On the Issue of the United States, Pakistan Is Playing with Fire
I was interviewed on the recently released Wikileaks Cables on Pakistan. Here is part one. Will upload part two soon. Part two appeared on…
Saving a rocky relationship
The killing of Osama bin Laden is another hurdle to tackle, and we are in a critical moment of another reevaluation of the Pakistan-US…
Raymond Davis and our national honour
A few weeks ago, when the Raymond Davis saga had gripped the public imagination, I had humbly suggested, on a TV show, that this…
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…
Afghanistan: Where’s the exit strategy?
The Afghan imbroglio has now come to haunt the region and perhaps the globe as well. Thirty years of destruction and violence have left…
Le grande exposé: South Asia and WikiLeaks
An extraordinary exposé through WikiLeaks has shaken the closed doors diplomacy and the global security establishment, which flourishes on a culture of secrecy. The…
Generous and timely: US Response to Pakistan’s Disaster
Ironic that the United States has been perhaps the most pro-active and generous country in helping us with flood relief. Pakistanis, especially those were…
Revelations of war crimes and moralizing idealism
By Charles Bogle (found here) The Way of the World: A Story of Truth and Hope in an Age of Extremism, by Ron Suskind. New…
A ‘counter-view’ of suicide-bombing
The victims are not exclusively Americans and Jews but in countries like Iraq and Pakistan, Muslims themselves. What is even more traumatising "which arouses…
How the Pentagon manipulated the media to promote the Iraq war
David Walsh writes at WSWS On April 20, the New York Times published a lengthy article by investigative reporter David Barstow detailing the US Defense Department’s…
Stop demonising China
Globally, the Tibet issue has been blown beyond belief by the media. I am compelled to ask that over one million civilians are dead…
Economist estimates cost of Iraq war to exceed $3 trillion
This is an astounding figure. Not to mention the loss of over 1 million civilians, the sectarian blood-baths, the destruction of a civilisation and…
Rethinking Islam and Hinduism
S Irfan Habib in New Delhi There has been a lot of noise about rethinking in Islam, particularly post September 11,2001. I feel it…
Muslims in Germany” study: State-propagated racism under the guise of science
Muslims in Germany are completely alienated politically and also have to cope with a racist witch-hunt, which has increased continually ever since the September…
Effective Expression of Solidarity
TPS published this interesting post by Dan Tow “As I have viewed recent events in Pakistan from the safety of my home in the…
The inequitable world that we live in (on the “filthy rich”)
Negotiating with my middle class guilt, I have been pondering over this article. I had posted on Richistans earlier – somehow the obscenity of…
Tiburon – a poem by Fatima Hasan
The budding poet Fatima Hasan visited San Francisco and was inspired by a place called Tiburon. The impact of its natural beauty was so…
M F Husain’s woes
M.F. Husain, India’s best known painter is under threat from the guardians of public and national morality. This eccentric, 91 year old painter should…
Iran – Navigating the labyrinth
In the West, experts on Iran can be divided into two broad categories: academics/scholars and journalists. Nikki Keddie (academic) and Robin Wright (journalist) in…