Wheat crisis deepens
Importing may do more harm than good The recent meeting of the Economic Coordination Committee of the Cabinet failed to finalize a wheat import plan amid a rise of two percent in…
Another unrealistic project
A vision or a hallucination? Many believe the Ravi riverfront urban development project is not feasible. Others term some of its supposed benefits as phoney. Still, others recall Imran Khan’s rejection of…
Criminalising criticism
The new law seems designed to escape protections The passage of a criminal law amendment bill providing for a new Section 500A to the Pakistan Penal Code provides nothing more than an…
Opening educational institutions
The challenge and the opportunity With the number of positive coronavirus cases and casualties having considerably gone down, the government has started a stage-wise opening of the educational institutions beginning from yesterday.…
Punishing rapists
As usual, the real malaise will remain unaddressed Tragedies such as the one that took place on the motorway last week, where a mother was raped in front of her children on…
Outburst in Karachi
Unchecked sectarianism will only result in chaos Though no active political party took part in the rally in Karachi directed against the Shia community, the political ramifications of such a gathering cannot…
More NAB incompetence
How is Ahad Cheema to be compensated for 2 lost years? The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) has finally concluded that its enquiry into Ahad Cheema, the former Director General of the Lahore…
With a politicized police force in place
Law and order is bound to be a casualty There was horror and outrage all over Pakistan as a mother was gangraped in front of her children on the Lahore-Sialkot motorway. Only…
Covid-19 resurging globally
Pakistan is not immune That Pakistan has been counted in a World Economic Forum list of countries to learn from to tackle the coronavirus pandemic is a welcome recognition by an international…
With so many eyes fixed on Qatar talks
Spoilers cannot go undetected The Trump Administration wants intra-Afghan talks to succeed to seek credit for ending the longest US war and bringing back US soldiers. The Afghan government has had enough…
IMF tightens screws
The government must avoid giving it ammunition The IMF is demanding that the government no longer hold back on the increases it had promised in the gas and power tariffs, now that…
Will petty one-upmanship hold back Karachi uplift?
Blame game replaces implementation The Rs1.1 trillion ‘historic’ package for Karachi’s transformation remains mired in controversy, thanks to the point scoring competition between the Centre and the province. A perception was created…
Is anyone in charge?
With the citizenry unsafe, the new IGP has to keep his subordinates happy It was an inauspicious beginning for the new IGP. On his very first day in office, which he had…
Under PTI rule
No end to vindictiveness in politics Nawaz Sharif broke no jail, nor did he leave the country on the Q.T. He was bailed out because doctors close to the PM, whose integrity…
IGP changed
The appointment of a sixth IGP in two years shows the old ways persist The sudden transfer of the IGP Punjab, Mr Shoaib Dastagir, means that he is the fifth IGP transferred…
Confusing Karachi plan
Where will the money come from? An unprecedented level of rainfall in Karachi left the city flooded, disrupting everyday life, and inflicting unimaginable damage to private and public property. In the coming…
Deaths at marble mines
Modern machinery will save lives, enhance profits In the second incident of its kind in the last eight months, at least 11 miners were killed and five injured at a marble quarry…