Happy New Year on January 8, 20182017 was, once again, a year of turmoil in more ways than one. The controversial Panama Case finally played out, yet its endgame spawned another pointed slugfest — drawing in institutions and politicians from across the spectrum — with no definitive direction till December drew to a close at least. The twin decisions regarding Imran […]
Mind your language on December 18, 2017Not too long ago, when the bhatta mafia was yet all the rage in Karachi, the honourable Supreme Court was forced to take notice of some of the surnames employed by some of the city’s more fearsome extortionists. Names like khamba, bijli and tyre, the chief justice noted, did not look good doing the rounds […]
Dar’s dilemma on November 25, 2017So, finally, there’s some sort of paper trail to justify the finance minister’s long absence. Away, quite mysteriously, for more than a month – allegedly gravely unwell and undergoing treatment in London – all that has been heard of him so far was his refusal to let go of the finance ministry. Now, though, he’s […]
Musharraf’s roadmap — reinforcing failure on November 20, 2017Not too long after his last return to Pakistan — to contest election, win, and steer the country to glory once again, of course — Gen Musharraf roared on TV one fine evening about the most enduring lesson of his life. “I learnt long ago in the army not to reinforce failure”, he said. When […]
Maryam Nawaz against the odds on September 10, 2017NA-120 is turning out just as surprising for PML-N as the events leading up to it; well, almost as much. It’s not just that PTI has been gaining momentum all through the JIT process and Nawaz’s subsequent dismissal, now a number of right-of-centre religious parties have also lined up their candidates for the by election. […]
Cabinet shuffles on August 30, 2017Nawaz’s ouster has, quite strangely, provided Pakistan with a rare opportunity to experiment with parliamentary democracy. Already the new PM — one not from the born-to-rule clique — has settled comfortably in his new position, even though nobody, not even he, really knows if it’s for a few days or a few months. Yet he’s […]
And the loser is Pakistan! on August 14, 2017How quickly the judiciary has been reduced from the last bastion of democracy, hope for accountability, etc, to virtual non-relevance — except that the PM had to leave office. Otherwise, there isn’t much to write home about. Strange, first of all, that the honourable Supreme Court judges delivered the axe on a technicality yet didn’t […]
Indian frustration with CPEC on July 2, 2017If it weren’t apparent before, it’s quite in-your-face now. Not only will India not be part of CPEC, but it will oppose it. One could make a rational argument out of one of New Delhi concerns — that the entire project could put untenable debt burdens on the countries involved. True, investment is always a […]
PM the peacemaker on June 17, 2017Good of the prime minister to try and do his bit to diffuse the fires engulfing the Ummah, more precisely trying to narrow the widening cleavage between one-time GCC sweethearts Saudi Arabia and the tiny kingdom of Qatar. But anybody even remotely familiar with the Gulf’s goings ons would have told him, before he took […]
The Jadhav identity on April 20, 2017Once upon a time, not too long ago, espionage was a more civilised business than it is today. Spies were mostly thieves, after all. Soviet spooks smuggling rocket designs out of the US. CIA sleeper cells collecting nuclear research secrets from behind the Iron Curtain. Agencies slipping ex-commie Poles across the Berlin Wall to freedom, […]