After Peshawar: Reassessing the terror threat
The Peshawar school carnage has once again exposed the persisting gaps and vulnerabilities in Pakistan’s security infrastructure, which terrorists have time and again exploited quite easily. The brutal...
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From Peshawar, with tears of blood
Aurengzeb at the site of mourning of his son.As the winter sun settled in the shadows, the old man nodded at visitors, lifting his hands in silent prayer every time someone came to condole his son's...
View ArticleTime to confront the Taliban apologists in our midst
There is so much already said and that will be said about the attack in Peshawar on the Army Public school this week. And yet, one cannot underestimate the need to keep speaking about it.Like most...
View Article20 questions we should be asking after the Peshawar massacre
For the first 48 hours, I just didn't know how to express what I felt. But I've been thinking, thinking nonstop: How do we reconcile what appear to be completely disparate opinions on how to deal with...
View ArticleAnatomy of an apologist: A double-act play
Terrorist: We have just bombed a market to avenge the military's operation against us.Outraged Man: You are an animal!Apologist: Gentlemen, gentlemen, please, this is serious.Outraged Man: You animal,...
View ArticleResilience alone won't save Pakistan
In the aftermath of the most deadly terrorist attack in Pakistan’s history, it’s worth asking a difficult yet essential question. A question about resilience.Resilience is a trait often used to...
View ArticleBack to school: Where Lyari's kids are free to dream
The sign at the entrance of one of Karachi’s most notorious neighbourhoods reads, “Welcome to Lyari” — an area known as much for the champion boxers it has produced as it is for gang violence, drugs...
View ArticleAre we any different from the terrorists?
December 16, 1971 was a dark day in the history of Pakistan; when the country broke into two and Bangladesh happened as a result of being treated as a colony by the West Pakistan. That was one dark...
View Article#PeshawarAttack: 10 ways we should not have reacted
The standing of a nation is determined by how they react to a tragedy. All nations face tragedies. Sadly, Pakistan faces them more often than most, but the events of Tuesday are unprecedented in...
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Tech in 2014 — Pakistan's performance tepid at best
It is difficult to gauge Pakistan’s performance in the technology sector over the past 12 months. The definitions and yardsticks vary greatly depending on perspective, and as such, any definitive...
View ArticleBurnt human flesh, once more
There were human bodies strewn like dry leaves on an autumn day. For the first time in life, I saw burnt human flesh, smelled it, touched it and collected it; pieces of small children, big boys, and...
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Food Stories: Dhansak
The year was 1997 and Dawn (the newspaper, not the website) was planning to publish a thick supplement to celebrate the 50th Independence Day of Pakistan, and I was commissioned to write an article for...
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Infant but intense — Digital Art in Pakistan
I grew up in a small part of the late '80s right through the '90s. In that era, I remember trying my hand at drawing. I was okay for a child; people looked like people, things looked like other things....
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Santa comes to Joseph Colony
Santa comes to Joseph ColonyBy Ammar ShareefIn March 2013, an angry mob of more than three thousand people stormed Joseph Colony – a Lahore locality with an overwhelmingly Christian population – and...
View ArticleStuck in 1947 — Pakistan's 68 years of solitude
Time heals everything, they say. But the adage holds true only if time really goes by. The tyranny of time is that it loses its healing power if it keeps repeating itself. In his 1967 masterpiece, One...
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The idea that created Pakistan
There’s a war on in Pakistan and it’s largely existentialist in nature. It’s a war for the mind, body and soul of the idea that drove the ‘Pakistan Movement’ and succeeded in creating a separate and...
View ArticleWhen will our news channels learn to cover tragedy?
It has been nine days since the horror unfolded in Peshawar. We are still subject to wave after wave of equal parts fury and fear that takes over us when news on TV is on. It is time to talk about the...
View ArticleMilitary courts could have been avoided
What distinguishes a politician and a statesman?A politician is a person skilled in the arts of politics, whereas a statesman is a person skilled in the management of national affairs. The former...
View ArticleDo away with the liberals!
I've had it with them. Enough is enough. This group of people has been corroding the very fabric of our society; they have already caused us enough damage and if we do not act against them now, they...
View ArticleThe real war is the war of narrative
The closer you want to get to eradicating the menace of terrorism, the bigger this menace seems to get. For the past week, following the attack in Peshawar, our leaders, both in Khaki and Mufti, have...
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