Pakistan’s rich dissident literary tradition

Himal Magazine had published this article on the resistance poetry in Pakistan. I had uploaded it on the Pak Tea House some time back.…

In too deep: Afghanistan, Pakistan & the region

Pakistan’s relationship with Afghanistan is caught in the muddled terrain of domestic political machinations and regional ambitions. Afghanistan’s history is a turbulent one filled…

That easy intimacy

A Pakistani re-discovers Bangladesh. As a Pakistani, there is a part of you that reacts instantly to the word Bangladesh: guilt, remorse or, in…

An existential crisis

On 4 January, Punjab province Governor Salman Taseer was killed by a member of his security detail, Malik Mumtaz Hussain Qadri. But as disturbing…

Living Lohawarana – a Lahori rambling

My piece for Himal Magazine’s October issue There was a Lahore that I grew up in, and then there is the Lahore that I…

The pampered Islamabadites

My piece published by Himal Southasian Islamabad is a very peculiar urban space. Though no longer a town, it is still struggling to become…

The invisibility of the Mughal princesses

Painting by A.R Chughtai | Chughtai Museum My piece published by the Himal Magazine  The limitations of Southasia’s historical record can be seen in…