Longing for shade, our cities collapse on June 28, 2018The Punjab government has recently lowered the categories of nearly one hundred reserved forests in the province, designating them category-B forests from category-A. These forests are now fair game for logging and mining. This development has taken place in a province where tree cover has declined from 7.5 percent to 3.3 percent over the last […]
Smog under smog on November 15, 2017It is a ritual for the media to carry reports of intense fog and smog that invades the plains of the country and its impact on the people every winter. It costs dozens of lives and makes thousands of people seriously ill besides incurring huge economic losses owing to suspension of work. With each passing […]
Short-cut governance on October 31, 2017Massive irregularities and malfeasance have recently been reported in the 56 government-owned companies of Punjab launched by the Shahbaz Sharif administration during the last nine years. As the accounts and deals of these companies have been kept in secrecy, and violate the statutory requirement of the public audit, the National Accountability Bureau needs to investigate […]
The LNG rip-off Pak-Qatar deal on October 6, 2017Pakistan’s LNG deal with Qatar seems to be exorbitantly expensive as compared to the commodity’s current international market rate, which has drawn much criticism at home but our investigative and accountability organisations have not conducted any probe into this controversial agreement. Under the agreement, Pakistan will buy 2.75 million metric ton per year (MTPA) of […]
Limits of jihad on September 21, 2017 Jihad has a much wider meaning in Islam than merely waging war and creating bloodshed. It can mean either the struggle of a man against evil, in one’s own self or waging a war to establish a just society. Nowhere in the Quran or the sayings of the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), does Jihad mean […]
Constituency politics and electoral shortcomings on September 14, 2017 Several inadequacies of our democratic system can be traced to the constituency-based electoral system, that has been blindly borrowed from the British parliamentary system. Our own sociological and economic realities have been ignored under the current system. Without getting rid of these constituencies, at least for the National Assembly, there is little hope that […]
Saving Punjabs lakes on July 7, 2015There is little recognition of the fact that there are nine major lakes, natural and artificial, in six different districts of Punjab that are precious, scenic jewels of the country. However, they are suffering from severe pollution because of human activities in their catchment areas. These water assets provide drinking water to nearby communities and […]
Stakeholders against affordable housing on January 23, 2015Our newly rich property magnates keep making quite a splash by building grand mosques and flaunting their charity works. These shows of riches and piety mock the misery of millions of Pakistanis on whose hard earned incomes these tycoons have thrived. The private real estate business has prospered in a country that has a shortage […]
Tardy justice on January 9, 2015Had our normal judicial system been efficient, we might not have seen the institution of military courts in the country, courts that violate Article 175 of the Constitution, which stipulates separation of the executive and judiciary. A war-like situation created by terrorists somewhat justifies the establishment of military courts and that too for a short […]
The disposable lot on December 28, 2014For labour in this country the year 2014 has been no different from the preceding hopeless years. As usual, there is distressing lack of political will in implementing the existing labour laws and removing deficiencies in them. The working class is beset with issues of low wages, lack of social protection and job uncertainty. While […]