Pak-Qatar economic relations
Where is the mega Qatari investment? In January, PM Imran Khan visited Doha as the head of a delegation to discuss economic cooperation with the Emir of Qatar. Following the premier’s visit, the Board of…
Statistical discrepancies
Government must clarify Apart from setting a record high tax collection target another focus in the first federal budget tabled by the PTI is austerity; a combination of reducing expenditures and increasing…
Maryam speaks out
Her differences with Shehbaz come forth PML-N Quaid Nawaz Sharif’s daughter Maryam Nawaz has been very categorical in saying that party President Shehbaz Sharif’s proposal for a ‘charter of economy’ was his…
Religious extremism report
State Department says more needs to done That the US State Department’s need to pronounce on countries’ religious freedom may be considered as interference in their sovereignty, but that does not mean…
Online tax profiling system
Brass knuckles under the kid gloves On Friday Prime Minister Imran Khan appealed to the nation to declare assets before the amnesty scheme’s June 30 deadline. Simultaneously the FBR launched its online…
Meeting FATF conditions
With only months left to comply After missing two deadlines to comply with FATF conditions, Pakistan has now been given a final extension till October of this year to address its terror…
The only way out
No option but to fight the cases The fortunes of former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif have been on the decline for the last three years. In 2017 he was sent packing by…
Hyderabad railway accident
Where is the accountability The collision at Hyderabad of a passenger train and a goods train was bad enough in itself. It was also a rude shock for the Pakistan Railways community,…
The budget debate
Suggestion both from Treasury and opposition On Wednesday the Speaker issued production orders for PPP co-chairman Asif Zardari and PML(N) MNA Kh Saad Rafique. Mr Zardari in fact spoke at the budget…
Indian thank-you notes
PM, Foreign Minister reply politely Re-elected Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his new Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar have both replied with honeyed words and anodyne phrases to letters from their Pakistani…
A positive development
But how long will it last? After keeping the National Assembly dysfunctional for several days of the budget session, an exercise in course correction seems to have been conducted. A directive from…
National Development Council
An economic body with a difference? At first sight, the new National Development Council seems to be a mere repetition of a number of already existing bodies, especially in view of its…
Social costs of PTI’s vindictiveness
Pakistani society in a pressure cooker The unending vitriol and fury on the part of the PM has infected the entire PTI leadership. Earlier, everyone who thought differently from the party was…
Desperate for dollars
As expenditures pile up Prime Minister Imran Khan, through his Instagram account, announced that Qatar’s emir will be visiting Pakistan this week bringing with him $22 billion, notably $1 billion higher than…
The prime minister and NA
Sawing off the branch one is sitting on The noisy PTI MNAs continuously disturbed and heckled the Leader of the Opposition when he started to speak on the budget on Monday. This led…
World Cup blues
The hits just keep on coming After watching Pakistan lose to West Indies in spectacular fashion only to beat England in the following match by giving them a near impossible target to…
Ground realities
Just saying so doesn’t fix the economy Prime Minister Imran Khan held a meeting of party stalwarts at his Bani Gala residence on Saturday to discuss the new commission on determining responsibility…