Moving out of Foggy Bottom
As Hillary Clinton moves into the Oval, the question in Islamabad is whether a fresh administration will bring with it the promise of a Pak-US reset. Given the PML-N’s growing…
Serious issues in WB’s doing business report
The World Bank should no longer publish its Doing Business index, owing to its flawed design and vulnerability to manipulation. The Bank also owes the developing world an apology for…
From conferences to courage
Seldom does the world come across predicaments so immense that they call upon the very essence and cohesion of humanity to step in. Tumultuous and testing, 2022 was nothing short…
Bankers pour cold water on red hot coal
It’s the best of times, it’s the worst of times. At least when it comes to mining coal. After years of decline, demand for the polluting fossil fuel has surged…
Incentive-package for construction industry
The Prime Minister of Pakistan, Imran Khan, in a Press conference on April 3, 2020, announced what is termed by official quarters as a “comprehensive relief/stimulus package” for the construction…
Take a knee — Part II
Have you wondered who was the cruelest person in history? Adolf Hitler and his Nazi party? Genghis Khan and his hordes? Consider King Leopold II of Belgium. In the 19th…
The wages of wage
In the International Labour Organization’s (ILO’s) architecture, the three social partners—workers, employers and government— have a well-established tradition of meeting often and developing a consensus after intensive, provoking and challenging…
Annual budget: a useless exercise
GOVERNMENTS create a lot of waste. Pakistan recently witnessed this in the form of the sugar scandal (courtesy of government subsidies and regulations), a recurrent theme in our economic history.…
Pakistan ‘fatigue’
The US-Pakistan relationship, alternating approximately in 10 years cycles since 1971, has had us going from being the "cornerstone" of the US foreign policy to being its "gravestone". Do the…
The real issue
The right of the people to self-determination is a cardinal principle in modern international law. The concept evolved as a by-product of the doctrine of nationalism. It found expression in…
