Government officials continue to regularly put out statements celebrating overseas Pakistanis and remittances while completely missing the point of how a remittance-based economy is not a good thing. In fact, for a country the size of Pakistan, it is actually a disaster in the making. Officials can tout record remittances — $38.5 billion in FY25 — as […]
Preventable accidents has sadly been routine in Karachi, but the Gul Plaza inferno may yet mark a rare moment where official acknowledgement is followed by corrective action. The Sindh government’s announcement that a judicial inquiry will be conducted into the deadly fire is a necessary step, though one that comes only after public pressure and […]
Power in international politics is mostly linked with acts of decisiveness, or military intervention, sanctions, vetoes, recognition or denial. Yet one of the most influential powers of the present day is in a much less obvious form: delay. Waiting, increasingly, is not an accident of global governance but a technique of it. In a global […]
This year, Davos was revealing. It reinforced a perception that the world was at the cusp of a major restructuring, even if it was having trouble defining it. A loud din of the lone superpower giving way to multipolarity; Canada’s Mark Carney proclaiming that the era of the rule-based order was over and stood swept […]
Local governments remain the only real antidote to Pakistan’s development rot. Yet in Karachi today, major infrastructure projects dominate the provincial government’s imagination. Flyovers, underpasses, buses, housing schemes and mega water projects are rolled out and defended with great fanfare. In the face of criticism, the government responds with lists: K-IV, mass transit, Shahrah-e-Bhutto, road […]
Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz on Thursday ordered the arrest of a Traffic Engineering and Planning Agency (TIPA) project director, manager, and a consultant over the deaths of a woman and her infant daughter, who fell into an open manhole near Lahore’s Bhatti Gate. The bodies of the 24-year-old woman and her 10-month-old daughter were recovered […]
Sialkot Stallionz are proud to announce the appointment of Tim Paine as Head Coach, marking a significant milestone in the franchise’s long-term vision for success in the HBL Pakistan Super League. Speaking on the appointment, Kamil Khan, Team Owner of Sialkot Stallionz, said: “Tim Paine represents leadership at the highest level of world cricket. His […]
Pakistan-born newspaper vendor Ali Akbar has been homeless, experienced extreme poverty and had been attacked. On Wednesday, President Emmanuel Macron made Akbar, believed to be the last newspaper hawker in Paris, a knight in the national order of merit in recognition of his service to France. The French president praised Akbar’s “incredible destiny”, thanking the […]
European Union foreign ministers on Thursday agreed to include the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) on the bloc’s list of terrorist organisations, putting the powerful guards in a category similar to that of the militant groups Islamic State and al Qaeda, and marking a symbolic shift in Europe’s approach to Iran’s leadership. “Repression cannot go […]
Elena Rybakina battled past Jessica Pegula to reach the Australian Open final on Thursday with the fifth seed setting up a repeat of her 2023 title match against Aryna Sabalenka, who earlier defeated Ukraine’s Elina Svitolina in a politically charged semi-final. Elena Rybakina said Thursday she was braced for another “great battle” as she plots […]