Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif
Even when he was exiled and a million miles away from his current office, everyone around him used to call him ‘Mr Prime Minister’ to get his ear. The battery…
The Sharifs’ sixer
The writer is former executive editor of The News and a senior journalist with Geo TV. Confident yet insecure. Well-established yet floundering. Unchallenged yet hobbled. In control yet struggling. The…
Doddering doyens
THIS could be a global election year, as some 60 countries are set to go to polls. Pakistan has crossed the line; India and the US will follow later. The…
Resurrection, 2024
IT is almost 45 years to the day that former prime minister Z.A. Bhutto was hanged on April 4, 1979, for a murder he did not himself commit. Since then,…
Adieu, 2022
FEW will shed tears at the extinction of 2022. It has been a strange, unhappy year for almost everyone. Perhaps the most disappointed is former prime minister Imran Khan. He…
Why Pakistan fails in space
THANKS to a legion of excellent scientists and engineers trained in Indian universities, India is shooting for the stars. Here ‘stars’ is a metaphor for much else: astrophysics, computers, chemical…
QAU’s land grabbed — again
CIVILISED countries meticulously adhere to rule of law and hold public property sacred. They also treasure education institutions, particularly their better ones. On the other hand, morally and culturally backward…
Unprecedented?
The Pakistan Public Works Department (Pak PWD) originated in the pre-partition era. Over its 77-year history, Pak PWD has been plagued by corruption, inefficiency, delays, cost overruns, and poor-quality construction,…
Varsity teachers up in arms about proposed budget cuts
As the Federation of All Pakistan Universities Academic Staff Association (FAPUASA) demanded funding for education to at least 4-5 per cent of the GDP, it expressed concerns about a letter…
A new approach to governance
Shortly after securing the last tranche of around $1.1 billion as part of the 24th staff-level agreement with the IMF last month, the country is eyeing another such engagement (bringing…
