Gulmina Bilal Ahmad

As 2018 draws nearer, a whole new debate on the various aspects of elections has been initiated in the mainstream media. If conducted successfully, these elections would mark the history of the country as the second successful transition of power from one democratic government to another. However, despite this successful transition in the offing, there […]

Shakespeare famously asked what’s in a name. A lot came the pat answer with arguments mentioning the heady concoction of names, identities, self-realization and acceptance. Closely connected to this question is the discussion on symbols and their implication. A younger cousin was in a fight last week over a symbolic action, to put it at […]

In today’s insecure world, safety and security remain top priorities for every individual. Violent extremism is a phenomenon not limited to a particular country, group, religion, ethnicity or creed anymore. It has now engulfed almost the entire globe, and has rendered every city into an unsafe place. The most recent attack on a mosque in […]

Is the climate actually changing? Or is it just a buzzword used by NGO people, media, donor agencies and many other stakeholders that benefit from using it? Some years ago,many people around the world used to believe in the assumption that the term “Climate Change” was only a buzzword and nothing more. However, for the […]

Am I the only one who sifts through the paper avoiding the Panama case update? The issue is a fundamental one of transparency and accountability; both of which are not being focused. Political point scoring has its own merits but, frankly, it has increased to border line toxicity. In other news, something significant has occurred […]

Just when everyone had thought that the Pak-Turk school fiasco is over for good, the Interior Ministry issued notices to Turkish staff of the school chain to leave Pakistan by 20th November. A very clear indicator for such a move is the ongoing state visit of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. This is undoubtedly an […]

Most of us witnessed a large number of women in France leaving their offices at 4:34 pm on the 7th of November 2016. This step might seem insignificant but it holds extraordinary symbolic value for women from all over the world. When the French women stepped out of their offices, they marked the day when […]

The prime minister, it seems, has given a free hand to the Interior Minister Chaudary Nisar Ali Khan to probe and expose those behind leaking the story that resulted in putting Cyril Almeida’s name on the Exit Control List (ECL). The interior ministry also said that it is monitoring the movements of some of the […]

It is quite annoying when you have to close pop-up windows, links, advertisements and video links, especially when you are trying to read or searching for something really important. The worst part is that the trend that was limited to the not-so-famous websites in the past is now employed by authentic news websites as well. […]

It is so unfortunate for us Pakistanis that even after spending so much on local body elections in all four provinces and the capital, the local government system has not yet started to show its benefits. Although local body elections had been conducted in the country in the past as well, but the exercise under […]