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The missing link IT had been assumed for long that the need for land reforms was recognized as settled. But, apparently, nothing is ever settled. The present government recently reopened the question by attempting to close it, when Prime Minister....		The feudal knows best SINDH National Front leader Mumtaz Bhutto, who is part of the landed class and was ruling Sindh during the 1972 land reforms, favours large land holdings on the pattern of the...
Ms Misery comes calling ALL her relatives call her ‘Ms Misery’ because she is always so helpless and miserable. She is my mother’s cousin, so I call her ‘Aunt Misery’ in her absence. In our opinion, her problem is that she has no real problem. She either imagines problems or creates them for herself. For....		Start planning PLANNING is an integeral part of every human’s ability to day-dream. From students to employees, gradual attainment of higher positions and status to achieve some noble objectives in life is the aim that everybody lives with. And this is where the planning part comes into play....
Peace is in the air, or is it? WITH the first direct contact of any kind between the prime ministers of Pakistan and India this past week, peace seems to be on the minds of many. That both sides...		Weapons of mass distraction YOU probably won’t find a better site on the net than the one called the World Socialist Web Site (www.wsws.org) for articles and literature written in defence of the underprivileged, the...
Pierre Cardin comes to PIA RESPECTABILITY exacts a terrible price. It leads to conformity. Yet, as a young man, I had shunned both. I was not a Bohemian and went regularly to the barber and shaved...		Playing with the sanctity of Sufism IT might be too scandalous to put it down in writing, but the unwholesome truth cannot be disregarded that the resting places of Sufis and saints in Lahore are being used as lairs of crime and corruption. The seepage...
The miracles of mother’s milk IT goes without saying that breast milk, also sometimes referred to as white blood, has numerous benefits for the baby. This milk, an unstructured living tissue, is almost similar to blood and has got the property of transporting nutrients...		A labour of love THOSE who take their chance on the tree-lined road along Rasul-Qadarabad link canal have to pass though a linear colony of straw mat makers near Qadarabad Barrage. Picturesque conical straw huts...
The cradle of civilization ONCE again, thousands of Berbers, barbarians and brutal bullies have destroyed Baghdad. Iraqis have been butchered on the orders of the boorish Bush and his lap dog, Blair. The unprovoked and cowardly attack has been...		‘The seven sisters’ AS we talk of South Asia, we find ourselves confronted with a medley of cultures, languages, religions and races. Can we dig out from this medley something common, which may be...
G.M. Syed’s Sindhu land SYED Ghulam Murtaza Shah (1904-95), popularly known as G.M. Syed since 1945, is usually considered the “sage” of Sindh. He had dominated Sindhi politics since 1943, when he got himself elected as president of the Sindh Provincial Muslim League, as few others did....		Andy Flower bids adieu AFTER more than 10 years of meritorious services to Zimbabwe cricket, Andy Flower chose the World Cup to leave the scene in rather poignant circumstances. He was arguably the only player from that country easily....
Sharing thoughts with the public I READ with interest what England captain Nasser Hussain recently wrote about his ambitions in the cricketing arena, that he wishes to complete at least hundred Tests, that he wants...		The Tasmanian talisman RICKY Thomas Ponting, Australia’s One-day International captain, is one of cricket’s most exciting players. Among the finest cricketers that Tasmania has ever produced, he is a precociously gifted batsman who has...
Sparks of spring GET the edge; unleash the power within, master your emotions, these twice-told mantras are more trite than doable. The gurus who mouth them promise us the moon, if we shell out a sizable sum and follow their ‘motivational’ techniques on how never ever...		Third World mindtrap hampering progress IT is easy to define the problems that face the South-Asian region. Educational opportunities for all must yet be provided, the gap between rich and poor is ever-widening; we still face severe shortages in food and healthcare. The battle for human rights and women’s rights goes on, while weak systems of governance have brought...
A new trend APARTMENTS in Islamabad are not like the ones in Karachi, where one can easily eavesdrop on the domestic disputes of neighbours or guess what’s on for lunch next door. Islooites are...		Tom’s letter I WISH what appeared in Amar Jaleel’s Mystic Notes Tom writes to mom, on April 17, 2003, would be true. It was a very nice effort from the writer to make...
MOSAIC: Time for a new Nobel Prize THE new buzzword ‘sustainable development’ is the simple idea of ensuring a better quality of life for everyone, now and for generations to come. However, sustainable development is not a new idea. The concept has been around for a number of decades. Many cultures over....		Newsmaker SHE was once hailed as the ‘mother of the nation’. But that was when Winnie Mandela was the wife of the imprisoned icon of social justice who later became the most famous and adorable statesman in the world. Now, she is just an ordinary gang-boss...