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State terrorism RECENTLY a friend from Baroda called. Weeping. It took her fifteen minutes to tell me what the matter was. It wasn’t very complicated. Only that Sayeeda, a friend of hers, had been caught by a mob. Only that her stomach had been ripped....		The (ir)relevance of May Day MAY 1 was declared the worker’s international day in 1887. It has been a day of resolve, of solidarity, of celebration, and, most of all, a day demonstrating the might of the working class as a movement, a state ideology and as a source...
An almost unending farewell whirl MUNNAWAR Hamid was with ICI for 33 years, rising to the top as chief executive of the famous company and then as chairman as well. A mild mannered and soft-spoken Oxford...		Young in years, old in hours THE Gurmani case was behind me. It had, in any case, lost its relevance with the imposition of Martial Law. While it had lasted it had meant my having to go...
Overdue payments IT’S a real story based on my personal experience. I have tried my level best to generalize the scene as absolutely no offence, pun or slur on anyone is intended: He caught me in the workshop corridor and gave me a friendly pat on my shoulder. Then he asked: “Saab ji, tusi te inney wadde afsar ho — sanoo tey labtey he nahi hoo, hoor ki hal chaal...		Of travelling in a local bus ASTONISHED, I looked around for something amazing which made the passengers of a bus stick out, from the windows, their heads with bulging eyes. Commuters perched on the roof were enjoying simply watching the hustle and bustle on the bus stop. I tried hard to discover some centre of common...
The Third Referendum “CAESAR,” wrote Will Cupy, an American historian-author of the thirties and forties of the last century, “was in Alexandria, from mid September to June, settling affairs of the state. It was...		Travels in Moorish Spain – III SEVILLE (Arab Ashbailia), the capital of present day Andalusia, has long been associated with the finer elements of life, art, culture, music and poetry. This reputation is well-deserved and deep-rooted. Centuries ago in the middle ages...
Architect of the Durand Line SOME years back I came across material on Durand Line, the international boundary that divides Pakistan and Afghanistan. I found out that the high ranking British military engineer, Major General Durand — who marked the boundary on the ground, to conform with the configuration on the map — died in an accident in Dera ismail....		Bipolar in a bizarre way LAST week, George Bush suddenly lost his voice. Three days later, Harvard Business Review found fault with its etherized editorial scissors. Here is a tale of two women who took a...
Do gems affect our lives? THROUGH the centuries, people have been fascinated by gems. While monarchs have studded their crowns, thrones, daggers and swords with gems to display grandeur, others have used gems for ornamentation. Some,...		An Indian’s home-coming “AS I was approaching Sargodha in a bus, I was excited. I felt like coming back home... I want to build a monument of Indo-Pakistan friendship on the land where my...
The priest that led the modernist movement APPARENTLY the title seems contradictory. But then such is the tenor of the life and works of Hopkins. A devoted Jesuit, a profound poet, a realist in mind, a romantic at heart he was a different individual. Hopkins was fascinated by language and rhythm. He was also enchanted by the distinctness between....		Visions of Nostradamus WHOEVER believes in the occult science of prediction must have read or at least heard of Nostradamus. He was born in 1503 and died in 1556 AD. His grandfathers both maternal...
Simla Conference of 1945 THE Simla proposal, popularly known as the Wavell Plan, was the first British move after the abortive Cripps Plan (1942). Like the Cripps proposals, the Wavell Plan was also meant to...		Modern without being modernistic AS I received Suhail Ahmad Khan’s new collection of verse, Rah ki Nishanian, I felt as if I had been taken unawares. This feeling is not new with me. His previous...
Sailing in troubled waters DESPITE a rich haul of eight gold medals in Asian Games and Asian Championships since 1978, the fate of sailing precariously hangs in the balance. And in spite of the additional...		Aimless ambling must end now AS I write these lines, Pakistan has made a decent start in the Test series against New Zealand at Lahore, with runs flowing from the bats of Pakistani batsmen all through...
A summer of English cricket PLAYED in the beautiful landscape of Kent, Dover the locale of the wanderings of King Lear, the tragedy-stricken King of Shakespeare’s play, cricket is a game without which English summers cannot be enjoyed. For some it cannot even be thought of. The Englishman, whether in the rural or the urban, is in love with cricket’s beauty....		The plight of refugees MUHAJIR’ literally meaning ‘one who emigrates’. Historically the world has been applied to various groups in the course of Islamic history. In the document known as the Constitution of Medina, which was an agreement between...
The missing Muslim ethos WHEN the telephone rang late one night, it was a huge relief from the emotional stress since September 11. It was Nina on the line from Washington. “Give Aruna (my wife)...		The dentist and history THIS is with reference to the article, “A dentist whose work became history” by Dr Owais Ali Farooqi, published on March 31....
MOSAIC: Fighting illegal wildlife trade THE World Wide Fund for Nature entered 2002 with an urgent agenda under the leadership of a new international president, Chief Emeka Anyaoku, who succeeded Prof Ruud Lubbers. The WWF recently...		Newsmaker JEAN Marie Le Pen shocked Europe and the wider world, with his surprise victory in the first round of the French presidential elections held on April 22. He took in 17.06 per cent of the vote, knocking out the popular socialist candidate, and former prime minister....