By Syed R. Ali

It has been a year now since the devastating 2010 floods ravaged Pakistan. The slow moving Tsunami devoured the landscape as though it were a biblical plague straight out of Cecil B. DeMille’s film “The Ten Commandments”. Unfortunately this was no film and the tragedy that unfolded was all too real.

By Kerry Brown

A month that began in China with official celebrations of the communist party’s ninetieth anniversary ends with furious public criticism over its reaction to a fatal train disaster. The contrast symbolises the epic political task the party is facing, says Kerry Brown.

By Anwar Akhtar

The atrocities in Norway last weekend, that left 76 people dead, should be a landmark event that changes the way we approach far right extremist groups and ideologies. To date, the focus by global security services has been almost exclusively on the threat from al-Qaida -inspired terrorism. Right wing extremism has been dismissed as irrelevant and viewed as a relatively harmless movement.

By Irfan Husain

For the last few years, ever since I began spending more time in the UK, I have been using taxis during my frequent and extended visits to Karachi. Most of my conversations with the drivers are about the problems they face. Invariably, they are centred round the many shortages the working class has to put up with.

By Henna Butt

As someone on the mailing list for Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) (the political party run by ex-cricketer turned politician Imran Khan) I regularly get emails encouraging me grab one of the last few tickets for a dinner event with the party’s chairman at a swanky hotel. Pakistani political parties put a huge amount of time and effort into their operations in the UK and elsewhere around the world. This has led me to question what exactly these organisations hope to gain from their activities outside of the home state. As migration increases, transnational political engagement becomes more widespread amongst diaspora communities – what are the consequences for state democracy?

By Shamik Das

Right-wing commentators and extremists, the first to point the finger of blame at ‘them bleeeedin’ Muslims’ for Friday’s terror attacks in Norway, far from admit their prejudicial jumping to conclusions and offering a simple “sorry”, have sought to justify their actions – or just blamed Muslims anyway.