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The debacle in Bengal
Outrage, outrage, outrage! How can our cricket team lose so tamely to Bangali-desh? We should thoroughly investigate the debacle. We shouldn’t have lost at all, simply because we eat more meat than...
View ArticlePeshawar tornado: The 44 lives that could have been saved
Earlier on Sunday a tornado hit Peshawar and its surroundings, leaving dozens dead and many more injured; the unprecedented extreme weather startled residents and local climatologists. They don’t even...
View ArticleWe use words, they use bullets
Sabeen was killed six days ago, Masood Hamid a week earlier and the Queen song “Another one bites the dust” keeps playing over and over again in my mind. I find myself singing it as I drive back from...
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Once upon a time in Nepal
The night was cold in Chitwan National Park. Braving the chilly wind, my wife and I sat outside on the top floor of a restaurant, waiting patiently for our momos to be served.We didn’t have to wait...
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Nasa Space Apps 2015: This Pakistani team hopes to operate in space
I recently wrote about how there are more than one silver linings in our national affairs (no matter how badly we are used to ignoring them). One of the examples I quoted was the participation of a...
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Keeping the music alive for Sabeen
There isn’t much I can write about Sabeen Mahmud that has not already been eloquently expressed by people who knew her much better than I did. I was still at a point where I was utterly awestruck by...
View ArticleWhy the Baltimore riots were inevitable
As soon as you enter the city of Baltimore, a peculiar sight emerges. Close to every light pole is a flashing blue surveillance camera, openly stalking the actions of the city's inhabitants. There is a...
View ArticleIn the 'spirit of national interest': An interview with a Pemra official
Pemra has issued a notification forbidding TV channels from broadcasting content that is contradictory to the spirit of national interest.Our reporter managed to bag an exclusive interview with a Pemra...
View ArticleBhakti and Sufi: Uniting humanity in India and Pakistan
In contemporary times, religion and religious identity is being used as cover for political agenda. Be it terrorist violence or sectarian nationalism in various parts of the world, religion is used to...
View ArticlePemra perspective: Treacherous anchors, nudity and national interest
Pemra has issued a notification forbidding TV channels from broadcasting content that is contradictory to the spirit of "national interest".Our reporter managed to bag an exclusive interview with a...
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Ghee — Friend or foe?
Ghee. For most of us Pakistanis, that word conjures up a vivid image of our mother or grandmothers, dupatta tied at the waist, dipping into a big tin with a cow on it and serving up warm parathas; the...
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Revive school cricket to rescue Pakistan
Pakistan's sad exit from the quarterfinal stage of the World Cup has been followed by a mortifying whitewash at the hands of the hosts, in the limited-overs wing of the Bangladesh tour. The Bengalis...
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If mother nature is unkind to Thar, the state is no less
“We lost about 75 per cent of our livestock to starvation, due to three consecutive years of drought in Achro (White) Thar, and we are afraid we will lose whatever is left, if the rains stay away,”...
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Food Stories: Zarda
'Zarda' happens to be the simplest of desserts, defining the best of joys; a sweet delight served at shaadi (weddings), raksha bandhan (a Hindu festival celebrating the bond between brothers and...
View ArticleKeep Hajj out of politics: Notes on the ‘Are you Shia?’ form debacle
The uproar started on social media, then spun out of control after a news site published the story.It was claimed that the Hajj application form now featured a new question – ‘Are you Shia?’ –...
View ArticlePakistan is yet to differentiate between sin and crime
Falling in love is no crime. But those who do, often pay the price in Pakistan; some with their lives.Yousuf, the protagonist in the TV soap Mera Naam Yousuf Hai, falls in love with Zulaikha and is...
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The feudal lord who educated 21,000 children
My childhood was filled with stories of angels, invisible creatures who would descend upon the earth every now and again to bless people. I would fall asleep in my mother’s lap as she would narrate...
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In defence of Pakistani men (allegedly world's third-sexiest)
Like all self-professed armchair philosophers, I spend far too much time badgering people to debate with me on things that matter: ‘Who will be the next leader of the free world?’ ‘Which nation will be...
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Angry green men: The illusion of ill-treatment and conspiracy in Pakistan...
While reviewing Inside Out– the 2006 autobiography of former Pakistan cricket captain, Mushtaq Mohammad – EspnCricinfo’s Andrew Miller suggests that the chapter in which Mushtaq details how he was...
View ArticleNo shame in talking about sex ed for our children
It was not the first time that news about child sex rackets had surfaced in the media, but when I read about child prostitution in Jinnah Garden, Peshawar, it was dismaying beyond words.I grew up in...
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