Prime Minister Imran Khan has recently commented upon drastically changing two election procedures. Firstly, he seems determined to change the structure of the Senate elections. PTI in October introduced the Election (Amendment) Act, 2020 which proposes a larger set of electoral reforms, including an overhaul change in the electoral process of electing senators, seeking to end the use of secret ballots in the elections for the upper chamber of parliament. Building on the same bill,…
Posts published in “Pak Media comment”
Abandoning Afghanistan: Editorial in Pakistan Today, Nov 19th, 2020.US President Donald Trump is expected to issue a formal order for the withdrawal of US forces from Afghanistan and Iraq, to follow on the ‘warning order’ he has already issued to this effect. The order comes in the midst of the turmoil into which the US Defense Department was thrown by his post-election sacking of the Defense Secretary and his chief deputy. It is almost as…
Report in Dawn, November 19th, 2020LAHORE: The Lahore High Court on Wednesday sought the personal appearance of the NAB-Lahore director general in a joint petition by PML-Q President Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain and Punjab Assembly Speaker Chaudhry Parvez Elahi challenging the inquiries against them.Earlier, a two-judge bench headed by Justice Sadaqat Ali Khan expressed concern when a NAB prosecutor said the inquiries against the petitioners were pending for the last 20 years. He said an inquiry…
by Faisal Ali Raja in The Express Tribune, Nov 18th, 2020Tolerance can be defined in individual or collective terms which impact each other and leave positive or negative impressions in society. It can neither be theoretically taught nor be inculcated among humans without presenting a practical mode for action. Tolerance experiences many challenges in a diverse social set-up, including accepting diversity and taking it as an opportunity to reshape lives and human behaviour in society.…
Prime Minister Imran Khan’s visit to Turbat, Balochistan on November 13, 2020, had a familiar ring to it. Dilating on the need for equal development of all federating units for a strong federation, he announced another development package, concentrated this time on southern Balochistan. Familiar, because previous governments too have made soothing noises about dealing with Balochistan’s neglect and its poverty and deprivation as a result. For example, the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) government 2008-13,…
CHILD abuse is rampant in Pakistan, yet many news items still manage to shock readers to their core due to the sheer violence and brutality of the reported incident. On Friday, a suspect was killed in an ‘encounter’ by his co-accused, according to police, the day after he was arrested for raping a woman and her five-year-old daughter. Earlier on Wednesday, a four-year-old boy died at the Jinnah Post-Graduate Medical Centre in Karachi after he…
With the heightened risk factor that accompanies the accumulation of people in large groups, Pakistan Democratic Movement’s (PDM) call for rallies, protests and sit-ins is highly irresponsible. What needs to be understood is that the wellbeing of the people needs to come first. Our future cannot be ridden with economic depravity, a poor quality of life and uncontainable chaos—all qualities that we can expect if we refuse to take precaution in the status quo. PM…
The second wave of covid-19 appearing at the end of last month has already led to a fourfold increase in cases, with mortalities jumping from six or seven per day to 25 now. This has led the NCOC to issue new SOPs for social gatherings. Prime Minister Imran Khan has meanwhile announced cancelation of the PTI’s public meetings that were scheduled for coming weeks and months. He has asked the opposition parties also to call…
The writer is the spokesperson for Nawaz Sharif and Maryam Nawaz, and former governor Sindh.Whether one likes her or hates her, one cannot ignore the phenomenal rise of Maryam Nawaz on the political stage in Pakistan. For her supporters, Maryam represents the hopes and aspirations of millions of Pakistanis across Pakistan. For her opponents, she is perhaps the most credible political opponent among those currently on the political stage. She has attained unprecedented success in…
There are important lessons for Pakistan to learn from the formation of the world’s largest free trade bloc in the Asia-Pacific region. A total of 15 countries (10 Asean nations plus five more) have got together and signed a landmark free trade agreement (FTA) in a decisive win for multilateralism, especially in this region, at a time when the world’s sole superpower is doing what it can to kill multinational deals in favour of aggressive…
Stalemate politics: edit in The News, Nov 19, 2020
Politics and the political game in today’s Pakistan does not seem to be moving beyond settled positions. For example, has the opposition, through its rallies, been able to push the government into a corner from where it will not be able to fight back? Or is the opposition in a situation where it will be forced to stage a long march to Islamabad, at which point the issue of how long such an effort can…