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‘How could you serve breakfast to a Hindu?’
Early one morning, a few days ago, I left my hometown Umerkot for Mirpurkhas with some friends. On the way we stopped for breakfast at a roadside cafe. What followed was an incident that left me...
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Pawnay 14 August: Silence for brilliance
A theatre play about Pakistan, revolving around the theme of August 14 which sports characters like Quaid-e-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah, Dr Allama Mohammad Iqbal and Maulana Shaukat Ali Johar does not...
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Dreams of the elders of Pakistan
It was late in the afternoon when I arrived at his house. Islamabad was going through one of its worst spells of heat but as I was shown in, the antechamber was cool and the drawing room cooler still....
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The leader in all of us
June 4, 1947, Lahore The air was filled with joy. As he walked through the crowded streets of the walled city, Ahmed could see the excitement on people’s faces. His heart raced with joy at what had...
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New year’s resolutions: What Tribune bloggers hope to do
As we exit 2012 and say hello to 2013, The Express Tribune blog desk decided to ask some of our bloggers to send us their New Year's resolutions. Below is a collection of these amazing, inspiring,...
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Our minorities have found a voice in Pakistani cinema
I still remember when I was first introduced to The Mindy Project by a friend while sitting in her apartment in DC back in 2014. We started binge-watching it for a few nights after dinner during my...
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If Jinnah never asked Ruttie to change her name to Maryam, why did you,...
Those of us who were born before Partition know that Muhammad Ali Jinnah could not speak Urdu, except perhaps a few broken sentences. His speeches were always in English, sometimes with a translator to...
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When the beast awakens on Eid
Let us ask ourselves this. Eidul Fitr approaches amidst scorching heat and Panama hearings. Gulping down fancy iftars and filling sehris, what have we stored for our Eid? I will tell you what – the...
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O’ Parachinar, your loyalty is not enough for Pakistan
Addey, my grandmother, would reminisce about memories of her father with pride in her eyes and say, “I was a little girl of seven and the memory of him sitting in a room and sewing green coloured...
View ArticleWith Zidane back on the sidelines, will Real Madrid make the most of the...
For much of the 2018-19 season, Real Madrid’s campaign has been driven by pessimism and trepidation. From mediocre performances on the field to a lack of purpose off it, the Los Blancos found...
View ArticleWhy is the US making a mountain out of the Masood Azhar molehill?
The United States has introduced a United Nations Security Council (UNSC) resolution to blacklist Masood Azhar as an international terrorist. Azhar is the leader of Jaish-e-Mohammed (banned in Pakistan...
View ArticleKnock knock! Annabelle is coming home and things are about to get real scary
Following the Marvel path, The Conjuring universe has grown steadily over the last six years through both, the increasing returns that most films in the franchise have delivered and in stature through...
View ArticleIndia’s ‘Operation Isolation’ and the soft power of sports
“Our message is stronger than ever. Please stop the fighting. Please stop the killing. Please drop your guns.” Juan Antonio Samaranch, President International Olympic Committee speaking at the Winter...
View ArticleWhen khudkushi became her only freedom
The sky was a pool of black ink, dusted with stars at midnight. Arsh looked out from the window — she saw many little streets sprawled out below. She had only known these streets from inside the walls...
View ArticleIran and Iraq may not be tourist hot spots, but they offer a spiritual...
I was recently invited to a trip to Iran and Iraq by a group of close friends from Lahore, and as I had never been to these states before, I decided to take the opportunity to visit the shrines...
View ArticleRawalpindi: A chaotic labyrinth, caught between heritage and heresy
In the post-modern world, the topography of the city has undergone a drastic shift. Rapid urbanisation and growing job opportunities have resulted in many cities in the developing world being swamped...
View ArticleRaw and poignant, A Place for Us beautifully sheds light on familial love
It had been some time since I cried while reading a book. And A Place for Us changed that. Fatima Farheen Mirza’s dazzling debut novel tells the story of a South Asian Muslim family living in America....
View ArticleSea Prayer by Khaled Hosseini: A father’s lament of the barbarity we call...
“My dear Marwan, I look at your profile, In the glow of this three-quarter moon, my boy, Your eyelashes like calligraphy, Closed in guileless sleep. I said to you, ‘Hold my hand. Nothing bad will...
View ArticleIs Pakistan’s N-CPEC+ vision finally beginning to take shape?
Pakistan’s unique geostrategic location at the crossroads of East, South, West, and Central Asia enables it to function as the “Zipper of Eurasia”, as I wrote over half a decade ago in September 2015...
View ArticleFighting climate change through the courtroom
Climate change is a ‘hot’ button issue in Pakistan. Both literally and figuratively. Summer 2022’s disastrous floods submerged almost a third of the country under water, affecting 33 million people,...
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