The Washington-Tehran detente
As if to reaffirm the proposition that inter-state relations know no permanent friends and no perpetual foes, Iran and the United States are inching towards normalisation of relations. The Washington-Tehran…
Our Sharia enforcers
Is enforcement of a certain conception of Sharia the TTP’s precondition for peace or that of its apologists who view the terror threat as an opportunity to enforce their skewed…
Zombie idea
THE government has announced a privatisation plan to sell off state-owned entities including ones that have `blue chip` status in the Karachi Stock Exchange. The argument given is that such…
Mid-level crisis
ALL those who have visited a government office must have come across the famous pronouncement of the Quaid regarding the ideal role of the bureaucracy. Prominently displayed, his vision of…
A tattered fabric
Across the entire spectrum, events have left us in a greater state of confusion about the national sense of direction. The big question remains unanswered: is a comprehensive and concerted…
Lofty goals, little vision
The economy is in a deep mess with low rates of savings, investment and growth, high rates of monetary expansion and inflation, large budget and current account deficits, a huge…
Salam, Abdus Salam
Four days from now, on January 29, much of Pakistan will forget – or refuse to remember – Dr Mohammad Abdus Salam on what would have been his 88th birthday.…
Zero-gravity decision making
For longer than one can remember, one of the primary criticisms of the House of Sharif is that it is a decision-making apex that is extremely complex, and almost entirely…
As bleak as ever
The new year has brought with it the report card on education in Pakistan that ASER (Annual Status of Education Report) has been issuing without fail since 2009. It is…
What’s the incentive?
The story goes that towards the end of the 18th century, England embarked on a policy of transporting convicts to Australia through publicly funded but privately provided transportation services. A…
