Basharat Peer’s Curfewed Night
Book Review by Sumaira Samad Curfewed Night is the memoir of young Kashmiri journalist Basharat Peer, recounting his youth in the troubled valley during…
Symbolism And Allegory In Qur’aan
The Message of the Quran Translated and Explained by Muhammad Asad (Formerly Leopold Weiss) When studying the Quran, one frequently encounters what may be…
Dholaks drowning gunfire
by Shreekant Gupta During a recent visit to Delhi I mentioned to my aunt that I planned to visit Rawalpindi next week for a…
Trouble bubble – a fresh perspective
Ejaz Haider’s article published in today’s Daily Times is a welcome perspective. Thanks for some sanity.. …Pakistan may be in a political crisis, but…
‘There are none so deaf as those who don’t want to hear’
Liked this excellent editorial from The News: Yet more curiously, there appears to be a positive dearth of arrests of those who publicly carry…
Most poetry ignores most people
Courtesy The NEWS, Pakistan The shadow poet Adrian Mitchell died on December 21, 2008 in London. A prolific poet, novelist and playwright, he was…
Pakistani media – an alternative view
Themrise Khan sent me her provocative piece on Pakistani electronic media. It is a contested standpoint and will not be appreciated by all. But…
Dark forces still potent year after Bhutto’s slaying
I was quoted in this piece posted below SAEED SHAH ISLAMABAD SPECIAL TO THE GLOBE AND MAIL, DECEMBER 27, 2008 A year after Benazir…
Remembering Benazir Bhutto
I am reposting my piece that was written a year ago. It seems that not much has changed in these twelve months It was…
9 Is Not 11
I am completely under the spell of this fabulous piece of writing, brutally honest and eminently sensible. 9 Is Not 11 (And November isn’t…
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…
Of saints and sinners
James Astill writing for The Economist says that the Islam of the Taliban is far removed from the popular Sufism practised by most South…
Is it just cricket? Indian team should have come to Pakistan
“The tour’s cancellation means that terrorists have won; this is what they wanted to achieve.” I was quoted in a piece published by Hindustan…
Even Tamas is online now
My dear friend Bhupinder alerted me to his post that talks about Tamas, a great novel (and subsequently a gripping TV serial) on the…
Unfullfiled Civic Longing
Written for The Friday Times, Pakistan After Mumbai, I have stopped watching television. I will not participate in the senseless jingoism of the Indo-Pak…
Struggle for the soul
– Ayeda Naqvi While it is tempting to give in to anger, it is more important to take a deep breath and remember that…
Celebrating Eid with Rumi
It’s a habit of yours to walk slowly. You hold a grudge for years. With such heaviness, how can you be modest? With such…
A new book on the Partition saga
Changing mindsets by SYED ALI NAQVI One might cry out, humanity is dead if there was any, in disgust and disbelief after going through…
Who will win the game?
I have been amazed at the reaction that my little piece, “Policy shifts not war” published on these pages on Dec 4 has generated…
Data Ganj Baksh: Lahore’s oldest guide
Perhaps the greatest of the experiences at Data Darbar is to find oneself connected to a stream of humanity, shoulder to shoulder, with a…