Author Archive
Poem: The Flour Deaths
Do we need?
The Prime Minister House
The President’s palace
The great old parliament
The Muppets of our bureaucracy
The old feudal lords,
And the thousands acres
The old hands of dictators
And the warmth of lies
From the leaders of our present
Quaid-e-Azam, M.A.Jinnah: A Man for All Seasons
Guest Blog by Asim Khan
To achieve your own dreams it takes a lifetime but to achieve the dream of millions, it’s a feat only a few can perform in the history of mankind. And Jinnah was one of them. And to achieve that one has to rise above the fear and display courage. The ability [...]
Response to Thomas Friedman’s article “Calling All Pakistanis”
Guest Blog by Asim Khan
Dear New York Times Editors
Response to Mr Friedman’s article “Calling All Pakistanis“..He wanted ordinary citizens of Pakistan to protest. Well here is the protest in words, from an ordinary Pakistani which is more effective rather than being on the streets. Mr Friedman must realise that his statements cannot be tolerated as [...]
Poem: Balochistan
Guest blog by Asim
THEY NEED OUR HELP, SUPPORT AND ALL WHAT WE CAN DO, AS THEY ARE US, AND WE ARE THEM in this hour of their need.
I am beyond those limitations
Of suffering and indifference
Years of neglect, and its toll
The divine gifts and its effect
All in presence, all to witness
The land is barren and [...]
Suicide Note
Guest Post by Asim Khan
Part 1: The Introduction
I am an outsider
A view from inside
I will kill
Myself
And my own
Two angels
All that existed
For me and them
To return
To perfection;
As the sun rises tomorrow!
Part 2: THE GOLDEN BRIDGE
As life walks past,
Upon this golden bridge,
Symbols of our past
In distance, of unity and strength
From promise of slogans
Of “roti, kapra and makan”
To [...]
Swat
Wrapped up in million stars this old sky,
As they stare from little windows of existence
From the wooden bridge, in the mountains
As the mist rises in its colors of remembrance,
There lies the valley, where beauty is suicidal
There lies home, where protection is nature
All in there, fleeting glance or permanence
The old days of reflection, spent in between
As [...]
Honor Killings in Babakot
In Babakot,
And in all those places
We don’t hear, we don’t see
The old tradition lives,
Underneath our skin
Inside our heads
Tarnished and convoluted
In the name of honor
Hangs the fate of women
In ditches, proof of our humanity
Shot, thrown and burnt
In the name of honor
In the name of humanity
Inside there, still unnoticed
Remains of our acts and virtues
We say we are [...]
In Memory of Ahmed Faraz
I remember his verses
In his trails, words of revolution
In his thoughts, words of gold
Now carry we will, in our way
In continuation, to find
What became a dream?
For the poet, for our friend
A blessed soul, of our own
Not borrowed, not stolen
One of our own, the Faraz
We will miss him and words
That breathed revolution
Death can only bring whispers
But [...]
Long Live Pakistan
As they sway in with their voices
Of change, with promises of difference
Nowhere to be seen, the architects
Just simple glances, just the routine
Celebrate we will, our poverty and hunger
As we roll these flags, across our chests
Long live Pakistan, long live our nation
Only hope, only hope and just the prayers
Where voices are heard, in its echoes
Where promises [...]
It Is All What I Have
It is all what I have,
My soul and my existence
Imprinted and embedded
In these lines, drawn and felt
In this star and crescent
Long are those trails and hidden
Stories of my ancestors
Some in me and some in graves
In its lap, intoxicated in its slumber
My old remains, my ancestors
Years it takes to build this oasis
Which we all call home [...]
