Raza Naeem remembers the iconic revolutionary from Sindh on his centenary   “This city like my skill is alive within me Spirit of the land, I am no stranger, recognize me” (“The Second Man in Mohenjodaro”, Himayat Ali Shair) The life of Sobho Gianchandani – born a hundred years ago earlier this week – seems like a legend told by …

Raza Naeem remembers the iconic revolutionary Sobho Gianchandani on his centenary A hallmark of Sobho Gianchandani’s student days at Rabindranath Tagore’s institute, Shantiniketan, was the celebration of independence day on January 26, 1940. In 1928 the Congress had approved the resolution for independence day. It was a real challenge since Tagore had forbidden the celebration of independence day for five …

Herald Report An Italian hard rock ballad has penned a song to in memory of two young climbers who met a tragic death while pursuing their passion on one of the 14 high mountains in the Pakistani-administered Gilgit-Baltistan region. The tragic end of Italian climber Daniele Nardi and his British colleague Tom Ballard during an ascent on the most difficult …

Her most criticized book, “The Romance of American Communism,” has become a modern classic.     By Sophie Pinkham   Vivian Gornick specializes in personal narrative. Sometimes this means artful memoir: Her most admired book is 1987’s Fierce Attachments, about her relationship with her mother, and she sat for The Paris Review’s second-ever “Art of Memoir” interview in 2014. But …

By Lorenzo Alfano Antonio Gramsci died on April 27, 1937, after eleven years in fascist prisons. We remember his revolutionary life and his contributions to the struggle against capitalism. It’s late at night on Turin’s Via dell’Arcivescovado. A man with a Southern accent shows up at L’Ordine Nuovo’s office, insisting on speaking with the lead editor. For L’Ordine Nuovo is not only the workers’ …

While science and technology flourish in the modern world, a vast majority of Muslims, engulfed by obscurantism, still find solace in fantasies of a bygone era By Waseem Altaf As we remain enamored by our past achievements in the sciences, we forget that there is very little “original” we as Muslims can celebrate and be proud of. It was during the …

Today is the 41st anniversary of the hanging of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, the first elected Prime Minister of Pakistan By Waseem Altaf Military dictator Ziaul Haq imposed martial law in Pakistan on July 5, 1977. Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and all his cabinet ministers were arrested and assemblies dissolved. The constitution was suspended and civil rights set aside. The validity …

Herald Report In 2012, a team of archaeologists discovered ancient artifects on the Naryn campus of the University of Central Asia (UCA), says a report published in the newsletter of the university recently. The University mission to help the people of Central Asia preserve and draw upon their rich cultural traditions and heritages as assets for the future came to …

History remains the slave of victors only when people internalize the master’s version of history. History can be salvaged, retrieved and appropriated through multiple and even in mundane sources not necessarily sublime one, writes Aziz Ali Dad. By Aziz Ali Dad History is an enigmatic discipline because it deals with events of the past but its understanding tends to change …

From the National Geographic archives, a look back at the Citroën-Haardt Trans-Asiatic Expedition. By BILL JONES   GEORGES-MARIE HAARDT was one of those latter-day explorers who completed the first journey on wheels across Central Asia. Covering 8,000 miles, the trip’s purpose was to open up the Silk Road to cars. “Across desert wastes and windswept plateaus, over snow-clad mountain passes, …