Work in progress!

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 […]

CM Maryam orders arrests over mother, infant daughter’s deaths in Lahore manhole

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 […]

‘I am a knight’: Paris’ last newspaper hawker gets top French award

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 […]

EU designates Iran’s Revolutionary Guards a terrorist organisation in policy shift

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 […]

PM Shehbaz hails transparency as PIA privatisation concludes with signing of transaction documents

The privatisation process of Pakistan International Airlines concluded on Thursday with the signing of transaction documents between the goverment and the Arif Habib Consortium as Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif hailed the transparency of the entire endeavour. The government sold its 75% stakes in PIA last month for Rs10.1 billion cash to the consortium, marking the completion of the […]