“A school friend from Lawrence College (1958-1962), Afzal Ghani Barq of Ferozsons gave Rs 5,000 towards his 33 percent share, he said this was a vote of confidence in me. He said he would not give anymore, but would in return not take anything from the company, in the form of profits or the value…
The book “The Way it Was”, written by Brig Zaheer Alam Khan, (ZA to family and friends), recounts a raw, no holds barred account of a Pakistan Army officer’s life. Among the nine brothers who have served in the Pakistan Armed Forces, he commended the Special Services Group (SSG) unit during the harrowing events of…
United States was one of the first countries to have established diplomatic relations with Pakistan, just a day after Pakistan’s independence. Today the relationship remains at a critical crossroads. Born out of a transactional necessity, this logic defined Pak-US engagement on many occasions despite regular estrangements on account of geo-political differences. Pakistan desperately needed friends,…
With Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Opposition Leader Raja Riaz reaching a consensus” after some “deliberations”, founder member of the Balochistan Awami Party (BAP) Senator Anwaar ul Haq Kakar, was named the Caretaker Prime Minister of Pakistan. Hailing from the Kakar tribe of Pashtun ethnicity in Balochistan, the former Senator (he immediately resigned from BAP…
For a country blessed with many rivers, the perennial scarcity of water in Pakistan is because of the shortage of storage capacity. While problematic presently, a full blown crisis is not so far in the distant future. While all provinces face shortages of water, Balochistan stands out as the most affected. This looming disaster can…
The Magna Carta, or the “Charter of Liberties”, limiting the King’s power and strengthening the rights of nobles was agreed to by King John at Runnymede near London on June 15, 1215. Brokered by the Archbishop of Canterbury and meant to rein in rebellious barons, without any sincere intent John was simply playing for time…
‘Strategic assets’ is a relatively new concept that arose in connection with the fast-forward development of economic globalization in the 20thc. and a new wave of economic cold war that has been leashed by the change in economic power centers more recently and the reorganization of economic, political and strategic alliances connected with it. By…
Sardar Akhtar Mengal believes his six point formula submitted before the Supreme Court (SC) will bring about resolution of major issues in the province. However equating his charter with Sheikh Mujeebur Rahman’s six-points is deliberately stated for shock effect, it is very misleading. Mujeeb’s six points all but demanded independence from Pakistan, and eventually did…
On the evening of Oct 22, 2017 as I was entering Quetta Club with a CPNE delegation for a dinner hosted by the Speaker of the Balochistan Provincial Assembly Ms Rahila Durrani, my son Zarrar sent me a whatsapp snapshot of my three grandchildren in Halloween costumes from New York. By some odd coincidence fully…
Pakistan has availed International Monetary Fund (IMF) loans on 22 occasions since 1950 in its very short history as an independent nation. The first IMF Agreement came in 1958 when Pakistan was struggling with its balance of payments; its most recent was in 2019 when economic conditions had so worsened that the Imran Khan government…
