Editorial

It’s no coincidence that Russian President Vladimir Putin chose St Petersburg, the former imperial city founded by Tsar Peter the Great, to sign Russia’s new naval doctrine. It was also not without good reason that he praised Peter for making Russia a great maritime power and increasing its standing in the world. Moscow, just like […]

The glittery crown is far too precious to pay as a price for stability in the country even if one’s followers have positioned him at a high pedestal. At a time when the entire country would have joined hands and rooted for its fast-plunging economy, a call issued by the former ruling party to do […]

While the state appears satisfied with just sounding the alarm bells from a safe distance (punctuated by a few camera appearances), the ongoing brutal monsoon season is in no mood to tune down the ferociousness. As many as 50 villages have been engulfed, the casualties are fast galloping towards the 500-mark and the infrastructure is […]

By sending yet another delegation to Kabul in a desperate attempt to bring the notorious Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan back to the deliberations table, Islamabad has announced its priorities to the world (probably standing at the top of some green hill). After the official designation failed to gain any assurances, the religious scholars were sought to break […]

Time is of great essence, especially when the rupee continues to be battered by the skyrocketing dollar rate and the national treasury has a measly $9 billion to make up for just over a month of import bills. Such extraordinary circumstances were probably what forced Pakistan’s army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa to reach out […]

Financial Times’ exposé of allegedly dubious PTI funding is just one more matter that can be put to rest rather easily and quickly, yet for whatever reason, these things tend to drag on endlessly in these parts. There’s really no need for all the finger-pointing and allegations, especially in an environment as politically toxic as […]

First Moody’s, then Fitch, and now the other most credible global ratings agency, S&P, has also downgraded Pakistan’s long-term rating from stable to negative; citing the same issues like the country’s weak external position, high commodity prices, and the forever falling rupee. Interestingly, though, the agency did mention that the rating could quickly slip back […]

Hope that a direct phone call between the American and Chinese presidents would break the ice between Washington and Beijing didn’t take long to be dashed. Instead, it confirmed that friction between two countries, also the world’s two biggest economies, is only going to increase. President Xi Jinping of China told his American counterpart very […]

Judicial independence has, for the millionth time, become a heated buzzword as the federal government sharpens its knife and the suo moto jurisdiction has landed on the butcher’s block. There can be no two qualms about the necessity for the independence of the judiciary along with that of the legislature and executive because the three […]

Hardly a day goes by without extremely troubling news about the economy on the front pages. For quite a while, it’s been the unrelenting fall of the rupee, which breaks records for its poor performance literally every day. Now, the current account deficit has also made another appearance by expanding six-fold year-on-year, from $2.82b in […]