Articles & Column

We are all very concerned about changing the things happening in Pakistan. Unprecedented inflation, unemployment, and extreme income inequality bother us all. There are many recipes on offer as well and the most popular one is of a bloody revolution. The heated and hateful debate […]

There is a saying in Punjabi “ek boti laye bakra mar ditta”. It translates “killing a whole sheep to eat one piece of meat.” That is exactly what happened in Pakistan. Sharifs and Zardari wanted to end accountability. PM Shahbaz Sharif and CM Hamza were […]

Iqbal alias Bala was a hardened criminal reputed to be a top “rasageer”, acronym for a cattle thief, around Lyallpur. My uncle Dr. Abdul Majeed Khan, a veterinarian, was a dedicated cattle breeder. He went to great lengths to assemble his flock of milking buffaloes. […]

23rd March 1973 I participated in a joint opposition’s jalsa organized in Liaqat Bagh, Rawalpindi. It was meant to be an event wherein parties opposed to Bhutto’s rule gathered to express their positions. That was not how Bhutto regime viewed it. They decided to teach […]

Faiz Ahmad Faiz in one of his brilliant interviews mentioned the critical importance of three dimensions of culture, its length, breadth, and depth. A culture’s length, according to Faiz, could be measured in terms of time going back to the origin of a culture at […]

In my younger days I have been at the receiving end of a police “lathi’. Believe me it really hurts. The semi-literate constable acts on command. The viciousness of his strike depends on the meanness of his superior’s orders. There are two distinct patterns. A […]

“Sau Ganday we khaday tay chittar wee” is a popular Punjabi saying. A conceptual translation would be “indecision and stupidity cause great suffering”. This folklore is associated with Ranjit Singh. While rendering decision on a misdemeanor by a poor farmer, he punished the perpetuator to […]

Majha and Saja were in business together. Majha had lent money to Saja who kept reneging on his promises to repay. Majha got fed up and complained to area elders. They were summoned to the council (Pariya) in a nearby village. Both boarded a bus […]

  “Gatka” is a form of martial art associated with Punjab. Its origins can be traced back to the 15th century. It is popular among rural Sikh communities and adopted by many in the region, including Hindko speakers. Wooden swords are painstakingly carved and used […]

  When we talk of social change in Pakistan, we notice an acute sense of helplessness among the educated classes in Pakistan. It is surprising that on the one hand, we equate education with advanced political consciousness, and as a key to prosperity and democratic […]