Asma Jahangir — ‘an hour earlier’ on February 16, 2018I did not know Asma Jahangir personally. I had heard her speak on numerous occasions since the late 1990s. However, I did not know her. I do not need to know her personally to mourn her untimely death. While watching her funeral on the TV, tears were rolling down my eyes as if I have […]
Global gender gap report and Pakistan on January 3, 2018The Global Gender Gap report 2017 is out and Pakistan continues to rank second worst country with the rank of 143 out of 144 countries, with a score of 0.546 on a scale where zero denotes gender imparity and one represents parity. However, before we go into the specifics of findings, there is need to […]
The West’s romance with Saudi Arabia on November 13, 2017Fatima Bhutto was spot on when she said that, “When everyone is done writing about Saudi ‘reforms’ maybe they can go back to addressing the Kingdom’s more pressing agenda: war, famine etc.” To any Pakistan watcher, Pakistan’s dependence on Saudi Arabia and ever growing influence of the Kingdom on the state and society is obvious. […]
Global gender gap report and Pakistan on November 7, 2017The Global Gender Gap report 2017 is out and Pakistan continues to rank second worst country with the rank of 143 out of 144 countries, with a score of 0.546 on a scale where zero denotes gender imparity and one represents parity. However, before we go into the specifics of findings, there is need to […]
It’s the economy, stupid on October 18, 2017A debate on the economy has started and it has led to another secondary debate on the perceptions regarding the appropriateness of forums and public officials who have recently highlighted issues regarding the economy. The debate on economy has shifted the focus from the proceedings of judicial cases of the PML-N leadership, yet it gave […]
Political stability is a prerequisite on September 27, 2017It is high time that civilian and political forces agree on maintenance of political stability as our prime national interest. Any set of institutions continuing to deprive Pakistan of its political stability are acting against Pakistan’s national interest I recently attended two talks that emphasised catching-up with growth and pro-poor economic growth in Islamabad. Both […]
Promoting gender equality on September 7, 2017Provisional results of the newly conducted census reveal that there are 106.45 million men, 101.31 million women and 10,418 transgenders in Pakistan. It is obvious that there are 5 million less women than men and points to the phenomena of “missing women” as theorized by Amartya Sen in political economy literature. There might be errors […]
Selective accountability on August 18, 2017One crucial aspect missing in the present accountability debate is whether the selective accountability of Sharifs promotes fairness in the society or being used as a strategic tool to advance entrenched interests through other means, while borrowing from Clausewitz. It also points to solidification of hold of non-political forces and change of balance of power. […]
Continuity and change: unequal power relations on June 10, 2017Relatively new political leadership has organised two significant long marches and dharnas (sit-ins) in Pakistan’s recent history in 2013 and 2014. Some political commentators argue that these street agitations were organised with the backing of influential forces in Pakistan. Dharna in 2014 went into a long deadlock. Old political parties ie PML-N and PPP, which […]
Saviours or killers? on September 12, 2013The story has resurfaced again. This time thanks to Edward Snowden’s revelations. The Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA) of the US gathered from their intelligence sources that sections of the Pakistan army were plotting to kill the leading human rights activist Asma Jahangir back in the summer of 2012. The story also asserts that they were […]