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Tuesday December 03, 2024
Ayaz Amir
Ayaz Amir

  • February 14, 2017

    Panama and now sugar: woes endless

    Islamabad diary When it rains it pours. The Nooras are finding this out for themselves. Is their proverbial luck finally running out? What is...

  • February 10, 2017

    Punjab is the problem

    Islamabad diary Because of population and wealth, Punjab is the dominant element in the Pakistani state. Whoever commands Punjab rules...

  • February 07, 2017

    The confessions of St Isaac

    Islamabad diary Oh, that moment of weakness if only it could be forgotten when Isaac called for pen and paper and in his own hand and at...

  • February 03, 2017

    Ruling party’s growing sense of alarm

    Islamabad diary It can now be seen on their faces, the concern stemming from the Panama case hearings in the Supreme Court. As the hearings...

  • January 31, 2017

    The Qatar literary prize

    Islamabad diary In a society as stagnant, socially retarded, lie-ridden and hypocrisy-painted as ours disruption and disorder are creative...

  • January 27, 2017

    Ababeel…and what next?

    Islamabad diary Pakistan has tested a missile with a range of 2200 kilometres and capable of carrying multiple nuclear warheads, and the usual...

  • January 24, 2017

    Real game-changer: Panama, not CPEC

    Islamabad diary Since when did bricks and mortar, up and down motorways, and a few power stations thrown in, change the fate of nations? What...

  • January 20, 2017

    Fate, destiny and the great unknown

    Islamabad diary Beyond such things as the law and the constitution lies the power of fate…things that you may not have guessed, would...

  • January 17, 2017

    Why Saigal? What’s with him?

    Islamabad diary Why indeed? What’s so special about him? He sang and rose to prominence – they still call him the Indian film...

  • January 13, 2017

    No shortcuts to deliverance

    Islamabad diary Call this the revenge of the PML-N. So soon after his stepping down they have managed to make controversial their erstwhile...

  • January 10, 2017

    Spectacular dive of the ghazi general

    Islamabad diary Our outgoing general on the basis of his record was considered a better commander than most in our water-logged history, taking...

  • January 06, 2017

    Not an uplifting spectacle

    Islamabad diary Think for a moment of the Egyptian judge who hanged himself because he was facing corruption charges. May his soul rest in...

  • January 03, 2017

    Music of the old masters

    Islamabad diary They were the founders, the progenitors, of subcontinental film music. Raichand Boral, Khemchand Prakash, Pankaj Mallick, Anil...

  • December 30, 2016

    Dangerous pastimes

    Islamabad diary How many persons died from drinking tainted liquor in Toba Tek Singh? Some reports say 35, others 44. Either way it’s a sad...

  • December 27, 2016

    Pakistan’s problem is moderation, not extremism

    Islamabad diary Extremism, hate speech and sectarianism – the ills we are familiar with – are products of Pakistani moderation. The...

  • December 23, 2016

    Regulatory bodies…who needs them?

    Islamabad diary A dictator, Gen Musharraf, gave us the regulatory bodies – bodies to act as a check, in the public interest, over various...

  • December 20, 2016

    Why on earth should Nisar resign?

    Islamabad diary Why indeed? If the one-man judicial commission comprising My Lord Justice Faez Isa has exposed the glaring shortcoming of various...

  • December 16, 2016

    Dullness, stagnation and corrupt mediocrity

    Islamabad diary Mediocrity has its uses if it is honest and touched by a semblance of virtue. No society would function without a goodly supply...

  • December 09, 2016

    Can’t we go back to the pre-Ziaul Haq days?

    Islamabad diary The 1977 movement against Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was a calamity and the subsequent martial law, the path to which was paved by that...

  • December 06, 2016

    Change elsewhere, Pakistan frozen in time

    Islamabad diary Winds of change are blowing across Europe and the US. The Brexit vote in Britain was no small thing. Trump’s election as US...

  • December 02, 2016

    Of what use or joy these tainted billions?

    Islamabad diary Gen Raheel Sharif was the fly in their ointment, the ghost at their table, spoiling their feast, poisoning their third prime...

  • November 29, 2016

    The passing of a great man leaves Pakistan cold

    Islamabad diary What an amazing life and what a titanic personality – one of the greats of the 20thcentury, on a par with the likes of Mao...

  • November 25, 2016

    Exercising moral authority over the army

    Islamabad diary It’s not a question of ‘being on the same page’, the silly turn of phrase which has become so popular with us, or...

  • November 22, 2016

    Cleaning up the Fortress of Islam

    Islamabad diary The liberation of Kashmir will come when it comes. We’ll cut down our birth rate sometime in the second half of this...

  • November 18, 2016

    The new Arabian Nights

    Islamabad diary Even Scherezade who told the stories of the Arabian Nights to King Shahrayar couldn’t have thought of this tale which has...

  • November 15, 2016

    One game CPEC is not changing

    Islamabad diary That is the Panama leaks, the bone stuck in the gullet, the gathering nightmare all the hoarse talk of the CPEC being a mighty...

  • November 11, 2016

    How dumb can the commentariat get?

    Islamabad diary They couldn’t see it coming and now they are into an overdrive of mourning. The Pakistani coverage of the US election has...

  • November 08, 2016

    The miracle that did not happen

    Islamabad diary Some of us – I can’t say how many but a good number certainly, in this number included battalions of retired officers...

  • October 28, 2016

    The general’s farewell service to the nation

    Islamabad diary Maulana Fazlur Rehman doesn’t realise the debt of gratitude he owes Imran Khan. If it weren’t for Khan would Nawaz...

  • October 25, 2016

    Funny times and unintended humour

    Islamabad diary As Imran Khan’s assault on Islamabad the Beautiful nears, the distress of the ruling party is becoming comical. See this...

  • October 21, 2016

    Thank you, Cyril

    Islamabad diary You and friend Zafar Abbas have done what the dharnas could not. The democracy we all glorify has been delivered such a kick that...

  • October 18, 2016

    Panamagate…shadows closing in

    Islamabad diary Back in the old days when Nawaz Sharif was the darling of the ISI and every other agency in the land, and was being boosted and...

  • October 14, 2016

    March on Islamabad…the last gamble

    Islamabad diary Not the least of this season’s ironies: the threat to assault the capital and shut it down would not have come, indeed...

  • October 11, 2016

    Blame it on Raheel

    Islamabad diary The prevailing narrative – and it’s worth finding out from where it has sprung up and how it has spread like a virus...

  • October 07, 2016

    The two things hurting Pakistan

    Islamabad diary The first is the army’s perceived soft corner for such outdated jihadi outfits as the Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Muhammad....

  • October 04, 2016

    Imran’s is not an empty threat

    Islamabad diary They said he was all alone and couldn’t do it…couldn’t bring the crowds for his jalsa within earshot of the...

  • September 30, 2016

    Limited guns and loaded rhetoric

    Islamabad diary There is more than one centre of power and this muddles our responses and complicates our situation. There should have been one...

  • September 27, 2016

    World of Islam failing people of Syria

    Islamabad diary They claim to be leaders of that mystical concept with no basis in reality, the Ummah. Far from displaying the wisdom that should...

  • September 23, 2016

    Terseness, subtlety…for Pakistan to cultivate

    Islamabad diary There we were again, in the PM’s address to the General Assembly, doling out wisdom to Afghanistan: that the way to peace...

  • September 20, 2016

    A time to keep our nerve

    Islamabad diary Pakistan is under a double attack: from India because Kashmir, the Indian-occupied part of it, is on the boil and nothing that...

  • September 16, 2016

    The making of Pakistan’s Putin

    Islamabad diary “The leader must aim high, see big, judge widely, thus setting himself apart from the ordinary people who debate in narrow...

  • September 09, 2016

    Of times lost

    Islamabad diary Anil Biswas was a great name in music in his time. Now I suppose he is largely forgotten, except by aficionados and those into...

  • September 06, 2016

    Is there a different Islam in Dubai?

    Islamabad diary Is Dubai not a Muslim country? Is it not a prosperous country, or call it emirate, doing rather well for itself, with not much...

  • September 02, 2016

    Dangerous times and national disunity

    Islamabad diary In their joint press conference in Delhi, US Secretary of State John Kerry and Indian Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj spoke almost...

  • August 30, 2016

    Pakistan needs grooming, not surgery

    Islamabad diary Two things I thought would never happen in my lifetime: driving the Pakistani Taliban out of their Fata safe havens and bringing...

  • August 26, 2016

    The Altaf cure…surprisingly effective

    Islamabad diary The Leader is a sick man and his nerves are giving way. No other interpretation can be put on his rant of August 22 when he just...

  • August 23, 2016

    A lamp lit in the dark

    Islamabad diary The nation owes a collective vote of thanks to their lordships Justice Abid Aziz Sheikh and Justice Shahid Karim of the Lahore...

  • August 19, 2016

    Pakistan’s distinction…a ‘dry’ democracy

    Islamabad diary For all its faults and omissions Pakistan is a democracy…a country where elections are held, governments change through...

  • August 16, 2016

    The game begins

    Islamabad diary Corps commanders and assorted generals may torment themselves over that piece of half-fiction called the National Action Plan...

  • August 12, 2016

    Tired and empty words

    Islamabad diary What can you say that hasn’t been said before? What wisdom can you spout, what startling insights reveal? Wars of any kind...