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Sacred murders WHAT idealism! “No man is an island, entire of itself,” said Donne, proclaiming, “any man’s death diminishes me, for I am involved in mankind.” Representing humanity’s highest aspirations, these lines momentarily cloud one’s judgment...		Their dreams die young THEY come out of their dingy, raw-brick houses in narrow, uneven lanes, at seven in the morning, wearing their rough and shabby over-alls. They make their way through the smelly, garbage-strewn, winding pathways, and are still chewing the last morsels....
Why such callousness? A FEW days back there was an accident in Lahore, in which a young boy on a motorcycle was hit by a hit-and-run-car and seriously injured. The boy was taken...		The finance minister and foreign investors A NUMBER of business organizations have been holding special functions in the country to felicitate Shaukat Aziz on winning the award of the Best Finance Minister of the Year from Euromoney...
Little streams becoming mighty rivers WHEN I had left for the United States in 1947, my father who had not been too keen on the idea, had tried to dissuade me by telling me that I...		Realizing the essence of time REMEMBER all those phrases like ‘Time flies’; ‘Time is money’; ‘Timing is everything’; ‘Lost time will never return’ and so on. Most of us Pakistanis have thrown all these...
To be unintentional or not to be THERE are basically two varieties of nonsense words. The first is the unintentional and the second is the intentional. The former is common in speech and much semi-educated writing. The latter has become a minor genre in literature, especially during the last 150 years. The best part of this genre is the fact that it is never intended to make....		Pity the nation A POEM was widely circulated few years back. People made photocopies and presented them to friends and acquaintance to show their concern for the all round decline, the sad state...
Murree committing commercial suicide THE chugging rumble of cement mixers, the rattle and whoosh of men shovelling sand and gravel to the background music of cash registers, ghetto blasters and the voices of hotel touts, have replaced the peaceful sound of wind...		Shrine of Shah Rukn-e-Alam THE shrine of Sheikh Rukn-ud-Din-Abul Fateh commonly known by the title Rukn-e-Alam (pillar of the world) is the glory of Multan and is regarded with reverence by devotees. Shah Rukn-e-Alam was...
Affluenza is the all-time US bug “I CONSIDER Bill Gates and Bill Clinton to be the all-time biggest promoters of ‘affluenza’ ever to walk the face of this earth!” Thirty years of teaching economics and computer science...		Voices with an edge DON’T get me wrong. It is not a complaint, but an honest-to-goodness endeavour to find a way to lessen the acrimony of complaining voices if not to eliminate complaints altogether. Let us, to begin with, call a spade a spade.....
To wear or not to wear IT was a usual wedding reception. I didn’t know many people there but I was certainly glad and equally stunned, to spot a friend in the assemblage of some ostentatiously dressed...		Shah Inayat, a socialist Sufi of Sindh SUFIS have always tried to prepare people for an eternal and spiritual life. They have concentrated on perfection and betterment of their worldly life by denouncing personal property, labelling wealth as blood of the poor sucked by kings, lords and capitalists. It is said that once King Abu-Zafar brought two bags full of golden coins...
Haanda: a lost musical tradition WITH the change in social life and cultural patterns, music, too, has experienced many changes in its form and content. Whether it be folk music, art music or the dance, every...		Jinnah-Ispahani correspondence IN his day, Mirza Abul Hassan Ispahani (1902-1981) was an All India Muslim League (AIML) Parliamentary Board member (1936), an AIML Working Committee member, and a confident of Jinnah since 1936....
Mir Anis’ poetic justice THANKS to the tradition of Muharram, Mir Anis enjoys the privilege of an annual revival. Every year we are reminded of Anis. In the emotional climate generated by the occasion we...		Kiwis are here AS the Kiwis finally make it to Pakistan, a cursory glance at the past results shows that Pakistan has maintained a upper hand. In fact, New Zealand has not won a...
Second, but a distant second AS I write these lines, the final of the Sharjah triangular is a few hours away. There is no point talking about that, but the manner in which Pakistan played the round games, and the consequent results, can hardly be called satisfactory by any standard....		Role of referees in cricket AT the recently held meeting of ICC in South Africa, some important decisions were taken. Among the more burning issues that were addressed there, one was about the dissent shown by the players against umpiring judgments. Four stages of dissents were mentioned, each carrying harsher punishments than the previous one....
Private affairs HEALTH care delivery is a complex and sensitive issue the world over. Even in countries with the most advanced, highly invested and well-organized public health care systems — where the state and community spends billions on health...		Body works IF you are fed up with the art galleries and the exhibits they put on that you cannot afford, get ready for something new and deviant. There is this professor of anatomy in a German university, Dr Gunther von Hagens, who has devised a technique....
Helpless but not hopeless AS someone living in Karachi, I would like to share my state of helplessness with fellow citizens, which is getting worse with each passing day. Ironically, no one appears to be concerned and bothered about these day-to-day problems of a common man. Perhaps the word common man is missing from the dictionary of our rulers...		A genius of his age THIS is with reference to the article A genius of his age by Shamsuddin Ashraf on 24 March 2002. I would like to comment over a particular sentence that the author mentioned in his article. In his praise for Abul Kalam Azad he said that Mulana....
MOSAIC: Changing mindsets AN issue that has been the subject of many a seminar and workshop around the world has been that of gender sensitization, but over the years the focus has changed. While...		Newsmaker GOING by initial assessments, for English international and Manchester United mainstay, David Beckham, the World Cup is effectively over. With less than 50 days to the start of the grand sporting spectacle that is second only....