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From Cordoba to Kabul AS a Muslim, I am more than 1400 years old and have seen good days and bad days of my own. I feel proud of my glorious past and enjoy talking about it, but do not know what made me great. I attribute my decline to my enemies...		May the force be with you EDUCATED? Illiterate? Genius? Brainless? Rich? Poor? God-loving? Atheist? Young? Middle-aged? Old? Male? Female? The contrasts are an endless laundry list. Whoever you are, one of the above or not, you, to some degree, are the subject....
Economic crises, red tape and gaajar ka halwa LET’S talk business for a paltry change. Our key economic indicators (for those ill-versed in business conventions, these are carefully selected pieces of chicken drumsticks and prawn...		True spirit behind the medico THE medical student is a demigod to most in this mortal world. Every year we observe outstanding illustrious, able students enrol themselves in the rank of a medical college every year....
Chevening scholars get together AN association of Britain universities alumni in Pakistan, for that matter in Sindh alone, may fill the entire Runnymede woods and lawns and even overflow, but that does not seem to...		Considering the pain to be private I HAD a good equation with Suleri though he could be unpredictable at times. He wrote ponderous editorials which appeared on the front page in a bolder typeface than the rest...
Planet of the apes TUCKED amongst colourful and large advertisements from Dalda to KFC at one of the mian roundabouts in Clifton, a billboard stood out till a few days back, not for its elegance...		The dancing theatres of Lahore ONE had heard of killing a mosquito with a shotgun, but hadn’t seen an actual performance of such use of heavy arsenal. The Punjab authorities, the act has been attributed to...
The right time to be in Hong Kong “CABIN crew prepare for landing,” ordered the pilot. I looked down from the window and found no sign of land. My heart missed a beat, but soon I recalled someone telling...		Voyage of Sindh ALL areas north and central of Sindh, like Ka’chho, La’ar and Thar are rich with cultural heritage. Centuries old traditions the mystic temperament of the common folk, inherited over the generations,...
Nuke-making made easy for dummies! HE is back with a vengeance. And Pakistan again is on his hit list; the dude who wilfully tipped off the western media on Islamabad’s “plans for a nuclear first strike...		No smiling matter PACING up and down on the verandah, I had smoked my last cigarette an hour ago, grinding the short end into the dust under the heel of my shoe as I...
Something worth a thousand words WHAT unites people in a nation is solidarity, an ideal which is basic in sociology. The sense of living together with common ties and in common endeavour is what generates solidarity,...		National language and the national attitude IT was in the sixties, when I was a student of MA English Literature in University of Karachi, that a French female student wanted to learn Urdu. When she had completed...
Genesis of terrorism: the Pak-Afghan factor THERE has been a wild cry about Islamic fundamentalism associated with acts of terrorism since the demise of the Cold War. Western politicians, writers and media, plus their politico-ideological proteges in...		Iqbal’s precondition for an Islamic renaissance THE Iqbal Academy in Lahore had, in cooperation with Khana-i-Farhang-i-Iran, had arranged a seminar on Iqbal’s concept of man. A number of distinguished Iqbal scholars were expected to read their papers...
1935 Act: a watershed IN modern Indian history, the promulgation of the 1935 Act, in part on July 3, 1936 and in full on April 4, 1937, proved a watershed. The response it provoked, the...		Bad, but not too bad! IN a column I had written a couple of months ago I had voiced the opinion that a top-four finish for Pakistan reflects the correct standing of the national team in...
Giving up without any real fight IN my last column I had talked about Pakistan cricket getting back on track with the resumption of cricketing activities on our soil. Little did I know then that it was getting off-track as well, with the Sri Lankans literally bulldozing their way...		Marbled Teal: a journey to extinction PAKISTAN is a land rich in bio-diversity that provides home to a wide variety of birds, animals and underwater creatures. Talking particularly about the birds, there are more than 660 residents...
Health for all HEALTH is a fundamental right, guaranteed by the constitution of Pakistan. Pakistan is also a signatory to the Alma Mater, that guarantees free access to health for every citizen of the country. Unfortunately, this right is officially violated...		A relationship gone astray THIS is the most greedy cat that I have ever seen,” shouted my mom. Belittling remarks such as this about a certain furry feline were frequently passed in my house. If only I had listened to my family, I would have never gotten....
My very own ‘axis’ IT was 2.00am, the time when all the netizens meet. My friend Naheed and I were online, chatting about this and that. All of a sudden, she started ranting about George...		It wasn’t anti-Semitism THIS refers to Syed Wasiq Ali’s letter of March 3. I disagree with him that Anjum Niaz was being anti-Semitic by saying that some people call the New York Times as...
MOSAIC: Test your memory THOSE worried about developing Alzheimer’s disease can heave a sigh of relief as drop-in clinics in Britain now offer a simple test that can identify the symptoms of dementia....		Newsmaker EVEN though things have been pretty grim in our own region, much media highlight has been stolen by the ill-fated happenings in the Middle East where Jewish fundamentalists, under Premier Ariel...