Fair trial for terrorists?
The Investigation for Fair Trial Bill, 2012 has drawn a lot of attention as it allows certain law-enforcement agencies to use modern evidence-gathering techniques and devices against suspected militants and…
Justice or revenge?
The International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) set up in Bangladesh in 2010 by Prime Minister Hasina Wajid’s Awami League government, sentenced Abdul Quader Mollah, a senior Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) leader, to life…
Sectarian threat to polls
The brutal killing of a leading lawyer in Peshawar last Friday, apparently for his belief, should awaken everyone who wields any authority in Pakistan to the dangerous consequences of the…
Education and mobility
When I was in college, our undergraduate classes were allocated on the basis of student roll numbers. We were thus forced to interact with students who did not belong to…
Doctors on strike
A cat and mouse game is raging on between young doctors and the government of Punjab. There is a set pattern being followed by both sides, based on earlier skirmishes…
Dead or disappeared
When President Asif Ali Zardari signed into law the Actions (in Aid of Civil Power) Regulation, 2011, almost nobody noticed. Then, as now, Pakistan was in the midst of its…
Tax amnesty for whom?
The Political and Strategy Committee (PSC) of Pakistan Tahreek-i-Insaf (PTI), in a meeting held under its Chairman Imran has expressed deep concern over the introduction of Tax Laws (Amendment) Bill…
The real threat to democracy
It is time to celebrate. The current democratic order, which appeared to be wobbling and on the brink in the wake of Dr Tahirul Qadri’s long march and four-day protest…
Tough lessons
Watching the bizarre events in Pakistan over the last few days, I believe it is true: there are always two sides to a story, two ways of looking at the…
Political jugglers (Part I)
Asadullah Khan Ghalib was an indomitable and versatile figure. He could, in simple verse, express human characteristics in all aspects. The following verse is a masterpiece in describing the contradictions…
