Paying it off
So we are told that the government plans to retire the circular debt and restore power supplies. Under the present circumstances, it is hard to imagine a better policy stimulus…
Investing in justice
When people discuss development, they often discuss economic indicators, social services like health and education, but they seldom discuss the justice system, the process in criminal courts, the condition of…
The dilemma of talks
DIALOGUE is a meaningful process. It should not be denied or abandoned on the basis of certain apprehensions or presumptions about the outcome alone. Somehow the ongoing debate on whether the…
Rescuing Thar coal
Even as Pakistan's energy woes worsened - causing industries to shutdown, piling miseries upon people - the cheap and abundant solution to its energy problems languished and seemed lost in…
Turmoil in tribal areas
Our armed forces are engaged in fierce battles in the Khyber and Kurram agencies and on a somewhat smaller scale in the other tribal agencies to re-establish the writ of…
A Pakistani in Delhi
On January 6, I nervously landed at the Delhi airport. I say nervously because I wasn’t there as a tourist. I had gone to India as a researcher – to…
The deep state
JUDGES, prosecutors, investigators, witnesses, lawyers: no one is safe in a criminal justice system pitted against militants and their patrons in the deep state of Pakistan. The judges` detention case…
The negative side of positive
PRIME Minister Manmohan Singh urged us all recently to shed `negativity`. I kept looking long and hard for `positivity` between the rolling hills of scams, the deepening crisis in the…
Bullish on Pakistan
ALTHOUGH the Karachi Stock Exchange has risen over 50pc over the last year, financial analysts have not rushed to declare Pakistan a `bull market`. The reasons for their caution are…
Taxing the taxed: Income Support Levy Act, 2013
In the current budget, the government has proposed to levy a wealth tax by proposing to enact a new law.1 The object of the tax is to provide financial assistance,…
