Explosives packed with ball bearings, nails, iron filings, etc. ripped through the families gathered in the Gulshan-e-Iqbal Park in Lahore to celebrate Easter Sunday on March 27, taking more than 70 lives (including 29 children) and 300 injured, among them an unusually high number of women and children. Claiming responsibility for the horror, a splinter…
The quality of the lives of the “great silent majority” has deteriorated substantially even as a privileged few have become rich beyond compare. The disparity between the haves and have-nots has widened substantially, with the percentage of the nation’s poor rising from 23% to 40% the middle class has virtually been wiped out. Seething public…
Dear Readers, Today our lives seem incomplete without mass media. The media (and journalists) can revel in freedoms that seemed almost improbable a decade and a bit ago; the print sector continues to expand bolstered by digital technologies and new media platforms. The electronic media has advanced by leaps and bounds and enjoys unprecedented freedom…
Landing back in Karachi on Mar 3, 2016 all of a sudden after going off into self-imposed exile on Aug 14, 2013 (what he calls symbolically his own personal Independence Day from Altaf Hussain), former Mayor of Karachi Syed Mustafa Kamal explained in his post-arrival Press Conference (1) Why he left the country in the…
An economic force-multiplier encompassing road connectivity, energy, and infrastructure outlays, the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) faces a host of internal and external security challenges. Annunciated by the Chinese President, “One Belt, One Road” OBOR concept connects China to markets in Asia, Europe and beyond. Projected at US$ 46 billion, US$ 36 billion for energy projects…
The glaring apathy of the developed world towards cases of well-known corruption taking refuge in their countries to secure ill-gotten gains is scandalous. Attending seminars and conferences focussed on countering corruption, one frequently listens to technocrats from the developed world pontificating about dealing with corruption in the third (and developing) world, this is an arrogant…
Corruption has been alive and well in Pakistan for over 6 decades. Soon after the Quaid died and with Liaquat Ali Khan subsequently assassinated in 1951, a small coterie of bureaucrats and their businessmen friends gave it momentum. Even then it remained within what one optimistically calls “limits”. Over the last decade or so, starting…
Trying to justify his many self-granted “extensions”, Musharraf did Raheel Shareef (and the Army) no favour putting him on the spot by campaigning in the media recently for his “extension”. Surprising that the architect of the infamous NRO that legitimized corruption, and gifted Asif Zardari to Pakistan as President and Supreme Commander, did not realize…
Headquartered in Geneva, the World Economic Forum (WEF) is independent, impartial and not tied to any special interests. For progress to happen, people from all walks of life with drive and influence must come together to make positive change. Committed to improving the state of the world, this rather extraordinary international organization for public-private cooperation…
Dear Reader, The basic prerequisite for social harmony, political stability, economic prosperity, etc. in a State, good governance ensures that progress and development is delivered evenhandedly. Governance is the pivotal tool for effective delivery of peace, harmony and welfare to the public at large. In Pakistan however, the situation is not very promising – the…
