My Sunday Morning Walk Down Pakistani Media - October 28, 2007

SABIR'S CARTOON:

And in any war, we need to use all our resources. But above all, we need political will. Currently, there is so much muddled thinking that we do not even accept the idea that in this war against the dark forces that confront us, we need unity in our ranks. Indeed, to judge from our columnists and TV discussions, we are in real danger of allowing the enemy into the gates while we go on saying ‘Yes, but…’ The ‘yes, but…’ syndrome- Irfan Hussain

One day in 1973, soon after Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, president of Pakistan and its first civilian martial law administrator, had decided to step down and anoint himself as the democratically elected prime minister of Pakistan, news had it that he was casting his eye around for a suitable person to appoint as his president. His mind’s eye had alighted upon Begum Shahnawaz, Iqi’s sister. I rang Iqi immediately to ask him whether she was still alive as I had not heard of her for decades. Yes, but very long in the tooth, I was told. Then it could be true, I said, that Zulfikar intends to install her in the presidential palace. Yes, yes, yes, pal, very true, very true, very true.

She qualifies, she cannot see, she cannot hear, she cannot speak. She qualifies, she qualifies, she qualifies. Musings on a Saturday morning - Ardeshir Cowasjee

Irwin caps the passage by saying: “So perhaps it is now time to reconsider the possible influence of the Arabian Nights on the poetry of William Blake and the fiction of Evelyn Waugh...”. Apparently, the influence is traceable to writers placed as far and wide in time and space as Dickens, Andre Brink and Mishima Yukio — of course, I haven’t read the last two.

From these recent discoveries I have learnt two things: one, that I urgently need to get an education; two, that we may do well — and I speak here not of boors like myself but those who I have heard discuss literature rather passionately — to perhaps read Alif layla wa layla, apply our critical faculties to it and trace its influence, which now seems to me to be immense, on non-Arab literatures and, more specifically, on magical realism, the sexy in-thing. Confessions of a boor — Ejaz Haider

[it goes to ejaz's credit that not once did he mention harry potter. did i write 'credit'? oh well....t]

How does Musharraf regain his credibility? His problems are mostly of his own making....Why do we fall for America’s bullying with such sickening regularity? The skies wouldn’t have fallen had Musharraf not done this perfidious deal. Neither would American bombs have started raining from the sky. Musharraf can make his popularity skyrocket by doing three things. One, show America some spine and tell it that it can push us so far and no further. Two, fire a shot across US Battleship Benazir’s bow to ally the notion that she has already been anointed. Three, enough of living in the past. Time to break out into the future by giving a general amnesty except to those who have committed heinous crimes like treason, murder, rape and grand larceny. Clean the slate and give us a chance to start afresh. By doing these three things, Musharraf can regain his credibility.Starting Again - Humayun Gauhar

Logically, the blame for the mounting number of dead (with the severely wounded still dying) and the hundreds hurt and maimed, has to be fairly and squarely laid on the shoulders of the men and women of the PPP who organised the fiesta, rounding up from all over the country - from north to south and east to west - the impoverished, unemployed, illiterate awam, transporting them into Karachi, and paying them, with no organisational plans in their collective heads. A swarm was brought in and let loose.
This is not 1986, this is a whole new world, in which death and destruction lurk around each and every corner.Like no other country on earth - Amina Jilani

We, the remnants of the Raj, in the twilight years of our lives, are bewildered by the attitude of our children towards their homeland. They seek refuge abroad, in spite of the fact that they are treated with contempt and looked down upon wherever they go. We are afraid to question them. They will only turn around and tell us: "You deserve the rulers you have because you were a docile lot. We'd rather be immigrants than hypocrites." memoirs: Remnants of the Raj- Why are we bewildered by so many things in the twilight years of our lives? - By Shamima Aftab Ahmed

[a very sobering memoirs - you will have to scroll down the link -t]

The literati may or may not be aware that after examining more than two billion words the editors of the Oxford English dictionary have decided to do away with the hyphen. The short dash will now be amputated. The hyphen, that is to say the sign (-), which has been used to join words syntactically for centuries (as in roly-poly; pick-me-up) to indicate the division of a word, will not be seen in the Shorter Oxford dictionary.Zia Mohyeddin column - Hyphens & hiccups

[you will have to scroll down the link - can someone suggest to zia sahib to collect his columns in a book form? t]

there may be more later. please pass them on to interested friends. also if you come across an interesting read please pass them on. you will get a credit if i use them here. thanks