Country needs a new finance minister
Ishaq Dar, the incumbent finance minister, is clearly unable to give any, let alone, due attention to the portfolio of finance that he nonetheless refuses to surrender. Today the country…
Sanctity of data
The most ill-advised appointment by the Caretaker government with respect to the economy has been to transfer Tariq Mehmood Pasha as Secretary Ministry of Statistics effective 1 July 2018 -…
National water policy
Pakistan Council of Research in Water Resources (PCRWR) delivered a grim warning that "water" availability in the country had touched the "water-stress line" in 1990 before crossing the "water scarcity…
Water woes
Pakistan has surpassed Ethiopia in water scarcity. In the next seven years Pakistan will experience water shedding worse than electricity load shedding with water load shedding for up to several…
Not in the name of freedom of speech
The way the mainstream media spread fake news in reporting a Lahore High Court order pertaining to a case of repeated commission of contempt against higher judiciary should give a…
Financial emergency: possible/probable?
Is the declaration of a financial emergency imminent if the budget 2018-19 is implemented? This has been categorically rejected by Federal Finance Minister Miftah Ismail as one would have expected…
Ministerial scorecard: mostly failing grades?
Seven years ago, almost to the day, the 18th amendment fundamentally changed the structure of government. It heralded a final departure from the centralising spirit of the India Act 1935…
Fata reform: plans & pitfalls
The report of the Committee on Fata Reforms, that has rightly been made public via the website of the Ministry of States and Frontier Regions (Safron), needs to be studied…
A constitutional black hole
EVERY year, the people of Gilgit-Baltistan observe liberation day on Nov 1 to celebrate their emancipation from the repressive rule of the princely state of Jammu and Kashmir. Involving great…
GB: the way forward
ON his last day in office, Supreme Court chief justice Saqib Nisar ruled on two fundamental issues ie constitutional rights and the governance structure for the people of Gilgit-Baltistan. Of…
