From The Daily Times —Yasser Latif Hamdani Arundhati Roy committed blasphemy of another kind when she asked the Americans to reconsider their alliance with India without resolving the Kashmir issue in accordance with the wishes of the Kashmiri people. Earlier she had upset many Indians when she claimed that Kashmir was not an integral part of India, a statement that had every gung-ho Indian, those Oscar Wilde’s vicious patriots and there are about a billion of them, baying for her blood, proving that India is and will remain an intolerant society for some time to come. … Read entire article »

Ahmad Nadeem Gehla Investor is the first bird to fly away when there is a remote possibility of instability and fear of disregards for international contracts. Populist rhetoric of half-learned scholars and opportunists politicians that corruption and lack of accountability are responsible for discouraging investment does not makes any sense. Although these two factors impact the investment decisions, the studies suggest that authoritarian regimes with massive corruption and lack of accountability has attracted equal investments as did the transparent and democratic governments. In reality, the authoritarian regimes are favourite of international investors while corruption, kickbacks and commissions are established practice of doing business in corporate MNE’s. From arms deals to explorations licences and from Foreign Direct Investment to  award of development projects,;corrupt practices, political influences and reactivity commissions do exist at varying levels. The biggest fear of any investor lies … Read entire article »

This is a very interesting and bold article sent to us by Ms Kiran Rizvi which gives female perspective on the male centric cultural narrative By Kiran Rizvi The story of the biblical character ‘Job’ or Ayyub, has intrigued me ever since I first heard it at the age of seven. Job was a wealthy man who had many wives and children and was the head of his clan. Apparently, one day Satan pointed out to God that the reason Job was so pious and thankful was because he had many things to thank for, at which God took some objections. God was determined to demonstrate to Satan that Job would be thankful under all circumstances. As a proof, God took away all the wealth of land and cattle and Job and his … Read entire article »

By Yasser Latif Hamdani This is a short post connected to Faiz’s death anniversary. As most of you are aware I consider Faiz not Iqbal to be the national poet of Pakistan.  The contribution of Faiz Ahmed Faiz to Pakistan right from the inception of the new nation is second to none. Yet crooks on the right and the left have a habit of lying about Faiz Ahmed Faiz.  Both these groups claim – quite inaccurately – … Read entire article »

By Taha Kehar The esteemed Urdu poet, Faiz Ahmed Faiz, has expressed the melancholy surrounding the concept of seclusion in a poem entitled Tanhaee. Strangely enough, his work is a pertinent representation of the post-flood scenario that has gripped Pakistan with a fist of iron. As attempts at rehabilitation at an administrative level continue in vain, the flood victims are still waiting to receive Watan Cards and remunerate flood-related losses. But can we blame the government for its obvious ineffectiveness in this context? In a sense, the legacy of corruption is the prime target for all dissension against administrative incompetence. And yet, this argument has become far too clichéd to hold any relevance in explaining and resolving problems. Therefore, the failure of the government in competently issuing Watan Cards goes to show how … Read entire article »

Rashed Aurakzai Meer’s legendary verse of ‘Na Huq hum majbooron pay …….’ (Unjust is the blame that we, the helpless; are free, All doings are his and us maligned in vain.) best explains our de-facto Vs de-jure relationship.  Khwaja Nazimuddin’s cabinet was  dismissed only to swear the same ministers again, except him and two. Populists have since been our Establishment’s bane particularly  the  PPP. Take for example the 1988 rigging,  when ISI, through Mehran Bank financing, manufactured IJI only to counter PPP’s clean sweep because its tormentors ‘feared’ repercussions for their 11 wild years of hunting in Zia’s darkness. It’s no more a secret or a conspiracy theory but an admitted crime by its perpetrators and our ‘living-legends’ Baig and Gul. Despite the PPP’s singular victory,  BB was invited  after 40 … Read entire article »

Raza Rumi As if Pakistan’s domestic woes were not troubling, the unravelling of the US strategy and its implications are eluding even the best of strategists. Mind you, Pakistan is a place every third person is a ‘strategy’ expert and the term ‘strategic’, thanks to the militarisation of the Pakistani mind, is an ever-popular reference. The ideological domination of Pakistan’s discourse is a palpable reality. This is why, across the political spectrum one finds a sense of victory over the failure of US strategy in Afghanistan. This failure is interpreted as the validation of Pakistan’s ‘genuine’ and ‘legitimate’ interest in Afghanistan. What has worried me most in recent weeks is the capitulation of the liberal-secular chatterati to this pop-discourse of military war games. One is not surprised when former generals and the hawkish hordes of former Foreign Office mandarins express … Read entire article »

The author Sarmila Bose is the niece of Subhas Chandra Bose or Netaji of Indian National Army fame who fought against the British supporting the Japanese. He is considered as a great hero in Bengal and India. There is much for Pakistan to come to terms with what happened in 1971.But the answers don’t lie in unthinking vilification of the fighting men who performed so well in the war against such heavy odds in defence of the national policy. Rather, in failing to honour them, the nation dishonours itself. My introduction to international politics was 1971, as a schoolgirl in Calcutta. Many images from that year are still etched in my mind, but the culminating one was the photo on Ramna racecourse of two men sitting at a table — the smart, turbaned Sikh, ‘our’ war-hero, Jagjit Singh Aurora, and the largeman in a beret, … Read entire article »

Ali Abbas’ exclusive post for PTH If altruism is defined as selfless concern for the welfare of others, then foreign aid can never be altruistic. Aid always serves a purpose, may it be political, diplomatic or ideological. What of debt then? The same old original sin of modern man. The reason why we will never be pure again (unless, we can transform our current loans into Islamic loans of course!). Theoretically, a country should take a loan when a simple Cost Benefit Analysis is satisfied. This CBA can be defined as follows: if a country can take a loan to generate a particular level of GDP, the loan is beneficial if the rate of increase in GDP is more than what is returned to the lender in the form of the interest … Read entire article »

Raza Rumi It is ironic that the electronic media which played a major role in the movement against a military dictatorship is now being cited as one of the challenges to the fractured democratic transition since 2008. Perhaps it is not by design. It is clear that the electronic media remains a nascent industry and like the rest of the country operates in a largely unregulated environment. Pakistan’s overall governance climate is marked by dynasties, oligarchies and mafias. Why should we expect the media to rise above the larger culture? Nevertheless, given its important role in shaping public opinion and attitudes, the need for media responsibility has increasingly been articulated by a wide range of actors and not just the … Read entire article »