Obviating the obvious
We begin with what appears to be the most obvious: when a legislative assembly is dissolved, elections must be held within ninety days. But, it would appear the obvious has…
An obvious disconnect
If we want our country to prosper and gain respect on the global stage, if we want it to be better than what it is today, if phrases such as…
Overstating the obvious
The new Nuclear Posture Review (NPR) released by the US has alarmed pacifists across the world. The document has raised the spectre of the use of nuclear arsenals in case…
Kashmir: the obvious solution
In June I attended a reunion of the United Nations Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan (UNMOGIP), in which I had served as deputy head from 1980-82. It was…
The warp and woof of morality
Before I sat down to write these words to meet my deadline for this column, I had drafted in my mind a rather emotional and impressionistic piece on my sojourn…
Trump 2.0 and Pakistan
Donald Trump has taken oath as America’s 47th president (he was also its 45th) and issued a raft of executive orders, most of them related to domestic policies and politics.…
Trump’s Paris climate exit will hit harder than in 2017
A second US withdrawal from the world’s primary climate pact will have a bigger impact - in the US and globally - than the country’s first retreat in 2017, analysts…
A malignant appeasement
Adolf Hitler destroyed the first German democracy, the Weimar Republic (1918-33) and twelve years later destroyed Germany itself. Weimar has since become like the palantir in ‘The Lord of the…
What democracy means
Balloting and elections stand at the very core of any demographic system. While Pakistan has a general election scheduled for February, huge questions are already arising – as has been…
Can you build your own major?
When you become aware of a problem, you can take one of two approaches: you can either take on the problem head-on or you can paper over it. In Pakistan,…
