by Kashif Ahmad Mohaar in The Nation, Jan 3, 2021The unemployed youth of Punjab are protesting the unfortunate malpractices in the recruitment process conducted through Punjab Public Service Commission (PPSC) that was once, and not too many years ago, considered a champion of meritocracy. The young have reasons to believe that the papers are being leaked and sold out in the market for a handsome amount, though hard to prove. The protests held the other…
Posts published in “Pak Media comment”
by Abbas Nasir in Dawn,03 Jan 2021The writer is a former editor of Dawn.THE Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) has become ineffective for all practical purposes and the vastly differing agendas of the coalescing parties are pulling it in different directions with force enough to tear the alliance apart. By and large this is the widely prevalent view in the media which, through the use of carrot and stick, mostly the latter, has been co-opted by…
It is difficult to see the direction in which politics in the country is moving at the present time. In the first place, there are obvious differences within the PDM itself, although on Friday after the PDM meeting in Lahore, Maulana Fazalur Rahman announced that the Long March to Islamabad would go ahead, and that it could indeed even make its destination Rawalpindi instead. This is obviously a very significant statement, given what it points…
THE new announcement by the Pakistan Democratic Movement that it will participate in the upcoming by-polls is a promising indicator of its members’ ability to show flexibility for the sake of the alliance — and a sign that the government should not take the PDM threat lightly. That the 11-party alliance will contest the by-elections on two National Assembly seats and six provincial assembly seats despite some of the members expressing reservations earlier shows that,…
The writer is resident editor of The News in Peshawar.The rigid positions taken by both the government and the opposition for the last several months would certainly spill over to 2021 Once again Pakistan is facing a political crisis. Politicians have yet to take steps to end the uncertainty and instability that could eventually threaten democracy. The rigid positions taken by both the government and the opposition for the last several months would certainly spill…
The writer is a The News staffer.Jamiat-i-UIema Islam, the PDM spearhead, faces internal schism. The recent expulsion of Maulana Khan Muhammad Sherani and three other key leaders from the Jamiat-i-Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) has been painted mostly as a conspiracy against the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM), an 11-party opposition alliance, and a revolt within the party over its participation in the anti-government campaign. However, the crisis in the JUI is an outcome of a protracted conflict surrounding…
The writer is a columnist based in Islamabad.PTI Manifesto 2018, ‘The Road to Naya Pakistan’, is one of the best election manifestos I have come across. In 61 pages, less than 650 sentences and less than 15,000 words the Manifesto rightly identifies our five major problems: our deep ‘governance’ flaws; the fast rising ‘national debt’; the ‘electricity’ bomb; the ‘perpetually money-losing State Owned Enterprises’ and the deeply flawed ‘government procurement’ process. Look at page 6:…
The writer is associated with SZABIST, Islamabad.Every time one listens to a minister or reads a news story about what the government is doing and how well, one is only stuffed with some financial numbers going in and out of the economic system. Budgetary allocation, taxes collection, GDP rate, inflation, and foreign exchange reserves are the most cited numbers used to compare one government with another and/or to make sense of future trends. Useful as…
The writer is Dean Social Sciences at Garrison University LahoreOur former Prime Minister, Nawaz Sharif, is saying many things these days; and since his party is a leading member of the PDM, much of what he is saying during the meetings of this alliance of opposition parties through video link cannot reach the ears of the common people. While he is heading the opposition’s onslaught not only on the government but the country’s establishment also,…
In Pakistan, most of the ministries are being run de facto by special assistants of the prime minister. These members are unelected and do not represent the people but are appointed by the prime minister to advise him on various sectors of the country such as IT, Information, Power and Accountability etc. The role of these special assistants have often been criticised by the media, opposition politicians and even the Islamabad High Court (IHC). At…
Failure to Depoliticise: edit in The Nation, Jan 3, 2021
This Friday, the Punjab government removed Capital City Police Officer (CCPO), Umar Sheikh, for reasons still unclear. What was once supposed to be an initiative to depoliticise the police, in order to improve competency, is now a confusing debacle which consists of sporadic appointments based upon the random selection of officers who exist in a body that looks to have little structure. The need for the government to clarify the path that it is taking…