Criminals in politics
After every general election the press publishes statistics of persons facing grave criminal charges who were elected to parliament and to the state assemblies. In one state, nearly half of…
Media treads the wrong path
AN excellent Asian Media Barometer tool has been developed by the Friedrich Ebert Siftung Foundation, a German political organisation that seeks to educate ordinary citizens about democracy and pluralism. The…
In the line of fire
The federal government’s decision to try former president and army chief Pervez Musharraf for subverting the constitution has given rise to both hopes and fears. The decision to initiate the…
Pakistan’s recognition of the Taliban
For too long have the people of Afghanistan walked through the dreadful valley of despair. Tuesday’s attack by the Taliban near the presidential palace in Kabul portends an escalation of…
Infrastructure development: Challenges and prospects
The economy of Pakistan is presently fluctuating between 3.5 to 3.7 percent, although the country remained successful in maintaining an average GDP growth of 5 percent (1972-2013). This is by…
Dar’s the die-hard optimist
Dar, a certified chartered accountant, very smartly used creative accounting to falsely take the credit for slashing the fiscal deficit by 2.5 percent of GDP in the upcoming first year…
More than a turf war
By not appointing a foreign minister and keeping the foreign ministry in his direct charge, Nawaz Sharif is repeating a mistake he made during his first tenure as prime minister.…
The new Bonn
SWEET is the taste of victory. We, the boys, had told them, the Americans, to forget about winning and listen to us: give Kandahar its due. Hold your nose while you…
Invigorating the civil service
The buzz word these days is governance. Some political analysts have argued that governance (or for that matter bad governance) was the main determinant of the 2013 election results. Where…
Manto’s human psyche
Three years before his death, Saadat Hasan Manto “undertook to compile a book of his friends’ observations about his personality” so that his readers “know as much about him as…
