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Corruption: causes and remedies It is not my intention to defend corruption in the private sector or any other sector of our society. Here, the aim is to throw light on the causes of rampant and far-reaching corruption in our society...		Unconcerned leadership Various statistics, both international and domestic, claim that the per capita income of Pakistan is $300 per annum, which amounts to Rs18,000 per annum or Rs1,500 per month. Based on the...
A museum of evil chairs GAPU, our friend, is a compulsive globetrotter. He visits little-known or unknown countries on the earth. He has recently returned from his tour of the northeastern countries in the southwestern hemisphere...		An unusual Canadian investor He is young, tall and robust, has a ponytail and looks more like an athlete or a basketball star, but he is a venture capitalist from Canada more interested in IT...
A close brush with death On Aug 25, 1961, my son, Javed, was born at Dr Pinto’s clinic in Saddar, not far from Frederick’s Cafeteria. Allama Iqbal had named his son Javed. If it was good...		A living legend I have had the privilege and the pleasure of knowing Khawaja Zaki Hassan for the last 46 years....
Unfair fairness Months before her wedding, 22-years old Ayesha started applying a combination of four whitening creams on her face. This she did to enhance her complexion which she thought was dark. After...		The dampened election spirit Politicians have their stakes in elections and so has the government. While the electorate is normally involved in elections, a series of frustrating experiences over a prolonged period of time have...
Ziarat’s vanishing Juniper forests It is a cry in anguish, for anyone who would care to listen. The peerless Juniper Forest of Ziarat, which has trees as old as 5000 years, and is the second...		The unseen tears When we think of poverty, destitution and deprivation, we mostly think of African countries as the misfortune of these countries is fully known to the world. But not many know that...
An affair to remember It’s been a horrid year for the American exchequer. Some $37 billion — yes billions — have gone into their ‘War Against Terrorism’ since September last. For the next 10 years,...		A biased world “A wife, a dog and a walnut tree — the more you beat them, the better they be!” This ancient English rhyme reflects the patriarchal instincts of the male character. Although...
Pakistan’s golden glitches “What is the golden rule of life?” So asked my friend one day. And when I failed to answer, he replied: “He who has the gold, rules!”...		In the dustbin of history We are the forgotten folk, left behind somewhere in the ruins of past, in the dustbin of history along with the debris of putrefied social system, fossilized traditions, primeval beliefs and...
Laughable or laudable? Qasmi Saheb has now become a ‘Grand Old Man’ of Urdu Letters. He just crossed the 85th year of his highly productive life, but the years and decades have descended lightly...		CHAPTERS FROM HISTORY: The makings of 1971 The East-West Pakistan cleavage dominated and disfigured the Pakistan political landscape, for the most part, during the 1950s and the 1960s. During these decades, most of its problems as well as...
POINT OF VIEW: Doing away with taghazzul A YOUNG poet has made his appearance on the literary scene with ghazals which I would like to call conversational. These conversational ghazals have been written in a language which reminds...		Judgment day September 4, 2002, should be remembered as a date for reflection for whoever is in charge of sports institutions in Pakistan. On opposite hemispheres of the globe, two Pakistani teams, one...
A feast of Asian Hockey IT was after a long time that there were three Asian countries in the line-up for the six-nation Champions Trophy, and what a difference it made in not just the quality...		THROUGH THE COVERS: Weather comes to the rescue BY the time you get to read these lines, the ICC Champions Trophy would have already got under way. In fact, you would have known by then the fate of Pakistan’s...
Playing games with names NAMING a new arrival is a semi-pleasant and sometimes a little irksome affair, which the grandparents, if alive, and the parents must settle before the baby enters the second week of...		Butcher’s blitz For most of us, a butcher is not an uncommon sight in any market located anywhere, be it the posh area of Defence and Clifton or the clustered dwellings of the...
Unwise decisions Throughout history, governments have often pursued polices that were contrary to their own interests. When it comes to governance, mankind, it seems, performances worst than in almost any other activity. In...		NEWSMAKER THE question, ‘who’ is Osama bin Laden, would definitely relegate you to the status of an ignorant fool, but if you rephrase the question and ask ‘where’ is he...