Cover Story

As in 1971, the most powerful group, having successfully co-opted self-serving politicians, is adamant that people are not allowed to decide their future. There are differences between then and now, but the primary aim remains the same: people should not elect their representatives freely and fairly.

Disenfranchisement of a political party is synonymous to dispossessing your own people of their constitutional freedom to express their political inclination… and quite literally, orphaning them, the same way that the Bengalis in East Pakistan were orphaned and discarded.

Today Pakistan gives the impression of a rudderless ship hijacked by pirates and about to sink in a swirling vortex of multiple crises.

The Quaid’s Pakistan disappeared with its tragic dismemberment in 1971, and whatever was left is being looted and plundered by its own rulers.

Pakistan’s political and economic crises are not the result of any particular event in the recent past; it is the accumulated result of the actions taken, especially after 2000.

The economic managers seem to be totally ignorant of the mechanics of tax evasion, controlling inflation, POL pricing and legal aberrations involved in it.

The 7th NFC Award and the subsequent 18th Constitutional Amendment in 2010 resulted in a significant fiscal and administrative decentralization which left the resulting fiscal federal structure unbalanced and posed macroeconomic and political challenges.

Having been trapped in IMF’s big arms for over 34 years, Pakistan will never be able to break free from the debt trap in the next 50 years too if its leadership does not change its mindset.

General Pervez Musharraf, a man with liberal and progressive views, played his part in making Pakistan a modern Islamic state.

Generals will come and generals will go but Pervez Musharraf will always be remembered for his modesty and his dislike of hypocrisy.

The purpose of this piece is not to analyse the personality of General Pervez Musharraf and the period of his rule but to look for his contributions that will have a lasting imprint on Pakistan.

In the era of General Pervez Musharraf, Pakistan’s economic performance was impressive in terms of income per capita, employment generation and poverty alleviation.

General Pervez Musharraf’s decision to join the US-led coalition to fight the Taliban and Al-Qaeda was unavoidable.

The TTP has cleverly affiliated some of its objectives with the political goals of some Pakistani religious and ethnic-oriented political parties, particularly Baloch and Pashtun nationalists.

The year 2023 will be a make or break moment for Pakistan. Some decisive measures are required by those who matter in terms of dealing with widespread frustration, pessimism and gloom about the present and future of the country.

The year 2023 will be a make or break moment for Pakistan. Some decisive measures are required by those who matter in terms of dealing with widespread frustration, pessimism and gloom about the present and future of the country.

The year 2023 will be a make or break moment for Pakistan. Some decisive measures are required by those who matter in terms of dealing with widespread frustration, pessimism and gloom about the present and future of the country.

In a republic with weak institutional and regulatory control on checks and balances in state governance, the ‘One Percent Republic,’ mainly represents the fraternity of the upper crust.

How can a country like Pakistan with such immense natural resources end up being a one-percent republic?

How can you say that Pakistan’s elite will rescue the country from sovereign default, despite on-going economic slump together with the deteriorating living conditions today? To make it happen, how and from where could the elite arrange such a huge sum of 27 billion dollars?

Each new occupant in Islamabad brings a new recipe for economic growth, and each new initiative brings results worse than the previous ones.

Successive governments, including the present one, have made serious attempts at improving civil-military relations, but mostly on the basis of compromises and undermining the Constitution.