1. Politics is the art of the possible, as they say.

2. ‘We blame everyone and everything but ourselves’.

3. What our powerbrokers continue to not understand is that political legitimacy
is not conferred by the state that it can be taken away by it too. It is drawn
from public support and can only be contested through the democratic
process.
4. Any unconstitutional move will strengthen Bonapartism.
5. The empire struck back with a ferocity not seen in recent times. 
6. What we are witnessing is the replay of the old game of political engineering.
While the director is the same, the actors’ roles keep changing.
7. The protagonist of the previous act is now the new villain and the baddies are
now back in the leading role.
8. Sordid power game orchestrated by the establishment.
9. It is a grave mistake to block the course of dialogue.
10. Political engineering is a means of maintaining control over power.
11. The task ahead is thus as complex as the country is, which may require more
tact than is readily available.
12. The people should brace themselves for more misery as the government
doesn’t have a credible plan to deal with the crisis.
13. But words of wisdom seldom have a place in a world of bluster.
14. Those at the very top of the helm of affairs must realize that their space and
power are being encroached upon while they quarrel. 
15. His inflated ego has been the biggest obstruction in the way of any dialogue.
16. It is the result of his vitriolic narrative.
17. Ironically, in a role reversal, the PML-N which had earlier been the victim of
political engineering has now become an instrument of it in the latest season
of the game of thrones.
18. The catastrophic earthquakes that hit the country just a few months ago,
causing colossal damage besides killing thousands of people.
19.  Media has seen numerous purges over the last decade
20. The road ahead is paved with potholes and potential disasters.
21. Although the peace talks have a long way to go, they have kindled hopes for a
permanent ceasefire. 
22. In an upbeat briefing, 
23. They experienced, “chronic stress comparable to combat soldiers”.
24. The secret bombing of Cambodia was to ostensibly flush out or eliminate
Vietnamese communist guerrillas (the Vietcong or, more accurately, the
National Liberation Front).
25. “So, that the people of Pakistan may prosper and attain their rightful and
honoured place amongst the nations of the World” — Preamble to the
Constitution, 1973
26. History has repeatedly demonstrated that when political struggles are not
accommodated through democratic processes and are forcefully suppressed,
militancy rises, and underground leadership emerges.
27. The country stands on the precipice of a historical dialectical transition from
an extractive and elite-driven society to one that aspires to governance based
on human dignity, equity, and people-centric development. 
28. A call to realise that in our pursuit of wealth, we have overlooked the wealth
of nature that sustains billions of poor people.
29. Unless something is about to change, we will follow our own pattern of
madness rather than those around us.
30. To pit the people’s core interests against the power-drunk rulers.
31. There are issues to take to the people and there are issues to act on without
demur. 
32. I pray that my life becomes the candle that illuminates the world, though I
may lose myself in the bargain.
33. To keep the pot simmering,
34. One of the central ideological basis for the rise of modern China has been their
national determination never to repeat the ‘century of humiliation’ between
1839 and 1949, when they were subjugated by foreign powers due to their
own national weakness and internal conflicts. 
35. One of the key steps on any path to national rejuvenation is to understand the
primary contemporary conflict in Pakistan: This is the battle between the
people through politicians, the sword/coercive power through the military
establishment and the pen/constitutional power through the judges.
36. The destiny of this nation lies in the balance between the people, the sword
and the pen.
37. Much of the road has been washed away by the rains, thanks to poor-quality
construction.
38. Just like walking can do wonders as a physical exercise, reading exercises and
develops the mind in fascinating ways. It trains the mind to focus and maintain
concentration, retain information, form opinions and articulate thought.
39. Reading habits are all the more essential today, in our demanding and fast-
evolving world where reading is not only therapeutic, but also holds the
promise of planting seeds of discovery, innovation and inspiration.
40. It makes it clear that in many places ramps are made to comply with
regulations rather than the spirit of facilitating persons with disabilities.
41. According to the released data of 2023, per capita income fell to $1,568 this
fiscal year, after growing from $1,677 in 2021 to $1,766 last year.  This decline
of a little more than 11pc translates to the fact that the country actually
reversed its human development progress.
42. It is depressing that while the citizenry has been bled dry over this past year,
there is still no push to hold the responsible to account.
43. Across the world, sports is a symbol of soft power but Pakistan lags behind in
this, partly because sports federations don’t do enough, as is evident in the
National Games. 
46. “To pull the wool over someone's eyes” (informal) means to trick or deceive
someone or to hide the truth from someone. For instance, He was too clever
to let them pull the wool over his eyes.
47. The suffering and anger of the people is our collective failure.
48. “Cooperation and collaboration should define our times, not conflict.” 
49. Our lawmakers may underline their importance with as many new laws as
they wish, but as long as untouchables remain untouchables, little will change.
50. Succour for humanity can only arrive with a committed, sensitive leadership so
that lives do not hang by an endless thread and relief is provided with a vision
to end need.
51.  “Lord, much as we love you, it’s not possible to sing your praise on an empty
stomach.”
52. Mysore ruler Tipu Sultan, the legendary challenger to British rule. Tipu
eventually fell in May, 1799 to a joint force of the Marathas, British troops and
the army of the Nizam of Hyderabad. The BJP has been on a spree of
overturning historical facts or making them vanish from schoolbooks.
53. There is chaos under the heavens. 
54. The iron fist that long imposed an unhealthy order is losing its grip and seems
paralysed.
55. A unipolar system has suddenly become a multipolar one, with many
stakeholders pulling it in various directions.
56. While our ruling classes are no strangers to the ‘rules for thee and not for me’
style of governance, yesterday’s example was more than a little egregious.
57. While talks are, indeed, the best solution to Pakistan’s festering political crisis,
there is very little hope that they can accomplish much in this poisoned
atmosphere.
58.  There is a growing realisation that the social contract needs to be rewritten
anew.
59. The ‘darling’ has turned ‘enemy number one’.
60. If Pakistan had a Doomsday Clock, it would be reading sixty seconds to
midnight. For the first time in recent memory, the nation seems to be flirting
dangerously with civil war. It is tearing itself apart under the weight of its own
contradictions.
61. American scholar Joseph Nye, who introduced the notion of soft power,
defined it as the ability to shape the preferences of others and achieve
outcomes through “attraction” rather than coercion or economic incentives.
True that he counterposed soft power, “the power of persuasion and co-
option,” with the “power of coercion” represented by the hard power of
military and economic strength. But by introducing the concept of “smart
power”, he sought to correct the misperception that soft power was enough
on its own to produce a successful foreign policy. For Nye, smart power is the
capacity to combine the resources of hard and soft power and deploy
whichever one is judged more effective in a specific context. Arguing that a
rigid approach can be counterproductive, he offered the example of several
countries that successfully followed smart strategies. In his influential book,
The Future of Power, he cited the case of China, where leaders invested in soft
power and efforts to make the country more appealing to accompany the
increase in its military and economic power.
62. THE year is 1990, 65 per cent of the population in this country cannot read,
86pc has no access to electricity, and the average number of children per
woman is 4.5. This country is poor, overcrowded and is known for corruption
and bad governance. Yet by 2021, it has several reasons to celebrate. First,
this country is the star economic performer in South Asia. Before Covid-19, it
grew at an annual rate of 7pc for 10 consecutive years (close to China’s 8pc).
Its GDP per head (at market prices) is higher than India’s, and it exports more
 textiles in a month than 14 African countries combined in a year. Second,
despite its problematic politics, it prides itself on being secular and
democratic. Third, given its astonishing human development, it is on its way to
being promoted from a ‘basket case’ to an upper-middle-income country by
2031. The country is Bangladesh.
63. The politics and economics of elite ‘capture’ has long been discussed in the
country. Published some years ago, Ishrat Husain’s impressive book, The
Economy of an Elitist State, highlighted how one per cent of the population
constituting an elite group maintained a stranglehold on the affairs of the
state. Its power and dominance persisted through different forms and changes
of government. As did inequality, which continues to characterise Pakistani
society.
Husain’s main argument was that the respective roles of the state and market
had been reversed as a narrow elite rigged the markets and hijacked the state
to advantage itself. It concluded that this concentration of wealth and political
power at the expense of the majority of the population had created a situation
that was neither socially acceptable nor economically sustainable.
64. Pakistan certainly has people as bright and talented as anywhere. But because
of an education system gone berserk, it offers only low-grade human capital to
industry. Because indoctrination was promoted over knowledge and skills, we
are stuck with an ocean of unemployable youth.
65. Now they aren’t a shadow of their former selves.
66. A weak government can spoil a brilliant idea, but a strong government can
implement the worst policies.
67. A political consensus makes the task easy for the government and
bureaucracy. The establishment and other institutions remain reluctant to
reverse consensus decisions, as in the case of the 18th Amendment. Even
though attempts have been made to sabotage the constitutional amendment,
the latter has prevailed so far. It is a different case that the provincial
governments still need to translate the amendment for their own benefit.
68. The cure to poison isn’t more poison.
69. There are times in a nation’s history where it can redeem itself, and move, if
ever so slightly, towards its stated ideals.
70. Charles Rangel once said, “A quality education grants us the ability to fight the
war on ignorance and poverty.”
71. To make matters worse, it seems that any light at the end of this dark tunnel is
waning with each passing day.
72. An MIT study in 2018 showed that lies spread six times faster than fact.
73. When new technologies were introduced during the Industrial Revolution,
Luddite rebellions sprung up in the textile-manufacturing areas of
Nottinghamshire and Lancashire and had to be brutally put down by the
British army.
74. Chomsky has little respect for media, academic, administrative, and moral
‘intellectuals’ who profess their identification with the people’s interests
without seeking to catalyse and realise their potential to change their
condition.
75. They make a decent living working for corporate owners and the government,
or by entertaining elites and exploiting the sentiments of the people.
76. The French Yellow Vest slogan “you are concerned about the middle of the
century; we are concerned about the middle of the month” encapsulates the
dilemma of the poor all over the world, especially in developing countries.
77. In today’s world, the concept of education must change. The great German
educator, William Humboldt, said education “should not be a matter of
pouring water into a vessel but rather it should be conceived as laying out a
string along which learners proceed in their own ways, exercising and
improving their creative capacities and imaginations, and experiencing the joy
of discovery”.
78. Chomsky recalls one of his teachers, when asked what will be “covered” in his
semester, said the question should be what will be “discovered”.
79. Pakistan is fortunate in this regard. Urdu is well understood throughout the
country and is the lingua franca between people of different regions.
Familiarity with English, if not always proficiency in it, especially among the
middle and upper classes, has been around for generations. The building
blocks for a nationally educated and internationally interacting society are
available. Constructing one must become an insistent priority.
80. Oscar Wilde once said that when we are young, we love our parents; as we
grow older, we judge them; rarely if ever do we forgive them.
81. A royal biographer had once written: “It is courtiers who make royalty
frightened and frightening.”
82. When counting his royalties, though, Prince Harry should recall Francois
Truffaut’s advice: “Airing one’s dirty linen never makes for a masterpiece.”
83. Arguably, the best way to counter anti-state sentiment is to address the root
causes fuelling discontent. This involves good governance, ensuring protection
of fundamental rights and promoting a democratic culture nationally. This
would be a much better option than beating dissenters into submission.
84. The proof of the pudding is in its eating.
85. Saner minds on both sides should put an end to the nonsense on display.
86. Our health apparatus needs to be firing on all cylinders, rather than be limping
along even more than usual.
87. The Anthropocene Epoch is an unofficial unit of geologic time, used to
describe the most recent period in Earth's history when human activity started
to have a significant impact on the planet's climate and ecosystems.
88. The term "Trojan horse" is used metaphorically to mean any trick or strategy
that causes a target to invite a foe into a securely protected place; or to
deceive by appearance, hiding malevolent intent in an outwardly benign
exterior; to subvert from within using deceptive means.
89. Senior BJP leaders were boasting in their election campaign the other day that
the troublemakers of Gujarat were taught a good lesson, and because of that
there is peace and prosperity in Gujarat ever since.
90. After much ado,
91. As we have seen on the national stage, unless these allegations are adequately
addressed, controversy will mar the LG polls and put a question mark over the
transparency of the process.
92. "If there is no suitable past, it can always be invented.”
93. We have left no stone unturned in this matter.
94. It is easy to sow the seeds of hate, but impossible to control what follows.
95. Faustian bargain, a pact whereby a person trades something of supreme moral
or spiritual importance, such as personal values or the soul, for some worldly
or material benefit, such as knowledge, power, or riches.
96. Every society has red lines, but they must be consistent and clearly defined.
97. All eyes will be on Punjab as the province has the lion’s share of the country’s
122.2 million registered voters at nearly 58 per cent of the total, with Sindh
21pc, KP 17pc and Balochistan picking up the smallest provincial share of just
over 4pc.
98. Things spiraled out of control.
99. The less fortunate wrestle and overcome one tragedy, only to be welcomed by
another waiting in the wings. They experience a living hell.
100. The back-breaking inflation has inflicted untold misery on a large chunk
of the population. The hard-pressed voters, precariously placed in their battle
for survival, will always blame the incumbents.
101. In popular culture, the lion is often depicted in one of two ways. The
first and most common depiction shows the lion in his immovable prime, an
aura of unmistakable majesty surrounding him. Behold The King himself and
bow down before him, for he is wise, regal, and golden. The second depiction
shows an aging lion — covered in battle scars and ravaged by time. Finally
showing the type of vulnerability that brings with it the uneasy realisation that
even the best among us may well be merely mortal.
102. Such is the duality of man that the royal among us can simultaneously
contain both versions within them. And so, enter centre stage: Babar Azam.
103. We cannot lose sight of a long-term response.
104. Bangladesh upholds its foreign policy guiding concept of “friendship to
all and malice to none” and supports peaceful coexistence in the area.
105. “INSANITY is doing the same thing over and over and expecting
different results,” is a saying intended to suggest that such behaviour is stupid.
106. KHALIL Gibran wrote many decades ago: “Pity the nation that despises a
passion in its dream,/...Pity the nation that raises not its voice...and will rebel
not.../ Pity the nation whose statesman is a fox, / whose philosopher is a
juggler, / and whose art is the art of patching and mimicking...”
107. As a state we have not prioritised the health of the people. We have not
prevented what is preventable and we are not treating what is treatable. The
catastrophe is all man-made.
108. As an American billionaire once observed, nothing remains beyond the
third generation.
109. Sauve qui peut (every man for himself) is the credo.
110. What could be more demeaning for a nation that has arable land and
the Indus than to import its wheat from war-torn Ukraine?
111. We are living in perpetual hope of being salvaged by our external
benefactors. It may happen again, but that would not take us out of the
woods completely.
112. Our perennial economic problems will not go away with the lifelines
thrown by lending agencies and friendly countries. The situation has gone
beyond a patch-up job.
113. The focus should be on the crimes and on the question of why, despite
religion and civilisation, femicide continues to thrive in all corners of the
world.
114. Country is racing against time to deal with towering needs’.
115. But better late than never, as they say.
116. All these ills which have crept in our society are because of us, not
because of the West, not because of our neighbours nor anyone else.
117. The full quote goes like this: “Know thy enemy and know yourself; in a
hundred battles, you will never be defeated. SUN Tzu book the art of war.
118. In Greek mythology, the punishment of Prometheus as a consequence
of the theft of fire and giving it to humans, is a popular subject of both ancient
and modern culture. Zeus, King of the Olympian gods, sentenced Prometheus
to eternal torment for his transgression. Prometheus was bound to a rock, and
an eagle — the emblem of Zeus — was sent to eat his liver (in ancient Greece,
the liver was thought to be the seat of human emotions). His liver would then
grow back overnight, only to be eaten again the next day in an ongoing cycle.
Our and Prometheus situations and events are almost the same. He was being
punished innocently and we are also being punished innocently.
119. Politburo: the principal policymaking committee in the former Soviet
Union, founded in 1917.
120. A crisis is bad enough, a polycrisis (one encompassing multiple domains
such as economic, political, natural, social, etc) worse and a perma-polycrisis
(a polycrisis that shows no signs of ending) more so.
121. No end is in sight to most of its immediate causes
122. THE current flour crisis has been looming on the horizon for several
months.
123. Those black sheep within the police department that patronise crime
must be weeded out, and the police force reimagined along modern lines in
order to bring a semblance of normality to Karachi’s streets.
124. The solutions offered by the powers that be are mostly tried, tested and
failed.
125. It is a case of new wine in old bottles.
126. The future belongs to those who continuously learn new skills and
combine them in creative ways.
127. ‘Perestroika’ and ‘glasnost’
128. "Winner don't do different things, they do things differently."- Shiv
Khera
129. "I read and therefore i know things." GOT Tyrian Lannister
130. If u want to know the truth than start doubting things at least once.
131. The party must get its act together and decide who will be calling the
shots.
132. Ramming ‘solutions’ down the people’s throats will only aggravate
matters.
133. In Pakistan, the premium intelligence agency, the Inter-Services
Intelligence (ISI) acts as eyes and ears for the defence forces and other organs
of the state.
134. VULGAR is the word that pops into mind when witnessing the kind of
politicking that seems to have become the norm in Pakistan, especially against
the backdrop of a faltering economy, back-breaking inflation, mass joblessness
and terrorism raising its cobra-like head again.
135. Things may become worse before they get any better. Strap in for
another bumpy ride.
136. If all goes according to plan, and no more spanners are thrown in the
works,
137. Scepticism stems from the inherent similarity between
138. An assassination bid against a major public leader is no trivial matter.
Too many Pakistanis have paid with their lives while pursuing their vision for
the country.
139. Whatever the truth of the matter, it must come out.
140. These issues spell disaster not just for the healthcare sector
141. Trifecta
142. The looming disaster can only be averted with quick action. The
government must take note.
143. Though the devastation has been at a frightening scale and
unprecedented, there is a lull in support from the international community.
144. Pakistan is not on the list of the world’s highest emitters, but it is one of
the most vulnerable countries when it comes to the impact of shifting climate
patterns.
145. TTP began its campaign of terror against Pakistan anew.
146. To bid a farewell to arms.
147. The Foreign Office also clarified on Thursday that no such plans were in
the offing.
148. Over the past 75 years, the Chinese have taught themselves that where
there is a will, there is a way. Here in Pakistan, where there is a way, we
invariably will select the wrong one.
149. Though they deserve a solid D for intent, they seem unlikely to do much
good for the overall health of the general economy. They are homoeopathic
remedies for a country in the throes of a potentially terminal disease.
150. ONE hopes that powerful quarters in Pakistan and abroad will not
attempt to stonewall efforts to uncover the truth behind the brutal murder of
journalist Arshad Sharif in Kenya last year.
151. The public has largely been left to fend for itself as the country
undergoes a severe and painful reconfiguration, resulting from years of
myopic and self-serving decisions.
152. The superior courts were expected by both sides to not just adjudicate
legal and constitutional issues but also decide political matters. This turned
the courts into arbiters of politics, rather than arbiters of law.
153. Our boom-and-bust cycles are the problem, where the boom is fuelled
by imports, which leads us to the IMF, whose programmes lead to a bust. The
answer is long-term reforms which would allow for more sustainable growth,
which requires discouraging both consumption and the real estate market at
home and encouraging exports, among other things. Every economist has
been saying this, including the half a dozen who do the presentations at the
most important altar of all. But it doesn’t get implemented, because there is
no appetite for such tough decisions.
154. Our misguided notions about focusing on people rather than policies.
155. Juxtapose= Compare
156. The government’s decision may look good on paper, but the devil is in
the details.
157. Indeed, our ability to cross this nazuk morr (Cross roads) requires a lot
more honesty and introspection and far fewer clichés. But somehow, the
latter is all that we have a surplus of.
158. Instead of pinning hopes on international finance or new borrowing, or
hiding behind limited fiscal space, Pakistan needs to treat climate change and
development as two sides of the same coin.
159. In 2022, Pakistan was the poster child of climate change impact.
160. Had he read Winston Churchill’s biography of Lord Nathaniel Curzon, he
might have found the answer. Churchill noticed a character flaw in Curzon: he
refused to stoop, and therefore could not conquer.
161. Nemesis: 1.the inescapable agent of someone's or something's
downfall. 2. a long-standing rival; an arch-enemy.
162. ‘It’s the economy stupid’ — a phrase coined by Bill Clinton’s adviser
James Carville in 1992, is even truer for Pakistan’s predicament today. When
the problem is so starkly simple, why is the solution so difficult to achieve?
The answer is that our problems are immediate, their solutions long-term.
163. Politics cannot be a zero-sum game, especially when the fate of 230
million souls is involved.
164. In the words of Simon Sinek, an American author and inspirational
speaker, we “become leaders the day we decide to help people grow”.
165. In the process, the country lost its moorings and was swept away into
uncharted waters.
166. The larger question that both countries must ponder is that if they
remain at daggers drawn, can the region ever prosper?
167. Putting our house in order can make us a global climate champion.
168. Annus horribilis: a year of disaster or misfortune.
169. THE crisis in Punjab shows no signs of abating.
170. Thus, for the umpteenth time this year, decisions regarding our
collective future will be taken in places where the public’s voice has no
currency.
171. In a state of near-perpetual crisis since
172. More than eight months of political wrangling later, there is still no sign
of normalcy.
173. Hold water: (of a statement, theory, or line of reasoning) appear to be
valid, sound, or reasonable) "this argument just does not hold water".
174. With the centre and the province at loggerheads over the future of the
Punjab Assembly,
175. His latest harangue reflects the frustration of a politician who totally
relied on military support and is now angry at being abandoned.
176. Cornerstone: an important quality or feature on which a particular thing
depends or is based.
177. "A national minimum wage remained the cornerstone of policy" Similar:
foundation-basis
178. He will have more chances to add to his tally in the future.
179. None of them, despite the help of the invisible hands, which in Pakistan
are not the ones Adam Smith wrote about, will work out all that smoothly.
180. “The nation is in peril. Defend it with all your might.” Nehru’s signed
handwritten message stayed for months above the masthead of the National
Herald, the newspaper he founded but that is now in trouble with the Modi
government.
181. One song used popular Hindu motifs, likening the Chinese incursion to
the kidnapping of Sita, Lord Ram’s consort, by the demon king Ravana. “Draw
the line [of the border] with your blood that Ravana can never dare to
transgress, leave alone cast his evil eye on Sita. You are the Rama and you the
Lakshman, comrades, to protect Sita’s honour.”
182. In 2021, the state allocated 12.43pc of GDP to education. The country
has made significant progress in increasing access to education: it is
mandatory for a teacher to serve three years in disadvantaged areas. In
Türkiye, the literacy rate is 96.74pc and primary school enrolment 97.6pc.
183. The Human Development Index combines education, life expectancy,
and GDP per capita.
184. The ECP and Khan are on terms as good as the ones between Putin and
Zelensky.
185. Rulers had not budged an inch on these counts
186. Between appeasement and confrontation, there is room for a strategy
that protects Pakistan’s security interests.
187. According to a well-known expression, Rome's emperor at the time, the
decadent and unpopular Nero, “fiddled while Rome burned.” The expression
has a double meaning: Not only did Nero play music while his people suffered,
but he was an ineffectual leader in a time of crisis.
188. The blow hot, blow cold relationship
189. A lot of water has flown under the bridge since.
190. Leaders pledged to improve relations that had sunk to a historic low
191. AN old English rhyme teaches children, at a very early age, to shrug
aside insults and not make too much of mere words.
192. Went to great lengths to present
193. “IN a country riven by discord, the extent of disagreement among
people, their political representatives and their media outlets feels
 simultaneously intransigent [and] untenable… . Not only are we bad at
agreeing with one another; we’re also terrible at arguing with one another.”
194. To fall short of fulfilling the promises
195. By a quirk of history and miscalculations of the string-pullers,
196. Systemic caution was thrown to the winds
197. Rumors mill
198. National pastime
199. The following conclusions can be drawn from the current political
milieu.
200. He has galvanised the youth to support his cause to regain power.
201. Huge public rallies and protest marches refuse to wither away
202. The game of thrones and political survival is being played
203. Striking similarities
204. Good governance has been sacrificed at the altar of political
expediency.
205. The federal government proved to be a tough nut to crack and refused
to capitulate.
206. Governor’s rule under Article 234 of the Constitution was mentioned.
207. Pakistan is facing an acute economic crisis at the moment and many
experts have alluded to the possibility of a financial default, which might have
extremely serious ramifications for the country.
208. The Council of Common Interests: platform for federation
209. Undertake course correction in the face of public pressure.
210. Pakistan’s economy faces strong headwinds
211. The unfortunate thing is that we as a nation are not ready to accept the
reality and continue to live beyond our means
212. ALLAH says that He will not change the condition of a nation as long as
the nation does not change itself (13:11).
213. Political authority necessitates that the leadership works hard day in
and day out in the service of the people.
214. Mr Khan has pursued a scorched earth policy in which his ends are
supposed to justify all means. At all cost. The cost though: politics polluted,
economy wounded, reputations damaged, institutions maligned, electorate
poisoned and society polarized.
215. A leader should always think ahead optimistically and his positive
attitude should be evident from his actions.
216. Take time to reflect
217. The institution would henceforth stay away from politics.
218. Getting butterflies in my stomach
219. Article 232(6) of the Constitution under which the five-year term of the
National Assembly can be extended by up to one year after the proclamation
of emergency.
220. The economic meltdown and political dissension are bound to have dire
consequences.
221. To buckle under political pressure
222. Serious consequences for the rule of law and service delivery.
223. Administrative paralysis
224. An experienced opportunist has managed to gain political space as the
chief executive.
225. Bull in a china shop: a person who breaks things or who often makes
mistakes or causes damage in situations that require careful thinking or
behavior
226. The most blood-curdling of methods are applied to spread terror.
227. Consumers are already trying to cope with steep food and energy
inflation.
228. Hobson's choice: a choice of taking what is available or nothing at all.
229. It read: “We want to eat, not do coronavirus tests; reform, not the
Cultural Revolution. We want freedom, not lockdowns; elections, not rulers.
We want dignity, not lies. Be citizens, not enslaved people.”
230. The horror of these murders and those of so many other women before
them just curdles the blood.
231. Despite the groundswell of public support
232. An ace at narrative building,
233. He is at a dead end
234. Tilling the soil
235. He is in no mood to relent
236. Heightening political instability makes it much more difficult to stem the
rot.
237. Dutch disease is a concept that describes an economic phenomenon
where the rapid development of one sector of the economy (particularly
natural resources) precipitates a decline in other sectors. It is also often
characterized by a substantial appreciation of the domestic currency.
238. As we race headlong into an uncertain future, resetting priorities is of
utmost importance.
239. Pakistan, like the climate, needs healing and must urgently reset its
political trajectory to pave the way for reconciliation within and without.
240. Embryonic libertarian vision
241. There is no room for progress without give and take.
242. Their calls for help go unheeded.
243. It fell on deaf ears.
244. Able to walk away ‘scot-free’ from a multibillion-rupee corruption
reference
245. A failed institution that serves little purpose other than to settle political
scores, the need had been for the government to fix it, not cripple it
completely.
246. Giving credence
247. Problems arise when accountability for rights abuses is politicised,
where allies are given a free pass, and geopolitical adversaries are raked over
the coals.
248. Clearly, short-term measures are not the panacea.
249. The situation has been defined by some researchers as ‘ordered
disorder’.
250. “Great minds don’t think alike. They challenge each other to think
differently.”
251. Being prisoners to archaic practices,
252. Developments in the province influence how the rest of Pakistan fares
politically and financially.
253. Decision-making has been relegated to the back burner.
254. It would be foolishness of the highest order were the authorities to
ignore the emerging threat.
255. From here on, the path ahead will not be easy, but difficult
circumstances demand difficult decisions.
256. To re-establish a foothold in the country.
257. A double-edged sword: a situation or course of action having both
positive and negative effects. "Reductions in taxation are a double-edged
sword when used as a device to create jobs".
258. The country is on a slippery slope with no hope of things getting better.
259. The end of tenuous ceasefire
260. Over the last few months, however, the state has been dishing out spin
rather than facts to an increasingly uneasy public.
261. The authorities were insisting that the threat of a militancy redux was
an “exaggeration”.
262. ‘Negotiations’ are a means to buy space and time to regroup.
263. The answer does not lie in finding a person who promises miracles but
in understanding what is hindering the process.
264. Is it even possible to begin these conversations, which might prove a
tad uncomfortable?
265. The ‘lesser evil’ logic.
266. The government is at risk of sinking itself with a blowout economic
crisis thanks to flip-flopping economic policies and strategic failures in
containing inflation.
267. It is important for the two factions to engage directly and chart a way
forward.
268. To stick to its guns
269. Rasul Bakhsh Rais Professor of Political Science at LUMS. His latest book
is “Islam, Ethnicity and Power Politics: Constructing Pakistan’s National
Identity” (Oxford University Press, 2017).
270. Unless the sugar market is deregulated, every player will keep
demanding their pound of flesh.
271. The industrial units are lying idle
272. The fact is that uncertainty still clouds the air, with the economy
tanking in alarming fashion.
273. They must realise that neither will get what they want if they keep
fighting bitterly at every turn.
274. “And when I asked them for sweat, they gave me blood.”
275. Hard to describe it in words,
276. Gen Z (born between 1996 and mid 2000s) followed by Millennials
(born between 1980 and 1995 ie workers in the 25-45 years age group.
277. Better late than never.
278. This move resulted in a political and constitutional crisis metastasising
into a bloody civil war, with atrocities committed by both sides.
279. For there to be full closure, we need to make peace with the truth.
280. The security situation is perilous
281. All are astir with discussions, research, surveys and polls, analysing
trends, digging at causes, teasing out factors and predicting the social and
economic impact.
282. “All happiness depends on courage and work” — Balzac
283. It is how a confluence of challenges confronting the country are
addressed that will shape the country’s future. The challenges are well known
and so are their solutions. But it is for the political leadership to accord them
priority and deal with them resolutely and consistently.
284. The Dunning–Kruger effect is a cognitive bias whereby people with low
ability, expertise, or experience regarding a certain type of task or area of
knowledge tend to overestimate their ability or knowledge.
285. It may have a degree of truth
286. In each of these scenarios and cases, the proof of pudding is in the
eating
287. The devil is in the details
288. A knee-jerk reaction
289. There is nothing dystopian about separating families as evidenced by
countries in the Global North taking children from indigenous/black
communities and often rehoming them with white families.
290. It becomes a rallying cry, a symbol of resistance, a demand cropping up
in unsuspecting places, making the regime scramble to shut something they
can’t control.
291. "The truth will set u free, but first it will piss u off." Gloria Steinam
Feminist
292. A lie I have learnt to live with
293. Article 62(1)(f) Sadiq and Ameen
294. The power wielders exhibit a sorry lack of common sense.
295. It is considered as a stand-alone matter.
296. To be at daggers drawn
297. Descartes says "cogeto ergo sum"- I think, therefore, I am.
298. Economist Thomas Swell famously said, “there are no solutions, only
trade-offs."
299. Who actually calls the shots in this country?
300. It is a matter of great relief that we can now move on from it without
further ado.
301. The shenanigans playing out within Pakistan’s ruling class.
302. Use of complicated jargon or sophisticated flow charts may seem
attractive, but simplicity reigns supreme in communicating to the masses.
303. It seems fitting to conclude with an excerpt from Quaid-i-Azam
Mohammad Ali Jinnah’s address to army officers at Staff College, Quetta, in
June 1947. “I should like you to study the Constitution, which is in force in
Pakistan at present, and understand its true constitutional and legal
implications when you say that you will be faithful to the Constitution of the
Dominion […] I want you to remember […] that the executive authority flows
from the Head of the Government of Pakistan […] and, therefore, any
command or orders that may come to you cannot come without the sanction
of the Executive Head.”
304. Lost all his pillars of support
305. Not-for-profit
306. What caused his change of heart?
307. Only those kids get ahead whose parents take an interest in them.
308. Schism in the soul
309. The facilities are scant
310. Legendary Singapore leader Lee Kuan Yew
311. IT has often been said that in order to rule Pakistan, one needs Allah,
America and the army on your side.
312. He not only disregarded the truth but also burnt bridges with those who
matter, both domestically and internationally.
313. To add insult to injury,
314. Own axe to grind
315. The incident will continue to be milked for its political worth.
316. There were smiles and handshakes, as opposed to the combative
rhetoric that had of recent been emanating from both capitals.
317. The US should not fan Taiwanese independence aspirations, which will
surely enflame nationalist sentiment in China, while Beijing must seek to
resolve the Taiwan question peacefully.
318. The Pentagon saying in its recent National Defence Strategy that China
remains America’s most “consequential strategic competitor”.
319. “In Heaven, there will be no law, and the lion will lie down with the
lamb. … In Hell, there will be nothing but law, and due process will be
meticulously observed”.— Grant Gilmore
320. Come out of thin air.
321. Fanned by the economic crisis, the fire lit by the politics of early 2022 is
now a raging inferno.
322. With the nation at a crossroads, it ought to be left to the people to
decide which path to take forward.
323. ‘Stagflation’ — unemployment together with inflation.
324. Amidst these challenges, instead of showing resolve, the government
started
325. Inherited a ballooning economic crisis for which there was no quick fix.
326. Make hay while the sun shines: make the most of a favourable situation
while it lasts.
327. Wild goose chase
328. Run out of steam
329. Attack lacking both fire and fury
330. Huffing and puffing their way to
331. In this tinderbox of religion, hate, populism, an unequal civil-military
relationship and poor governance, one tiny spark could also mean more
violence.
332. There have been pockets of protests across Pakistan,
333. The questions around the assassination attempt against him follow all-
too-familiar patterns.
334. Religion sells in Pakistan, on TV, at the mall, and at the polling booth.
335. It’s murkier than it seems.
336. In Pakistan, the mere whisper of blasphemy can carry an executioner’s
sword.
337. The Indian economist Utsa Patnaik estimates that the British alone
extracted $45 trillion from the Indian subcontinent.
338. In the margins of Friedrich Nietzsche’s book, On the Genealogy of
Morality, WB Yeats wrote, “but why does Nietzsche think that the night has no
stars but bats, owls or the mad moon and has nothing else.” Nietzsche
expressed his skepticism about humanity and the future just before the turn
of the twentieth century. The events of the following century, including world
wars, massacres, genocide, looting, corruption, injustices and other atrocities,
make us think that the doubts about the human being of Nietzsche were not
completely correct.
339. Two centuries ago, there was a noise of ‘character ethic’ around the
world. Writers, poets, psychologists and philosophers of the world seemed to
agree that the solutions of political, social and economic problems are hidden
in moral values and they believed that this is the basis of success. They took
‘character ethic’ to mean honesty, humility, responsibility, moderation,
courage, justice and self-knowledge. They said that the teaching of moral
values is that there are certain principles of effective living and that people
can achieve real success and internal happiness only when they adopt these
principles in their basic character.
340. But immediately after the First World War, the basic concept of success
shifted from moral values to ‘personality ethic’. And the concept of success
became associated with personality, reputation, attitude, behaviour, art and
skill. And these things started to be considered as the reason for success.
‘Personality ethic’ basically adopted two opinions: first mental attitude; like
your attitude determines your loftiness and a person’s achievement depends
on his thinking and his belief. Other aspects of ‘personality ethic’ were clearly
based on deception and cleverness. They used to encourage people to use
techniques that they could become likeable to others or take a fake interest in
other people’s hobbies in order to gain from them, or could get their
advantage in life by threatening others.
341.  Hunger of human beings ends at a limit, but the hunger of the giants
never ends. 
342.  Franz Kafka says, “Am I who I am, or has society made me who I am?”
343. Development requires intellectual exchange. Intellectual exchange is
more than a mere technology transfer from rich to the less rich. It should be
rooted in inquiry, curiosity and a real appreciation for knowledge. This
appetite requires both humility and a genuine desire for learning. Currently
we lack both.
344. There is a dire need to inject a fresh air of Originality & Objectivity. 
345. There is no reluctance or realization on part of stronger nations to wage
wars against an Unequal Military Power (UMP), merely because Clausewitz
declared that war was an instrument of policy. The so-called superpowers will
first destroy a much smaller country, killing hundreds of thousands of people
 and then give aid to rebuild the same destroyed state, if it succumbs to their
will. Perhaps, only to keep their Military Industrial Complex (MIC) growing.
346. In my opinion, it is the responsibility of social scientists to constantly
give ideas to resolve conflicts instead of only managing them. We must not
assume that nothing will change because game-changers do emerge out of
such writings and ideas.
347. It is something that must be guarded jealously if the country’s political
system is to mature and evolve.
348. Our devastating tryst with floods this past summer is on everyone’s lips.
349. Hermeneutics (science of meanings)
350. Epistemologies (sources of knowledge)
351. The deeper one digs, the finer the meanings that may emerge.
352. Instead of just seeing red, they need to reach a consensus.
353. Some of them still remembered and some forgotten by the fickle public.
354. Pakistan can ill afford sth at this point.
355. A recipe for disaster.
356. After so much ink has been spilt over the matter,
357. His may just help cool the increasingly febrile political environment in
the country since
358. Going from tense to outright hostile over the past fortnight,
359. Is there a lull in the storm raging around Islamabad?
360. Failing to separate wheat from chaff
361. Hanker after
362. “I prefer self-government with danger to servitude with tranquillity.”
363. The myopia of our political leaders reveals that they are not worried
about the rehabilitation of the flood affected, nor soaring inflation, nor the
population explosion, nor the need for a national curriculum.
364. It will be an uphill task given the social matrix of society.
365. The fresh move had left many officers perplexed.
366. The events are unfolding at breakneck speed
367. The Nobel Peace Prize 2006 awarded to Muhammad Yunus for his
Grameen Bank.
368. (Caught) Between the devil and the deep blue sea: in a difficult situation
where you have to choose between two equally unpleasant courses of action.
369. Allama Iqbal was appointed professor of Philosophy at the Government
College, Lahore, chosen by Professor Thomas Arnold – the British orientalist
 who wrote a book proving that Islam was spread in the subcontinent not by
the sword but by humanist preaching – who became his patron.
370. Allama Iqbal couldn’t disagree with Sir Syed Ahmad Khan whom he
regarded as the Baruch Spinoza (d.1677) of Islam, rationalising and
demystifying the scriptures.
371. It has come a little late in the day.
372. Faustian bargain (plural Faustian bargains) (idiomatic) an agreement in
which a person abandons his or her spiritual values or moral principles in
order to obtain knowledge, wealth or other benefits.
373. A major way to mitigate inequality is to keep money rolling.
374. There is a complete breakdown of authority.
375. The fear of civil strife looms large with the impending collapse of state
institutions.
376. The ongoing political confrontation and polarisation threaten to derail
the democratic process.
377. The country is hurtling towards a state of anarchy with no resolution of
the crisis in sight.
378. It highlights the widening fault lines in the country’s power structure.
379. Such scathing public exchanges are rare.
380. Allegations against the senior officer and the institution are “absolutely
unacceptable and uncalled for”.
381. To carve out fiefdoms beyond the state’s reach.
382. Motives behind the brazen attack cannot remain unresolved.
383. Every now and then, we all need to be reminded we are not nearly as
important and wonderful as we think we are. It’s good for your health. This
philosophy of irreverence is at the heart of Mohammed Hanif’s writings, and
dare I say it, Pakistan needs it now more than ever.
384. Well, we Pakistanis don’t dwell on the past too much. Oftentimes, we
are so polite that we intentionally avoid uncomfortable conversations, lest
they cause undue offence.
385. A treasure trove of errors
386. The elites everywhere want the public to be disciplined, passive,
obedient and directed to other things.
387. One has the demeanour of the Pied Piper
388. As screws are tightened on the Indian media to squeeze out the
remaining spaces from the opposition, the media in Pakistan with all their
 ideological and political variations at least offer a chance to as many sides as
there are in the battle for sound bytes and headlines.
389. Ours is a weak society, weak where violence of all kind is accepted and
to be borne with stoicism. For after all, we are also a patriarchal society where
men don’t cry if bad things happen and they should not complain either. And
those who did, were not Pakistani enough.
390. Hardy’s Tess would not be seen as a victim in Pakistan and her death
was well deserved, going by the views we hold.
391. Doubting Thomases are growing in number.
392. Unfortunately, their excruciating ordeal goes mostly unnoticed.
393. Far from being out of the woods the economy faces solvency challenges
ahead.
394. The country was reeling from multiple, overlapping crises — political,
economic, and institutional-as well as the challenge of recovering from the
worst climate-induced floods the country has seen.
395. She is in a fix.
396. For that to happen, the toxicity that dominates the political discourse
today has to cease.
397. The only ray of hope was the swift condemnation of the incident from
both sides of the political divide.
398. The Constitution treats human dignity as an inviolable right.
399. It must have taken an inordinate amount of courage to face the press.
400. A new low was reached in Pakistani politics when
401. Painstakingly built
402. It may do lasting harm to national unity
403. Is it a forlorn hope that some lessons may have been learnt?
404. Honed to perfection over the course of the past few years
405. To lose the track of time
406. Incremental attempts to throttle criticism of institutions of the state
407. This sounds like a fig leaf to cover up what is a brazen attempt to turn
an institution of the state against the citizenry.
408. Band-Aid measures.
409. Prices continued to rise at a breakneck pace, draining household
budgets at rates not seen in decades.
410. Take the case of the Punjabi freedom fighter Bhagat Singh, who was
hanged by the British in March 1931. He was 23 years old. In December 1928,
 Bhagat Singh and two associates shot dead a junior British police officer John
Saunders, mistaking him for his superior James Scott. They had sought
revenge for the death of the nationalist leader Lala Rajpat Rai. On the way to
the gallows, Bhagat Singh sang: “When we are dead, there will be patriotism
left in us/ Even my corpse will emit the fragrance of my motherland.”
411. Incompetent people don’t have the capacity to make decisions that can
pull a wobbly nation like ours out of a whirlpool of troubles.
412. What Tolstoy wrote about a Russian czar eons ago sounds true even
today for some of our leaders: “Continual brazen flattery from everybody
round him in the teeth of obvious facts had brought him to such a state that
he no longer saw his own inconsistencies or measured his actions and words
by reality, logic, or even simple common sense; but was quite convinced that
all his orders, however senseless, unjust, and mutually contradictory they
might be, became reasonable, just, and mutually accordant simply because he
gave them.”
413. When the limits of patience are exceeded, people take the law into
their own hands, while unscrupulous elements also exploit such situations.
414. People are tense due to economic difficulties, while fear stalks the city
thanks to an unabated wave of violent crime.
415. Casts a pall on
416. He must realise that he cannot burn every bridge and sink every ship in
his desire to retake power.
417. Leaving both opponents and supporters on tenterhooks about what he
might have up his sleeve.
418. Pakistan has many tragedies playing out these days
419. To stabilise the agricultural sector that has been all but devastated.
420. The gulf between the both parties is too wide to be plugged easily.
421. The party is not in favour of an all-out confrontation
422. His blow-hot blow-cold approach seems to be a part of his strategy to
keep some doors open for reconciliation.
423. The game may not be over yet but all bets are off.
424. He has galvanised his support base across the board with his relentless
campaign, while his opponents seem to be in a state of near paralysis.
425. It has now turned into a no-holds-barred attack on the security agencies
426. On the eve of the march.
427. Scathing remarks against the
428. It is too early to predict the outcome of this war of nerves.
429. Both leaders express willingness to promote all-weather strategic
cooperation, partnership between their countries.
430. There’s much ado and some confusion about
431. A watered-down version is expected to be a winner for both sides.
432. One can control the words uttered but not the interpretations.
433. The heavens themselves blazed forth his death, to paraphrase
Shakespeare, and for an entire week
434. The conclusions reached by the authorities at the helm of this inquiry
are harsh,
435. It is clear that Britain has its work cut out for it.
436. Articles 10A and 14 of the Constitution provide only a rudimentary legal
structure enshrining the right to fair trial and the dignity of man.
437. Officials should refrain from making preposterous claims about
438. These old formulas can be dusted off, while new ones can also be
discussed, but the key question is that of intent.
439. It is folly of the highest order
440. Provocative remarks
441. Government may harbour of attacking
442. Regarding any foolhardy ideas
443. It implies a hostile intent.
444. The BJP-led dispensation
445. To make incendiary claims that have the potential to further poison
bilateral ties.
446. Hollow sabre-rattling
447. To revive Pakistan’s moribund economy.
448. To provide relief to its teetering economy.
449. It may be time for each side to take a step back from and review their
unflinching positions.
450. Opacity erodes the public’s trust and confidence
451. In this sordid story,
452. In fact these harken to colonial-era political logics.
453. No-holds-barred conflict
454. Palace intrigues
455. To the chagrin of his previous benefactors.
456. Almost inevitably, the marriage of convenience starts to sour and the
‘good guy’ metamorphoses into yet another ‘bad guy’.
457. Jog the memory and one will recall that
458. Reached its ignominious end
459. The Quran recognises grief as a deep emotion for humans and advises
them to hold on to hope and be patient when facing it, as they will soon be
rewarded.
460. The Holy Book states: “So, verily, with every difficulty, there is relief.
Verily, with every difficulty there is relief” (94:5-6).
461. Abu Huraira has narrated that the Prophet (PBUH) said: “If God wills
good for someone, He afflicts him with trials” (Bukhari 5321).
462. The debilitating pain can stop you cold in your tracks.
463. RUMI had said: “The wound is the place where the light enters you.”
One must get through intense pain; follow the path of deep sorrow to be able
to emerge from it and find the light that brightens up the soul. The heart is the
location of pain and sorrow. This is, therefore, where light enters; the light of
hope, a new way of looking at the world and a positive change in our outlook
towards life.
464. The government also appears to be on the verge of squandering a once-
in-a-generation opportunity to ask for
465. Despite all the sound and fury,
466. Government today is afraid of ruffling feathers by asking for
467. The Pakistan government’s reluctance to ask for debt relief is
perplexing.
468. In order to ‘stem the climate-change-fuelled crisis’.
469. Reparations are the payment that is given to right a wrong.
470. Only time will tell if Mr x actually has a plan or is just taking a swing in
the dark.
471. Does they expect to rewrite the playbook?
472. Simmer down
473. He called off the protests prematurely to avoid a civil war-like situation.
474. Eschew violence.
475. The government had made a royal mess of things by resorting to
violence and subversive tactics that greatly damaged its democratic
credentials.
476. Giving law enforcers free rein only ends up exacerbating tensions rather
than defusing them.
477. His killing has rekindled public anger and distrust of state institutions.
478. After weeks of prevaricating,
479. It does not mean that we are out of the woods.
480. It was just the tip of the iceberg.
481. Shortest distance between the two lines is the straight line. so talk and
think straight
482. If u have to grow, then continously move on
483. If u r the smartest in the class then u r in the wrong class.
484. When everyone is a thief be a donor.
485. Don't teach your daddy how to bang.
486. "We win as one and lose as one."
487. It turned out to be just not quite enough.
488. A nation battered by rising costs of living.
489. With a loaded in-tray, and a public whose patience for change in the
executive office has worn thin, Mr Sunak has his work cut out for him.
490. There is plenty of evidence to suggest that racism continues to be
rampant in the UK.
491. Must face justice to end this climate of impunity.
492. It is hoped that the state goes beyond words and commits to
uncovering the truth behind
493. To end the ‘smear campaign’ against the institution.
494. The truth about this may never be unveiled,
495. Too many questions are swirling around the tragic killing of
496. By a wafer-thin margin.
497. Caught on the hop by the speed of her demise
498. Poses an enduring threat to our national security
499. India’s nefarious designs to destabilize
500. The charge of fomenting terrorism
501. We humans share most of our genetic code with ancient Homo sapiens
who are seen as the ultimate cause of the Neanderthal extinction.
502. We may sit typing at a computer all day long or travel in jet planes, but
our bodies and perhaps even our minds were better suited to hunting and
gathering rather than sitting around all day long.
503. They lost by the finest of margins and will have to show grit to bounce
back.
504. In a riveting contest between the arch-rivals.Dragging India from the
depths of despair to unbridled joy
505. “If you can’t handle the heat in the kitchen, get out.”
506. Given our history, is it fair, then, to blame a few
507. Successive usurpers continued to make a mockery of the law
508. Non-democratic players have repeatedly found willing collaborators in
both the judiciary and the legislature for their conspiracies against
democratically elected governments.
509. Populism, like nationalism, is dangerous to women and democracy.
510. Pressure tactics can be an effective tool to get leaders to backtrack,
rethink strategies and apologise.
511. To stitch up a coalition with the only purpose of defeating fascism,
nothing more and nothing less.
512. He has a task cut out
513. There were demands aplenty of
514. What he was saying had been said so many times before.
515. Candlelight vigils were held
516. All hell would have broken loose.
517. In the light of its (UN) resolutions.
518. To take decisive step for
519. Indian security forces are given sweeping powers to kill Kashmiris at will
520. Economic distress
521. Overall fiscal subsidies were to the tune of Rs 954 billion
522. Frankenstein’s monster has been unleashed, and has now become
impossible to control.
523. Sincerity is in short supply when it comes to Balochistan.
524. Who will bell the cat?
525. IGen or Gen Z (born 1997-2010) were just arriving on the workplace
scene
526. The power centre and decision-maker though has been the
management, with the baby boomers (1946-1964) heading the big brands.
Gen X (1965–1980) was eager to please their boomer bosses and driven by the
need for material comfort and acquisition.
 Since the millennial/Gen Y (1981–1996) workforce have been less driven by
material needs and generally have less work ethic and care for corporate good
citizenship, there was tension and confusion with the boomer bosses as
incentives had to be rethought and the needs of each clashed.
527. Shooting fish in a barrel
528. Son, no knowledge ever goes waste.
529. To issue an extremely sullen statement
530. Manipulative role
531. Trying hard to grapple with the threat posed by
532. At this crucial juncture.
533. Both neither like inclusivity, nor can they manage it.
534. Putting all its eggs in the one basket could prove harmful.
535. They remain obsessed with their ideological doctrines and are rigid
towards the diverse political, social, ethnic and religious views and classes
they have to now cater to.
536. The outcome of such approaches, as can be imagined, is a foolproof
recipe for failure.
537. The architects of policy have not entirely given up hope
538. Harbour some great memories
539. Schools have deteriorated in stature, quality and performance.
540. Quality education is now a rare find.
541. Usually stays embedded in our personalities.
542. Bereft of such opportunities
543. Various forms of pastoral care can be used to take disengaged or
disgruntled students into the fold.
544. Acts as a springboard for their academic success.
545. That experience determines whether the child gets out of bed
motivated to face another day or switches off to a world of escapism and
procrastination, not being able to grapple with the daily grind.
546. Against the spirit of
547. There has been a spike in
548. To yield an agreement to end
549. Talks broke down
550. Under a misguided concession made to
551. Inability to live up to one's promises
552. Appear to be little more than excuses.
553. The international community’s patience is also wearing thin on this and
other issues.
554. Running out of patience
555. “They have been too few and too slow and they are outweighed by
negatives”
556. Further deepening the trust gap
557. Apart from these growing doubts over
558. International interest in Afghanistan has also been waning.
559. By relapsing into its regressive past and not responding to the concerns
of the global community
560. Infighting and power struggles
561. To embark on a course correction
562. Play down differences with
563. Defeat all intrigues and conspiracies hatched against our country with
[an] iron first.
564. The tone and tenor of
565. Reflected in the vile, abusive language used.
566. Apparent current stand-off is aimed at galvanising support base
567. Up in arms.
568. To toe the line
569. To the chagrin of
570. The horns of a dilemma.
571. Lashed out
572. People have very faint hope of rebuilding their lives
573. The heavens will not fall if
574. Driving home a narrative, even in a post-truth era, is a political party’s
right.
575. The wretched of the earth scramble for a meal.
576. While some put on grotesque displays of wealth, others live in penury.
577. Provide succour to the oppressed.
578. To control base desires
579. To succinctly put it
580. Is that factor at play?
581. How is that defying the trend?
582. The rupee will soon resume its downhill journey as the economic
fundamentals remain weak.
583. ‘Unsustainable’ and ‘short-lived’
584. A probe is underway.
585. We may soon find ourselves in the midst of a deeper crisis.
586. The deluge was catastrophic, but what may follow could be even worse.
587. A couple of recent reports/documents spell out the gargantuan
challenge facing the nation.
588. There may be many a slip betwixt the cup and lip, but at least the world
has recognised it must help this country deal with a tragedy not of its own
making.
589. After all, in a cruel twist of fate,
590. Although Pakistan emits less than 1pc of greenhouses gases, it is among
the most vulnerable to climate change.
591. We must change course and place climate change at the heart of
policymaking. Otherwise, an apocalyptic future awaits us.
592. Policies that can shield them from major price shocks and supply
disruptions
593. Pakistan has not been able to cash in on this bonanza
594. Considering the energy crunch Pakistan faces, as well as the country’s
precarious financial situation
595. Benighted field
596. To tell story after story
597. The language was rather colourful
598. Some were willing to commit violence against those they held
responsible.
599. How the entire ruling elite can ignore the mood of the populace is
mind-boggling.
600. The stories are unending
601. It is hard to find anyone who still remains optimistic about the future.
602. There is only anger and quiet despair.
603. The sense of despondency is more pervasive this year.
604. It has to be conceded that Pakistanis have never been a sunny lot with
stars in their eyes.
605. It is linked to our long bouts of authoritarianism in which so much of
our policymaking was carried out by so few; the lack of a say in policies,
politics, identity, seems to have translated into a perpetual sense of self-
loathing and incessant criticism.
606. Despite this being a national pastime
607. It is far more widespread.
608. It seems as if in our cycles of boom and bust, the latter are growing
longer and more intense while the former are even more fleeting.
609. The only prediction in town is of worse to come.
610. There are no alarm bells ringing
611. The idea behind the visit was wrapped in the cliché that there’s no
alternative to dialogue.
612. The visitors apparently endorsed the suggestion to usher communal
cordiality.
613. Who were fighting to retrieve democratic spaces
614. Deadly violence that engulfed
615. Always a potent challenge for
616. Had its share of notoriety too
617. The gruesome chopping of the hand of
618. Suffice it to say that
619. An era of lynching, public flogging and daily humiliation of Muslims
620. For him, small projects were islands of hope in a sea of turmoil and that
if they kept going, they would change the face of Pakistan.
621. The destruction wreaked on the country.
622. For instance, rising sea levels threaten the lives and livelihoods of
millions living in coastal areas.
623. Global warming is likely to exacerbate water shortages in water-
stressed regions globally.
624. A warmer planet will lead to higher rates of animal extinction which will
have consequences for the global ecosystem and food supply.
625. Shifting sands
626. Reviving the country’s ailing economy should be the first priority of all
segments of society
627. Pakistan cannot achieve its objectives without a strong economy to
back it.
628. The party has been rocking the boat during a time of national crisis.
629. Run-in
630. The party has been rocking the boat during a time of national crisis.
631. The chilling recent episode
632. This part of northern Pakistan has in the past witnessed grotesque
terrorist violence.
633. All of these aforementioned terrorist attacks were carried out by the
TTP or its offshoots
634. How this massive security lapse occurred.
635. It is astounding that militants were able to block a major artery with
such ease.
636. The policy of negotiation and caving in to the demands of violent actors
is a flawed one, and has always failed.
637. Instead of meekly reacting, the state must proactively nip the terrorist
threat in the bud before the nation is overwhelmed by a fresh wave of militant
violence.
638. he wants the judges to right the wrong done to him and invalidate his
conviction
639. Artemis goddess of ancient Greece, Padmini of ancient India, Hellen of
Troy
640. Prisoners of same fate
641. It also helps it in striking the right chord with the Federation,
642. It is fraught with the colonial legacy and myopically framed rhetoric.
643. A remnant of colonial legacy.
644. You need to rethink your existence if you believe only illiterates harm
Pakistani society.
645. Had it been so, the national stakeholders and leadership with so-called
elite educational backgrounds would not have brought the country to this
sorry far.
646. Against the backdrop of the moral crisis facing the country, the need for
character education is overwhelmingly high.
647. We must not lose sight of a bitter reality that our existing education
system won’t navigate the needs and test of the modern times.
648. Would go a long way in producing an upright population.
649. The elite has been mercilessly feeding on the very blood and bone of
the country.
650. Displayed their epic inefficiency
651. The avaricious and megalomaniac elites have embezzled the country
and brought it to the brink of collapsing from the burden of foreign debt and
internal fragility.
652. For the past several years, the country has been experiencing an
economic slowdown due to a range of factors including a weak currency, high
inflation and a lack of investment. 
653. To act as a stepping stone for normalizing bilateral relations.
654. Emotions have no place in International affairs. More often than not, an
emotionally driven decision backfires or proves counterproductive. 
655.  The idea should be to limit damage instead of adding another
provocative talking point.
656. History may be kept as a reference point. 
657. Ground realities particularly one’s own political and economic
disposition should be accorded due importance in formulating policies for the
present and the foreseeable future.
658. All said and done, 
659.  Conventional wisdom aside, eyes must be wide open to encompass the
ramifications of one’s actions and reactions.
660.  It takes more than just a change in leadership to fix the rot.
661. We have reformist plans and ideas. Missing in action is the willpower by
those who stand to benefit from the status quo to implement them.
662. The people of Balochistan have witnessed enough brutality and neglect.
663. The state must treat them as owners of their land, masters of their
destiny, and equal citizens of Pakistan protected by the Constitution.
664. If the violence continues, it will have a detrimental effect on national
unity.
665. There can’t be exceptions in a democracy.
666.  Its disastrous policies have brought the country close to an economic
meltdown.
667. We already seem to be hurtling towards a Sri Lanka-like situation. 
668.  The government has been put in a precarious place.
669. “For my friends, everything. For my enemies, the law” — Óscar R.
Benavides
670. Elections have to be held no later than 90 days from the date of
dissolution, under Articles 105(3) and 224(2) of the Constitution.
671. But the reasons given by the federal and provincial governments to
delay the Punjab and KP elections are comical at best and dangerous at worst.
672. Political dynasties are of course not unique to Pakistan. The
Nehru/Gandhi family in India, the Mujib family in Bangladesh, the
 Bandaranaike and Rajapaska families in Sir Lanka, the Aquino and Marcos
families in the Philippines are examples.
673. Sine qua non
674. It is a depressing truth that while the rich party on in Pakistan, the poor
are bereft of hope. 
675. The fact that Pakistanis have joined the ranks of countries like Somalia
and Afghanistan in their willingness to take any risk at all to escape their
country says a lot about where the country stands today.
676. The PDM government has used the same playbook to lock up its critics
since it came to power, while earlier, the PTI also employed similarly atrocious
tactics to silence its opponents. 
677. Our story has degenerated from the tragic to the pathetic to the
absurd.
678. A populist panders to a vote bank and sees citizens as subjects. A leader
serves citizens.
679. The US has reversed the course of globalisation in its effort to pre-empt
the emergence of China as a global rival. Within a de-globalising world
Pakistan must prioritise its relations within its region which is Asia. China is in
Asia. It is a proven friend of Pakistan. But a failing Pakistan will not be able to
realise the potential of the relationship.
680. The Americans, the IMF and sometimes the Chinese are blamed for
Pakistan’s economic woes. The IMF may be part of the Washington
Consensus. But it does not impose itself on Pakistan. Pakistan goes cap in
hand to the IMF. It has its conditions. Pakistan can take them or leave them.
681. However, Pakistan’s rulers want IMF cover for not doing the reforms
they don’t want to do, and for imposing the costs of their dereliction on the
people of Pakistan. Those reforms can be implemented independently, which
would enable Pakistan to deal with the IMF on better terms. Similarly, the
Chinese cannot be blamed or expected to compensate for Pakistan’s
irresponsible economic governance.
682. Alexander died young. As he said of himself: “I do not count my years
but my victories.”
683. WHEN a society and its institutions cannot agree on basic rules, it
signifies a breakdown that requires serious introspection.
684. Rather than cooperate, everyone started to pass the buck.
685. Although the CJP highlights the importance of parliamentary democracy
in his majority opinion, there is clearly no such democracy within his court. 
686. Though child marriage is illegal, it is widely practised in Pakistan.
According to Unicef, three per cent of Pakistani girls under the age of 15 years
are married, and the practice continues to be regarded as an integral part of
culture.
687. There was a hue and cry after the January 2018 rape-murder of young
Zainab Ansari in Kasur, a crime shocking enough to shake society out of its
apathy and encourage some soul-searching. 
688. However, thus far little more than lip service has been paid to
implementing the law. 
689. For now, let’s not go further back than Gen Ziaul Haq’s coup in 1977
and then Gen Musharraf’s 1999 military takeover. What is common to both?
Both were endorsed by the country’s apex court. In the latter case, the
military ruler was even granted the right to amend the Constitution.
690. Zia called the Constitution a worthless piece of paper in an interview;
the judges demonstrated with their decisions that he was right. When they
endorsed every one of Zia’s actions, they effectively shredded the Constitution
and tossed it into the bin.
691. When democracy, or a watered-down version of it, was restored in
1988, the SC happily endorsed the ouster of elected prime ministers and the
dismissal of parliament some three times over the next nine years, upholding
the military-backed action under the infamous Article 58-2(b) inserted into the
Constitution by Zia.
692.  The deep division, the polarisation that cuts across all institutions, to
my mind, will shake the foundations of our beloved, yet blighted, land for a
while to come. The economic distress is just one manifestation.
693. It was tantamount to rewriting the Constitution.
694. Additional misgivings are being created by the exercise of authority by
the ‘master of the roster’ in how the benches are formed to hear cases and
who gets to sit on these. 
695. I’m wondering if citizenship is more than a legal status. It is about a
person’s right to have rights as Hannah Arendt wrote in 1949, when she
herself was a stateless refugee. After being stripped of German citizenship,
she found refuge in the United States but without citizenship until 1951, she
realised that human rights didn’t provide any relief to the stateless. To have
 rights, she said, you needed to be more than human, you needed to belong to
a political community or be a citizen of a nation state. The right to citizenship
affords people all other rights.
696. Excuses like shortage of funds and unavailability of personnel hold no
water, considering that the electoral exercise is the central feature of
parliamentary democracy as conceptualised in our Constitution.
697. Let the contest begin.
698.  It can safely be assumed that rather than any legitimate concerns
about Pakistani firms breaking international laws, the blacklisting is purely
geopolitical, in effect a message from Uncle Sam in the same vein as ‘are you
with us or against us?’
699.  It can safely be assumed that rather than any legitimate concerns
about Pakistani firms breaking international laws, the blacklisting is purely
geopolitical, in effect a message from Uncle Sam in the same vein as ‘are you
with us or against us?’ For if push comes to shove, especially on the China
front, Pakistan may be asked to make hard choices. This will obviously not be
an easy decision. Islamabad’s ties with Beijing are deep and strategic, but
relations with the US are also important. Therefore, progressive and sagacious
foreign policy decisions are required, keeping Pakistan’s interest paramount,
and not getting dragged into other people’s conflicts. 
700. Across the border, the Women’s Premier League will help Indian players
build on their performance at the World Cup, where they reached the semi-
finals. It will also promote their players, raise their profile and bring in more
money to improve them further. Women’s cricket in Pakistan needs a similar
shot in the arm.
701. The domestic and international researchers have not denied the
existence of exclusion in Pakistani society in general and educational
institutions in particular.
702. Sigmund Freud gave the theory of psychoanalytic. Sigmund Freud
believed that basic biological instincts combine with societal factors to shape
personalities which consist of the identity, ego, and superego. These three
parts must interact appropriately for a person to function well in society. If
one of the three parts becomes dominant, personal and social problems may
result. If a person does not develop a superego at an early age, he may not
become strong enough to overcome the identity, resulting in antisocial
behaviour.
703. “”whoever controls the media, controls the mind”. Jim Morrison
704. Fresh elections are the only means to escape from the political
quagmire.
705. Indeed, if ‘salvaging the economy’ was one of the key justifications for
the PDM government to hang on to power, it is now wearing thin. The
economy is in meltdown mode, the IMF deal remains elusive, the rupee is in
freefall and market/business confidence is hitting an all-time low.
International rating agencies have again begun to warn that Pakistan might
default on its sovereign debt.
706. So those who are worried warn that if this dogfight continues, the
establishment might just get so tired, especially with the fragile economic
situation, it may be tempted to sweep the entire chessboard away.
707. Journalist Swaminathan Aiyar says Indian industrialists who made
fortunes during World War II because of scarcities were unhappy with Liaquat
Ali Khan as finance minister in the Nehru-led 1946 interim government. Khan
presented a supposedly socialist budget with high taxes to claw back
inequitable gains made during the war. “Gujarat’s textile industrialists, friends
and supporters of Patel, castigated this as a Muslim League attack on them,
disguised as socialism. This added to Patel’s growing feeling that cohabitation
with the Muslim League was not possible.” Aiyar says the Gujarat industrialists
were being communal. “Parsi and Muslim industrialists were hit by high taxes
too. Patel should have shrugged off Liaquat’s budget as a headache inevitable
in power sharing. That did not happen.” 
708. We face today one of the worst bouts of political instability to have
plagued us since 1947. 
709. The state would be wise not to overreact under pressure to cut the PTI
chief to size.
710. With an election around the corner, targeting a major leader will only
spark more instability and friction within the citizenry, something the country
can ill afford at this juncture.
711.  In fact, as per data gathered by the Pakistan Institute for Conflict and
Security Studies and published in this paper, the highest number of militant
attacks were reported from Balochistan in February; at least 25 people were
killed in 22 attacks.
712. It is high time the people’s representatives put their money where their
mouth is and stopped pandering to misogynistic elements.
713. WE are heading towards a shipwreck. But there seems to be no
realisation of the impending calamity, with the warring political forces refusing
to pull back from the precipice. While a rudderless dispensation has already
hit the rocks, the opposition is set on bringing down the entire edifice. There
seems to be no way out of the current stand-off. With no political solution in
sight, the situation is fast becoming untenable.
714.  The Constitution and all the state institutions seem to have become a
casualty in this sordid power game.
715.  Despite the disaster he has wrought, he remains the economic czar. 
716. Dar being at the helm of the economy has only added to the PML-N’s
growing unpopularity.
717. What is more worrisome is that the unfolding political power game has
sharpened the clash of institutions, resulting in a systemic collapse.
718. Just like birds who have forgotten to fly because of their long captivity
in cages, they will make no attempts at freedom.
719.  This International Women’s Day, Pakistan is teetering on the edge of
default; a prospect that is utterly devastating.
720. Inflation has reached incomprehensible numbers. 
721. It follows, then, that International Women’s Day, 2023, is a day of crisis
in a year of crisis in an existence of crisis. 
722. This, perhaps, is the fate of countries where the skills, talents,
intelligence and acumen of half the population is wasted because the fragile
egos of the other half cannot bear the competition.
723. Since gender defines access to power and resources, it is essential to
apply a gender lens when discussing 
724. It’s worth remembering, though, that the currents of history can shift
with little warning. The women who marched out of desperation in Petrograd
on International Women’s Day in 1917 had no expectation that their protest
would spark a revolution that overthrew czarism within days and paved the
way for an earth-shaking new order a few months later.
725. For the man who exercised sweeping powers at the time to now excuse
himself as ‘merely human’ does not seem enough.
726. It seemed as if the judiciary was on a crusade against the party.
727. Afghan women’s rights have waxed and waned over the years
728.  this year’s theme of International Women’s Day, #EmbraceEquity
729. Domestic violence, underage marriage, sexual harassment in the
workplace, restrictions on choice of career or having a career at all — these
are some of the issues that prevent many females in Pakistan from reaching
their full potential. To address these gaps, equitable measures must be taken
to provide a level playing field. These include implementation of pro-women
laws, expansion of financial access for women, provision of safe public
transport, etc.
730. Pakistan’s ‘soft image’ is torn to shreds when distasteful incidents such
as these come to light.
731. Old ways should no longer be employed to meet new challenges.
732. The objection was well grounded. The excessive use of the original
jurisdiction, suo motu or otherwise, has virtually turned the institution into a
court of first instance rather than of the last resort.
733. Supreme Court must jealously guard its image and institutional
harmony. 
734. Let’s not forget that American jurisprudence would not have flourished
in the 20th century had it not been guided by the three ‘great dissenters’ —
justices Louis Brandeis, Oliver Wendell Holmes, and Benjamin Nathan
Cardozo. Likewise, the minority opinions of the pioneering dissenters —
Justices Fazl Ali and A.R. Cornelius in the A.K. Gopal case and Maulvi
Tamizuddin Khan, respectively, are not only recognised as the ‘true law’ but
are referred to as the starting point of constitutional struggles in India and
Pakistan.
735. Such situations in countries like Pakistan don’t take long to change for
the worse. 
736. It is a travesty that, instead of focusing on improving the quality of
education and addressing its shortcomings, AJK authorities are more focused
on telling women what to do. 
737. The policing of women must end, and women should be free to decide
whether or not they want to wear the hijab. Taking away that agency from
them will only embolden the authorities to police citizens in other aspects as
well. 
738. REIMAGINING healthcare in Pakistan for establishing universal health
coverage through strengthened primary healthcare is impossible without a
properly educated, trained workforce in optimal numbers and appropriate
mix, with equitable distribution. We are on a low ebb on all these counts. 
739. But if it is a world like ours and especially a country like Pakistan, where
the bold and the powerful can flout laws, it would be wise to choose one’s
battles carefully.
740. It is time that our rulers and the IMF — both supposedly our
benefactors — realised that while they are locked in a struggle to outwit each
other, those who suffer are the masses.
741. Meanwhile, the state here continues to treat migrants with contempt.
Deprived of documents, they cannot access a whole host of facilities including
a decent education for their children.
742. In a history strewn with men in uniform whose overweening ambitions
have thwarted democracy from taking root in Pakistan, Gen Faiz Hameed
turned out to be among the most controversial, even though he never became
army chief.
743. It is only a matter of time before he is forgotten. Workers are cannon
fodder, leaders are sacrosanct.
744.  Runaway inflation, which can potentially wreck the electoral prospect
of any incumbent.
745.  Examination at birth by an ophthalmologist is recommended for every
child to rule out any eye abnormalities. The earlier the condition is diagnosed,
the greater the chances of preserving vision.
746. Irrespective of whether one is a child or an adult, an annual eye
examination by an ophthalmologist is recommended to detect early signs of
glaucoma and intervene before it is too late. 
747. Patients from all socioeconomic strata
748. The exchange shows how little regard Tar has for opposing opinions or
for the time we live in, where public opinion matters more than engaging in
dialogue.
749. Her sense of invincibility begins to crumble. 
750. She can’t escape the crudity of her actions, or all the ghosts of her past.
751. It is an uncomfortable watch but it’s a remarkable performance by
752.  For others, there’s a pushback against what they call mob mentality.
753. I find this problematic only because none of the debate acknowledges
there’s never really been a concept of free speech without consequences.
There’s always some level of control on the right to speak freely, and various
so-called stakeholders have attempted to regulate some form of censorship to
suit their advantage. I’m not convinced that young, ‘woke’ leftists or
 progressives are a threat to free speech any more than right-wing thinkers
who want to muzzle dissenting voices.
754. ToTo be affected by harsh earthly economic realities. 
755. Airfares have also gone through the roof,
756. I told him he was not only wrong but as wrong as wrong could be. 
757. When news is blacked out, good news and bad news both stop.
758. None has underscored this sad fact more brilliantly than a fisherman’s
son, Maulana Hidayat-ur-Rahman of Gwadar’s Haq Do Tehreek. At last year’s
Asma Jehangir Conference in Lahore, he stole the show. When a mouse found
its way into a halwai’s shop in Lahore, he thundered, Pakistani media was set
ablaze. But when dead bodies appear by roadsides in Balochistan, none dare
whisper. 
759. Vast areas have been cordoned off with razor wire for various official
organisations and their housing schemes.
760. Colonisation, of course, is too strong a word to use here.
761.
762. Balochistan — and for that matter the concept of Pakistan — will have
to be re-understood in very new ways. Else history will exact its awful toll as it
did once. But next time around, the price could be still steeper.
763. There were fears that the Cold War between the two could morph into
a direct war, but that never happened because they recognised that the
outcome would be mutually assured destruction. 
764. India and Pakistan would need to learn from the practices of other
nuclear weapon states, which realised early on that trying to ‘win’ in a nuclear
environment has more costs than benefits.
765. If diplomacy is given an uninterrupted chance, South Asia, like other
parts of the world, could also achieve strategic stability that can allow the
region to prosper.
766. That is the ‘new normal’ that both countries should aspire to.
767. It has been a rudderless affair for much of the past year, 
768. To come at a heavy price
769. To drive the economy to the brink.
770. When calamities strike, they usually unite nations. But the worst floods
in the country’s history did not persuade political rivals to temporarily cease
their squabbles and offer a unified response to the catastrophe. Politics was
 back to business as usual save for a few days after the deadly monsoon began
to wreak unprecedented devastation across the country. 
771. With opposition leader on the warpath, no effort was made by either
side to ease tensions then, or later.
772. The intensifying confrontation between the government and opposition
kept the country in an unsettled state of uncertainty, with deleterious
consequences for an economy in the critical ward.
773. While the economic crisis was the cumulative result of years of
dysfunctional economic policies, mismanagement of public finances and
political instability, the government’s dithering and indecision exacerbated the
crisis.
774. International rating agencies downgraded Pakistan’s credit rating to
junk status, highlighting the high level of default risk.
775. Meanwhile, procrastination over prior actions needed to conclude the
agreement with the IMF came at an increasing cost to the economy.
776.  Successful export-led growth experience among East Asian countries
since the 1950s suggests that this takes an all-hands-on-deck approach.
777. We as a state don’t implement our citizenship laws, nor do we
implement birthright citizenship, thus depriving children of their right to
nationality and the right to belong. We do not implement Article 25-A of the
Constitution, preventing children from accessing the most fundamental of
rights — education.
778. To reiterate, 
779. Understanding and managing change is the only path to progress.
780. The masses are out on the streets to act when their nation is in peril.
781. “Since wars begin in the minds of men, it is in the minds of men that the
defences of peace must be constructed.”
782.  Definition of extremism offered by Desmond Tutu: “… when you do not
allow for a different point of view; when you hold your own views as being
quite exclusive; when you don’t allow for the possibility of difference”.
783. Critical pedagogy represents a wide range of teaching practices that
take inspiration from the philosophy of Paulo Freire, a Brazilian philosopher
who envisioned classrooms as sites of social change. It argues that suffering is
a humanly constructed phenomenon and can be alleviated through collective
action. It is precisely the kind of education that gives a sense of purpose and
 empowers students to make a positive change in the real world through
peaceful means.
784. Countering extremism through education entails fostering critical
consciousness by promoting pedagogies of freedom. It involves nurturing
minds, instead of controlling minds, developing thinking, instead of restricting
thinking, empowering students, instead of controlling students.
785. All this will make for much mudslinging in the months to come as
Democrats and Republicans fight it out over whose fault it all was.
786. Pakistan failed in its Afghanistan policy, but so did the Americans and
Afghans. In a nutshell, the causes of American failure were: lack of knowledge
of Afghanistan’s history and culture, poor war aims, the Iraq war distraction,
frequent changes of strategy and commanding generals, inept Afghan
partners, the dual authority of Kabul government and the US whose interests
did not always match, and, last but not least, electoral politics in Washington.
Finally, America lost the appetite for failure and simply walked out.
787. Afghanistan has ethnic, linguistic, sectarian and tribal fault lines.
Historically, its horizontal power structure has been contested by a Pakhtun-
dominated elite run by Kabul and regional strongmen, providing for continued
power struggles and conflicts within conflicts.
788. The Afghan policy should be developed in a Foreign Office-led but
security establishment-supported process. The pursuit of a declaratory policy
by one institution and operational policy by another, with one not knowing
what the other was doing, was a prescription for failure. It created credibility
problems, affecting foreign policy across the board.
789. Pakistan burns as our Neros fiddle.
790. The prime minister has managed to relegate himself to the margins of
the news cycle after starting to sound like a broken record. It is embarrassing
that he keeps regurgitating the same promises every few months or so, each
time with fewer results.
791. How long must this dog and pony show go on? Crisis reveals character,
as they say; in our case, it has completely exposed the elite’s abject disinterest
in the welfare of the masses as long as their personal interests are secure.
792. No amount of blaming past leaders can absolve the present
dispensation of failing to take action on matters within its control.
793. If the government cannot enforce its writ even within its own house,
how does it expect to steer an entire nation of more than 200m souls out of
the dire straits it finds itself in?
794. All of these concerns need to be addressed urgently by the federal
government, or else controversy will mar this census too. 
795. It is time he summoned the courage to face the reality.
796. Every journey begins with a single step.
797. Under Prime Minister Modi’s India and a rudderless coalition-led
Pakistan, there is no hope in heaven, and certainly not on earth.
798. It is clear that China has adopted Winston Churchill’s advice that “Jaw-
Jaw is better than War-War”. 
799. Blanket bans on expression are based on the obsolete ‘doctrine of prior
restraint’. In 1501, Pope Alexander VI applied this doctrine as a tool to control
publications promoting dissent. Prior restraint entails imposition of
restrictions on expression in advance. Prior restraint is different from
subsequent punishment, and blocks expression altogether. 
800. In ‘New York Times vs USA’, discarding the prior restraint principle, the
supreme court held that “despite the sensitive nature of the information, the
newspapers could still publish it”. Effectively, it allowed free expression to
outweigh potential harm by holding that the government’s concerns were
speculative.
801. In our constitutional parlance, Article 19 guarantees freedom of speech
and expression. It provides that free speech is not absolute; rather the same
can be curtailed by law through the imposition of reasonable restrictions. Our
superior courts have held that the phrase ‘reasonable restrictions’connotes
that limitation should not be arbitrary, excessive or disproportionate, and
must reflect intelligent care and deliberation.
802. English judge William Blackstone: “Every free man has an undoubted
right to lay what sentiments he pleases before the public … but if he publishes
what is improper, mischievous or illegal, he must take the consequences of his
own temerity.”
803. A blanket ban suspends the enjoyment of a fundamental right.
804. Its function is not to promote the interest of the powers that be. It must
operate independently rather than functioning on the whims of either the
government or ‘unknown’ elements.
805. Dissent does not pose a danger to Pakistan’s security and all
expressions, which do not find the approval of those exercising visible or
invisible state power, can’t be deemed as detrimental to the state’s security.
806. Regulatory bodies are guided by the rule of law, and not the rule of
men.
807. It would do itself a great disservice if it now opts for undemocratic
means to return to power.
808. An election which lacks legitimacy in the eyes of the public can make it
extremely difficult for a new government to find broad support for its agenda.
809. The situation, which is fast going from bad to worse, demands that the
authorities take immediate action.
810. This is an affront to democracy.
811.  The desire to placate comes with a price.
812. The more the demands of the fringe are accommodated, the more it
takes over the centre. 
813. Faiz, the man who wrote Bol which begins with ‘bol ke lub aazaad hain
tere’ and ends with ‘bol Jojo kuchh kehna hai keh le’ (Speak, for your lips are
not sealed… Say all that needs to be said).
814. Nothing has ever been gained by hiding from the truth.
815. Much has been lost by pandering to those who stifle dissent by raising
their voices. It signals to them that they hold the cards and can shut down all
debate just by ratcheting up the noise and the abuse.
816. This medializationmediatisation of politics also equates to very limited
attention to bread-and-butter issues of the working people, like inflation,
dispossession and militancy; even when they do garner some space on TV or
social media, there is little to no sustained on-ground mobilizationmobilisation
of the proverbial workers, peasants and other toiling classes. 
817. It is impossible, in so limited a space, to go over the timeline of events
that have brought us to a state of near anarchy.
818. Yet, it wouldn’t be wrong to surmise that, for yet another episode in
our country’s brief history, its youth have started to believe that they must
fight to regain the spaces being denied to them.
819. The democratic electoral process, which is supposed to act as the safety
valve for the public’s pent-up emotions, remains in limbo, and this may be
why more people are feeling the need to act violently to assert their wishes in
front of the state.
820. In their war of narratives, they have already polarizedpolarised society
to the point where it has become difficult for ordinary people to extend
common courtesies to people whose political views are opposed to theirs. 
821. ‘Boys Will Be Boys highlights the need to refocus on how we’re raising
our boys to be better men. The ingrained toxic masculinity within society does
just as much damage to our boys as it does to our girls, and this book
highlights how to change that.’
822. The social model dictates that people are disabled not by their bodies
or conditions, but by the reluctance or outright refusal of a broader
ablestableist society to adapt itself to their needs.
823. Patriarchy isn’t a visible building that we can walk in and out of. It isn’t a
wardrobe of clothing we can run our hands through, whose fabric we can feel
and count the fibersfibres of. It’s in the air we breathe, the gravity that keeps
us weighted to the earth. It is a language we learn to speak from the moment
we’re born, but it has no pattern of speech, no formal sentence structure and
no written alphabet. It’s the stadium that the game of life as we know it is
played in, the sun that shines down on it and the grass that carpets the
ground.
824. In The Will to Change: Men, Masculinity and Love, hooks writes: The
first act of violence that patriarchy demands of males is not violence toward
women. Instead patriarchy demands of all males that they engage in acts of
psychic self-mutilation, that they kill off the emotional parts of themselves. If
an individual is not successful in emotionally crippling himself, he can count on
patriarchal men to enact rituals of power that will assault his self-esteem.
825. If our sons and brothers and friends and partners and nephews and
cousins and fathers and husbands are all susceptible to a bit of ‘follow the
leader’, to ‘getting carried away’, to not speaking up, to laughing along, to
putting themselves and their preservation first in a patriarchal system that
rewards complicity among men—if they are all at risk of surrendering to
weakness and supported to do so by a culture that refuses to understand the
gravity of the problem, none of us can ever really be safe.
826. Kinetic responses don’t address socioeconomic causes, and may
exacerbate radicalizationradicalisation and limit rights.
827. Preventing radicalizationradicalisation requires resolving the grievances
and motivation that lead people to join extremist groups.
828. A security-based approach alone is insufficient to root out terrorism.
829. Fighting extremism demands that youth, families, women, victims of
terrorism, religious, cultural and educational leaders, civil society and media
play their role.
830. Terrorists may be killed, but extremism won’t be.
831. However, a change is in the offing.
832. The country has sailed into uncharted waters.
833. The power to navigate the ship back to calmer seas has, since the
beginning, rested with the political leadership; yet, for one reason or the
other, they have refused to engage with each other and negotiate a way out. 
834.  If both sides have even tentatively realizedrealised that talks are the
only way forward, they should consider restraining the hawks in their ranks
and give the doves a chance.
835. No negotiation on critical matters can succeed without give and take. 
836. Where the Middle East is concerned, the West has missed the bus.
837. THERE can be no doubt that Pakistan is polarizedpolarised and divided
today as at no other point in the past. 
838. The police claimed they were fired at first and returned fire. But when
civilians are killed, the police are blamed by one and all. Their point of view
receives scant attention.
839. Equally, for meaningful dialogue, both sides need to show flexibility and
accommodation and put on hold divisive rhetoric and narratives.
840. One can’t be sure whether Pakistan can have a leadership that consists
of those capable of dealing with its myriad problems or one that is composed
of rabble rousers with nothing more than slogans to offer.
841. I wonder what the licenselicence fee-paying audience made of Lineker’s
political views during the World Cup in Qatar where he criticizedcriticised the
Gulf country on air for its ban on same-sex couples and treatment of migrant
workers. So Lineker should not mix politics on his TV show except when it suits
the bosses, ie the government of the day? The hypocrisy is sickening.
842. A study by the Reuters Institute of Journalism showed “public service
media have a net positive impact on the amount of hard news produced and
on the levels of political knowledge. By extension, it may also incrementally
increase political participation”. 
843. Power imbalances are too great and egos too fragile for a culture of
honest, critical discourse to even take root.
844. Why, for example, should the Supreme Court be referred to as
‘honorable’honourable’ if the National Assembly is not? Is the Senate not
honorablehonourable? Courts in the US, UK, and even the Hague are not
referred to with this title. Are we claiming to be more honorablehonourable
than them?
845. The civility on display, the conciliatory moves — so desperately needed
— all appear to have gone up in smoke.
846. Uncertainty once again hangs in the air. 
847. By succumbing to politics of expediency, the government has shot itself
in the foot.
848. Just let that sink in for a moment.
849. When his name and photograph was released to the public, I watched
as online comment sections overflowed with astonishment at how normal he
looked—as if feminists haven’t been arguing for all of eternity that predators
don’t carry badges that formally identify them as such.
850. The truth is very different. Most men struggle to speak out against
sexism and abuse, not necessarily because they’re bad people, but because
patriarchy impacts us all and the pressure to conform to it is intense.
851. The situation is already forcing them to make tough calls — from cutting
down on food, health and other essential expenditure to pulling their children
out of school.
852. That would spell disaster for millions as it means an even greater
burden on the economically vulnerable and food-insecure segments of the
population.
853.  The bulk of the funds allocated are allegedly squandered or stolen by
officialdom.
854. The unvaccinated not only create risks for themselves, but also for
everyone they come in contact with.
855. Boys don’t mean to hurt girls. They just lose control. They make
mistakes. Hasn’t everyone made a mistake at some point in their life? They
don’t deserve to have their lives ruined over it. Boys have promising futures.
They shouldn’t be punished for a lapse in judgment, an action that was
entirely out of character. Where was the girl in all this? Doesn’t it take two to
tango? Shouldn’t she have been more careful? She should have known what
she was getting into, dealing with a boy. It’s not as if we don’t know what boys
are like. Boys will be boys, after all.
856. Why is the perceived freedom of boys to exert their power over space,
bodies and society considered so much more important than the dignity and
humanity of those harmed in this process, including the boys and men unable
or unwilling to collude in this power?
857. Take the great leaders of recent times: Mao Zedong, Zhou Enlai, Deng
Xiaoping, Quaid-Ii-Azam, Mahatma Gandhi, Abe Lincoln, FDR, Lenin, Churchill,
de Gaulle, Mandela, Lee Kwan Yew, Ho Chi Minh, Fidel Castro, etc. What
distinguished them? They saw themselves as serving a project much larger
than themselves. They knew their actions and accomplishments would define
them far more than their claims. They sought character, commitment,
competence and sincerity in their comrades as much as loyalty. They also
sought to learn as much from them as to inspire them. They held themselves
up to extremely demanding standards. Do these qualities describe Imran
Khan?
858. The development of an informed public opinion is an essential
ingredient of radical national reconstruction to enable Pakistan to meet and
overcome the existential challenges it faces.
859. Such a miracle is overdue.
860. They said, “The power of doing a ‘one-man show’ is not only
anachronistic, outdated and obsolete but also is antithetical to good
governance and incompatible [with] modern democratic norms.”
861. It is not a good omen for the rule of law.
862. Certain decisions have been seen as an attempt to rewrite the
Constitution.
863.  The criticism from within must serve as a wake-up call for the
institution to reform the system.
864. The SC’s original jurisdiction under Article 184 (3) and whether it was
within its rights to take up the matter in suo motu proceedings.
865. All these revelations, then and now, tarnish little by little the image of
the security establishment as a well-oiled machine, where every cog works in
sync with the other.
866. After all, this perception of an efficient machine is what creates the
preference for it over noisy, disorganizeddisorganised politicians.
867. For long periods, the choice for us was not between parties, but parties
and the other option.
868. Be it the fear or sense of superiority which institutions or people wield,
it is dependent on perceptions just as much as hard power. If the first
weakens, the second is harder to sustain.
869. Britain set free the areas that make up Singapore, Malaysia, Burma,
India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. The recent per capita GDP of these
countries stands at: Singapore $58,484; Malaysia $11,136; Sri Lanka $3,689;
India $2,900; Bangladesh $2,064; Pakistan $1,388; and Myanmar $1,333.
870. The conclusion is that the role of the generals has been more pervasive
and prolonged in Myanmar than any country in the region, including Pakistan,
so they are one notch below Pakistan in the well-being index. Hence, the
greater the involvement of the army in politics, the poorer the country.
871. Feroze Khan’s Eating Grass was the first to chronicle Pakistan’s nuclear
history and the challenges it faced to acquire a nuclear weapons capability.
872. Seen as a historical phenomenon across many parts of the world, riots
do not necessarily imply societal degeneration. They can be and have been the
harbingers of progressive social transformation.
873. There is still no obvious glue that binds the various identities that
constitute Pakistan’s body politic.
874. It bears repeating that they must immediately resolve their differences
amongst themselves in order to present a united front to the other branches
of the state.
875. An openly divided judiciary cannot serve as a check on the executive
and legislature in any meaningful way.
876. Overspending on defensedefence, overpopulation, and
overconsumption of luxury products, underproduction of industrial goods,
undersupply of useful human capital, and a singular focus on real estate
investments will exact their terrible toll in the months to come.
877. The chickens have come home to roost.
878. The poor will pay first, but all will pay ultimately.
879. “The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing.”
880. The same gents once delirious with joy over the chief justice’s powers
now weep tears of rage.
881.  Efforts have been made to trim the fat.
882. If the state is serious about austerity, real change needs to start at the
top, with politicians, the military and the bureaucracy leading the way.
883. The mantra should be simple: live within your means, and shed this
addiction to luxury financed by foreign loans and the common man’s toil.
884. Jack of all, master of none.
885. Some of the measures must be necessary, as merchants of terror can’t
be given an open field.
886. This too shall pass.
887. The country faces formidable challenges in a deeply divided and
politically fractured state.
888.  Polarisation and a zero-sum attitude have eliminated the middle
ground, making it harder if not impossible to reach a compromise to end the
political battles endangering the country’s stability.
889. Pakistan is so deeply mired in debt that it has to keep borrowing more
to repay previous loans.
890. Soaring inflation and energy shortages are fuelingfuelling widespread
public discontent, that can erupt into unrest any time, with consequences for
its stability.
891. Over 44 per cent of the electorate, around 55 million, are young voters
between 18 and 35 years of age. If youth activism translates into votes at the
ballot box, it could be a game changer that can determine the outcome of the
next election.
892. The country is now in uncharted territory, with a high degree of
unpredictability. This makes it hard to gauge where it might end up, as the
past is now a poor guide.
893. As a result of political brinkmanship, the situation can spin out of
everyone’s control and drive the country to the edge of an implosion.
894. The Pakistan Centre of Philanthropy’s survey research from 2021 shows
that nearly 84pc of all respondents give charity in some form, with average
amounts of about Rs10, 000 per annum. 
895. Study after study documents the second-order effects of food and
income shocks on educational attainment, future employment chances, and
mental health. 
896. PAKISTAN’S institutions seem to be in free fall. 
897. One-time taboos will one day be acknowledged as truths.
898. This war of words has taken an increasingly ugly form
899. To deny a people their future, the past is razed first.
900. The failure to find the ghost of the past is compensated by inventing
one in the present. 
901. Just as the world catches a cold when the US sneezes, Pakistan sees
chaos when the establishment experiences uncertainty.
902. Today, the nation is staring into the bottomless pit of a huge abyss as
state institutions have become arenas for elite feuds and the economy is in
free fall.
903. Jared Diamond, author of Guns, Germs and Steel, details how seven
different countries overcame national crises in his latest book Upheaval.
Diamond offers a novel idea in which he argues that strategies that are
employed to deal with various personal crises can also be used to overcome
national crises.
904. Like 19th-century French diplomat Charles Talleyrand who served his
country during the French Revolution, under Napoleon, the Bourbons and
finally OrleansOrléans royalty, Lambah served under six successive Indian
PMs. His access to them varied but he enjoyed their confidence without
betraying their trust.
905. Churchill’s advice to the US and the Soviet Union during the Cold War
could guide the leadership of our countries: “Bridge the gulf between the two
worlds, so that each can live their life, if not in friendship at least without
[hatred].”
906. By undermining the authority of the Supreme Court, the politicians will
only strengthen the forces of Bonapartism.
907. The period of stagflation — a combination of high inflation and
economic stagnation. 
908. According to WHO, globally, one in every eight people lives with a
mental disorder; only 29pc of people with psychosis and only one-third of
people with depression receive formal mental health care. This situation in
low- and middle-income countries is much worse.
909. The government remains focused on clinging to power for as long as it
can. It has continued to put off the politically difficult, yet desperately needed
restructuring of Pakistan’s economy.
910. UNICEFUnicef reckons that Pakistan has the world’s second-highest
number of out-of-school children.
911. The numbers themselves are horrifying: 22.8 million children aged five
to 16 or 44 per cent of the total population in this age group are out of school;
 5m children drop out after the primary level; 11.4m adolescents aged 10 to 14
don’t receive any formal education.
912. In Sindh, 52pc of the poorest children (58pc of them girls) are out of
school. 
913.  In these cataclysmic times, ignoring the education of millions of poor
children is like preparing the country to become a wasteland in a world run by
cutting-edge technology and super-human resources.
914.  The infant mortality rate stands at 56.9 deaths per 1,000 live births,
and the maternal mortality rate at 186 per 100,000 births. Only 0.6 hospital
beds are available per 1,000 persons.
915. Achieving universal health coverage by 2030 is a key UN goal set in the
Sustainable Development Goals. 
916. It bears pointing out that 
917. When stereotypes about sexual violence are propagated by people who
can influence public opinion, political affiliations should be irrelevant.
918. Against this backdrop, it remains a forlorn hope that some sanity
prevails and every player agrees to a dialogue and the interlocutors can plot a
course to safety.
919. One shudders to think what’ll happen otherwise.
920. In a time when tempers fly high sanity takes a backseat. When swords
and sabers are drawn, the voices of reason are silenced. It is thus a mercy to
see sanity and reason even where the battle is thick. 
921. When reflected upon with cool minds, he may find that the facts are
not what appear to it to be.
922. Each time some semblance of normality seems to be in sight, national
events take a new and dangerous turn.
923. Democracy requires give and take, compromise and consensus to make
it work. But when polarisation and searing divides make this elusive if not
impossible, democracy is undermined. Toxic politics and extreme intolerance
has created an environment inimical to democracy and is eroding any
semblance of a democratic culture.
924. The essence of democracy lies in strong institutions whose
independence and decisions are respected by all political actors. 
925.  Polarisation and political turmoil are taking their toll on the country’s
institutions and exposing them to the risk of breakdown. 
926. As Karl Marx rightly said, “History repeats itself, first as a tragedy,
second as a farce.” 
927. But, as the philosopher Walter Benjamin, said “It is only for those
without hope that hope is given”.
928. “A constitution is only as good as the spirit in which the political elites,
specially the Establishment, work it”. 
929. …The rest, as they say, is history.
930.  He would later go on to blame for all manner of evil under the sun
(though, in some cases, perhaps not wrongly so). 
931. How long the current state of affairs can be maintained is anyone’s
guess.
932. All was not lost, however.
933. ‘One can’t be a good communist if one is not also a good human being.’
934. He was strategically embraced as a trustworthy ally. 
935. Right at the outset, or at any time since then,
936. One hardly expects the HRW statement to knock sense into the
government authorities.
937. Pakistan, even after 76 years, is still an unsolved Rubik’s cube. None of
its components — ethnic, political, social, or sectarian — fit into a coherent
pattern. One or the other facet is always out of sync.
938. SHOULD a Muslim living in India envy his fellow Muslim living in
Pakistan? Is the grass greener on this side of the border?
939. Our national policies are the raw material for comic books.
940. In 1948, M.K. Gandhi was murdered by a fellow Hindu Nathuram
Godse. Today, Gandhi’s ashes are mud while Godse is lauded as a patriot. In
2009, Jaswant Singh (former finance minister of India and its external affairs
minister) published a balanced biography of M.A. Jinnah. He was expelled for
indiscipline by the BJP bigwig L.K. Advani, who in 1990, had led a rath yatra
from Somnath across India. It culminated in the infamous destruction of the
Babri Masjid in Ayodhya.
941. In 2005, L.K. Advani during a sentimental visit to Karachi (his
birthplace), expressed remorse at the demolition of the Babri Masjid. He said
it was “the saddest day” of his life. Even sadder for him would be when, after
visiting the mausoleum of the Quaid in Karachi.
942. He paid the price for such objectivity (anathema in BJP politics). Eight
years later, he was coerced into resigning from all the main
 organizationsorganisations of the BJP party that he had helped co-found.
Worse, he — a former deputy prime minister — forfeited the Indian
premiership to his nemesis Narendra Modi.
943. Elie Wiesel did: “There may be times when we are powerless to prevent
injustice, but there must never be a time when we fail to protest.”
944. In April 2019, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi in a campaign speech
taunted Modi with the question: “Why do all these thieves have Modi as their
surname? Nirav Modi [a fugitive diamond merchant], Lalit Modi [a cricketing
chief banned for life], Narendra Modi.”
945. Despite Rahul Gandhi’s protestations that “he made the comment to
highlight corruption and it was not directed against any community”, PM Modi
had the jibe disinterred after four years and brought it to court as a criminal
defamation case. The court obligingly sentenced Gandhi to two years in jail.
The biting punishment was Gandhi’s removal from the Lok Sabha.
946. Those in the 1930s who neglected to read Hitler’s Mein Kampf were
made to live out its fratricidal philosophy. He set Germans against Germans,
inhumanity against humans.
947. We who live in both past time and present space should reacquaint
ourselves with the writings of M.K. Gandhi and M.S. Golwalkar. Gandhi
warned against the “sentiments of prejudice and superstition” that motivate
“the custodians of Hinduism”. Golwalkar warned non-Hindu peoples in
Hindustan that if they wanted to stay in the country, they could do so “wholly
subordinated to the Hindu nation, claiming nothing, deserving no privileges,
far less any preferential treatment, not even citizen’s rights.”
948. For Pakistani Muslims, monotheism is a credo. For the Indian Muslim, it
is an inadequate shield against the spread of Modi-theism.
949. Once nations fall below a certain economic threshold, they may find it
extremely hard to recover.
950. The BJP-led government has pulled out all the stops to create new ‘facts
on the ground’ where IHK is concerned. The most brazen of these moves was
the August 2019 decision to do away with the region’s limited autonomy. But
what is particularly disturbing is the international community’s silence over
Kashmir’s plight. 
951. The world’s attitude towards Kashmir’s plight is a result of Pakistan’s
failures on the diplomatic front, and the double standards being pursued by
‘the great and the good’ in the comity of nations. 
952. Money is good servant bud bad master.
953. The window for finding an amicable way out of Pakistan’s crisis is
closing fast. Will the key stakeholders still refuse to act? Or will our institutions
continue climbing the escalation ladder?
954. As a society, our propensity to be offended by others’ lifestyle choices
and beliefs is a threat to the fundamental rights of many fellow citizens.
955.  In a judgement Supreme Court points out that tolerance “does not
necessarily imply agreement with or endorsement of the opinions or beliefs of
others; rather, it is about respecting their right to hold those beliefs and
coexist peacefully”. 
956. Pakistan has one of the most divided, fragmented and inequitable
education systems in the world. 
957. Until the rights of every child are addressed, the promise of education
will not be realizedrealised for individuals, families or society and the state as
a whole.
958. In simple words, we are missing the forest for the trees.
959. As a constitutional organ, the judiciary is to act as a neutral arbiter to
disputes that occur between parties. They are the safety valve to difficult
situations where institutions, parties, or individuals are at loggerheads.
960.  “Justice should not only be done but should manifestly and
undoubtedly be seen to be done”.
961. Without a strong economy, the nation has to remain crippled in the
comity of nations.
962. What needs to be acknowledged is that hateful right-wing ideology has
gained enormous ground in the current conjuncture, at least partly because
the political and intellectual mainstream is silent on class and other material
deprivations that are leaving newer generations of working people worse off
than previous ones.
963.  If India has its Modi, then the US has Trump, Turkey has Erdogan, Brazil
has Bolsanaro, and Pakistan has Imran Khan.
964. If you have a hammer in your hand, then everything looks like a nail —
if litigation is all that you know, then everything has to end up in a court.
965. In the World Justice Project’s Rule of Law Index, Pakistan’s overall
ranking is 129 out of 140 countries. In the fundamental rights category, it is
123/140 while in civil justice it is 125/140. 
966. The assignment of complex cases to them is analogous to asking a
cyclist to fly a jet.
967. The biggest obstacle to Pakistan’s economic growth is our outdated and
ineffective judicial system. 
968. Teachers need continuous professional development to be able to
manage the development of their own and their students’ skillsets.
969. Teachers must be able to spur the students’ curiosity.
970. Nothing seems to give, despite warning after warning that the country
will take years to recover from the current mess if those responsible do not
stop starting fires they cannot possibly contain.
971. It has been difficult for ordinary people to keep up with each sordid
twist of the tiresome war in Islamabad. 
972. For many, an unshakable dread of the future and the hunger gnawing at
their insides are the only ‘real’ outcomes of the institutional clashes that have
dominated headlines over the past year or so.
973. If the people start feeling like they have nothing left to lose, chaos and
violence will follow. This is a situation that must be avoided at all costs. 
974. Their continued bickering will wreck the country. 
975. SAY the word ‘crisis’ in Pakistan and most people will take it to mean
the state of the economy with the country teetering on the brink of
bankruptcy and default, and citizens struggling as inflation dramatically erodes
the best of incomes.
976.  The eternal optimist in me tells me that all is not lost just because the
power elites are at loggerheads in an attempt to grab the biggest slice of the
cake — regardless of the dignified, legitimate or worthy terms they couch
their greed in — and the shirtless are getting nothing. Not even the crumbs.
977.  They don’t want to risk going against the grain.
978. Independent media which is critical of all power structures is a pillar to
an informed democracy.
979. Sit at a table and talk. Break bread together; break the ice. That’s all
that the nation needs its key leaders to do.
980. The steep slope that this country has been hurtling down leads only to
disaster.
981. Much damage has already been done; there may not be much time left
before an all-out catastrophe becomes imminent.
982.  Inflexible egos have no place in a democratic political system.
983. The threats facing the country right now are far more serious than the
financial and moral corruption our ‘leaders’ keep accusing each other of.
984. This is the time to, in the words of Thomas Paine, “Lead, follow, or get
out of the way”.
985. Only a sliver of the population is privileged enough to have a Plan B that
involves fleeing abroad if the country implodes.
986. The people are feeling forsaken.
987. Amor Towels’Towles’s Ulysses, however, suggests that it is the Maker
Himself, who, by his design, may make people feel forsaken, to make them
rely on themselves. As Ulysses elaborates: “For only when you have seen that
you are truly forsaken will you embrace the fact that what happens next rests
in your hands, and your hands alone.”
988. While there is nothing wrong in emigrating for economic reasons, this
aspiration of the young, ambitious people to leave makes us miss out on
something important: a collective resilience of a critical mass of people,
banded together for the long haul trying to recover the space ceded to the
emperors with no clothes, while working towards the common-good and
better collective future. After all, our hands alone will shape what comes next.
989. A long time ago, one of the infamous Dulles brothers conceded that the
United States had no friends — it only had interests. 
990. The power elite must take time from their palace intrigues to come up
with a long-term plan to address the menace of
991.  It should not be forgotten in the web of crises. 
992. AT the moment, we Pakistanis stand crowded on the stern of a Titanic,
waving goodbye to our future. It could have been an Ark, slicing through the
floods of adversity. Instead, parochial self-interests have smudged the
blueprint of national construction.
993. The result is a leaking, faulty ship of state, with too many captains
fighting on its bridge for control, a disobedient crew close to mutiny, and
frantic passengers scrambling to find lifeboats.
994. Benjamin Franklin, speaking in 1787, cautioned his colleagues against
the failure of any constitution: “[It] can only end in despotism […] when the
people shall become so corrupted as to need despotic government, being
incapable of any other.” He could just as well have been addressing Pakistani
and Sri Lankan parliamentarians.
995. Pakistan is ranked as one of the worst countries in the world to work in
by the Global Rights Index 2022, with a bottom rating of five (‘No Guarantee of
Rights’) on a scale of one to five.
996. We will wake up again when disaster strikes.
997. To quote Gen Ziaul Haq (1981), “Take the Judaism out of Israel and it
will fall like a house of cards. Take religion out of Pakistan and make it a
secular state, it would collapse.”
998.  While each is counting the trees, few see the forest.
999. The Constitution in its Article 224(2) provides: “When the National
Assembly or a Provincial Assembly is dissolved, a general election to the
Assembly shall be held within a period of ninety days after the dissolution, and
the results of the election shall be declared not later than fourteen days after
the conclusion of the polls.”
1000. Another important aspect is being ignored. It is the duty of all citizens to
obey and support all the constitutional provisions. It is nowhere required in
the Constitution that its implementation is conditional on the SC’s orders, or
for that matter by any order of any court of Pakistan. The Constitution should
best be considered as a “self-executing” document and all individuals,
governments, agencies and institutions are expected to follow its provisions
with automaticity and without recourse to any person or institution including
the judiciary.
1001. Salus Populi Estsalus populi est suprema Lexlex (welfare of the people is
the supreme law).
1002.  The ‘qabza group’ is a familiar phrase used in matters dealing with real
estate and the ruling alliance may have extended that to itself as becoming
the qabza group in Pakistan’s politics.
1003. The politics of confrontation has only strengthened the security
establishment.
1004. Two recent films caught one’s attention during this period of forced
indolence. Both had anti-war themes. One – All Quiet on the Western Front —
was set during World War I and the second — War Machine — in the US
misadventure in Afghanistan. Both reinforce with compelling evidence George
Clemenceau’s famous dictum that war was too serious a business to be left to
generals. Most of us know of All Quiet on the Western Front as a novel by
Enrich Maria Remarque. Published in 1928, it was made into a film two years
 later. It won an Oscar in 1930. It was soon banned by Hitler’s Nazi Party and
other countries. Curiously, the ban remained in France until 1963.
1005. Portly German and French generals are depicted gorging on delicacies
while their troops are scavenging for sustenance in the trenches. The
crescendo occurs during the hour preceding the 11am Armistice on Nov 11,
1918. A German general taking advantage of the pause in hostilities releases a
contingent of raw recruits in a suicide mission against the unsuspecting
French. It was an act of wanton cruelty bordering on barbarism.
1006.  Gen Dwight Eisenhower’s dictum: “We are going to have peace even if
we have to fight for it.”
1007. As Sun Tzu said: “Keep your friends close; keep your enemies closer.” If,
according to Herodotus, in peace sons bury their fathers, and in war, fathers
bury their sons, Pakistani politicians today strive to bury each other — alive. 
1008. China and the US are caught in Thucydides’s trap, popularised by
Graham Allison through his book, Destined for War, in which an emerging
power challenges the domination of an existing hegemon making the war
between them almost inevitable because of the resultant structural stresses.
1009. A recently published book seeks to answer these questions and more.
The Return of the Taliban: Afghanistan after the Americans left by Hassan
Abbas explores whether the Taliban are making the transition from their old-
world outlook to one in sync with today’s realities. 
1010. The book divides its examination of the Taliban into three phases, pre-
9/11 Taliban 1.0, post-2001 Taliban 2.0 and the birth of Taliban 3.0 with the
start of talks in Doha. The more instructive part is the third phase with the
Taliban faced with the imposing task of transitioning from an insurgent to a
political group running a government.
1011. “The Taliban,” he writes, “have proven to be pragmatic, but they refuse
to make any policy adjustment which they think will threaten their internal
cohesion or weaken their political base.” He also describes “the battle lines
between the relatively pragmatic Taliban in Kabul and their highly
conservative counterparts in Kandahar”. This he says is causing policy
paralysis.
1012. Unless internal divisions are resolved, the Taliban will continue to
repeat their past.
1013. Low wages, unsafe working conditions, lack of job security and limited
access to healthcare and social protection continue to dog Pakistan’s workers.
1014. The BJP is playing with fire by creating a pretext for religious conflict in
IHK as well as India.
1015. A glorious future is antithetical to mediaeval minds.
1016. India and Pakistan have seen the lowest of lows in their relationship
since independence in 1947.
1017. Not surprisingly, Pakistan is ranked 154th in the UN Human
Development Index with close to 40pc of the population living below the
poverty line.
1018. The literacy rate remains dismally low at 58pc, though many dispute
even this figure as too high. 
1019. Growing frustration among the youth makes them vulnerable to
prejudices and extremism. The gravity of the situation can be assessed by the
fact that 32% of our young generation is illiterate and the majority of others
are school dropouts. Enrolment rates are the lowest in South Asia. 
1020. No one can refute that the Global North is responsible for the historical
emissions. A study conducted by Lancet Planetary Health says that 92 per cent
of the excess in greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) are coming from the Global
North which controls 80pc of the global wealth and has 25pc of the world’s
population.
1021. The Global South is responsible for only 8pc of the excess in emission,
has 20pc of global resources and supports 75pc of the global population. This
makes a strong case for climate justice.
1022. In a country where the right to inform and be informed has never been
accepted in its true spirit, worse times may lie ahead for the beleaguered
media.
1023. Unless the real estate sector is made less lucrative through extensive
documentation, the poor will continue to fall prey to such scams and lose their
source of livelihood.
1024. Enmity does not require permission, but friendship is by mutual consent
— something that both India and Pakistan have consistently lacked for the last
several decades.
1025. A former US secretary of state — James F. Byrnes — famously said:
“When a man is intoxicated by alcohol, he can recover, but when intoxicated
by power, he seldom recovers”. 
1026. The fundamental rights of citizens need to be protected by the state.
Article 9 of the Constitution guarantees the right to life, which has been
 interpreted by the superior judiciary to mean a life with dignity, with access to
essential amenities such as housing.
1027. Article 14 guarantees the dignity of man and privacy of the home as
inviolable rights.
1028. Article 25 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which Pakistan
has ratified, says: “Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for
the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing,
housing and medical care.”
1029. The bureaucracy needs an overhaul in attitude where they need to stop
acting like the same class that worked for the colonial government before
partition. 
1030. IN the season of unreason that is politics today, one may be sure that at
every turn principle will be sacrificed at the altar of expediency.
1031. In The Time Travelling Economist, investment banker Charlie Robertson
proposes that when the masses stay illiterate, and have low or no access to
electricity and continue to have more children, poverty becomes a never-
ending cycle.
1032. Adult literacy is the first step. American economist Mary Jean Bowman
estimated that a 40pc adult literacy rate was needed to sustain growth, while
industrializationindustrialisation requires a literacy rate of at least 70pc to
80pc. This explains why Pakistan has been stuck in its preindustrial phase for
long, and why China was able to industrializeindustrialise faster than India.
Between 1990-1994, China attained 80pc adult literacy, while India was stuck
at below 50pc. However, there are examples of countries with almost 100pc
literacy and yet in a crisis, like Sri Lanka. What inhibits
industrializationindustrialisation when ideal literacy is achieved? The answer is
lack of power. IndustrializationIndustrialisation is a function of cheap
laborlabour and cheap, reliable electricity. The only countries to skip this
pattern are oil rich.
1033.  IMF research on China shows that China’s one-child policy resulted in
massive accumulation of household savings, solely credited to the smaller
family size. Fewer children mean more resources to invest in their future.
Higher savings mean more money in banks and its availability to invest in
businesses.
1034. Bangladesh’s misfortunes began when it was still a part of Pakistan and
the Bhola cyclone claimed half a million lives. This was followed by the
 harrowing events of the war of 1971. In 1974 came the famine, resulting in the
loss of 2pc of the population; it was followed by the assassination of Sheikh
Mujibur Rahman, its founding father, in 1975. These catastrophic events
instilled a crucial realizationrealisation in Bangladeshi society that for the
country to survive, disaster management and food security had to be state
priorities. Scholar Naomi Hossain notes that these events were successful in
building a consensus among Bangladeshi elites that their survival was
dependent on basic investment in human development and social protection.
Secondly, by acknowledging women’s issues as significant public policy
concerns early on, Bangladesh distinguished itself as unique and progressive
from other low-income countries.
1035.  Tackling this issue requires moral courage, fortitude and political
consensus — a reality that continues to elude Pakistan.
1036. Arrest and incarceration have been, rather unfortunately, almost a rite
of passage for Pakistani politicians. 
1037. “Me? I’m dishonest, and a dishonest man you can always trust to be
dishonest. Honestly. It’s the honest ones you want to watch out for, because
you can never predict when they’re going to do something incredibly ...
stupid.”
Captain Jack Sparrow, Pirates of the Caribbean
1038. When the heavens fall, they bring down a fair few angels with them.
1039. In politics, all that really differentiates the different parties is the time
that has lapsed since they last took orders from the fictional establishment.
Those who took orders this minute make up the front desks of the treasury,
those who took them this morning are their allies, and those who took them
last year are the revolutionaries in opposition.
1040. Though heavens may fall, let justice be done. This legal maxim is used
mainly to explain how justice must be done at any cost
1041. To leave the rule of law optional, is to leave it altogether.
1042.