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Wanted: political will THE concept of planned development was first introduced by the erstwhile Soviet Union in the first quarter of the 20th century. Many non-communist Third World countries also adopted the process and five-year plans became the guiding....		Migration factor can’t be overlooked IN TERMS of economic resources, Sindh is the richest province in Pakistan. Karachi boasts of two national sea ports from where over 90 per cent of Pakistan’s more than $23 billion international trade (imports over $12 billion...
Share it all honestly SINDH Finance Minister Syed Sardar Ahmed favours a balanced development strategy for the rural and urban areas in the province, and believes that raising the status of Hyderabad and Sukkur to the metropolitan level will help in improving....		Bush, Push, Khush A MYSTERIOUS person from the US was in Islamabad last week. He arrived in falcon flight. The manner in which he was received at the airport revealed he was neither a Tom, nor a Dick, nor a Harry. He was a very important person and appeared to be on a secret mission....
A city that is never awake LIFE is fast becoming an existence not worth living in Karachi. For citizens, everything is rising in this metropolis — from discomfort to disability, mercury to murders, prices to pollution. Terminally...		A dying trend gets a new lease of life LAHORE set a Thespian record recently. The staging of Moulin Rouge at the Alhamra Art Centre last month is said to have attracted the highest number of audience on a single night in the country’s forlorn theatre history...
On hallowed ground THE first time ever I trod the hallowed ground of Tilla Jogian was in October 1974. Young, callow and utterly unread, I had no idea regarding its history or how sacred...		Beautiful trees OF recent, the Karachi city government has been busy. Busy cutting down trees and making the city’s already tree-starved landscape, more barren. Though not much official has been said to this...
Hong Kong pulls up its socks ONE frequently hears of cities recovering from some natural disaster or the other after undergoing years of toil and trouble. But seldom does one see a city, as indeed we did, bouncing back to life so soon after receiving a major blow....		Managing kidney failure is tricky AMONG the healthcare challenges that confront Pakistani society, renal ailments are fast becoming a major issue. According to conservative estimates, at least 30 people between the age of 25-55 years in a population of a million, suffer from kidney failure of acute nature....
Islands of infection IT is not uncommon to find a heaped garbage dump even in the posh residential areas of Pakistani cities. Be it cosmopolitan Karachi, the apparently well-managed Islamabad or bustling Lahore, almost...		Manto’s alcoholism EVEN those who condemned Manto for the carnal and lewd contents of his short stories could not deny his greatness as a short story writer. Manto was the greatest Urdu short story writer and his equal is yet to appear on the literary horizon....
The Battle of Jutland AT the start of hostilities in 1914, Great Britain and Germany were the greatest naval powers of the time. While Great Britain had invested in 27 Dreadnoughts, ships that displaced 18,000 tons and capable of 21-knot speed, carrying ten 12-inch guns as main armament and protected by 13-inch armour belt, Germany had 18 comparable battleships....		The restless crusade I FEEL elated to have participated in the annual Sir Syed Day function arranged by the Aligarh Alumni Association in New York. It carried with it the typical exuberance the...
Hot Seat WRITER, producer, director and, above all, a dramatist, Agha Nasir is a man of many facets. Fond of watching movies from early childhood, his taste for films developed watching Indian movies....		Go back to the drawing board BY the time these lines appear in print the Test series would have already gone under way. In fact, the first Test would have been halfway through. Since I discussed the...
The new king IT was predestined that Matthew Hayden, the world’s pre-eminent batsman since the dawn of 2001, had always something extra that defines an exceptional cricketer, even in a star-studded team that Australia...		A patently wrong decision LET me come straight to the point. The decision by the Pakistan Hockey Federation to hire the services of foreign officials for the national team is, as I see it, wrong....
Can money buy happiness? IN AMERICA, sure! Elsewhere, who knows? Isn’t Arnold Schwarzenegger the happiest man on planet Earth today? He came to this country a pauper with no knowledge of English. Look at him now — loaded enough to buy himself the governorship...		On ground zero LIVING in an apartment is not a joke; but it becomes a joke if you are living on the ground floor. It is all fun and frolic if you are living on the top floor. You become a heavenly body, fluttering and flying the staircase from the ground to the skies....
The burning of Islamabad OCTOBER 7th was an unusual day in the capital’s history. Following the funeral prayers of the slain Maulana Azam Tariq, chief of the defunct Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan, an angry mob of mourners...		Wake up, woman WITH reference to the article Wake up, woman (September 14), I would like to add that since time immemorial, women have been “WOW” for men. They have been bought, used, and...
MOSAIC: India’s drinking water problem MILLIONS of people in India’s most populous state are drinking water contaminated with traces of cadmium, fluoride, arsenic, nitrates and lead, said a government report released recently. ...		Newsmaker The debonair British actor, famous for his on-screen exploits as James Bond, was recently given the title of Sir following his knighthood by Queen Elizabeth....