By Mazhar Tufail
ISLAMABAD: Gen (retd) Pervez Musharraf is finalising plans to launch his own political party in March, a source close to the former military ruler told The News here on Wednesday. Continue reading »
Renowned Lebanese poet Khali Jibran in one of his revolutionary poem Pity the Nation, says,
Pity the nation that is full of beliefs and empty of religion.
Pity the nation that wears a cloth it does not weave, eats a bread it does not harvest,
Pity the nation whose statesman is a fox, whose philosopher is a juggler, and whose art is the art of patching and mimicking,
Pity the nation divided into fragments, each fragment deeming itself a nation.
Seems same is the case with Pakistani rulers. Continue reading »
Muhammad Ahsan Yatu
I create an embarrassing situation for myself before the start of almost every wedding ceremony that I attend. I reach the venue on time, the time mentioned on the invitation card. The ceremony always starts at least two hours late. The place is usually a hotel. One can relax in the lounge or have a cup of tea and wait for a familiar face to appear. It does not. An hour passes. No one comes. Then I start looking in all directions to find someone other than the invited ones or the hosts. Not to meet him, to avoid him. I have heard too often, ‘Only fools follow the rules and the writing on the invitation cards’. Continue reading »
By Mohammad Malick
It is bad enough being a reporter for it turns you into a cynic and an incorrigible snoop who tries finding the hidden curve even in a straight drawn line. It gets even worse when that reporter turns into a columnist and gets the opportunity to add his views and opinions to an otherwise straight story. And, in case, you are wondering why I have presented this long winding prelude, the answer is simple; I have been trying to find that hidden curve in what was otherwise a straight blistering and blasting speech delivered by the parliamentary opposition leader, Ch Nisar of the PML-N. Continue reading »
Maybe legislation is too serious a business for our legislators and maybe its time we lowered our expectations, or even better, dropped them altogether. How else do you rationalise the behaviour of our elected reps when on a private members day in the National Assembly (of all the days) the movers of their bills don’t even bother turning up to table them in the house. Maybe Riaz Fatiana was too busy playing up to Salim Saifullah and Hamid Nasir Chattha to really care about his bill, or was it his bull. Even those members who did drag themselves to the house appeared more interested in huddling into little chat groups and grudgingly dispersed after a stern sounding admonishment from a visibly irritated Speaker Fehmida Mirza. But trust this forced semblance of orderly conduct to go to the dogs the moment the speaker leaves the house putting the young deputy speaker in the chair. It’s time the young Mr Kundi got a hook on things or his reputation may go the canine way as well. Continue reading »
By Mohammad Malick
I have good news and bad news, so let’s begin with the good. The good news is that leader of the Upper House Raza Rabbani assured his Senate peers that the government was committed to implementing the in-camera security resolution and that the critically important and non-partisan Oversight Parliamentary Committee would be “constituted very soon”. The bad (and real) news is that Raza had made the same commitment two weeks back and judging by the ongoing political churn, we just may hear him reiterating the same commitment another week down the road. Continue reading »
Jun 132008
Dr Muzaffar Iqbal
Just five months ago, Asif Ali Zardari was a nobody in Pakistani politics, albeit in the public arena, although he was fully operational behind the scenes. The exact nature of his involvement in Pakistani politics prior to the Dec 27th assassination of his wife remains unclear, but it is certain that he was part of the negotiations that led to the USA-brokered deal between Benazir Bhutto and General Musharraf. Continue reading »
Jun 062008
پچھلے ہفتے رونماء ہونے والے دو بڑے واقعات قابل ذکر ہیں ۔ ایک یہ کہ ملک میں اچانک یہ افواہیں گردش کرنے لگیں کہ صدر پرویز مشرف کی روانگی اب ہفتوں کی نہیں دنوں کی بات ہے۔ دوسرا یہ کہ پیپلز پارٹی نے ججوں کا مسئلہ حل کرنے اور صدر کے اختیارات محدود کرنے کیلئے ایک آئینی پیکج کا مسودہ جاری کر دیا ۔ Continue reading »
Nasim Zehra
If being part of the world system, the soaring oil prices and the global food shortage is eroding the Pakistani people’s purchasing power, the unstable domestic power scene too is contributing to Pakistan’s precarious socio-economic scene. Like all contemporary states and societies Pakistan’s state and society too must function within the parameters of the best available accountability and participatory system for governance that the human intellect has been able to craft. Continue reading »
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