That Pakistan is in a profound economic and political crisis is no longer in dispute. Most observers and economists are united in that opinion. What...
This is a challenge that comes, but rarely, in a country’s history. The wisdom and courage with which the people resolve this crisis will test the...
Akbar S Ahmed’s new book, ‘The Flying Man’, is a masterpiece for our times. I use this word carefully to suggest that only a master of his...
When we study the pattern of the recurrent balance of payments crises, we find that its magnitude has an escalating trend. This time, such is the...
The challenge in dealing with the short-term crisis is to avoid debt default without making the poor pay for it. At the same time, the tactical...
The new gem from Akbar S Ahmed is a compiled and edited publication of two apparently unrelated, but subtly interlinked manuscripts: A set of...
Pakistan has begun to enter the steeply rising phase of the incidence of the Covid-19 infection. Less than a month ago on February 26, there were...
Covid-19 has made human suffering the predominant preoccupation for policymakers across the world. Out of the darkness of death and disease is...
Modi’s move in Kashmir was designed to present a political fait accompli to Kashmiris, Pakistan and the international community. But instead of...
The annexation of Indian Occupied Kashmir by the government of PM Modi signifies the onset of a new dynamic of power in the Subcontinent that could...
Three features of the present economic and security environment lead to the surmise that Pakistan is in the grip of what is termed ‘unconventional...
As Pakistan enters into its 13th IMF programme, it may be helpful to consider the likely economic, political and security consequences. Since the...
Foreign Minister Shah Mahmud Qureshi on Sunday, April 7, in a press briefing in Multan, announced that the government had “reliable” information...
During the parliament session on February 28, Prime Minister Imran Khan calmly announced near the end of his speech that the previous night he had...
So, the die is cast for another confrontation between two nuclear-armed neighbours. The way it unfolds could determine whether the peoples of this...
Pakistan once again is on the verge of adopting an IMF programme. This decision is being taken by a government that had sought electoral support on...
Development research over the last three decades has established two propositions that have major implications for redefining the role of a...
Pakistan’s economy is vulnerable to the adverse effects of climate change. Pakistan, in 2016, stood at the fifth highest in the list of countries...
We can redefine underdevelopment as a condition that constrains the full potential of society from being actualised. This occurs when there is a...
In our previous article in these pages, ‘Development as transformation’ , we had outlined the conceptual framework for the idea of development...
Imran Khan and his party, the PTI, recently released their manifesto, outlining their commitment to education and health, among other matters. No...
Nobel laureate Professor Joseph Stiglitz had made a rather telling comment during a seminar some years ago. Stiglitz had said that the recent world...
Once again, the symptoms of a financial crisis have become apparent. Over the last year, the deficit on the current account of the balance of...
The budget is not just an accounting exercise that brings government expenditures and revenues in line with what is considered a prudent deficit...
Trump has won, confounding the predictions of his defeat by most of the liberal intelligentsia and the media. Two interrelated but distinct...
The human rights violations in Indian-occupied Kashmir had reached a level of brutality to be considered atrocities, when the Uri attack took place....
The social, economic and regional inequalities at the global and national levels have become so acute that the injustice inherent in them has become...
Economic orthodoxy over the last six decades thought that the market mechanism would in time reduce economic inequality. This view was based on the...
Three features of the contemporary world manifest the challenges to knowledge and public policy at the global, regional and national levels. First,...
With the publication of the latest official data on Pakistan’s economy in the year 2015-16, a matter of serious concern for policymakers has...
With the budget session due, it may be pertinent to examine the issue of budget priorities. In the past, the budget design was essentially seen as...
Once again, Pakistan is at a turning point in its political history. Yet again the institutional structure of politics is threatened by the pursuit...
After the Panama Papers scandal, the demand for accountability by the opposition and the threat of launching a mass protest campaign are believed by...
The recent exposures in the Panama Papers scandal have reinforced long-standing public suspicions of misappropriation of public funds, tax evasion...
The coalition of terrorist groups that is waging war against Pakistan struck Lahore on Easter Sunday. Children were playing in a public park...
A defining feature of Pakistan’s economy and society is the inequality of income and productive assets. The resultant inequality of...
Capital within the capitalist mode of production has historically been counter-posed to labour. In a situation where the labouring class does not...
Inter-dependence is one of the defining features of human society since Homo sapiens first began their journey of life on earth in small groups in...
The armed forces are fighting the terrorists with great valour and determination. The terrorists are retaliating by attacking students and teachers...
A new configuration of international relations is emerging in this region: old adversaries are becoming aware of new opportunities of prosperity...
What began as a financial crisis in 2008 rapidly metastasized into a global economic crisis that pushed the world economy into the deepest recession...
Pakistan has not been able to sustain its GDP growth rate at a high level, nor has growth had a substantial impact on the living conditions of the...
Pakistan is in the midst of yet another IMF lending programme and is assiduously attempting to fulfil loan conditionalities in the face of mounting...
