Pakistani democracy and idealism
Pakistan is a security state – something that has led to many an ill in the country. It would have been acceptable if in the last 60-plus-years we had transformed…
Crumbling tax system
Taxes play a vital role for establishing an egalitarian society, the true fruit of social democracy. Under a representative and responsible government, citizens are taxed according to their ability (at…
Agenda for the nation 2013 and beyond-III
Over the past five years, extremely bad governance wrought with corruption and compromise in the name of continuity of democracy has brought the country to a disastrous point. This has…
Let this Pandora’s box be opened
Since his return to Pakistan on a mission to ‘save’ the country, Musharraf has been uncharacteristically subdued. For good reason. The public response to his homecoming has been one of…
A transformational leader, unfortunately
Looking back, it now seems strange that during her first couple of years as prime minister, Margaret Thatcher was widely viewed as something of an aberration. In 1981, with unemployment…
Tension in Korea
The North Korean soldiers shown parading on TV recently mercifully didn’t have the gusto of German troops goose-stepping in 1914, which amply demonstrated their over enthusiasm for war nearly a…
Debt and fiscal policy statements 2012-13
Two important documents, namely, Fiscal Policy Statement and Debt Policy Statement for 2012-13, released on 4th February 2013 by the Debt Policy Co-ordination Office of Ministry of Finance, while expressing…
Everything’s almost free in Spain’s parallel barter economy
It can be argued that extra-judicial interventions first by Ghulam Mohammad as Governor General in 1951 and later by military regimes and disregard of the Constitution - facilitated by either…
Back in the line of fire
Former president Pervez Musharraf has played yet another gamble – this time by deciding to return to Pakistan at a time when the country stands just less than 50 days…
The grand opposition
Are we done congratulating ourselves over a democratically elected government having completed its term despite doomsday predictions all along? Let’s acknowledge that the continuity-of-democratic-process-as-solution-to-all-problems argument is already pushing its luck…
