Faiz Ahmed Faiz: A window to what could have been

Most of us recognize Faiz Ahmed Faiz for his immortal poetry. Few are aware that Faiz Ahmed Faiz was also a prolific prose writer…

Mumtaz Qadri – Salmaan Taseer – Blasphemy it was not

Pakistan’s Supreme Court has upheld the death penalty for Mumtaz Qadri “the policeman who murdered former Punjab governor Salmaan Taseer in January 2011 for…

Free Speech in Free Countries The Indian Subcontinent Live with Raza Rumi

Raza Rumi’s analysis on the shared histoy of India and Pakistan. In this video he emphasises on similarities between India and Pakistan. Rumi says…

Exile for me and others

Pakistan needs to remember those who wanted to but could not stay back Little did I know that a sojourn to recover from a…

Sticky wicket: Why cricket is a lot like sex

Something primal and deep is at work. And could be linked to the most cherished South Asian male sexual fantasies. Many years ago, Dr…

Animating Times Square

This October, the electronic billboards at the maddening Times Square in New York City will display the creative prowess of Shahzia Sikander, an artist…

Grace in hand

Komail Aijazuddin’s artwork marks a step beyond the earlier explorations of the baroque symbolism Komail Aijazuddin is a representative of Pakistan’s younger generation of…

Watching Kunduz Collapse From the Sidelines

Pakistan’s Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif (C) inspects the indigenously manufactured surveillance drone at the Pakistan Aeronautical Complex in Kamra, some 65 km west of…

Why fanatics of today would not have spared Kabir

The murders of rationalists and threats to writers, negate what was achieved through centuries of cross-cultural exchange and intellectually robust reformist movements. “Friend You…

Democracy in recession?

On the surface, things could not appear to be better for Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. With a majority in parliament, electoral rigging charges thrown…

Dear Infidel: The Dilemma of British Muslims

I was a student in the United Kingdom when The Satanic Verses – the controversial novel by Salman Rushdie – created pandemonium across the…

Gulzar’s Mera Kuchh Samaan…

This poem composed by Gulzar was beautifully rendered by Asha Bhosle in the unforgettable film Ijazat. Someone forwarded me the text and I suddenly…

Political Princes: Struggles of Rahul Gandhi and Bilawal Bhutto

Two days ago, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, scion of the legendary Bhuttos, celebrated his 27th birthday. His party workers also known as jiyalas (the impassioned…

Bridging the Divides: Muslims in Europe

Islam is ‘incompatible’ with Western civilization is what we hear at the start of a new film Journey into Europe that looks at the…

Be mature guys; there’s a lot at stake in India, Pak

  The much-hyped talks between the National Security Advisers of India and Pakistan have been called off. It is clear that the recent thaw…

Islam and the Cold War baroque

When empire strikes back, but the Force remains strong in the arts and academia of contemporary Muslim countries. I spared with Sadia Abbas As…

Why India, Pakistan treat their Nobel laureates shamefully

There is a common thread of undervaluing our achievers; and looking at ideas, values and contributions from the jaundiced lens of partisan politics. In…

Chronicles of our recent past

FS Aijazuddin’s new book is an erudite and introspective account of a turbulent decade The past decade in Pakistan has been cataclysmic. Political upheavals…

Abdullah Hussein: alive in his vision

The great Pakistani writer Abdullah Hussein is no more. Perhaps, he has been relieved of the agony that he underwent as a cancer patient,…

Save Palmyra From ISIS’s Rampage

The Smithsonian’s Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery have placed on view a relic from ancient Palmyra in Syria. In addition,…
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