Split in the PML-Q
Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain’s PML-Q recently expelled Humayun Akhtar from its ranks for violating party discipline. The day after his expulsion (Aug 19) Mr Akhtar and some other party notables who…
Confident government?
OVERSHADOWED by wars in our neighbourhood, the budget and the debate around it has been rather subdued. Despite this, among those who have been following the issue, disappointment has been…
The federation shakes
Despite the rhetoric that top decision-makers tend to employ in Pakistan, the reality refuses to hide behind any pep talks. The biting, disturbing and harsh realities are evident in the…
Intractable realities
THIS is not a perfect world. These six words were cynically hurled at me around midnight by the person occupying the presidential mansion in Islamabad in 2009. He was mad…
The era of old politics is over
The political landscape of Pakistan over the last five decades has reached a critical juncture, with its major political parties either in decline or approaching irrelevance. The Pakistan Peoples Party…
Economic pipe dream
REGIME gurus claim to have put us on the path of progress — except that all past regimes falsely claimed this too. Progress includes not only economic stability and durable…
The crisis of indecision
THE election in Punjab may not have caused many ripples earlier but on Sunday night it was watched rather closely. This was the south of Punjab, the land of the…
Selected or elected PMs?
Despite being a constitutional democracy since August 14, 1973, mass confusion prevails in the mechanism of transition of power in the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. Selected PMs have badly failed…
Justice unconscious
“SOME cause happiness wherever they go, others whenever they go. — Oscar Wilde” WE must first speak of the good. CJ Bandial tried to uphold the Constitution when the night…
All over in a day
WHAT a difference a day makes is a song immortalised by Dinah Washington’s version in 1959, even though American songwriter Stanley Adams wrote its lyrics in 1934 and it was first…
