Category Archives: Miscellaneous

Noelle Lenoir

When François Hollande, fresh from his election as France’s next president, was asked by a journalist which language he would use when he meets US President Barack Obama for the first time, his answer was revealing.
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By Pervez Hoodbhoy

First the good news: Pakistanis are increasingly eager and willing to act rationally, set aside traditional human body-related taboos, and embrace possibilities offered by medical science. Many Muslim clerics are now on board too. Although most still oppose contraception, they are willing to make concessions considered unthinkable a century ago.
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By Mariam Shah

Youm e shuhada- A Tribute to the Sons of soil
I ask nothing more
Than to die in my country
To dissolve and merge with the grass,
To give life to a flower
That a child of my country will pick,
All I ask
Is to remain in the bosom of my country
As soil,
Grass,
A flower (Fadwa Tuqan)
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By Tanvir Ahmad Khan

Interestingly, the first news that I got of India’s successful launch of the long-range Agni V missile on April 19, came in a phone call from a journalist in faraway Warsaw, who wanted a Pakistani perspective on it. Apparently, the 5000 kilometre range was creating ripples within a radius that would take in Eastern Europe, Russia and much of China. Launched from Nicobar Island, Agni V could knock at Australia’s door.
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By Pervez Hoodbhoy

To loud applause at a special distribution ceremony on Pakistan Day, PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif declared: “We do not give weapons in the hands of youngsters, we give them laptops; we give them education.” The laptop scheme is the brainchild of kid brother Shahbaz Sharif, chief minister of Punjab. He says that the Punjab government plans to distribute a further 300,000 laptops — in addition to the 100,000 already distributed — as a “weapon against poverty and ignorance”.
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Ayaz Wazir

Pakistan’s Federally Administered Tribal Areas have been in global limelight since the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979. The subsequent invasion of that country by the US once again focused the world’s attention on Fata, but for all the wrong reasons this time. Continue reading →

M. Zaidi

THE recent avalanche in Siachen that buried 138 Pakistani soldiers and civilians in a mass of icy rubble once again highlighted the devastation which can be wrought by natural calamities, and why it is imperative to be adequately prepared for them.
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By Dr Pervez Tahir

Which country comes to mind with key words like reconciliation, a president accused of corruption, bad governance, high crime rate, rising poverty, massive unemployment, widening rich-poor gap and falling GDP growth? Continue reading →