Opinion

Admiral Mike Mullen has dropped a daisy-cutter on the heads of the trio — Zardari, Gilani and Husain Haqqani.

I don’t think we have yet seen the last of this unfortunate misstep even if the axe falls on Haqqani.

More disturbingly, beyond spelling mistakes, there are several fundamental problems with the bill.

Despite legislation, problem of bonded labour continues to persist, affecting not only men, but also women, children.

Absence of piped gas in majority of cold-prone area, gas loadshedding, people lack fuel, equipment to survive winter.

Why does vision at times become the difference for us between a great leader and an ordinary one?

Memo shows civil-military contention in governance reached a point “…where no central control appears to be in place”.

Ayub Khan disclosed in his memo, Table of Organisation & Equipment of the Army to US, which is always kept Top Secret.

The role of maulvis has turned into declaring who in specific situations can give his daughter in marriage to whom.

One of the gambits politicians employ is responding to a query by answering a question that hasn’t yet been asked.

As Captain Malik told Karam Hussain Shah that his only son was dead, he thanked God, who gave & took away their son.

The various hues of leaderships down the years have played havoc with what was, and what is, Pakistan.

For me, the story is a sorry tale of a state failing to address its principal contradiction, civil-military imbalance.

Women legislators have found themselves constrained due to the indirect method of elections.

Pointing out low quality pre-university education, got lecture on HEC quality improvement cells, a bureaucratic reply.

Imran Khan, supporters must understand is you have to have a big heart, thick skin to succeed in electoral politics.

“The Ally from Hell”, co-authored by Jeffrey Goldberg: It’s a shame when prestigious magazines publish such fantasies.

Until Qureshi stops teasing us and finally reveals his destination, this is a question that will consume the media.

Pakistan’s economy has weathered some very severe storms, yet it still stands and delivers.

Choosing to leave the PPP is allowed, as is choosing to not vote for the PTI.

No matter where you live, if things aren’t going well for your country, blame America for everything.

The bedrock of a lasting relationship between India and Pakistan is people-to-people contact.

If PTI is indeed party of change then why can’t it exhibit that change internally before it vows to do so countrywide?

According to Mr Abidi, Lahore’s reputation as a city of gardens is almost as old as the city.

Islamabad should endeavour to promote less contentious and more cooperative ties on its eastern and western fronts.

Dargah is sometimes positioned relative to Islam of mosques in way that it is rid of its inherent orthodoxies.

The change of faces alone in the absence of a concrete plan will not change the destiny of the nation.

One would be surprised to know that we use words related to ‘Eid’ every day in Urdu.

Does PTI have anything to offer regarding changing our India-centric policy, drone attacks and dealing with the army?

Pakistan’s security experts need to rethink its security paradigm in line with changing facts and theory.

If South Asia achieves economic integration, it could emerge as the second largest economy in the world.

Previously I wrote about our futile search for ‘saviour-like’ leaders. Today, I want to focus on making of a ‘leader’.

The road to hell is paved with good intentions. A vote for Imran Khan is actually a vote for Zardari.

A new institution is needed in which the emerging world has a large voice, much more than in the Bretton Woods ones.

The subject of this column is the confusion of Asif Ali Zardari, on the nature of his Hindu subjects.

Khan's cohorts hold aloft in their hand the traditional whip of corruption to lash all others with.

The MFN is only the means, not the end by itself. I do not envisage free trade of all goods straightaway.

Using Ijaz to pass the memo gave Zardari deniability & embarrassing Kayani, ISI to install a pliable ‘security team’.

Primary problem with allegations of corruption is that in most instances voters have no means to verify them.

The point cynics are missing is that people are so fed up of past governing system that they would welcome any change.

China an ‘empire by stealth’, grows by exploiting economic benefits proportional to politically weak Pakistan.

In Europe, when a dictator quits, civilisation takes over & state survives. No such thing happens in the Muslim world.

Pakistan’s unharnessed youth bulge threatens fuelling counterproductive scourge of militancy, social unrest.

Shurafa castes only began to shift from their traditional professions when society changed under the Colonial system.

Parties have not yet started their election campaign, but right now Imran is the only leader being talked about in KP.

Until there is a revolution of sorts in the national mindset, the spirit of sacrifice is set to wane with the years.

The Pakhtuns have lived in the submontane lands of Afghanistan and Pakistan for more than two and a half millenniums.

Musharraf’s creative national accountants messed up data to such an extent that now they themselves cannot read it.

Pakistanis need to recognise that the root of country’s problems is a erosion of Allama Iqbal, Quaid-e-Azam's vision.

I do have a problem when some Muslim rulers are glorified at the expense of non-Muslim ones on the basis of religion.