Pep Guardiola: Respect to a living legend
Barcelona talisman and manager Pep Guardiola recently announced that he would not be continuing in his managerial role at Barcelona beyond the end of this season. I cannot even begin to describe the profound effect he had on Barcelona and the world of football itself. Josep Guardiola i Sala or ‘Pep’ as they call him, was born in Santpedor; a relatively small town in central Catalonia, Spain. Pep’s rise in football was quite a fairy-tale. He started out working as a ball-boy for FC Barcelona – little did anyone know that this ordinary ball-boy would one day end up as manager of ...
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The beginning and end of Anders Breivik
In this day and age of Islamophobia, Anders Breivik’s recent trial marks a significant shift in the way the word ‘terrorist’ is perceived. My perceived image of a ‘terrorist’ stems from my own country. Unfortunately, there is irrefutable evidence to prove this – be it the incidents external to Pakistan, such as the July 2005 London bombings and the November 2008 Mumbai attacks, or the list of internal suicide bombings. Since the 9/11 attacks, certain prominent characteristics have come to be associated with the word ‘terrorists’ including but not limited to: ‘Muslim’, ‘Pakistani’, ‘rightist’, ‘conservative’, ‘extremist’, ‘young’, ‘male’ and many others. July 22, ...
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Ibn-e-Khaldun and other forgotten Muslim heroes
The other day, I asked my sociology students a question. It was a simple question but one that carried an answer of profound significance. ‘Who is regarded as the father of social sciences by the absolute majority of contemporary academics?’ The answer that I was looking for was Ibn-e-Khaldun. But my class only came up with replies of Durkheim, Marx and Parsons. They were not aware of Ibn-e-Khaldun. They did not know that in the late 13th century, the Berber gave to the world what is today known as the ‘comparative method’; the foundation for contemporary social science. Khaldun’s work was ...
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Are we in spiritual crisis?
In a world where there is so much profanity, we are losing our sense of spirituality. Even in our art and poetry, the animating themes of spiritual experience are undergoing a sort of transcendent ecstasy and are giving way to the darker expressions of the human psyche. Introspective poetry tends to border on the nihilistic and pessimistic; reflections on a broken world that seems beyond deliverance. Probing the side of human nature that is all too often splashed across our television screens – tragedy has become a form of art in the modern world. This exploration is critical, but we ...
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Problems and progress: Reasons to celebrate Pakistan Day
Is Pakistan the most exciting place to live in the 21st century? On the eve of the 72nd anniversary of the Pakistan Resolution, the evidence appears to be stacked overwhelmingly in Pakistan’s favour. Consider this: the Pakistani people are frontline warriors in the greatest ideological battles of the 21st century. Whether it’s the war against religious extremism or the definitive showdown between democracy and entrenched dictatorship, the Pakistani people are playing an outsize role in shaping not just their own future, but also a new, post 9/11 world order. If you want front row seats to witness 21st century history in the making, Pakistan ...
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Why comments and likes matter in the (new) media world
The number of comments or likes or tweets on an online news article or Op-ed do not determine its real worth, just its popularity. What is popular on news sites is ‘common’, ‘low-brow’ perhaps ‘sensational’ maybe even ‘gripping’ but it is rarely what is ‘good journalism’ or ‘valuable opinion’. Therefore, clicks, hits, comments and likes are definitely not a measure of success for a ‘real’ writer or journalist. This is what the old vanguard of journalists, columnists, bloggers and writers of all-sorts would have you believe. Being an editor for an online news desk has left me open to frequent attacks ...
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Let’s make Pakistan polio free
With all this talk of anti-polio vaccination drives, I feel it is important to educate people about this disease. What is polio? Polio is a viral disease which can affect the spinal cord, causing muscle weakness and paralysis. The polio virus enters the body through the mouth, usually from hands contaminated with the stool of an infected person. This virus is more common in infants and young children, and occurs under conditions of poor hygiene. Paralysis is prevalent and more severe when the infection occurs in older individuals. Polio spreads when the stool of an infected person is introduced into the mouth of another ...
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Riots in London: A Pakistani perspective
The police sirens blaring outside my window are not just keeping me awake. Like countless others, I sit listening and watching as steps from my doorstep on many doorsteps - London is burning. Over the weekend, London fell prey to ruthless rioting, looting, burning and violence sparked by a fatal police shooting. What began as a peaceful protest has turned into a devastating catastrophe. I happen to be in one of the many locations that have been targeted by the faceless youths. Earlier Monday evening, I was held for 20 minutes while I waited for a police escort, unable to reach home in time ...
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Scholes’ last game
The earliest football match that I can remember with crystal clarity was almost ten years ago. It was Manchester United vs Everton at Old Trafford. United won the game 3-0. But what made that trivial encounter a monumental memory, was a ferocious Paul Scholes’s injury time strike from 20 yards into the top corner of a diving Richard Wright’s goal. On the basis of this little football watching experience I expected him to take a crazy round of the whole stadium or may be take his shirt off and jump into the crowd. And yes, he had the all the right ...
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One year after the floods
A year has passed since the worst disaster in Pakistan’s history. Last year’s floods caused by monsoon rains, submerged close to a fifth of the country’s total area underwater, directly affected about 20 million people, destroyed livestock, crop, property and infrastructure with a death toll of nearly 2000. The total economic damage was estimated to be close to 43 Billion U.S dollars and the occurrence was termed by the UN Secretary-General as one of the worst disasters he had ever seen. Before Pakistan was called the world’s most ‘dangerous’ country by the western media (after the May 2nd incident), it ...
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