Clik here to view.
The status quo vs the dark knight – who is the right candidate for NA-247?
In the scorching heat of May 2013, my brother and I stood in line for eight hours straight at our designated polling station to vote for the one party we believed would bring revolutionary change for...
View ArticleClik here to view.
PML-N’s new manifesto has more hits than misses, giving it an edge over PPP...
It is the month of the General Elections, and all parties are busy in attempts to attract voters before the big day. Something that plays a major factor in whether voters are attracted to a political...
View ArticleClik here to view.
I wanted to change the lives of underprivileged school kids, but they changed...
While growing up in Karachi in the turbulent 90s, my neighbourhood used to be a perpetual warzone. Acting tough was the only way of surviving. Our future outlook used to be so bleak that career...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Despite everything, I will still vote for PML-N
When I moved back to Pakistan after completing my undergraduate studies in the US, I was not a supporter of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N). In fact, my newsfeed was flowing so much with...
View ArticleClik here to view.
#ETBlogsAsks: If YOU could remove one political party, which would it be?
With General Elections upon us, we took to the streets of Karachi to ask people the political party of their choice, with a twist: our very own Game of Politics (GoP). Everyone wonders who they’ll vote...
View ArticleClik here to view.
If Lahore couldn’t handle the rains, what hope does Karachi have?
Karachi has a love-hate relationship with the monsoon season. While Karachiites long for rain throughout the year, we shudder at the very thought of prolonged downpour, flooding, destruction and power...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Hospitals, schools, malls and now amusement parks – is there any safe space...
We often complain of lack of recreational activities in Karachi – a city which can easily be labelled a foodie’s paradise, but with few other entertainment outlets available. Any new addition to the...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The rise of ‘aam shehri’
With the General Elections only a couple of days away, politics is in its prime – rallies are being held, politicians are still being convicted and disqualified, and the ludicrous valuation of assets...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Election or selection: After all, no one knows rigging like Imran Khan does
Our electoral process is far from perfect. A great democracy would have middle class and lower class representatives, performance-based elections, and sustainable policies on the manifesto. We have...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The desire for change: A new Pakistan does not mean a better Pakistan
I began writing this in the morning after the 2018 Pakistani General Elections. This was my third time voting in an election, and my first time voting in Pakistan. On Election Day, I was moved. The...
View ArticleClik here to view.
My wanderlust took me to Cambodia, the museum of horrors and mass graves
Back in April this year, I felt really low and sort of depressed, as I kept getting a strong urge to visit a new place, somewhere I’d never been before. I made my way to Google and found that Cambodia...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The political catch-22: How will PTI help Karachi if PPP stands in its way?
The General Elections held over a week ago broke the shackles that had bound the city of Karachi for so long. The public came out and voted for Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and rejected the mandate...
View ArticleClik here to view.
If religious parties were not elected into power, is the Pakistani voter thus...
The 2018 Elections are over, giving a healthy but controversial victory to Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI). These elections were, according to many independent correspondents, one of the...
View ArticleClik here to view.
5 stories that prove the trauma of Partition did not end in 1947
As I think of the Partition that happened 71 years ago, it feels like a memory. Though I do not possess any personal narrative of it, yet it feels like I do have one – so personal that it invokes...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Young and wise: When Bilawal Bhutto Zardari outshined Imran Khan and Shehbaz...
The long-awaited wish of Imran Khan to become the prime minister of Pakistan has finally come true, and I pray that he delivers what he has promised. Change is indeed needed and perhaps at a much...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Hide my terrorist bakra
Bakra Eid or Eidul Azha is here. With the new government being sworn in, there is more news coverage of the political situation in the country rather than the festival which always garners great...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The diaspora of Naya Pakistan: The time is ripe for us to pay back to the...
Some years ago, summer of 2012 to be precise, I hosted an informal morning tea for Maleeha Lodhi, and while discussing the upcoming 2013 elections, she said to me, “It is not the Pakistan that this...
View ArticleClik here to view.
A Rs10 tip on a Rs4,000 bill is an insult, not a favour
Tipping is unique to the food industry. As a doctor, never once did a patient hand me an extra Rs20 note as a thank you for a good knee exam. The reason is that we expect a doctor to receive adequate...
View ArticleClik here to view.
A dark conversation in the city of lights: “If you don’t listen to your...
Wandering across the city of lights without a clue about your destination has a certain edge to it. When it comes to digging up possible stories hidden somewhere within this metropolitan, the best...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Pakistan is ‘Asia’s best kept secret’– what will it take to reveal it globally?
“The thing about tourism is that the reality of a place is quite different from the mythology of it” – Martin Parr. Pakistan, unfortunately, is a country that has been at the receiving end of such...
View Article