Adil Najam

Anwar Masood is a perennial favorite. His aaj ki pakaiaye, banyain, lassi tay chai, and Jehlum da Pul are all classics of humorous poetry. But if he is to be remembered for anything, it has to be his (very) serious poem Ambri (Mother).

Adil Najam

Government and opposition politicians have embraced the idea of a national conference on how to deal with terrorism. The idea of a conference, in itself, is not much. But the idea of creating a national consensus and a national sense of purpose on dealing with the menace of terrorism is critical if any of the tough steps that will need to be taken, could be taken. One hopes that the conference will, indeed, do that.

But the creation of that common sense of purpose – and let us acknowledge that there is no such thing in Pakistan today – is not just the state’s responsibility. It is equally, and maybe even more, a responsibility of society. The fissures within the state reflect the even deeper fissures within society. And both build upon each other.

It is important, therefore, for all of us to have the exact same conversation that we want our political leaders to be having. A conversation that is focused on practical solutions, difficult decisions, tough realizations, and ultimately an agenda of action. Figuring out ‘how we got here’ is always important, but only to the extent that it actually leads to meaningful strategies of ‘how do we get out of here.’ So, as part of this national conversation, we ask our readers to suggest practical steps forward – ‘practical’ does not mean that it has to be easy, but it does mean that it has to be doable. What do you think should be done, by whom, and how? Have your say; there just may be someone listening.

Sehar Tariq

It’s the middle of the sweltering hot Summer in Pakistan and power tariffs have been raised yet again by the government. There is pressure from international lenders for Pakistan to raise these tariffs as they will help generate much needed money to invest in Pakistan’s poor energy infrastructure. The burden of the recent tariff increases obviously falls on the poor man and the average middle class Pakistani, as we recalibrate our electricity usage.

Across Pakistan, people fortunate enough to have electricity are afraid to use it because of the astronomical costs associated with it. Families all collect and squeeze into one room in the house in order to use only one air conditioner in the sweltering heat of Summer. And use of even that air conditioner is intermittent at best because of the frequent power outages. And then there are those who can barely even afford a fan which they cannot afford to turn on because the factory where they worked on hourly or daily wages suffers from frequent power outages and doesnt pay them what it used to. All of Pakistan – rich or poor – suffers.

Want to know how doesn’t suffer? The government, the armed forces and the judiciary.

Guess who hasn’t paid their bills? The government, the armed forces and the judiciary.