Taliban suicide bomber dressed as schoolboy kills 31 army cadets
By Andrew Buncombe, Asia Correspondent, The Independent Pakistan’s army suffered a damaging blow after a suicide bomber believed to be in his teens and…
Wandering between two worlds – Karachi Literary festival
Ghazi Salahuddin’s write up for the NEWS makes interesting points about the festival and also mentions me as one lost between the English and…
when lilies sprout…
“The Shape of My Tongue” This mirror inside me shows . . . I can’t say what, but I can’t not know! I run…
if you are a man of this life
If you are a man of this life then march on this path like a man or retire and take refuge in your house…
Karachi Literature Festival: Too many divides to bridge
By Ali Syed KARACHI: ‘Bridging divides’, as the name suggests, was about a certain disparity within the Pakistani society, perhaps religion vs secularism, moderation…
Irrational discourse on Raymond Davis
By Raza Rumi Honour politics: More often than not, we as Pakistanis feel that we are not given the respect we deserve as a…
Literature Festival ends with homage to Faiz
By Peerzada Salman KARACHI: A befitting and heartfelt tribute to Faiz Ahmed Faiz ended the 2nd Karachi Literature Festival at a local hotel on…
Confused and distraught — Rumi
Rumi interpreted by Coleman Barks derived from Arberry’s translation You bind me, and I tear away in a rage to open out into air,…
Pakistan radicals rule the streets
TENS of thousands of people crowded the streets of Lahore late on Sunday demanding freedom for the assassin of Punjab governor Salman Taseer. The…
A constructed enemy?
Multiple subjectivities plague any ‘objective’ measurement of anti-American sentiments in Pakistan Since the end of the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan, Pakistani society has been…
Karachi Literature Festival 2011 Programme
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE All set for the 2nd Karachi Literature Festival Karachi (31 January 2011): The 2nd Karachi Literature Festival is all set to…
Civil versus political society
By Raza Rumi Several self-styled analysts on ‘civil society’ have articulated contrarian views about the kind of choices they face, particularly with respect to…
Could there be a liberal resurgence in Pakistan? Lawmaker Sherry Rehman says she’s working on it.
By Issam Ahmed Fri Jan 28 | Karachi, Pakistan – Liberal Pakistani lawmaker Sherry Rehman left a comfortable life researching a book in London…
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…
On human rights, courts and governance
My interview Ali Dayan Hasan of Human Rights Watch published in The Friday Times No government institution, including the courts, should be immune from…
Jinnah’s Pakistan is not dead
In recent weeks, several commentators have dwelt upon the amorphous notion of Jinnah’s Pakistan, challenging its notional contours and exposing its overt ideological underpinnings.…
Salmaan Taseer: A life less ordinary
Remembering the man that was Salmaan Taseer o these liars and swindlers, these contractors of faith I am a rebel, I am a rebel…
The Beloved you’ve lost
…but you’ve chained me down stolen away my heart leaving yourself behind now i’ve lost my way my soul restless and head twisted all…
Last chance for Pakistan
Taseer’s brutal murder has exposed every faultline of contemporary Pakistan The brutal assassination of Governor Punjab, Salmaan Taseer by a staff member of Punjab’s…
Developments around Taseer killing disturb liberal Pakistanis
Islamabad, Jan 5 The emergence of Facebook pages eulogising the assassin of Governor Salmaan Taseer and praise from Islamic clerics for the killer have…