According to an anecdote related by Leo Tolstoy, a squatting and strangely gesticulating man he spotted by the side of the road and prematurely labelled a madman turned out to be engaged in a useful......
Some months ago I wrote about Mirza Asadullah Khan Ghalib’s fascination with silence, discussing a ghazal from his mustarad kalam. Continuing with this ghazal, some of the verses puzzled me because I......
How much should countries know about other countries before they can successfully establish close relations? Is knowledge about the other a prerequisite for lasting cooperation? Teaching in a......
David Grossman’s “ambitious high-wire act of a novel”, A Horse Walks into a Bar, set around a stand-up comic’s rambling and confessional routine in an Israeli comedy club, has won the Man Booker......
Kitab, Kahaniyon, Kirdar Manoj KumarA selection of the author’s newspaper columns and essays published over the past 10 years, this compilation discusses literary writings and personalities and makes......
What is humour? For about 2000 years philosophers, scholars, psychologists, writers and critics — from Plato to Rene Descartes to Sigmund Freud to Arthur Koestler — have been trying to find an......
If what was reported in this newspaper a few weeks ago regarding Mohsin Hamid speaking at an event in Lahore is correct, it certainly warrants some attention. Perhaps not just because Hamid expressed......
A woman and her alleged paramour were tortured to death in the village of Kakepota near Tando Allahyar on Sunday, police told DawnNews.Aman Jamali, 21, and Aijaz Ahmed Arain, 25, were strangled to......
Chairman Ruet-i-Hilal Committee Mufti Muneeb-ur-Rehman announced the sighting of the moon for the month of Shawwal on Sunday and said that Eid-ul-Fitr will be celebrated on Monday.The announcement......
A bomb resembling a toy killed at least six children on Sunday in the tribal area bordering Afghanistan, officials said.The bomb exploded while the children were playing with it in Speenmark village......
Pakistan has deployed a 15,000-strong military force to protect Chinese nationals working on energy and infrastructure projects in the country, President Mamnoon Hussain said on Sunday, after the......
The government forces in India-held Kashmir were locked in an intense battle on Sunday with armed militants who took cover in a school after opening fire on a group of soldiers on the eve of Eid,......
Pakistan, Afghanistan and China have agreed to hold dialogue process at foreign ministers level to discuss all aspects of relations between Islamabad and Kabul with special focus on economic......
India's leader Narendra Modi on Sunday arrived in the US for his first meeting with President Donald Trump, seeking to build on growing ties and move beyond disagreements over climate change.The......
President Tayyip Erdogan on Sunday dismissed calls for Turkey to close a military base in Qatar and said a wider list of demands issued by four Arab states was an unlawful intervention against the......
Indian police arrested one Hindu for suspected involvement in the killing of a Muslim man who was attacked with a knife on a running train near the Indian capital.The arrested man told reporters late......
Much like vampires that appear ageless, Ali Zafar is growing … young. That’s the first impression I got of him when I met him for a heart-to-heart about his upcoming film. Time seems be in love with......
Recently, I met a producer in Lahore who told me a story that he said left him quite perturbed. The producer, a self-taught musician, had found himself in a social gathering where there were several......
The Prime Minister of Pakistan Nawaz Sharif’s announcement of giving a ‘welfare package’ to our film industry has, in general, had a favourable response from the showbiz community. They seem to be......
It’s hard to explain the bond you feel with your animal companion to someone who’s never experienced it. Animals can be pure, innocent and fiercely loyal, especially to the humans they share an......
Eid-ul-Fitr marks one of the two major periods of the year where cinema owners and filmmakers in Pakistan earn the most revenue. Nearly every producer eyes the two Eids every year as potential......
An oil tanker crashed on a road near Bahawalpur on Sunday and more that 153 people, many of whom had rushed to collect leaking fuel, were killed when it exploded.The tanker carrying 40,000 litres of......
A film’s opening image tells you almost everything you need to know about the content. Purist filmmakers (the kind that stick like superglue to narrative form), or those shrewd enough are bound by......
It’s worth noting that 2017 marks the 25th anniversary of one of the most remarkable years in American cinema. The 12 months from January to December of 1992 saw the release of more excellent films......
At 28 years old, Mussarat already has four children. The eldest is 10 and the youngest is just six months old. She begins her morning by rushing to a water pump to collect water in plastic cans for......
There is a social dichotomy bubbling beneath the surface: the youth bulge is ever increasing but skill set development is fairly low. What is wrong with the way we are tutoring and training our......
The 57th Venice Biennale offers a topical fusion of fake fun and tough tension. Whereas the 85 national pavilions, spinning out of the original 19th century Giardini into the Arsenale and Palazzos......
Mansur Salim was a visual artist, art teacher and lecturer with a number of solo exhibitions to his credit. The latest show at the Koel Gallery in Karachi, In Remembrance of Mansur Salim, acts as a......
I often travel to different villages across Pakistan to see if all the chatter and policies about climate change in the development sector translate into something tangible for the local farming......
Come Eid, a lucrative, high in demand business simmers out from the shadows. The applying of mehndi, or henna, becomes imperative and salons all across the country burn the midnight oil on the night......
It is a truth universally acknowledged that Pakistani children are a breed apart. Cosseted at home, they know the world is their oyster. The apples of everyone’s eye, they demand fealty from all......
Long days of fasting in the western hemisphere have come to a close — for this year at least. In some places the fast was up to 19 hours long and without the benefit of shortened work days made for a......
Q. There is a huge mango tree in our Karachi garden. It is about 35 years old and gives 400-500 mangoes each year, but the problem is that it could give twice this amount as about half of the fruit......
Dear Wise Auntie, I am 25 and was engaged to the love of my life. Now we have broken up and I find it very painful. My fiancé was a wonderful man. His only problem was that his ex had cheated on him......
In the 1996 black comedy The Last Supper (dir. Stacy Title), a group of liberal Ivy League university graduates are seen sharing a house and an immense distaste for various reactionary folk.......
She used to be the queen of similes. There was a time when she, on average, came up with half-a-dozen comparisons on a 30-line page. A couple of examples:“He stood there like a blind man waiting for......
There’s a video making the rounds on social media of a sandstorm in Sudan. It’s like a computer generated imagery effect from Mad Max: Fury Road, the power of nature in such a short span of time.......
SARFRAZ IS SUPERIt is almost unimaginable for a Pakistan captain to have a smooth ride, ever. If performances on the field aren’t going to get him, those off it might just. The near-rise of Mohammad......
He would wait for his friends outside high school, and walked home with them daily just to satisfy his passion for studies which he was unable to pursue because of financial hardships he had been......
PESHAWAR: Young bikers reveling Eid cause far more road accidents than anything else, a study by the health department reveals.The study conducted during the Eid holidays in 2016 revealed that 77 per......
Serene as ever, the Neelah village on the banks of the Sowaan River today represents the memory of a diverse and harmonious local history.Before the toxic environment that accompanied the 1947......
ISLAMABAD: The Pakistani flag on the 220 feet high flagpole in H-8, said to be the tallest in South Asia, has been missing for two days.Capital Development Authority (CDA) officials told Dawn the......
MURREE: Visited by millions of tourists from across the country, the historical The Mall now looks like any other congested bazaar in the big cities of Pakistan due to mismanagement and carelessness......
After remaining displaced from his ancestral village, Lukky, in Masuzai area of central Kurram Agency for almost four years, 26-year-old Abdul Khaliq and 27 members of his extended family returned in......
Madina Shah, 9, lives in Uchat village of lower Kurram Agency. She gave up studies after completing primary education because there was no middle school for girls in her village.“I was a position......
MULTAN: The first ever pediatric dialysis unit of Punjab opened at ward No 19 of the Nishtar Hospital on Saturday.Nishtar Medical University (NMU) Vice Chancellor Dr Mustafa Kamal Pasha and......
Born and raised in the canal colony town of Arifwala to a middle-class family and educated at Government College Lahore and later at Harvard Kennedy School, Farasat Iqbal was another regular civil......
KARACHI: These are definitely not one of those birds which you buy at traffic signals to set free for rewards in the hereafter. After all, who would buy a macaw or a cockatoo worth hundreds of......
KARACHI: Investigators probing Friday’s targeted attack on four policemen in the SITE area on Saturday suspected that the militants who returned from Syria were involved in the deadly attack on the......
BADIN: A teenage girl and her male relative were shot dead by their kinsmen in the name of ‘honour’ in Ali Bakhsh Leghari village near Matli town, 62km from here early on Saturday morning, police......
KARACHI: The Sindh home ministry on Saturday announced ‘foolproof’ arrangements for the security of mosques, Eidgahs and Imambargahs on Eidul Fitr in view of the renewed terrorist attacks across the......
KARACHI: Since the electronic media is not allowed to shoot footage from inside the cinema hall during a movie premiere, its members try and make most of the red carpet event that precedes the film......
MITHI: Senior Sindh Minister for Parliamentary Affairs and Food Nisar Ahmed Khuhro has said the days of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif are numbered and he had better step down before he is forced to......
SUKKUR: Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Syed Khurshid Ahmed Shah has said that the joint investigation team (JIT) formed by the Supreme Court to grill Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif,......
IF you want to understand why many Arab world leaders hate Al Jazeera, consider Sharia and Life.For years, the call-in show was one of the network’s most popular, reaching tens of millions. Viewers......
BEIJING: Rescuers pulled 15 bodies from an avalanche of rocks that buried a mountain village in southwest China on Saturday as an increasingly bleak search for some 100 people carried into the......
BEIJING: China and the United States agreed that efforts to denuclearise the Korean Peninsula should be “complete, verifiable and irreversible”, Chinese state media said on Saturday, reporting the......
LONDON: Britain’s parliament shut down external access to e-mail accounts on Saturday following a cyberattack. A House of Commons spokeswoman said that “the Houses of Parliament have discovered......
JERUSALEM: An Israeli aircraft carried out a strike on Syria after 10 projectiles fired from the war-torn country hit the occupied Golan Heights on Saturday, an army spokesman said.The Israeli Air......
MOSUL: Iraqi forces opened exit routes for hundreds of civilians to flee the Old City of Mosul on Saturday as they battled to retake the quarter from the militant Islamic State group mounting a last......
Salt Lake City (Utah, US): A wildfire menacing a southern Utah ski town for nearly a week flared again, doubling in size for the second night in a row and torching more homes after residents fled the......
LONDON: Thousands of residents from 650 London flats were evacuated on Saturday due to fire safety fears in the wake of the Grenfell Tower tragedy, but dozens refused to leave their homes, according......
LONDON: A prominent Brexit campaigner and leading member of Britain’s government has scolded a BBC presenter for showing a lack of patriotism when asked why the country was in such political......
TAUNTON: Jason Roy’s bizarre dismissal turned the second Twenty20 International South Africa’s way as the Proteas won by just three runs at Taunton on Friday.The narrow victory at Somerset’s......
PORT-OF- SPAIN: Shikhar Dhawan extended his excellent Champions Trophy form to the start of the West Indies tour but heavy rain forced the abandonment of the opening One-day International at the......
BIRMINGHAM: Petra Kvitova, the two-time Wimbledon champion whose career was almost ended by a knife attack, reached her first semi-final since the incident seven months ago by winning her third......
SACRAMENTO: Justin Gatlin stormed to victory in the 100m at the US world championship trials on Friday, upstaging rising star Christian Coleman and setting up the prospect of one final duel with......
BAKU: Lewis Hamilton surpassed Ayrton Senna’s career haul of 65 pole positions in Formula One as he edged Mercedes team mate Valtteri Bottas in a final lap shootout to secure top spot for Sunday’s......
HE was a meteor, a sensation, who made cricket pundits sit up and enthusiasts punch the air with glee, such was his mastery with the ball. But then Icarus flew too close to the sun.Perhaps fame came......
KARACHI: In a low-scoring final of the sixth Cola Next presents Jazz Corporate Cup here on Friday night, K-Electric brilliantly defended a well below-par total of 102 to edge Sui Southern Gas Company......
KARACHI: Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Ltd (SNGPL) retained their crown in the fourth Naya Nazimabad Karachi Kings Ramadan Cup T20 Cricket Tournament after crushing Dollar East by a heavy margin of 105......
KARACHI: Omar CC beat Rangoonwala CC to in the first FPS Boulevard Ramazan Cricket T20 Festival here at the Hill Park Ground on Friday.Batting first after winning the toss, Rangoonwala CC scored 157......
KARACHI: Advance Telecom lifted the 32nd Karachi Gymkhana Omar Associates Ramazan Cricket Festival cricket crown when they dethroned Tapal CC by 31 runs in the final played at the Karachi Gymkhana......
KARACHI: Cheap, mass-produced Chinese products including fabric, toys and watches have taken up a major market share in Pakistan.While the country aims to generate more business activities and make......
KARACHI: The declining trend on the Pakistan stock market slowed down during the outgoing week with the KSE-100 index losing 526 points (1.1 per cent) to close at 46,332 points. It declined by 5.4pc......
ISLAMABAD: Exports of non-textile products witnessed a negative growth of 4.8 per cent during the first eleven months of 2016-17 on a year-on-year basis.In absolute terms, export proceeds from these......
KARACHI: As Ramazan comes to an end, the country was rocked by the news of blasts in Quetta and Parachinar on Friday, leaving 50 dead and many injured. In Karachi, four cops were gunned down in one......
ISLAMABAD: The government is looking for a new chairman for the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR), an official told Dawn on Saturday.The incumbent, Dr Mohammad Irshad, is going to retire on June 30. Dr......
QUETTA: Police on Saturday arrested a member of the Balochistan Assembly and obtained his five-day remand for allegedly running over a traffic warden on a busy Quetta road a couple of days ago.MPA......
PARACHINAR: Amidst mourning and people mostly in a state of shock, the death toll of devastating twin blasts targeting a crowded market on Friday rose to 67 as more injured persons lost their lives......
WASHINGTON: The Trump administration has authorised the sale of unarmed surveillance drones to India but the White House says the deal does not threaten Pakistan’s security.On Friday afternoon, a US......
WASHINGTON: The United States, while condemning the recent terrorist attacks in Pakistan, has emphasised the need to combat terrorism in the South Asian region.“We stand with the people of Pakistan......
IF you are ever curious about how effective prisons’ security is, all you have to do is ask someone who lives in any of the localities close to Karachi’s central prison.They are usually often stopped......
RIYADH: A suicide bomber blew himself up near the Grand Mosque in Makkah as police disrupted a plot to target the holiest site in Islam just as Ramazan ends, Saudi Arabia’s security forces said on......
WASHINGTON: The United States may soon stop tagging Pakistan with Afghanistan, as the State Department moves closer to shutting down the office that linked the two neighbouring countries.The office......
ISLAMABAD: The Joint Investigation Team (JIT) on Saturday questioned the prime minister’s son-in-law for around five hours in connection with the ongoing probe into alleged money laundering by the......
ISLAMABAD: China on Saturday began its efforts to normalise relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan and encourage cooperation between the two countries for a political settlement of the Afghan......
LAHORE: Raising questions about the proceedings of the Joint Investigation Team (JIT) about his family’s financial affairs in the wake of the Panama Papers revelations, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif......
PESHAWAR: The moon-sighting controversy that rears its head nearly every year emerged again on Saturday after the Qasim Ali Khan Mosque accepted the testimony of several witnesses who claimed to have......
IN a recent Wall Street Journal column, President Trump’s national security adviser, H.R. McMaster, and senior economic adviser, Gary Cohn, wrote: “The world is not a global community but an arena......
FORGET Raheel this, Bajwa that, Nawaz stupid, Imran clueless. Step back, breathe, and try and trace where this is going.We are sinking into a militancy trap.There’s a ghoulish metric that everyone......
CHILDREN are the most vulnerable segment of any society. In Pakistan, their plight is a palimpsest of misery. Child labour, brick kiln bondage, domestic slavery, corporal punishment, trafficking,......
Afghanistan has suffered its deadliest Ramazan since the US-led invasion in 2001 with over 200 killed and hundreds wounded, according to an AFP count based on official figures.The streets of Kabul......
