Karzai and the lost war
A lot has been said and written in the media in Pakistan about the recent visit of President Karzai to Islamabad. Efforts were made to pin responsibility for its failure…
Unwanted milestones
Over the past few months, Pakistan`s economy has crossed three unhappy milestones of sorts: The rupee finally crossed the 100 to a dollar mark, having lost over 10pc in its…
China’s economic modernisation Role of Confucian values
Since the last three decade China has made stupendous progress in economic modernisation. With a remarkable GDP growth of nearly 9-10 percent and foreign exchange reserves of $3 trillion, it…
Angry impotence
First YouTube was banned. Now it’s late night telephone packages. What is next? Music, for it gives the impressionable all kinds of crazy ideas about love and idealism? Poetry, which…
Blundering into Syria
THE US, together with a `coalition of the willing`, appears on the verge of launching air strikes against the military assets of Syria`s president, Bashar al-Assad. The declared purpose is…
New internet decree could stifle growth in Vietnam
A new internet decree in Vietnam has been derided as potentially putting the brakes on growth in the country's burgeoning information communications technology (ICT) sector. But the government says the…
Sindh and the dam
Pakistan’s new power policy is conspicuously silent on the critical Kalabagh dam project, reflecting the government’s indifference towards the project. The Kalabagh dam (KBD) is the only project in Pakistan…
‘Qarz burhao, mulk bigarho
In 1997 the slogan of Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) was 'Qarz Utaro, Mulk Sanwaro' [retire debt, adorn country], which is reversed in 2013 as all efforts are underway to increase…
A plan at last
The federal interior minister’s excellent initiative for reinvigorating the National Counter-Terrorism Authority (Nacta) is most welcome as is the concept of a National Intelligence Secretariat. Nacta has been mostly dormant,…
The illusion of a ‘reset’
Kerry’s visit on August 1 was the first by a US secretary of state to Pakistan after nearly two years. The last one, by Hillary Clinton in October 2011, had…
