Pakistan\'s Moment of Democracy? Forgot to mention, this article was published in the Friday Times,Jan 2008.

Maniza Naqvi: Writing for a Cause #1. Maniza`s first two novels were published by the Oxford University Press, Pakistan (www.oup.com.pk) and the third by SEPS (www.samabooks.com). The three books are easily available at most book stores in Pakistan, otherwise you can visit the websites of the publishers.

#3. Does professing love for Pakistan really require preconditions? And who gets to define an average Pakistani or an elitist one? The definitions all seem very relative..........

Recent Accounts of US Perfidy in Iraq Footnote:

This review was published in Dawn`s `Book & Authors` section on May 9th, 2004.

A Pakistani Woman’s Voice #1 urbashi

`Dying in a Strange Country` was published by Tsar Publications and `The Attar of Roses` by Three Continents Publications.

# temporal

I hope this was work the wait.....Thanks for the link.

Mapping Karachi’s Charms and Contradictions ....I remember that line from PG Wodehouse too!

The morbid humor in Russian literature is incomparible. And Checkhov`s wit, specially in his best works like `The Bear`, `The Three Sisters`,` Cherry Tree` etc is quite unsurpassed. I`m reading some of his later works, mostly his short stories `Betrothed`, `The Black monk`, `Lady with the Lapdog`, and was a bit disappointed because he seems to have lost that satirical edge in those eventhough they`re beautifully written.

I recently came across some critcism of Chekhov`s work mostly to saying that he does not resolve the issues for his characters, rather just shows their predicament which does not give his characters any depth. Was wondering if anyone has an opinion on that?

I personally feel that Checkhov is intentionally forgiving of his characters with all their imperfections. Neither does he romanticize them or provide an easy solution to their plight. Suffering and uncertainity clearly lies ahead of them which I think just makes them all the more human....

Mapping Karachi’s Charms and Contradictions Skept;

`anyone reading Chekov? `

I`m reading one of his fairly unknown one-acts `Lady with Lapdog`. I absolutely love Chekov`s work... Have you read anything recently?

Zeynab

Mapping Karachi’s Charms and Contradictions I mentioned a handful of Pakistani writers in this article, but this was not a definitive list by any means. I did not go into a detailed listing of fiction writing from Pakistan because thought that it would take away from this particular article, so I chose to randomly mention some young upcoming writers. Kamila Shamsie did talk about Mohsin Hamid and a few others which the `among others` in this article refers too.

Apart from the well-known authors that have been already mentioned by people here like Sara Suleri, Bina Shah, Bapsi Sidhwa there are also other writers from Pakistan with notable work, like Tahira Naqvi, the author of `Attar of Roses` and `Amreeka, Amreeka` , Aamer Hussein`s `Mirror to the Sun` and `Cactus Town`, Abdullah Hussein, the urdu novelist`s `The Weary Generations` , Rukhsana Ahmad, the co-author of `Flaming Spirit` , Moazzam Sheikh`s `Sahab` etc , to name a few. There are others like Adam Zameenzad, Shirin Haroun, Shaherbano Bilgrami ......... but again this is not a definitive list !

Unsettling Precedents for Pakistan # 38 ijaz_gul

It is indeed unfortunate that the Pakistan government continues to follow up with its centre-periphery relationship with the US, paying no heed to the forewarnings coming even from within the US itself such as by all the people that you mentioned. Our policy makers are obviously living in some kind of a delusional reality, almost believing that all of Pakistan’s problems will vanish away one day like a bad dream.

# 17 dost_mittar

You wrote “ Pakistan need not worry about an American invasion in the short or even medium term. The US hands will be full with Iraq for a long time to come. However, if the Afghanistan situation keeps worsening and more evidence of the Pakistani collusion in supporting taliban keeps emerging, then all bets are off. In the long run, the security of Pakistan lies in not continuing to make itself and its relationship with India a hostage to the Kashmir issue. The support for jihadis in Pakistan will continue to be strong as long as hostility with India continues.”

I totally agree with you, Pakistan would be doing itself a favor if it decides to let the Kashmir issue a back seat for a while. I believe the same contention would be true for India too.

Like I said in my article, ‘Pakistan will never face a US invasion like Iraq’ for various reasons. Apart from the economic disincentive, as you mentioned, the disaster in Iraq should make the US think twice about invading another country soon, specially so with the dwindling support within the US public for such military escapades. I worry not about the US invading Pakistan, but more about Pakistan’s never ending dependency on the US which allows it to manipulate our policies in every way possible and figuratively leaves us caught between the devil and the deep blue sea.

# 6 Naqshbandi

In retrospect I do agree with your point about the destruction of Iraq’s civilian infrastructure etc. I must admit to my opinion being inadvertently influenced by the ‘liberal’ voice of the US media in this regard. There’s a price you pay for living in this side of the world I suppose.

#4, #8 stuka

This article was meant to be thought provoking, not necessarily alarming. Although, given the incessantly apathetic attitude of our ruling elite, it would do no one harm to be alarmed for a change....I do believe our policymakers need a real wake up call !

I am sorry to have offended you but my opinion was based on actual statements made by Indian politicians like Brajesh Mishra who said in June this year, `India is a regional power and should be treated like one` and Jaswant Singh who proclaimed last year `Pakistan should not equate itself with India in any way, we are not just a neighbor we are a growing world power`.

That is not to say that this is untrue, India is in a totally different league from Pakistan with its superior social, economic and human resource development and it would do us a great deal of good as Pakistanis if we stop competing with India and focus on developing our own resources. And by the way I too do resent statements like those made by Mr. Advani saying `terrorism in India is an outgrowth of Pakistan`s frustration at its own lack of progress`.

#13 Banjaara

Yes, Shahid Zulfiqar is my father

Unsettling Precedents for Pakistan # 38 ijaz_gul

It is indeed unfortunate that the Pakistan government continues to follow up with its centre-periphery relationship with the US, paying no heed to the forewarnings coming even from within the US itself such as by all the people that you mentioned. Our policy makers are obviously living in some kind of a delusional reality, almost believing that all of Pakistan’s problems will vanish away one day like a bad dream.

# 17 dost_mittar

“ Pakistan need not worry about an American invasion in the short or even medium term. The US hands will be full with Iraq for a long time to come. However, if the Afghanistan situation keeps worsening and more evidence of the Pakistani collusion in supporting taliban keeps emerging, then all bets are off.
In the long run, the security of Pakistan lies in not continuing to make itself and its relationship with India a hostage to the Kashmir issue. The support for jihadis in Pakistan will continue to be strong as long as hostility with India continues.”

I totally agree with you, Pakistan would be doing itself a favor if it decides to let the Kashmir issue a back seat for a while. I believe the same contention would be true for India too.

Like I said in my article, ‘Pakistan will never face a US invasion like Iraq’ for various reasons. Apart from the economic disincentive, as you mentioned, the disaster in Iraq should make the US think twice about invading another country soon, specially so with the dwindling support within the US public for such military escapades. I worry not about the US invading Pakistan, but more about Pakistan’s never ending dependency on the US which figuratively leaves us caught between the devil and the deep blue sea.

# 6 Naqshbandi
In retrospect I do agree with your point about the destruction of Iraq’s civilian infrastructure etc. I must admit to my opinion being inadvertently influenced by the ‘liberal’ voice of the US media in this regard. There’s a price you pay for living in this side of the world I suppose.

#4, #8 stuka

This article was meant to be thought provoking, not necessarily alarming. Although, given the incessantly apathetic attitude of our ruling elite, it would do no one harm to be alarmed for a change....I do believe our policymakers need a real wake up call !

I am sorry to have offended you but my opinion was based on actual statements made by Indian politicians like Brajesh Mishra who said in June this year, `India is a regional power and should be treated like one` and Jaswant Singh who proclaimed last year `Pakistan should not equate itself with India in any way, we are not just a neighbor we are a growing world power`.

That is not to say that this is untrue, India is in a totally different league from Pakistan with its superior social, economic and human resource development and it would do us a great deal of good as Pakistanis if we stop competing with India and focus on developing our own resources. And by the way I too do resent statements like those made by Mr. Advani saying `terrorism in India is an outgrowth of Pakistan`s frustration at its own lack of progress`.

#13 Banjaara

Yes, Shahid Zulfiqar is my father.