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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
Ideology, impunity & chaos
The sheer barbarity of the attack on the Ismaili community in Pakistan’s largest and one of the more misgoverned cities shocked the country. It…
Charting Pakistan Internal Security Policy
Pakistan recently announced National Action Plan focuses on combatting both terrorism and militancy and addresses endemic insecurity and radicalization. The plan follows in the…
Counterterrorism: rhetoric vs reality
Amid the controversy of Pakistan joining the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen, the media focus has shifted from the implementation of the National Action Plan…
Journey to change
In referencing N M Rashed, clay pots, paper boats, the river Ravi and the lost garment Saddri, Pakistani artist Sabah Husain creates a seamless…
A year ago, I was almost killed
A year ago, I suffered the fate of thousands of Pakistanis who have been attacked, maimed and terrorised by violent extremism. I was lucky…
One year after: On the endangered freedoms in Pakistan
It has been a year as I wrote here since I was almost assassinated. I have already posted the tribute to Mustafa who died…
Pakistan fails its Christians again
The dual suicide attacks on Lahore’s Christian churches last Sunday were a continuation of evidently unstoppable violence against the country’s minorities. A gruesome lynching…
The City Speaks
Shaan Taseer’s debut solo exhibition is a ceremonial homecoming for the artist. It has taken the gifted Shaan Taseer almost two decades to focus…
About suffering they were never wrong
Pakistani art going global is a remarkable story, for it typifies the ineffable contradictions of the country. In part it is a testament to…
A corridor to a closer Sino-Pakistani alliance?
Chinese influence in South and Central Asia is set to expand through the much-hyped China-Pakistan Economic Corridor just as the United States draws down…
The terrorism challenge
The Pakistani government must take swift, effective action to implement its will and assert its authority. Pakistan’s terrorism challenge has burgeoned into a full-blown…
Through the looking glass
After a decade of epistolary exchanges, I finally met Shahzia Sikander, Pakistan’s most celebrated global icon of the arts, ironically unsung at home. Not…
Promoting pluralist folk heritage is vital for Pakistan future
Dr Fouzia Saeed, a scholar and civil society activist, was recently appointed as the head of Lok Virsa the premier government institution to…