A creeping police state
India’s greatest strength is its democracy. If the country has been on the march of progress in the face of a million mutinies and boasts stability and functioning institutions, it…
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,…
No numbers game
Some perplexing challenges await the incoming government. It’ll need every ounce of patience, every penny’s worth of wisdom scrapped from past experience to tackle things. For one, the system that…
Limits to privatisation
From the statements of the PML-N leaders (likely to adore federal ministries) a clear hint is that privatising the public sector enterprises (PSEs) would be the focus of the new…
The political hiatus
The fierce electoral contest unfolding in Pakistan has as its counterpart a relatively tranquil state of affairs in the interim set-up. This is good, and should be the approach of…
Wannabe finance minister
Like the Titanic, our finance ministry is heading towards a dangerous iceberg. A head-on collision can tear a hole grievous enough to drag down the economic structure of the state.…
Twilight of the PPP?
The battle lines have been drawn as polling day closes in. The outcome of these elections, now less than a week away, is perhaps the most difficult to predict since…
Viewpoint: Bringing an end to drone strikes
Imran Khan has been the strongest critic of US drone operations in our tribal areas, telling the people if elected prime minister he would order shooting down of any drone…
Change has finally come to Pakistan
In the run-up to what is now being viewed as Pakistan’s truly historic election, an old Pakistani reader of mine based in Saudi Arabia wrote in, twice, to ask: “Not…
The new Sharif era
Good, bad or ugly, the 2013 elections are over; and now testing times are ahead for the new incumbents. It is the third coming for Nawaz Sharif, a remarkable turn of…
