Quadrilateral peace talks on Afghanistan on February 12, 2016The matter of peace talks between the Afghan government and representatives of the Afghan Taliban is so essential that efforts have to be made to revive these talks no matter how many times they are derailed. The formation of the quadrilateral group consisting of the US, Pakistan, Afghanistan and China is the latest effort in […]
Public intellectuals and their declining presence on September 24, 2015The term public intellectual describes an intellectual who participates in the discourse of public affairs in society, in addition to his or her academic and professional occupation. Regardless of their field of expertise, public intellectuals address and respond to the problems of society and, as such, are expected to be fair and impartial when engaging […]
The verdict and its lessons on August 2, 2015Contrary to the expectations of some legal analysts and the past history of our judiciary of giving ambiguous verdicts, the current judgment given by the Judicial Commission (JC) was unambiguous and clear cut. The verdict was given after 39 hearings, and examination of 69 witnesses, nine of whom belonged to the PTI. The verdict rejected […]
The Murree peace parlays on July 15, 2015It is with a great sense of optimism that one reads about the peace talks held between the Afghan Taliban and representatives of the Afghan regime. Pakistan has finally come through on the promise made by General Raheel Sharif and Prime Minister (PM) Nawaz Sharif to the previous Afghan president, Hamid Karzai: that the Afghan […]
Depression, a potentially fatal disease on August 24, 2014The recent death by suicide of Hollywood actor and comedian Robin Williams, who was said to be suffering from major depression, has once again highlighted the nature of the insidious disease and the need for proper psychiatric treatment of the ailment. Robin Williams was not the first celebrity victim of major depression to have committed […]
Politics of the left: a diminishing alternative on July 23, 2014Today, when we take a cursory glance at Pakistan’s political firmament, we only see political forces of the right, extreme right and militant right holding sway in Pakistan. There seems to be no alternative of a genuine political party of the left of any significance available to our voters. The PPP was no doubt formed […]
Religious extremism: our biggest challenge on July 16, 2014Today, religious extremism, in its various forms and manifestations, is the biggest threat faced by Pakistan. These forms of religious extremism range from the right-wing views of a great majority of our citizens to the outright militant movement of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) who declare their avowed goal to be the overthrow of, what is […]
North Waziristan from omission to commission on July 8, 2014I do not know what prompted Major General (retd) Athar Abbas, the former Director General (DG) of the Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR), to reveal to foreign media at this stage that the military was prepared to launch a North Waziristan operation by 2011 and that it was General Kayani’s dithering that delayed the operation, […]