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Pakistani spy pigeon: The proof
Last week, Indian authorities announced the capture of a Pakistani spy pigeon. The Indian intelligence agency, RAW, claimed that the pigeon was specially trained by the Pakistani spy agency, the ISI,...
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Wiki Loves Earth: Top 10 pictures from Pakistan
You may remember the Wiki Loves Monuments photography competition from last year, and the 10 best photographs that came out of Pakistan on that occasion. This time, Wikimedia Foundation has organised...
View Article“It’s just a can of soda! What’s the big deal?”
When a woman is denied a can of diet coke aboard a United Airlines flight for being a Muslim, we know we’re facing no ordinary news item; we have a veritable litmus test sifting out the raging...
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A ride on the PML-N's shiny new toy
Nearly three decades ago, when I was born in Islamabad, the capital was nothing like it is today. There were no coffee shops, no enclaves of the elite or those of diplomats, not even as many sectors...
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Mari Mata: The temple that houses a taziya
Recently, someone by the name of Vishal gave me a phone call. He told me that he was a regular reader of my blogs on Dawn.com and suggested that I write about the Mari Mata Temple at Ratan Talao....
View ArticleAre you aware of your child's online life?
I know that this may sound a little extreme but sometimes, I feel my children force me into a state of insanity when I deny them access to the internet. When they find out that they can’t play their...
View ArticleLiving off 400 rupees a day
We are quick to haggle with the daily-wage owner and the man who sells fruits at the corner shop, not truly understanding that the small profit he makes is essential to his survival.Think for a moment...
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Gojal: Where Pakistan begins
It’s the second week of November. There is a tremendous silence around me; snowflakes fall gently from the sky. The day is so white — there’s no color in sight save for my red jeep and gray jacket, all...
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A year on: Are we prepared for another Karachi Airport attack?
It has been one year since the Jinnah International Airport (JIA) of Karachi came under a deadly attack by militants on the night of 8th June, 2014.Twenty four valuable lives were lost and property...
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How the HEC is wronging Pakistan's scholars
The Social Sciences discipline has long remained an extremely neglected and mistreated subject area in Pakistan. Our present complex policy, security, societal, local and regional challenges demand a...
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Food Stories: Falafel
With Ramazan around the corner, my children are already demanding a variety of foods to be enjoyed at iftar time in the upcoming weeks. Hence I decided to start a little early this time, and upon...
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Why this year’s budget is not as bad as you think
With the revelation of the Pakistan Economic Survey 2014-2015 ─ essentially a scorecard of the economy’s performance over the current fiscal year ─ and the much-awaited presentation of the FY15-16...
View Article7 ways to counter summer diseases
Intensely hot temperatures have dug in as Karachi awaits the onset of cooling torrential summer rain. Soaring temperatures have gripped parts of the city, and with that comes the chance to catch...
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Why Pakistani football fans should watch Copa America
Barcelona’s duo of the world’s very best players, Lionel Messi and Neymar Jr., who were seen brutally destroying the opposition’s defenses together, represented the flare and magic of South American...
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Budget 2015: How do you spell weapons?
Putting the governments’ rhetoric and investments in gimmicks (laptops) aside, education standards continue to decline in Pakistan.The recently released Pakistan Economic Survey (2014-15) depicts a...
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Why photographers keep going back to Hunza
As professionals, we often get distracted by things which do not necessarily inspire us. However, the season of autumn in Hunza serves as a reminder for myself that it’s always great to go back to my...
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Big Apple, small bites: A Karachite in New York
In response to this article on a Pakistani's visit to New York, Misbah Manzoor Khashkheli presents her own experience of a stay in the mega-metropolis of New York City.Frank Sinatra was not wrong when,...
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The Jogis of Hyderabad
There is a whole different world I encountered on the road that begins near the Fatima Jinnah Road (formerly Gidu Bandar Road, and also known as Thandi Sarak) and ends near the Hyderabad Press Club. It...
View ArticleGuns for schoolteachers: An inevitable death in Swat
Back in January, when news first emerged that teachers were now allowed to carry arms in school, I remember thinking how that couldn’t possibly end well for anyone and lamented the varied forms of...
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The havelis of Potohar: Pakistan's opportunity to promote heritage tourism
In the year 2000, I was invited by a fellow anthropologist to see the Katas Raj. The visit left me so mesmerised that I decided to explore the entire Potohar region. So over the past decade-and-a-half,...
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