How educated youth are attracted to militancy on September 23, 2017For the last many years, it’s the same basic question: why militant Islamic organistions are finding it easy to influence even educated civilian and military people? Every time we discussed this issue, the government pledges that it is going to develop an anti-extremism narrative and check the sources from where they get the inspiration to […]
BB assassination case a tragic drama on September 10, 2017After 10 years, the Benazir Bhutto assassination case was decided by the Anti-Terrorist Court (ATC). But it seems that the 10 year long proceedings were just the act 1 of this tragic drama. The act two has already started as the two senior police officers who were convicted for the dereliction of duty have filed […]
Bring Afghan Taliban on the negotiation table on August 28, 2017President Trump brashly shifted the blame for American failures in Afghanistan on Pakistan. Even if he is right to some extent, the United States should not forget that it itself helped to train, arm, equip and fund those militants to fight a Jihad in Afghanistan — when it suited them in the ‘80s. So if […]
Power struggle at Constitution Avenue on August 3, 2017The judgment of the Supreme Court was both expected and unexpected. The unexpected feature of the judgment was indeed the disqualification of the Prime Minister under Article 62(f) on a small intentional or inadvertent mistake of not declaring the receivable salary (10,000 Dirham) at the time of filing the nomination form with the Election Commission. […]
Good omen for local governments on July 17, 2017The good news for the local governments in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) is that the Peshawar High Court (PHC) has directed the provincial government to constitute petroleum social development committees in each oil and gas producing district. These committees should decide about the oil and gas royalties and production bonuses payable by the exploration companies. The […]
The good, the bad, and the ugly of the Panama Leaks on June 21, 2017The good, the bad and ugly of the Panama Leak soap has been consuming the nation for the last several months. Every evening tele-pundits hold heated debates on this subject telling us that democracy is in danger. Rarely do we see good things happening in this country and the masses are mostly missed by those […]
Enlightened Muslims, please stand up on April 2, 2017In the debate to ban or not to ban Facebook due to the blasphemous postings on it, the most cogent quip came from contemporary columnist Hassan Nisar, he said banning Facebook is like hanging the murder weapon instead of the killer. Time and again the self-appointed custodians of religious sanctity raise hue and cry and […]
Pakistans blind love for China on March 24, 2017At the very outset, I would like to give credit to the Pakistan’s military strategists, who I have criticised more often in my writings. Back in 2012 while doing my background interviews for my book I was told by a serving general that Pakistan would have to make a choice between the US and the […]
Government needs military courts on March 14, 2017The crucial question that is missing in the whole debate regarding the military courts is: what’s wrong with the Pakistan’s judicial system that it needs extraordinary measures to decide the cases about terrorism? The main focus of the debate among the political parties and the media is what should be the new lease of life […]
Soul searching on December 16th on December 20, 2016In reality, Bangladesh achieved its independence on 16th December, when arms were laid by Pakistan Army before the Indian Army. Pakistan did not want to surrender to the Bangladeshi freedom fighters. But obviously, Bangladesh celebrates her Independence Day on 26th March when Awami League declared independence in 1971 after the negotiations failed and an army […]