Society

By Rabia Ahmed - In a complex tale of interrelationships, Malika's marriage to her first cousin Latif was settled before she was born. When the parents formalised the agreement the groom

By Rabia Ahmed - In his book 'Orangi Pilot Project: Reminiscences and Reflections,' Dr Akhtar Hameed Khan says that one of our foremost traits as a nation is orthodoxy, and explains the repercussions

By Xari Jalil - LAHORE: Zafar* Shah is in deep trouble. He shopped on his credit card about a year ago, and is unable to pay it off. He has only been able to pay a bare minimum of Rs5000 a month but in the meantime

By Rabia Ahmed - Ineeded clean currency notes, so this year found me as usual at my bank the day before for Eid, clutching a service number (1576) waiting for 1465 and up to be dealt with at the counter. The single teller, an earnest

By Rabia Ahmed –  How to bring about social reform by attitude inoculation Tsunamis and revolutions do not enable social reform. That requires a change of attitude.  However there are too many counter arguments for change, occurring something like this: ‘Yes we need to change for so and so reason, but…’  Often those counters are […]

By Samra Noori –  It would be cheaper to just get a garden Gone are the days when shop keepers would unroll a ‘thaan’ of your choice to cut out a lawn suit for you. Today, shoppers are asked to select any designer lawn by looking at a catalogue.

By Rabia Ahmed –  The diversity of ritual It may come as a rude shock to a few people that the followers of other faiths believed in fasting long before Islam made fasting compulsory for Muslims, and they still do.  Ramzan is therefore a good time to widen our horizons; to dispel the image of […]

By Rabia Ahmed –  Caring for the aged: Are we resting on our laurels when it comes to looking after our elderly? In Pakistan people are increasingly concerned about old age and its related issues with every new candle on the cake.  Odd, isn’t it, seeing that our culture lays such stress on caring for […]

By Ali Aftab Saeed –  Do we idolize our heroes for their talents or only for the free handouts they give us? I caught a glimpse of one of the episodes of a channel program called Pakistani Idol where singer Sajjad Ali turned up as a guest judge. All contestants paid him tribute by singing […]

By Sidrah Roghay –  Transforming culture for social acceptance of transgenders Riffy Khan is back from a 10-day trip to rural Sindh. There, with a bunch of her friends from the transgender community, she lead demonstrations, held protests and campaigned to get accepted in mainstream society. Riffy is general secretary of the Gender Interactive Alliance, […]