Adil Najam

Pakistan’s Federal Cabinet – which, according to the official website of the government of Pakistan has 54 Ministers at the time of writing this post – is going to be ‘right-sized.’ If you were asked to assist the Prime Minister in choosing his new cabinet (including retaining or not existing Ministers and positions), who would you ask him to include?

Adil Najam

(Editor’s Note: 2011 marks Faiz Ahmed Faiz’s 100th birthday. We will be carrying a series of posts on Faiz Sahib to mark this centenary).

From the very first post on this blog, the poetry of Faiz Ahmad Faiz has been a beacon of wisdom in which we have sought solace, inspiration and insight into understanding the reality of Pakistan today.

All great poetry, and certainly Faiz’s poetry, has the quality of timelessness. It is great precisely because it does not lose its relevance to the ravages of time. Each generation can find new meaning and new relevance in it. And each can find solace, inspiration and insight into its own context. Unfortunately, in Pakistan’s case, even the context has not changed by much.

The video I am posting today – reportedly, the last recorded Mushaira in which Faiz sahib participated – is a treasure for its own sake. But its value is made all the more great because it can help us understand how best to cope with the avalanche of crises that have been falling upon us in a steady and unending stream. As we sit in a stunned state of shock, trying desperately to make sense of the senseless, here is a voice from the past that not only helps us understand how to deal with the present, but maybe also how to chart a path to the future.

Adil Najam

Karachi is at war with itself. Again.

Karachi bleeds, so does all of Pakistan. And Karachi bleeds too often. In a country that seems to be forever falling apart, the falling apart of this, the greatest of its cities, is both a sign and a foreboding. As painful as the daily killings and mayhem in Karachi is the sense that no one has any interest or any idea about what can or should be done. To be honest, I am not sure what I would do myself.

And so, dear readers, I turn to you: What would YOU do if you were made King of Karachi?