Editorial in Pakistan Today, Dec 29, 2020For more than two years the mainstream opposition parties tried to resolve their differences with the government in parliament rebuffing suggestions to take recourse to extra-parliamentary means to confront the government. What the opposition got in return were provocative statements from the PM who maintained that there could be no talks with the opposition as it wanted an NRO which he would never concede. He even dared it to…
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by Muhammad Nadeem Bhatti in Daily Times, Dec 29, 2020The Writer is a Senior Social Analyst & Chairman Pakistan Columnist CouncilHumans live on this planet and are noble creatures. Along with the creation of human beings, their necessities of life were also created. The most important of them is food and water as nobody can survive without them. The people of Pakistan have always been eager to eat and drink. Nowadays, they enjoy all kinds…
WHERE security issues are concerned, it is clear that Balochistan — for years in the grip of separatist and sectarian terrorism — is still not at peace. While the separatist insurgency may be in a low phase, issues remain as militants retain their ability to stage attacks, specifically targeting symbols of the state. On Saturday night, at least seven FC personnel were martyred in the province’s Harnai district, with the military’s media wing saying “anti-state…
by Hasaan Khawar in The Express Tribune, December 29th, 2020.The writer is a public policy expert and an honorary Fellow of Consortium for Development Policy Research.A few weeks ago, I was invited to a sitting with the Prime Minister, along with a few other journalists. What particularly struck me was his forthrightness in admitting his government’s shortcomings. He candidly accepted the initial delay in going to the IMF and said his government should have done…
That the ongoing government-opposition confrontation has now taken its ugliest turn since PTI came to power about two-and-a-half years ago is a fact. Speaking to media persons the other day, one of the senior leaders of JUI-F, the party which is responsible for successfully cobbling together a coalition of opposition parties under the rubric of Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) to pose a serious challenge to the incumbent government, Maulana Ghafoor Haideri, threatened to stage a…
by Kamran Yousaf in The Express Tribune, December 28th, 2020.This writer is a senior foreign affairs correspondent at The Express TribunePrime Minister Imran Khan’s disclosure that till three months into power, his government had no idea of the country’s economic situation has triggered a major debate. Opposition parties, which are seeking his ouster, cashed in on his “admission” of failing to deliver on his promises while economists find it difficult to accept this reasoning. True…
by Maleeha Lodhi in Dawn, December 28th, 2020The writer is a former ambassador to the US, UK and UN.2020 was a devastating year for Pakistan as for the rest of the world. The year of the pandemic disrupted lives everywhere and tested people’s endurance and resilience. As elsewhere, Pakistan too plunged into unmapped territory. The government faced the biggest test of its tenure as its handling of Covid-19 was consequential to the evolving crisis. Initial…
WHILE the federal cabinet may have approved 2017’s national census, the move has resulted in a fresh controversy, as parties with a power base in Karachi protest over the apparent undercounting of the city’s population. Strong criticism has also been levelled at the MQM-P, with opponents of the party calling upon the Muttahida to quit the ruling coalition if it disagrees with the census numbers. The MQM had only written a dissenting note against the…
The government and the opposition are sticking to their stated hostile positions, though some recent political developments suggest that the two sides may come down from their maximalist positions – something that raises hopes about the continuity of the system. The last week’s meeting between the incarcerated PML-N president, Shahbaz Sharif, who is a strong proponent of conciliatory politics, and PML-F’s Mohammed Ali Durrani, who is being seen as a representative of the establishment, implies…
The writer holds a PhD from the University of Birmingham, UK and works in Islamabad.Some other books that have discussed One Unit include ‘Pakistan of Jinnah’ by Ahmed Salim, ‘Pakistan in the 20th Century’ by Lawrence Ziring and ‘Federalism in Pakistan’ by Muntzra Nazir. Interested readers may also find details of the One Unit scheme in some biographies and memoirs such as ‘Mera Siyasi Safar’ by Hasan Mahmood, and ‘Daultana Dastaan’ by Wakeel Anjum –…
Political future: edit in The News, Dec 29, 2020
It is becoming extremely unclear what the future will bring for the country. The PDM, the combined opposition of 11 political parties, has pledged once again at its final rally at Larkana on December 27, held on the same day as the anniversary of the death of Benazir Bhutto in 2007, that it will not go back on its word to overthrow the government. Both Asif Ali Zardari and Maryam Nawaz pointed out that Imran…