Constitutional amendments: Part IV
After General Ziaul Haq managed to arm twist the National Assembly in 1985 to pass the devastating 8th Amendment, he announced the withdrawal of martial law in December. Now the…
Constitution and equality
The constitution is at its most prominent when the ruling elite’s interests are affected and agitated before the courts. But, arguably, more pernicious is the silent departure from the over-arching…
Soviet memories (Part VI)
As 1989 proceeded, the Soviet Communist Party faced more problems. Gorbachev was pushing it into a direction from where the party knew it would not come out unscathed. In the…
Chinese and Soviet reform in the 1980s – Part II
In the meantime, in the Soviet Union, Brezhnev died in 1982 and was replaced by another old man and the head of the KGB, the Soviet intelligence agency, Yuri Andropov…
Chinese and Soviet reform in the 1980s: Part – I
As 2019 is coming to a close, looking back at two important personalities who died this year – Li Peng and Anatoly Lukyanov – here are some thoughts on Chinese…
Constitutional obligations
The will of the people of Pakistan is sacrosanct. This is codified in the very preamble of the constitution of Pakistan: “Whereas sovereignty over the entire Universe belongs to Almighty…
Crisis of dictatorship: Part – I
Exactly 30 years ago, towards the end of 1990, one of the two superpowers of that time – the Soviet Union – was facing an existential crisis. Though the Soviet…
Back to a regressive order?
THE federal government’s proposal to revive the jirga system in the newly merged districts is being seen as a prelude to the restoration of the former tribal agencies’ semi-autonomous status.…
The Afghan conundrum
The failure of talks between Islamabad and Kabul in Istanbul, mediated by Turkiye and Qatar, has once again highlighted the complexity of Pakistan-Afghanistan relations. At the bilateral level, there is…
Why transparency matters
Forty years and 4000 kilometres away, Nadya Pravyk gazed mesmerised at the ethereal, incandescent beam of light that shot up to the sky, ripping the heavens apart. And yet with…
