Articles from the author

Forget for a moment the justification or otherwise of the heavy-handed violence visited upon the residents of Sri Saral and Pind Sangrial, the two villages on the outskirts of Islamabad waiting to be gobbled up by that inhuman piece of engineering called the Capital Development Authority (CDA).

When we shed tears over our history - and let's not forget we remain among the world's most accomplished mourners - many of us forget how far we have come in many things.

The wagons have been drawn into a circle and the cavalry's sharpshooters, anxious eyes peering through slit-holes, await with beating heart the attack of the Red Indians.

A curious duality afflicts the national scene. Those worthy souls who write learned articles for newspapers, or who hold forth at seminars and are big names in the NGO trade, are usually irrelevant when it comes to electoral politics.

Chakwal Diary: An election alliance to beat all others

There is nothing wrong with the political cast thrown up by the Musharraf revolution. It just makes you go to sleep.

For 24 years after Partition, vice and virtue co-existed happily in what were then the two wings of Pakistan.

What is happening now is something that Benazir Bhutto wanted right from the start: an understanding with General Musharraf when he seized power three years ago.

Our real masters - in General Headquarters, where else- have achieved the impossible yet again.

My faith in Providence, always strong, has been reinforced immeasurably by my not making it to this National Assembly, for which I stood and lost.

As so often before, the people of Pakistan are once again being asked to suspend disbelief and go along with another ploy to keep someone in power. This is the only interpretation which fits the referendum to whose stirring tune the nation is all set to march.

Nazi party rallies, always spectacular affairs, were attended by the party faithful including, in later years, black-uniformed guards of Himmler's SS.