Today, almost everyone talks about leaving old ways behind to make room for progress. In Sindhi, this old-fashioned mindset is called Rawayati Soch (روائتي سوچ), which means “traditional thinking” or “conventional thought.” Most of the time, people use this phrase as an insult. They use it to describe someone who is stubborn, backward, or afraid...
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August 4, 2026August 4, 2026Columns
Painting Resistance: The First Transgender Woman on Scaffolding in Peshawar
In a city where transgender women are too often pushed to the margins, I climbed a scaffold. Not to hide. Not to survive. But to paint. For the first time in Peshawar, a transgender woman stood high above the street on scaffolding, transforming a towering 25-by-25-foot wall into a public artwork. Every brushstroke became an...
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The War That Exposed The Double Standards Of The Progressive Left
The Iran conflict has done more than reshape Middle Eastern geopolitics: It has exposed deeper contradictions in contemporary political discourse and become a revealing test of the consistency with which universal principles are applied. Governments have reacted largely as expected: Israel through the prism of security, Iran as the self-styled standard-bearer of “resistance,” the...
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July 25, 2026July 25, 2026Columns
The Declining Tower of Urban Politics
If there is one political party that transformed the character, language, and style of urban politics in Pakistan, it is the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM). More than just a political party, MQM emerged as a political phenomenon that gave millions of Urdu-speaking residents of Karachi and Hyderabad a sense of identity, representation, and political empowerment....
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July 23, 2026July 23, 2026Columns
The Arc of Existence: Reconciling Cosmological Idealism, Pessimism, and Cosmic Process
To view the universe solely through the prism of absolute beauty or unyielding suffering is to isolate two fragments of a single, vast, and unfolding reality. Throughout the history of human thought, scholars, jurists, and philosophers have wrestled with a fundamental conundrum: what is the true moral and structural nature of the cosmos? When we...
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July 22, 2026July 22, 2026Columns
Why Women Journalists Are Leaving Newsrooms in Balochistan
When Aqsa Durrani enrolled in journalism institute, she imagined herself sitting behind a television news desk, delivering headlines to millions. Like many young women in Balochistan, she believed journalism would allow her to tell stories that mattered and give a voice to communities often left unheard. But the profession she entered was far different from...
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July 20, 2026July 20, 2026Columns
The New Era of Maritime Power
“Indeed, the laws of history do not remain confined to their original forms; rather, they renew themselves in different manifestations.” The study of history bears witness to the fact that the destiny of civilizations is not always determined amid the dust and turmoil of battlefields. More often, it is inscribed in the silent waves of...
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July 18, 2026July 18, 2026Columns
Al-Andalus: The Rise of Knowledge and the Decline of Thought
Walking through the cities of Granada, Córdoba, and Seville in Al-Andalus is not merely an act of visiting historical sites; rather, it is an encounter with the remnants of a grand civilizational narrative that once reshaped human thought. The silent minarets, stone arches, and vast courtyards of these cities are not only symbols of a...
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July 15, 2026July 15, 2026Columns
A New Horizon of Intellectual Renewal
Consider the allegory of a master illusionist who, on the grand stage of global theater, effortlessly untangles the most complex conundrums, drawing thunderous applause from the spectators. Yet, when he returns to his own modest abode of clay, the cold, unlit stove and the dark corners mock his artistic prowess. In the contemporary era, the...
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July 11, 2026July 11, 2026Columns
Operation Shaaban: A Final Message to Terrorists
History presents moments when nations must decide whether they will surrender to fear or stand firm in defense of their future with unwavering resolve. Pakistan is passing through such a defining moment today. On one side are those whose hands are stained with the blood of innocent civilians, children, women, the elderly, and our brave...