Reconstruction of not a failed idea but a society on December 17, 2020In his great texted history of Peloponnesian war, the ancient Athenian historian and general Thucydides some 2500 years ago wrote that “it was the rise of Athens and the fear that this instilled in Sparta that made war inevitable.” The fight for political supremacy that we are witnessing in Pakistan is no different. The giants […]
Establishing strong and modern state on October 26, 2020In the ongoing season of political difficulties in our country even the talk of establishing a strong and modern state is like saying that Congo, Afghanistan, Haiti or Sierra Leone in their current condition of statelessness can send an astronaut to the moon. I hold no grudge against these countries but in the real world […]
Reforming and modernising Pakistan on September 14, 2020Karachi our metropolitan city drowned in rain and our efforts to rebuild it are marred in politics. The popular debate these days is: “Who will contribute how much and who will take the credit for its rebuilding?” Drowning in rain was unfortunate for Karachi but getting drowned now in politics that fails to deliver is […]
Press talk with the PM on March 30, 2020On March 24, Prime Minister Imran Khan got together the senior electronic media journalists, the well-known and famous talk show hosts, to talk to them about the coronavirus and the preventive measures his government was taking to stop its spread. No doubt the coronavirus has become the biggest challenge of Imran Khan’s leadership and the […]
Fending for ourselves on March 20, 2020“W here there is no law, there is no freedom”, said John Locke (1632-1704), the eminent political thinker and scholar and a great contributor to the English Enlightenment. The likes of Thomas Hobbes and John Locke can never be forgotten for their contribution to the rights of the civil liberty of the people and society. […]
Turkey and Pakistan — a democratic comparison on February 17, 2020The history of political similarity between Turkey and Pakistan is hard to miss. Both countries have experienced military rule, and military coups have come and gone with almost equal intervals. Military coups took place in Turkey in 1960, 1971, 1980, 1997 and 2016. Whereas Pakistan experienced military interference in politics and resultant military rule in […]
Old-school leadership on January 14, 2020Friedrich Engels (1820-1895), a German philosopher and historian, famously stated, “Great men appear when a given socio-economic situation requires them.” The historic phenomenon of the rise from obscurity to the throne of many such great leaders allows us to draw many lessons from history and one such lesson is their rule by the doctrines of […]
One man’s hero is another’s villain on December 24, 2019No society can progress if it cannot have order. Many things contribute towards the sustenance of an order in a society but the three that eat it up the most are – unequal distribution of power, weak institutions, and the failure and helplessness of the order itself to adjust when the circumstances change. Obviously order […]
Maulana and his non-state audience on November 12, 2019There are many stakeholders involved in the continuity of Maulana’s dharna (sit-in) in Islamabad. Internally, the opposition parties are having a joyful political time and externally, the enemies of Pakistan. The whole sit-in conveys an extremely negative image of our country. It has a political utility for Maulana but for him to escalate it beyond […]
Kashmir looking up to an insensitive world on August 26, 2019The Arab Spring that shook the roots of the Middle East was sparked by an incident in Tunisia. We all remember the vegetable vendor and some of us even remember his name, Bouazizi. But very few of us have heard the name of Faida Hamdy, the woman who, if she had not done what she […]