Opinion

In the subcontinent, we’ve become far too pragmatic, dining out with the strong and powerful and disdaining the weak.

The politicians could learn a thing or two from ordinary citizens.

Our great names were powerful thinkers, but also representatives of an intellectually potent zamana.

Karachi Literature Festival was a happy change from the flow of fashion shows that keep ‘tout Karachi’ entertained.

The focus should be on providing to existing public schools instead of going for an unjust distribution of resources.

All that the people of Taxila asked for in return from the philosophers was to hear their discourse.

Nothing rams home the reality that Pakistan is the offspring of Ziaul Haq's vision than perusing Hasan’s columns.

The happiest life I could ever hope to live would be one amongst my own and in my own country.

There will be little stomach for defying public sentiment and letting Davis go, but the alternative is far worse.

Local stakeholders and the generation currently in schools will ultimately assume ownership for economic development.

Guess who wins when Muslims get divided.

If Raymond Davis had acted like a proper spy then none of this would have happened.

Pakistan will never be free from dictates of donors until it raises its own revenue from its own domestic resources.

A full-blown economic crisis may well be not too far down the road.

There is no reason why Pakistan cannot step out of the shadow of its servitude and into the light of sovereignty.

Only the directly affected come out on the streets in Pakistan.

Let us salute the brave people of Egypt and join them in their struggle for social justice and dignity.

A liberal here is believed to stand for personal hedonism, not complex freedoms and principles of law and equity.

On a recent visit to Pakistan, I couldn’t help but notice the general despondency.

The military will not allow instability indefinitely, again to avoid losing the initiative to the streets.

The PCB and ICC aren’t blameless, so if we are chastising those who have erred, why stop at the players?

I am an old target of Mr Khaled Ahmed. He often misquotes me and I don’t know the reason why.

The question is whether Davis can be tried or if he is entitled to diplomatic immunity as the American embassy claims.

Economics has taken a back seat to politics, perhaps, because our leaders do not find the subject sufficiently ‘sexy’.

In view of developments in Cairo, the human rights record of Pakistan is also evidently diminishing.

Today we are Facebooking and texting and partying and inboxing without realising, in most cases, that we are verbing.

The prevailing economic and social conditions in Pakistan can be termed ‘economic apartheid’.

The developing revolutions in the Middle East represent the sentiment of true liberation.

Having made off with his life from India, Alexander was in Persepolis. In his train he had a Punjabi philosopher.

When people invent an oxymoron, a shiver of pleasure runs through their spine.

The idea of free speech is an old one, only many of us still need reminding it’s a fundamental right.

Parties, too, have actively engaged in protests by the ‘religious right’ that shadow-boxes with imaginary...

All solid research is forgotten and people now have their own definition of what is ‘elite’.

There’s no talk of hundreds of poverty-related suicides, increasing unemployment or education.

Ably supported by politicians of all hues, the religious right has now claimed the streets as their own.

Kashmir continues to bleed and the Indian forces continue to enjoy the bloodbath.

Among the major attractions at the Jaipur Literature festival every year are the large number of Pakistani authors.

Pakistan's descent into religious extremism and fanaticism is deeper than any moderate had imagined.

Fact is that Raymon­d Davis is a ‘diplom­at’ and hence entitl­ed to diplom­atic immuni­ty.

We should try to reawak­en that initia­l spirit that so many Pakist­anis showed.

The bright prospects of their growing economy can often blind Indians to the weaknesses embedded within growth rates.

We have to send a message to Washington. If we don’t send this message, he will only be the first of others!

Islamic democracy, democracy in Islam, and Islam and democracy, all miss the point. It is always about governance.

Perhaps the time has come for to officially declare the national language of Pakistan as Engdu or Urlish.

This enemy of the state is too big and too powerful for you or me to tackle alone.

When logic disappears, a childlike combination of resentment and craving for approval is bound to take over.

Welcome to freedom Egypt. Don’t let it break you.

While the political and socio-economic conditions are equally precarious, there are critical disabilities in Pakistan.

However this chapter plays out, the world will see that democratic dissent in Muslim-majority countries is not dead.

All those parliamentary forces whose stakes are in the system are the ones who say yes to all evils.