The story of Rajanpur is the story of Pakistan’s General elections, 2018. Candidates in the area, such as Parvez Gourchani, Sher Ali Gourchani and Hafeez Dareshak, previously elected on Pakistan Muslim League — Nawaz (PML-N) tickets, chose to depart from the party and run as independents. In November, Tahir Iqbal, previously a PML-N-elected Member of […]
Behind the scenes with Amarjit Singh Dulat and General Ehsan Ul Haq
“Let’s take the picture together when General sahib arrives,” said Amarjit Singh Dulat outside the New Academic Building of the London School of Economics. LSE’s Pakistan Development Society and South Asia Future Forum held an electric, revealing discussion tilted Can intelligence services do good. The discussion featured former ISI director general Ehsan Ul Haq and […]
Another deal between Nawaz and establishment?
In 1996, a very prominent journalist and now a renowned TV anchor was called upon by Mian Nawaz Sharif at a famous resort in the hills of Bhurban, Murree. At this gathering of a few journalists, Nawaz Sharif boasted about his plan to remove Benazir Bhutto government and come into the Parliament with a massive […]
The politics of religion
When I was growing up in Pakistan, I was constantly told that this country is controlled by two entities: Mullahs and the establishment. It seems that this indeed, is the case. The incidents surrounding the dharna by Tehreek-e-Labaik Ya Rasool Allah (TLYR) at Faizabad have proven that an incredible amount of political capital lies with […]
The establishment dynamic
‘Nawaz Sharif isn’t afraid of death or jail’. These were the words used by the now deposed Prime Minister during the Abbottabad Jalsa in a bid to prove his ouster was the result of a purposely hatched conspiracy. A while ago, I wrote that Nawaz Sharif is the Jinn of Pakistani politics, primarily because he […]
Zombies, Myanmar and Rwanda
In your head, they are fighting: with their tanks, and their bombs, and their bombs and their guns. What’s in your head, in your head, zombie? True it maybe that these are just lyrics of the famous Cranberries’ song, ‘Zombies’, but ‘zombies’ was actually written not just to entertain the masses, but also to symbolise […]
Of hawks and US foreign policy
When Jimmy Carter, American President in 1981, convened with his closest advisers in the White House on 11th of April to discuss solutions to the Iranian hostage crisis during the American election campaign, two broad overarching themes dominated the meeting: hawks and doves. Then National Security Advisor-Zbigniew Brezinski, Vice President-Walter Mondale, Joint Chief of Staff, […]
The jinn of Pakistans politics
When Mian Nawaz Sharif was pestered in 1993 by the establishment-backed President Ghulam Ishaq Khan to resign from Prime Ministership, he addressed the country on Pakistan Television stating “I will not resign, I will not dissolve the parliament and I will not take dictation.” The man who was handpicked by a three-star lieutenant General, Ghulam […]
This is how Pakistan treats women politicians
A very popular political/religious anchor on a new mainstream media channel quoted the British Gazette, a short-lived English newspaper founded in 1926 during the general strike. He quoted British Gazette’s analysis on the Gulalai tribe which labelled the tribe as a bunch of liars and fraudulent traders who are apt at deception. The very purpose […]
Judicial precedents in Pakistan’s power struggle
Justice Mohammed Munir is a forgotten name in the political history of Pakistan but perhaps his indirect contribution to political upheavals and legitimising military dictatorial rules is essential. A judge of the Chief Court of Pakistan in 1954 (presently known as the Supreme Court of Pakistan), Justice Munir invoked Henry De Bactron’s doctrine of necessity, […]