Dr Qaisar Rashid

Democracy fosters a relationship between citizens and parliament. Within the framework of democracy, a spotlight is directed at the expectations of citizens from their parliament and ways to bolster the links between citizens and parliament. There are two main expectations of the citizens of Pakistan from their parliament. First, parliament should promote amongst parliamentarians the […]

Pakistan owes Egypt a few trends. Both General Ziaul Haq and General Pervez Musharraf were inspired by an Air Chief-turned-President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt and consequently, they introduced a controlled parliament in Pakistan. In the same vein, Pakistan should also own the fate of Hosni Mubarak, who ruled Egypt for 30 odd years, but was […]

The post-2008 quandary is that the only province of Pakistan over which the military holds sway is Balochistan. The next part of the predicament is that the military is loathe to compromise its influence upon Balochistan. A debate must be initiated in the media on the reasons for this. On May 23, 2012 while hearing […]

One wonders if the Frontier Constabulary (FC) deployed in Balochistan is above the law of the state. At least the demeanour of the FC speaks of its haughtiness. It is shocking to note that the Inspector General (IG) of the FC Obaidullah Khattak did not comply with the orders of the Supreme Court (SC) to […]

The other day, while addressing the ceremony of Youm-e-Shuhada at the General Headquarters, the Chief of Army Staff, General Ashfaq Pervaiz Kayani commented aptly that Pakistan’s national security would be strengthened further when a democratic system engendered, among other things, a balanced society, which offered equal opportunities of justice for all citizens. The presence of […]

Once known as the ‘city of lights’, Karachi is in a perpetual state of turmoil since the 1980s. Karachi’s problem in making multi-ethnic harmony possible invites the attention of socio-political scientists to come up with a plausible solution to revive the era of lights. Karachi is experiencing a disorder of the worst sort owing to […]

Two positive events visited Balochistan last week. The first was the rally of the Pakistan Tehreek-e- Insaaf (PTI) in Quetta on Friday and the second was the application moved on Saturday in the Supreme Court by the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) for becoming a party to the Balochistan target killing case. In the recent […]

During the hearing of the Balochistan case, the three-member bench headed by Chief Justice (CJ) of Pakistan Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry took up a suo motu case regarding the absence of local bodies in the country. The CJ also commented that the system of local bodies should be revived not only in Balochistan but also in […]

Much has been written on the challenges to the newly appointed DG ISI Lieutenant General Zaheerul Islam but little has been written on the challenges to the perception and the consequent role of the ISI. This write-up tries to address the latter.   The first challenge to the ISI is to comprehend the grounds on […]

The age Pakistan is passing through has outpaced the type of policing practised in Pakistan. Zeroing in on Punjab, one finds that the police have been facing a number of challenges. One of the major challenges to the performance of the Lahore police is favouritism extended by politicians to political workers or sycophants who in […]