Category: Pakistan

  • ‘Judicial Coup’ Democracy in Pakistan is under threat

    Long term military dictatorships, shorter civilian rules, where accountability of politicians takes place on the name of corruption with the nexus of judges with civil & military establishment, is the destiny of Pakistan’. Thanks to our rulers as this notion is well supported by their inefficiencies. People came whenever the true leadership called. They came…

  • Cyber Crime Bill to be used against Anti-Govt emails & SMS

    Minister of Interior Rehman Malik has taken action to prevent people from spreading malicious and concocted stories against the civilian leadership of the country through emails and text messages. He warned that offenders will be apprehended within 48 hours and be punishable upto 14 years in Jail. It was surprising to note that the Government…

  • The Myth of Independence – Economic Imperialism

    “The notion that Pakistan controls the reigns to the economic resources of the country is incorrect—she doesn’t. The G-7 does. They are the ones who make all the economic decisions for us, for our country, through their institutions like IMF, World Bank, and WTO through the policies of SAP, TRIPS, and TRIMS. The idea is…

  • MPA Shumaila Rana caught red-handed in Credit Card Fraud

    An MPA Shumaila Rana who has been a member of the Punjab Assembly on a chosen reserved seat for women has recently been caught red handed using a stolen credit card and making two separate purchases to the tune of Rs. 80,000 [~$1000]. The owner of the credit card Zaira Malik when she reported them…

  • PEMRA Blocks Dawn TV’s show We Are Soldiers

    Late Friday night I received a couple of SMS’s alerting me that PEMRA had suddenly pulled and banned a much popular military show called ‘We Are Soldiers’ off-air. This news came a day before the episode on Special Services Group and Marines was to be aired on Saturday at 7:05 pm, but according to a…

  • The Carbon Tax Fiasco

    Cyril Almeida a columnist in Dawn has penned an excellent article on the recent controversy regarding the petroleum carbon tax. It is a fact that in March 2009 the government had imposed a Petroleum Developmental Levy which resulted in an increase in the price of petroleum goods by a few rupees. The then, newly restored…

  • Zakat Deduction dependent on Declaration of Fiqh

    Can some thing be done to make the lives of citizens less miserable. This is an appeal addressed to the State Bank Chairman and Members. The matter of compulsory deduction of Zakat could have been resolved had the State Bank not succumbed to an obviously unprofessional and illegal requirement imposed by the government. Alternately the…

  • Pakistans Future woes maybe linked to exponential birthrate – 550 Million by 2060

    A report by the Foreign Policy Magazine shows an interesting trend to the global birth trends in the world The study purports that economic stability contributes to a lower population growth and conversely instability and poverty catapults the birth rate to exponential proportions. As a country transitions from poverty to affluence, birthrates plunge—from six or…

  • A Swati Doctor Interviewed about the War in Swat

    A few members of the Peoples Resistance group visited Banares Colony in Karachi, Pakistan and interviewed an IDP refugee Doctor from Swat who shares his thoughts. I would also like to quote a short section from the email by Abira Ashfaq which had accompanied this video It seems like one can always accuse people who…

  • Judicial Taliban

    Lawyers have emerged as a great force in Pakistan who carries weight in the future law making and day to day running of the judiciary as well as executive in the country. Pakistan’s short history is full of lawyer’s contributions and in particular judges who never bow before a dictator to take oath under any…

  • Foreign Policy ranks Pakistan as the 10th Most Failed State

    Nothing to be proud off but in a survey conducted by Foreign Policy Magazine where they evaluated 177 countries across the world Pakistan was ranked as the 10th most failed state where Somalia was ranked as the most failed state followed by Zimbabwe, Sudan, Chad, Congo, Iraq, Afghanistan, Central African Republic, Guniea and then Pakistan…

  • Zardari throws out Quaid-e-Azam from the Presidency

    I was alerted of this development earlier in the afternoon courtesy of blogger Farhan where he wrote a blog post The Terrible Blunder at Presidency. Caught up in work, I made a mental note to check it out in detail, but at 9pm Geo reportedly carried a news item along the same lines showing picture…

  • Wired and Active discusses the IDP Campaign

  • The displaced vs the well placed people of Pakistan

    “The twins were born as the mother desperately struggled with the pangs of pain, the sound of falling artillery shells, the suffocation of gun powder and the stench of decaying dead bodies. By the time it was morning, the family realized that one of the two babies, had not survived the ordeal of childbirth. The…

  • Report on the IDP situation

    Report by Wali Haider from ROOTS Talking to the displaced people in various IDP camps, or in the homes of friends/relatives during my recent visit to Takht Bhai and Charsadda they have taken refuge it is obvious that for them the objectives of the army operation remain unclear. At the same time their suffering as…