Rethinking governance on September 21, 2018Dr Arif Alvi, a democrat par excellence and, the founding member of PTI, has assumed the office of the President of Pakistan. He will be holding this ceremonial office out of constitutional necessity. What he had desired once was a role in the nation-building drive his party has undertaken and his critical faculties will remain […]
Democracy and peace on September 11, 2018There is a correlation between social inequality and the scale of violence in human society. The powerful sections patronise gangs and use their influence on police and courts to retain their power and position. Professionals, bureaucrats, and traders look towards stick-wielding generals to put an end to chaos and anarchy: they are ready to exchange […]
Towards an inclusive growth strategy on September 7, 2018‘Green Pakistan’ has assumed centre stage with the change of government. Keeping in line with the spirit of the time, Pakistan Navy, kicked off the tree plantation drive in the neighbourhood of Naval Headquarters, Margalla Hills, where frequent incidents of fire and activities of timber mafia have considerably damaged the forest. The one million pine […]
Nationalism, bureaucracy and security on February 25, 2018Lack of positive and coherent nationalism poses a security threat to Pakistan. After seven decades, the country is no more able to bear the burden of ideology on the face of global strategic imperatives. The vacuum has been filled by ethno-nationalism. Given the current situation in which provinces have been transformed into autonomous units, Pakistan […]
Correction, please on January 7, 2018Though elections in 2018 are now a constitutionally protected exercise thanks to rumour mongers, poll day seems far and away. How a task made certain by worthy parliamentary parties have been made a subject of confusion? Who is applying the game of deception to confuse voters? Does someone want to steal and snatch the people’s […]
Where the mullah matters on December 4, 2017The 18th Constitutional Amendment was not just about transferring dozens of ministries and their resources to the provinces, it was also about retaining the religious character of the Constitution. It was a deal struck between the ethno-nationalists and mullahs about the future course of the country under democratic order. The question of political stability had […]
Reviving the national spirit on November 22, 2017While weighing citizenship on religious scales remains a major hurdle to evolving a unified nationalism with an origin in geography and civilisation which evolved over centuries, the 18th Constitutional Amendment has put seal on the state’s fate by transforming Pakistan into an ethnic federation. This was done by renaming NWFP as Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and granting […]
Let democracy deliver on March 7, 2017Georgieva Kristalina, chief executive officer of World Bank, who visited Pakistan early this year found Nawaz Sharif and Ishaq Dar, the both, fully aware of the country’s needs to create opportunities for its youth and contribute towards sustainable growth. The two gentlemen agreed with her that the government should speedily implement structural reforms needed to […]
No confusion, please! on February 28, 2017Anarchy is the right word to describe the nature of threat the authorities are trying to counter in Punjab by calling Rangers in. The province is not in state of turbulence. Lahore does not find it difficult to collect revenues from any part of the province, at least. The Punjab government fears presence of terrorists […]
It is war, stupid! on February 21, 2017Terrorism of the kind Pakistan is confronting now a days is not that the job of few religious zealots who don’t approve the ways of life in the Pure Land. One may criticize and even hate what one does not understand and appreciate but trying to eliminate it altogether requires a lot of planning and […]