Bangladesh on the Brink

Unrest sweeps Dhaka after disputed elections, but Bangladesh’s problems extend much farther from the ballot box. Also sparking the flames of turmoil are a…

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…

Fables of Nationalism

Published here: The recent hullabaloo over the Delhi Commonwealth Games has been followed with much interest in Pakistan. Many have gloated over the inability…

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…

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…

We can smile in adversity too – the Biharis in Bangladesh

I took this photo at a Bihari camp in Dhaka. Thousands of ‘Pakistanis’ are stranded in Bangaldesh since 1971 and both the states refuse…

M.F. Husain, Tyeb Mehta are stars at Christies

Saw this story here a while ago Christie’s South Asian modern and contemporary art sale here March 20 will feature works of leading 20th…

SAARC students display their multifaceted art skills

By Hina Farooq LAHORE: An exhibition of the South Asian Association and Regional Corporation (SAARC) students of the Beaconhouse National University on multi art…

Dhaka by degrees

How poor are they who have not patience! What wound did ever heal but by degrees. -William Shakespeare I grew up in the post-East…

The Clay Bird

A moving tale of a young boy and his family trapped in the circumstances of rural Bangladesh and the turmoil of late 1960s. I…

Visiting Dhaka- “We are strangers now?”

The warmth of people and the magic of old Dhaka overwhelms you. Having said that, Dhaka is bursting on the seams with a gushing…

Sonargaon – A poem by HUR

HUR left this poem on my blog in response to my post on Bangladesh and Bengali art. This is a moving poem with tender…

Freedom Dawn?

It is 14th August today. My country is fifty nine years old. It is much stronger than it was in 1947. It is still…