Outcome of judicial activism
The PPP chairman, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, in his first public speech, underlined the exercise of judicial activism by the Supreme Court of Pakistan and objected to the court’s performance. He…
Politics of delusion
Like the other military dictators who ruled before him, General (r) Pervez Musharraf is under the delusion that he was a benevolent leader who had ushered in an era of…
The imperative of subversion
The passing of the so-called ‘Fair Trial’ Bill in the National Assembly this past week should have raised eyebrows. Notwithstanding its name, the legislation will empower state agencies to intercept…
Nobody supports the Taliban but…
The picturesque Swat valley is still under the army’s control. Although businessmen are confident as the property market is stable, people are generally worried. They simply want an end to…
Identifying top place where corruption resides
Measuring corruption accurately is just not impossible. Economists have used indirect mathematical tools to come up with guesstimates. It is irrelevant whether corruption in Pakistan is to the tune of…
A colonial view of rape
There was another rape in Delhi this week after which the 23-year-old victim, a paramedic apprentice from Uttar Pradesh, was mutilated with an iron rod. Her condition is described as…
Facilitating or fighting black money?
While elsewhere the governments are seriously fighting the twin menace of black money and tax evasion, our rulers - civil and military alike - have provided legal ways and means…
What did Mujib want?
During a parliamentary debate, Aitzaz Ahsan once chided his friend, late Sher Afghan Niazi about December being a difficult month for the Niazis of Mianwali. The remark, quite possibly, might…
Our ambivalent democrats
Democratic civilian control of the armed forces is a necessary condition for democratic rule. No civilian control, no democracy. But achieving both democracy and civilian supremacy over the military require…
A rotten structure
That from the mid-1950s Pakistan has been ruled by an oligarchy, is beyond doubt. To begin with, this oligarchy was led by the civil bureaucracy but in October 1958, the…
