Archive for June, 2014

Both anchors at EXPRESS NEWS exchanged punches and abuses, filing police complaints against one another and withdrawing only after a forced rapprochement by senior colleagues. Javed Chaudhry’s stilted monologue like sermons on his show fall victim to monotony. He is known to encourage crass brawls on his LIVE show, one of the most prominent ones […]

Dr Theodore Karasik :  Security concerns and cooperation. A few days ago, Egypt’s likely President-to-be Abdel Fattah al-Sisi praised Saudi Arabia and vowed to forge strong security ties with Arab Gulf states. He said that, “the first country I will visit will be Saudi Arabia and we will go to express our gratitude to the […]

By Irfan Bukhari – Another blasphemy fiasco After disenfranchised minorities, schoolchildren, teachers and social activists, sixty nine lawyers now find themselves the latest victims of Pakistan’s controversial blasphemy laws. The registration of an FIR charging the lawyers with blasphemy in Jhang last month become sensational news in global media outlets; human rights organizations all around […]

By Salman Javed –  Who is it really for? Cultural events funded by foreign governments are an annual occurrence in this country now. Conducted under the ambit of cultural diplomacy and meant to promote a softer image of Pakistan both at home and abroad, these events attract good crowds and even better press; every foreign […]

By Haseeb Asif – Let the World Cup begin! The FIFA World Cup is the greatest sporting event on the planet. 32 countries travel to Brazil this year to take part in a tournament that attracts a viewership of almost one billion people. The World Cup final in 2010 alone drew a global audience of […]

By Afia Salam –  Raining on the farmers’ parade Rain is usually considered a harbinger of joy, happiness, and for agrarian based economies like ours, fortune and prosperity. But something about the recent unexpected rain spells has been causing a lot of concern in the country. While city dwellers enjoy the cloudy relief from the […]

Divine laws in the hands of madmen Over sixty lawyers were charged with blasphemy in Jhang this past month. The FIR was filled out by an ASI in retaliation for charges of torture drafted by the lawyers against his SHO. This local story frames a much larger change in the balance of power between the […]

By Irfan Bukhari – An interview with Engineer Baleegh-ur-Rehman After the devolution of federal powers under the 18th amendment, many of the state’s responsibilities were handed over to the provincial governments, including education. It was surprising then, when the government decided to retain a federal ministry for education. Formed in 2011, it was reformed as […]

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