They just fade away
General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani stepped down as chief of army staff on Friday. He passed on the baton, and, with it, the trammelling burden of responsibility, to his successor General…
Sentenced to deformity
When I was a small boy in Scotland, a long time ago, there was a much-feared disease called infantile paralysis. Nobody I knew contracted it, but when you visited somebody…
Privatisation. Yes. But, why?
As Pakistan prepares to navigate a new round of privatisation and as we engage in passionate conversation about what is to be privatised, when, and how, it may be useful…
Myitsone Dam project a timebomb for next Myanmar government
Aungmyintha "Model Village" in Myanmar's northern Kachin state didn't exist until three years ago, and its residents mostly wish it had never been built. It is one of two villages…
Camus’s centenary and Taliban question
Today the world observes the centenary anniversary of birth of Albert Camus who was born on November 7, 1913 in French Algeria to a Pied-Noir (French Algerian) family. Died at…
Money makes the world go round
As things go, Pakistanis are amongst the most mobile people in the world. According to government statistics, at least seven million people are formally listed as ‘overseas Pakistanis’, while many…
The reluctant democrats
The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) is cracking under pressure; the scale of the task of organising local government elections is colossal. In the 2005 local government elections, there were…
The talks conundrum
The initiative for opening talks with the Pakistani Taliban groups appears to be losing steam even before any real contact has been established. The enthusiasm for talks, demonstrated during the…
A new beginning?
Nawaz Sharif’s four-day visit to Washington last week was the high point of the government’s effort to reset Pakistan-US relations on more positive lines, a desire that is shared by…
Flawed energy policy
It is an accepted fact now that the National Energy Policy 2013-2018 is merely a policy statement. Or, at best, it is the policy strategy, as declared in the document…
