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Jun 17, 2024 | 
thefridaytimes.com | Rehana Hyder |Quddus Mirza |Saeed Shafqat |Yasser Latif Hamdani
On 26 May the city of Shenzhen in southeast China experienced a most singular artistic event: a solo performance by Noor Zehra Kazim on the Sagar Veena, an instrument designed specifically for her by her father the renowned lawyer, intellectual, and advocate for democracy Raza Kazim. It was the latest stage in a long odyssey. Noor Zehra was yet in her teens when her extraordinary musical journey commenced.
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Jun 16, 2024 | 
thefridaytimes.com | Akbar Ahmed |Saeed Shafqat |Yasser Latif Hamdani |Shakil Durrani
How do you begin a speech for an audience of one, which consists of Her Royal Highness (HRH) Princess Diana? Motivational speakers have posted dozens of short videos introducing the best method to start a speech and capture the listeners in those first crucial moments. Some recommend a short story. Others advocate the use of humour. The question of course is what short story to select? A personal story or something from literature?
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Jun 13, 2024 | 
thefridaytimes.com | Hasan Zafar |Mohammed Anas |Sabih Ul Hussnain |Saeed Shafqat
When discussing Pakistani news channels, one encounters numerous questions regarding their quality, independence, social and national responsibility, opinion shaping, and their influence on the social and political choices of the audience. General Pervez Musharraf granted TV channel licences to private operators under the PEMRA Ordinance 2002, initiating a significant transformation.
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Jun 10, 2024 | 
thefridaytimes.com | Beelam Ramzan |Saeed Shafqat |Ahmad Faruqui |Ikramul Haq
Last December, I attended an European Union (EU)-funded energy event in Ho Chi Minh city (Vietnam) that focused on the market dynamics of liquefied natural gas. The event was spearheaded by an Italian professor with a full-time position at the European University Institute.
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Jun 8, 2024 | 
thefridaytimes.com | Fatima Bhutto |Shahzad Naveed |Farida Gul |Saeed Shafqat
“The pain runs deep in my veins, deeper than the cuts from the bricks I haul day in and day out. Despite my toil, the brick kiln owner sees fit to degrade me with the term ‘choora’ (sweeper), a reminder of my lowly status,” Daim lamented. “Once my family was briefly freed from the shackles of agricultural bondage, I harboured aspirations of attending school.
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Jun 8, 2024 | thefridaytimes.com | Fatima Bhutto |Shahzad Naveed |Farida Gul |Saeed Shafqat
“The pain runs deep in my veins, deeper than the cuts from the bricks I haul day in and day out. Despite my toil, the brick kiln owner sees fit to degrade me with the term ‘choora’ (sweeper), a reminder of my lowly status,” Daim lamented. “Once my family was briefly freed from the shackles of agricultural bondage, I harboured aspirations of attending school.
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May 25, 2024 | 
thefridaytimes.com | Ikramul Haq |Ibrahim Yahya |Saeed Shafqat |Ahmad Faruqui
In the federal budget for fiscal year (FY) 2024-25, expected to be announced on June 7, 2024, no effort will be made to tap the real tax potential of the retail sector, which according to conservative estimates in 2025, will not be less than US$15 billion, even if we impose just a four percent sales tax and one percent income tax on the gross value of retail sales.
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May 19, 2024 | 
thefridaytimes.com | Tariq Aqil |Saeed Shafqat |Raza Rumi |Tahir Imran Mian
World history is littered with innumerable memories of brutal dictators who inflicted untold miseries and cruelties on the very people they were supposed to represent. They built monuments to self-glory and left behind a repressive past with painful memories for their people. Various societies deal differently with the past but all agree that people and the country matter more than any ruler.
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May 19, 2024 | 
thefridaytimes.com | Niaz Murtaza |Saeed Shafqat |Ikramul Haq |Shahid Rahim
Pakistan is governed badly and doing badly. It is the only large, nuclear-powered state which has, in recent times, faced almost all manner of security and economic factors which have spelt doom for many smaller states, including economic collapse, massive terrorism, ethnic insurgency, nuclear disaster and environmental disasters. Politics is a society's avenue to tackle its problems. All our other problems exist because our political system has not functioned democratically.
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May 17, 2024 | 
thefridaytimes.com | Sabih Ul Hussnain |Umer Farooq |Saeed Shafqat |Raza Rumi
It has been a little over three months since the February 2024 general elections, but the contentious Parliament — whose fate continues to hang in the balance — appears to have turned on its side and all but given up hope. Lawmakers from the ruling coalition have been disinterested in the proceedings of the lower House of Parliament, and the House has been struggling to maintain the required quorum.
