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Khan vs Tareen

IMRAN Khan and Jahangir Tareen’s story is not a new one in Pakistan’s politics. Ayub and Yahya, Bhutto and Khar, Zia and Chishti, Musharraf and Shaukat Aziz. Even former president…

A recalcitrant rupee!

The budget for the current fiscal year, reviewed and amended by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) as a prior condition for the staff level agreement (SLA) on the Stand-By Arrangement…

Aurangzeb: legitimate expectations?

Expectations are extremely high with the appointment of Muhammad Aurangzeb as finance minister on 11 March 2024 – a position that he was reportedly offered even during the caretaker setup…

Institutional overextension

What happens when multiple crises converge at the same time and place? We are watching and learning in real time. Every day brings more unbelievable news. Even the most stoic…

Stability: Dhaka vs Islamabad

A lot of people ask why Bangladesh has been able to manufacture over a decade of economic growth enabling political stability. Part of the answer casts the intensity and transformative…

The finance minister’s statement

Finance Minister Shaukat Tareen’s May 5 press conference was a breath of fresh air after a decade of fuddling and muddling on the economic front, particularly the last two and…

Is the HEC fiasco fixable?

Today (Tuesday, June 8), the honourable chief justice of the Islamabad High Court will listen to arguments for and against the legality of the government’s recent alterations to the character…

An unwarranted assumption

Shaukat Tareen is the fourth finance minister in the PTI government that came to power in August 2018. A banker of considerable distinction who earlier led the finance ministry during…

France vs Pakistan’s elite vs the TLP

Organizations like Charlie Hebdo, institutions like laicite and politicians like Emmanuel Macron can pretend all they like, but their attitude and approach to Islam is rooted in a tradition of…

The cabinet reshuffle

‘The change at the finance ministry’ – this was the title of my last article printed in these pages on April 6. Little did I know at the time that…