Donald Trump has staged a spectacular come back. He is going to assume the US Presidency in January 2025. His widely-predicted policies on China, trans-Atlantic alliance, wars, globalization, trade wars, and protectionism would have profound impact on the current economic and strategic international order. Pakistan would be concerned on two counts: the renewed Sino-US rivalry […]
The Brutality of State Organs
In civilized societies, every institution performs within its constitutional bounds. The constitutionally and legally determined jurisdictions of state organs within federal or state structures are sacrosanct and do not brook any contravention or intervention. These societies have developed unwritten norms, which are unfailingly followed by state employees and the public in letter and spirit. The […]
The Unsettling Situation
We have apparently a democracy in the country with elected institutions that include the executive, opposition, National Assembly, Senate, four Legislative Assemblies and representative administrations in the provinces. All fit well in the loose definition of an elected political dispensation but fail to withstand strict evaluation of democracy. Our democracy is still passing through the […]
Caught in a Cobweb of Challenges
We are entangled in a cobweb of multiple challenges that are hampering us to break out of our current serious situation and move forward. The lack of leadership; the want of political will; the political divide; the dichotomy of power; the hybrid governance; the social and economic injustice; the injudicious use of financial resources; the […]
Modi cut to size
General elections have a corrective mechanism if held in a fair and transparent manner. The voters of India awarded two powerful terms to Prime Minister Narendra Modi from 2014-2024 but cut him to size in the recent general elections. Not only his Bhatia Junta Party was denied simple majority, he himself survived by a thin […]
Shouldn’t We learn from History?
Nations learn from their history instead of suppressing it. Every nation, in its evolutionary growth, made mistakes and learnt lessons and made course corrections or ignored their past mistakes and suffered from the same consequences. No nation on this planet can claim exception to this repetitive cycle of empathy or ruthlessness of history. The recent […]
A Great Loss to the Muslim World
The demise of President Ibrahim Raisi of Iran in a helicopter crash on 20 May is not only an unsettling tragedy for the Iranian nation but a great loss to the Muslim world. President Raisi was a bold, wise and able leader. While at the helm, he wisely reviewed his country’s relations with the Kingdom […]
We Are Ashamed, My Quaid (Part II)
The American author John Maxwell has nicely advised leaders, “You must be big enough to admit your mistakes, smart enough to learn from them, and strong enough to correct them”. We have no leader of this calibre. Six years after the humiliating defeat of 1971, the military brass upset the applecart of the democracy; banned […]
We Are Ashamed, My Quaid…
“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of light, it was the season of darkness, it was the spring of hope, it […]
The Military Conflict in the Middle East And Pakistan
The rogue state of Israel, after unprecedented devastation in Gaza, seems determined to expand the military conflict in the Middle East by dragging Iran into it. Iran, though known for its strategic patience and restraint, had to respond to the Israeli attack on its diplomatic facility in Syria which killed seven people including one senior […]