View from my window

I have often heard from non-Pakistanis about what Pakistanis are like, ‘You know, you are not like that and I have seen that Pakistanis, individually, are very nice people, some of my very good friends are Pakistanis but collectively they are/have...’ And then they proceed to tell me what ‘these Pakistanis’ are like and these vary of course, depending on the nature of their encounter but invariably a distinction is made between Pakistanis ‘individually’ and ‘collectively’. And, yes, this description is quite insulting and presents a stereotypical image. So I tried to remember from the almost three decades of living in Pakistan to see if I could locate this collective that behaves in this identical manner but I could not place them and that’s when I realized that maybe things have changed in the decade that I have been living outside so every time I visit Pakistan (which is every year, without fail) I try to look for this ‘collective’ that would represent the now almost 210M Pakistan...

It is sad that I have to start by talking about my own experience of being a woman in a male-centric society. Sad, because we should've been able to move beyond this by 2017. But we haven't and it is not just true for a hypocritical and conservative society like Pakistan's but around the world even USA is stuck in an era where the burden of the proof still lies with a woman if she addresses any kind of unwanted advances by her male coworkers, class fellows or even complete strangers! Having breathed, studied and worked with men all of my educational and working life, i know the pressure of living with 'respectability'. Because after all, it is absolutely true, that 'only respectable women get respect'. And you have to, at all times, conform to what all that entails. For a free spirit like me, it has been crushing! But maintain it, i have! That also means that you are working at half the power and ability if you have to keep tabs on not letting slip that clo...

Its been a couple of days since Imran Khan and Reham Khan announced their separation and decision to divorce. Nothing out of the ordinary there, as the decision to marry was also theirs, except maybe the timing of the announcement which coincided with the local bodies elections and may have had an impact but thats something which would be very difficult to gauge. What I do find quite extraordinary and almost bordering on incredulous is the amazing audacity of PTI supporters to present this break up as a result of some sort of principled stand by Mr. Khan. The idea being that Ms. Khan wanted to play a role in party politics and Mr. Khan could not bring himself to allow this so he had to sacrifice his marriage for his principled stand! How utterly outrageous is this! This is not principled stance but rather immaturity and shortsightedness. These two got into this relationship out of probably love and, I would assume, mutual admiration and respect. It was definitely not an 'arranged...