NAFSA: Reform or regression?
Pakistan’s decision in May 2025 to establish the National Agri-Trade and Food Safety Authority (NAFSA) was announced as a milestone in aligning the country’s agriculture and food systems with global…
Reforming 354-A
In July 2025, the Senate in Pakistan amended the Pakistan Penal Code by way of a controversial but caveat-free revision of an otherwise strong law protecting women against acts of…
Blueprint to blackout
In July 2025, Nepra set the power purchase price for FY26. Hydropower is projected to be the cheapest source at around Rs12.25 per kWh. However, the Neelum Jhelum Hydropower Project…
Silent theft
Under the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) of 1860, theft is defined in Section 378 as follows: “Whoever, intending to take dishonestly any moveable property out of the possession of any…
Autism and the law
THE UNDP Disability and Development Report 2024 is mind-boggling. Given Pakistan’s slide into ignominy, the country itself seems to be falling through the gaps of strange-sounding global developmental indices such…
A peoples’ quest for peace – Part – I
In my previous column series, ‘Discussing South Asian Peace’, we talked about the evolution of people’s initiatives for restoring peace in South Asia. From the Pak-India Peace Forum to Himal…
Due process
“In the circumstances of the present case, she appears to be a person, in the words of Shakespeare’s King Lear, ‘more sinned against than sinning’.” — Justice Asif Saeed Khosa…
Child marriage: laws, verdicts, solutions
Pakistan turned 77 this year, yet the children harbored by the fifth most populated country continue to be failed by the state. One of the many challenges in this regard…
Vicious cycle
THE dual issue of the presence and use of draconian laws against political opponents continues, cementing the impression of weak rule of law, violation of due process and the vengeance…
Minorities as citizens
“ARTICLE 260(3) of the Constitution though declares the Ahmedis/Qadianis as non-Muslims, it neither disowns them as citizens of Pakistan nor deprives them of their entitlement to the fundamental rights guaranteed…
