Ripple Effect

The News, March 22, 2009 RIPPLE EFFECT Spying in America By Omar R. Quraishi When you read a title such as the one above you normally would think of the Soviets, now Russians, the North Koreans, the Iranians or the Cubans -- but would you ever think of the Israelis? Perhaps you should. Alternet (www.alternet.org) is an excellent internet resource for those who are interested in the latest news about America, Europe and indeed the rest of the world, something you cannot find in The New York Times, The Washington Post or Times. This past week, while trawling through the website, I came upon an excellent article -- surely the kind you will never find in the mainstream American press. Titled 'Breaking the Taboo on Israel's spying efforts on the United States' by Christopher Ketcham (who has written for Harper's, Vanity Fair, Salon, GQ, Counterpunch and several other magazines and websites), the article breaks down several myths. And before going into some of the things he h...

The News, March 15, 2009 RIPPLE EFFECT Ruled by psychopaths By Omar R. Quraishi What is a psychopath, one may ask. According to Wikipedia (what else is one supposed to quote in a newspaper article?), it is a construct made by psychologists to describe "chronic immoral and antisocial behaviour." Perhaps one could argue that it should not be necessarily 'immoral' but 'amoral' -- as in behaviour that does not adhere to any moral norms in that it does not depend on the individual's perception of morality in society. In many industrialised countries, psychopath is a legal term used to fight crime perpetrated by individuals who may have traits similar to those exhibited by psychopaths as defined by specific laws. Of course, the primary reason for the enactment of such laws is to treat those who have such disorders The heading of this article may make some readers wonder who is being ruled over and who is the ruler. Once the definition of what makes a psychopath ...

The News, March 8, 2009 RIPPLE EFFECT Liberty attack -- whodunit? By Omar R. Quraishi Not even two hours had gone by and several TV channels had all kinds of 'experts' coming on air and giving their -- mostly half-baked and should I dare say absurd-sounding -- theories on who or what may be behind the attack in Lahore on the Sri Lankan cricket team's bus as it travelled through Liberty Market. In most cases, and quite disturbingly so, several of the 'analysts' and 'experts' took the very dangerous line suggesting that "oh no Pakistani could ever do such a thing" and that since a country like India would benefit the most from such an incident, it may well be that the Liberty attacks were an Indian response to last year's Mumbai attacks. As always, no proof or even past circumstantial evidence of any kind was proffered to substantiate this. The TV anchors listening to such comments failed to point out the necessary caveat that such comments shou...

The News, March 1, 2009 RIPPLE EFFECT Surviving in a dysfunctional state By Omar R. Quraishi What do you do when you live in a country/society where standing up and doing things according to a system or the law is frowned upon and actually becomes a handicap? How many of us have waited – as any law-abiding civic-minded citizen would do – patiently in queue at a bank to pay bill or at NADRA to get our CNIC or passport only to see some people get ahead of us? This is particularly true of the immigration counter when one returns to Pakistan from overseas – perhaps it is also the first prompt reminder that we are truly back in the Land of the Pure – to find dozens of people even remotely related to an FIA constable posted at the airport getting their passports stamped first. In fact this system, which rewards one's connections and ability to offer patronage, is evident the moment one steps out of the plane because you see all kinds of assorted flunkeys holding signs for various sahibs...

The News, Feb 22, 2009 RIPPLE EFFECT Caving in to obscurantism – yet again By Omar R. Quraishi The so-called peace deal reached between the ANP government and the leader of the Tehrik-e-Nifaz-e-Shariat-e-Mohammadi, Maulana Sufi Mohammad, in Swat is nothing more than an abject surrender to the forces of militancy and obscurantism in the country. As expected, it has ended up polarising society – many people heaving a sigh of relief that now the violence would perhaps end, while others have been dismayed by what they see as the government's surrender to the rapidly increasing wave of Talibanisation. The most obvious question that comes to mind – and it was encapsulated well by a reader of this newspaper – Bilal Habib of Washington DC – who sent in a letter where he asked the government of Pakistan that would be it agree to implement Sharia if, say, the people of Larkana or Karachi also demanded its imposition? In addition to this I have several other questions – but is there anyone t...

The News, Feb 15, 2009 RIPPLE EFFECT Gem of a documentary By Omar R. Quraishi Finally something to do worthwhile in Karachi with the arrival of Karafilm Festival, sorely missed because its organisers weren't able to hold it last year and the year before. Given the rigours of work and other pressing commitments, I wasn't quite able to do justice to the season pass that my wife had generously gifted me. However, there were some very good films I managed to see -- and as usual, almost all of them were documentaries. The first one was a production for BBC Earth called Snow Leopard: Beyond the myth. It ran for 48 minutes and its production date is 2008 though much of the filming was done in 2005 because one of its protagonists, Nisar Malik, took time off from the filming to lead a for relief work after the October 2005 earthquake. The film chronicles Malik, who led the expedition, and British photographer Mark Smith's journey to Chitral (mistakenly mentioned at the beginning of ...

The News, Feb 15, 2009 RIPPLE EFFECT Gem of a documentary By Omar R. Quraishi Finally something to do worthwhile in Karachi with the arrival of Karafilm Festival, sorely missed because its organisers weren't able to hold it last year and the year before. Given the rigours of work and other pressing commitments, I wasn't quite able to do justice to the season pass that my wife had generously gifted me. However, there were some very good films I managed to see -- and as usual, almost all of them were documentaries. The first one was a production for BBC Earth called Snow Leopard: Beyond the myth. It ran for 48 minutes and its production date is 2008 though much of the filming was done in 2005 because one of its protagonists, Nisar Malik, took time off from the filming to lead a for relief work after the October 2005 earthquake. The film chronicles Malik, who led the expedition, and British photographer Mark Smith's journey to Chitral (mistakenly mentioned at the beginning of ...