Media freedoms versus responsibility (holy cow syndrome)
Published in The News Much has been said about media accountability and the dire need of a regulation framework for Pakistan’s new power centre.…
Blog it out
Published in The News Haneya H. Zuberi writes on how the influx of blogs has made writers — or bloggers — out of the…
Saving the Capital
My piece for The News: The recent decision of the Supreme Court to order closure of a multinational food chain restaurant in Islamabad is…
The other way
Today’s The NEWS: civil service structure must deliver and there should be many models such as the Jhang variety. Much has been written about…
Clear and present danger
Published by The News, Pakistan If the parliament and judiciary want to continue exercising their newfound powers, they have no option but to act…
The task ahead
Published in The News Pakistan has crossed a major milestone last week by achieving a historic consensus on the 18th Amendment with 105 clauses,…
Two years and counting…
My piece published in The News The obvious fallout of the media-government war has been a virtual blackout of what the civilian governments have…
How instability is garnered
My latest analysis published by The News We continue to bemoan the failure of democratic norms to take root in our governance culture. True,…
Should we bid farewell to democracy in Pakistan?
Published in The NEWS It is still not too late that PML-N and PPP and the regional parties sit together and agree on the…
To undo the vicious past
Published in the News on Sunday It’s about time a civilian Pakistan functions as a peaceful country with fair share of resources put into…
What is the threat? What is the way out?
In these times, when the country is burning and militancy is at its peak, the priorities of the unelected institutions are curiously different. Peshawar…
This is a long war
This is a critical moment in our history perhaps unmatched for its severity and its brutal reality. The experiential nightmare that our country is…
This night bitten dawn
The triumph of a popular movement on March 16 has marked a new beginning. The retreat of an intransigent government and the wise response…
Suicide Democrats
I am appalled by the recent events that have yet again stirred instability and uncertainty into Pakistani politics. Those of us who voted in…
‘There are none so deaf as those who don’t want to hear’
Liked this excellent editorial from The News: Yet more curiously, there appears to be a positive dearth of arrests of those who publicly carry…
Most poetry ignores most people
Courtesy The NEWS, Pakistan The shadow poet Adrian Mitchell died on December 21, 2008 in London. A prolific poet, novelist and playwright, he was…
1971: the forgotten silence
Published in The NEWS This week marks the 37th anniversary of the tragic events of 1971 that led to the dismemberment of Pakistan and…
Policy shifts not war
First published in The NEWS The dastardly attacks in Mumbai have irritated the old wounds and replayed the familiar, jingoistic tunes across the Indo-Pak…
The native returns
Unaffected by the prophets of doom, a Lahori decides the city is the place to be Twenty years ago, I left Lahore. Excited by…
Fahmida Riaz: A neglected genius
Whilst my earlier piece on the IMF programme and the tremendous discussion it has invoked deserves a rejoinder, I want to write on a…