Civilian supremacy
TO continue to call Pakistan a functioning democracy is farcical given the politicians’ lack of control on matters they have the constitutional mandate to decide on. Though nothing new, it…
Healing, not dealing, for civilian supremacy
In his very first speech after taking over the mantle in 1971 of what remained of Jinnah’s Pakistan, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto used healing words; “I have come over to pick…
Russia ready to ‘fight’ for space tourism supremacy
After a decade-long hiatus, Russia is relaunching an ambitious bid for dominion over the world’s budding space tourism industry, jostling with zealous billionaires, the United States, and rising China. Russia…
Semi-civilian rule
In the middle of the self-imposed tension of holding the PSL final in Lahore, and the attendant consequences of deployment of resources to manage the risks that we ourselves had…
Unpacking governance dysfunction (Part – I)
Pakistan’s polycrisis – its economic volatility, political turbulence, social fragmentation, and institutional decay – has one common denominator: a breakdown of governance. Decades of elite capture, politicisation and policy drift…
Hard state, soft state
OUR violence is counterterrorism; theirs is terrorism. Recently, the army chief addressed parliament after the Jaffar Express train attack in Balochistan. He said Pakistan had to become a “hard state” to fight militancy and…
Opposition alliance but for what?
Pakistan has a troubled history with democracy, often oscillating between civilian rule and military interventions. Opposition alliances, usually formed under the banner of restoring democracy, have paradoxically played a role…
A national compact for 2025
THE new year starts with the country facing multiple challenges that need to be met in a politically calm environment. The complex nature of overlapping challenges and the fact that…
To see Mount Tai
Some eight centuries ago, Changchun, the venerable Taoist monk, was faced with an impossible task. Genghis Khan, master of the greatest war host the world had ever seen, wished to…
Who cares about education?
“All are equal, but some are more equal than others” – this is a simplified version of the quote from George Orwell's book ‘Animal Farm’, which can be applied to…
