by Mazhar Abbas in the News, Dec 21, 2020The decision of Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to hold by-elections next month on the seats fallen vacant for one reason or the other has put the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM), an alliance of leading opposition parties, in a fix whether to participate or boycott them as the timing coincides with the Senate elections and the possible resignations by the MNAs and MPAs affiliated with PDM. Sources…
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by Khalid Mustafa in the News, Dec 21, 2020ISLAMABAD: With surge in gas shortages in the country, Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGPL) has closed down RLNG supply to captive power plants meant for non-zero rated industry (general industry). The supply of RLNG to CNG and fertiliser sectors has already been stopped, top officials of the Petroleum Division told The News. “Surge in gas shortfall has recently appeared because of the fact that the LNG…
by Nasir Jamal in Dawn, The Business and Finance Weekly, December 21st, 2020The federal government is looking for a scapegoat to cover up its failure to curtail its growing current expenditure and its disappointing tax performance, which is at the heart of its ballooning deficit. Or how else would you explain its criticism of what the cabinet last week dubbed as ‘misplaced’ provincial expenditure choices and their ‘poor’ tax effort? The government, according to information…
by Tariq Butt in the News, Dec 21, 2020ISLAMABAD: Two critical bills, one relating to the development of the Bundal and Buddo islands and the other to the establishment of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) Authority, await approval of parliament. The Pakistan Islands Development Authority (PIDA) bill, which had been promulgated on August 30, expires in 10 days when it will exceed its initial four-month constitutional life. The CPEC authority bill was extended by the…
Our senior-most leaders must at least learn to keep their political battles civil. And even if they must heap scorn on each other can they keep the debate confined to things they are really upset about and not, for the love of the country, drag India into everything and brand everybody they don’t like traitors, agents of enemies, and all that? Once again it is disappointing to see the government treat the Pakistan Democratic Movement’s…
by Beenish Fatima in the Nation blogs, Dec 21, 2020 at 12:21 PMSexual behavior pattern among human species vary from culture to culture. Cases of rape had also been recorded in pre-literate and pre-modern societies. Men’s propensity to commit rape has been associated with different factors, for instance among pre-literate societies, rape attempts were mainly observed in the context of male competition for women. In modern societies, the main reason is presented to be the…
by Umair Zafar Malik in the Express Tribune blogs, Dec 21, 2020,The author is a Pakistani cardiologist currently working in the USIn the July 2018 general elections, Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PMLN) bagged over 1.37 million votes in the 14 National Assembly (NA) constituencies in Lahore, averaging nearly 100,000 votes per constituency and winning 10 of the 14 NA seats. Similarly, the party dominated all of Lahore’s neighbouring districts, winning three out of four seats…
After seventy years, we have opened a second border crossing with Iran; at Gwadar. This is a historic moment, one that has long-term potential benefits for people on both sides of the border. Alongside regional ramifications that stand to connect high-volume trade centres with one another, Taftan has long been under constant pressure to handle any and all Pak-Iran trade, which is why this new crossing might just be a game-changer. Of course, this also…
The writers are Adjunct Faculty at Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS)The real dilemma of the PTI government is that it has no plan — short-, medium- and long-term — to overcome fiscal maladies For Pakistan the main challenges on the fiscal front for 2021, just a few days away, are not only the revival of the economy amid rising human and financial toll of Covid-19 pandemic, but also how to manage the mounting debt…
by Dr Muhammad Ali Ehsan in The Express Tribune, Dec 20,, 2020The writer is Dean Social Sciences at Garrison University LahoreWill people take to the streets for the defence of democracy? Yes. Will they take to the streets for defence of ‘our kind of democracy?’ No. Pakistani politics is these days showcasing a great political show both for the insiders and the outsiders to watch and enjoy. While the show is going on what is…
Extreme positions: Editorial in Dawn, December 21st, 2020
PRIME MINISTER Imran Khan’s wish to remodel the Senate election process has clearly hit a raw nerve with the opposition parties. Mr Khan, whose party currently doesn’t have a majority in parliament, has proposed that the tradition of secret ballot should end and that the upcoming Senate polls scheduled for March 2021 should, instead, be held a month earlier in February. The government’s legal advisers are now mulling over how to turn this desire into…