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In recent days, Tirah Valley has become the unlikely stage for a controversy that says as much about Pakistan’s fractured politics as it does about the fragile realities of life along its north-western frontier. What should have remained a routine, if harsh, seasonal movement of people has been inflated into a narrative of displacement, conspiracy and institutional conflict. The defence minister, Khawaja Muhammad Asif, has now sought to deflate that narrative, arguing that there is neither a military operation under way nor any extraordinary state action forcing residents from their homes. His intervention is less a denial of hardship than…

By Muhammad Mohsin Iqbal Although mid-January arrives with icy winds at their fiercest and the mercury seems to sink perilously close to freezing, it is also the season when memory awakens with unusual intensity. The chill in the air carries with it the warmth of remembrance, drawing the mind irresistibly toward the narrow, winding streets of Lahore. What the younger generation now terms the “Walled City,” what others know as Androon-e-Shehr, and what Lahoris simply call Shehr, was then a living organism, breathing history, culture, and intimacy. Winter nights echoed with the rhythmic calls of “Garam Aanday,” while peanuts and…

By Asghar Ali Mubarak The idea of Lahore as a “safe city” did not collapse under the weight of crime statistics or terrorism. It fell, quite literally, into an open manhole. The deaths of a young mother and her infant daughter near Data Darbar are not just a tragic accident; they are a brutal indictment of an administration that has confused slogans with safety and optics with responsibility. In a city that proudly boasts of surveillance cameras and global safety rankings, two lives were lost because the most basic duty of governance was ignored: protecting people from preventable danger. The…

By Sibghatullah Mughal The Supreme Court of Pakistan’s detailed judgment in the Naila Javed case arrives at a moment when confusion, inconsistency and, at times, casual disregard for settled law have begun to cloud the country’s family courts. Far from breaking new legal ground, the ruling performs a more necessary and perhaps more difficult task: it restores clarity. By reaffirming long-established principles around second marriage, khula and women’s financial rights, the Court has drawn a firm line under practices that had drifted away from both statute and precedent. At the center of the judgment lies Section 6 of the Muslim…

By Israr Ahmed Orakzai KOHAT:  Transport facilities across Kohat were inspected on the instructions of the Kohat Division commissioner, as officials stepped up efforts to improve passenger services and enforce traffic rules. Acting on the directives of Commissioner Syed Moatasim Billah Shah, the secretary of the Regional Transport Authority (RTA) Kohat, Shah Wazir, accompanied by RTA superintendent Shaukat Zaman and traffic police officials, visited several transport terminals in the city. The inspections focused on assessing facilities available to passengers and identifying areas for improvement. Special attention was given to the Pir Yousaf Shah stand on Bannu Road. Officials appreciated the…

By Shoaib Ahmed Narejo Silence after rape is often misunderstood, misinterpreted, and unfairly judged. Too frequently, victims are confronted with questions that reveal society’s inability—or unwillingness—to grasp the realities of sexual abuse: “Why didn’t you speak up sooner?” or “Why did it take so long for you to tell someone?” These questions, though sometimes posed without malice, overlook the profound emotional, social, and psychological burdens that survivors carry. They fail to acknowledge the weight of fear, shame, and uncertainty that shapes every decision a survivor makes in the aftermath of such trauma. Psychologists emphasize that sexual abuse is not merely…

By Tanveer Ahmed High in the rugged valleys of Gilgit-Baltistan, life has always been intimately tied to the rhythms of nature. For generations, farmers have relied on the glaciers, streams, and fertile soils to grow crops such as potatoes, wheat, and maize—staples that sustained families and local economies alike. Yet over the past decade, the region has felt the full brunt of climate change. Shifting rainfall patterns, unseasonal floods, glacial lake outburst floods, and soil erosion have devastated farmland, leaving hundreds of farmers unable to cultivate the lands that their ancestors had tended for generations. The mountains, once a source…

By Atiq Raja In Japan, water is far more than a natural resource; it is a living symbol of purity, renewal, and harmony. Known as mizu, it flows quietly through the country’s traditions, shaping spiritual practices, daily rituals, and even the collective philosophy of healthy living. From mountain springs to temple basins, rivers to hot springs, water is believed to cleanse not only the body but also the heart and the soul, offering a bridge between the mundane and the divine. Water occupies a central place in Japanese culture, largely shaped by Shinto, the indigenous spiritual tradition that sees nature…