Death and politics
It wasn’t an excuse or a farce. Begum Kulsoom Nawaz, Pakistan’s former first lady and one-time head of the PML-N, really was sick. For more than a year, she battled…
A protest not named PML-N
SOME reputations are impossible to shrug off. Even though Shahbaz Sharif and Mian Nawaz Sharif have since swapped places, and the elder brother — the more capable and more worthy…
No sweets, only a smile
NO surprise basket of sweets arriving at the newspaper office in the early hours after the polls this time. Instead, you will have to make do with a broad grin.…
Burden of fairness
The Islamabad High Court’s judgment releasing Nawaz Sharif pending adjudication of his appeal lays bare infirmities in the accountability court order that convicted him. The IHC judgment would have been…
A new ball game
In some ways, it was a judgment foretold. But it still came as a shock. And emotions were raised by the excruciatingly long suspense during the long hours spent waiting…
Will the PML-N survive?
Political pundits have painted a doomsday scenario for the PML-N. With their zeal to demonstrate their mastery in sycophancy, political commentators who worship the rising sun have even started calling…
The underdogs
Let’s begin with the positives. Despite the hue and cry surrounding the question ‘how will this government survive five years?’, it did. Suffice it to say, they pulled it off…
As you sow, so shall you reap
As expected, leaders of all political parties as well as the Army chief have strongly condemned the assassination attempt on Interior Minister Ahsan Iqbal by a man affiliated with the…
Shifting winds of politics
It is election season, and a time for migratory birds to move to new nesting grounds. This past Monday the first flock of eight PML-N legislators from southern Punjab quit…
All the people, all the time?
In 1998, Nawaz Sharif tried to augment his powers as prime minister and perhaps subvert democracy when he tried to bring in the controversial Shariah bill or the 15th Amendment.…
