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The development maze REGARDLESS of what Finance Minister Shaukat Aziz and his cohorts say about their financial management, the fact remains that the government is continuing with its neo-liberal, IMF-dictated policies. If one needed an evidence of the continuation of such policies...		No take-off in sight PAKISTAN’s economy is not at a take-off stage at the moment as propagated by the authorities, because the investment level has not improved although macroeconomic fundamentals are strong...
Reforms and the reformers LAST week, Syed Faisal Saleh Hayat, the Interior Minister of Pakistan, landed in Jhang, his powerful family’s agro-industrial empire. Of all the federal ministers, an Interior Minister happens to be the most dreaded. He is looked up to by the entire cabinet, specially when it consists of the ministers...		Theft by night WONDERFUL ways are schemed by people to insulate their assets from the villainous designs of the corrupt. And equally Machiavellian are the depredators who avert Divine fury by manipulating words to justify their lust for looting. When the cauldron of law and order is on the boil, when the life...
A cleric par excellence HE was the Pesh Imam, but the fact that he was a religious cleric had scarcely anything to do with the immense respect he was held in by the people. He...		The resurrection of Kharamar YUSUF Khan of Tarlandi (on the high road between Mardan and Swabi in the NWFP) was a hunter. That this passion for the chase be satisfied, he walked daily from his village to the nearby massif of the Kharamar hill....
Sweets for the sweet SOME of us have sweet teeth in our buccal cavities and these are the teeth that don’t let us watch our weight. Forcing us to ignore our ever expanding ‘expanse’ in...		The dark side of technology PAKISTAN is rapidly advancing in the field of Information Technology with the result that Internet connectivity has increased immensely. Throughout Pakistan, Internet facilities are now within the reach of the common man. ISPs, Internet clubs and cafes provide...
Among the Mormons I LAND at Salt Lake City airport close to midnight almost 30 hours (and four aircraft) after leaving Karachi. A kind lady offers me her cell phone to contact the man who has come to receive me, and leads me to the lost baggage counter....		The oil spill is a long-term grief AS expected, and predicted, the tanker Tasman Spirit, grounded in the channel at the mouth of the Karachi harbour, has split into two sections from amidships. The forward section is fully underwater and the after section is listed and half afloat....
Battlefields of Chillianwallah THE concept and design of memorial obelisks, as are seen at different places in South Asia, originally come from Egypt. But the historical significance of the one at the Christian Graveyard...		Words do have a smell of their own FEW people recognize the fact that words can smell as sweet as fresh roses. The purity and richness of their smell can open the gates of inspiration and exhilaration for those endowed with the....
From pappa to potato TECHNOLOGICAL inventions bring changes in societies and accelerate its economic and social development. Similarly, new varieties of food contribute to changing human behaviour and social attitudes. The process of history shows...		The award complex IKRAM Chaghtai’s recently published book, Iqbal and Tagore, reminds me of the time when the Hindus and the Muslims seemed poised as two rival groups challenging each other in every walk...
The really rare rendezvous IT WILL be a unique cosmic configuration in known human history when Earth’s outer neighbour Mars will come the closest in 60,000 years, igniting unparalleled interest among space scientists on the one hand and astrologers on the other. Perhaps, no one among today’s generation will ever have a chance to witness again such a rendezvous of heavenly bodies....		A mindless offensive WITH PCB already into the international cricket season that will fully test its rebuilding strategies, a revamped cricket structure, a needless nit picking with the ladies that left Gaddafi Stadium drowned in mud, and more matches per season than in the history...
A not-so-ideal end to a great career IF the Test match against Bangladesh is still on as you read these lines, take it as a moral victory for Bangladesh. I am sure it would have been over and buried long ago, for that should be the only result in view of the...		Moments to cherish and talk about BASICALLY I did not plan to write this week. There is hardly any point in writing halfway through a tournament when one knows that by the time the lines get into...
Autonomous arms EDWARD Luttwak says: “When the atomic bomb exploded on the scene in 1945, it appeared that the claims of the strategic autonomy of the air power had again proved to be right in an unexpected way...		Understanding Pentagon-speak IT’S very difficult keeping up with Mideast news due to the Orwellian newspeak coming from Washington. So here’s a handy list of key terms, translated into simple English....
Laloo all the way SALIM Saifullah, Secretary General PML (Q), is a politician by birth as it runs in the family. Although he lost his seat from wherever he contested in the last elections, by...		Stop staring THIS is with reference to the article, Stop staring (July 13). I fully accede with the author’s views about the treatment that females get in our society. Girls colleges are the best examples where....
MOSAIC: Pollution can affect male fertility TRAFFIC pollution can affect male fertility by damaging sperm, Italian scientists said recently. After studying 85 attendants at tollbooths on Italian highways, researchers at the University of Naples in southern Italy discovered...		Newsmaker BY any measure, this was not a good week for the US in the Middle East. On Tuesday, two powerful bombs virtually ripped through the American efforts to secure itself a steady supply of oil from the region. However, it was the truck...