Please Visit our Sponsor (Ads open in separate window)

Hand in hand, but how? DEVELOPMENT in an underdeveloped country is not entirely the responsibility of the state. It simply does not have the resources, the potential and the capacity to make it happen on a sustained basis. The financial resources are thin...		P-PP is not the perfect panacea WHILE the future belongs to the concept of public-private partnership (P-PP), in Pakistan it is still in its infancy and there will be quite a few teething problems before the trend sets in, says Arif Hasan, architect/planner who has for long been associated with...
Dialogue with the dead MOST friends and relatives have abandoned Amanat, who claims to have talked to the dead. His wife, Chandni, too, has deserted him. She proved in court that Amanat was insane. Amanat did not contest the case. Without making a fuss, he left the house. It was a tragic culmination of a love-marriage. Amanat...		Seasons under the sun WITH the first signs of the receding tide of winter, the earth woke up with a yawn. The birds twittered, flapping their wings as if to shake off the frost. They had every cause to be happy. The sun was kind above, the air was....
She wants to be a doctor IT was one of the usual days when I visited Jinnah School No 9, one out of a series of 10 schools established by a local NGO in Balochistan that provides...		A concrete jungle of greed ACCORDING to news reports, Karachi’s City Council has approved a new commercialization policy. Six major roads including Shahrah-e-Faisal, Tariq Road, Rashid Minhas Road, University Road, Shahrah-e-Pakistan...
A map for all directions ARE you lost? Don’t know where to go? Or maybe, it’s just that you are planning a trip and would like to be prepared well in advance. Well, fear not, for...		The undemocratic West WHILE the democratic West never misses a chance to raise issues of human rights violations and democracy, when dealing with the developing world, the track record of these western countries has...
The ill-fated Bam IT was three in the morning as the bus from Yazd dropped us on the highway. From here it was two kilometres towards the centre of Bam. I had met Andre and Tanja, a nice Slovenian couple, in Esfahan and we travelled together....		Health for all but mothers THE thin jute curtain was about to fall as a bunch of half-naked kids clung to it. It was getting dark outside and yet, nobody called them inside. Pale and feeble, the bodies of these children were missing the touch of their mother’s lap. “Our men do not have any entertainment outlets,” Rafia noted tongue-in-cheek....
The tree that was murdered I DESPERATELY want to make a confession; until and unless I make it I cannot get rid of that sense of guilt and remorse, which has been haunting me day...		World order and South Asia THE horrific events of 9/11 have turned the world topsy turvy. Terrorism is a major problem, in fact a global one. But it also provided the United States an opportunity to show off its military domination to the world. Perhaps it is too early to encompass all its implications. Moreover, at the moment, we are...
Noor Jahan and Jahangir NOOR JAHAN was the daughter of a Persian immigrant, Mirza Giyas Beg of Teheran, who came to the subcontinent during the time of Akbar. She was the widow of a Mughal officer, Sher Afghan, and was married to Jahangir in 1611. She left a deep impact on the social and political life of Jahangir. In fact...		A family saga THEY were six in number, making a galaxy of brothers hailing from Batala. Two among them chose to incorporate a reference of their birthplace in their names, and so are known...
Hot Seat ENGLISH movies — because of their subjects, actors, directors and performances — honed the early taste regarding movies in Dr Enver Sajjad. In 1940s and ’50s, he was left besotted by...		Stadium in a shambles FINALLY, after a wait of nearly 14 years, the Indians are coming. The much awaited clash of two of cricket’s bitterest rivals will finally be meeting for a series that will comprise of seven One-Dayers and three...
Ganguly is both brave and lucky HAVING written about Steven Waugh the last week, I guess it is only logical to have a look at the performance of the Indian team in that Test series. While it...		Be ready for the backlash THE way the national team has performed in Malaysia must have warmed the hearts of many. This is true till at least the time of writing these lines when Pakistan has...
Charity and the class act DOES class count in USA today? You bet! Class, in America, was never so obvious as now. The nation that once prided itself in porous class-lines, is today — thanks to two decades of trillions of dollars national surplus...		In the midst of change UPPER, middle or lower, no matter what class, our youth is immersed in a quest — a search for ideals. It is heartwarming to see the desire for personal growth expressed by the 18-24 year-old segment of our population....
Experts are not always right “NOPE,” said the handyman. “It won’t work.” I’d asked him to put black and white floor tiles on a wall. He insisted that they would come tumbling down. Later, I thought...		Through the Covers WITH reference to Mr Zafar’s letter (January 4), I completely disagree with him. Zaheer Abbas is a very good cricket critic and his comments are constructive and very interesting. Coming from...
MOSAIC: Air quality in Asia POLLUTION in the skies over Asia’s booming cities is responsible for 500,000 deaths every year and the working lives of many are shortened by health problems from breathing filthy air, experts...		Newsmaker MY interest in life comes from setting myself huge, apparently unachievable challenges and trying to rise above them,” writes Sir Richard Branson in his autobiography Losing My Virginity. One of Britain’s richest men, Sir Richard recently became...