No white heat revolutions
Former British Prime Minister Harold Wilson – twice elected – famously observed in 1964 that a week was a long time in politics. True to those words, the twist came…
The weapon of choice
With all its tactical advantages, suicide bombing has become the weapon of choice for terrorist organisations. Authoritative research shows the casualty rate caused by suicide attacks to be disproportionately high…
Strange bedfellows
The GHQ-Pentagon blow up last week was ugly. Admittedly, one had the feeling for a while that there was enough discontent in both military establishments that something would give sooner…
No iPad in heaven
Saadat Hasan Manto’s birth anniversary (in May this year) offered his fans an opportunity to re-discover the great writer. While some sane heads in the government wisely decided to honour…
After Baitullah’s death
The death of Baitullah Mehsud is no ordinary event in Pakistan’s recent fight against insurgency. By his masterly manipulation of ‘peace deals’ and taking advantage of the vacuum that existed…
Women’s role in legislation
Recently, as parliaments around the world celebrated the International Day of Democracy on Sept 15, I found myself wondering how democratic Pakistan’s parliamentarians actually are in representing women in parliament.…
The Deep State and technocrats
Anyone seen the list being circulated on the Internet containing the names of the ‘technocrats’ who are being touted as our newest saviours in the “national government” that is to…
The finance minister’s budget speech
The budget speech of the finance minister is an important piece of document as it contains the government’s views on the challenges besetting the economy in the foregoing year, the…
Much fanfare and no substance Random thoughts
We heard tall claims about the Thar Coal Project (5,000 MW for 500 years) and Reko Diq (Rs1.5-billion revenue per day), and now we have the new budget. Tall claims…
Confessed serial killer hid in plain sight, then broke own rules
A confessed serial killer from Alaska who hid in plain sight and whose crimes went undetected for more than a decade, was ultimately caught after he gave in to his…
