Raoof Hasan

It is generally understood that track-II engagements can potentially play an important role in bridging differences between countries. This is primarily so because what cannot and may not be discussed at the government-to-government level for one or the other reason can be debated candidly at this level for understanding the underlying perspectives as also gauging […]

Two important events stirred the imagination during last week: the Chief of the Army Staff’s address at the September 6 ceremony held at the General Headquarters in Rawalpindi and the foreign minister’s press engagement at the conclusion of the three-day envoys’ conference held in Islamabad. Two statements, two mindsets, two prospects, not necessarily mutually contradictory, […]

“This, therefore, is a faded dream of the time when I went down into the dust and noise of the Eastern market-place, and with my brain and muscles, with sweat and constant thinking, made others see my visions come true. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds wake in the […]

The unanimous Supreme Court decision to disqualify Nawaz Sharif could potentially unravel divergent and powerful currents in the country to rebuild democracy along inclusive, egalitarian and sustainable lines. While such a need had been felt for a long time, it is only now that one can see the prospect of good tidings. With his exit […]

Well, it has taken almost thirty years for the mask to finally come off the faces of the Sharifs. And, what horrible spectacle they present! They virtually stand guilty on all counts called: illicitly earned billions, money laundering, blatant lying, forgery, perjury, tampering with record, accumulating assets beyond means, submission of false documents, concealing facts, […]

Well, it has taken almost thirty years for the mask to finally come off the faces of the Sharifs. And, what horrible spectacle they present! They virtually stand guilty on all counts called: illicitly earned billions, money laundering, blatant lying, forgery, perjury, tampering with record, accumulating assets beyond means, submission of false documents, concealing facts, […]

“All is confounded, all! Reproach and everlasting shame Sits mocking in our plumes.” William Shakespeare: “Henry V”   It is mind-boggling to scan through over 250 pages of virtual indictment of the Sharif clan that the Joint Investigation Team (JIT) has produced. It contains a plethora of hard evidence secured from multiple sources to unravel […]

“This stained light, this night-bitten dawn — This is not the dawn that we had yearned for, This is not the dawn for which we had set out, Hoping that in the sky’s wilderness We would reach the final destination of the stars. Surely, the night’s turgid sea will breathe its last On the inevitable […]

In my piece last week, I had dealt at length on the making of the godfather and his mafia. I had also touched on the reasons why the godfather has to be defended and promoted by a host of decrepit foot soldiers because everyone who does it can treat himself as a potential beneficiary of […]

It is always difficult to impute motives that spur people to indulge in ways they do. I am almost constrained to call it a perennial mystery. Besides crimes driven by need, there are those which are committed to satiate one’s lust for money, and there are those which are driven by megalomaniac occupation. Then there […]