by Hassan Niazi in The Express Tribune, Dec 1st, 2020The writer is a lawyer, formerly practising and teaching law in Lahore, and currently based in Singapore.For the dissenting voice in Pakistan, the coloniser never left. Their instruments for curbing political dissent are always kept within arm’s reach by a state whose insecurities know no fundamental rights, no morality, and no limits. The Security of Pakistan Act in 1952, the Maintenance of Public Order Ordinance in…
Posts published in “Pak Media comment”
by Sabbah Uddin in Daily Times, Dec1, 2020The writer is a versatile analyst and speaker on contemporary issues.“Politics is not a game but a serious business,” said Winston Churchill. However, in Pakistan, we routinely understand and usually practice politics as a game, or should I say, a “game of thrones”. Just like the American fictional drama, we also have few seemingly noble families wage war against each other to gain control over the government governing…
by Senator Rehman Malik in The Nation, Dec 1, 2020The nation and people in opposition are getting increasingly worried about the internal and external anti-Pakistan proxy wars to destabilise the country and the government needs to watch out to act fast to counter it. The question arises; will Prime Minister Imran Khan be able to survive the economic crisis, uncontrollable price hikes, internal and external pressure including the increasing political polarisation and serious clashes with…
The writer’s book The Bhutto Dynasty: The Struggle for Power in Pakistan was published by Yale University Press recently.FOR many decades now the military establishment in Rawalpindi has been complaining that the West has a narrative about Pakistan that is both unfair and impossible to change. This version of Pakistan, they argue, goes something like this: Pakistan is two-faced, pretending to fight militancy when in fact it supports violent jihadists. Furthermore, Pakistan is a badly…
A spectre is haunting the gate-keepers of the country’s unjust status-quo – the spectre of enlightened young students. After a slumber enforced by the dictatorship of General Ziaul Haq in the 80s, the students of Pakistan are rising in protest and in thought. The now-annual Students Solidarity March came together once again this past Friday – and the response by the state just shows the continuing fear of young people who think for themselves and…
by Ali Raza & Asim Yasin & Nadeem Shah in The News, Dec 1, 2020MULTAN/LAHORE/ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) Monday staged another power show in Multan, as the government abruptly gave in after creating lots of hurdles by placing containers on all the routes leading to the public meeting venue, making dozens of arrests and booking hundreds of political activists. The PDM leadership was allowed to move on roads in the afternoon after unblocking…
by Shakeel Ahmed in Dawn, Dec 1st, 2020• Aseefa makes political debut• Maryam assails ‘two selectors’MULTAN: Buoyant over the ‘success’ of its public meeting here on Monday despite hurdles created by the government, the Pakistan Democratic Movement pledged to hold a bigger show in Lahore on Dec 13 by mobilising its workers across the country, ahead of its planned march on Islamabad next month to oust the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf government. The local administration lifted some…
AFTER nearly 10 years of incarceration and an incredible struggle for justice, political activist Baba Jan, along with other activists, has been released from jail in Gilgit. He had been sentenced in 2011 to 71 years in prison for ‘inciting’ people against the Gilgit-Baltistan government. Baba Jan’s release is indeed welcome news; thousands of people participating in a sit-in last month ahead of the GB elections were given assurances by the caretaker set-up that he…
Keeping consistent with the steady spree of violence that ensues in Afghanistan, another 30 security officials have been killed, with 24 more injured, through a car bombing in the central province of Ghazni. While no one has come forward to accept responsibility for the attack, it is clear that it was the doing of non-state actors. Unfortunately, what such incidences have made clear is the inability of the Afghan government to stand up against such…
The management of western borders has never been the priority of successive governments even after start of Afghan war from the decade of 1980s. The influx and stay in Pakistan of Afghan Refugees was not regulated like the neighbouring country Iran and they were allowed free movement across the country, ignoring the security risks for the country. Now the presence of large number of illegal Afghan nationals poses a big security problem. Militants from Afghanistan…
Lopsided accountability
Editorial in Pakistan Today, Dec 1, 2020Deputy Chairman Senate Saleem Mandviwala has laid bare the treatment meted out to him by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) regarding a fake bank accounts case against him. A visibly perturbed and fed up Mandviwala held a press conference and made claims similar to what others have said in the past, about how the accountability watchdog harasses and intentionally attempts to damage the reputation of businessmen in order to…