The writer is a graduate from a western European university
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December 30, 2024
BB and the art of realpolitik
Benazir Bhutto, like Indra Gandhi in neighbouring India, did not have to start from scratch
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November 24, 2024
Deja vu in East Asia?
During WWII, Japan’s economy and national morale were plummeted by its doomed alliance with Germany
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October 29, 2024
Seniority sidelined
In parliamentary system, which is in vogue in Pakistan, in theory executive is creation of legislature
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October 23, 2024
Geo-economics over geo-politics
Napoleon once said: “The foreign policy of a country is determined by its geography”
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October 17, 2024
The media and the spectacle
Media not only presents facts but also shapes perspective from which facts are seen and interpreted
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October 07, 2024
China at 75 – and beyond
Two classic validations of the Yin-Yang philosophy are the ascendency of capitalism in the 20th century
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October 02, 2024
Age is not just a number
Decision rests on two variables: increasing life expectancy and growing share of old people in population
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September 24, 2024
Our national soap opera
Pakistani politics is full of twists and turns like a smash-hit soap opera
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September 15, 2024
Paradox of depopulation
The higher relative size of young population, the greater the supply of workforce and less the spending on old age and post-retirement benefits
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September 08, 2024
The EU’s Chinese dilemma
The more the Beijing-Washington relations slide and the more the Chinese economy and market expand, the more intensity the dilemma assumes
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September 04, 2024
Afghanistan’s moral dilemma
After taking over in 2021, Afghan Taliban had announced they would rule country according to Shariah.
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August 25, 2024
Downsizing is not the answer
Cabinet committee on institutional reforms has proposed to cut some 150,000 positions in the federal government
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August 16, 2024
Personal, not principled
If politics is the art of deception, Khan stands above his rivals head and shoulder
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August 03, 2024
A tale of two Indias
India trumpets its secular credentials, but minorities are put to death on slightest suspicion of eating beef
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July 27, 2024
Quotas may not be the perfect answer
Protesters allege that Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Wajid is playing a double game
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July 21, 2024
The power of the cult
The only antidote to a powerful cult is its followers’ disenchantment with it
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July 14, 2024
The ‘change’ in Iran
After winning election, Pezeshkian promised that his victory would usher in a new chapter in the country’s history
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July 08, 2024
A land of ‘bholas’
Deceased were part of a massive gathering assembled to listen to the wise words of a ‘holy man’
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July 02, 2024
Will the leopard change its spots?
BJP falls well short of a simple majority of 272
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June 25, 2024
Third time’s [not]the charm?
India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi waves on the day he votes during the third phase of the general election, in Ahmedabad, India, May 7, 2024. —...
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June 12, 2024
Back to the cold war?
The adversaries during the cold war were not two nations or even ordinary blocs but two systems
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May 29, 2024
Capitalism’s enduring dominance
German philosopher Hegel hit nail on head when he stated that every doctrine contains within it seeds of its destruction
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April 17, 2024
A strategic rivalry
In 2023, the US-China bilateral trade reached $575 billion
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March 27, 2024
Moral suasion isn’t the answer
People shop at a market in Lahore. — AFP/FileWhenever the economy is up the creek, as at present, messages start doing the rounds that if each...
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March 21, 2024
Why do reforms elude Pakistan?
Fiscal deficit, however, becomes a problem, and a serious one if it’s persistently high, when, as in the case of Pakistan
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March 15, 2024
Egging on the IMF
Is Imran Khan's letter an earnest attempt to safeguard genuine democracy in Pakistan?
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March 02, 2024
Dynamics of a political oligopoly
Former PM Shahbaz Sharif, former Present Asif Zardari, and PPP Chairmen Bilawal Bhutto during the press conference on February 20, 2024. —...
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February 24, 2024
The rise and rise of fascism
The chasm between the two often prepares the ground for the rise of such sinister movements as fascism, populism and cultism
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January 05, 2024
A land of ladlas
In the political context, a ladla is one who gets preferential treatment or undue favours from the people or institutions that matter
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December 29, 2023
Elections and elitism
As the nation gears up for national elections, the question that dominates media and political discourse is: which party will carry the day? Will it...
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November 06, 2023
Trading electables
A representational image of the National Assembly session. — AFP/FilePolitical activities will heat up in the wake of the announcement of the...
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October 30, 2023
Not one party is revolutionary
Former Prime Minister and graft convict Nawaz Sharif leaves after appearing before the High Court in Islamabad on October 24, 2023. —...
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October 02, 2023
Developing with a cultural lag
Cultural lag is a condition in a society where one aspect of culture is out of kilter with another to which it is related. As a result, society...
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August 12, 2023
The legacy that lingers
August 17 marks the death anniversary of General Ziaul Haq, Pakistan’s longest serving ruler. Having ousted the country’s hitherto most popular...
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July 26, 2023
The art of creating enemies
The PTI received a second setback after the fateful day of May 9, 2023. A few weeks ago, a large number of frontline party leaders from Punjab –...
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July 17, 2023
What after the IMF credit?
Dollars are pouring in following the conclusion of a $3 billion short-term credit programme with the IMF. Pakistan has received the first tranche of...
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July 02, 2023
A red carpet for India
It was ironic for the White House to condemn cross-border terrorism in the context of Pakistan-India relations while playing host to the man who as...
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June 10, 2023
The other side of politics
For a politician who was brought up in the lap of the powers that be and who rode to power on their coattails, it must be excruciatingly agonizing...
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May 29, 2023
A (mock) revolution gone awry
Composed on the grandest of scales and couched in the most sublime of languages, the epic represents the highest form of poetry. Typically, this...
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May 17, 2023
Descent into fascism
The violence, arson and pillage that followed the arrest of populist leader Imran Khan is emblematic of Pakistan’s descent into fascism. The way...
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April 30, 2023
A case for strategic privatization
Whenever the economy is in hot waters, selling state-owned enterprises is seen as a key ingredient of the recipe for economic recovery. The IMF,...
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April 17, 2023
Constitutionalism: the missing links
This April marks the golden jubilee of the adoption of the 1973 constitution. The last 50 years have been a bumpy ride for the basic law of the...
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April 08, 2023
Anatomy of a conflict
The current tug-of-war between the executive/parliament and the judiciary may be seen from two perspectives: one, as a morbid manifestation of a...
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March 11, 2023
A rational choice?
Did the PML-N make a rational choice by opting to vote out the then prime minister in April last year and subsequently form a coalition rather than...
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February 18, 2023
Gandhi’s ‘mission impossible’
Released in 2008, the Bollywood movie ‘Shaurya’ depicts the court martial of a Muslim officer of the Indian army for having shot his senior...
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February 01, 2023
The thing about truth
In ‘tell-all’ interviews and explosive statements, former prime minister Imran Khan, who has the knack of staying in the news, is heaping all...
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January 05, 2023
The (only) light at the end
Every nation has some pipedreams. We Pakistanis have several. One of them is to say goodbye to the IMF once and for all and start implementing an...
