Politics

The day I hit the keyboard with an intention to comment on the remonstration staged by Pakistan Tehrik e Insaf (PTI) and Pakistan Awami Tehrik (PAT), Pakistan played cricket series deciding ODI and got comprehensively beaten by Sri Lanka. I doubt if anyone, even a fervent cricketer, followed the match. The entire nation was held hostage to political stage show alongside the parliament telecast live in real time. We may be forgiven for missing out on the cricket match but can we defend ourselves on ignoring catastrophic issue of much greater national implications such as internally displaced persons (IDPs) bearing the inclement weather conditions under open sky besides lacking all the necessities they deserve as the citizens of Pakistan. Ne...

September 18, 2014 at 2:35 am | News Desk

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf chairman Imran Khan has requested Chief Justice of Pakistan and lawyers community to take notice of government action against “peaceful protesters”. The PTI chief was addressing the protesters at D Chowk on Tuesday (today) morning. Usually he addresses the PTI protesters in the evening but today he addressed them in the morning. Imran demanded that CJ Supreme Court of Pakistan Nasir Ul Mulk take notice of the government’s action against “peaceful protesters. We would not be able to stop charged youth if the government action was not stopped”. He stressed the judiciary and lawyers community to save democracy as “we launched a historic movement for freedom of judiciary in 2007?. ...

September 16, 2014 at 10:51 am | News Desk

Editorial The hectic, perhaps even frantic, shuttling back and forth of political intermediaries between the PML-N and PTI camps had suggested that perhaps some kind of middle ground could be reached and the growing atmosphere of political crisis could be calmed down. Unhappily, neither the PML-N nor the PTI appears to be in any mood to back down first — or at least before the eleventh hour, which is nearly here. The PML-N has had the capital’s administration enforce the infamous Section 144 of the criminal code that prohibits the public display of weapons — and most importantly, curbs the public’s right of freedom to assemble. Without a shred of doubt, no matter what the PML-N leadership or the Islamabad administration ma...

August 15, 2014 at 12:02 pm | News Desk

As Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf youth mantra enticed the youth to PTI like the positively phototactic moth is drawn to light, PTI held its end of the deal by opening doors to 40pc young candidates. One of these young candidates nominated by PTI, Murad Saeed, won his seat from NA-29 Swat, after defeating his senior political rivals. Saeed hails from Kabal of district Swat. During Operation Rah-e-Rast, the second battle of Swat in 2009 between Pakistan Army and the militants, a stray mortar shell had destroyed his house critically injuring his mother and brother. It served as Saeed’s call to politics as he was now determined to serve his people. So even at that crucial time, Saeed went from town to town forming ISF (Insaf Student Federation) ...

August 13, 2014 at 3:55 am | News Desk

Mehmood Ul Hassan Khan  United we stand, disunited we fall. It is the lesson of ancient wisdom and modern civilization too. Nations tend to be doomed when disunity prevails. Unity is strength and disunity is now spreading like an epidemic disease in the country. Political heat, humidity and stupidity have reached near its peak. Culture of political dialogue, statesmanship and diplomacy are inching towards “point of no return”. Such are the sad affairs of statesmanship. Vultures of power have already enhanced tally of controversies. Now August 14, the Independence Day seems no more to be a day of unity, peace and stability. All efforts are being carried out to make it a day of disunity, protest, and disability. Everyone from top t...

August 12, 2014 at 3:32 am | News Desk

”Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl [JUI-F] is a moderate religious political party. We condemn all types of terrorism and extremism and we support government in its endeavor to eliminate terrorism. It is a misconception that JUI [F] is against military operation in North Waziristan, but we are trying to engage government for adopting a comprehensive anti-terrorism policy at state level”, said Jan Achakzai in an exclusive interview with Economic Affairs. You said that JUI F is a moderate political party. How you will define extremism?   Yes, JUI - F is a moderate religious political party. Maulana Mufti Mahmud who led JUI during the 70s played an important role in the formation of 1973 Constitution for Pakistan. The constitution fundamen...

July 13, 2014 at 12:55 am | News Desk

Saad Shabbir The Afghan presidential elections have taken yet another turn after the first round led to a run-off between the two candidates - former foreign minister Abdullah Abdullah and former World Bank official Ashraf Ghani. The announcement of preliminary results on Sunday indicate a clear margin of 1.3 million votes in favor of Ashraf Ghani. Just before the official announcement of preliminary vote count, Abdullah Abdullah raised concerns over the impartiality of the Independent Election Commission of Afghanistan with his followers engaged in countrywide protests. With the final results of the presidential elections already causing unrest and ISAF pulling out its troops culminating a decade long war, Afghanistan is on the brink of...

July 12, 2014 at 9:42 pm | News Desk

Kunza Raja It is good that all political parties in Pakistan realise the need to reform the electoral process in Pakistan and pursuing the government for the same. The prime minister has already taken initiative to constitute a special parliamentary committee comprising members of the two houses of parliament to take up the issue of electoral reforms. However, most of the reforms deemed by political parties are already on agenda of Election Commission of Pakistan. The implementation on these reforms will need complete backing of the parliament as it will also require amendments in pertaining laws. A significant reforms were implemented by the Election Commission during the general election of May 2013 under its first Five-Year Strateg...

July 12, 2014 at 9:03 pm | News Desk

Fajar Fawad White collar crime as a unique form of illegal behaviour received significance in literary notes since Sutherland introduced the concept in his 1939 presidential address to the American Sociological Society. It is often not dramatic, exciting, or interesting to hear about, and many people don’t understand how white collar crimes actually can have its effect on economy. However, white collar crime-the violation of criminal law by a person of high socio-economic status in the course of occupational activity is now narrowly focused upon in the judgements of budget formation and economic analysis. White collar crime is a widespread problem that doesn’t receive a lot of attention. Everyone knows what a murder, robbery, ...

June 12, 2014 at 5:30 pm | News Desk

Sexual deviancy is not a protected civil right. Sexual deviancy exists and is noted by clinical psychiatrists.  But deviants should not receive hugs at the White House and a welcomed berth in the military. President Barack Obama is the  Commander-in-Chief of the combined military forces of the United States of America.  He maintains an unusual focus on detrimental policy changes that weaken the traditions and  morale of a  professional standing army. Why such intense personal interest? The door was closed the day that my Navy  OIC (officer in charge) sat with me and the ten year (mandatory) review of a secret clearance landed on his desk. The officer under review was in my department and under my direct command. He had an incident ...

June 12, 2014 at 2:55 am | News Desk

 Jamal Hussain While both PPP and MQM in their respective manifestoes clearly state that establishment of Local Government (LG) by holding LG elections in order to take democracy down to the grassroots level is high on their agenda, the last five years rule of PPP led Sindh government (where MQM was a junior coalition partner) witnessed a clear violation of their party pledge when on one pretext or the other it refused to hold fresh LG elections after the term of the second elections held under LG 2001 Ordinance had expired in 2009. This was a major sore point with the MQM and was the principal reason the sorry spectacle of the hide and seeks of parting of company and rejoining was constantly on display. An examination of the parlia...

June 12, 2014 at 2:40 am | News Desk

Saman Zulfqar Amid hopes and fears, Afghan presidential elections were held in the first week of April. The initial results showed Dr. Abdullah, among the three candidates, having a lead in the elections. Though these are not the final results, but Dr. Abdullah Abdullah, former Foreign Minister and Mr. Ashraf Ghani, a former Finance Minister and a former World Bank official appear to head for a run-off election. It is enunciated in Afghan constitution that a candidate must receive over 50 % of votes to win elections otherwise run-off election would be held. Despite Taliban’s threats, urban population enthusiastically participated in the election process with impressive voter turnout of about 55-58 %.  Presidential election is just ...

May 10, 2014 at 1:47 am | News Desk

Saad Qamar Iqbal Inflation and unemployment rocketing up, markets falling apart, Lira coming tumbling down - Turkish economy had once been all in the shatters. 2001 happened to be the breaking point for economy, erupting after the delinquencies and criminal mistakes which Turkish governments devotedly performed since 1980.  Such were the crises. Turkish economy in the previous-most decade though, is referred as a “miracle”, the “most-fascinating growth story” by the HSBC Global Asset official and prominent Economists. This relatively recent drive is much related to the vow that calls to bring “Turkey in top 10 world economies”- by none other than the “controversial” current premiere of Turkey, Mr. Recep Tayyip Erd...

May 10, 2014 at 1:07 am | News Desk

Tammy Swofford Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the UAE are the trading bloc which form a constellation known as the Gulf States. The CCASG was established 25 May 1981. The Sultanate of Oman and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia have an absolute monarchy. The UAE has a federal monarchy.  Bahrain, Kuwait and Qatar have a system of constitutional monarchy, albeit Kuwait also supports a parliamentary system of governance.  This constellation has a strong showing within a country comparison of GDP per capita on a purchasing power parity basis (using the metric of international dollars) . In 2013, Qatar was the richest nation in the world with a per capita GDP (PPP) of over 105,000 dollars. The UAE and Kuwait are also firmly ensco...

May 10, 2014 at 12:59 am | News Desk

Hafiz Muhammad Irfan Finally government brought the much awaited national security policy, the National Internal Security Policy (NISP) 2014-2018. Time and again, different policies have been made during different regimes in the past. Did they remain fruitful? And the answer is NO. A few remained fruitful and others failed to produce results due to poor implementation. Now when this new security policy (NISP) has been approved, newly established National Counter-Terrorism Authority (NACTA) will be raised in order to remove the menace of terrorism and establish peace in the country. If you go through the document, especially NACTA Act, it needs amendments. No autonomy has been given to the counter-terrorism body (NACTA). All pow...

April 4, 2014 at 2:26 am | News Desk

Mushahid Hussain Sayed is a journalist, geo-strategist, politician, an avid writer and reader. Currently, he is member to the Senate of Pakistan and also the Chairman of Senate Standing Committee on Defense and Defense Production. He is the Secretary-General of the Pakistan Muslim League (Q). Prospects of Pak-Russia ties Almas Haider Naqvi “The defence cooperation between Russia and Pakistan couldn’t be fastened because of two reasons. Firstly, Russia isn’t inclined towards Pakistan due to its long-lasting relationship with India and secondly Russians believe that some Chechen commanders who are at war with Russia are harboring in the tribal areas of Pakistan bordering the Durand line”, said Senator Mushahid Hussian Sye...

April 4, 2014 at 12:52 am | News Desk