I was invited to speak at an event in a 5-star hotel on the inclusivity of women in public space. My co-panelist was a disability rights activist, a young woman in an electric wheelchair. When she arrived to speak she had to be lifted by...
Schools are not places to develop learning outcomes in Pakistan. Rather, they are political tools. There is graft during teacher induction, neglect during knowledge transfer; pedagogical understanding is non-existent and a whole lot of misspending happens by the provincial governments. Public school children suffer the...
Published in Daily Times on July 13 2014 Operation Zarb-e-Azb has cost Pakistan at least two billion dollars thus far. This, according to one of Pakistan’s most astute military commentators who is a retired brigadier of the Pakistan army, Samson Simon Sharaf. The operation’s effectiveness is now...
Published in Daily Times on Tuesday, October 16, 2012 It was wartime in Africa, Uganda. Idi Amin had just been removed and Milton Obote was in charge in 1985. I was five, sleeping soundlessly in my room when I heard voices; clutching my blanket I walked out...
Published in Daily Times and Pakteahouse.com on January 22nd 2011 Outside the window, a Pakistani flag flutters, inside, a teacher asks a group of 6th-grader girls and boys, “Who can make a food chain?” A girl comes up to the board and uses a pen as...