The IMF came a calling
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) mission chief for Pakistan Harald Finger arrived in Pakistan for the final day of the seventh review and thereafter held a joint press conference with…
NFC award: a challenge
The four provinces have appointed their representatives for negotiating the eighth NFC award however there are credible reports that indicate that the seventh NFC award would be extended for another…
Street power perils
“It is quite possible for this newborn democracy to retain its form but give place to dictatorship in fact. If we wish to maintain democracy not merely in form, but…
Paleo governance
Every year a new diet becomes popular. One year it’s the Mediterranean diet. The next year it’s the Atkin’s diet. Then it’s the cabbage soup diet followed by people swearing…
From where will the fresh breeze blow?
The desperation among people for change is quite obvious. It is the force which drives people towards Imran Khan and all that he promises, most markedly in urban centres. In…
The scriptwriter
Optimists in Pakistan are besieged by a worrying realisation of the fragility of the enormous gains this country has made in the last decade. These gains have been exposed as…
One-third democracy
Capital suggestion We need more democracy, not less. Democracy is about three things: elections, accountability and responsiveness. Pakistani democracy has elections but our democracy is completely devoid of both accountability…
More, not less
Almost like clockwork, the ‘fake democracy’ crowd is back. Those claiming that the era of dictatorships and coup-mongering was over utterly failed to take into account the intellectual and moral…
View Point: Troubling times
The events of the last nearly three weeks that shook this nation to the core are nearing end. So far, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has emerged victorious. He is to…
The real dialogue we need
Borrowing the expression from the outstanding writer of mystery fiction and detective stories in Urdu, Ibn-e-Safi, a dear friend and an ardent supporter of Imran Khan asked me the other…
