Editorial

When the times get tough, one ought to knuckle down; tighten their belts and pinch pennies. Well, this commonly-known formula to get through economic straits does not seem to apply in Pakistan where the induction of five new Special Assistants to the Prime Minister in the largest-ever cabinet in the history of the country has […]

Last month, 18 people, of which 16 were children, died from inhaling toxic fumes in Keemari when illegal plastic-recycling factories operating in the area began emitting poisonous gases into the air. This is not the first time an incident of this nature has killed people in Keemari-in 2020, 15 people died and another 300 became […]

In the early hours of February 6th, a 7.8 magnitude earthquake blazed across southern Turkey and northern Syria, flattening thousands of buildings and leaving their inhabitants trapped in the rubble. More than 5000 people have lost their lives already and another 20,000 have been injured. It is projected that the numbers may rise even further […]

Thousands of women in Assam have taken to the streets to protest the state’s crackdown on child marriages, claiming that the law disproportionately targets Muslims, who are typically exempt from the state policy on child marriage under the Muslim Personal Law. Led by Chief Minister Biswas Sarma, a member of the BJP who has been […]

The ruling PML(N) is in no mood to go easy on the political nemeses. In continuation with the iron-fisted approach, Chief Organiser Maryam Nawaz reacted to PTI’s “Jail Bharo (Court Arrest)” movement with a heated salvo. Elsewhere, Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah did not shy away from giving a peek at his ferocious determination. There is […]

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s directive to immediately restore Wikipedia is a heartening development but the very fact that such stifling measures are very well in play under his watch poses several discomforting questions. That Pakistan has not realised in the twenty-third year of the Digital Age the futile nature of internet censorship can only be […]

Former President General Pervez Musharraf died on Sunday at 79 after a prolonged and slow illness. A bloodless coup against Nawaz Sharif’s government in 1999 facilitated his ascent to power after which he declared a state of emergency and suspended the constitution altogether. His divisive regime was marked with human rights abuses, censorship and a […]

In the latest series of attacks against women, an unsuspecting woman was raped by two armed men in Islamabad’s F-9 park while taking a casual stroll with a colleague. Held at gunpoint, physically assaulted and shoved into a thicket where she was ultimately raped even after she offered to give them money in exchange for […]

Pakistan’s cotton production is forecast to slump to less than five million bales this year, the lowest in 23 years. Experts have raised concerns that the country, one of the world’s five major cotton exporters, may even need to import its cotton to meet domestic demand. More than two-thirds of Pakistan’s population depend on agriculture […]

A sessions court in Karachi recently ruled that out-of-court settlements are no longer permissible in rape cases, a historic move that marks the end of backdoor deals and compromises made under duress that exonerate perpetrators of all responsibility. In 2022 alone, of the 1,301 cases of sexual violence tried in courts, a marginal 0.2% ended […]