The writer is a Northern Iowa public administration graduate with a specialization in policy design and implementation.The politicians we are ‘blessed’ with have an uncanny ability to set bad precedents. It is comical that a precedent exists for something as trivial as the arrest of the renowned D J Butt due to politically motivated reasons. And now the government is on track to set a bad precedent by “holding” Senate elections in February by relying…
Posts published in “Pak Media comment”
by Rafiullah Kakar in Dawn, December 26th, 2020The writer is a public policy and development specialist from Balochistan.MEDIA reports about the federal government’s plan to fence the port town of Gwadar for security reasons have sparked a controversy. Baloch political parties have termed it a conspiracy and vowed to resist it at all forums. This discontent is part of a wider societal scepticism towards Islamabad-led mega economic development projects in Balochistan, especially the multibillion-dollar CPEC.…
By Tariq Butt in The News, dec 26, 2020ISLAMABAD: For his political advantage, Prime Minister Imran Khan has now cited the 12-year-old Charter of Democracy (CoD), signed by the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and Pakistan People’s Party (PPP). In the past, the prime minister has always contemptuously dismissed the CoD as a secret deal by the two parties to protect each other’s alleged corruption that amounted to little more than ‘you scratch my back, I’ll…
The writer teaches at Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad.THE dust had barely settled on the hugely triggering sight of South Waziristan MNA Ali Wazir in chains when news arrived from Canada that Karima Mehrab, a prominent figure of contemporary Baloch nationalism, had been found dead after having mysteriously disappeared. In May, Ali Wazir’s cousin Arif was shot dead in his home district by ‘unknown assailants’, while another Baloch exile, Sajid Hussain, had been discovered dead in Sweden,…
It has taken three years for the government to validate the 2017 National Census—even then the approval has not been without complaints. The MQM, which earlier had emphatically rejected the results but is now an ally of the PTI government, submitted a dissent note. The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) has rejected the federal cabinet’s decision to go ahead without an audit in randomly selected blocks to remove “massive lacunae in the controversial” headcount exercise. An…
In any country an accurate, reliable population census is essential to running the affairs of that country smoothly and planning ahead for future developments and projects in that country. It is of course, also central to the delimitation of seats for elections, especially in a federation like Pakistan, for marking constituencies, and setting boundaries for them as well as other measures that have an impact on electoral constituencies, their size, their location and voting from…
by Syed Mohammad Ali in The Express Tribune, December 25th, 2020The writer holds a PhD from the University of Melbourne and is the author of Development, Poverty and Power in Pakistan, available from RoutledgeWe live in a world beset by false dichotomies which seek to readily label communities and even countries as being secular, moderate or extremists. Yet, a closer examination often reveals that such tidy labels often do not match realities on the ground.…
by Tariq Butt in The News, Dec 25, 2020ISLAMABAD: If all goes well, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) is going to emerge as the single largest party in the Senate in the March elections but it will still be dependent on its allies to clinch the top position in the Upper House of Parliament and carry out legislation in this chamber. The post-election scenario is likely to see the PTI and its coalition partners gain a…
by Naveed Aman Khan in Daily Times, Dec 24, 2020The writer is book ambassador, columnist, political analyst and author of several booksPrime Minister Imran Khan and his cabinet formally allowed political stalwart and former Premier Nawaz Sharif to go abroad for his treatment. Since then he has been under treatment in London. No body knows how long will he remain under treatment in UK. In UK keen attention is paid on human health while in…
by Dr.FARID A MALIK in Pakistan Today,Dec 24, 2020The writer is ex-Chairman, Pakistan Science Foundation.The Zia Pandemic ‘ of 1985 partyless elections may be finally coming to an end by the voluntary resignations of the opposition parties. Please resign as there is no other way to get rid of these ‘political bounty hunters’ who managed to capture the Parliament due to the senseless boycott by Movement for Restoration of Democracy of which the Benazir-led PPP…
The forgotten Biharis in East Pakistan
by S M Hali in daily Times, Dec 26, 2020Bihari is a generic term, which implies the migrants from the Indian state of Bihar, who headed for then East Pakistan, after the partition of India in 1947. Later all Urdu speaking people, even the Punjabis, Pathans, Sindhi and Baloch from West Pakistan, who were posted to East Pakistan or settled in the Eastern Wing, were labeled as Biharis by Bengalis. The mass exodus of Muslims…