Rounded Analysis On Contested Issues; Spotlighting Blind Spots; Politics, Religion, Travel, Books
Sanjay Leela Bhansali's drama series Heeramandi: The Diamond Bazaar has put a spotlight on Lahore's neighbourhood of courtesans, which suffered a decline in the 1980s before artist Iqbal Hussain, a courtesan's son, sought to humanize the area through and helped make it a popular attraction
Pakistani Parsis are far fewer but much like in India the Parsi community's achievements are extraordinary also in Pakistan, where they own the only brewery, the oldest shipping firm, and a chain of hotels besides being regarded as makers of the country's financial hub of Karachi
Pakistan's Westernized founding fathers and their successors loved to have a drink and sat on the periodic demands of a ban on alcohol until the 1970s when the prohibition—at least on paper—was imposed
Biradari or kinship networks partly rooted in the Hindu caste system impact candidate selection, voter behavior, election outcomes in Pakistan's elections, particularly in rural areas of Punjab, which sends 55% of lawmakers to the national assembly
The idea of 'Sufism', which in its present form has little to do with saints and their teachings, has long mutated with the association of those helming shrines purely by virtue of heredity with corrosive power, patronage, and vanity
Prohibition in Pakistan has been relaxed over the years with provincial governments granting more permits to individuals and hotels to sell alcohol amid a debate on the benefits of the liquor ban
Urdu-Speaking Muhajirs accounted for 3.5 percent of united Pakistan’s population in the 1960s but they occupied 21 percent of the positions in the civil services that helped them shape the country in its infancy including through the adoption of their mother tongue as the national language
One Prime Minister ended up losing his life and another almost spent the rest of it behind bars despite thinking they covered all the bases for having the right man for Pakistan's top job: Army chief
That Punjabis have dominated Pakistan's armed forces is common knowledge but this has not necessarily been true about its leadership with Pashtuns and Urdu-speaking Muhajirs having punched above their weight in leading the army
Imran Khan’s falling out with the Pakistani military follows a pattern since the 1960s when Ayub Khan handpicked Zulfikar Ali Bhutto as his foreign minister at 35 in 1963 before the young politician revolted against his mentor two years later for failing to capitalize on the gains in the 1965 war and losing it with India at the negotiation table
