We do not have accurate information on how many prisoners in Pakistan’s badly overcrowded jails may have died as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. We do however know that the virus has hit prisoners hard – with overcrowded conditions, poor sanitation, poor healthcare and the lack of medical facilities contributing to this. Pakistan’s prisons are badly overcrowded; as per reports, the prisons in Sialkot and Malir hold prisoners above 200 percent of their capacity.…
Posts published in “Pak Media comment”
CHEMICAL castration is no remedy for curbing sexual violence, any more than is public hanging, which an enraged citizenry has been increasingly demanding as punishment for rapists. The procedure does, however, give the impression of being proactive. It could silence those who believe the government is not doing enough to tackle a crime that seems to have assumed alarming proportions. On Tuesday, President Arif Alvi signed off on the Anti-Rape Ordinance, 2020, that allows for…
The government looks to be planning an earlier election of the soon-to-be vacant seats in the Pakistan Senate. With as many as 52 senators stepping down on March 11, the elections have to be planned for, and it is welcoming that the ruling party is trying to keep the transition between the outgoing and incoming members as smooth and uninterrupted as possible. The big question though, remains the government’s attempts to make the current electoral…
The Federal Cabinet has set up a three-member Committee to recommend action on the enquiry commission report into the June oil shortage, which indicates that the Oil Marketing Companies (OMC) made a killing, gouging profits of as much as Rs 8 billion, as well as avoiding inventory losses caused by the price drop that took place then because international prices had collapsed. The report has named the DG Oil as bearing primary responsibility, while it…
It is heartening to see our leadership has awoken to hybrid war after carrying the day in the years-long war on terror. The introduction of the ‘Removal and Blocking of Unlawful OnlineContent (Procedure, Oversight and Safeguards), Rules 2020’ is the right step towards the right direction though there is always room for improvements in rules. Since the inception of the war on terror, Pakistan has been facing both destructive terror attacks and an unrelenting hybrid…
Promise far more than you can perform, for it is easy to find alibis for failing to fulfil promises. Fifteen years have elapsed since the Sindh government announced around 200 public welfare schemes with much fanfare but it has nothing to show in practical terms. Some of the projects have been left incomplete and some continue to exist on paper only. People had attached much hope when a decade ago the government had announced a…
It is a bad day for Ogra and private Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) but a good day for accountability. The fifteen-member Inquiry Commission headed by the FIA, to probe into the shortage of petroleum products that hit the country in June 2020 has recommended strict action against secretary Petroleum Division, DG Oil, Ogra and OMCs. Most of the blame lies on Ogra—not just because of its actions but rather because of inaction. The “r” in…
THE findings of a commission of inquiry regarding the abrupt, countrywide petroleum shortages in June lay bare the fragility of the oil supply chain and expose the role of the petroleum ministry, the industry regulator, oil companies and filling stations in causing fuel supply disruptions lasting almost four weeks. The crisis compelled pump owners to ration their stock and forced consumers to wait for hours at a stretch for a few litres of petrol during…
The writer is an Islamabad-based journalist who writes on political and economic affairs.The latest political gathering in Lahore on Sunday by Pakistan’s opposition parties creates the danger of prematurely emboldening Prime Minister Imran Khan’s government. The event was followed by a number of government leaders claiming victory on the grounds that the occasion attracted a smaller than expected crowd. And, subsequently, long-term watchers of similar gatherings were left baffled when opposition leaders later claimed Sunday’s…
According to a recent report by the International Federation of Journalists, no less than 2658 journalists have been killed around the world over the last 30 years. The largest number of killings have come in conflict hit zones, with Iraq featuring the largest number of killings in recent years. But even when a country is not locked in a situation of war, journalists are not safe. Pakistan and its neighbours, India and Afghanistan, figure amongst…
Senate vote in focus: edit in The Express Tribune, December 17th, 2020.
It’s quite clear, and understandable too, that the PDM has timed its protest march on the federal capital before the Senate elections. But it has also to keep its anti-government agitation as farther away from the chilly Islamabad weather as possible. This is perhaps what the opposition alliance has learnt from the Lahore rally of December 13 where the extreme cold weather played a kind of spoilsport — reflected in lower and quieter than predicted…