Columns

The Pakistan Business Council (PBC), a 'non-political, not-for-profit institution', comprising of some of the leading local and multinational businesses of the country have come out with a set of points that they would like to have included in the national economic agenda. The PBC aims to suggest policies that would 'accelerate Pakistan's economic growth'.
It is encouraging to see big business in Pakistan come forward and create a forum that can put forward proposals for economic

Across the vast swathes of the Arab world, Their Highnesses have either been running helter-skelter or cowering in their gilded palaces, scared out of their wits for the deceptive but rapid shift of sand that has put them all in serious jeopardy. Who could have predicted this seismic change that many have dubbed as the Arab Renaissance with millions nodding in assent? Who could have contemplated, only three months back, that the winds that started blowing from Maghreb down, would

The erstwhile foreign minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi seems to have taken the loss of his ministry pretty hard. At first, his disclosures were of a tame nature but he amazed everyone by stating, "I am the first Pakistani leader to take up the water disputes in talks with India." To make a statement like this, one has to be acquainted with certain basic facts. Otherwise, one stands open to public ridicule. The water dispute was raised with India by Pakistan in the 60's. That resulted in

When speaking about the Arab uprisings in Tunisia, Egypt and beyond, the language used here in the US is euphoric. Expressions like "nothing will ever be the same again" and "the existing order is being swept away" are common. But when the conversation comes home, the exuberant rhetoric is pushed aside and hard-nosed practicality becomes the order of the day. "The President had no choice," the pundits said, "he had to veto. Republicans would have pounced on him and the pro-Israel

If Mirza Ghalib - whose death anniversary was observed last week - were alive today and he was living in Lahore, instead of Delhi, he would have been under fire from the mullah brigade. He was only a half-Muslim. You ask me why? First, I'll have to tell you about his life. But are you interested? At least Delhiites don't care about Ghalib. Besides, is it possible within a column format to convey the contrasts of his low life and high career, and also suggest his astonishing feat of

It is important for people with disabilities to be independent just as it is for anyone else, and this independence should be facilitated. Even small hindrances easily overcome by others, may be, or appear insurmountable for a disabled person, already frustrated by battling with innumerable odds at every step.
Pakistan lags behind other countries in both the fields of treatment and rehabilitation of victims of disabling injury. While therapy and rehabilitation are available,

Domestic politics and foreign policy are inter-linked. Both influence each other. Foreign policy choices have an impact on or get influenced by the needs and dynamics of domestic socio-economic and political considerations. Invariably, foreign economic assistance and technical cooperation are sought with a focus on the government's development agenda which in turn constrains some domestic political and economic choices.
The global role of a country depends to a great extent in

At a time when many parts of the world are developing the scientific expertise and technical know-how to survive in the future, very little is being done to develop scientific inquiry amongst Pakistani children in their formative years. While education transforms itself from a social service into a profit-oriented business venture, our future seems bleaker still. While few projects aimed at creating an interest in science amongst children have seen the light of day, perhaps none have

Raymond Allen Davis has been confirmed by the US government to be an officer of the Central Intelligence Agency. The main reasons for this confirmation are first, that the British newspaper the Guardian was able to establish this fact through the simple act of calling a television station in Colorado state where Davis and his wife have a residence, to ask why, for a brief moment, the station's website indicated that Mrs Davis gave a telephone number at the CIA when asked by a reporter

All men recognise the right of revolution; that is, the right to refuse allegiance to, and to resist, the government, when its tyranny or its inefficiency are great and unendurable. -Henry David Thoreau.
The current federal and provincial governments, across the country, are unable and, or, unwilling to protect the life and liberty of the people of the country. Drones attacks kill Pakistani citizens and the state has done nothing against that. In fact, many people believe the

The day, 7 February, 2011, when the young wife of one of the victims of Raymond Davis committed suicide having become hopeless of receiving justice, was a very sad day. I would put the blame for this mainly on the concerned ministries as they should have sent an official to meet the victim's family and offer them solace and assurances of justice.
I have no doubt that even if the accused cannot be convicted for some reason, the US government would have agreed to pay a reasonable

Stop pretending that you didn't know. It's not like syndicated columnists (such as myself) and armchair pundits (like your grandfather who served in the 1965 war) didn't tell you this before. Ansar Abbasi and his ilk didn't shirk their 'patriotic duty' either and yelled themselves hoarse on the front pages of leading dailies and on Hamid Mir's show. But now that ABC News, The Guardian and Telegraph have printed the story, you believe it. That's so unfair. I mean, c'mon, even infants

The two most important unasked questions in the American Raymond Davis' case are: "Who gave him a business visa and why? Who allegedly upgraded it to a diplomatic visa?" Find the answers and we will find out a lot about ourselves.
Davis shot dead two Pakistani motorcyclists while driving a car in Lahore in an area where most diplomats wouldn't venture. Remarkable precision for a 'diplomat', what? Even if they too were our intelligence agents, they were only doing their duty,

There is one commodity that is inflation-proof even in India's most expensive city, Delhi. Talk is cheap in the capital, available at every cafe and inside every drawing room. But excess of supply should not beguile us into the belief that it is useless. Talk is the barometer of the next political season. Seasons change, at least twice a year. This winter has been cold for the Government; and there was talk that summer might become a bit too warm.
A prime minister does not invite

There is no disputing the fact that the federal government has mishandled the Raymond Davis case. That's exactly what Mian Nawaz Sharif indicated during his media talk after his meeting with US Senator John Kerry who made a dash to Pakistan Tuesday evening, seeking release of the American official detained on the charges of double murder.
Interior Minister Rehman Malik wasted no time in dropping a hint about Islamabad certifying Davis' diplomatic immunity. Speaking in the Senate

For the uninitiated, the World Cup that just got rolling is the third in the sub-continent but the first where Pakistan has been denied the status of a host, though it initially was there when the rights were awarded by the ICC. This is sad in the extreme, but then with the security situation as alarming as it is in our neck of the woods, envisaging a different outcome, though not impossible would still be wishful thinking.
What made an already bad situation irretrievable was

Former Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi has thrown a spanner in the works by claiming that the detained American national Raymond Davis never enjoyed blanket diplomatic immunity under the Vienna Convention. Despite immense pressure on the government by the US, domestic constraints have made it virtually impossible for Islamabad to hand him over to the US at this stage.
The government is between a rock and a hard place on the issue. If it releases the private security