Mismanaged on April 21, 2024Jeffery 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 […]
Never-ending Crises on April 6, 2024During 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 […]
Pakistan Lacks Human Development on April 1, 2024The 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 […]
Promoting Tourism on March 12, 2024Former 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 […]
Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline on March 3, 2024The 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 […]
Radical Changes Needed on February 25, 2024The 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 […]
Chaotic elections on February 18, 2024Many weeks before the elections were held, the nation had been prepared for an election mode. Political speeches and social media played the main role. But speculations were rife whether the elections would be held in time or postponed. The caretaker government deserves credit for holding the elections on time. The credit ended here and […]
Unneeded Official Spending on February 10, 2024According to the State Bank of Pakistan, the country’s internal and external financial burden has reached Rs64 trillion, which means every citizen old and new-born is in debt of Rs250,000. The World Bank and UNICEF give the bad news that Pakistan’s external debt amounting to $127 billion places it in the first position among the […]
Finally, Elections… on February 4, 2024When the Chief Justice of Pakistan with a consensus decision of the President and the Chief Election Commissioner announced Feb 8 as the election date, many doubted if these would be held on the same date. A newspaper headline, “SC sets election date in stone”, referred to the Chief Justice of Pakistan and should have […]
Between Tall Promises and Reality on January 28, 2024The elections planned for February 8 lack the usual lustre, mass rallies, flag-bearing marches, and fervour typical of such an occasion. During the campaign speeches, politicians in the run make big promises to fascinate the crowd and win their votes. Most of these promises are almost impossible to keep. For instance, as an election manifesto, […]