The sound of music in Kashmir
Remember the cult song made famous by Maria von Trapp in The Sound of Music? The hills are alive with the sound of music? And she, who was one with…
The enemy within
Few incidents of terrorism have caused such large-scale outpouring of grief, anger and shame as the massacre in the Peshawar church last Sunday. But will this outrage awaken the Pakistani…
State and racket
Maybe there’s a simple answer to this question, but where does the business community get its clout with the state in Pakistan? What is the source of business power in…
Public safety
Having obtained consensus from all the political parties for a dialogue with those terrorists who are misusing religion as a platform, the Sharif government turned its attention to the militant-infested…
Decline of the Nehruvian
The spectre of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, India’s first prime minister and one of the three founders of the Non-Alignment Movement along with Josip Broz Tito of Yugoslavia and Gamal Abdel…
Deflecting from the church attack
The Peshawar church bombing has once again exposed the disturbing attribute of deflection within the Pakistani discourse. If we are uncomfortable discussing it, we may want to consider the discomfort…
Two faces of terrorism
The terrorist atrocities perpetrated in Peshawar and Nairobi on the weekend were dissimilar but not exactly disconnected. For one, both were explicitly directed against non-Muslims. The dozen or so men…
A crisis of laws
Article 20 of the Constitution is related to the freedom to profess religion and to manage religious institutions. In the relevant part, it says, “Subject to public order and morality:…
Fall of the rupee
Why is the Pakistani currency depreciating so rapidly vis-à-vis foreign currencies? How can this trend be arrested? What is the future outlook for Pakistan’s currency? These questions must be addressed…
Thank the council
The Council of Islamic Ideology (the ‘CII’) has been in the news. One of its members spoke to the media and said that the CII was considering recommending changes to…
