Keep the baby
On top of the charter of demands put forward by the PTI is the reconstitution of the Election Commission of Pakistan with a view to shoring up its independence. No…
Crisis in Bangladesh
The worthy Sheikh Hasina Wajid is back as prime minister of crisis-hit Bangladesh for the third spell in the wake of the recent violence-plagued parliamentary elections that lost credibility in…
Our ‘historical’ obsession
Pakistan seems to have become fertile ground for creating history. In March this year, for the first time in the country’s history, popularly elected national and provincial legislatures completed their…
Election Outlook-XXII: ‘Creative destruction’?
The announcement-exactly one month after the May 11 vote-of Budget 2013-14 has provided the new government an opportunity to make its presence felt in an effective and meaningful manner and…
Chasing the elections
A leading characteristic of the route to exercise in mass polling next month is the focus on procedural details that has eaten up a large chunk of election time. The…
Polls, war and religion
A number of factors set the upcoming national polls apart from previous such exercises. To begin with, for the first time elections are being held with a neutral caretaker setup…
Hazards of the Hazara belt: Election Outlook – VI
Maintaining eye contact is widely considered a basic component of social interaction. Failing to do so suggests you're shy or rude, or you're suffering from a serious bout of boredom.…
Stifling Jinnah’s Pakistan
We should be thankful to the returning officer who disqualified former lawmaker and one of the country’s leading columnists Mr Ayaz Amir from the 2013 elections for his alleged ‘thought-crime’…
Democracy, with tear
It may have been democratic, but it is over now - the tenure of the elected federal and provincial governments. We have made history. But what else is there to…
Undermining the elections
In our own little world of feudal-colonial-authoritarian traditions, the aspirations for democratic values and institutions are evenly matched by a discomfort with both values and institutions. How deep is that…
