Notes in Anguish

Each time I put out an article, I receive the inevitable comments, observations, and questions. I try and answer the latter the best I can. But after my last post, “Pakistan, And the Road Ahead” I received questions well in excess of what has been the usual response. I have thus collected and grouped such… →

There was great hope in Imran Khan. Three months down the line the contours of the near and intermediate future seem pretty clear i.e as expected, Imran will not steal. He will be decisive. He will have his own foreign policy. He will have a positive attitude to India, but one free of any personal… →

Recently Lt Gen [retd] Imtiaz Hussain apparently killed himself. The link below, however, informs us that a certain Dr Shafiq ur Rehman has lodged a petition in the Apex Court to charge Malik Riaz Hussain for the murder of the General. At first blush, the doctor’s petition appears to be the action of a fevered… →

Between them, the Supreme Court led by Mr Justice Saqib Nisar, P.M Imran Khan, and Gen Bajwa a near miracle may have been wrought in Pakistan. For the first time the monster of mega corruption is being seen for what it means, what it can do, and the depths to which it has degraded Pakistan.… →

Irrespective of any analysis on how Khadim Rizvi held the country hostage during his recent maneuver, it should be quite clear to the government that as it withdraws, and gives space, this space will be filled by the Allama. It is his credibility that will keep rising, and that of the government which shall decline… →

Land grabbing, bribing, answering to endless commissions of inquiry, raking in huge amounts of cash, and being one step ahead of the law. This is pretty much the story of Malik Riaz Hussain’s life. But no one ever dared to believe that this man could ever be brought to heel. Yet finally when Mr Justice… →

Do watch the link below. It is a brief talk on the latest scandal, which has yet to unravel fully. This involves the melt down of Abraaj, a company begun by Mr Arif Naqvi, “to do good in the world”, as he puts it. But inevitably wherever some “good” is to be done, the name… →

This should be very simple to answer, i.e any policy or plan is worth little more than the piece of paper it is written on. What invests such a plan with value is the worth of the person who is to implement it. The most brilliant policy in the hands of an idiot or a… →

On Sep 29, 2018, an Islamabad High Court Bench suspended the sentences of Nawaz Sharif, Mariam Safdar, and great man Safdar himself. Whether these three have merely been released from Adiala Jail, or unleashed upon Pakistan again, only time will tell. On his show of 19 Sep evening, Mr Kashif Abbasi invited Aitzaz Ahsan to… →

Imran’s inaugural speech as Prime Minister was the best in living memory, not so much for the words he picked, but because of what these words were infused with. They inspired and spread the message of hope, but they also announced the onset of a soft revolution. He has raised the bar of expectations, which… →

The elections are done and are now being dusted. After the results have been declared, they have been greeted by the same cacophony, which has become the norm as an election aftermath in Pakistan. In this sense these elections were the same as any other. But a large majority point out two essential differences i.e… →

Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui was elevated to judgeship by the joint malice of Nawaz Sharif, Iftikhar Mohammad Choudhary, and his brother, Irfan Siddiqui. And that is a lot of malice to go around. And since 2011 he has been the bane of all those condemned by fate to seek justice in his court. Invariably the lawyers… →