Showing results for "2 march"

Pakistan is sitting on a ticking population bomb

  • Amid intense political wrangling, a more important issue affecting the future of this country has gone almost unheeded. The population time bomb that had long been ticking is now exploding.  With a staggering growth rate of 2 percent, Pakistan’s population has reached close to 240 millio...
·

Elections are the only way out of Pakistan’s political crisis but they won’t solve every problem

  • With the dissolution of assemblies in two major provinces and one third of the national assembly seats now vacant in Pakistan, options for the shacky coalition government at the center are running out. It has become increasingly difficult for the ruling alliance to stay in power. The pressure i...
·

The threat of civil strife looms large

  • After escaping an assassination attempt, Imran Khan has resumed what he calls the “freedom march” to Islamabad. The firing incident that wounded the former prime minister has inflamed an already volatile situation and galvanized his supporters. The attacker may have been arrested but the motive...
·

Mysterious murder of a Pakistani journalist has become an explosive political issue

  • The mysterious death of a leading TV anchor in a police shootout in Kenya has turned into an explosive political issue in Pakistan. Some months ago, Arshad Sharif had fled the country fearing for his safety after a treason case was filed against him. He arrived in Kenya a day earlier and was be...
·

Forced disappearances of Baloch students fuel alienation in Pakistan's troubled province

  • Frequent reports of abductions of Baloch students from universities across the country allegedly by security agencies have triggered widespread protests, and the spectacle of the police brutally beating up families of missing students and other protesters in Karachi last week caused nationwide ...
·

Pakistan’s Imran Khan turns guns on former patrons while crisis deepens

  • Once supported by Pakistan’s powerful security establishment, former prime minister Imran Khan now blames his erstwhile patrons for his government’s fall. He laments the “neutrality’ of the military leadership in the political fray that paved the way for what he describes as an “imported govern...
·

Taliban reversal on reopening girls’ schools increases regime’s international isolation

  • The Taliban’s abrupt reversal of their decision to reopen girls’ high schools has caused outrage inside Afghanistan and outside. Images of weeping girls outside locked schools being sent back home has exposed the myth that the conservative regime is willing to moderate its hardline position on ...
·

The shifting sands of Pakistani politics threaten the government

  • Political uncertainty grips the country as the opposition parties gear up to move a no confidence motion against Prime Minister Imran Khan. It could be a very close call for the coalition government riven by internal discord. It may not be an endgame for the beleaguered government but nothing i...
·

No recognition of the regime without Taliban showing reforms

  • It may still be a long way to go for the Taliban regime to win formal recognition but the latest interaction with the international community gives the conservative Islamic dispensation some legitimacy. Last week’s meeting in Oslo has led to further easing of restrictions on the de facto Afghan...
·

No sign yet of success in backchannel diplomacy between India and Pakistan

  • Backchannel engagement has led to some melting of the ice between India and Pakistan. Over the past few months, the guns have fallen silent along the Line of Control (LoC) dividing the disputed state of Kashmir and the war rhetoric is down on both sides. But there is still a question about whet...
·

Pages