Alliance for change
We face many paths to doom today — both economic and security-related — but only a few paths to avoid it. But the state doesn’t adopt these paths as they…
Our elite’s bankruptcy
“God gave Noah the rainbow sign, no more water, the fire next time.” AS Pakistan’s difficulties in meeting its external payment obligations deepen, its elitist policymakers, both past and present,…
Growth & inflation statistics
OUR inflation data compiled by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) is one the best datasets in the country. Its coverage is wide and not only does it follow data…
Our ‘Chicago boys’
IN 1973, Chilean military dictator Augusto Pinochet rolled out neoliberal economic policies with the promise of reforming the economy. Backed by top minds from the influential University of Chicago’s School…
In the middle
THE Indian Ocean has been a critical trade route but has arguably never been of the same strategic importance as, say, the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. The latter two have…
A close call
AFTER keeping millions of people on tenterhooks for almost a week, Cyclone Biparjoy petered out without inflicting much damage. Sindh’s coastal districts from Karachi to Badin narrowly survived a climatic…
Atypical politics
MANY wonder why our politics is so unlike Western democracies’. Politics emerges from and reflects societal realities. Our society is unlike Western ones and thus too is our politics. But…
Ten paths forward
SOME facts about this country are very clear. It faces big threats in the next 25 years that may dwarf the big ones of the last 75 years. The remedies…
The IMF as saviour?
The irony of ironies. An institution which across the globe has been acknowledged as anti-people, elitist and responsible for increasing poverty, misery and destitution across dozens of countries, is now…
The age of uncertainty
IN the midst of the worst catastrophe Pakistan has faced in living memory, uncertainty looms about the future. But with that comes an opportunity to rebuild lives and make the…
