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Dr Khalil's Intellectual Space

Pak Political Economy +

Dr Khalil's Intellectual Space

Pak Political Economy +

Is keeping assets abroad criminal?

This April a bill was submitted in the National Assembly which is yet another attempt to make the citizens of Pakistan “loyal” to it. The bill seeks to amend the Article 63 of the Constitution – an article that sets the criteria for the members of parliament and provincial assemblies. The bill requires that any person who […]

Wikileaking clandestine governments

While the Pakistani NGOs seek the Right to Information Law, the likes of “Wikileaks” are wikileaking clandestine governments! The latest ‘leaks’ of Wikileaks provide a historical opportunity to re-consider many a taken for granted truths! This writing too intends to discuss afresh some such propositions which relates to the affairs of the governments. For instance, […]

So, is London the last refuge for the Kleptocrats-Criminals?

The country that taught us lesson regarding Rule of Law, Rule of Politics is winning there! On September 16, 2016, Dawn published the following Situationer, which explains how law may not win over politics in UK: Politics, not law, likely to decide murder probeBy Owen Bennett-Jones Here is the text of the piece: LONDON: Shortly […]

Bridging The Communication Gap With PPP!

With time, disconnect with the Pakistan Peoples Party is widening. The more one listens to news and reads newspapers, the more one is convinced of the distending communication gap between the PPP and non-PPP camps. It seems both of them are talking to themselves only. Watching talk shows on TV channels, where representatives from both […]

The American contradiction

Peace, commerce and honest friendship with all nations; entangling alliances with none -Thomas Jefferson, 1743-1826. American people create abundant wealth. So, they are prosperous and happy. It is only because they are economically freer than many nations on earth. In consequence, that makes them politically freer. What makes all that possible is their declaration of […]

The perils of judicial populism

Judges rule on the basis of law, not public opinion, and they should be totally indifferent to the pressures of the times.– Warren E. Burger (1907-1995), Chief Justice, US Supreme Court. The best thing that explains the Supreme Court’s (SC’s) July 20 judgment is: it is never too late to mend. As is being claimed, […]

The perils of judicial populism

Judges rule on the basis of law, not public opinion, and they should be totally indifferent to the pressures of the times. – Warren E. Burger (1907-1995), Chief Justice, US Supreme Court. The best thing that explains the Supreme Court’s (SC’s) July 20 judgment is: it is never too late to mend. As is being […]

Media consumption?

The theory of media consumption stands vindicated in Pakistan! The story goes thus: On June 29 the Federal Defense Minister, Ahmed Mukhtar, who had been sleeping all through the May 2 Abbottabad-Osama-Bin-Laden and May 23 PNS-Mehran-Karachi happenings, awoke to talk to a group of journalists apprising them that Pakistan had asked Washington to vacate the […]

Siege from within

When creative spirit of a nation is arrested from within, it is as vulnerable to external insinuations as is to internal machinations, and can never make any progress. “Pakistan is under siege.” We had enemies from the very first day. With time, the list of our enemies grew longer. So much so that today we […]

Siege from within

Legislating middleman’s ouster

The middleman tends to be eliminated . . . He can only be safely eliminated by natural processes. Sometimes he is of real use and helps production; sometimes he is not; but this cannot be decided by a blind strike, but only by allowing the forces of competition to act upon him. [Hon. Auberon Herbert] […]

How to Privatize Successfully – Part II

How to Privatize Successfully – Part I If privatisation needs to be done, it has to be done because it is the decisive step in transforming the economic system. Regarding foreign help Dr Klaus is very blunt: I think that the typical foreign help was sending would-be advisors and consultants. It became one of the […]

How to Privatize Successfully – Part I

Changing the economic system is not an easy task. And, of course, it is more complex when carried out half-heartedly. As privatisation is only a part of this process, it may not succeed if done in an isolated manner. It needs certain other changes and a competitive environment to bear fruit. A case in point […]

Pakistan – victim of a dangerous theory of knowledge

He knows nothing; and he thinks he knows everything. That points clearly to a political career.[George Bernard Shaw, 1856-1950] People are difficult to govern because they have too much knowledge.[Lao Tzu, 604 BC – 531 BC] Underneath our views of everything lies a theory of knowledge. We have views about the world, and what exists […]

Cynicism and the Theory of Lesser Evil

[Here is the part 4 of the article: “Cynicism and Pakistan.”] The Theory of Lesser Evil (TLE) is a manifestation of cynicism. As cynicism finds its meaning mainly in negativity and faultfinding, TLE too believes that everything is Evil; there is no Good. If everything is Evil, and there exists no Good, then what we […]

A State that Took over Society

You can bring the rich to the level of the poor overnight but it takes a lifetime to lift the poor to the level of the rich.– Irish proverb During the 1970s, Pakistan went in for wholesale nationalization of its private enterprises, taking even educational institutions into the state’s hands. This was a move laden […]

An elegy for Lahore

O the Ashraaf Rulers! Develop new cities and have your dreams fulfilled; have Metro Buses and Metro Trains there and whatever you want! Why do you raze and destroy our cities, our Lahore! Let we have our own dreams live in the cities where our souls live! لاہور کا نوحہ: لاہور کی میت ہے ذرا […]

لاہور کا نوحہ

لاہور کی میت ہے ذرا دھوم سے نکلے [نئے شہر بساؤ اوراپنے شوق پورے کرو؛ ہمارے شہر کیوں ملیامیٹ کر رہے ہو!] روتی ہوئی حسرت دلِ مغموم سے نکلے واویلا کرو، بین کرو، اشک بہاؤ لاہور کی میت ہے ذرا دھوم سے نکلے اشراف کے خوابوں تلے کچلا گیا یہ شہر صیاد کے ہتھکنڈوں سے […]

Cynicism and the political evolution of Pakistan

[Here is the part 3 of the article: “Cynicism and Pakistan.”] The discussion of the political cynicism here focuses only on the sections of society which exercise influence on the formation of public opinion. These sections may be considered as the mainstay of political cynicism in Pakistan. As far as the general citizenry is concerned, […]