Notes in Anguish

Ahmad Rashid has found his place in the glittering firmament of Pakistan’s liberal intellectual class once more. This he has done by virtue of his stellar piece entitled “Is Democracy Dying in Pakistan?” which recently appeared in Foreign Affairs magazine. For those hankering after pearls of rare wisdom, I quote below the gems I consider… →

The panacea for a lame democracy, as the hackneyed phrase puts it, “is more democracy.” And we have just seen ten years of “more democracy” complete its term of office. And what has that left us with? — timed almost to perfection, with the end of this tenure, are empty national coffers on account of… →

Just a few years back if anyone had predicted that I would write this piece, I would have told them they were joking. I believed that the system had been so gamed by the political cum military bosses of the country, that no fearless judge could emerge in the higher judiciary to give relief to… →

Thank you Mr Justice Saqib Nisar for stating this in Court. This should now make it official that as of yesterday, plunderers of state assets have been banned from taking part in elections by the highest court of the land. By making this statement the CJ has yet again [verbally at least] chosen to stand… →

Mr Justice Saqib Nisar has set aside a judgement of Justice Ayesha of LHC pending a detailed hearing of the case. This LHC judgement had declared that forms approved by an act of parliament, to be submitted to ECP along with nomination forms/applications, for elections to the legislature, were a violation of the Constitution i.e… →

In the movie “Waterloo”, on the eve of the battle Wellington [played by Christopher Plummer] notices something odd about the backpack of a private and asks him to open it. And out comes a squealing baby pig. And the following dialogue results: Wellington: Where did you acquire this plunder, Sir? Private: I Sir, No Sir.… →

Although Machiavelli did advocate that a Prince may sometimes profit by playing mad, I can only think of a couple of times this strategy was actually employed. The first time it was used was by Richard Nixon during the Vietnam War. He told Melvin Liard to let word out so that it gets to the… →

On 3rd May 2018 Nawaz Sharif emerged from the NAB Court, and standing on top of the steps, made a declaration to the assembled group of reporters. He announced that he had many secrets tucked away in his heart, and that when it becomes too onerous for him to hold them, he will begin revealing… →

I have just read an article by Najam Sethi complaining that “the ‘hidden hand’ is everywhere and nowhere at the same time, pushing the plug on dissenters”, and that these dissenters “cannot comment freely on the machinations of the “Miltablishment” without being roughed up or disappeared” etc. Reading this I could not help recalling Churchill… →

For some time now I have been reading Babar Sattar’s pieces, as they have landed on my P.C. He is fluent and logical. His style has grace of simplicity. Generally, he has written on democratic norms and practices and where they have been in danger of being traduced. And he has often striven to educate… →

The writing has been on the wall a long time, but the corrupt elite closed its eyes and hoped it would go away, while the people, so often betrayed, read it but were hesitant to lend this writing any credibility. With the Army Chief’s recent address to some senior media persons, from which the meat… →

The heading of this piece is the title of a poem written in 1667 by Andrew Marwell, during the reign of Charles the Second of England. The poem is a severe indictment of the courtiers of the King, and that of the King himself for their corruption and reckless excesses which led to England’s defeat… →