by Ali Azam It is very rare to randomly pick a title and enjoy it all the way through without rolling your eyes. Mitch Albom’s The Magic Strings of Frankie Presto is one such book. It’s the writer’s ability to drag the reader into the realm of magic without incepting any notion of surrealism, especially for cynical critics. The best …
Language emerges as a powerful manifestation of a culture that acts as an identity-marker at the individual and societal levels, writer Professor Dr Shahid Siddiqui. Dr Shahid Siddiqui Language and society constantly influence each other. Social factors, such as age, gender, class and religion, influence language; conversely, language impacts society in a relatively subtle way. Path-breaking research conducted by American …
Zulfiqar Ali Kalhoro on the distinctive aesthetic to be found in Gojal valley, upper Hunza of Gilgit-Baltistan By Zulfiqar Ali Kalhoro The Wakhi are known for their distinctive way of life, music, traditional food and festivals. Tracing their origin to the Wakhan region, in the north-east of Afghanistan, this ethnic group now live in many remote valleys of Gilgit-Baltistan. In recent …
Haider Ali questions the role of South’s elite class in running community organizations and marginalization of GBC By Haider Ali Shakespeare in his two classic masterpieces Hamlet and Merchant of Venice has exposed the aristocracy and upper classes’ corruption, immorality, their oppressive behaviour towards the middle and lower classes, their victimization, exploitation, and commodification of the poor through rituals. The …
Senator (retd) Javed Jabbar AS an individual who has the privilege of knowing Mr Justice Qazi Faez Isa for over 30 years, and of having worked closely with him in co-compiling and producing the first-ever handbook of its kind for UNESCO-AMIC in 1997 titled: “Mass media laws and regulations in Pakistan — with a historical commentary” one is able to …
I.A Rehman THE world has been observing anniversaries of important signposts during the final phase of the Second World War, such as the Soviet forces’ entry into Berlin, and the Allies’ victory in Europe. These celebrations will continue till the middle of August when the anniversary of Japan’s surrender (after the indefensible use of atom bombs on the civilian population …
Dr Asim Sajjad IT is undoubtedly true that Pakistan has been looted and plundered by ruling elites for the best part of its existence, that our collective history would read very differently if this looted wealth had instead been used to meet people’s needs, and that finding ways and means to arrest the use of public office for private gain …
Raza Naeem on the politics and worldview contained in the work of Kaifi Azmi (1919–2002) by Raza Naeem “Stone Kaifi to death, the rulers cried The Messiah? We do not know where he hides!” Born Syed Athar Hussain Rizvi, a hundred years ago this year, Kaifi Azmi, who passed away into eternity seventeen years ago on the 10th of May earlier …
Aasim Sajjad Akhtar Many readers will recognise that the title of this column is borrowed from an online marketplace that is increasingly popular in Pakistan. This refrain is emblematic of the ideas that dominate our society and world, ideas that most of us endorse uncritically on a daily basis. My question is: what’s the difference between the slogan ‘Bech de!’ …
The stories of murdered women are recorded with grim regularity in one and half inches of a single newspaper column Mohammed Hanif You can find the news about Pakistan’s war on women buried deep inside the metro pages of Urdu newspapers. I stumbled upon it a few years ago. I noticed that I could pick up my newspaper and almost …
