The release of the country's most high profile prisoner, Asif Ali Zardari, could hardly be described as a triumph of justice. It was purely the politics of expediency that brought freedom to the husband of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto after eight years of incarceration and no convictions. ............detail

After Yasser Arafat finally lost his battle against the Grim Reaper in a Paris hospital last month, there was certainly a lot of grief in the Palestinian territories and among the diaspora, but in most cases the sense of personal loss was compounded by a heightened level of angst.........detail

Two-year-old Zarmina sits in her mother's lap on the veranda in front of the barrack reserved for women prisoners at the Central Jail, Haripur. She begins to cry when she hears the sobs of two children nearby, seven-year-old Iran Khan and his eight-year-old brother Tahir Khan........detail

What makes a good Muslim?

 Is it the purity of the gazelle-eyed woman next door, wrapped head-to-toe in billows of black silk, guarding her beauty with the same fervour she does her life? ........detail

It can happen to just about anyone. Asia's most silent epidemic can prey upon a nine-year-old girl as indiscriminately as on a 60-year-old man. It starts off with a few seemingly insignificant symptoms, but left untreated, can cause blindness, kidney failure - even death. And nobody is immune to it. ......detail

The view from Nabila's apartment is absolutely tranquil. Overlooking the silently rippling sea, it's an oasis. In a nutshell this is her life: peace rooted deep within the noise and chaos of Karachi. She has surrounded herself with obsessions for the sun, water and the orient. ............detail