Iftekhar A Khan

Since this government took over, Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif has been advising the nation to exercise austerity. He even sought proposals to cut government spending. After the recent budget, it seems he hasn’t succeeded in his mission. Muhammad Aurangzeb, the new finance minister brought in from outside the typical hierarchy, hasn’t been able to achieve […]

Tortured and sick of the high electricity bill and frequent power outages, when the consumers who could afford, to set up solar systems on their houses, the government contemplated taxing them. When the government didn’t pay for the single solar panel, how come it arrogates to itself the right to tax solar system users at […]

Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz has gained the reputation of an achiever. She is on the move to take up new ventures in public interest. The other day, she appeared in a police uniform to preside over a police women passing-out parade. Even though she invited criticism from those who are in the habit of criticising […]

The official visit of the Iranian president has just ended. Dr Ebrahim Raisi was given a red-carpet treatment in Islamabad where he met the president, prime minister and the army chief. Some of the most important decisions in the mutual economic interest of both countries were taken during his visit. Small skirmishes that took place […]

Jeffery Sacks’ book The End of Poverty is worth the read. He writes, “Currently, more than eight million people around the world die each year because they are too poor to stay alive.” There are two kinds of poverties. First is self-created either by wilful ignorance and intentional oversight or to suit particular interests of […]

During the last few years, including the period of PTI rule, our country has been moving from one crisis to another. By looking at the situation from a distance as a spectator, there are two options. First, read the newspaper’s sobering headlines or listen to TV media news of a similar nature and sit back […]

The nation represents the country. The UN Human Development Report 2023-2024 categorized Pakistan at 164th place in the list of 193 countries in terms of human development. It essentially means that Pakistan’s nation occupies an unenviable status among the above-mentioned countries. The situation becomes even more perplexing to realise that ours happens to be a […]

Former PM Kakar said a month ago that the development of communication infrastructure is extremely important to boost tourism in Gilgit, Baltistan. The communication system requires fast Internet speed to promote tourism. Presently, the Internet speed in the Gilgit region is dismally slow and service inefficient. The region has a system which is not in […]

The common man and the middle class have been hit by the ever-escalating cost of mainly two utilities – electricity and gas. Frequent load-shedding of both is common, much to the dismay of the users of both facilities. We now hear about the work to start on the gas pipeline from Iran to Pakistan via […]

The new coalition government will deserve credit for taking up state responsibilities and setting aside the confusion that existed after the elections. The main challenge it will face is the debilitating economic situation the country faces. A recent sixty-eight-page report by a think-tank highlighting the outstanding internal and external loans is simply frightening for informed […]