IN the heart of Vienna lies a flourishing Pakistani restaurant that caters to thousands of tourists and locals. The owner has credited much of the restaurant’s success to an enabling business environment. For instance, while his restaurant is regularly and rigorously inspected by government officials, there is no expectation of or demand for bribes. One […]

NARENDRA Modi has come a long way from the time he was denied a US visa for his role in the Gujarat pogrom. Times have changed. He is now the prime minister of a country that the US wants to build as a counterweight to rising China. The US has honoured him, with his state […]

ASIA-PACIFIC has been the primary venue for the US-China strategic competition. However, the competition is now spilling into other regions too, including the Middle East, where the US is gradually losing its influence. In order to bolster its standing in the Middle East, the US facilitated the process of normalisation of ties between Israel and […]

SPEAKING to the First Constituent Assembly in 1947, Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah outlined several duties for the government of Pakistan: maintain law and order, root out corruption, act against black marketeering, and not allow nepotism. Jinnah advised inclusive governments based on the rule of law, merit-based governance, religious freedom and equality of all citizens. Seven […]

THE world’s first nuclear bomb was dropped on Hiroshima on Aug 6, 1945, killing over 100,000 residents. The second bomb followed three days later, and killed nearly 80,000 in Nagasaki. The scale of destruction was so vast, so indiscriminate that no country — not even the US, which had dropped the two bombs — ever […]

POST-dinner conversations in most urban middle-class households start these days with commentaries on the unstable politics and abysmal economic situation of Pakistan and end with the concern about the youth exodus from Pakistan to the seemingly greener pastures of North America, Europe, Australia and the Gulf. However, before drawing any conclusions, it would be important […]

JARANWALA, a small town near Lahore, has shot into prominence, but for the wrong reasons. What happened there on Aug 16, 2023 represents another low in our history of communal intolerance, with local community leaders and law-enforcement authorities appearing totally helpless in preventing the mob from targeting dozens of Christian families, their houses and churches. […]

BRICS, WHICH seeks to promote cooperation amongst Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, is expanding its ambit. The recently held summit in Johannesburg (Aug 22-24) invited Argentina, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia and the UAE to join BRICS. Three questions are dominating the discourse on this development: will an expanded BRICS enable the Global […]

LIFE in developed countries pivots around the rule of law. Every citizen is subjected to the same laws, and no one is above the law. However, despite full consensus on the validity of the rule of law, there are always implementation gaps. Take the US, whose founding fathers stressed on equality of all men, freedom […]

FOR most Pakistanis, the prevailing economic conditions have unleashed unprecedented hardship. Steep power tariffs and high fuel costs have made everything expensive. Even the basic necessities are now beyond the reach of the public. Spending consistently more than earning has indebted the country to the core. We have mortgaged the future of even our grandchildren. […]