Better Systems for Better Services on April 2, 2020With a burgeoning population, Pakistan needs massive public sector reforms to manage its planning, governance, public financing systems and the effectiveness of the ways it collects its revenue. A reform agenda championed from the top leadership makes the reform not just impactful but also useful for enhancing service delivery to the citizens. In Punjab, with […]
Better Systems for Better Services on March 30, 2020With a burgeoning population, Pakistan needs massive public sector reforms to manage its planning, governance, public financing systems and the effectiveness of the ways it collects its revenue. A reform agenda championed from the top leadership makes the reform not just impactful but also useful for enhancing service delivery to the citizens. In Punjab, with […]
Of babus, governance and accountability on March 29, 2015While moderating a session on public sector leadership challenges with some senior bureaucrats in Karachi, three words were repeatedly used in the three-hour long discussion: governance, pressure and accountability. It strikes one that the people whom we stereotype as majorly corrupt, useless and parasitical to the system echo exactly what the society says about them. […]
Dark Decembers on December 28, 2014Towards the year’s end one wants to celebrate, rejoice the achievements of the year gone by and prepare excitedly for the coming year. But, for many Pakistanis, this year-end has been mind-numbing. The December cold might numb the body but the cold heartedness of those around us numbs the mind, the heart and the soul. […]
Noble Pakistanis and Nobels on October 15, 2014Two years back, when a young innocent Pakistani girl was shot at in Swat, it was hard to believe that this cowardly act by the shooters would do bigger damage to their extremist cause than it would to the feisty Pakthun girl. For a nation that loves conspiracy theories, half of the media went berserk […]
Voices of sanity on September 6, 2014A police officer on duty is the latest victim of the mob madness that has slowly been eating into the fabric of Pakistani society. Brutally beaten up, he is in hospital. In another incident earlier in the month, a security person was caught in a crowd. If it were not for the large-heartedness (meant for […]
The war on children on August 7, 2014The year was 1982. The setting was the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps. The victims were innocent children and helpless men and women. The year is 2014. The setting is Gaza. The victims are still innocent children and helpless men and women. Nothing has really changed in all these years. The world continues to turn […]
The drowning on August 7, 2014Sir: It should now be clear that the only thing the Sindh government is interested in is to enrich its ministers and their cronies by any means, instead of working to alleviate the problems of the people of Karachi (who contribute most of its Rs 680 billion budget).I suggest that the concerned minister be charged […]