2011- A year that will haunt us
From Paper Magazine 2011- a year in review A journalist recently remarked that 2011 was the year that no one will remember. Alas, this…
‘Greater rights abuses will ensue unless Pakistan’s elected institutions assert themselves’
An interview of – Ali Dayan Hasan (Director, Human Rights Watch) taken by me, published in TFT December 30 – January 05, 2012 –…
Siavash Mahvis – Artist from Iran
“Siavash Mahvis” is a contemporary Iranian artist and a university professor. He owes his acquaintance with the world of line and design to realist…
Governance crisis cannot be treated by old formula of changing faces
An old piece that I could not post earlier: Commenting on the melting state of the economy, a reputed economic analyst stated how the…
“What do you really possess?”
What do you really possess, and what have you gained? What pearls have you brought up from the depth of the sea? On the…
History’s ghetto – (Geneva Camp, Dhaka)
My recent piece for the The Friday Times – about the bitterness and destitution in a Dhaka camp for Biharis It was almost by…
Erasing memory to deal with loss – Pakistan, Bangladesh and India
This following article was first published in The Hindu on December 16, 2011. Forty years ago, South Asia underwent another traumatic experience with the…
Khalifa Abdul Hakim (1896-1959)
For years I had been planning to write about Dr Khalifa Abdul Hakim (1896-1959), the great philosopher and intellectual of the twentieth century. Last…
Enigma of democratic governance
Pakistan’s President Iskander Mirza (1956-58) is remarked to have said that democracy was ‘unsuited’ to the genius of Pakistani people. Decades later, similar questions…
The debate on new provinces in Pakistan
Since 1977, military or quasi-military governments have ruled Pakistan. The basic tenet of such a governance structure has been centralization and denial of multiple…