SEPARATION: When a Province Becomes the Enemy
The most dangerous seed is not always planted by an enemy across the border. Sometimes it is planted within—when political words teach one Pakistani to fear another. It…
The Public Purview
Tazeem Hejazi
40,000 FUTURE CITIZENS — WHO WILL ANSWER?
■ One Parliamentary Alarm. Where Are the Guardians of the Public Trust? ■ No, Mr Minister. I am not ready to lose another generation.…
TRUMPOLOGY ASKS: IS THIS MAN MAD OR ECCENTRIC?
Lights on. The operating theatre was ready. The anaesthesia machine breathed quietly in the corner, as if even the machine knew that tonight’s operation…
REBIRTH OF A COLLECTIVE SHIELD: THE MECCA PACT AND THE EMERGING “ISLAMIC NATO”
■ Three countries have signed. A fourth generation is listening. “Bacha! Guess where I was yesterday evening.” BāBā-Tāl, the Bell-man, looked straight into my…
“TALLY-HU!” — THERE HE IS! ABUL QASIM — IMRAN KHAN
■ A LOVE LETTER TO THOSE WHO NEVER STOPPED WAITING ■ In my Aerie — the Eagle’s Nest — time never sleeps, and neither…
”SHADOW-PUPPETS” IN THE DARK-Oligarchic Influence and the Light That Ends Them
From the high vantage of my ‘Aerie’—the Eagle’s Nest, perched atop the F-10 Markaz plaza—Islamabad looked like a world preparing to submerge. A heavy,…
UTOPIA — WHERE DO WE GO TO FIND ONE, OR WHO WILL STEP OUT TO BUILD ONE?
“Bacha! I have returned from the future.” I looked up from my writing table. BāBā-Tāl [the Bell-man] was standing before me. For three days…
PRESIDENTIAL MODEL AND THE RASHIDUN LEGACY — A CLOSER ALIGNMENT THAN PARLIAMENTARY POLITICS
Why a strong, singular executive—constrained by consultation, higher law and institutional checks—may offer a closer structural affinity to the early Islamic model than parliamentary…
THE GHOST OF ISMAIL SAFAVI-I OVER YEMEN
■If everyone claims to be fighting for Yemen, why does Yemen itself keep losing?■ There is something deeply unsettling about a country being attacked…
THE WORLD NEEDS PAKISTAN — BUT DOES PAKISTAN KNOW IT?
Pakistan → Gulf → Iran → China → Afghanistan → Central Asia → Gwadar There are countries that possess oil. There are countries that…