Shockwaves out of UAE
UNMARRIED men and women may live together, alcohol restrictions are gone, and honour killings will be judged a crime just as any other. This official decree took effect last week in the […]
The academic rankings racket
OVER half a dozen international “well-reputed” university ranking organisations annually publish their ratings. They tell you which university or department is better than which other, both within a country as […]
Muslims and technology
EXCEPT for some defiant holdouts, most Muslims have come to accept the printing press, loudspeaker, weather forecasts, cameras and television, blood transfusions, organ transplants, and in-vitro fertilisation. Earlier fears that […]
Europe’s perplexed Pakistanis
PAKISTANI immigrants to Europe tend to get a bad press. I was, therefore, pleasantly surprised by my brief encounter in Stockholm three weeks ago with a dozen or so well-settled, […]
Why attempts to reform Pakistani education fail
ONE hears that there’s now yet another government task force, this one for “improving education standards”. How many such bodies have we seen over the decades? So many, in fact, […]
Don’t surrender to mob rule
AN inflammatory video filmed just after the Aasia Bibi verdict has received well over five million views. Therein you can watch the TLP leadership calling for the murder of the […]
Madina state and ‘naya’ Pakistan
PRIME MINISTER Imran Khan says naya Pakistan shall soon resemble the seventh-century state of Madina. Beginning with his inaugural address of Aug 20, he has repeated his vow on no […]
QAU’s land is PTI’s litmus test
PAKISTAN’S powerful political class has used all possible means, extreme violence included, to enhance its personal wealth and interests. Theft of public lands must therefore count among relatively minor sins. […]
Tamimi, Malala and Rahaf — icons of freedom
NEW forms of resistance to old systems of oppression; three girl-children of near impossible courage have captured the world’s imagination. Ahed Tamimi, Malala Yousafzai and Rahaf Mohammed are iconic symbols […]
Why Bangladesh overtook Pakistan
BANGLADESH is not some Scandinavian heaven. It is poor and overpopulated, undereducated and corrupt, frequented by natural catastrophes, experiences occasional terrorism, and the farcical nature of its democracy was exposed in […]