Raza Naeem’s tribute to Pakistan’s best-known Marxist, scholar, author and activist on his birth centenary marked on April 10. Stop all the clocks … let the mourners come.— W.H. Auden by Raza Naeem While the world-renowned Marxist sociologist does not need an introduction here in South Asia, my reflections here will chiefly consist of my memories of my lone meeting …

By Tariq Siyal ISLAMABAD: Writers, academics and intellectuals of the twin cities praised the contribution of Khadim Hussain Soomro in promoting the message of love and harmony of mystics of Sindh. They described him an embodiment of Sufism. Renowned human rights defender and social worker Tahira Abdullah speaking at a literary event at the Pakistan Academy of Letters on Wednesday, …

I lost my brother but not the courage we shared, says the award-winning documentary ‘Unsung Heroes’ Pakistan Shero fame climber Shakela Nazar By Raheem Sherazi Shakeela and Nadeema during the climb of Yazghel Sar Peak in Shimshal. Photo: Qudrat Ali “Look! I did what I could not in your life without you.” These are the words of Shakila Numa, one …

The $75m-project will facilitate trade, travel between the two countries. The key infrastructure was started in 2007 with Iranian assistance. Iran and Afghanistan on Thursday inaugurated the first railway link between the two countries. Presidents of the two countries expressed hope it would enhance trade links across the region. The 140-kilometre (90-mile) line running from eastern Iran into western Afghanistan …

by Aziz Ali Dad Let me start this review of the book “Hunza Matters: Bordering and ordering between ancient and new Silk Roads” by indulging in subjectivity. In 2015, I was a Crossroads Asia fellow at Modern Oriental Institute in Berlin, Germany. As a part of socialization, we interacted with different researchers and members of academia. On one weekend my …

Raza Gillani Why have we spent the last four years, presumably the most crucial time of our lives, organising at various campuses across the country and its administered areas on issues pertaining to student life, gender, education, class, ethnicity, race, etc.? Why have we wasted our time in searching for those who share our principles, dreams, and resolve? Why have …

by Dr Ishtiaq Ahmed Contemporary states are territorial entities whom international law invests with sovereign right over their recognized territory within well-defined and demarcated borders. International law outlaws the violation of the territorial integrity of a state. The state enjoys the exclusive prerogative to exercise the monopoly of power over its territories and population. It means the right of states …

A comparative study of farming sectors of China and Pakistan   By Samiullah Najeeb   Agriculture is the most sensitive sector to climate change. The impacts of climate change and abnormal events such as rise in temperatures, extreme weather, drought, levels of carbon dioxide and sea result in a decrease in the quantity and the quality of food supplies. Climate …

The pandemic causes a 22% decline in tourist arrivals in Q1, or $80bn loss, says UNWTO reports   Herald Report The coronavirus pandemic has caused 22% fall in international tourist arrivals in the first quarter (Q1) of the financial year 2020 and could further drop by 60-80% over the whole year, says a report. The UN tourism watchdog says 67 …

“Historically, pandemics have forced humans to break with the past and imagine their world anew. This one is no different. It is a portal, a gateway between one world and the next. We can choose to walk through it, dragging the carcasses of our prejudice and hatred, our avarice, our data banks and dead ideas, our dead rivers and smoky …

By S. Akbar Zaidi The trade-off being presented of saving lives through a lockdown to eliminate the coronavirus and killing the poor on account of the closure of economic activity is a false one. There is no denying the fact that the spread of the virus and the action taken to protect the lives of people have had severe economic consequences …

In this essay, Amir Hussain critiques the so-called Green Revolution, its myths of rural transformation in the Global South with Pakistan as a case study. This is the first piece of a series of essays, summarising literature survey that he did for the forthcoming book on rural transformation published in The News today.   Amir Hussain   Rural transformation can …

By Gul Hammad Farooqi CHITRAL: As the fear of the people of Chitral rises due to the spike in coronavirus cases in the Hindu Kush mountainous region, so does the anxiety of the Tehsil Municipal Administration (TMA) staffers who have not yet been paid their salaries for the last three months. The TMA officials are performing duty in a very …

In 1856, the Maharaja Gulab Singh ruled the Princely State of Jammu and Kashmir, with the blessing of the British. Lieutenant Thomas George Montgomerie, the commissioner of the Great British Trigonometric Survey of India, was trying to ascertain the heights of the peaks in northwestern Kashmir, but he couldn’t actually get close to ones he wanted to measure: He was …

Covid-19 pandemic affecting human rights, weakest segments of society invisible and unheard, notes HRCP in its flagship report High Asia Herald Report Islamabad: Pakistan’s human rights record is worrisome as curbs on dissenting views increased. The outbreak of Coronasvirus will have far-reaching effects on people’s economic and social rights fundamental rights, says a report. “Widespread social and economic marginalisation have …