Rabbani slams proposed cut in HEC budget
Former chairman of the Senate and senior leader of the Pakistan People’s Party Raza Rabbani has strongly proposed budget cuts to the Higher Education Commission (HEC) and the cessation of…
Rabbani’s concern
Senate Chairman Raza Rabbani's thoughtful comments at a recent seminar on issues undermining national cohesion and political stability deserve serious attention. Since the subject of the seminar was "How peace…
Farewell to Rabbani
The Pakistan People’s Party deserves a nice epitaph. No political party can claim to have struggled and sacrificed more for democracy. No political party can claim to have achieved more…
What makes Rabbani angry?
Mian Raza Rabbani’s losing his cool last Friday was not unexpected. For quite some time, the Senate chairman had been getting more and more uneasy at the executive’s lack of…
Lawfare against Farhatullah Babar
In one of my previous columns (‘Lawfare limited to warfare unlimited’, March 30, 2025) we discussed how states tend to use the law as a means to stifle dissenting voices.…
What democracy means
Balloting and elections stand at the very core of any demographic system. While Pakistan has a general election scheduled for February, huge questions are already arising – as has been…
Six canals kerfuffle
Federal Minister Ahsan Iqbal has been roundly taken to task for his dismissive attitude to Sindh’s objections to the proposed construction of six new canals on the Indus to water…
On a heap of garbage
Not too long ago, I participated in an interesting conversation about the legal profession on the sideline of a conference in Lahore. At one point, a prominent lawyer looked me…
A hostage parliament
I HAVE always wanted to begin a piece with these clichéd lines and on Sunday night, I got the chance. ‘As these lines were being written’ is a phrase that…
Fading optimism
SECTIONS of the clergy and society have issued an outright condemnation of the dance performance that took place at the Independence Day ceremony as shameful and going against the ideology of Pakistan.…
