Columns - Private View (Friday Times)

2008

August 29, 2008 Native son, neurosurgeon
August 22, 2008 They kill women, don’t they!
August 15, 2008 Unravelling of Al Qaeda
August 8, 2008 Grand revolutionary
August 1, 2008 English, the moveable feast
July 25, 2008 Land of invisible women
July 18, 2008 PIA, the way it was
July 11, 2008 Kardar: the once and forever skipper
July 4, 2008 Invasion of the sound byte snatchers
June 27, 2008 Come back Naveed Malik
June 20, 2008 Three cups of tea
June 13, 2008 Remembering Inam Aziz
June 6, 2008 God’s self-declared gatekeepers
May 30, 2008 Tarek Fatah’s lonely crusade
May 23, 2008 Urdu press in Old Blighty
May 16, 2008 Prime Minister Gillani: poetry and politics
May 9, 2008 The Field Marshal’s testament
May 2, 2008 Think twice then say nothing
April 25, 2008 How Pakistan can become Singapore
April 18, 2008 The man called Zafrulla Khan
April 11, 2008 Machiavelli made easy
April 4, 2008 Chacha Chaudhry’s century
March 28, 2008 Hamo Khan: another wicket falls
March 21, 2008 Romancing the city of Lahore
March 14, 2008 The writing on the wall
March 7, 2008 Ijaz Batalvi and Noon Meem Rashed
February 29, 2008 The Taliban’s world
February 22, 2008 The inimitable Bokhari touch
February 15, 2008 Ah! India-Pakistani diplomacy
February 8, 2008 The autobiography collector
February 1, 2008 A Lahori in Washington
January 25, 2008 Dev Anand, not out at 82
January 18, 2008 Murray College: the way it was
January 11, 2008 America’s years of darkness
January 4, 2008 Remembering Benazir Bhutto

 

2007

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

 

2006

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

 

2005

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

 

2004

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

 

2003

December 26, 2003 Hitting hard, hitting straight
December 19, 2003 Poisoning young minds
December 12, 2003 Requirements of love
December 5, 2003 Those three Batalvi brothers
November 28, 2003 Solved, the Osama mystery
November 21, 2003 The world according to Rathore
November 14, 2003 The way it was
November 7, 2003 Malika Pukhraj and memory’s mosaic
October 31, 2003 Danny Pearl, a life interrupted
October 24, 2003 Dr Abdus Salam: a memoir
October 17, 2003 Believing the unbelievable
October 10, 2003 Thank God we're not North Korea
October 3, 2003 HK Burki: one in a million
September 26, 2003 Three forgotten music greats
September 19, 2003 Cliché is king of the castle
September 12, 2003 Staying the course with the Bhuttos
September 5, 2003 The feudals rule OK, thank you
August 29, 2003 Ashiq Kalim and the romance of ZAB
August 15, 2003 Remembering Zafrullah Khan
August 8, 2003 Last of the gentleman officers
August 1, 2003 Punjab University's forgotten genius
July 25, 2003 Javid Iqbal’s testament
July 18, 2003 Mourning Agha the violinist
July 11, 2003 Letter from Tehran
July 4, 2003 Reliving those Delhi yesterdays
June 27, 2003 The dragon harvest
June 20, 2003 Oval hero in his 76th over
June 13, 2003 Kissing Punjab University goodbye
June 06, 2003 Slavery, the diplomatic way
May 30, 2003 The Washington connection
May 23, 2003 The Ozymandias paradigm
May 16, 2003 Because they hate women
May 9, 2003 Kishwar Naheed looks back
May 2, 2003 The Saudi crystal ball
April 25, 2003 Northern Areas demystified
April 18, 2003 Abdulla Malik - the last comrade
April 11, 2003 The truth about the Ganga hijacking
April 4, 2003 Found: Pakistan's real problem
March 28, 2003 The Urdu press and its chosen format
March 21, 2003 Those Lahore radio days
March 14, 2003 The external publicity myth
March 7, 2003 The son also rises
February 28, 2003 Last post for an old soldier
February 21, 2003 Open the window and let the sun in
February 14, 2003 The hijackers of Islam
January 24, 2003 Great son of Narowal
January 17, 2003 The Brits are not returning
January 10, 2003 Getting it right on Kashmir
January 3, 2003 Memories of pre-1947 Lahore

 

2002

December 27, 2002 Remembering Nasir Ahmed Farooki
December 13, 2002 Dilip Kumar is king
December 6, 2002 Come back Zia-ul-Haq
November 29, 2002 Kasi's posthumous defenders
November 22, 2002 Memories of Manto
November 15, 2002 APP: a death foretold
November 08, 2002 Step across this line
November 01, 2002 James Bond at forty
October 25, 2002 Hotel Moenjodaro
October 18, 2002 Here comes the hirsute brigade
October 14, 2002 The Saudi way
October 11, 2002 Errol Flynn of Cricket
October 4, 2002 Pakistan doing OK, Generally speaking
September 27, 2002 Smoking, sin without pleasure
September 20, 2002 A fishy story
September 13, 2002 Kashmir: time for honesty
September 6, 2002 Ibne Insha’s last letter
August 30, 2002 CSP-DMG, down but is’t out?
August 23, 2002 The Jehlum Connection
August 16, 2002 The Little Master
August 9, 2002 Fakhre Humayun, a remembrance
August 2, 2002 Jailed in India, unwanted in Pakistan
July 26, 2002 The crocs are a'swimmin'
July 19, 2002 Sir Geoffrey the Great
July 12, 2002 Liberalism, Chaklala style
July 5, 2002 The General's ghosts
June 28, 2002 One cricketer's memories
June 21, 2002 Sultan Rahi lives
June 14, 2002 Kashmir: what could have been
June 7, 2002 The Saudi way
May 31, 2002 Iqbal: one in a million
May 24, 2002 Naipaul strikes again
May 17, 2002 Gujarat through one Indian's eyes
May 10, 2002 Chacha Zindabad
May 3, 2002 Playing cricket with Faiz
April 26, 2002 English, Pakistani style
April 19, 2002 Omar Kureishi's Casablanca

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