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Ghazi SalahuddinThe News International |
We whine. And we dine. These two activities, in a proverbial sense, have apparently become the two faces of the Pakistani middle class. At the same...
Beware the Ides of March. This well-known quotation was, we know, the warning given to Julius Caesar, in Shakespeare’s play, by a soothsayer. It...
What options does an ordinary man have in this country to find redress for the wrongs he suffers in his daily existence? For anyone who has observed...
With this week’s advent of Ramazan, our lives have changed in some tangible ways. Our daily routines have acquired a new rhythm. At least in these...
One of the most dreadful periods I have lived through, as a citizen and as a journalist, was in the aftermath of the assassination of Salmaan Taseer...
An ominous moment it was – at around midnight – when they finally announced their consensus to form the new government and agree on names for...
What would a Charles Dickens, or a Dostoevsky or a Manto do with today’s Pakistan, in terms of investing its intriguing socio-political realities...
For the second time, it seems, the powers-that-be have not been able to handle ‘Project Imran’. And this will have consequences in Pakistan’s...
When one of the time bombs seemingly planted for the final days of the electoral campaign exploded on Tuesday morning, there naturally was a rush of...
We do not know if Ahsan Raza Rizvi, a small businessman dealing in garments, had any interest in politics or if he felt connected to the election...
A few weeks ago, I felt intrigued by a development in national affairs that made big headlines. I asked a friend who I believed had access to inside...
If you are unnerved by the national state of affairs and unable to figure out what the rulers and leaders of this country are doing, there is one...
While we wait for elections to be held – with bated breath, perhaps – there are matters of greater significance that trouble the minds of people...
With the proceedings of the four-day 16th International Urdu Conference continuing this weekend at the Arts Council in Karachi, there is this...
What – a senior serving police officer in Karachi is booked on a charge of robbery and kidnapping? How can one explain and understand such an act of...
What sight or experience would cheer you up in this overall environment of gloom and apprehension? What can engage you for long enough to inspire a...
In July last year, eight columnists of The New York Times made confessions about what they had been wrong about. This was apparently an editorial...
During my infrequent encounters with university students, I have been quoting that first sentence of the Unesco constitution: “Since wars begin in...
Chancing upon a history quiz on YouTube, I was a bit intrigued by a question on Winston Churchill. Though I vaguely had some idea about what it was...
Though it fell to caretaker Interior Minister Sarfraz Bugti’s lot to deliver it, the message clearly had the stamp of a higher level. And it seemed...
When Malik Meraj Khalid became caretaker prime minister in November 1997, he had his first close encounter with the prime minister’s house in...
Oh, to be young. Poets, writers and philosophers have celebrated this magical phase in one’s life. A young person, anywhere and in any surroundings,...
There was this ‘gentleman’ in the Moliere play who was delighted to learn that he had been speaking in ‘prose’ all his life without knowing...
As the poet said: 'They are not long, the days of wine and roses'. Any extravagant retreat from the daily rigours of our lives, if we are at all able...