Andleeb Abbas

Media is a business and media is in the business of news, but when media gets in the business of breaking news at breakneck speed, the danger of breaking rules and going overboard is all too apparent. What has happened in the last few weeks is a sobering comment on the interpretation of freedom of […]

After the famous British strategy of divide and rule, we see an interesting strategy by the Pakistani government of exclude and overrule. Exclusion is the best way to disengage, dissipate and disintegrate people, societies and nations. In a world where the mantra is democracy, which is a model based on the principle of inclusion of […]

In this recessionary environment, one industry that is flourishing is the private school industry. There is logic behind this boom: the terrible state of public school education in the country. With such a dearth of quality education it is but natural that market forces create opportunities for private entrepreneurs to fill this gap. However, this […]

London it was and London it is. The Charter of Democracy (CoD) was signed in this famous city of Europe and the budding romance between the aggrieved and the deceived is about to take place in the same city. Asif Zardari finds the cool and sunny summers of London irresistible; Shahbaz Sharif encouraged by the […]

Nobody listens and nobody obeys. If you want to create an ideal recipe for a dysfunctional individual, institution, country or society just do the above. The country as it stands today, at best, can described as torn apart by conflict, uncertainty and chaos and, though these issues are highlighted 24/7, on every forum and table, […]

Democracy is the best revenge. I am sure, when the late Benazir Bhutto made this statement, she had not meant it literally. Her connotation must have been that for all autocrats who want to hoard power and destroy a democratic system where power is shared is the ultimate political demise. However, it looks as if […]

All the President’s men are subject to a strict scrutiny for qualifying for positions of prestige. The criteria for selecting men to rule in the present set up are based on the famous qualifications of character and competence. Anybody who does not fit in with these criteria is automatically screened from ascending the power ladder. […]

When do the mundane, the ordinary and the unimportant take over? It happens when there is a deficit of vision, of comprehension, of understanding about what matters most. The budget exercise in June is an epitome of firstly apathy and then a panic approach adopted by the government to come up with supposedly the most […]

Ministers are the only missiles that neither work nor can be ‘fired’. It is a saying that was coined years ago by some disillusioned analyst but holds true for what is happening in our country. Ministries are on a loot sale. Every possible name and label has been given the name of a ministry. In […]

The budget, which is supposed to be an annual roadmap of the financial direction of a country, has become a mockery of juggled and disrespected economics. The figures released in the Pakistan Economic Survey of the past year’s performance are contested, with various vested interests denying the authenticity of the figures. The future projections are […]