The Baloch question
IT is not as if we have not been here before. Balochistan has bled for so long that the mainstream Pakistani consciousness has tuned it into the background. Yet every…
Afghan refugees & international law
AFGHAN refugees came to Pakistan more than four decades ago and since then Pakistan has played the role of an admirable host in every possible way. However, before further continuing…
The unseen worker
THE PTI as we knew it is on its death-bed. While Imran Khan was always and is still the truly big fish in a small pond, the clearly forced departures…
Conspiracy theories and polarisation
WHY do conspiracy theories thrive and divide political opinion so much? The answer to this question is, perplexingly, very simple and rooted in the science of making decisions under uncertainty.…
State of a failed promise
On August 24, which falls today, Kiev marks Ukraine’s Independence Day. Each anniversary is an opportunity to examine what has happened over that period, sum up the achievements, and review…
There’s a new spectre in Europe
The spectre of brutal policies has once again returned to Europe. However, this time it is neither communism nor the bloody red revolution; it is the pernicious far-right forces that…
Sham elections
IN the bail petition of Imran Khan and Shah Mahmood Qureshi in the ‘cipher case’, Justice Athar Minallah, through an order dated Dec 22, 2023, almost prophetically observed: “Discrimination or…
Law and the refugee
Pakistan has been home to nearly 3.8 million Afghans since Pakistan first started admitting Afghan refugees after the beginning of the Soviet-Afghan war in 1979. The most recent influx of…
A sudden change of heart and policy
The issue of refugees is not new in Pakistan. Since its inception, the country has faced challenges in accommodating refugees from across the borders and even from faraway countries such…
Modi’s forever war
India’s tax authorities raided the BBC’s offices in Mumbai and New Delhi last week. This incident may have forced the world to reluctantly wake up to Narendra Modi’s strong dislike…
