Please Visit our Sponsor (Ads open in separate window)

Secularism in the dock SECULARISM played a pivotal role in shaping the modern democratic states that emerged in the post-feudal Europe, and in the US after its independence. It has been accepted as a universal principle for engineering democratic nations...		It’s all about pluralism ASGHAR Ali Engineer, the renowned Islamic scholar from India, believes there is no clash between Islam and secularism, the latter being a much misunderstood word in the Muslim world. Born on March 10, 1940, a graduate in civil engineering, Asghar was trained in Islamic theology...
Demise of dreams HAVE you heard of Imdad Chakram? I am talking to my readers born after 1958, the year that coincides with imposition of first Martial Law in the country, just after eleven years of coming into being of Pakistan in 1947. The man who clamped Military rule on the country was...		Come rain and art COME July and the humidity becomes unbearable for the Islooites, who can run but cannot hide from it. Since most of the air-conditioners are run on official bills, Islamabad Electrical Supply...
Stop staring WE should have signs like these as we have signs like Stop Smoking or No Walking On The Grass. As a Pakistani woman, I think it’s my duty to break this criminal silence about something we women face everyday....		Track-II, but whereto? OF late the Wagah border has become the single most important separator, second only to the Line of Control, between India and Pakistan. We all know the seismic activities surrounding the LoC, leaving the Wagah to deal with....
To eat or not to eat LOOKING at the small waists of models and actresses, one wonders whether they have all the ribs or not? To many of us, they look like goddesses in their haute couture...		Making history at The Oval THE Oval was “the other cricket ground” in London, across the river and over the Vauxhall Bridge. It was a working-man’s cricket ground, the cloth cap as against a bowler hat....
A benighted tale WITH operating and T&D losses mounting, the Karachi Electric Supply Corporation is heading for disaster. And despite the waving of subsidies by the federal government and the provision of financial support by the provincial set up...		Microsurgery is an act of craftsmanship MICROSURGERY is the branch of surgery in which extremely intricate operations are performed through highly refined operating microscopes and powerful magnification loupes, using miniaturized precision instruments...
In memory of forgotten heroes THE Rawalpindi cantonment, once known as the ‘best’ one in the country, though not what it used to be, is still a comparatively cleaner and better place than the city. Attempts...		The ultimate penalty PAKISTAN is one of the several countries in the world that has retained the death penalty on their statute books. Other countries that execute even the mentally ill and juveniles, besides the United States and Pakistan, are Saudi Arabia....
Silk and culture THINGS of daily use play an important role in influencing and changing the habits and behaviour of people. Those who are rich and resourceful, use luxury things to distinguish themselves from the commoners. Such things become symbols of their high status and social class. To make these inaccessible to the commoners...		The Halqa over the years THE book I am reading now is a researched study of Halqa-i-Arbab-i-Zauq. The situation appears to me a bit ironical. The Halqa, while still lingering on, has turned into a subject...
Rumsfeld, the poet! IF he’s 17, I’m 21,” these were Geoffrey Boycott’s comments on Shahid Afridi’s age when he had just begun playing cricket for Pakistan. For some inexplicable reason I feel like coming up with a similar kind of reaction to the news item that “deep inside US Secretary...		One of our very best SAMAD Mir is beyond doubt the best pugilist to have ever represented Pakistan. I met him after a gap of 33 years. With the exception of grey hair and a cigarette in his mouth, he hardly looked any different....
Loudmouths and pampered kids AS if the bad press that Rashid Latif’s characteristic faux pas caused was not enough, Pakistan cricket got more of it when someone filed a court case against Shoaib Akhtar for...		Fireworks, BBQs, parades and sales HOW was this Fourth of July different from the rest? Well, 227 years later, America has given its gays their “right to life, liberty and pursuit of happiness” and all came out of their closets to celebrate the...
Not just a family affair WHEN Begum Nusrat Shahbaz, wife of former Punjab chief minister Shahbaz Sharif, and their two daughters were allowed to return to Pakistan on April 5 , people started speculating that Gen...		Commercial signboards THIS is in reference to an interesting article,” Painting Town Black” that appeared in the Magazine on 22-6-2003....
MOSAIC: Global warming on wild flowers ONE in every five species of wild flower could die out over the next century if levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere double, in line with predictions, scientists said recently....		Newsmaker UNITED throughout their lives, the conjoined Iranian twins were brought to their final destination in separate coffins after a marathon operation to separate the two ended in failure last week. Laden and Laleh Bijani were born....