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Columns - Private View (Friday Times)

2008

December 26th, 2008 Well played, James Bond
December 19th, 2008 AS Bokhari’s sparkling genius, 50 years later
December 12th, 2008 Supping with the devil’s own
December 4th, 2008 The world according to Strunk
November 28th, 2008 Confessions of a Fritterer
November 26th, 2008 Well played, James Bond
November 21st, 2008 Watch that cat’s whiskers
November 14th, 2008 Reliving Beyond a Boundary
November 7th, 2008 Manto, on murder
October 31st, 2008 The mystery persists
October 24th, 2008 Charagh Hasan Hasrat’s Singapore sling
October 17th, 2008 The siege of Mecca
October 10th, 2008 What small men they really are
October 3rd, 2008 The Little Prince
September 26th, 2008 Remembering Zia Sarhady
September 19th, 2008 Return to 1954
September 12th, 2008 What Faiz wrote, why and when
September 5th, 2008 Kashmir: azadi, azadi, azadi
August 29th, 2008 Native son, neurosurgeon
August 22nd, 2008 They kill women, don’t they!
August 15th, 2008 Unravelling of Al Qaeda
August 8th, 2008 Grand revolutionary
August 1st, 2008 English, the moveable feast
July 25th, 2008 Land of invisible women
July 18th, 2008 PIA, the way it was
July 11th, 2008 Kardar: the once and forever skipper
July 4th, 2008 Invasion of the sound byte snatchers
June 27th, 2008 Come back Naveed Malik
June 20th, 2008 Three cups of tea
June 13th, 2008 Remembering Inam Aziz
June 6th, 2008 God’s self-declared gatekeepers
May 30th, 2008 Tarek Fatah’s lonely crusade
May 23rd, 2008 Urdu press in Old Blighty
May 16th, 2008 Prime Minister Gillani: poetry and politics
May 9th, 2008 The Field Marshal’s testament
May 2nd, 2008 Think twice then say nothing
April 25th, 2008 How Pakistan can become Singapore
April 18th, 2008 The man called Zafrulla Khan
April 11th, 2008 Machiavelli made easy
April 4th, 2008 Chacha Chaudhry’s century
March 28th, 2008 Hamo Khan: another wicket falls
March 21st, 2008 Romancing the city of Lahore
March 14th, 2008 The writing on the wall
March 7th, 2008 Ijaz Batalvi and Noon Meem Rashed
February 29th, 2008 The Taliban’s world
February 22nd, 2008 The inimitable Bokhari touch
February 15th, 2008 Ah! India-Pakistani diplomacy
February 8th, 2008 The autobiography collector
February 1st, 2008 A Lahori in Washington
January 25th, 2008 Dev Anand, not out at 82
January 19th, 2008 Well played, James Bond
January 18th, 2008 Murray College: the way it was
January 11th, 2008 America’s years of darkness

2007

December 28th, 2007 How OPEC failed the Third World
December 21st, 2007 For Zahur Azar’s eyes
December 14th, 2007 Annie and Parvin Shakir: a passage at arms
December 7th, 2007 The vision of Qurratulain Hyder
November 30th, 2007 Lahore circa 1947
November 23rd, 2007 The rosary of silence
November 16th, 2007 Kashmir’s vanished beauty
November 9th, 2007 English and its Pakistani travails
November 2nd, 2007 Speaking the hard truth in Washington
October 26th, 2007 Soldiering on but not in battle
October 19th, 2007 Indian summer without secrets
October 5th, 2007 The big off break man from Sialkot
September 28th, 2007 Letters from the Saint of Chakiwara
September 21st, 2007 Sadequain 20 years later
September 14th, 2007 Majid Lahori: the people’s columnist
September 7th, 2007 The magic world of child painters
August 31st, 2007 Qurratulain Hyder, literature’s First Lady
August 24th, 2007 Sialkot, city with a difference
August 17th, 2007 Kashmir: a rational view
August 10th, 2007 Pakistan and history’s black jester
August 3rd, 2007 Old soldiers fading away
July 27th, 2007 Javed Hashmi’s testament
July 20th, 2007 Hamraz Ahsan: London’s native alien
July 13th, 2007 Munir Niazi’s magic worlds
July 6th, 2007 The story of Dodoland
June 29th, 2007 Akbar Ahmed’s journey
June 22nd, 2007 The national treasure called Ahmed Faraz
June 15th, 2007 Chacha Zindabad
June 8th, 2007 Tahir Mirza slips gently into the night
June 1st, 2007 Kishwar Naheed lets memory speak
May 25th, 2007 No business like mil–business
May 18th, 2007 Travel time Sialkot
May 11th, 2007 Nur Jehan – one in a million
May 4th, 2007 Amrita Sher Gil’s Lahore
April 27th, 2007 What happened to Jinnah’s Pakistan?
April 20th, 2007 Kashmir and Indian apologists
April 13th, 2007 Abdulla Malik’s old Lahore
April 6th, 2007 Ah! that damsel in distress
March 30th, 2007 Muslehuddin: the prince of Lahore
March 23rd, 2007 How Bhutto’s fears have come true
March 16th, 2007 Mirpur 1947 – the untold story
March 9th, 2007 Bokhari, Lahore’s true geographer
March 2nd, 2007 Lahore: a musical story
February 23rd, 2007 The holy men of Pakistan
February 14th, 2007 The autobiography collector
February 9th, 2007 Jolly good laugh
February 2nd, 2007 Kuldip Nayar’s Sialkot
January 26th, 2007 Ayub 40 years later
January 19th, 2007 The many worlds of Zamurrad Malik
January 12th, 2007 The orange blossom man
January 5th, 2007 The Taliban’s world

2006

December 29th, 2006 The last Orientalist
December 22nd, 2006 Beyond a boundary
December 15th, 2006 Stop the Taliban takeover of Pakistan
December 8th, 2006 The spell they cast
December 1st, 2006 A soldier rediscovers Islam
November 24th, 2006 Hurricane Asma hits Washington
November 17th, 2006 Truckin’ down heartbreak highway
November 10th, 2006 Chas Freeman: a voice in the wilderness
November 3rd, 2006 October memories of small town cricket
October 27th, 2006 Killing Kashmir with “self-governance”
October 20th, 2006 Ladies as hooded bandits
October 13th, 2006 Savera, the magazine that refuses to die
October 6th, 2006 Nawaz Sharif’s testament
September 29th, 2006 The great shade tree
September 22nd, 2006 The man who rode through the Karakorams
September 15th, 2006 Our Lady of the Apostrophe
September 8th, 2006 Ahmed Bashir: the mullah’s nemesis
September 1st, 2006 Letter to the Quaid: Srinagar circa 1947
August 25th, 2006 Agha Nasir’s cultural mosaic
August 18th, 2006 The elusive bird called Good Governance
August 11th, 2006 Zahur Azar and the first broadcast
August 4th, 2006 The truth about Miss Jinnah’s death
July 28th, 2006 It happened in 1946
July 21st, 2006 Bhutto’s last letter to his hangman
July 14th, 2006 Dorothy Parker: O what a lady!
July 7th, 2006 How the Quaid’s fears came true
June 30th, 2006 Jammu: return of the lost son
June 23rd, 2006 Remembering Zulfikar Ali Bhutto
June 16th, 2006 The Zia-ul-Haq murder mystery
June 9th, 2006 Pakistan’s Mullah takeover
June 2nd, 2006 Zulifikar Ali Bhutto’s last interview
May 26th, 2006 The National Cat Commission
May 19th, 2006 Naushad: fled is that music
May 12th, 2006 Shakespeare: king of all he surveyed
May 5th, 2006 Who will stand up and speak for Islam?
April 28th, 2006 Everyone has a Kashmir solution
April 21st, 2006 The Saint of Chakiwara rides again
April 14th, 2006 Faiz and the land of yellow leaves
April 7th, 2006 A 1947 Kashmir story
March 31st, 2006 What really happened in 1971
March 24th, 2006 AS Bokhari, unlike any other
March 17th, 2006 The great Bard of Gujrat
March 10th, 2006 Manto and the Saint of Chakiwara
February 24th, 2006 The Peshawar-Ohio link
February 17th, 2006 The splendid Pran Sabharwal
February 10th, 2006 Ah! Those Foreign Office wives
February 3rd, 2006 Nargis: star of undying bloom
January 27th, 2006 The road Kashmiri pandits did not take
January 20th, 2006 ZAB: poet, revolutionary, patriot
January 13th, 2006 Eqbal Ahmed’s unanswered question
January 6th, 2006 Amtul Hafeez: a woman remembers

2005

December 30th, 2005 Dubai chalo Dubai
December 23rd, 2005 Meera Sen’s forgotten lover
December 16th, 2005 Shakespeare rules the world
December 9th, 2005 How the military mind works
December 2nd, 2005 What is so Islamic about the hijab!
November 25th, 2005 Dr Israr’s poisoned chalice
November 11th, 2005 General, go to Mali
November 4th, 2005 Finally, the great Pakistani novel
October 28th, 2005 To Gitmo and back
October 21st, 2005 Sir Geoff keeps the writs flyin’
October 14th, 2005 Big Brother is listening
October 7th, 2005 How I won the Spanish Lottery
September 30th, 2005 The women’s hour
September 23rd, 2005 Ishfaque Ahmed’s prayer
September 16th, 2005 Old soldiers come together
September 9th, 2005 Black cats and Zaheer Abbas’s cracked bat
September 2nd, 2005 Aslam Khattak, the long-distance runner
August 26th, 2005 Ah! Those perfect cooks
August 19th, 2005 Zahur Azar and freedom at midnight
August 12th, 2005 No, North Korea we’re not
August 5th, 2005 Where does the Kashmir bus stop?
July 29th, 2005 Frankly, my dear
July 22nd, 2005 Welcome to Tora Bora
July 15th, 2005 Remembering Syed Abid Ali
July 8th, 2005 The hounding of Ahmed Faraz
July 1st, 2005 Not all old soldiers fade away
June 24th, 2005 Looking for justice, but where?
June 17th, 2005 Daud Rehbar, the exile who never left
June 10th, 2005 Fazal Mahmood ends his spell
June 3rd, 2005 In the aftermath of 9/11
May 27th, 2005 Jammu 1947: gone but not forgotten
May 20th, 2005 Ahmed Bashir, the last warrior
May 13th, 2005 Jinnah and Colonel Blimp
May 6th, 2005 No springtime in Kashmir
April 29th, 2005 “Judge” Maqbul Sharif’s times
April 22nd, 2005 The return of Manto
April 15th, 2005 Well played Omar Kureishi
April 8th, 2005 It happened 2000 years ago
April 1st, 2005 Playing with millions
March 25th, 2005 The fight for Islam’s soul
March 18th, 2005 Looking for Musarrat Nazir
March 11th, 2005 The Jam who “mickled” the UN
March 4th, 2005 What left-handers don’t know
February 25th, 2005 Rise and shine Sir Geoff
February 18th, 2005 Sardar Sadiq’s Lahore
February 11th, 2005 The other Khurshid Anwar
February 5th, 2005 Saigal, one in a million
January 28th, 2005 Hamoodur Rehman revisited
January 21st, 2005 The wrath of God
January 14th, 2005 The great conspiracy
January 7th, 2005 Kashmir: some home truths

2004

December 31st, 2004 Faiz twenty years later
December 24th, 2004 Come back Tauqir Zia
December 17th, 2004 Anwar Ali and the old campaigners
December 10th, 2004 Naseer Anwar’s Lahore
December 3rd, 2004 Northern Areas, neither fish nor fowl
November 26th, 2004 The Kashmir mirage
November 19th, 2004 Who’ll save Murray College?
November 12th, 2004 Uncle Sam’s nephew
November 5th, 2004 Mirpur, the vanished city
October 29th, 2004 Kashmir’s continuing tragedy
October 22nd, 2004 From religion into religiosity
October 15th, 2004 Let Chaudhry Rehmat Ali lie in peace
October 8th, 2004 A soldier’s life
October 1st, 2004 Preserving lives as lived
September 24th, 2004 Yahya, the last act
September 17th, 2004 Who are Pakistan’s ambassadors?
September 10th, 2004 Ashfaq Ahmed’s way
September 3rd, 2004 Riding into the Canadian sunset
August 27th, 2004 Dynasties, Subcontinental style
August 20th, 2004 Memory lane to Jammu
August 13th, 2004 Paranoia stalks America the beautiful
August 6th, 2004 Angels to the rescue
July 30th, 2004 How Jinnah was remembered in 1976
July 23rd, 2004 A Hamid’s Lahore
July 16th, 2004 Manto in Uncle Sam’s cabin
July 9th, 2004 Invoking George Orwell
July 2nd, 2004 1971: what went wrong
June 18th, 2004 Who killed Zia-ul-Haq?
June 11th, 2004 Who says slavery stands abolished?
June 4th, 2004 Bring on the Big Khan
May 28th, 2004 No tears for Dhaka
May 21st, 2004 Butt out
May 14th, 2004 From tiger cages to Abu Ghraib
May 7th, 2004 The Islamic century
April 30th, 2004 Faiz, the way he was
April 26th, 2004 Batalvi and Bhutto: a case to answer
April 23rd, 2004 Doctored religious messages
April 9th, 2004 Kashmir without tinted glasses
April 2nd, 2004 The Quixotic dreamer
March 26th, 2004 Saigal a hundred years later
March 19th, 2004 The chief makes history
March 12th, 2004 Another cricketing Khan gone
March 5th, 2004 Suraiyya, star from another sky
February 27th, 2004 Naipaul’s last Indian innings
February 20th, 2004 Sialkot’s vanished days
February 13th, 2004 The story of Fatima
February 6th, 2004 What Lahore could be and isn’t
January 30th, 2004 Lahore’s crane drain
January 23rd, 2004 A prince departs
January 16th, 2004 A Manto remembrance
January 13th, 2004 The story of Fatima
January 9th, 2004 Saffron’s no colour for India
January 2nd, 2004 ZA Suleri: A daughter remembers

2003

December 26th, 2003 Hitting hard, hitting straight
December 19th, 2003 Poisoning young minds
December 12th, 2003 Requirements of love
December 5th, 2003 Those three Batalvi brothers
November 28th, 2003 Solved, the Osama mystery
November 21st, 2003 The world according to Rathore
November 14th, 2003 The way it was
November 7th, 2003 Malika Pukhraj and memory’s mosaic
October 31st, 2003 Danny Pearl, a life interrupted
October 24th, 2003 Dr Abdus Salam: a memoir
October 17th, 2003 Believing the unbelievable
October 10th, 2003 Thank God we’re not North Korea
October 3rd, 2003 HK Burki: one in a million
September 26th, 2003 Three forgotten music greats
September 19th, 2003 Cliché is king of the castle
September 12th, 2003 Staying the course with the Bhuttos
September 5th, 2003 The feudals rule OK, thank you
August 29th, 2003 Ashiq Kalim and the romance of ZAB
August 15th, 2003 Remembering Zafrulla Khan
August 8th, 2003 Last of the gentleman officers
August 1st, 2003 Punjab University’s forgotten genius
July 25th, 2003 Javid Iqbal’s testament
July 18th, 2003 Mourning Agha the violinist
July 11th, 2003 Letter from Tehran
July 4th, 2003 Reliving those Delhi yesterdays
June 27th, 2003 The dragon harvest
June 20th, 2003 Oval hero in his 76th over
June 13th, 2003 Kissing Punjab University goodbye
June 6th, 2003 Slavery, the diplomatic way
May 30th, 2003 The Washington connection
May 23rd, 2003 The Ozymandias paradigm
May 16th, 2003 Because they hate women
May 9th, 2003 Kishwar Naheed looks back
May 2nd, 2003 The Saudi crystal ball
April 25th, 2003 Northern Areas demystified
April 18th, 2003 Abdulla Malik - the last comrade
April 11th, 2003 The truth about the Ganga hijacking
April 4th, 2003 Found: Pakistan’s real problem
March 28th, 2003 The Urdu press and its chosen format
March 27th, 2003 The son also rises
March 21st, 2003 Those Lahore radio days
March 14th, 2003 The external publicity myth
February 28th, 2003 Last post for an old soldier
February 21st, 2003 Open the window and let the sun in
February 14th, 2003 The hijackers of Islam
January 24th, 2003 Great son of Narowal
January 17th, 2003 The Brits are not returning
January 10th, 2003 Getting it right on Kashmir
January 3rd, 2003 Memories of pre-1947 Lahore

2002

December 27th, 2002 Remembering Nasir Ahmed Farooki
December 13th, 2002 Dilip Kumar is king
December 6th, 2002 Come back Zia-ul-Haq
November 29th, 2002 Kasi’s posthumous defenders
November 22nd, 2002 Memories of Manto
November 15th, 2002 APP: a death foretold
November 8th, 2002 Step across this line
November 1st, 2002 James Bond at forty
October 25th, 2002 Hotel Moenjodaro
October 18th, 2002 Here comes the hirsute brigade
October 14th, 2002 The Saudi way
October 11th, 2002 Errol Flynn of Cricket
October 4th, 2002 Pakistan doing OK, Generally speaking
September 27th, 2002 Smoking, sin without pleasure
September 20th, 2002 A fishy story
September 13th, 2002 Kashmir: time for honesty
September 6th, 2002 Ibne Insha’s last letter
August 30th, 2002 CSP-DMG, down but is’t out?
August 29th, 2002 The Jehlum Connection
August 16th, 2002 The Little Master
August 9th, 2002 Fakhre Humayun, a remembrance
August 2nd, 2002 Jailed in India, unwanted in Pakistan
July 26th, 2002 The crocs are a’swimmin’
July 19th, 2002 Sir Geoffrey the Great
July 12th, 2002 Liberalism, Chaklala style
July 5th, 2002 The General’s ghosts
June 28th, 2002 One cricketer’s memories
June 21st, 2002 Sultan Rahi lives
June 14th, 2002 Kashmir: what could have been
June 7th, 2002 The Saudi way
May 31st, 2002 Iqbal: one in a million
May 24th, 2002 Naipaul strikes again
May 17th, 2002 Gujarat through one Indian’s eyes
May 3rd, 2002 Playing cricket with Faiz
April 26th, 2002 English, Pakistani style
April 19th, 2002 Omar Kureishi’s Casablanca

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