Urbanization issues
Pakistan is the most urbanized country in South Asia. Yet, there are issues of the definition of urbanization, as well as other challenges associated with the urbanization experience. This article…
Urban terrorism
Since early 2000, we have gradually experienced a change in the country’s security landscape, especially in the cities: gated communities; intrusive stop-and-search pickets; zigzag barriers; armed deployments with bulletproof jackets…
Economic Survey: government needs to work harder
The government of PML-N last month entered the fourth year of governing the country. President Mamnoon Hussain while addressing a joint session of parliament earlier this week stated: "The successful…
Unfinished agenda needs focus
While political battles and legal wrangling continue to grab our attention, as will the new army chief’s appointment, partially addressed issues, which threaten the very existence of our 69-year-old nation,…
Humanitarian needs
On Monday, leaders from governments, international agencies, the private sector and civil society will gather at the World Humanitarian Summit in Istanbul, to address some of the most critical challenges…
Urban poverty
When I first arrived in Pakistan in 1990, there were 120 million people. The population in urban areas was 33m. When I returned five months ago, there were 70 to…
Reimagining Karachi and urban Pakistan
Laurent Gayer’s book on Karachi’s “ordered disorder” has quite rightly begun to occupy top billing in any conversation about the city. This is a case of exceptional timing. As Karachi…
Reforming the urban property tax in Punjab
Roads, streetlights, policing and sanitation are some of the services for which governments levy the property tax in cities and towns. The urban property tax collected in Punjab, however, is…
Forgotten rural needs
It may be true that cities are the engine of growth, but Pakistan’s obsession with urban development is restricting space for the discourse on rural development. It is not that…
The urban battleground
THE al-Shabab gunmen, who took over the Westgate Mall in Nairobi, Kenya and held hundreds of people hostage for 80 hours, used advanced weapons and cellular technology to coordinate and…
