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Get Real, Please

An anchor was recently shocked on his show when a college student called up and threatened to immolate himself if Musharraf was removed from power. At the final of the Asia Cricket tournament in Karachi, when the camera panned to Musharraf seated among the audience, a roar of approval rose from the crowd as they [...]

Loose Ends Pakistan

Faisal Qureshi is an anchor on a TV show on Samaa - his show, Ankahi, discusses topics of social reform and civic revolution. ‘Loose Ends Pakistan’ was a show he anchored on another channel, similar to Ankahi, but with larger groups of people at a time.
This evening, he had Samina Peerzada (respected filmmaker in Pakistan) [...]

Corporate Double Standards

I am truly tired of a corporate culture that believes in stringing along vendors for payments. I design for a prominent group in Karachi, and in the six months of my agreement with them, getting payment for my and third-party services has been like pulling teeth.
This is the scenario: I get calls every day pressuring [...]

St Augustine

I got a petition in the mail today: A demand that the government address a looming food crisis, a global phenomenon that has Pakistan in second place as countries that may be the worst affected.
Ironically, a news channel flashed a report just yesterday that our fearless new ‘elected’ leaders have just re-opened the export of [...]

William Dalrymple and BB

William Dalrymple has posted an article in Outlook India, which is a must-read, especially if we are to avoid re-writing history as our media has managed to do in the last few years…

In the Kingdom of Bhutto…

“The Queen has died. Long live the King!” In essence, these were the chants coming from the back of the room where their Lordships held court to their minions. The boy King sat in the middle, flanked by father and patron. He read from a text to the crowd, a monotonous, jilted speech that suddenly [...]

One of my Favourite Poems…

Waiting for the Barbarians
What are we waiting for, assembled in the forum?
The barbarians are to arrive today.
Why such inaction in the Senate?
Why do the Senators sit and pass no laws?
Because the barbarians are to arrive today.
What laws can the Senators pass any more?
When the barbarians come they will make the laws.
Why did our emperor wake [...]

Politics and the Supreme Court

This is called listening to an opposing point of view: A Voice to Lawyers and Judges
In a free society, this writer has as much right to speak as those blindly opposing ‘government’ action - it makes no difference to our ‘educated’ class who is in government. The theme of their lives is opposition.

Cast Ye Doubt On My Faith?

Over the many conspiracy theories and hotly-debated views on various blogs and forums regarding Lal Masjid (LM), few have reacted to the notion that one Muslim has the power to doubt another Muslim’s faith. The common theme among many Pro-Lal Masjid bloggers seems to be that a) the Ghazi Brother’s intentions were pure, so their [...]

Clerical Islam

Over the past 5 days, we’ve seen the face of clerical ‘Islam’ in Pakistan: a hypocritical movement by power-hungry individuals who are willing to send our sons and daughters to their death, rather than face it themselves. If Abdul Rasheed Ghazi is not afraid of death, why is he so afraid of arrest? If we [...]