Kunwar Idris

Failure: the blame game

THE politicians in power these days are heard saying: “It is not the democratic system but governance that has... Published 08 Oct, 2013 07:04am

Patwari, thana and Titanic

IT is customary for our leaders to hold the patwari and thana culture responsible for the indignities suffered by ... Published 01 Jul, 2013 08:12am

Advice for the PM

MR Nawaz Sharif has earned admiration for the equanimity with which he bore his torment of arbitrary dismissal,... Published 25 Jun, 2013 10:31am

Rich and poor of politics

WHILE talking of the present and past contenders for political power in Pakistan, what comes to mind is what the... Published 11 Jun, 2013 05:45am

The ECP and rigged elections

THE campaigning in the run-up to Saturday and the voting on election day were generally orderly but allegations of... Published 16 May, 2013 09:27am
Uncertainty of local elections

Uncertainty of local elections

BARRING some unforeseen and unusual development, the elections to the national and provincial assemblies will be ... Published 02 May, 2013 09:01am

Friendship with India

JUST six months after independence, in a pictorial write-up on Pakistan, America’s Life magazine noted that the newly born nation of 70 million desperately needed India’s capital and industrial know-how to Published 06 Apr, 2013 05:00am

Death of a tribal expert

THE British administered Pakistan’s tribal areas with a combination of such skill and guile for more than 100 years that doubts were widely expressed whether the government of Pakistan would be able to win the trust of Published 26 Mar, 2013 08:22am

G.D. Memon: a life of hard work

MR G.D. Memon, who died in Karachi the other day, belonged to that, now all but extinct, tribe of finance officials who relished saying ‘no’ to every expen-diture out of the public treasury Published 08 Dec, 2011 09:02pm

An upright civil servant dies

IN the death of Abdul Karim Lodhi on Tuesday in Karachi, the country has lost a committed and courageous civil... Published 09 Nov, 2011 10:02pm

Jobs, plots and rivalry

ALL essays on the causes of violence in Karachi, and the measures taken to contain it, end on a disappointingly... Published 07 Sep, 2011 10:02pm

From one to sixteen

WHILE many amongst us still feel nostalgic about (West) Pakistan’s being one unit, PML-N leader Makhdoom Javed... Published 15 Aug, 2011 09:30pm

Dinosaurs of politics

THE dinosaurs’ last hurrah was 65 million years ago after they ruled the earth for 200 million years. Their... Published 05 Aug, 2011 09:23pm

Governance for all

PARTING company after sharing power — and the enormous benefits that flowed from it — for three years, the leaders ... Published 18 Jul, 2011 09:02pm

Unchanging agony

‘PAKISTAN struggles for survival’ was the headline of the lead story of America’s well-known magazine Life in its... Published 11 Jul, 2011 09:14pm

Relations with India

AT a time when India is gathering laurels for its fast-growing economy and vibrant democracy and Pakistan is getting... Published 26 Jun, 2011 09:30pm

The debate on provinces

ASSERTIONS to the contrary notwithstanding, governance in Pakistan remains attuned to political symbolism and... Published 04 Jun, 2011 09:19pm

Polls can save the system

ONLY a day after the president of Pakistan signed the 19th Amendment which along with the 18th Amendment makes the... Published 09 Jan, 2011 01:04am

Political antics & governance

PAKISTAN`S parliamentarians and ideologists are both out to garner public laurels: the former for amending the... Published 01 Jan, 2011 08:07pm

Rising graph of discontent

PAKISTAN`S large and liberal but politically passive, or unassertive, majority has always been hostage to a ... Published 26 Dec, 2010 01:16am