Unmitigable torture, Restoring 1973 Constitution in original form not possible: Aitzaz

Unmitigable torture (1) The dignity of man and, subject to law, the privacy of home, shall be inviolable.
(2) No person shall be subjected to torture for the purpose of extracting evidence.
— (Article 14, Constitution of Pakistan) - Last week a very large number of people in Pakistan discovered that the way some police officials thrashed a few men in their custody with leather straps (chhittar) was absolutely unconscionable.

Women sans ideology It is the entrenched exploitative system that needs to change, not the sex ratio in parliament.

Restoring 1973 Constitution in original form not possible: Aitzaz

Kamila Hyat: But, while the electronic media has certainly opened up debate on all kinds of issues and with its tabloid-style reporting created a kind of obsession with news, the question is also what thought processes it is encouraging. The volume of religious or pseudo-religious programmes on television, when all the channels are taken collectively, is enormous. ...But the electronic media has in other cases also pushed thought in a specific direction taking it towards obscurantism and ignorance – and this is a disturbing trend in a society that badly needs meaningful change

VIEW: Age of extensions —Syed Talat Hussain

The COAS has done precisely what the chief justice did in the case of his trusted comrades, which is not much different from the reasons we hear from the president and the prime minister for retaining important members of their cabinet and advisors. One of the fundamentals of this entire effort has been to ensure that bad traditions of the Musharraf era are firmly rooted out. (But Talat, Kayani fails here, badly)

Book review: The other side of tragedy —by Anum Raza Hasan

Humanity amidst Insanity: Hope During and After the Indo-Pak Partition By Tridivesh Singh Maini, Tahir Malik and Ali Farooq Malik
UBSPD; Pp 186

Every crisis poses an opportunity to seek some lesson, some space to persuade reflection. From tragedy can come wisdom that might open minds, that might save lives. This book epitomises the hope and progressive foresight in daring to look at the other side of tragedy.