Unfair assault on institutions
THE failure of the government to get Finance Minister Abdul Hafeez Sheikh elected as a senator from Islamabad appears to have caused a great shock to the prime minister who…
Judicialization of regime change
“There is hardly any political question in the United States that sooner or later does not turn into a judicial question” – Alexis de Tocqueville, ‘Democracy in America’ (1835) Political…
Elections and the courts
IT was very heartening to see the Supreme Court putting its foot down and refusing to interfere in the schedule of the second phase of KP local government election fixed by the…
Let the games begin
ON Sunday morning, it was not just Lata’s death that brought “aaj phir jeene ki tamana hai…” to mind but also the news stories about the opposition’s weekend date in Lahore. ‘PML-N-PPP…
Dilemmas of opposition
THE recent setback faced by the opposition in the Senate served as a telling reminder of its weakness even as it gears up to challenge the PTI government by its ‘long marches’…
Doomsday politics
Disqualified as Prime Minister (PM) by the Supreme Court (SC) on July 28, Nawaz Sharif was forced to relinquish his position as President of PML-N. Tailor-made for one individual the…
State-sponsored’ corruption in fiscal policies of Pakistan — I
I did two posts on the social media addressed to two different groups of friends namely ‘Corporate Pakistan’ and ‘C100 Think Tank’ on November 13 and 14, respectively. I will…
No more, absolutely not
“Seriously”. The response of the anchor in utter disbelief tells the story. That one word “seriously” was loaded. It was an expression of “do you know what you are saying?”…
In bad faith
LAST week, I received a message from a family friend pleading with me to get her an appointment with a renowned faith healer she said was visiting Pakistan. Her son…
Judicialisation as politics
LAST week, pre-demolition work on Karachi’s ill-fated Nasla Tower began on the orders of the Supreme Court. The entire process stands expedited under heightened judicial scrutiny. There is, apparently, little regard for…
