PTI: The enemy within
Lessons of history Kaptaan has spoken his mind. As a movement Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) is unstoppable, only if it can deal with the enemy within. History may be repeating itself. In the…
Mujhe kyun ugaya?
Safeguarding the garden Why was I grown and nourished? Mian Muhammed Nawaz Sharif, the three-time prime minister, should be asking this question. Pakistan Today on November 8, 2017 printed a cartoon with this query.…
How elections are stolen
A weak election commission can never execute free and fair elections Those who cast ballots change nothing Those who count them change everything The ‘Bolshevik or Soviet Revolution’ is being discussed after…
Can the caretakers deliver free and fair elections?
…let’s find out. On our democratic journey free and fair elections remains the biggest challenge. In seventy years only one credible electoral exercise and that too under a khaki dictator is a…
Back to 1970?
Enemeies and electoral decisions The memory of the first and only free and fair elections of 1970 are etched in my mind. After toppling the dictatorship of Ayub Khan, we the students…
Assembly main chor?
“Mein aya nahin, laya gaya hun” In the sixties the words of a famous song were: ‘Main Peta Nahin Hun, Pelai Gai Hae’ (I don’t drink, I have been made to…
Learning from the liberation of China and America
“…the fourth Khaki dictator – said that, “Dictators have brought development to the country while politicians have caused its derailment”. There is no truth in this statement.” In July this year, the…
Mian’s non-existent mandate
That’s the least of our problems with coming by-elections With their long stints in power they exercise complete control over the administrative machinery of Punjab with Police being their private force.…
Berries in the belly
There are times we must be grateful for those odd old sayings Proverbs in Punjabi language are meaningful, direct, to the point and lesson orientated. Carrots and berries are extensively consumed in…
Dirty stables and tainted riders
Pakistani leadership in a nutshell “I want to be the King of England but not without the women I love,” these are the parting words of Edward-VIII before he abdicated. He reminded…
Heal thyself
We need hospitals, not graveyards Someone has convinced the ‘Khadim-e-Aala’ that the city of Lahore has a serious crisis of burying their dead. These days he is seen inaugurating graveyards with great…
From Sui natural gas to synthetic natural gas
We cannot swim against the tide In 1952 Pakistan discovered the world’s largest gas deposit of 12 TCF (Trillion Cubic Feet) at Sui in Dera Bugti Area of Balochistan. Pakistan Petroleum…
The elections are coming – time to clean out the stables
With the military in the barracks, civilian leadership needs to pull up its socks October 27, 1958 is etched in my memory when as a five year old I stood on…
In the battle of accountability vs development
“Hisab do” indeed For once I tend to agree with the Prime Minister that development cannot be stopped to pursue accountability. Retrospective steps to recover looted money are much more difficult under…
The devil versus the divine
It’s the oldest fight in history The age old idiom, ‘The devil is in the detail’ holds good for all manmade systems. Divine networks have the luxury of self-correction as such the…
The road goes ever on and on
… and when it comes to galvanising movements, history shows all roads lead to Lahore Having lived through two movements (1977, 2007) and getting ready for the third (2017), I thought…
Aam admi ka vote
Relying on the common man While addressing a public meeting at Jacobabad Saad Rafiq roared that they will rule the province of Sindh by Aam Admi Ka Vote (Vote of the common…