Moral dilemmas
A Reader recently accused me of inconsistency. He pointed out that despite my advocacy of human rights, I had argued for tough action and laws against terrorists. He went on…
Scary ineptitude
Incompetent handling of crises, often self-created, ought to be the major worry today as it poses a greater threat to Pakistan than any other challenge facing the Islamic republic. Alarmingly,…
PPO: deep, dark, twisted
Despite the obvious deprivation of human rights and constitutional safeguards, the incumbent government thought it prudent to pass the Protection of Pakistan Ordinance, 2013 (PPO) in the National Assembly last…
Our private sector
Budget cuts and sequestration have accelerated the growing interest in promoting international development through the private sector. As donor agencies reduce project spending and work within shorter time frames, they…
A reign of fear
An environment of deepening fear across the country is not only making it hard for the people, especially the more vulnerable among them, to defend their rights, it is also…
Cuba looks to cooperatives to slow rise of capitalism
Cuba's slow, cautious reforms to revive its state-run economy suddenly burst into life at businesses like Karabali, a Havana night-club owned by a 21-member co-operative. The communist government began leasing…
Democracy still in its infancy
The Chief of Army Staff General Raheel Sharif's statement on Monday, a little over five months after he was appointed, that "Pakistan army upholds the sanctity of all institutions and…
An unused right
VARIOUS international and domestic factors have led to the adoption of Right To Information (RTI) laws across the world over the last 25 years. More than 90 countries now have…
Now that April is here
Collectively, we seem to be losing it in this month of April, Eliot’s “cruellest month” that mixes “memory and desire”. It could be the spring fever or the summer madness…
The crumbs that fall from high table
How much more can we bleed? Or has the jugular vein been already severed? We were assured by Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan that Islamabad had been made impregnable…
