2013, many will still remember, a minor girl was picked up from a hospital courtyard in Lahore, raped and then let go. Albeit in terrible shape, she survived. CCTV footage that caught the...
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Remembering the (real) PPP
November 13, 1968 is a significant day in PPP history.On this day, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was arrested by Ayub Khan’s regime from the residence of Dr Mubashir Hasan where he was staying. That day...
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A song for Sindh: When a Hindu woman meets a Muslim man
One of the curses of the post-colonial upbringing is the loss of location, not of actual geography or the tangible physicality of a place, but of its linear connections to the past. Those are ones that...
View ArticleWhatsApp double ticks: How much privacy are we willing to let go?
It was the ability to send text messages that sent cell phones ahead of landlines. Then internet connectivity sent us soaring ahead into smartphones. Soon after, the concept of instant messaging (IM)...
View ArticleA Kashmiri's view: Is the Indian soldiers' sentencing a good sign?
Successive Indian governments have promised a 'zero tolerance' policy against human rights abuses in Indian-held Kashmir. But on the ground, common Kashmiris still see gun-wielding Indian soldiers...
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