Falling FDI inflows
Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) inflows into Pakistan have been drying up over the past few years. After hitting an all-time peak of $5.4 billion in 2007-08, net FDI sank to…
Muddling through in 2015
Official refrain touts four developments as government achievements — lower inflation rate, reduction in interest rates, a more controlled budget deficit and growing foreign exchange reserves. However, none of these…
Message versus speech
During Gen Pervez Musharraf’s time a television host asked Benazir Bhutto about the low attendance at the PPP jalsas that had just taken place. BB’s answer was that the time…
Terror money
The daunting challenge faced by the national and international institutions at present is tackling terror financing. The dangers and implications involved in terrorist financing have direct bearings on our established…
Beyond the politics of rallies
It is the season of political rallies. There is no shortage of adjectives for the organisers, and enthusiastic media persons are ready to exaggerate the success of each rally in…
Introducing democracy
The all-parties parliamentary committee on electoral reforms was constituted last July with a 90-day mandate to make comprehensive recommendations to ensure free and fair elections. The time given to the…
Reinforcing failure?
This mismatch between rhetoric about modern democratic values and their rampant violations by medieval practices of unaccountable power lies at the heart of the poor governance practised in Pakistan. Nurtured…
Importance of being earnest
The title of Oscar Wilde’s novel about late 19th-century British society also aptly sums up the most essential requirement for the effective governance of nations and states. History testifies that…
Muckraking as accountability
Something strange has happened in Pakistan over the last few years. We have started to view muckraking as accountability and cathartic judicial structures as justice. Can publicly naming and shaming…
Alas, no quick fixes to these problems
I have read two outstanding articles this morning (yesterday), the first, in an English newspaper, by Commander (r) Najeeb Anjum and titled ‘Give me back my old Pakistan’; and the…
