A precarious situation
IT is getting messier. An increasingly strident opposition and an obstinate prime minister are now locked in a battle that may not have a winner. The battle lines are still…
Wheat woes: plenty to precarious
Jubilations about the country achieving a historic bumper wheat crop have become short-lived and have instead been overtaken by the saga of slow sales and falling price levels, resulting in…
Precarious frontiers
The recent kidnapping of five Iranian security guards by Jaishul Adl deeply strained diplomatic relations between Pakistan and Iran. Iran claimed that the guards had been transferred and were being…
Return of the ‘Dar’ Ages
IN yet another interesting twist in the ongoing political soap opera, Ishaq Dar is back, picking up from where he left off some five years ago. The so-called financial wizard promises…
New normal?
IN September 2016, India announced that it had carried out a surgical strike against Pakistan. The strike had not happened in reality, and, at that point, most analysts concluded that India was…
Institutions crumbling?
AS Pakistan gets ready to celebrate its 75th birthday, a range of institutions seem to have developed cracks manifesting decay that needs urgent repair. The institutions, both state and non-state,…
Rising energy tariffs, sinking economy
Unless power tariffs for industrial consumers are rationalized immediately, economic catastrophe is imminent. Pakistan faces a situation akin to the “boiling frog” metaphor, where the gradual increase in energy tariffs…
Pakistan’s plastic paradox
“Only we humans make waste that nature can't digest,” says American oceanographer Charles Moore, who is famous for bringing the world’s attention to the Great Garbage Patch – a vast…
An ever-evolving terrorism threat
The US withdrawal from Afghanistan in August 2021 has led to a surge in terrorism in Pakistan. Nothing is safe from terror attacks – cantonments, airbases, police lines, counterterrorism department…
Investment-friendly Pakistan?
The Pakistani ruling elite routinely makes tall claims about attracting massive investment that it believes can transform the country. Sections of media instantly jump on this narrative, spreading it on…
