Adil Najam

News has it that Pakistani engineer and entrepreneur Shahid Khan is all set to strike a mega deal to become the new owner of the NFP (American) football team St. Loius Rams. I must confess that I do not follow the NFL as so many others do. But this I know: this is a big deal. All pun intended.

Just how big a deal, you ask?

Owais Mughal

Karachi native Naseem Hameed won Gold medal in SAARC games in 100 meters sprint on Feb. 7 and returned home to Karachi to a great welcome today. This gives her the title of fastest lady in a region which includes some of the most populous countries of the word viz India, Pakistan and Bangladesh.

The result of the SAARC Games Women’s 100m sprint event was as follows:

1. Naseem Hameed (Pakistan) 11.81 sec
2. Pramila Priyadarshani (Sri Lanka) 11.93 sec
3. Achala Shalika Dias (Sri Lanka) 12.12 sec

Adil Najam

Former Congressman Charlie Wilson died, at 76, earlier today in his native Texas.

Long-time readers of ATP are familiar with my fascination of Charlie Wilson (here, here and here). In many ways Charlie Wilson was as much an architect of today’s Pakistan as General Zia-ul-Haq. Only a lot more colorful, and maybe a little more well-meaning; even if equally misguided.

Ever since I first read Charlie Wilson’s War I have been fascinated by the man – and also by Joanne Herring. I am, therefore, saddened by his death. And yet, fascinating as he was, I cannot say I ever liked the man, or approved of his actions. But those actions and the events he helped shape, especially as articulated in Charlie Wilson’s War, personify the nuance and complexity of events which were history setting in their own time and have become even more so since then.