Month: August 2026
Beyond Willpower: Why Economic Barriers are the Real Nutrition Crisis
“Just eat healthy.” It sounds so simple, doesn’t it? Like the only thing standing between a person and a nutritious meal is a bit of discipline. But walk into any local sabzi mandi with a tight budget in your pocket, and that simple advice starts to feel like a joke. Because for a huge number…
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The Degree Trap: Why Pakistan’s Brightest Are Leaving Before They’ve Even Arrived
In June each year, thousands of students walk on a stage, pick up a degree and take a picture for the world that is meant to signify a new beginning. For many of them, it’s actually the beginning of an exit plan.During 2023, approximately 860,000 high skilled Pakistanis migrated out of the country for employment…
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Madonna–whore Complex, but Make it Lahore: the Symbolic Eradication of the “Middle”
The city with a split personality Lahore has been undergoing a serious identity crisis. Not because the city lacks one, but because we refuse to let it have more than two. A city this sprawling and contradictory gets flattened into two exaggerated images at opposite ends of a spectrum, while everything in between fades into…
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Degrees Without Dignity: The bitter reality of Pakistan’s University Graduates
Whenever I sit through high school career talks or watch elder cousins celebrate their university graduations, I notice standard excitement mixed with a quiet, underlying anxiety. Thousands of young Pakistanis step off campuses holding shiny degree folders, yet within months, many are stuck sending out hundreds of resumes, taking unpaid internships, or wondering why their…
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Who Built a Pakistan Without Ramps?
On paper, Pakistan looks like a country that has taken disability rights seriously. Provincial laws mandated a 2% employment quota for persons with disabilities in public sector jobs. There are accessibility guidelines for public buildings, a national policy framework, and periodic government announcements about inclusion. Step outside the paperwork, though, and the picturechanges fast into…
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Beyond a Signature: The Disregarded Four-Page Document in Pakistan
As a girl in Pakistan, when we are encouraged to think about marriage, our minds turn towards bridal lehenga, mehndi designs, soft-glam makeup, and décor straight out of Pinterest-inspired mood boards. Yet nobody sits us down and says, “Beta, before you worry about your wedding look, you must worry about Nikkahnama (marriage contract).” Yet apart…
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