Diplomacy and force
THE United States is just beginning to realise some ageold truths on the exercise of diplomacy and the use of force. While diplomacy without the sanction of force is impotent,…
The honeymoon begins
No matter how dismal or desperate the circumstances, fresh public mandate never fails to cultivate hope. That is the beauty of democracy and why it will continue to trump misconceived…
Diplomacy and force
The United States is just beginning to realize some age-old truths on the exercise of diplomacy and the use of force. While diplomacy without the sanction of force is impotent,…
Matter of principle?
For the most part of our history ordinary folk have been suspicious of lawyers and complained about our lack of ethics. No landlord wants a lawyer as a tenant for…
Of empowerment
One fine morning in the early days of Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto’s rule, I found myself in the company of family elders where, Nizam Din, tenant of our small…
The grand opposition
Are we done congratulating ourselves over a democratically elected government having completed its term despite doomsday predictions all along? Let’s acknowledge that the continuity-of-democratic-process-as-solution-to-all-problems argument is already pushing its luck…
Institutional pillage
`Fiscal Neanderthals`. This is how a friend used to describe the finance and FBR bureaucracy and their parliamentary `handlers` after each bout of resistance to tax reform and the introduction…
The Zardari legacy
For the past four decades the PPP has thrived on the enduring Bhutto legacy. But it is the Zardari legacy on which the party is likely to be judged in…
Dangerous liaison
Pity the nation where the blood of innocents comes cheap and murderers live under state patronage. Malik Ishaq is not an ordinary criminal. The co-founder of Lashkar-i-Jhangvi has been charged…
In a blind alley
The state of Pakistan has been pushed into a blind alley and it is at the same time under attack from hardliners of more than one brand. Nobody knows what…
