Recalibrating governance – Part III
A major departure has to be made in the deployment of civil servants. Instead of senior, qualified and courteous officers being assigned to secretariat positions and junior, rude, unqualified functionaries…
Governing higher education
Governance is the backbone of any education system. Over the years, I have consistently highlighted the material deficiencies in our educational governance – whether it pertains to basic or higher…
Beware the tides of 2025
It is the silver jubilee year. The millennials are the bygones. Gen Zee is up close and present. The Alphas are the new kids on the block. Last year for…
Population in 2024
Pakistan, the fifth most populous country in the world, bids farewell to 2024 – and yet the unfinished population growth business concerns politicians, leaders, academics, and development practitioners. As the…
Decentralise for justice
Under Article 37 of the constitution, the state is bound to provide inexpensive and expeditious justice to the people of Pakistan. For this purpose, Article 7 of the constitution defines…
The 26th Amendment in judicial focus: Part – III
Rule of law dictates that citizens and their representatives participate in the legislative process with an open and timely access to the draft and without any violation of their democratic…
IMF programme: lack of ingenuity?
The narrative led by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb is that the economy has begun to show signs of improvement, reflected by a contracting current account…
On a heap of garbage
Not too long ago, I participated in an interesting conversation about the legal profession on the sideline of a conference in Lahore. At one point, a prominent lawyer looked me…
Street safety
THE Sindh chief executive’s resolve to address street crime is encouraging. This commitment raises important questions: are these crimes organised or opportunistic? Can traditional policing strategies alone be effective, or…
A flawed approach
THE government and disaster management agencies at both the national and provincial level have been severely criticised as Pakistan experiences one of the most devastating floods in recent years. This…
