Tag: India
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PREDICTIONS FAIL AS AFGHANS COME INTO THEIR OWN
STRAIGHT TALK by Hafeez Khan September 6th was celebrated as the “Day of the Martyrs”, offering the ultimate sacrifice for the Motherland is a blessing. These tales of valor inspire those who stand on guard to protect the nation. The occasion was celebrated with dignity and honor in Rawalpindi and around the country. “Shahadat” and…
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COVID will lead to a New World Order
STRAIGHT TALK by Hafeez Khan The wide-bodied Boeing 787 nicknamed “Dreamliner” entered Toronto airspace and circled down to land. There was no line up in the air corridor to delay the landing. Like most international airports, Toronto’s Pearson International is quite expansive. The walk from the gate in terminal 3 to the immigration counters is…
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Negative Drift Towards Alienating Minorities
STRAIGHT TALK by Hafeez Khan I grew up in the days of cowboy movies and comics. Invariably the non-conformist hero would stand up for the underdog. My formative years were spent alternating between the worlds of Clint Eastwood, Kirk Douglas and the Irish Priests of Burn Hall, Abbottabad and the rustic world of “Jagga” and…
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WILL US ELECTIONS IMPACT PAKISTANIS?
STRAIGHT TALK by Hafeez Khan Lebron James is a legend in Basketball. He has dominated this extremely popular sport in North America for 16 years. He has accumulated a fortune and is an icon for the younger generation. What sets him apart is that he is a star with a conscience. Black people make up…
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FIFTY YEARS OF SPILT AFGHAN BLOOD Part 1
STRAIGHT TALK by Hafeez Khan It was early 70’s and my friend, late Ajmal Malik, had landed a job with the information department in Peshawar. A brilliant mind, he was a successful journalist and a carefree loving soul. We communicated via booking trunk calls thanks to Ajmal’s access to official phones. We chatted regularly reminiscing…
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THE EMERGING NEW MUSLIM ORDER
STRAIGHT TALK by Hafeez Khan I moved to Saudi Arabia in 1979. The fruits of oil wealth were beginning to show. Development was happening at a frantic pace all over the country. Based in the capital, Riyadh, the skyline was full of construction cranes. Those were the heady days of a new frontier attracting intense…
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PM IK KEEP AN EYE ON HISTORY
STRAIGHT TALK by Hafeez Khan My friend Hassan Nisar narrated a very interesting anecdote. During British Raj it was a tradition amongst the notables to congregate in the Governor’s House Lahore on the first day of the year. It included the Tumandars, Nawabs, Sardars, Nawabzadas, Maliks and prominent landlords. They would assemble in the sprawling…
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NEW WORLD ORDER
STRAIGHT TALK by Hafeez Khan The main arterial road in Tehran is named after the renowned Persian poet Firdowsi. The author of “Shanameh”, one of the longest epic poem created by a single author. Known as “Book of Kings”, written a thousand years ago, it comprises nearly 50,000 couplets. It captures the history of Persian…
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HEAT IN THE HIMALAYAS
STRAIGHT TALK by Hafeez Khan Temperatures are rising in one of the coldest parts of the world. Dispute between India and China took an ugly turn last Monday in Gulwan Valley on the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Ladakh’s border. No bullets were fired. Indian and Chinese troops confronted each other with sticks, rocks…
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IS CHINA FLEXING ITS MUSCLES?
STRAIGHT TALK by Hafeez Khan “Wake a tiger with a long stick” is a quote from Chinese leader Mao Zedong, father of the Chinese Revolution. Caution is woven into Chinese culture. China was transformed in four years (1948-1952) from a decadent society to an orderly nation. There was a lot of pain in the formative…