Carlotta needs a history lesson
Carlotta Gall’s latest wobbles appeared on the same day as the third quadrilateral meeting in Islamabad kicked off to push forward the Afghan peace process. The timing of this article…
The India brand
The recent opening night of ‘Fabric of India’, a new exhibition at London’s Victoria and Albert Museum, was a glittering affair. Londoners adorned in their finest pashminas, saris, and Nehru…
Muharram security challenge
Every year Muslims all over the world recall the tragedy of Karbala in Muharram, and they observe it according to a variety of traditions. The tragedy is a gripping epic…
Polish city Walbrzych agog over ‘Nazi gold’ in underground tunnel
Questions swirl around a supposed train full of "Nazi gold" found hidden underground in Poland. The Polish government appears convinced, but historians remain deeply sceptical as the local castle cashes…
India-Pakistan: hyphenated
THE Pakistan army chief’s speech on Sept 6, Defence Day, highlighted the security threats which Pakistan continues to face from India 50 years after the 1965 war. That war lasted…
Wasting energy on FTAs
The first phase of our Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with China involving restructuring of import tariffs ran its course in 2012. There is heart-burning in Islamabad that the benefits that…
Missing export focus
I recently met a few manufacturers who are not only suppliers of quality products to local manufacturers and markets but are also exporting significant proportions of their output. And the…
Without a paddle
On Feb 16, Pakistan released 172 Indian fishermen who had been serving prison terms at the Malir district jail for straying into Pakistan’s territorial waters. It may not be widely…
Pakistan as a regional manufacturing hub?
Alongside are the excerpts from the key-note address that the writer delivered at Lahore School of Economics last month. Manufacturing's share in GDP increased from about 8 percent in 1950 to…
Gabon’s dream of a Bantu cultural centre fades into a costly mirage
Two grandiose elephant tusks guard the doors of a palace built to celebrate the cultural heritage of Africa's Bantu tribes, which gradually settled across much of the continent, but beyond…
