The insecurity and paranoia of the establishment increasingly on display is about to 'conquer' new heights (or lows, if you prefer). Having muzzled and gagged the mainstream media through financial strangulation (reduction of government advertising) and '

Maulana Fazlur Rehman, chief of the Jamiat-i-Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F), is a frustrated man. Two rounds of a sit-in in Islamabad and highly ambitious attempted blockage of highways throughout the country last year failed to find traction and had to be ab

US Special Envoy for Afghan Peace and Reconciliation Zalmay Khalilzad is once more treading the well worn path of a political settlement of the Afghan war that would allow a defeated US a face-saving exit while saving as much of the Afghan government of A

An unprecedented in recent times countrywide mobilisation of students across the state-run and private elite institutions of higher education was witnessed on November 29, 2019. Some 60 cities and towns all over the country became the site of protest rall

US Assistant Secretary of State for South Asia Alice Wells virtually put the cat amongst the pigeons in a speech at the Wilson Center in Washington on November 22, 2019 in which she cautioned and warned Pakistan about the pitfalls of the China Pakistan Ec

The Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaaf (PTI) government of Imran Khan has shown a rare talent for shooting itself in the foot again and again. The whole handling of the Nawaz Sharif health issue is the latest and perhaps most egregious example of this habit. Despi

Surveying the national and regional landscape yields a plethora of issues of concern with profound implications for the future. Let us take up the regional aspect first.

Maulana Fazlur Rehman's 'Azadi' (Freedom) March is off and running. Starting from Sohrab Goth in Karachi, the Jamiat-i-Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl's (JUI-F's) rally set off for upcountry on October 27, 2019 as scheduled. Other opposition parties, including the Pak

The Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaaf (PTI) government, amongst all its other failings, suffers from impetuosity and lack of forethought. An example of these traits has recently been on display in the federal cabinet's 'decision' to set up media tribunals to hand

The people of Pakistan are at their wit's end after one year of Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaaf (PTI) government. Inconsistent and contradictory economic policies have rendered industry and trade in free fall, unemployment is rising (including the

The difficult, tortuous peace process in Afghanistan through talks between the US and the Taliban in Doha, Qatar, has come to an abrupt and unexpected halt. At this point, it is difficult to say whether the talks have been permanently halted or will begin

The silence of the graveyard has descended over Indian-occupied Kashmir. Having illegally and unconstitutionally robbed Kashmir of its special status under Article 370 of the Indian Constitution and reversed the protections against outsider influx into th

The combined opposition's no-confidence move against the Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani ended in complete disaster for its authors. In a house of 103 Senators, 53 votes were required to remove the Chairman. At first glance, and especially when the full st

All the euphoria in Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaaf (PTI) circles after Imran Khan's recent visit to the US may prove premature, misplaced over-optimism, and failure to discern the true meaning or essence of the so-called 'reset' in US-Pakistan ties. No one in

The terrorist attack in D I Khan on July 21, 2019 reinforces this writer's repeated cautions since the military campaigns against terrorist groups in erstwhile FATA in 2016 that the terrorist hydra has been rocked back, expelled from Pakistani soil (to Af

Prime Minister Imran Khan has ordered the setting up of a probe commission to look into the Reko Diq debacle in the case filed against Pakistan by the Tethyan Copper Company Pty Ltd (TCC) before the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disput

Maryam Nawaz's press conference in Lahore on July 6, 2019 has driven a coach and six through the accountability process. A video was aired at the press conference purportedly showing Accountability Court Judge Arshad Malik in conversation with Nasir Butt,

The polity is still in the grip of flux and uncertainty despite almost a year since the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaaf (PTI) government took office. First and foremost of course is its dismal handling of the economy, which clearly seems headed south, with more

Chairman Pakistan People's Party (PPP) Bilawal Bhutto Zardari met Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Vice President Maryam Nawaz at Jati Umra on June 16, 2019 on the latter's invitation. The two had earlier met in Islamabad at Bilawal's Iftar dinner. Th

As these lines are being written, the Islamabad High Court has rejected Asif Zardari and Faryal Talpur's plea for extension of bail in the fake accounts case. Theoretically, this clears the way for their arrest by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB).