Islamabad, November 18: Famous anti-India TV personality, Zion Hamid, was caught yesterday watching Shakuntali, a popular Indian TV soap opera. The discovery was made by one of his fans who Hamid thought was his milkman. When Hamid opened his door, the fan heard and saw the TV in the background where...

History The state of Pakistan occupies an area which was home to some of the earliest Neanderthal settlements, some of whose decedents can still be found hiding in caves in the mountains of North Pakistan. The only difference is, in the Stone Ages, these Neanderthals were armed with clubs and stones,...

Wajahat S. Khan thinks that everyone should read the complete Kerry-Lugar Bill and come up with his or her own conclusions. In the meantime, he takes a satirical look at the one hundred and eleventh Congress of the United States of America (a.k.a. everyone’s best friend with privileges). Begun and...

What’s with this name, Kasab (sometimes also spelled with a Q)? There have been three (in)famous Kasabs in Pakistan – and all of them religious crackpots!   First there was one Yusuf Kasab who was arrested by the police in the early 1990s and accused of committing ‘blasphemy’ by proclaiming...

It was the autumn of our disconnect. Meddle Earth – also called North America and/or Hollywood – was struck by a tragic catastrophe: its leader, the very popular and articulate, George W. XYZ, lay in his TV lounge choking on a banana. It was a gift given to him by the High Priestess of Kabala, Mama...

My last blog on marriage in Pakistan stirred quite a response and, as one reader put it in an email, ‘the article raised many questions but then left them unanswered.’ Since marriage is one of the most discussed and yet the least understood phenomenon in Pakistan, I’ve decided to analyse it from...

Nadeem F. Paracha deals with piety in a parking lot. While driving up a three-storied parking structure, I noticed that at the turn of each level, a wall chalking commanded drivers to say ‘God is great’ while ascending (ooper jatey waqat Allah-o-Akbar kahen). On the way up, I also noticed a tremendous...

Nadeem F. Paracha asks whether Darwinists and communists still pose a threat? Last Ramadan while galloping across the many channels on TV, I screeched to a sudden halt at one local channel that was showing a documentary on the ‘horrors of Darwinism and communism.’ I wondered what a channel that...

States play with nuclear weapons the way boys play with their toys, writes Naveen Naqvi. It was a joke someone cracked after North Korea test-fired seven ballistic missiles on July 4, Independence Day in the United States. I have to admit that I laughed at the word play, given my susceptibility...

Tazeen Javed imagines the future of Islamic web browsing. The Jews have beaten the more pious Muslims to it again. A new ‘kosher’ search engine called Koogle has been launched for orthodox Jews living in Israel, which will allow them to surf cyberspace without ever encountering unbecoming...