Political and Social Reengineering on September 3, 2022Professor Aijaz Ahmad, a renowned Pakistani-Indian literary theorist, Marxist, and avid commentator on politics passed away recently leaving behind a very rich body of work. In this article today, we are going to use some insights from his famous work on “Islam, Islamisms, and the West” to reflect on how the West reengineered Muslim countries […]
Re-conceptualizing Urbanisation and Developments in Small Towns on July 23, 2022What the great political scientists historically did was to study the laws of motion of capital in their societies and then theorized about them. For any good social science output; it is important to be both empirical and theoretical in good proportion and closely observe the patterns of change and continuity and transformations in your […]
Pakistan’s Trade with China and India on May 28, 2022Trade is a cornerstone of important economic policymaking. In order to expand trade, many countries have chosen Free Trade Agreements (FTAs)/Preferential Trade Agreements (PTAs). An economy dominated by global value chains and underwritten by regionalism has impressed upon the countries to opt for FTAs. In order to discuss free trade agreements, trade between Pakistan and […]
Personal Ordeal on May 21, 2022Today, I want to digress from my usual social science articles for newspapers and want to write about a personal ordeal that concerns law enforcement and access to justice. I recently had some concerns about the safety of my husband and myself from some very powerful national and international forces. I live in Islamabad. So […]
Property Tax in Punjab on May 10, 2022Tax collection in Pakistan is abysmally low. In this context, a really important property tax at the level of local government is under-collected as well. In this article today, we are going to refer to an International Growth Centre’s policy brief on property tax in Punjab authored by Shahrukh Wani and co-authors. Property tax contributes […]
Continuity and Change on April 20, 2022PML-N led new coalition government is in place in the country. Shahbaz Sharif is the new Prime Minister of the country. It is an opportune moment to explore the patterns of continuity and change in the politics of Pakistan. The first lesson is that the Pakistani people and Pakistan’s democracy is resilient. My generation grew […]
Great Game of Deception on March 31, 2022A great game of deception is being conducted with three false planks: the US is against Imran Khan; the establishment is neutral and not siding with Imran Khan; MBS of Saudi Arabia is cold-shouldering the US relations. All false claims and plain lies to cover the intense overt and covert cooperation of the US, Pakistan, […]
Dispossession and Property on July 27, 2021Katchi Abadi residents of I-11 were evicted from their mud houses in 2015 by the Capital Development Authority (CDA) with the help of law enforcement agencies. Some 25,000 residents became homeless and quite expectedly, had put up a strong resistance. Scholars-activists, Aasim Sajjad Akhtar and Ammar Rashid, were also a part of this movement. They […]
Smokescreen statements: Pak-US relations on July 12, 2021All states issue ‘smokescreen statements’ from time to time and truth about foreign policy and strategic relations is often hidden from the public at large over fears of bad public opinion ratings. However, in recent weeks, Prime Minister Imran Khan, Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi, and the establishment leadership in the country have gone into […]
A New Model of Civil Society-Establishment Engagement on April 2, 2021Any student of Pakistan’s history will tell you that resistance offered to the transgressions of the establishment by the civil society, political parties, thinkers and writers was much more direct in Pakistan in its nature during the 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, and also 1980s. However, from 1990s onwards, a new model of covert cooperation of the […]