People come to this Beyond the age of reason People fed on famine People on their knees, People eat each other People stand in line Waiting for another war, Waiting for my valentine (Sisters of Mercy, Valentine) Shahzad Roy has been one of the most successful stories of reinvention coming out from the fledgling Pakistani [...]
Prolific historian K.K. Aziz in his book, “The Murder of History in Pakistan,” is of the view that there has been a systematic campaign of disinformation on the issue that reached a peak under General Zia-ul-Haq. Myths play an important role in the building of the socio-political narratives that various nation-states use to regulate the [...]
Last week Dawn ran two stories on the dismal state of a leopard at the Karachi Zoo. The writer stated how the beast was being regularly pelted with stones and disturbed with sticks by the visitors. How awful! No, not the fate of the leopard, but the audacity of the writer to actually ask the [...]
Daddy? Yes, son. Are we going to have a war with India? Perhaps. Oh, goody. We will thrash them, right? Like we did in 1857! It wasn’t in 1857, son. Oh, okay. But whom did we thrash in 1857? The British, son… And the Hindus too, right? Well… Did Quaid-i-Azam fight in that war along [...]
It was a startling experience following the antics of the Indian electronic media in the wake of the recent terrorist attacks in Mumbai. As one Indian news channel after the other babbled across the most thrilling and sensational expressions of paranoid, anti-Pakistan clichés, I switched back to watching our own channels when a sudden realisation [...]
Madness was the central theme of some of the most important Floyd releases. Dr Richard Bentall, a renowned professor and author at the University of Manchester’s School of Psychology, while conducting research for a paper that he wrote on the awkward issue of psychosis in young men and women, stumbled across a peculiar phenomenon. Even [...]
“Fashion industry.” Really, what on earth is this “fashion industry” in Pakistan? Some newspapers have gone on and on about the ins and outs, the trials and tribulations, the glory and the triumphs of “Pakistan’s fashion industry.” I’ve seen many young journalists passionately discussing and then scribbling page after page about the “politics” (read gossip), [...]
Everyone knows how Jews, Hindus and, of course, the Freemasons have been the most compelling reasons behind the many political, economic and social problems that are eating up Pakistan. I just don’t understand why there is even a debate about this. I humbly suggest that anyone attempting to debate this irrefutable fact should be taken [...]
lt is an insult, especially to the memory of those who die so tragically in terrorist attacks, when certain members of society and the media start diluting the whole event with the ever-present help of outlandish conspiracy theories. Instead of collectively condemning the ever-growing monster of extremism that is getting fatter by the day, one [...]
Shahzad Roy’s latest video and song, Laga Reh, has created a prominent little ripple in the local pop scene. An irreverent take on the various socio-political forces of agitation in the country, the song has also managed to disturb the sterile homogeneity of today’s music scene. In spite of the fact that Roy began his [...]
