The doubt rattle on March 6, 2018My last article that appeared in this newspaper traced the history of bureaucracy in Pakistan and how it has demeaned itself through decades. In addition to the usual intake of comments, I was surprised to receive a telephone call from a senior bureaucrat posted in Lahore, who was one of the lead-honchos of the pen-down […]
The case of an imploding state on February 27, 2018 There are increasing signs that efforts are afoot to pit the institutions of the state against the state for ensuring that the arm of accountability does not reach the sanctimonious aprons of mafias who have indulged in remorseless loot and plunder. What is further worrisome is the role the bureaucracy is being provoked to […]
Book Review Pakistan’s agenda for economic reforms on February 26, 2018The utility of ‘Pakistan’s Agenda for Economic Reforms’, a book recently published by the Oxford University Press, has been described as providing a ‘non-technical understanding of weak economic growth and performance of the public sector in Pakistan relative to that of peer countries’. The write-up goes on to suggest that the book ‘serves as an […]
An identity crisis on February 20, 2018Ahed Tamimi, a 17 years old Palestinian girl, is facing 12 counts of charges at a military court in Israel including assaulting the security forces and inciting violence. The video showing her facing up to the arrogance of an Israeli soldier, repeatedly trying to kick and slap him, went viral as a heart-warming symbol of […]
The saplings we nurture, the stock we bear on February 13, 2018The stock one ends up reaping depends directly on the seeds that one sows. This is not more evidenced than by going over the list of people given the senate tickets by the political parties, none more so than the PMLN. The list comprises fugitives of the criminal and intellectual kind — the latter kind […]
Let no one be more equal on February 6, 2018Throughout history, ways and mechanisms have been artfully crafted to perpetuate the power of a chosen few over the sprawling multitudes. Much of this may have started as revolutionary zeal, but it inevitably degenerated to crass exploitation of the plebeians by the ruling mafias. This perpetual social disparity has been satirically encapsulated in the Animal […]
A case of the end being near on January 30, 2018Let me begin by narrating a simple incident that tells a thousand tales. I was out doing an urgent chore. When I was stepping out of the car, a young boy, about fifteen years or so, walked up begging for money on the plea that he had been hungry for two days and needed to […]
There being no shame on January 23, 2018Much controversy has been generated about Imran Khan’s damning the Parliament comments. His diatribe seemed to have touched the raw nerves of virtually all his opponents to force them into a single file and unleash a virulent counter-assault. But, has the Parliament really delivered on its agenda and does it actually command the respect that […]
Collective shame on January 16, 2018“You never believed in the meaning of this world, and you, therefore, deduced the idea that everything was equivalent and that good and evil could be defined according to one’s wishes. You supposed that, in the absence of any human or divine code, the only values were those of the animal world — in other […]
Adrift the pain of times on January 9, 2018“Do you hear the tumult of death afar, The call midst the fire-floods and poisonous clouds? The Captain’s call to the steersman to turn the ship to an unnamed shore, For that time is over — the stagnant time in the port — Where the same old merchandise is bought and sold in an endless […]