Writing on the Wall

 The word Hijra has, ironically, become a curse in Pakistan which clearly shows the cruelty and obliviousness of a society. Moreover, transgenders are often cast away by their families in Pakistan and many were forced to become either beggars or sex workers owing to lack of acceptance and social status. Part of the transgender or  Hijra  community, social stigma, and discrimination make them outcasts in Pakistan’s highly conservative society. Today hijras, who include transgender and intersex people, are hard to miss. Dressed in glittering outfits, their faces heavily coated in cheap makeup, they sashay through crowded intersections knocking on car windows with the edge of a coin and offering blessings. They crash fancy weddings and birth ceremonies, singing bawdy songs and leaving with fistfuls of rupees. Many Hijras feel a sense of alienation, of being looked at as freaks. They complain about being heckled, harassed, and assaulted. Gurus help the young Hijras navigate some of th

  The commander of faithful Imam Ali said Value of a man depends upon his courage, his veracity depends upon his self-respect, and his chastity depends upon his sense of honor. General Qasim Suleimani possessed all these traits and perhaps this was the reason behind a severe propaganda campaign orchestrated by the West which he faced his entire life. The multi-million dollar smearing campaign marred the personality of the real Qasim Suleimani which was deliberately kept hidden from the world. In true letter and spirit, Qasim Suleimani lived like Ali (AS) and died like Hussain (AS). He changed the shape of the Syrian civil war and tightened Iran’s grip against the terrorists and tyrant regimes. He was behind hundreds of ISIS deaths in Iraq and planned movement against Israel’s oppression. And for two decades, his every move lit up the communications networks — and fed the obsessions — of intelligence operatives across the Middle East.  He was known as the two-edged sword of Sye

Transport and logistics being important component of supply chain management play a vital role in the modern economy but in Pakistan, this sector has been facing severe challenges owing to the lack of innovative policies and vision of the government.   Pakistan has kicked off the China Pakistan Economic Corridor but, unfortunately, it considered that a mere road construction across the country will solve all the issues related to the logistics sector.  On the other hand, the developed countries mainly focused its policies on the logistics industry and gave it a proper status and their progress is visibly playing a vital role in the modern economy.  Pakistan’s logistics and transport sector depend upon railways, roads, ports, and air cargo. Railway – despite its growth at snail’s pace – is the single major mode of transport for the public sector. Recently it was discovered in a news story that as many as 141 out of a total 474 diesel-electric locomotives of Pakistan Railways are not in

Indus delta is also known as the vertebra of Pakistan’s ecosystem and economy, Indus delta is 5 th largest in the world and home to the 7 th largest mangrove forest. It forms where the mighty Indus River flows into the Arabian Sea, creating a complex system of swamps, streams and mangrove forests. A triangular piece of fertile land is created when the fast-flowing river deposits rich sediment as it empties into the sea. However, dam construction and mismanagement of water by the government have significantly reduced river flows, causing the delta to shrink, and threatening both human life and its ecology. The absence of flowing freshwater allows seawater into the delta, destroying the soil and the aquifers, making it unfit for humans, animals, or crops. Last year, The Third Pole reported that around 1.2 million people from the delta have already migrated to Karachi. For years, the communities in the delta have reported the loss of livelihood, an increase in disease, and forced migrat

It has become a routine matter in our lives every year that we literally sweat for Eid moon sighting. Every year Ramadan starts and ends with confusion. Its actually quite ironic that in this digital age in which there are countries trying to explore the darker areas of space and we the muslims of India and pakistan still depend on a 70 year old feeble cleric to resolve this obligatory matter for us . The matter is daunting and distressing now as this year we witnessed a feud here in pakistan between the govt minister and clerics. The science ministry lead by ‘not so popular’ Fawad Chaudry declared Eid few hours before the route hilal committee who gets salaries for the only job they almost fail every year to do so. This year it was more baffling for them as they took almost 5 hours to announce the Eid in a perplexing manner as the cleric leading the committee looked fragile and unclear while announcing the festive day. And if that wasn’t enough , a sectarian rift started immediate

The entire world is fighting against coronavirus while we the people of Pakistan are still trying to overwhelm the bedlam which has been widely observed in the country. The situation looks very grave as the total number of cases has reached up to 43158 with 923 deaths.   So far, the only death cases media news channel reports are related to the novel coronavirus and this has literally pissed the people off. They are being forced to question/ponder as if nothing else is happening in Pakistan; no accidents, no robberies, no murders , or general cardiac-related deaths, suddenly everything just vanished. Meanwhile, the government claims that we are dangerously heading towards an emergency but instead of taking stringent measures it has removed the lockdown which is very disturbing for the people. On the other side, people are alleging of being cheated regarding their coronavirus tests. Several videos have surfaced on the social media in which people can be seen claiming that private

Inspector General National Highways & Motorways Police (NH&MP), Zulfiqar Cheema is reputedly one of the finest officers. Recently he came up with the idea of establishing ‘wake-up points’ for the drivers on motorways. Unfortunately, NH&MP need to wake up its operational staff more than ‘wake up points’ for the drivers. Some negligent incidents have been taking place right under the nose of the NH&MP officials, which could have been resulted into a total devastation. On October 31 I was traveling in a local bus with the registration number Peshawar C-9543 from Rawalpindi to Lahore. This vehicle was all set to hit the road with its pathetic traveling conditions. As the bus checked in from the Rawalpindi toll plaza, it was reverted back due to another major problem: the bus was traveling without any route permit. The driver had previous experience of ditching the NH&MP staff, so he decided to take another route. The bus thus checked in from the Turnol entry