Category: Notes from Pakistan

By Huzaima Bukhari and Dr Ikramul Haq  

[This article first appeared in the Business Recorder of August 30, 2013.]

In 1997 the slogan of Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) was ‘Qarz Utaro, Mulk Sanwaro’ [retire debt, adorn country], which is reversed in 2013 as all efforts are underway to increase public debt – both domestic and external. The new slogan appears to be ‘Qarz Burhao, Mulk Bigarho’ [increase debt, damage country].

People of Pakistan have yet not forgotten the fate of ‘Qarz Utaro, Mulk Sanwaro’ Scheme announced by Nawaz Sharif on February 23, 1997 along with declaring Friday as weekly holiday instead of Sunday within one week of assuming his second term as Prime Minister [February 17, 1997 to October 12, 1999]. The Government of Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) [PML-N] in its third term is using the same old tactics-misleading the people on economic issues.

Finance

[Cost: Lives of 45 citizens of Pakistan. Lesson Learned: Fokkers grounded for passengers services. Outcome: No one is responsible!]

This time the temptation is irresistible. Long ago perhaps 15 years back I happened to go along with some kids to an entertainment park in Lahore. We bought tickets to enjoy rides, etc, inside the park. The back of the tickets read as: Ride at your own risk. I was staggered: are not the people running this business responsible for any mishap? I decided to write on this way of avoiding/evading responsibility, and thought we had accepted this way of behaving as moral and normal. The stream of thought also suggested that it is just like living in Pakistanat one’s own risk. I took care of one of the tickets and have still this ticket safe with me as I keep my National Identity Card.

But as happens with almost

Matta: Change in the offing can be observed in many ways – in changing attitudes, changing congregations, changing social dynamics. The recent book fair in Matta – held from August 14 to August 15 – saw all that, and more.

[The Express Tribune, August 28, 2013]

With discounted books on subjects ranging from general knowledge to literature, the fair became much more than just a gathering. It came to symbolize a beacon of hope for the residents of this militancy-scarred area.

[The Express Tribune, August 28, 2013]

In this vein, the hundreds of visitors that attended came not just for the pages – they also came to reclaim their town, to reassert their choice: Books over bombs.

A heavy recent past

Tehsil Matta, which

In 2004, the Pakistani government placed an order for a luxurious Mercedes Cardiac ambulance at a cost of more than 13 million rupees (about $225,000). The vehicle, first of its kind, will be used exclusively by a select group of VIP patients in the capital, Islamabad. No doubt the privileged few will include civil and military bureaucrats and so-called representatives of the people.

But, at the same time, a large number of taxpaying people eager to buy a car are being denied a fair deal. Over the past couple of years the local car industry, which suffered negative growth of 24 percent during 1999-2000 due to lax demand, has witnessed a steep rise in demand that it is unable to meet. Needless to say, local car manufacturers and vending industries are exploiting this gap between supply and demand to their maximum benefit, and to the detriment of the consumer. Various

Published in The Express Tribune of August 26, 2013, it’s a sharp comment on the hidden face of Tehreek-e-Insaf.

For nearly three decades, an earnest man named Narendra Dabholkar traveled from village to village in India, waging a personal war against the spirit world.

If a holy man had electrified the public with his miracles, Dr. Dabholkar, a former physician, would duplicate the miracles and explain, step by step, how they were performed. If a sorcerer had amassed a fortune treating infertility, he would arrange a sting operation to unmask the man as a fraud. His goal was to drive a scientist’s skepticism into the heart of India, a country still teeming with gurus, babas, astrologers, godmen and other mystical entrepreneurs.

That mission ended Tuesday, when two men ran up behind Dr. Dabholkar, 67, as he crossed a bridge, shot him at point-blank range, then jumped onto a motorbike and disappeared into the traffic coursing through this city.

When detectives began putting together a

It’s possible that after more than half a century of animosity, India and Pakistan could be on the path to lasting friendship. That path is strewn with obstacles, many of them of Kashmiri origin, but just as the cricket matches are uniting the people, so free trade, a concept also espoused at January’s summit, could prove a further catalyst to lasting peace and prosperity.

Both India and Pakistan have long histories of economic introspection and protectionism. Over the past decade, India has begun to throw off the shackles of its socialist economic model, abandoning its discredited drive for self-sufficiency and embracing globalization, privatization and trade liberalization. The resulting economic boom has provided a burgeoning middle class with unprecedented prosperity. Pakistan’s government would do well to learn from its neighbor’s success.

India-Pakistan trade relations have been compounded both by the tendency of each nation to protectionism. Protectionism, for a long time

The Declaration of Independence of July 4, 1776, is one of the greatest documents human history has produced. The more one reads it, the more meaningful, more insightful it becomes. Another aspect is its way of asserting certain things negatively. That is what I am interested in presenting here. Let us see whether the Declaration substantiates this sort of reading between the lines.

The first para of the Declaration states that when a People separate (or dissolve the Political Bands which have connected them with another) from other People, it is necessary to declare the causes which impel them to the Separation.

The second para asserts that there are self-evident Truths, such as i) all Men are created equal; ii) they are endowed by their Creator certain unalienable Rights; iii) among these Rights are Life, Libertyand the Pursuit of Happiness. Then, it concludes that Governments are instituted among Men