Malik Siraj Akbar

Bye bye TFT

I quit The Friday Times. Najam Sethi, the editor-in-chief, accepted my resignation. I resigned as I could no longer tolerate the rude attitude of the Assistant News Editor in that magazine.

A lovely day

It is a lovely day. Lovely in the sense today is ‘off’ for me[a journalist]. Since the Independence Day on August 14, it is the first leave for me from office. No journalism today. Apart from that, Quetta has had much rain during the past couple of hours. It snowed a little last night. It … Read more

Balochistan, Sindh lock horns on water

By Malik Siraj Akbar Besides its economic woes, the low-level insurgency and a Rs16 billon overdraft, the Balochistan government now finds itself bogged down in a serious row with the Sindh government on several financial matters. Sindh is currently using additional water from the Hub Dam to tide over the water crisis in certain parts … Read more

Hard Times

On the personal front, I am too upset these days, frustrated as well. Never had I reckoned that I would have to sit before the keyboard to write such painful feelings. But this is what life is all about. Shireen Apa, CEO of School of Leadership (SoL) once rightly remarked that it is ALWAYS our … Read more

On the personal front, I am too upset these days, frustrated as well. Never had I reckoned that I would have to sit before the keyboard to write such painful feelings. But this is what life is all about. Shireen Apa, CEO of School of Leadership (SoL) once rightly remarked that it is ALWAYS our … Read more

Students don’t count

By Malik Siraj AKbar Enter the crowded canteen near the Department of Mass Communication at the University of Balochistan and one is met by a huge poster showing a young man’s picture and a couplet that reads: “How naive you are; you expect justice from me amid your injustices against me?” The picture on the … Read more

Ailing hospitals

Balochistan is the only province in Pakistan which does not have a health minister. Even though a health department does exist, it is being covertly run by Taliban commander cum disqualified health-minister, Qari Hamdullah of the Mutahidda Majlis-e-Amal (MMA). No one has been appointed to the health department since Hamdullah’s disqualification who continues to run … Read more

Balochistan’s Alsace-Lorraine

By Malik Siraj Akbar In a government-sponsored ceremony held in Quetta on December 6, the Luni and Marri tribes joined together under a peace agreement intended to ensure mining in the largest coalfield of Asia, Chamalong, in Balochistan’s Loralai district. Up until this point, mining has been unsuccessful because of a war between the Baloch … Read more

Dear Sid

Dear Sid, I laugh. I cry. When I turn back. Seems I am attempting to write some poetry. No. I am not. You make me cry. Cry very much. As you used to Make me laugh. Laugh very much What happened Sid? Is that all past? Is that all gone? Is that all like a … Read more

Musharraf thunders again

By Malik Siraj Akbar “I am not a person to be subdued by cowardly attacks. If they fire one rocket, they will receive 10 hits” [General Pervez Musharraf in Turbat on November 16, 2006] While media reports say President Pervez Musharraf visited the Gwadar and Turbat districts on November 16 to inaugurate the mega Mirani … Read more