Afrah Jamal

Published in Daily Times / 6 Apr 2013 Edited by: Pervez Hoodbhoy Preface by: John Polyani (Nobel Prize Winner) Reviewed by : Afrah Jamal “ I like to appreciate the little things in life, like nuclear fusion....” — Madison Hatter On a pleasant February afternoon, a nuclear physicist calmly painted a chilling picture of what would happen in the event of a nuclear attack on our pretty little venue by the seaside. “ O, we would be the lucky ones, ” he declared, “ .... eviscerated ” within nano seconds, “ ...wouldn’t feel a thing. But those poor souls in Landhi, ” he shook his head, “ now they would suffer from radiation effects for years, and a slow painful end, ” he added. Apparently, the devastation of Hiroshima would pale in comparison, given the size of Karachi’s populace and the prevalence of plastic. The terrifying session served as a primer for Pervez Hoodbhoy’s new book, Confronting the bomb — Pakistani and Indian Scientists Speak out . Though this is a compilatio...

Thanks to Liberty Books for the review copy Author: James P Farwell Foreword by: Joseph D. Duffy Reviewed by: Afrah Jamal Published in Daily Times / Saturday, June 23, 2012 under the title: Sound-'Bites' The shifting sands of local politics, the riotous nature of its circus acts and the principal players responsible for their upkeep make for an interesting case study. As an expert in strategic communication, James P Farwell has spent a decade advising the US Department of Defence (DoD), the US Special Operations Command and US Strategic Command on the Middle East, Africa and Pakistan. His candid new book traces the muddled contours of a Pakistani-style political arena showcasing a disgraced nuclear scientist, a deceased prime minister and a disgruntled dictator and the far-reaching impact of their sound-bytes. An astute observer, Farwell attempts to cut through the constant haze of confusion that hangs over Pakistan. He admits that General Musharraf, an easy targ...

Thanks to Liberty Books for the review copy Published in Daily Times /January 15, 2011 Reviewed By Afrah Jamal Author : Zahid Hussain The realisation that something had gone terribly wrong dawned on Zahid Hussain in the summer of 2007. To him, the siege of the Red Mosque in the heart of Islamabad demonstrated how much Pakistan had been knocked out of alignment since pledging allegiance to the US’s new war. The ensuing showdown, which he terms as the “deadliest battle with militants since President Musharraf joined the US led fight”, raised a giant red flag impossible to miss. Extremism had come knocking on the capital’s door. He ended up making the noxious fumes sweeping across the land (and its carriers) the subject of his next book. The Scorpion’s Tail — The Relentless Rise of Islamic Militants in Pakistan and How it Threatens the World confines itself to the insurgency part of the equation. It sifts through mounds of data in an attempt to pinpoint the core weaknesses ...

Thank you Dost Publication for the review copy First Published in Daily Times / 09 Oct 2010 Reviewed by - Afrah Jamal It is not every day one finds the author of a book about murder himself implicated in a triple homicide. In our part of the world, however, it could simply mean that the ‘suspect’ was too snoopy for his/her own good or simply stepped on some VIP’s toes. Fortunately, it was the latter case here (he fell out with the Islamabad police) and an exonerated Shakeel Anjum shakes off the stigma of a murderer and dons the garb of a detective. He is, after all, a crime reporter who has been associated with a local English daily for a long time and has clocked 32 years in the arena. This provides him with the requisite credentials to dive into the deep end but it may not necessarily give him groundbreaking investigative journalistic powers to ferret out the truth about Benazir’s assassination. Yet, this is exactly what the author claims to have done. The purpose of the boo...

PUBLISHED IN THE POST JAN 05, 2007 Insinuations – by politicians and media pundits, are making global rounds. About election rigging, the opposition claims that a well known political leaders’ assassination came hours before she was about to uncover a spectacular result manipulation scheme hatched by none other than the government. About the incident itself, the existence of Baitulah Mehsud – a Taliban commander who likes beheading Pakistani soldiers, or the Al-Qaeda, fond of targeting odd interior ministers in mosques or rallies and attacking children’s buses, is disregarded in favour of the notion that none of them could possibly have a hand in the recent assassination. About the post-mortem, they allege that the medical report was cooked up. About the subsequent law and order breakdown, they maintain that no party loyalist could possibly have been involved in arson or looting and the sole beneficiary of the post assassination deterioration of law and order situation was a gover...

PUBLISHED IN THE POST DEC 08, 07 Pakistan’s kaleidoscopic political scenario leaves the nation hedging its bets on the possible outcome while an apparent alliance of leading political parties emerges, still holding a possible electoral boycott as a valuable bargaining chip. Meanwhile a charter of demands devised by the APDM-ARD, may suggest revoking post November 03 2007 actions of the government, which resulted in a re-shuffled judiciary, and the cherry picked caretaker government. The governments consent to the charter will automatically set the ‘heads you win, tails i lose’ clause in motion for the President and allay oppositions’ fear of rigging to an extent. Quite possibly, it may bench the formidable opponent who has been in the game for 8 years and open the door for some of the major players whose democratic declarations are their strongest and perhaps only asset. Either that or a possible poll alliance of key parties would decide to go ahead and contest without seeking fur...

PUBLISHED IN THE POST 23 NOV 07, & SOUTH ASIAN MEDIA NET An aspiring beauty queen’s agenda typically involves an impassioned plea for world peace perhaps to score better with the jury. The homily remains a moving sound bite; the coronation makes a lovely ‘photo-op’. Political pageantry is our version of such contests. Most promises made during the campaign trails are minimal in terms of any meaningful dialogue, rhetorical in principle with little relevance to reality. And such oblique vows are expected to win seats in the assemblies . These amateur renditions had earlier resonated with the masses. However, mapping the next campaign on this ancient trail may not be best policy in the year 2008 . Though Pakistan emulates the British parliamentary system to an extent, it has been remiss in cultivating their singular style of political culture where party mandates must be solid enough to withstand an obligatory public grilling . Quite possibly this batch of candidates contesting...