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The debt trap PAKISTAN owed $2.07 billion to the IMF at the end of March, 2003. This represents a sharp rise from $1.55 billion in June, 2000. The power that the IMF exerts on...		China may lead a new Eastern bloc RENOWNED Bangladeshi economist Professor Rehman Sobhan says the IMF/World Bank reform models have led to structural deformities in many countries...
Tell-tale signs I saw a big line in front of my dentist’s office. I was surprised because I had never seen two patients in his office at the same time....		NET-CLIP: Go organic! It may sound quirky, but as a kid I really liked the hummable jingles of pesticides — kisan urea, kisan urea, or the Sultan Rahi-like loud and thundering voice that alone...
A bitter-sweet battle of sorts HOW much free (added) sugar should form part of man’s daily healthy diet has led to a bitter strife between the sugar industry of America and the World Health Organization. And...		The English summer of ’67 Whenever I would arrive at London’s Heathrow Airport by PIA, I would be greeted by Neville Gotting who was our station manager and his deputy, Ajmal Malik. They were not obliged...
FC College: a Pandora’s box After being appointed as the new principal of the Forman Christian College (FCC), in Lahore, an unruly welcome awaited Dr Peter Armacost at the campus. Some time in late March, on...		A fascinating border town “Ladies and gentlemen, in few minutes, Insha Allah, we will be landing at the Zhob Airport. Passengers are requested to fasten their seat belts.”...
A hospital hostage to politics Some weeks ago, an unusual incident of violence at the Civil Hospital Karachi — widely reported in the daily papers — told the story of a senior consultant doctor at the hospital who was severely beaten up by a group of ‘resident ruffians’ (i.e. the junior doctors called house officers) in the parking lot within the hospital compound....		Productive listening REMEMBER when we as little kids we would listen to something that we liked; any unpleasant statement and we would throw a tantrum until such time that the statement was...
Israel’s America MOST people wonder why the United States of America treats Israel like a spoilt child? Every year it gives Israel tremendous financial aid in excess of three to five billion dollars, in the process supporting it unreservedly in its policy of inhuman atrocities against the Palestinians....		CHAPTER FROM HISTORY: For law and education IN his own time, Sir Shah Muhammad Sulaiman (1886-1941) was a “universally respected genius of India”. His life reads like a catalogue of singular achievements, with versatile accomplishments in the realms...
POINT OF VIEW: Writing about contemporaries Nadeem Qasmi has come out with his own assessment of his distinguished contemporaries as he found them in his relations with them during his lifetime. These assessments may, in most cases,...		The left arm that swung the world AS Initially there was the feeling that this was some kind of prank. And there was good reason too. Why would Wasim Akram, one of the most successful bowlers of all time, announce his retirement, over a cup of team...
Hockey managers goof around FIRST it was cricket. Now it is hockey. Following the footsteps of officials in Gaddafi Stadium, Pakistan’s hockey managers too are following the yellow-brick road to disaster. And judging from the...		THROUGH THE COVERS: Chop-and-change policy continues THERE appears to be no end in sight as far as the chop-and-change policy of the national selectors is concerned. They continue to pick players and then drop them without giving...
Gore Vidal brings the house down Upper West Side, overlooking the Central Park, on a spring evening, fans of Gore Vidal stand in front of an imposing building, waiting for the doors to open....		An assembly of devotees A village set around the now dried up stream which used to flow some years ago, is buzzing with activity as people, carrying multicoloured flags and dallies, keep pouring in. This...
Suicide can’t be the answer RECENT suicide cases among people have received national attention and public concern. Unfortunately, the understanding required by this important issue is far from complete. There are many risk factors and triggers...		NEWSMAKER NOT since Tiger Woods hit the limelight has the golf world been so abuzz. Annika Sorenstam’s brave venture into the unknown has not only put her diamond cut reputation at stake, but also rekindled the age old argument, can women compete at par with men...