Military courts – eight areas of oversight
The decision to set up military courts has been criticised by human rights bodies as a ‘political blunder’, the harmful consequences of which will be felt for a very long…
Flawed legal system
It is encouraging that some politicians in Pakistan are making access to justice for the common man their battle cry in a bid to restore public faith in the ‘system’.…
Crisis of impunity
The release of the US Senate Intelligence Committee’s report highlighting the CIA’s appalling abuses against at least 119 detainees comes at a time when torture and ill-treatment are also in…
Introducing democracy
The all-parties parliamentary committee on electoral reforms was constituted last July with a 90-day mandate to make comprehensive recommendations to ensure free and fair elections. The time given to the…
Polio and the PTI
Polio has become an epidemic in Pakistan. We have failed to control the virus and are notoriously now as the hub of breeding and spreading polio around the world. Within…
Technology or trust?
Pakistan is experiencing historical moments in terms of the changing relationship between the state and citizens. One of the moot points is the process of reconfiguration of the country’s election…
Who’ll save the justice system?
In Pakistan we take personal affront to criticism. The content of cries of despair becomes irrelevant. What provokes ire is how someone dare ask thorny questions. The tribal honour code…
The issue is cronyism
The PPP and PTI are likely to find many people who will share their fear that the new Supreme Court ruling on appointments to high posts might free the executive’s…
State failure or failed state?
That Osama bin Laden lived in urban Pakistan undiscovered by the authorities or with their connivance was bad enough; that the US Special Forces were able to find and eliminate…
The curriculum conundrum
The latest flurry of efforts to make changes in the curricula for the various categories of students offers little hope for the emergence of a rational outlook on the subject.…
