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Transgenders are not running in the elections for your entertainment!
Is it possible, I wonder, to initiate a conversation about transgender persons running in the upcoming elections without provoking laughter and shaking one's head in disapproval? What is it about...
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Meera versus Imran Khan? Of course, I’ll vote for Meera!
Whilst the former government was busy choosing a person from the photo album of multiple 85-year-old potential caretakers (most of whom require a personal caretaker in their normal lives), the only...
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Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto: Like him or not, the man was extraordinary
Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto is unforgettable. From his birth, on January 5, 1928 to April 4, 1979 when he was hanged in Rawalpindi, he was characterised by one word - extraordinary. Today marks his 34th death...
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Badam Zari: The first Pakistani tribal woman to stand for elections
The much-vaunted democratic transition has taken place in Pakistan. Caretaker set-ups have settled in the centre and the provinces are to hold free and fair elections. Similarly, candidates have also...
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Hazara’s electoral politics
With the elections around the corner, many proponents of the Tehreek-e-Sooba Hazara — who vociferously demanded a separate province for the inhabitants of Hazara when the name of the erstwhile NWFP was...
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Do we even have a leader to vote for?
In my 20 years of life, I have never seen such a level of excitement amongst people to vote, especially when nothing has changed. The political parties are the same, their members are the same and the...
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PPP’s political campaign: Old footage doesn’t impress me
The pre-election time almost feels like walking through a busy bazaar, with each vendor calling out to grab your attention. It is just that; candidates too are trying to sell us something. Flyers,...
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I was asked to rig the ballot as a polling officer in 2008
In the general elections of 2008, I was assigned the duty of managing a polling station. It was the first time that I was summoned (of course unwillingly) to conduct polling in a remote village area. I...
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PTI’s alliance with JI: When a move to the right is not the right move
Now that the election euphoria is subsiding and the calls for voting have been replaced by allegations of vote-rigging, idealism has given way to pragmatism and we see signs of practical politics...
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Musharraf trial: Is this really the most pertinent problem for Pakistan?
Musharraf being tried for treason is a shame. It is a shame in much the same way that he wasn’t allowed to contest elections while other ‘leaders’, many of them with criminal charges outstanding...
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Jamshed Dasti: We get it, you are powerful.
I wrote my first blog for The Express Tribune about two years ago. I wrote it with high expectations, wrote it with all my heart and wrote it with the hope that the readers would feel it resonate with...
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Sindh local government elections: Bureaucrats have no place in politics
The upcoming local government elections could provide an opportunity to address issues of governance in Karachi provided the local governance system is strengthened to compensate for the division of...
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Why Pervez Musharraf is Chitral’s hero
Despite the boycott of the 2013 general elections by the All Pakistan Muslim League (APML), the party managed to get two seats (one national and one provincial) from the constituency of Chitral under...
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Mr Asif Ali Zardari, you have done it!
September 8, 2013 is a day for both history and headlines in Pakistan. A historically unprecedented and smooth transfer of presidential power has taken place in our constitutional and political...
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Indian elections: Give peace a chance, don’t vote for Modi
“Mr Prime Minister, the country wants to know - what is your priority? Is it national pride and respecting the blood of martyrs or is it to show eagerness to talk to Pakistan under pressure from other...
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Gandhi or Modi: Choosing the lesser evil in elections 2014
Is communalism responsible for the rise in terrorism? This is the topic of debate in India today. The attention on the issue became all the more pronounced after the serial blasts that took place in...
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PTI walay, ‘kon log o tusi?’
After being beaten in the May 11, 2013 general elections in Punjab, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) came back to the heart of Lahore in their attempt to portray a ‘real opposition’. They carried...
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Five great reasons why I will vote for Bilawal Bhutto
Is Bilawal Bhutto Zardari running for the National Assembly? Is he not running for the National Assembly? Do we have to wait till 2018, or a few months? The media really needs to make up its mind…like...
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Déjà vu! Are the 2014 elections in India a replica of the 2013 elections in...
In India, the election fever is in full swing these days. All the major political parties are busy, day and night, with their election campaigns. Amid all this rush, we see a blame game being played –...
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4 reasons elections won’t fix Afghanistan
Observers across the board – from think-tankers and diplomats, both current and retired, to journalists and election monitors – are describing Afghanistan’s elections on April 5, 2014 as critical for...
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