View Point: Another glorious milestone reached
As President Asif Ali Zardari's term in office ends on September 8, the Election Commission of Pakistan has announced new election to the President's office will be held on August…
Defunct economists at work
Pakistan is in the throes of a serious dilemma inasmuch as the functional aspects of the economy are not working. This happens when the fundamentals are not sound. The structural…
Spotlight: What people would want to see happening in the first 100 days!: Will end September 13 show some light at the end of the tunnel?
Ordinary Pakistanis like you and me look forward to a measure of quick (hundred days?) tangible relief from current miseries and, building further on that, to medium and long-term solutions…
Countering terrorism
The many reasons that Pakistan is now the 'ground zero' of terrorism are well known. It is mostly our own fault for giving this threat time and space. We allowed…
Of human bondage
The US State Department released the ‘Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report, 2013 on June 19. The report has been regularly issued every year since 2001. It grades different countries of…
Finance Bill 2013: Meaningful suggestions
Senate Standing Committee on Finance sent a number of meaningful, though unbinding, recommendations to the National Assembly on 21st June, 2013. Finance Minister Ishaq Dar ignored all of them while…
Budget 2013-14: No will to tax the rich
By just tinkering with tax rates here and there and imposing or enhancing regressive taxes - fixing revenue collection target at Rs 2598 billion for fiscal year 2013-14 - the…
Teachers & bureaucrats
“The education department, believe me, is much more corrupt than the police department.” This is how one teacher put it in a conversation we were recently having about problems public…
Death and dying in Karachi
There are no vultures in Karachi, at least not the kind that circle in the sky, flapping and gliding, waiting for an opportunity to scavenge below. There are other birds…
Nawaz has a lot to learn
With the polling date less than two weeks away, the election campaign has now reached its peak. The selective targeting of the ANP by the TTP and the continuing violence…
