Unprecedented?
The Pakistan Public Works Department (Pak PWD) originated in the pre-partition era. Over its 77-year history, Pak PWD has been plagued by corruption, inefficiency, delays, cost overruns, and poor-quality construction,…
Capital suggestion: Privatizing PIA
There isn't a company like Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) – anywhere in the world. There isn’t a company that has accumulated liabilities of Rs830 billion and total assets of Rs171…
Battle for southern Punjab
There are more than 48 national and 100 provincial assembly seats in the three divisions of southern Punjab. The overwhelming majority of seats in Multan, Bahawalpur and DG Khan divisions…
The Toshakhana’s moral vacuum
Now that the Toshakhana record for the period 2002-2022 is in the public domain, we can see how morally questionable the rules were that allowed our leaders to keep gifts…
The government’s options
The Supreme Court ruled on Tuesday that the Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP) decision to postpone polls to the Punjab Assembly till Oct 8 was unconstitutional, and fixed May 14…
Even six swallows may not a spring make
Imran Khan and the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaaf (PTI) are feeling extremely chuffed at his winning six of the seven National Assembly (NA) seats he stood on in the by-elections held on…
Chefs in the kitchen
Spoilt children are good at making messes, bad at cleaning up. If there ever was a parable for the Pakistani elite, it is this. But there are others. If you…
Bizarre, desperate ploy
As these lines are being written, the National Assembly (NA) is meeting to take up the no-confidence motion of the opposition against Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan. The outcome is…
Pakistan’s human capital conundrum
In 1986, the Journal of Political Economy (JPE) published a paper (‘Increasing returns and long run growth’) by a relatively unknown economist. The same person, Paul Romer, got another one…
PDM, Aurat March, Myanmar and all that
The long title of today’s column does not reflect the lack of an important subject that can stand alone, but the commonality of many themes that afflict Pakistan and the…
