Nadeem F Paracha, Ardeshir, Amina Jilani, Reem Wasay, Talpur, Farrukh Saleem, Aaaker Patel

Ardeshir Cowasjee: Karachi has three sewage-treatment plants (Gutter Baghicha, Mauripur and Mehmoodabad) which process less than 25 per cent of the city’s effluent, allowing over 400 million gallons per day of raw and poisonous sewage to pour into coastal waters. It is criminal that the city government has allotted amenity land for housing to its political supporters within two of these sewage plants — Gutter Baghicha and Mehmoodabad — thus restricting the much-needed expansion of waste-treatment facilities.

Nadeem F Paracha: TV personalities like Zaid Hamid and Aamir Liaquat, and politicians like Imran Khan and Munawar Hussan, are pegs of this new trend, mixing neo-traditionalist trappings of exhibitionistic piety, dress and claims with political discourses that may sound populist and radical, but in fact they are nothing more than the kind of reactionary and myopic mindset... Today society stands clearly polarised. On the one side are those we call the masses and who play the most direct role in politics of democracy; whereas on the other side are large sections of the middle class ...This class, believing in pious and patriotic proclamations expertly wrapped in delusions of grandeur and conspiracy theories, stands completely isolated from the ongoing masses-based democratic process that is underway.



Amina Jilani: Now, firstly, doing away with the 17th Amendment will not restore the constitution to its pristine 1973 condition. Secondly, doing away with the 17th Amendment, which upholds and validates the LFO of 2002, will mean doing away with the parliamentary structure as it stands. Are the learned legislators, inter alia, going to do away with themselves? Are they about to agree to the elimination of the increase in the number of seats in the assemblies and the factor of the women’s seats?

	EXCERPT Sunday, March 14, 2010 He was given the post of visiting lecturer which earned him 640 rupees a month and once a week he took the students outdoors to sketch.
	Son of the toil Sunday, March 14, 2010 Looking at the many portraits of the women and the young girls he has painted over the years, you cannot tell whether the subject...

Book review: From shrine to soapbox —by Reem Wasay

Mazaar, Bazaar: Design and Visual Culture in Pakistan
Edited and designed by Saima Zaidi Oxford University Press; Pp 347


Seeing truly is believing when leafing through this mammoth collection of the images we are most associated with, those that have defined the visual landscape of Pakistan, a work still in progress. In a day and age of limited attention spans and visual overload, to come across an exhaustive portrayal of the optical dimension of Pakistan’s story-so far has proved to be illuminating indeed. Mazaar Bazaar, the first in-depth look at the design and visual culture of this country, is a feast for every budding creationalist’s hidden aesthetic acumen. Saima Zaidi, a lecturer on design and typography at the Indus Valley School of Art and Architecture, has painstakingly gathered an indispensable anthology, aimed at thrusting our heritage into the here and now.

analysis: Phony pilots —Mir Mohammad Ali Talpur

Nationalities are denied rights in the name of religion and state ideology, people go missing on flimsy grounds, minorities live under threat and police brutality continues unabated

And the debt keeps escalting!

Rajen Nair: Photo documentary on Dharavi-

Farrukh Saleem:

re: this

2002-2007: Geo began its test transmission on August 14, 2002 (regular transmission began on October 1). Between 2002 and 2007, some three dozen additional television channels also went on air. Somewhere between 2002 and 2007, the electronic media had become an alternative source of power transforming Pakistan's triangular political arena into a polygon with four sides.

you should explore this alternative source of power in greater detail in another column

1: how effective is this power?

2: who are the power brokers?

3: do they inflame of diffuse crisis?

4: how biased/unbiased/manipulative are they? [ recommend reading cafe piayala, nadeen paracha - no criticism of conglomerated and sponsors and backing up wolf in sheep's clothing...farhat hasmi, aamir liaaqut hussain, zaid hamid etc.....]

5: do they have a code of ethics?

6: which ones enjoy establishment patronage (including 'agency' support for selected 'anchors')

Aaker Patel: The second act of legislation, the one against corruption, is called the Right to Information Act. This law addresses the secrecy that citizens of poor nations are used to in their relations with the state. The officers of government departments -- police, municipality, tax -- usually behave like masters. The citizen, especially the one who is not rich or influential, looks to them as dispensers of favours rather than of service. They hold enormous arbitrary power because authority isn't easily challenged in India. The RTI Act, as it is called, forces them to explain under what law they have taken the decision they did. This makes them more likely to do the right thing, or so the act's legislators believe.