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Women in prisons

THE global female prison population is growing at a faster rate than that of men. While women still represent a smaller percentage of the total prison population in most countries,…

Gloomy prognosis

WHEN I first started working as a journalist, my senior colleagues and field-hardened editors introduced me to the concept of the release valve. I was often surprised that we were…

Development or deprivation?

The Cholistan Canal Project has once again ignited tensions over water distribution in Pakistan, deepening the longstanding dispute between Punjab and Sindh. While its proponents argue that the canal will…

Shattered ideals vs bitter pragmatism

Stricken by democratic ideals for decades, one is faced with harsh, unbeatable realities in Pakistan. Our heroes shatter ideals, and bitter pragmatism haunts us. If pragmatism is to be believed,…

Pakistan’s prisons in peril

Prison management is an essential pillar of any criminal justice system, directly tied to the effectiveness of crime prevention efforts and the correctional process. Efficient prison governance ensures that incarceration…

The price of curbing dissent

The government’s latest push to prosecute violators of Pakistan’s electronic crimes through fresh laws against electronic crimes runs the risk of yet another failure to curb growing dissent in an…

A profession in ruins

IN Pakistan, becoming a lawyer has never been free from navigating a labyrinth of class divides and systemic inefficiencies. The system was never equitable, and its failings have deepened over…

Prison reform in action

For over a century, Pakistan’s prison system operated under the antiquated Prisons Act of 1894, a colonial relic designed to subjugate rather than rehabilitate. This draconian framework treated inmates as…