Category Archives: Current Affairs

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Dreamland, Puntland and Fatherland

Our president, prime minister, ministers, senators and ambassadors are presently roving planet Earth with a begging bowl, which is respectable, compared to piracy or banditry.  All our friends and near-friends, Muslim, Christian, Buddhist and Communist – only Jews and Hindus … Continue reading

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A Nation Unveiled: Pakistan at Seventy-Five (Book)

A Nation Unveiled: Pakistan at Seventy-five – The Alcove Publishers A Nation Unveiled: Pakistan at Seventy-five eBook : Azmi, Razi: Amazon.com.au: Kindle Store A Nation Unveiled: Pakistan at Seventy-Five takes a kaleidoscopic, ringside look at the evolution of Pakistani politics and … Continue reading

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Success has many fathers*

Now that Manmohan Singh has become the Prime Minister of India**, many on this side of the border are not just proud, but also claiming paternity, so to speak.  A leading columnist of Dawn has expressed his elation that Mr … Continue reading

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The personality cults of Trump, Modi and Imran Khan

One of the great advantages of democracy is that it resists personality cults.  The two are so mutually incompatible that when personality cult grows, democracy recedes, and vice versa. Durable democratic processes do occasionally produce very popular leaders, but rarely … Continue reading

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Good liberals, bad liberals

Liberals are the favourite whipping boy of governments and their loyalists, not only in Pakistan, India and Bangladesh but in all pseudo- and quasi-democracies, autocracies and dictatorships in the world. From Europe (Belarus, Hungary) to Southeast Asia (Myanmar, the Philippines) … Continue reading

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Wondrous World of the Great Khan

Surely I am not the only one so enthralled by Imran Khan. He continues to amaze me. Consider his latest discovery: Pakistan’s five-year prime ministerial term is too short. But allow me to go back a bit in time before … Continue reading

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Lessons of Trumpism: Nations need leaders, not liberators

The events of the last few days in Washington where, following incitement by the sitting president himself, a hysterical mob besieged, stormed and violently disrupted a session of the Congress, has shamed the vast majority of Americans and embarrassed supporters … Continue reading

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Salman Taseer: a tribute to a true hero

It is nine years to the day since the life of Salman Taseer was cut short at the age of 66 by an assassin’s bullet. His killer was none other than one of the trained men officially assigned, paid and … Continue reading

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Making light of an elephant

Just over four decades ago, as I was driving my VW Beetle in Islamabad, a street dog standing aimlessly on the edge of the road suddenly decided to cross directly in my path. I applied the brakes, swerved a little, … Continue reading

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