111 510 510 libonline@riphah.edu.pk Contact

Too many planners

RECENTLY, the commissioner Karachi issued a notification dividing the city into three zones: downtown, uptown and old town. Prima facie, it appears to be an attempt to redefine the city’s…

Lahore’s forgotten villages

EARLY reports from the 2023 census suggest that Lahore’s population may have crossed the 12 million mark, ie, an addition of nearly a million more residents since 2017. In the…

Community mapping

WHENEVER Karachi floods, the government announces the widening of its nullahs that carry the floodwater to the sea. The decision of the extent of widening is taken in an ad…

The ‘Tariff Man’ dislodges global trade

Donald Trump has made ‘economic nationalism’ a centerpiece of his agenda in office. And the world-wide repercussions of this agenda have thrown international trading system into total disarray causing hardship…

Learning From The Zapatistas

Learning from the Zapatistas

Twenty years ago, protesters forced the cancellation of parts of the third ministerial meeting of the World Trade Organization in Seattle. A combination of internal advocacy within the ministerial and…

The dream house

AFTER Prime Minister Imran Khan’s Naya Pakistan Housing Programme had received considerable publicity, I asked Sakina Bibi if she would apply for it. Sakina is a housemaid, and her family…

The Truth About Corridor

The truth about corridor

Public debate on China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) has once again surfaced drawing widespread coverage by the media. This invited the unprecedented intervention of China which has urged Pakistan's political parties…

America takes a Trump

On Monday this week, the world began to change in ways that are not easy to decipher. What is really intriguing is that it is all because of a change…

Controversial justice

FOLLOWING a nod from the apex court, a Field General Court Martial (FGCM) has announced its decision to sentence 25 PTI supporters to varying terms of rigorous imprisonment for their involvement in the May…

Addressing the larger issue

THE two adversaries have finally agreed to come to the negotiating table. The ruling PML-N and the opposition PTI seem to have taken a step back from their hard-line positions.…