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Where women get a lifeline

A majority of poor women in Pakistan have a faint hope of living a better life. If they suffer from a disease that carries some stigma, their lives become even…

Doctors and Urdu literature

In the past 50 years or so, Urdu literature has seen some extraordinary writers whose primary profession has been medical practice. Three of these names stand out: Dr Asif Farrukhi,…

The People’s Historian

The people’s historian

Dr Mubarak Ali tells us that there has not been much worthwhile research on the Arab era in Sindh in any of the languages including English, Sindhi, and even Urdu.…

Independence — to what end?

“The Supreme Court has no control over the sword or the purse and its power and strength is solely based on public confidence” — Justice Athar Minallah NOT too long…

A menace to democracy

“Necessity is the plea for every infringement of human freedom,” said William Pitt. “It is the argument of tyrants; it is the creed of slaves.” Honourable exceptions past and present…

Politics in Balochistan

A tug of war over bagging the future coalition government in Balochistan has already started between the PPP and PML-N, leading to some confusion among electables over which one of…

Judicialization of regime change

“There is hardly any political question in the United States that sooner or later does not turn into a judicial question” – Alexis de Tocqueville, ‘Democracy in America’ (1835) Political…

Constitution and tax codes — II

Justice Ch. Ijaz Ahmad in his separate note in the CIT v Eli Lily (Pvt) Ltd (2009) 100 Tax 81 (S.C. Pak) made the following remarkable comments that should be…