SMOKERS’ CORNER: THROUGH THE EYES OF OTHERS
‘Self-Orientalism’, ironically, looks towards assumed Western authority for validation.
Nadeem F. Paracha
SMOKERS’ CORNER: DEMONS OF THE DEEP STATE
The term deep state means a very different thing in countries such as Pakistan.
SMOKERS’ CORNER: TRAITORS AND FIFTH COLUMNISTS
Pakistan has a long history of governments accusing the political opposition of being externally funded.
SMOKERS’ CORNER: THE LAST REFUGE OF FAILING REGIMES
We are now seeing ministers adopting the role.
SMOKERS’ CORNER: THE CHANGING FACE OF PUNJABI NATIONALISM
Nawaz Sharif adds a more universal and multi-ethnic dimension to the PML-N.
SMOKERS’ CORNER: BANNING CULTURAL PRODUCTS
The ploy of using moral rationale to ban a cultural product that offended a ruler’s ego was not present before the late 1970s.
SMOKERS’ CORNER: ‘HYBRID REGIMES’ AND THEIR DISCONTENTS
Electoral authoritarianism is a staple in the concept of ‘hybrid regimes’. But even sham elections can create new power centres.
SMOKERS’ CORNER: MORALITY AND THE STATE
Populist legislation based on subjective concepts of virtue often does little or nothing to address crimes it pretends to combat.
SMOKERS’ CORNER: THE VICIOUS CYCLES OF PAKISTAN'S POLITICS
The country’s politics seem to be caught in an endless loop of authoritarianism and revolt. This is natural when all opposition is
SMOKERS’ CORNER: WHEN THE PAST COMES KNOCKING
How did Pakistani society come to accept for 11 years the draconian and ill-intentioned laws and ordinances...
SMOKERS’ CORNER: RETURN OF THE REPRESSED
A repressed past that is not fully understood, eventually re-emerges as an unresolved entity.
SMOKERS’ CORNER: METROPOLIS IN A MESS
Karachi’s problems of infrastructure can be traced back to its very sudden transformation into a major city.
SMOKERS’ CORNER: THE POLITICS OF THE ‘RELIGIOUS’ PARTIES
Religio-political parties have always struggled to command any significant chunk of the Pakistani vote bank.
SMOKERS’ CORNER: WHO IS THE LEADER OF THE MUSLIM WORLD?
Challenged by Turkey’s ‘neo-Ottomanism’, Saudi Arabia is struggling to revive King Faisal’s reformist ideas.
Smokers' Corner: A regressive national curriculum
From 1971 onwards, school textbooks in the country have increasingly promoted an artificial national and sectarian homogeneity.
SMOKERS’ CORNER: A REGRESSIVE NATIONAL CURRICULUM
From 1971 onwards, school textbooks in the country have increasingly promoted an artificial national and sectarian homogeneity.
SMOKERS’ CORNER: SUFISM'S CONTESTED SPACES
Since the 1980s, Sindh has seen radicalisation and militancy challenging the deep-rooted Sufist creed of the province.
SMOKERS’ CORNER: DID THE ’ISLAMIC STATE’ EVER EXIST?
The concept of the modern state is a fairly recent European construct and has been borrowed to project an ahistoric...
SMOKERS’ CORNER: SOCIALIST IDEAS AND THE WORKING CLASS
According to Orwell, the poor were simply interested in improving their lives with better pay and conditions.
SMOKERS’ CORNER: PIETY OR POPULISM?
Turkey’s decision to restore Hagia Sophia's status as a mosque fits in with an old trend of using religion to for political ends.