Saudi Arabia awarded hosting rights for the 6th UN World Data Forum 2026    Saudi national football team begins training in Jakarta ahead of Indonesia match    SAR chief: Special program to localize railway industry to be announced next week    Saudi-French Ministerial Committee agree to work together to upgrade bilateral partnership for AlUla    Saudi Arabia bans commercial use of symbols and logos of other countries    Israeli airstrikes target Beirut's southern suburbs    Fire at hospital in India kills 10 infants; investigation underway    Xi Jinping: Efforts to block economic cooperation are 'backpedaling'    Residents of several towns in Victoria, Australia ordered to evacuate due to bushfires    Several US states move to eliminate high school graduation exam requirements    Jake Paul defeats Mike Tyson in lackluster showdown at Dallas Cowboys' home    Spectacular opening of the 2024 Thailand International Mega Fair in Riyadh    Mike Tyson slaps Jake Paul during final face-off    South Africa's Mia le Roux pulls out of Miss Universe pageant    Questions raised over Portugal's capacity to host Europe's largest annual tech event    Riyadh lights up as Celine Dion and Jennifer Lopez dazzle at Elie Saab's 45th-anniversary celebration    Saudi Arabia's inflation rate hits 1.9% in October, the highest in 14 months    Australia and Saudi Arabia settle for goalless draw in AFC Asian Qualifiers    Order vs. Morality: Lessons from New York's 1977 Blackout    South Korean actor Song Jae Lim found dead at 39    Don't sit on the toilet for more than 10 minutes, doctors warn    India puts blockbuster Pakistani film on hold    The Vikings and the Islamic world    Filipino pilgrim's incredible evolution from an enemy of Islam to its staunch advocate    Exotic Taif Roses Simulation Performed at Taif Rose Festival    Asian shares mixed Tuesday    Weather Forecast for Tuesday    Saudi Tourism Authority Participates in Arabian Travel Market Exhibition in Dubai    Minister of Industry Announces 50 Investment Opportunities Worth over SAR 96 Billion in Machinery, Equipment Sector    HRH Crown Prince Offers Condolences to Crown Prince of Kuwait on Death of Sheikh Fawaz Salman Abdullah Al-Ali Al-Malek Al-Sabah    HRH Crown Prince Congratulates Santiago Peña on Winning Presidential Election in Paraguay    SDAIA Launches 1st Phase of 'Elevate Program' to Train 1,000 Women on Data, AI    41 Saudi Citizens and 171 Others from Brotherly and Friendly Countries Arrive in Saudi Arabia from Sudan    Saudi Arabia Hosts 1st Meeting of Arab Authorities Controlling Medicines    General Directorate of Narcotics Control Foils Attempt to Smuggle over 5 Million Amphetamine Pills    NAVI Javelins Crowned as Champions of Women's Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO) Competitions    Saudi Karate Team Wins Four Medals in World Youth League Championship    Third Edition of FIFA Forward Program Kicks off in Riyadh    Evacuated from Sudan, 187 Nationals from Several Countries Arrive in Jeddah    SPA Documents Thajjud Prayer at Prophet's Mosque in Madinah    SFDA Recommends to Test Blood Sugar at Home Two or Three Hours after Meals    SFDA Offers Various Recommendations for Safe Food Frying    SFDA Provides Five Tips for Using Home Blood Pressure Monitor    SFDA: Instant Soup Contains Large Amounts of Salt    Mawani: New shipping service to connect Jubail Commercial Port to 11 global ports    Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques Delivers Speech to Pilgrims, Citizens, Residents and Muslims around the World    Sheikh Al-Issa in Arafah's Sermon: Allaah Blessed You by Making It Easy for You to Carry out This Obligation. Thus, Ensure Following the Guidance of Your Prophet    Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques addresses citizens and all Muslims on the occasion of the Holy month of Ramadan    

Articles of the author Shehryar Akbar Khan
Consul General's Message — Striving to provide the best services
Consul General of Pakistan ON this auspicious occasion of the Independence Day of Pakistan, I whole-heartedly felicitate all members of Pakistani community living in the Kingdom. I also take this opportunity to extend to them my best wishes for (...)

14 - 08 - 2016
A tipping point in Pakistan
Given the track record, and growing influence of regressive conservatives in Pakistan, this news item was unusual. The Pakistan Senate's Functional Committee on Human Rights has recommended that the Council of Islamic Ideology (CII), be dissolved. (...)

03 - 07 - 2016
A Jogi in search of ‘nirvana'
It is not difficult to define success in electoral politics; it is measured by objectives. There are, broadly, two objectives. If you are in play for power, then you count the number of seats you have won. If you are in play for growth, then you (...)

05 - 06 - 2016
The power of regret
Cuba. Vietnam. Hiroshima. Is Barack Obama trying to tell us something? I think yes. In the last months of American history's most unexpected presidency, he is trying to bury, as quietly as he can, the dilemmas and memories that have haunted his (...)

29 - 05 - 2016
From once to once-too-often
It has been well established, since the beginning of human conflict, that success has a thousand fathers and defeat is an orphan. But just in case you forgot, there is always Indian politics to serve as a reminder. An interesting story appeared on (...)

22 - 05 - 2016
How can an Italian court murder Indian democracy?
The ancients knew their metaphors. They classified the state of a human mind into four categories, or "humors", based on bodily fluids: blood, phlegm, melancholy and choler [or bile]. It struck me that criticism, or opposition, in a democracy can (...)

08 - 05 - 2016
Non-reply doesn't make Agusta-Westland a non-issue
There is a term in government parlance called non-paper, basically designed to cover grey space, to suggest a position without offering any commitment. Indian politics should now acknowledge the emergence of a new term that extends this concept to (...)

01 - 05 - 2016
The Pope talks to Europe
Real stories so often get lost in the news; and news itself becomes a passing banner in the long parade of information that sets out after breakfast on a march into the night. Who has time or the attention span to measure significance? On 16 April, (...)

24 - 04 - 2016
Gandhi, Chakrayya and Ambedkar
In May 1947 Mahatma Gandhi suffered a grievous personal loss. Chakrayya, a young Dalit disciple who had served at Sevagram Ashram since its inception in 1935, died of brain tumor. He was like family; the Mahatma's grief was palpable and public. On 2 (...)

17 - 04 - 2016
The way dynasties end
Success measures capability; a crisis tests an individual's or institution's maturity and resilience. Congress was hit by an explosion in the 2014 general elections, which ripped apart its crumbling ideological facade and exposed the termites that (...)

04 - 04 - 2016
The many stories of Mofijul and Rafiza
Any good narrative has a subplot; this short story has many. Mofijul Rahima Sheikh, 22, had started work in the family craft of weaving, in his village in Bengal. He earned about Rs 200 a day. He was already married, to 18-year-old Rafiza Bibi; they (...)

27 - 03 - 2016
MOHENJO DARO — Ancient and best preserved urban ruins in South Asia
MOHENJO DARO, meaning "Mound of the Dead", is located in the Sindh province of Pakistan. It is the most ancient and best-preserved urban ruin in South Asia and dates back to the beginning of the 3rd millennium B.C. It has exercised a considerable (...)

23 - 03 - 2016
Hysteria trumps democracy
Barack Obama was in a thoughtful mood during the joint press conference with Canada's Prime Minister Justine Trudeau on Thursday, his sharp mind clearly above the limited demands of conventional political engagement. Obama could not become a (...)

13 - 03 - 2016
Indian Railways: Moving in the right direction
Governments tend to have an institutional approach to bad news. The first hope is that the problem will resolve itself if we ignore it long enough. The second is what might be called the long ball solution: kick the problem forward and keep doing so (...)

28 - 02 - 2016
Astronomy has ears!
As an inquiry, science has generally left me perplexed. During first encounters in school, physics was a bit of a blank and chemistry intriguing only when it lit a few flames. Mathematics was more welcome, with its logic and assumptions, but (...)

14 - 02 - 2016
American politics has changed
Wonders, we have been told more than once, will never cease, but we just might be witnessing a wonder that is too wonderful for words. A self-professed socialist has just become a credible candidate in the race for America's White House. Grey-haired (...)

07 - 02 - 2016
Congress pays heavy price for GST obduracy
One can hear the silence and visualize jaws dropping in the Congress High Command drawing room at the results of a just released ABP News-Nielsen survey of the national mood. The figures speak for themselves. Indians believe that Narendra Modi is (...)

31 - 01 - 2016
The revenge of the samosa
There is no retribution harsher in politics than the revenge of the samosa. Every politician knows this much. The surprise is that Bihar's Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, and his patriarch, Super Chief Minister Laloo Yadav, both veterans of electoral (...)

17 - 01 - 2016
A cricketer and a gentleman
There is no better way to bring in a new year than to cheer a man who can be honest about himself without slipping into the hypocrisy of false humility or delivering a sermon to tell the world what a good boy he is. So raise a bat to Hashim Amla, (...)

10 - 01 - 2016
At odds with ends
A curious role reversal seized India's Parliament for much of last year, resulting in apoplectic fits that bode ill for the health of the institution. It is logical to assume that government should have a vested interest in minimal sessions, ideally (...)

03 - 01 - 2016
Bonhomie in Lahore transforms the climate
History, sometimes, seems to be an accumulation of moments. Few have been as spectacular as Prime Minister Narendra Modi's decision to "drop by" and visit his Pakistan counterpart Nawaz Sharif on a happy personal occasion in Lahore on his way to (...)

27 - 12 - 2015
A cloudburst out of thin air
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's outburst against the Union government after CBI raided the offices of a member of his personal staff can be placed in three categories: cynical, intriguing and revealing. Of the three, cynicism is easiest to (...)

20 - 12 - 2015
Bluff is not course correction
The bizarre is not as distant from our political discourse as we might wish it to be. There are times, however, when a party's defense-offense explanation becomes so overstretched that it can only be considered contempt — not of the court, but of (...)

13 - 12 - 2015
Future of cricket might lie in hockey
There is only one sensible solution to the festering stalemate swamping India-Pakistan cricket: make the game so utterly boring that no one cares. We have a precedent. Hockey. Once upon a time, long, long ago the subcontinent would be in thrall when (...)

06 - 12 - 2015
Paris terror attack began with Mumbai
The terrorist assault on cities began in Mumbai: not Mumbai 2008, but Mumbai 1993. A series of coordinated bomb blasts in February 1993 had an impact far greater than the destruction of half a dozen buildings. The thesis that a humungous metropolis (...)

15 - 11 - 2015
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