The recently launched National Human Development Report (NHDR) by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Pakistan, titled Unleashing the potential of a Young Pakistan, came with startling revelations. It reveals that Pakistan currently has the largest generation of youth ever recorded in its history, making it one of the youngest countries in the world and […]
A fresh chance for Karachi
The upcoming general elections are the first time in almost four decades when the people of Karachi will finally be allowed to freely exercise their mandate. With the end of the MQM’s militant politics, coupled with the arrest of Uzair Baloch, we are bound to witness a stark difference in the outcome of the elections. […]
Women belong in the House and the Senate
With the election of Sherry Rehman as Pakistan’s first female leader of the opposition in the National Assembly’s upper house, Pakistan People’s Party has achieved yet another historic milestone. It accrues to a remarkable list of firsts by the PPP including the first female prime minister of a Muslim country, the first female Speaker of […]
Selling the nation
The recent move by the PML-N government to sell off Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) and Pakistan Steel Mills (PSM) is not the first such attempt. It’s a page taken directly from Pervez Musharraf’s playbook. A number of national institutions have already been privatised,but the case of PIA and PSM is substantially more sensitive. It is […]
The MQM debacle
This was inevitable. We all knew that once Altaf Hussain was no more able to save his creation; the MQM would eventually disintegrate. That it would happen so soon and over a mere senate ticket, for a mysterious new entrant in the party, is what causes astonishment. The party that once exemplified discipline is now […]
Letter to Benazir Bhutto
You, have I revered since time immemorial. Even before we ever met. This probably had something to do with the portrait of you that hung on our drawing room wall; one that I saw every day as I was getting ready for school. Or perhaps it was more because of the veneration for you I […]
You can’t kill an idea: PPP Golden Jubilee
Pakistan was built on an idea that in order to protect the rights of the Muslims of the Subcontinent they needed a separate independent state. And just as Pakistan came into being after sacrifices, decades of struggles and challenges so is the case with the Pakistan Peoples Party. After sacrificing two Chairpersons and their immediate […]
Pummeling democracy
Democracy and Pakistan do not seem to be getting along. A system of governance by the people for the people has continuously been shown the door in Pakistan’s 70-year history. The strongest opposition against democracy has always been attributed to the establishment. However, those under the veil of a democratic mandate seem to be backstabbing […]
Nothing grand about the grand democratic alliance
In Pakistan’s history we have witnessed not one but several alliances by opposition parties to try and challenge the ruling party of the time. And just like clockwork all these alliances have failed. This happened in the case of the most recent attempt at a Grand Democratic Alliance in Sindh. Whether this GDA will achieve […]
The curious case of Uzair Baloch
They are doing what they do best. Dig up trash, manipulate public opinion, blackmail and build pressure. They do not know that Lyari cannot be manipulated. And when I say ‘they’ I am referring to the non-political forces behind Uzair Baloch’s alleged confessions. The recent so-called revelations by Uzair Baloch are nothing new. Since his […]