Seraikistan will not weaken the federation
While it may seem that the PPP-led government has failed to deliver to the masses, it has definitely added some feathers in its cap by extending autonomy to provinces through the NFC Award, by abolishing concurrent lists, and through the passing of the 18th and 19th constitutional amendments. In addition to this, it has provided the people of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Gilgit Baltistan with identities, and given representation to religious minorities in the Senate. Indeed, PPP is one of the few parties in the country which strongly believes in provincial autonomy that is directly proportional to strengthening the federation. However, whenever ...
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A question of loyalty
Are flexible loyalties all that one needs to resurrect a political career? Are there ideological reasons behind such decisions or are they just a matter of profit and loss? Did any leaders who switched sides bother to take into confidence those whose votes helped them achieve the political stardom? Did they feel that they were on the wrong paths earlier in their careers? Or, perhaps, they are not answerable to anyone? The season, with elections inching closer, is ripe for more such announcements but there already exists a long list of these ‘awakened’ politicians. Hina Rabbani Khar, Jehangir Tareen, Javed ...
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Party campaigns: Where does their money come from?
Nearly all of us spend hours debating what our country needs, and almost every time we end up with the same list of priorities; education, eradication of corruption, job opportunities and other such basics. While I do agree that we require the above mentioned things, I also think that there is something else that we need on an urgent basis in our political system and which no one seems to be talking about it; campaign finance reforms. Even though it is the giant elephant in the room, I find it surprising that I have never come across a single discussion on it. For those ...
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Much frustration and resentment
I will be accused of coming down hard on political parties but wouldn’t be wrong in saying that on most occasions, there is a wide gap between what our political leaders say and what they end up doing. Ordinary Pakistanis are suffering from a myriad of problems in the country, yet we find our political leaders busy building castles in the air. Take, for instance, the slogan of the PPP whose credo for all its existence has been to provide Pakistanis with ‘roti, kapra aur makan’. The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf has a motto where it says that it will eliminate corruption within ...
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Why democracy should stay
Pakistan’s administrative setup was modeled after the British system: an elected legislative assembly was to give form to an executive government headed by the prime minister. The president was to hold a symbolic role while the judiciary was set to be independent. It remains a reality that despite the narrow scope in the electorate, Pakistan was a product of democracy, and will only thrive and succeed if it is democratic in structure and spirit. The continuous hampering course that Pakistan is passing through is not helping it become a truly democratic nation which can grow strong economically and deliver welfare to ...
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Pakistani politics, a messy affair
Why is Pakistani politics so insipid? With no charismatic leaders to look up to after the country’s founder, parties floundering in their unkept charters and distinctions between left and right shrinking, it is no wonder that a majority of Pakistanis give the ballot box a miss. Coupled with the irregularities in the electoral system that have finally been identified and being worked upon, the prospect of voting in elections seems daunting, to say the least. Right leaning parties are abundant but most of these are just reactive blocs who have found it difficult to provide real services to people, thereby failing ...
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PTI going from potential to serious ‘spoiler’?
The faint but unmissable whiff of electioneering is in the Islamabad air. The general elections might be two years away, but political parties and potential candidates are already aligning themselves to ensure the political winds do not sweep them away. The greatest potential for a surprising change, according to a worker of the Free and Fair Election Network (Fafen) group who has worked in the Punjab, comes from dissatisfied members of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), specifically those aligned with chief minister Shahbaz Sharif. These members are not only unhappy with Nawaz Sharif’s leadership of the party, they also fear that ...
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So what does a strike achieve?
I’m one of those employed people who get one day off a week. Naturally, plans are made beforehand and the day off is reserved a week in advance. So when suddenly, a political party gets off its ‘lazyboy’ couch and calls a shutter-down strike on that day, it messes up my hormones. Directing me to stay indoors to effectively put off scheduled doctor appointments to the next week is a pain, literally, let alone an inconvenience. But who is to explain to an old person — in excruciating pain — to hold it in for another day at least. Ok, so ...
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More provinces – or not?
While provincial assemblies discuss and political parties sloganeer to muster support for the formation of new provinces — I can’t help wonder what’s the point? The ethnic division, as demanded by the PPP and the PML-Q, of Punjab and the division on administrative grounds by the PML-N both seem to be recipes for disaster. Let us start by considering the division of provinces on ethnic lines. While this option will be feasible for Punjab, Balochistan and even Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, the division of Sindh on ethnic grounds could prove to be dangerous. Karachi and Hyderabad are cities where people from various ethnicities live ...
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