Report in Dawn, November 27th, 2020LAHORE: PML-N vice-president Maryam Nawaz will attend the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) Multan rally on Nov 30. “Nawaz Sharif has directed me to attend the meeting of the PDM,” Ms Nawaz told reporters at Jati Umra here on Thursday. She said Nawaz said she would have to forget her grief and attend the PDM rally. She will be attending the event two days after the burial of her grandmother, Begum…
Posts published in “Pak Media comment”
Drone warfare is one of the most important international security developments of the twenty-first century. Armed drones are proliferating rapidly, and drone warfare is thus likely to become even more prevalent in coming years. These have increasingly become part of warfare since the Pentagon deployed its Predator in Afghanistan following the 9/11 attacks. Missile-firing drones are now produced in many countries including Turkey, China and Israel, and have been used by various sides in battles…
It has been a year since Pakistan was shaken by an unprecedented upheaval of university students across the country. Organized under the banner of the Students Solidarity March, students took out rallies in over 50 districts to express their anger against a broken education system and the failure of the PTI government to live up to its promises of empowering the youth. The students demanded the constitutionally guaranteed right to unionize, an increase in the…
With the opposition preparing for rallies in Multan and Lahore, Prime Minister Imran Khan accompanied by the Punjab Chief Minister and others called upon PML(Q) chief Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain in a bid to pacify the annoyed allies who had skipped Mr Khan’s luncheon earlier this month. A meeting was also held separately between the PM and Ch Shujaat Hussain and Punjab Assembly Speaker Ch Pervez Elahi, indicating that some sort of understanding had been reached…
As the pandemic gets worse across the country, reaching the highest daily toll reported since July, its effects do not escape politicians either. It appears holding mass country-wide rallies in a pandemic might have been a mistake, as now one of its ringleaders, Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari has confirmed that he has tested positive for COVID-19 and is self-isolating. We wish Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari well and a speedy recovery. Yet the reach of the pandemic should alarm those…
The writer teaches at Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad.I AM generally wary of inferring a great deal from the conduct of individuals, however important, they may be, but Prime Minister Imran Khan undertook two engagements this week that illustrate both the fortunes of the present regime, as well as deeper continuities in Pakistan’s structure of power. The more prominent of his two appearances was the televised address made to a special gathering of the high-powered World Economic…
The writer is a freelance columnist.Pakistan is currently faced with a national crisis of an unprecedented magnitude due to the onset of the pandemic particularly the second wave which seems more threatening from its first stint regarding claiming human lives and its debilitating impact on the economy. While the government is doing its utmost to deal with the emerging situation and mitigating the impact of the contagion, the alliance of the opposition parties under the…
The writer works as a development practitioner for a local consultancy.By most accounts, the gathering of mourners at Khadim Hussain Rizvi’s funeral was one of the biggest in Lahore’s history. The liberal commentariat was aghast that the historic venue of Iqbal Park, which eighty years ago had heralded a future full of hope, tolerance, progress and inclusivity, ended up being swarmed by devotees of a man who preached hate, bigotry and violence. Moderate voices were…
by M.B. Kalhoro in Dawn, November 27th, 2020LARKANA: Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman has said that people have the right to run their country’s affairs whereas the establishment has to do its own job. Addressing the 26th ‘Shaheed-i-Islam Conference’ — an annual party event to pay homage to its slain general secretary Dr Khalid Mehmood Soomro — at the Municipal Stadium here on Thursday, he said “we are aware of the conspiracy to roll…
Peace often becomes a subjective term in parts of Afghanistan; there are provinces that have witnessed a lower incidence of violence over the years, but as the talks stagnate, even those areas are now under threat. Tuesday saw twin blasts rock the Bamiyan province, leaving at least 17 dead and 50 injured in their wake. Talks in Afghanistan have stalled to the point where no new update has come out in the last months. The…
The need for flexibility: Editorial in Pakistan Today, Nov 28, 2020
The second wave of coronavirus inside the country and in countries who are Pakistan’ major export markets is having a toll on the national economy. Exports have come down, so have imports, while the trade deficit has increased by 4 percent to $6.7 billion. A report by the Finance Ministry acknowledges that the fiscal deficit as of November 20 increased by almost 70 percent when compared with the same period of last year even though…