The railways as a metaphor
A Fortnight or so ago, the New York Times ran a long front-page piece on Pakistan Railways (PR) by its Pakistan bureau chief, Declan Walsh. Declan, a good friend and…
Managing energy
Prof James Trevelyan has rightly pointed in his article, ‘Pakistan has a bright energy future’ (May 31), that Pakistan can overcome its energy issues by rethinking its electricity distribution. I…
Tax proposals – II
Initial developmental efforts are generally marked by inflationary tendencies in an economy. Inflation, if uncontrolled, may thwart all development plans and bring misery to the poor. A reasonable degree of…
Tax proposals – II
Initial developmental efforts are generally marked by inflationary tendencies in an economy. Inflation, if uncontrolled, may thwart all development plans and bring misery to the poor. A reasonable degree of…
Invisible enemy
Pakistan Information Security Association (PISA) recently held a Cyber Security Conference at Islamabad. This paper analyzes key aspects of the discourse, captures important observations and recommends action points for securing…
Revenue targets for 2013-14
According to Press reports, the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) is not going to collect even Rs 2000 billion against the target of Rs 2381 billion fixed in budget 2012-13,…
Watch out, Mian Sahib
Mian Nawaz Sharif, who could not finish his stipulated term as prime minister twice before, has taken oath of office as PM again. Acquiring a ‘heavy mandate’ in his 1997…
The five men in charge
There are five men who will call the shots for some time to come in the political arena of Pakistan. They will lead decision-making on key issues and oversee the…
Clearing the minefield
Pakistan’s socio-economic problems have assumed cancerous dimensions – and the road to recovery is now a minefield. Clearing the minefield, rather than skirting it like past governments, is the only…
Not so fast
Even before Nawaz Sharif’s formal swearing in as prime minister, the Manmohan Singh government has launched a major diplomatic initiative to kick-start a high-level diplomatic dialogue with the incoming government…
