Trumpian delusion
PRELIMINARY judgement on any new US administration usually involves waiting for at least 100 days before holding it to account. That arbitrary measure seems particularly inappropriate in the context of…
PIA privatisation: taking off?
The PIA privatisation efforts are back, and the chances of the deal moving forward this time are high. The previous round was spearheaded by the political leadership of the ruling…
Digital dystopia
Sending a simple WhatsApp message, browsing the internet or even accessing websites has become an everyday ordeal for 240 million Pakistanis. As the nation continues to grapple with throttled internet…
PIA sell-off challenge: crash-landing was long in the making
Six months ago, the buzz in Islamabad was that foreign airline giants were lining up to acquire a seemingly beleaguered Pakistan International Airlines (PIA). The authorities, concerned at potential fallout,…
Democracy and dystopia
IN Ireland, ordinary people are hoarding firewood, afraid that they will not be able to heat their homes in the upcoming winter owing to the Ukraine-Russia conflict. In Iran, protests against the…
PIA’s revealing story
THE PIA sartorial advisory to its staff has attracted global attention and inquiries asking if it was fake. Even if fake, the incident is not an aberration in the new…
Privatising PIA as going concern?
UNCONVINCING chants for the privatisation of bleeding SOEs are being raised in Islamabad. Presently, there are approximately 215 of them, of which 170 are commercial entities (with 475,000 employees), which…
Dystopian times
CAN you imagine the desperation that would lead you to poison your wife and daughters — the youngest only two years old — with copper sulphate? High inflation and the…
PIA’s predicament
From Perfect in the Air (PIA) to Perhaps I Arrive (PIA). The story of the national carrier is way more than a self-inflicted catastrophe and beyond expression. Many now want…
Privatisation of SOEs: a focus on PIA
Pakistan’s economy is confronting numerous challenges like fiscal deficits, low savings, limited investment, low foreign exchange reserves, economic uncertainty, and rising external debt, expected to reach about $131.159 billion at…
