By Zubeida Mustafa
Source: Dawn
THE much-touted Prime Minister`s Housing Scheme (PMHS) is heading for doom. The housing minister disclosed recently that the government had signed 36 MoUs with a number of foreign construction companies but none had so far begun work on the project aiming for one million `low-cost` housing units completed at a cost of Rs40bn.
Continue reading A city with two souls
By Zubeida Mustafa
Source: Dawn
A YEAR ago, on Feb 19, 2009 Christian Zainab Abbas “slipped into the past”, to borrow her own phrase from a poem she wrote five months before her death. Ever since I had wanted to write about Chris, as I had always called her since she walked into my office at
Dawn with an article she had written for the paper several years ago.
Continue reading Remembering Chris Abbas
By Zubeida Mustafa
Source: Dawn
WHAT keeps Pakistan afloat? Despite its seemingly precarious political existence and the gloom and doom spread by the highly politicised media, as well as the horrendous bomb blasts, the country manages to survive? For the answer switch off your television and step out to see for yourself how people cope in a country that does not provide its citizens even their basic needs. The immense reserves of resilience the people have is striking.
Continue reading How Pakistan survives?
By Zubeida Mustafa
Source: Dawn
THERE was a time when the physician was like god to his patient. His word was gospel truth not to be flouted. No longer so. It is partly the trust deficit between them that has eroded their relationship. At the root is the commercialisation of the medical profession. Once monetary considerations determine a doctor’s decisions, the results can be disastrous. Instances of deaths due to medical negligence are legion.
Continue reading Doctors with a conscience
By Zubeida Mustafa
Source: Dawn
ON Jan 9, Karachiites will take a trip down memory lane to honour the legacy of those who launched the student movement of the 1950s. A meeting at the Karachi Arts Council will “reclaim this forgotten part of our past” to quote the organisers.
Continue reading Students who set the tone