The “But” Syndrome
The 27th of May bombing in Lahore, which has taken a minimum of 23 lives and wounded over 300 people can only be seen as a retaliatory strike by the Taliban who are finally at the receiving end from the Pakistan Army. The highly effective Army operation in Swat and Malakand Division now has the...
THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING IMPORTANT
It may not be a purely Pakistani obsession, but we are terribly good at at the whole VIP thing. Pakistani citizens face the wrath of VIP movements almost as often as bowel movements in their daily lives depending on how much roughage they consume, and the latter being far less productive than the former. Yet...
SHOULD I STAY OR SHOULD I GO
If President General (retired) Musharraf has an ipod I hope that one of his children or grandchildren will burn “should I stay or should I go” by the Clash, a British punk rock band, for his listening pleasure. With the President back in the country after his European tour he has claimed that the tour...
THE STATE & FORCED PHILANTHROPHY
In 1980, Dictator Zia-ul-Haque passed the Zakat and Ashar Ordinance of 1980 which mandates that 2.5 percent of all declared income shall be taxed by the State and placed into the Bait-ul-Maal. This made Pakistan the second Muslim country in the world after Saudi Arabia where Zakat is mandatory; the difference being that in Saudi...
SIZE MATTERS
Major General Shaukat Sultan, the DG ISPR, has an unenviable job as far as I am concerned. Not quite sure how to deal with “civilians”, and much less sure on how to deal with the press, the Army’s top PR man unwittingly says things which are mind boggling and can send the simple civilian mind...
RULE OF LAW OR LAW OF THE RULERS?
Back in the day when General Musharraf overthrew Nawaz Sharif’s Government I was one excited citizen. Having been raised by a pukaa fauji of the old school I must say that I got a bit carried away when General Sahib stood there and said he will eradicate “VIP” culture, put all loan defaulters and plunderers...
