Striking the federation in the name of hospitals on January 26, 2019Supreme Court in a judgment has decided to withdraw the ownership of Shaikh Zayed Hospital in Lahore and a number of other hospitals and medical institutions in Karachi from provincial governments. However, giving them back to the federal government will have serious and grave implications for the future running of the federation of Pakistan. Before […]
FATA: abolished and merged on May 31, 2018Thirty-first Constitutional amendment passed by National Assembly and Senate last week has comprehensively abolished the word ‘tribal areas’ from legal and constitutional lexicon of the country.As these lines are being written, the KP Assembly is about to meet to give required endorsement to the amendment bill after which President will sign it to make it […]
Unfair and incomparable delimitations on April 16, 2018The preliminary delimitations constituencies of National Assembly (NA) seats and those of the four provincial assemblies announced by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), have drawn wide criticism from almost all political parties and from across the country. There was criticism in the Parliament against this. Delimitations were proposed and a committee was formed to […]
Senate elections: the way forward on April 3, 2018The usual sequence of accusation, allegations and claims of buying and selling of votes which started before Senate elections has continued. After rejecting the new Senate Chairman’s audience request and calls for his removal, the Prime Minister (PM) has gone a step further and has called for scrapping the Senate polls altogether. PML-N had high […]
In support of early elections on October 8, 2017PTI Chief Imran Khan’s demand for fresh elections has generally been opposed by political parties across the political spectrum. Imran Khan’s incessant demands since 2013 for dissolution of assemblies and fresh elections might be major reason for the opposition. However, there are many valid reasons for an election earlier than July-August next year. In Parliamentary […]
Forgotten FATA reforms on September 11, 2017One would hope that the new PM will reconsider party inaction on FATA reforms, and get the necessary legislation passed in Parliament so that constitutional, administrative, and legal reforms are in place by end of his tenure Trial by jury is a noble idea and works well in some countries but in our tribal […]
Population Census 2017: what next on August 29, 2017According to provisional report of 2017 population census, presented to Council of Common Interests (CCI) on Friday, Pakistan’s current population stands at more than 207 million. This means that a staggering 75 million people were added to national population since the last census conducted in 1998. The economic Survey of Pakistan published in June this […]
Nawaz Sharif the selective revolutionary on August 17, 2017During his ‘homecoming’ rally to Lahore last week, former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif tried to pass himself off as a revolutionary. Who knows what prompted this latest ‘reincarnation’? Maybe it was the crowds that were there to greet him along the GT road. Or perhaps it was the fact that he was a man seen […]
When there is no PM on August 11, 2017Pakistan was recently without a Prime Minister for an astonishing 100 hours. The cabinet, too, was sent packing. This is a matter of great concern. In a parliamentary democracy like Pakistan, the Prime Minister is the lynchpin that holds government together in terms of both structure and the running of the state. Under our Constitution, […]
Restore Constitution to its pre-Zia form on August 2, 2017Former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s disqualification has once again highlighted the possible dangers posed to the democratic health of the polity by amendments made by military dictator, General Ziaul Haq, in constitutional articles concerning qualifications and disqualifications of members of the Parliament. Irrespective of the details of accusations against Nawaz Sharif and his family, which […]