Al-Ghazali: riddle in an enigma on August 4, 2020Imam Abu Hamid Al-Ghazali, who was born in the middle of the fifth century of the Islamic calendar, is the subject of much controversy. There are those who label him as a saviour and reformer, who at a time of crisis in the Islamic world, rejuvenated the religion. And then there are those who hold […]
Government exists to serve the people on July 9, 2020The COVID pandemic and the resulting suspension of international flights to and from Pakistan has left many tens of thousands of Pakistanis stranded in foreign lands. It is during times such as these that our citizens rely on the services of Pakistan’s missions abroad to facilitate and support them in any way possible. In this […]
The plane that crashed before takeoff on May 27, 2020What caused the crash of PK 8303 is not clear and it will be many months before we get a full picture of what went wrong. In crashes like this which involve a catastrophic loss of life, airlines and regulators are keen to deflect blame from themselves and cast it on others. The easiest targets […]
Modi must leave Kashmir on November 18, 2019It has been more than a hundred days since Narendra Modi sent 600,000 of his soldiers to occupy Kashmir in early August. The world shrugged and went about its business. Pakistan launched a diplomatic offensive to get its Arab and Muslim allies to condemn the action and urge Mr Modi to back down. It was […]
Thinking out of the box on September 26, 2019The IMF program is not working. The economy continues to slide downhill. Inflation is raging out of control, demand is collapsing, industrial output is shrinking, auto assembly plants are shutting down, unemployment is increasing rather than decreasing. One could go on. But the point is made. We are not in a good place. The biggest […]
Is democracy compatible with Islam? on August 19, 2019Is democracy compatible with Islam? This question has bedevilled Pakistan since its formation. There is still widespread confusion. Pakistan was carved out of the British India as a homeland for Muslims. It is an ‘Islamic Republic’, and as such there is a need for a clear understanding of the Islamic concept of government. But before […]
Democracy is dead on July 15, 2019There was widespread rejoicing when Imran Khan’s PTI won the 2018 election. Hope was in the air. Finally, an honest, incorruptible leader promised change and a new beginning. He held out a better future for the nation’s poor and oppressed. He promised jobs for millions of unemployed youth. He vowed to deliver better health care […]
Harvard Business School and PPL on June 8, 2019Doom and gloom seems to be the order of the day. Soaring inflation and unemployment have taken a toll on the country’s poor. The media, both local and international, has nothing positive to say about Pakistan. In these dark times one is desperate for a feel good story that shows Pakistan in a different light; […]
Structured repudiation on May 10, 2019Is Pakistan really a sovereign state? The question is relevant because the government seems to have ceded control of the economy to foreign entities. Both our de facto finance minister and the new State Bank of Pakistan governor are career officers of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, respectively. Is the primary loyalty […]
The Static and the Dynamic on May 1, 2019Ali Ahmed Said Esbar was 14 years old when the president of the newly established Republic of Syria, Shukri Al-Qawatli, visited his village of Al-Qassabin in 1944. The young lad, already a precocious poet, was asked to recite one of his poems for the president. Al-Qawatli was so impressed he asked the boy what he […]