A costly democratic façade on July 5, 2018The general elections in Pakistan on July 25 will be very costly for its citizens, and not just in financial terms. Though even if the financial cost is considered, the polls this July will cost more than twice the price of the last two elections in 2008 and 2013 combined. While the elections in 2008 […]
The upcoming elections may bring a tainted dawn on June 28, 2018Four weeks from now, one of the many projected scenarios about the electoral outcome in Pakistan will unfolded. Whether it’s the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) or Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf (PTI) which come out on top, unless either of the two win enough national assembly seats to form the government on its own, we will end up […]
Citizens are not subjects on June 14, 2018Any political state is an outcome of a social contract between the citizens and the state. While the concept of a political order in the form of a societal compromise — a state resulting from such a contract — was first talked about by Plato, followed by Thomas Hobbes in the seventeenth century. In the […]
Pakistan never owned Jinnah on June 7, 2018We grew up reading and listening to arguments and opinions on what kind of Pakistan Jinnah — the father of the nation — envisioned. Scholars, commentators and authors have tried to paint Jinnah’s vision according to their own liking and beliefs. Trained and educated in the British tradition of law and the Parliamentary political system, […]
Why do ethnic identities scare Pakistan? on May 31, 2018The recent emergence of the Pakhtun Tahaffuz Movement (PTM), and the insurgency in Balochistan which has been ongoing for years, have a direct connection with peoples’ disillusionment with the state and its policies. Obviously, the concerns of these ethnic groups emerge from their disenfranchisement and inability to rule themselves through their own local governments, under […]
The case of the ‘missing republic’ on May 17, 2018Though it is not a phenomenon exclusive to Pakistan, people in this country have been suffering because of the ‘enforced disappearances’ of activists and dissidents for at least three decades. There has been a sharp rise in such cases since 2002. In 2011, the government was finally forced to set up a Commission of Inquiry […]
We cannot remain a security state any longer on May 10, 2018In 1971 when East Pakistan seceded to become an independent Bangladesh, its population was around 67 million whereas West Pakistan’s was around 60 million. In the next sixteen years, by 1987, Pakistan population had surpassed that of Bangladesh. Today, while Pakistan’s population is 210 million, Bangladesh’s population is just short of 167 million. Not only […]
Life under two martial laws on May 2, 2018Around this time in 2013, the country was abuzz with hope and excitement, for it was for the first time in the country’s political history that a civilian elected government was completing its legitimate tenure, which was to be followed by another round of democracy. Five years down the line, while we are approaching another […]
Who does our state side with? on April 26, 2018In any prosperous and peaceful state, the legislative, the executive and judiciary must be permanent pillars, holding the edifice of the state. They do so by enacting laws, working through a constitution, service delivery in civic amenities and providing security of life and property. Last but not the least, to dispense justice and ensure that […]
Are liberals anti-Pakistan? on April 19, 2018Up until General Ziaul Haq deposed the democratic government of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto; parties, pressure groups and writers from leftist and other non-orthodox schools of thought were still able to function, operate and raise their voices. The politically decadent decade of Zia sowed the seeds of the ongoing right-wing hegemony in the form of support […]