On the one hand, Pakistan’s Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani has declared 2012 the ‘Year of Balochistan’, while on the other, the US Congress Committee on Foreign Affairs has convened unprecedented hearing on February 8 this year, and discussed situation of Balochistan. The Committee’s hearing was attended by the supporters of Baloch separtism and American [...]

The price of oil has gone up again.Predictably comments of how this is “democracies revenge” on the hapless people of Pakistan, and how Zardari’s corruption means we pay more at the pump.What is frustrating is the expectation that, “if there is a shortage of gas, alteast it should be cheaper”. Every few days, some article [...]

He had no doubt of  his place in literary history and left behind the following epitaph for himself: “Here lies Saadat Hasan Manto. With him lie buried the arts of short-story telling. Here he lies underneath tons of mud still wondering if he was a better short-story writer than God.” Saadat Hasan Manto died in [...]

Raza Habib Raja Imran Khan has been generating a lot of buzz lately and consequently a lot has been written about him in the print media and covered in the electronic media. And add to it the social media, where Imran dominates more than anyone else. Completely in line with our emotional character, the rise [...]

By Ghazala Akbar: Sonia Gandhi once imperiously remarked that the Indians need not bother going to war with Pakistan anymore, the invasion of Indian TV was enough. She had a point. For a while, the murderous machinations and dynastic power- struggles of Indian soaps had people hooked.  Not anymore. Indian soaps are passé. The gripping [...]

Constitution of Pakistan has been amended seventeen times since its promulgation in 1973; however the ninth and eleventh amendment bills were not passed. The importance of legislation is incontestable; it is the prerogative of parliament to set the rules of business but does it make any difference for a commoner either President has more power or Prime [...]

Drone at Shamsi Air base Before writing anything about today’s topic I would like to discuss few disclosures made by Wikileaks in the last year as these will be helpful to understand the current situation. On 8 December 2010, Wikileaks published these documents on the net and all Pakistani newspapers published them with headlines as [...]

With a daily dose of hypocrisy at the highest level , I plead my case in front of God of those 24 soldiers that were mercilessly killed by the Americans on a dark night and we surrendered sovereignty again like we had been doing for the past 10 years. Pakistan has gone through turmoil torture [...]

Picture Courtesy The News This Was First Published at The News Tribe Blogs: This past Friday I was getting late to reach to reach the mosque for Friday prayer, this is quite usual for me to be late for that. However, ever since I am here in UK, getting late creates a lot of problem [...]

QINGQI There is some hue and cry over the sorry state of affairs at Railways and PIA, but WHY? It was destined like this! Let me remind you some services which died and we just watched. 1988 on Punjab Urban Transport, Karachi Transport Company (KTC), Metro Bus Services, Sarhad Urban Transport and if any such service [...]

Raza Habib Raja Sixteenth December arouses radically different sentiments in two different and yet related countries of the world. In one, it is cherished and celebrated and in the other it is just “ignored” and of course deliberately. But then the significance of this day differs so much for each of the aforementioned countries of [...]

My father was posted to Islamabad in early 1960s when all the ministries were shifted in this newly built administrative capital  of Pakistan from its original capital Karachi. We have witnessed it evolving into one of the fastest growing cities here which was once an abode of people who used to work either for the [...]

The United States has vacated a Pakistani airbase following a deadline given by Islamabad in the wake of anger over NATO air strikes last month that killed 24 soldiers, officials said. Pakistan’s military said in a statement that the last flight carrying US personnel and equipment had left Shamsi airbase, in the south-western province of [...]

Salala Check Post! If we look into the near past, not more time has passed, just few weeks ago, Hilary was laughing on being termed as mother-in-law on her visit to Islamabad in order to decrease the tension between the both countries. Her previous behavior devoid of emotions was not visible anywhere. Because on 13 of [...]