On unpaid labour
ACCORDING to the World Bank, women make up only one quarter of the total workforce in Pakistan. Among the primary reasons for this are deeply entrenched societal norms (such as…
Up the escalation ladder?
THE dam has burst. And how. In a matter of four weeks, shelving nearly three years of silence, Nawaz Sharif has raced up the escalation ladder in naming individuals and…
Health notes
Nephrology is the branch of medicine concerned with the physiology and diseases of the kidneys. The name comes from 'nephron', a functional unit within the kidney (a miniscule filter) consisting…
Abstract numbers, real people
WHILE one could probably say this about the entire discipline of economics, the sub-discipline of macroeconomics appears to be even more acutely delinked from the human condition. Its main considerations…
A stripped girl they didn’t see
Let me pose a question to you. The idea is to prompt a serious reflection on the national state of affairs. So, what recent events or issues, which have either…
Prospects for detente
The foreign minister’s decision to criticise the national security adviser for meeting the Indian High Commissioner to Pakistan in Islamabad last week was unfortunate and poorly-timed. It was unfortunate because…
Dear Fatherland…when wilt thou grow up?
From which school of law and diplomacy has the Islamic Republic learned that every silly statement must be answered and that verbal muscle-flexing is a sign of power? Verbosity is…
Pakistan’s many embarrassments
It is clearer now than before: Nawaz Sharif should not have gone to attend Narendra Modi’s swearing-in ceremony. While it could achieve nothing it made Pakistan look a bit like…
Days of judgment
Politicians fear the law, as indeed they should. But what truly terrifies them is the great hall of justice known as the court of public opinion. A court trial may…
Margins to mainstream
In the shadows of Pakistan’s booming industrial hubs, millions of women power the country’s informal economy -- often unseen and unprotected. Their labour sustains critical circular economy systems from waste…
