Editorial

It’s a bit rich of the federal cabinet to reject the Auditor General of Pakistan’s (AGP’s) report on Covid funding without ordering a thorough probe into the lapses uncovered in it and waiting for the result, especially since it was the finance ministry that released it. If the AGP’s findings are to be trusted, which […]

That the Elections Bill 2021 sailed through the parliament did little to end the conversation. The opposition is still sitting on a warpath. With PPP Chairman steadfast in his manipulation banter and PML(N) Secretary-General Ahsan Iqbal unveiling plans to drag the much-talked-about amendment to the court, there remains no doubt about the polarisation taking a […]

History is being made in Gwadar as its women have dared step outside the allegedly most regressive dogmas to participate in the first-ever largest political rally. That thousands of local women had joined the ranks of their brethren from all over the region to demand the provision of basic rights is a sad reflection on […]

Nobody would have disagreed with President Arif Alvi, at the recent summit of heads of state of ECO (Economic Cooperation Organisation), that inter-regional trade is at an unacceptably low level and everything possible must be done to raise it. Currently, commerce between ECO member states is only eight percent of their overall trade, which is […]

Slowly but surely the government is doing everything that needs to be done to revive the IMF bailout program. The next most logical step is announcing the mini-budget promised to the Fund to incorporate its directives in the present fiscal’s budget. And even though the way the axe is being delivered to subsidies and tax […]

Federal Planning Minister Asad Umar has sounded a very timely alarm about the Omicron variant of the coronavirus making its way to Pakistan in a matter of weeks. Therefore there’s still time to prepare for the inevitable invasion of this new variant that has already sent financial markets into a tailspin all over the world […]

Fists and batons flying in all directions. Section 144 put down as a shut-up call to those who may dare step out in protest. Calls to double the labour force to raze down the 15-storey grand structure. The closing act of Nasla Tower sounds straight out of a mission field. The honourable Supreme Court has […]

Isn’t it downright tragic that our official language’s perfectly-valid term for school (madressah) has long been shunned as an avenue that invites anxiety and undue concern? We had started off with around 150 madressahs at Pakistan’s independence in 1947. Call it a perk of General Zia’s pet project, they now stand at over 32,000. Unofficial […]

The Pakistani foreign office’s strong condemnation and rejection of RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat’s uncalled for remarks about partition as “delusional thinking and historical revisionism” are appropriate and timely. It’s no surprise that the right-wing fascist outfit, from which the ruling BJP draws inspiration as well as its top leadership, has been given centre-stage on Indian […]

The UK’s denial to turn around its cancellation of visit visa must have taken property tycoon Malik Riaz by surprise. After all, he is used to having his way no matter what table he is sitting at. The uncrowned real estate king’s criminal shenanigans are known far and wide. But the fact that a judge […]