Dear dictator, your rally really sucked
Dear dictator, Your ‘show of power’ in Karachi was, if I may respectfully say disappointing and anti-climatic. Despite all your tall claims of having massive public support, and an equally large Facebook following, you did not garner enough support to draw even close to 10,000 people at your rally. Leaders from your party proudly boasted that your rally would be bigger than Imran Khan’s, yet one can only wonder what happened and where you went wrong. Maybe if the attendees were paid more than Rs1,000 and a plate of biryani, you would have been able to fill the ground. Not only ...
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Another Imran Khan article that’s not about Musharraf’s rally. Sorry.
If Pakistan were a school and voters were the graduating class, then we’d know exactly where Musharraf would fit in. Musharraf would be the angry guy who sits at the front of each class and has a problem with things no one cares about, like the colour of the chalk the teacher uses. He would be a suck-up to everyone but his peers, and be like the head boy or prefect who gets the job done, but really, does anyone like him? His dog (his profile picture on Facebook) would probably be a lot more popular than he is. This was ...
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Dear Imran Khan, I beg to differ…
I have observed Imran Khan’s recent meteoric rise with mixed emotions. On the one hand, he is scrupulously honest and seemingly sincere in his desire for a new Pakistan. This is in stark contrast to the political cretins who inhabit our legislature and executive. And as my sister would confirm, I am somewhat predisposed to a positive view of Imran based on years of boyhood hero worship (she labelled it a man-crush). On the other hand, thoughtful liberals can only cringe as he invokes a heady mix of right-wing ideology, jingoism, Islamic nationalism, and anti-American vitriol – dangerous follies that tap into ...
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Deconstructing the PTI troll
Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) is the talk of the town. Naysayers have several objections – some which are fair, some not quite. One particular complaint, however, is a unique piece of criticism leveled against the party: that of the PTI troll, someone we all know and despise. When criticising the PTI on public forums, especially Twitter, a commenter is often subjected to harsh language and offensive speech by ‘supporters’ of the party. Instead of presenting arguments against criticism, these trolls subject the critic to intense cyber abuse. While I agree that this behaviour is not in the party’s interests, criticising the ...
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Foot soldiers: Our forgotten war veterans
Supporting the war on terror and the military operations in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) is one debate – however, the recognition, acknowledgement and appreciation of soldiers and war veterans is a different issue. One of the strongest agents in forming one’s national identity is the support of a country’s armed forces. One can malign the Pakistan Army for its continued meddling in politics, and for maintaining a monopoly over the national security policy, but this does not give us the right to forget the foot soldiers who fought on the frontiers for our safety. These war veterans are ...
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Zulfigate: Mirza keeps Islamabad in a spin
The old joke about Islamabad being half the size of Arlington Cemetery and twice as dead is supposed to be truer than ever during Eid. I wouldn’t know because I wasn’t there. Neither, it seems, was anyone who actually matters. Interior Minister Rehman Malik was busy solving Karachi’s violence problem by doing his best Scrooge/Father Christmas impersonation and breaking little kids’ toy guns and then paying them thousands of rupees in compensation. Even young Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, in town for his summer vacation, ran off to China to attend a conference. Islamabad might have been emptied of its transplanted residents but ...
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Time to restructure the army
Recently, there was a public demonstration in support of the Pakistan army outside the Presidential Palace. There were more banners in support of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and the army than there were demonstrators. Ironically, all the banners were exact lookalikes. There was a desperate need for show of some public support for the military after US Navy Seals violated Pakistan’s sovereignty undetected, to hunt down Osama bin Laden. This demonstration didn’t change much. Pakistan received a small, handicapped army after the partition of India in 1947. The civilian population, keeping the best interest of the country in mind, massively ...
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Is the veil not cool enough for France?
Is it difficult to be a woman, a Muslim and a self-proclaimed fighter of gender discrimination – and not support the French government’s ban on the burqa? Nope, no problem. In fact, I feel I am in a position of advantage as a member of a religion that has come under fire from the world’s democracies as well as an outspoken advocate for equality for both sexes. Let me iterate here: I do not support the ban on the face veil. It is tantamount to human rights violations against minorities. What is French culture? The French government’s ban says that the ...
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23 O level A’s: My success story
I am not a genius as many may believe; I do not have god gifted intelligence. But I do have vast knowledge. And more than anything else, I am hard working. I was never really considered a bookworm in school, because I engaged in activities that are part of student life. I play the guitar, and have won trophies for football. I was an active debater and secured six “best delegate” awards at the Model United Nations and also won trophies in parliamentary style debating. It was quite difficult to balance my social life with my studies and extracurricular activities, ...
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The street is my playground
I was returning from work one day when I saw a few teenagers playing cricket on the road. When a ball was bowled, the batsman hit a shot and the ball fell in front of two women, who were walking by. Although the ball did not hit them, their response was very disappointing. One of them said “Bahut hee badtamiz larkay hein.” The other agreed that the boys were a menace and said “Allah keray ye ball phut jaye ya kho jaye.” In a country, where there are no play grounds and few entertainment opportunities, we must appreciate these boys ...
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