Opinion
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Promoting promiscuity?
The Indian govt is set to provide 150 vending machines at the CWG village for athletes to be able to purchase condoms.
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A story of hope
Today I am not going to write a story of grief and helplessness, but a story of hope amidst this misery.
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10 things I hate about Twitter
Constant self-promotion. Congratulations, you have a blog. So does everyone else.
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Paindoo season
“Madam, Madam,” he yelled as if the mountain was on fire. “I have brought some guests.” The guests were his...
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Voyeur-at-large
Covering the floods wasn’t easy. For 5 days I had to do without air-conditioning and most of my make-up artists.
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The will and the skill
As the floods rage, knocking out villages, towns, and cities the government continues to flounder.
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Stone in the midst of all
The Taliban in Fata and the mob and the police in Sialkot are kindred beings bound by an aversion to tomorrow.
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Manhattan mischief
The idea that building a mosque at Ground Zero highlights Muslim insensitivity to “Americans” is cowardly, illogical.
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The length of my shorts
Flood-affected families of the Ahmadi community were shunned from relief camps setup to 'help' citizens of Pakistan.
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An executioner's society
How can one explain the lynching of two teenage brothers in broad daylight by a mob, while policemen stood watch?
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Absence of vision
Looking at the devastation caused by the floods, it seems that God may have joined the CIA or RAW.
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Let us have a charter of peace
One of the principal tasks expected of charter signatories would be to disarm militant wings of political groupings.
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In southern Punjab with no protocol
Shahbaz Sharif looked out with great sorrow and a deep sigh said, “Look at the devastation. It’s simply mindboggling."
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Flood relief — how to really help
The notion that millions in misery has nothing to do with social values, individual actions is a concocted reality.
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Daughters of Al Huda
We are wrong to look for terrorist tracts in madrassas. The suicide bomber is not made through syllabi, but isolation.
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The art of giving
I was mentally planning out this article the other day as I started reading the newspaper.
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Mirror mirror on the wall
Why is it that people are willing to contribute to Talat Hussain's fund rather than the prime minister’s fund?
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My real heroes — III
Sadly, no political entity is really noticeable in the problematic flood areas, though they are there in the media.
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Hardly surprising
The media-venting of ire against the head of state of this Islamic Republic continues, like the floods, unabated.
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City slickers
Whichever bright spark came up with the idea of relocating flood affected people to Karachi should be hanged.
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Forcing us to look inward
There is an impression that international donors are stingy because of the gov'ts lack of credibility. I disagree.
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My real heroes — II
As I wrote in the first part of this series, more food was delivered to Sakhi Sarwar by our local correspondent there.
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Flood politics at its worst
Flood relief is being used by some as an opportunity to orchestrate political upheaval via the media.
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No need to wait for the donors
The existing federal and provincial budgets can be restructured to make a jump start, and the donors will follow.
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Getting our act together
Most donors are channeling their limited aid through the UN, Red Cross and Red Crescent due to lack of trust.
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The unravelling disaster
Sudden and severe monsoon floods have wreaked havoc on the lives of millions of people across Pakistan.
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The 911 State
Of course nobody in the world wants to rush to our rescue when we need it the most. Why should they?
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Hour of reckoning
The biggest challenge is to restore the confidence of the masses in the continuing viability of the state.
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Who cares?
I don’t care about the flood. Could not give a damn. I have no empathy for the survivors, no sympathy for the...
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My real heroes — I
Last week I was visiting the flood-affected areas in south Punjab and whatever I saw was devastating.
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Cry wolf
The international response and media coverage of the floods – with a few notable exceptions – has been pathetic.
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Spirit level
The apathy of those unaffected by catastrophic flooding towards their unfortunate counterparts is shocking.
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The cyclone that broke Pakistan’s back
Few Pakistanis even know of it by name. Fewer still remember that it eventually contributed to Pakistan’s break-up.
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The costs of our misrule
Regardless of who ruled – in uniform or in civvies – the real power was always exercised by the establishment.
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The shoe has glue
The man who threw shoes at Asif Ali Zardari in Birmingham had terrible aim, despite being armed with a size 10 shoe.
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A dove stands for peace
Dove World Outreach Centre, has plans to publicly desecrate copies of the Holy Quran on September 11.
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Floods in Pakistan — institutional failures
The flood of 2010 has exposed the FFC's performance and its projects. Where has all their development money gone?
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Punjab and the Pakistan movement
As Pakistan marks Independence day, it faces a political disconnect between the ruling political elite and the people.
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Drowning in our own ineptitude
The latest casualty in the devastating floods has been Sindh, and where are her powerful landlords?
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Autocratic democracies
The idealism of the political leaders is in fact a game plan to maintain the status quo.
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You go, parliament
A friend of mine suggests we literally do what the Brits did electorally in their last polls: hang the parliament.
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There’s something about Zardari
Benazir Bhutto may have been the daughter of the east, but President Asif Ali Zardari is definitely the punching bag.
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Militancy or a tribal backlash? — II
I believe it's wrong to stereotype the tribal insurgency as a religious movement, as is being portrayed by the media.
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Consequences of the NFC Award
The 7th NFC Award which became operative this year has fundamentally altered the public finance landscape.
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Why focus only on one person?
For good and bad reasons, there is too much focus on President Zardari for everything that is wrong in the country.
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Without planning we will sink
Floods in Pakistan have made even the UK's National Security Council hold an emergency meeting chaired by Cameron.
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Saving Jinnah’s Pakistan
One can be less sure of Jinnah’s intended direction for Pakistan as far as political liberalism is concerned.
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Beyond the deluge
"The rains are clearly a natural phenomenon. But there is nothing natural about the destruction these rains brought."
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Will the flood wake up our elite?
If it doesn’t, a bloody anarchic revolution could most certainly be on the cards.
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Militancy or a tribal backlash? — I
Is trouble in Fata caused by radicalisation of tribal society or is it a tribal backlash? I believe it's the latter.