A resurgent Turkey, the US and Afghanistan on June 25, 2021It must have been somewhere around 2008 when I had my first meeting in my capacity as Interior minister with Recep Tayyib Erdogan. Of course, back then he was Turkey’s prime minister. As we sat in his modest office in Ankara, I was struck by his firm grasp of international relations, particularly the situation in […]
‘Sadiq and Amin’ and a humiliated Parliament on June 18, 2021According to Articles 62 and 63 of the (1973) Constitution, a person may be qualified or elected as a Member of Parliament provided he has adequate knowledge of Islam and is essentially ‘Sadiq and Amin’ (Honest and Righteous). In literal terms, Sadiq is a qualitative metaphor used for one who has never spoken a lie. […]
New budget — new wizardry? on June 9, 2021Pakistan’s annual budget is more of a political event than a national endeavour for some betterment. This has been the case since 1952 when we were first forced to go to the IMF. Since had taken loan from the IMF for the first time and ever since – we have become accustomed to begging. We […]
Hazara Community needs protection on January 18, 2021It was a very sad and heart breaking experience to attend the sit-in of Shia brothers who were demanding justice for their beloved ones who have been killed with motives. While writing this with a heavy heart about these victims and the miseries of their families, I would like to quote the incidents that Mach […]
Covid infected Pak politics & helpless Common man (Part I) on November 24, 2020The second wave of Covid 19 is even more fatal than the first one and unfortunately, we as a nation are taking it very lightly. It looks that Covid has badly infected our politics and since the minds of decision makers from the government have frozen, they are not taking this dangerous invisible powerful invader […]
PPP party of masses-sacrifices and tragedies — II on November 30, 2018Just months after her second tenure in power in August 1990, Mr Zardari was arrested on October 10, on the allegations of attempted murder of Pakistani Businessman Murtaza Hussain Bukhari and extortion allegations. However, Mr Asif Ali Zardari was released in mid-February 1993, with nothing proved against him and charges were eventually dropped as it […]
PPP party of masses-sacrifices and tragedies — I on November 29, 2018November 30, is a day for all of us, all the senior leadership and workers included, to celebrate as part of a political party, which was formed to represent the federation throughout the country. Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto — the founding father of Pakistan Peoples Party — was a leader with great political wisdom being […]
Horse trading via independents on August 3, 2018I have seen a number of elections, but I’ve never seen one that is blame free. Dhandli (rigging) is now an omni word, which echoes in every election. There is no doubt that our democracy is a continued victim of horse-trading. The monster of horse-trading emerges every time; as a nation we protest every time, […]
Putin and Trump play ball on July 20, 2018This past Monday, US President Donald Trump held a bilateral summit with Russian premier Vladimir Putin, during which the leaders had a nearly two-hour-long closed-door meeting. At a news conference afterwards, the American president refused to condemn Putin for Moscow’s interference in the 2016 US presidential elections. This was a move meant to defuse the […]
Bilawal is the only future that Pakistan can look forward to on July 6, 2018A manifesto is basically a reference book for a party to move forward. Manifestos define a political party and demonstrate its seriousness in addressing the major issues of a country at the policy level. It should contain the way forward for every faction of the society starting from the betterment of the common citizen and […]