State of turmoil
OPPOSITION leader Imran Khan’s political strategy seems to be mired in confusion and contradiction. But on closer examination it is driven by a single aim — to keep his support…
None of the above
FELLOW Gen X readers may remember the 1985 movie Brewster’s Millions where (short version) a baseball player, played by Richard Pryor, has to spend $30 million in a month in…
Local democracy
THE Sindh government recently informed the ECP of its inability to hold local elections soon, citing the shortage of police personnel as the key reason. In the same vein, amendments…
The Egypt model
IN his book, Ruling Oneself Out, sociologist Ivan Ermakoff makes an important distinction between ‘surrender’ and ‘abdication’. Surrender refers to an unwilling decision imposed because of external constraints, such as a…
Impotence of law
ARRESTS; rearrests; denial of bails; surfacing of new FIRs once bail is granted; trials behind closed doors with the die already cast. None of this is new, or even exclusive…
Local governments
SPEAKING to the First Constituent Assembly in 1947, Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah outlined several duties for the government of Pakistan: maintain law and order, root out corruption, act against black…
Sharing responsibilities
THE recently passed bill on maternity and paternity leave enables mothers to take up to six months on the first birth, and leaves of four and three months for the…
A work in progress
DURING the past 50 years, the 1973 Constitution of Pakistan has been amended 23 times — an amendment every two years on average. This is no surprise as the constitution…
Perils of punditry
IF the government decides to call for elections just a few days shy of the current parliament’s term-end, the caretaker administration will have 90 days in which to complete the…
Drift towards anarchy
WE have been in a perpetual state of crisis but what is happening now has pushed the country towards anarchy. It’s a free for all with state institutions at loggerheads.…
