Karachi gets a peacemaker
Major-General Rizwan Akhtar, DG Pakistan Rangers (Sindh): “If Karachi is ever to become peaceful again, the militant wings of political parties need to be abolished.” August 29, 2013. September 22,…
Criminalisation of politics
Politics and crime form almost a symbiotic relationship. Both are driven by the same impulse — the acquisition of money and power. Politics needs money to buy influence and crime…
Descent of anarchy?
Besides Pakistan's fiscal woes, corruption in state offices (exposed almost every day), maladministration, and ever-present threat of terrorism, a more dangerous developing distortion is people's loss of faith in the…
Can the stable boys clear the mess?
Ever spared a thought for the stable boys who clear horse droppings at magnificent parades, for example, at the majestic forecourt of India’s presidential lodge in Delhi? To enforce India’s…
‘Spy mania’ makes comeback in Russia amid Ukraine war
What do a nuclear scientist, a young mother of seven, a church employee and a former military factory boss have in common? They've all been charged with high treason, espionage…
Greece shakes Europe’s political kaleidoscope – expect the unexpected
By catapulting to power an improbable alliance of the hard left and nationalist far right, Greece has shaken up Europe's political kaleidoscope and may have signalled the end of an…
Calculated escalation
The latest round of exchange of fire between Pakistani and Indian armies and border forces across the Line of Control (LoC) and the Working Boundary (WB) was the most extensive…
Turning a wrong into a right
An alarming number of people in the country hold views that can only be described as reprehensible. Many hold the view that the execution of Aasia Bibi, the Christian woman…
Flying solo
Pkistan’s successes are individual, its failures collective. Take mountaineering: a young mountaineer Samina Baig conquers Mount Everest in 2013. In exploration, Namira Salim reaches both Poles — the North in…
Malgovernance: Pakistan’s hallmark?
In my column last week, I had expressed doubts about success of 'negotiations' between the PML-N regime and the PTI-PAT combine. These negotiations were bound to fail; large-scale arrests of…
