From the Editorial Desk — Asking the right questions

How do individuals, communities and nations try to cope with adversity? History books throw up answers that are bewilderingly various: short and long, simple and complex, academic and practical, philosophical and psychological, ethical and political. There is, however, one thing …

From the Editorial Desk – Saving institutions

The blunderbuss of a judiciary taking potshots at the executive and parliament — for supporters of the government this could be an apt description of how the Supreme Court of Pakistan has been behaving in recent months and years. Whether …

From the Editorial Desk – The case for democracy

The so-called Bangladesh model is already here — with the difference that those who wield authority are not answerable to anyone. Or, perhaps, this is how such a model is supposed to work. Those who were in government in Bangladesh …

From the Editorial Desk – No method to the madness

Often, the difference between being a genius and being crazy is the ability to structure your thoughts. A structured thought is highly likely to result in a structured action. And a crazy thought? Let’s not even go there. But the …

From the Editorial Desk – The power shift

Let’s err on the side of caution rather than on the side of bravado. The threat of a military takeover of power in Pakistan is as real as it ever has been, notwithstanding the Supreme Court’s claim that it has …

From the Editorial Desk – All power to the ISI

The time to pause and think is a luxury that we do not have in Pakistan. And because the country’s internal, regional and international situation changes so rapidly, there never appears to be enough opportunity to formulate a thought-through and …

From the Editorial Desk – Shunning Washington

The reports are unsettling: Jalaluddin Haqqani – the latest thorn in Washington’s side, the tormentor par excellence of American forces in Afghanistan – once shared centre stage with President Ronald Reagan at the White House and Charlie Wilson, the American …

From the Editorial Desk – The divide returns

The story of how institutional boundaries get overstepped in Pakistan is painfully long and mostly to the detriment of the continued democratic politics in the country. The rule of the law has also had a similarly rough ride in the …