Our textbooks and the lies they teach
By Raza Rumi Due to the 18th Amendment, a momentous shift in Pakistan’s governance arrangements is taking place through a politically mediated and largely…
Civil versus political society
By Raza Rumi Several self-styled analysts on ‘civil society’ have articulated contrarian views about the kind of choices they face, particularly with respect to…
RIP Salmaan Taseer: this country did not deserve you
Salmaan Taseer’s brutal murder at the hands of a policeman is a cruel reminder of where we have landed ourselves: in a dark morass…
Our brotherly friends
Thanks to sensational reporting on WikiLeaks, the relationship of Pakistan with Saudi Arabia has been spotlighted. We have known of ideological links between radical…
Wikileaks and Pakistan
The WikiLeaks saga has reconfirmed the status of Pakistan as a client state. Its leadership – civilian and military – as a matter of…
Strategic grandeur
As if Pakistan’s domestic woes were not troubling, the unravelling of the US strategy and its implications are eluding even the best of strategists.…
Asma Jahangir’s election: A step towards a progressive Pakistan
Asma Jahangir’s victory in the Supreme Court Bar Association elections is a momentous event in the country’s political and legal landscape. Even the worst…
Living in Denialistan
The recent attack on Abdullah Shah Ghazi’s shrine is another reminder of the plain truth that the Pakistani state needs to focus on its…
Ardent messiah lovers and regime change in Pakistan
Erosion of public institutions under authoritarian regimes is an undeniable lesson of our history. At a time when al Qaeda and its cohorts are…
Failed prescriptions for a failing state
The cat is finally out of the bag. The MQM chief has issued a statement on how the country needs to be saved from…
Rescuing the Pakistani state
Pakistani, and by extension the global media, are regurgitating tiresome cliches about corruption without talking about reforming state institutions. For instance, not a single…
Floods’ management: Perfect script for a black comedy
They say that individual and collective characters are exposed in times of crisis. Indeed the Pakistan ruling classes have exposed themselves for their historical…
Wikileaks and our fantasies
Pakistanis are not interested in what the west likes or dislikes. We are concerned for our security, especially for the burgeoning youth of this…
Devising a new framework for Indo-Pak peace
The next 12 months are critical: an Afghanistan settlement has to take place, the water issue needs to be explored and Kashmir back channel…
No alternative to peace with India
It is clear that regional stability is a foremost priority for India given its focus on achieving a 10 per cent growth rate. Pakistan…
Bleak prospects
My op-ed published in Express-Tribune today It is evident that the Pakistani state faces a crisis of legitimacy and survival. Twelve years ago, on…
Whatever happened to Kerry-Lugar?
Pakistan’s dire fiscal situation has resulted in the reduction of development spending by 40 per cent. This does not bode well for the citizens…
Pakistan: A failing society?
My recent op-ed: A couple of weeks ago a conference at the Lahore School of Economics allowed me to pontificate on how Pakistan is…
Pakistan: flood politics at its worst
there appears to be a deliberate construction of a dangerous discourse and a sham argument for the ascendancy of the armed forces. The military…
Whither rule of law?
State effectiveness, by most definitions, has been waning in Pakistan. The ability of the law enforcement agencies and institutions to deliver services and entitlements…