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Mistrust and hostility: A Pakistani journalist in Afghanistan
As a TV anchor, I'll readily admit that our electronic media neglects covering Pak-Afghan relations. Why? Because it will not bring in ratings.This is also part of the reason why Pakistan’s biggest TV...
View ArticleQueue me not: Why can't Pakistanis wait their turn?
I turned my head away for merely a second and that was enough for a woman to sneak in front of me at the Immigration Counter at the Islamabad Airport. "Welcome to Pakistan," I whispered.Her brazen...
View ArticleMisogyny and sleaze — how JPNA heralds a 'naya' Pakistan
http://images.dawn.com/news/1173996/misogyny-and-sleaze-how-jpna-heralds-a-naya-pakistan
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Aziz Mian: The Nietzschean Qawaal
The annihilatedMany of his concerts usually fell apart and turned into drunken brawls. Aziz Mian would purposely work up the audience towards a state in which many in the crowd ended up losing all...
View ArticleIs Ghulam Ali to bear the brunt of what Ajmal Kasab did?
The Shiv Sena is back in the news. I guess it's been a while since they made it to the front pages. They've gone back to the politics that gave them their oxygen all those years ago: intimidating the...
View ArticleHow Pakistani organisations don't want to deal with pregnant professionals
Women have been giving birth since antiquity, and have been exiting the job market to do that since the past century. However, until recently, no one across Pakistan's corporate world bothered to pay...
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Mount Kilimanjaro: ‘Walking up’ to the roof of Africa
Summiting the roof of Africa had been on my bucket list for a while. I had been planning this trip for so long that when the big day loomed up, it felt like it was happening all of a sudden.My friend,...
View ArticleCrowd management: Have we seen the last of the Haj stampedes?
According to the latest Associated Press report, the number of pilgrims to have died in the crush during this year's Haj has now risen to 1,453. This makes it the stampede with the highest death count...
View ArticleIslamophobia appetiser: Hate sells, but who’s buying?
“We have a problem in this country. It’s called Jews.”Imagine, for a moment, if this had been said to a front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination in a public meeting. Imagine the uproar...
View ArticleFat shaming is not community service
Think of a time you were offered unsolicited advice on a subject that you have far more experience dealing with. Imagine it occurring repeatedly, with the pretend-expert expecting you to thank him for...
View ArticleShould the PTI continue to grieve over ‘stolen’ seats?
“One cannot lose if he does not accept defeat ... and in PTI’s dictionary, defeat does not exist.”Imran Khan said to his supporters in Lahore on October 4th, while other PTI leaders standing behind him...
View ArticleHoly cow: India's bovine protectors are milking an old script
The recent mobilisations around the cow in India have little to do with religion and everything to do with politics.The expanded ban on beef in Maharashtra, the vigilante violence in Punjab against...
View ArticleFive reasons why PTI lost NA-122 (and why it might fail again)
From an impartial election researcher's point of view, NA-122 was always going to be a close contest between the PML-N and the PTI – pretty much a dead heat – however, PML-N did not win it as much as...
View ArticleRaising submissive daughters: The dangerous myth of goodness
I have a seven-year-old daughter and a three-year-old son. My approach to these two individuals is palpably different.My daughter, to my enormous relief, is a bit of a gem. Her qualities fill me with...
View ArticleIs the niqab going to determine Canada’s next prime minister?
Zunera Ishaq is a niqab-wearing Canadian immigrant of Pakistani origin; she is also likely to determine Canada’s future prime minister.Ms Ishaq picked a legal fight with the right-wing Canadian...
View ArticleAnxiety disorder: Fret not, your ‘ghabrahat’ is treatable
*Sana was a 20-year-old unmarried girl sitting in the modest examining rooms of a government hospital’s emergency room, with complaints of chest pain and “ghabrahat”.This was her third visit in three...
View Article‘Tangey walay baba’ and I on the road to becoming a doctor
I don’t know who found him, or what even his name was, but we called him ‘Tangey Walay Baba’, or at times, just Baba. We met on a freezing morning, when he came to pick us up for school. ‘Chalo!...
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Shoaib Malik: Wearing the inside out
Pakistani all-rounder Shoaib Malik's profile on the popular cricket website, Espncricinfo, begins by noting that Malik has played almost every role (as a player) in international cricket, but no one is...
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The temples of Rawalpindi: Old wisdom in a new world
Mandir in Ganjmandi. —Muhammad Bin NaveedIn the kaleidoscopic streets of bustling Rawalpindi stand tall a few Hindu temples that are hitherto the centre of Hindu festivity. The temples tell stories of...
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