A year ago, Imran Khan was sworn in as the newly elected prime minister of Pakistan. It appeared Khan had cemented his legacy as someone who could achieve the impossible, fitting into the carefully cultivated narrative around his cricketing and philanthropic achievements. The headlines were (...)
“There is no alternative to a constitutional, civilian, democratic and peoples’ rule.”
New Delhi: More than 100 members of the Pakistani civil society – intellectuals, writers, journalists, lawyers, activists and trade union members – have released a statement expressing concern at the direction (...)
AN enduring question in the study of Pakistani politics has been the relative lack of success of religious parties in electoral politics. Barring the extremely dubious 2002 exercise, in no election have religious parties won more than 10 per cent of the vote. They have, at best, exercised (...)
Corruption and military might have long dominated Pakistani politics. And Imran Khan’s reform-minded rhetoric is unlikely to change that.
Some time ago, a Pakistani political party gained at the expense of the Pakistan Army. The year was 1971. The army had suffered a humiliating defeat at the (...)
ON 26 July 2018, in his election victory speech, Imran Khan gave a sober talk contrary to his very violent language used throughout the election campaign. He has “won” 116 seats of the 342 seats National Assembly of which 278 seats are contested directly on First Past The Post (FPTP) system. He (...)
POLITICAL parties seek the mandate to run the country and provinces based on the agenda they plan to launch. Thus, they can be held accountable for their pledges.
Of the 207 million population of Pakistan, 106m are registered voters (18 and above). Nearly 15 per cent of these voters are above (...)
Pakistan’s elections will not be free or fair. But the AWP and some progressive independents are taking part - to keep hope alive.
Controlled elections are always a blow against democracy. Among other things, democracy needs elections. And proper elections need a level playing field. Else, (...)
In Pakistan, a youth-led, social media-powered movement is gaining ground – despite a media blackout of the Pashtun Tahaffuz Movement (PTM) and it’s struggle for justice and dignity.
The revolution will not be televised in Pakistan. Unless it has the blessings of the powers-that-be. This has (...)
Manzoor Pashteen’s Pashtun Protection Movement gathers support in country where criticism of army is rare.
Every morning Ahmed Shah puts on his circular, red-and-black cap, decorated with spades, and feels ready to take on the world. “For me this cap is a symbol of resistance,” he says. “That’s (...)
I was introduced to the concept of dissent in the 1980s when I overheard a conversation among my father’s friends. They said a group of women had scared Gen Ziaul Haq so much that in a televised address he warned the people not to be misled by these few 200 bourgeois westernised women who were (...)
The army is unwilling to give any space to news reports or opinion pieces favourable to the Pashtuns and intends to continue ensuring a near-complete electronic media blackout of the movement.
The Pashtun Tahaffuz Movement (PTM) – which came to the fore after the extrajudicial killing of a (...)
Don’t be fooled by the media blackout and prejudice. The Islamists are not the only social movements on the march in Pakistan. Over the last few months, Pakistan has witnessed a plethora of long marches and square occupations in the country.
The long march led by the Islamists of Tehreek-e-Labbaik Ya Rasool Allah (TLY) remains the starkest example of the power of this new form of political claim-making. Thankfully, there are more progressive examples.
For example, an under-reported but (...)
Cuts in US aid mean the collapse of many CSOs and a career crisis for the middle class managers of “civil society” We take a look at the winners and losers
The cuts have already come but the crisis will come later. The budget passed by the United States Senate and House of Representatives announced an $8.8 billion shortfall in the amounts allotted to the US State Department and to USAID, the United States Agency for International Development. Money for the Overseas Contingency Operations Budget, (...)
Punjab University came to a standstill at the end of January, due to violent clashes between rival student groups. Students from the Islami Jamiat-e-Talaba and the Pashtun Education and Development Movement (PEDM) were arrested and charged under anti-terror laws. This article explores the (...)
The ugly history of intertwining fanaticism with the mainstream means next time the extremists play their hand the consequences will be worse, the capitulation greater and the surrender more abject than the one we have just witnessed [see below the description of the events].
The idea the (...)
THERE has hardly been an instance where the state has capitulated so humiliatingly to a group of extremists holding the nation’s capital hostage . The six-point agreement brokered by the military leadership is virtually a document of surrender. A beleaguered civilian administration has signed on (...)
In October 2017, the Quaid-e-Azam University campus has witnessed some ugly scenes. Hundreds of students were protesting for a number of days against fees hike, improving hostel and medical facilities and restoring students expelled a few months ago in clashes between ethnic groups. All demands (...)
Best There is growing concern in academic, policy and political circles on the radicalisation in educational campuses. A serious debate is taking place to change the narrative on Pakistan’s history to prevent the proliferation of extremist ideas among the youth. What this debate implicitly (...)
We recently witnessed the country celebrating its 70th anniversary of independence. Until a day before, there was fury at the corruption of the elites and the impending clash between national institutions. On the 14th of August, the language of doom and gloom was abruptly replaced with (...)
A coup in Pakistan’s checkered political life is never news. However, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s disqualification from his post on corruption charges through a court verdict on July 28 has an element of newness about it. Instead of the Pakistan Army, the recent coup has been carried out by (...)
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