From high political corridors to local neighborhood tea stalls, few words resonate as frequently or evoke as complex a mix of hope and bitterness as “democracy”. Democracy is far more than a mere mechanism of governance; it is a profound philosophy anchored in public sovereignty, the protection of fundamental rights, and the creation of an...
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September 23, 2026September 23, 2026Columns
Echoes of a Changing Climate: Pakistan’s Battle for Survival
In recent years, the moment the month of March takes its leave, it feels as though we step directly into the scorching furnace of May. The temper of the seasons once gentle, predictable, and balanced has turned irritable, much like an ailing elder who flares up in anger one moment and breaks into helpless tears...
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September 23, 2026September 23, 2026Columns
Beyond Borders: Pakistan-Saudi Arabia Relations Through Language and Culture
Every relationship between two nations carries a public face and a private one. The public face shows up in state visits, joint communiques, and trade figures. The private one shows up in a Pakistani nurse learning her first words of Arabic before a job interview, a student choosing between a scholarship in Riyadh and one...
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September 17, 2026September 17, 2026Columns
New province, new unit or a new system?
Pakistan has entered its 79th year as a state. Eight decades have brought changes in constitutional arrangements, governments, administrative boundaries and centres of power. Yet one question remains unresolved: are Pakistan’s recurring governance problems primarily a consequence of its administrative structure, or of the way state institutions exercise power within that structure? The distinction matters....
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September 15, 2026September 16, 2026Columns
Until Dopamine Finds a New Prey: Notes from the Edge of 40
In five days, I turn forty. The number sits there like an uninvited guest who has already made itself comfortable on the sofa, feet up, asking for tea. I have spent the last few weeks collecting the scraps of thought that keep floating up half jokes, half grief, half defiance and stringing them into something...
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September 15, 2026September 15, 2026Columns
Dr. Mahrang Baloch: The Last Hope for Dialogue in Balochistan
The structural impasse in Balochistan represents the most complex and enduring domestic challenge confronting our state. Decades of administrative interventions, political engineering, and security-led strategies have failed to produce enduring stability, culminating in an environment characterized by deep alienation, eroding state infrastructure credibility, and a near-total collapse of conventional political mediation. To understand the gravity...
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September 11, 2026September 11, 2026Columns
Guarding the Supreme Law: Constitutional Democracy Versus Parliamentary Supremacy
The tension between constitutional democracy and parliamentary sovereignty is not merely an abstract academic debate; it is the vital fault line upon which the survival of liberty depends. When we look at how societies organize their collective lives, we are forced to confront a profound question: Should the elected representatives of the people hold absolute,...
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September 10, 2026September 10, 2026Columns
The Inner Reflection September 11: A Turning Point in History, the Founder’s Passing, and a Changing World
History, it is often said, is not merely a chronicle of months and years, but a continuous sequence of events that imparts fresh direction to human existence, both individual and collective. Certain dates transcend the geographical confines of a single nation, leaving an indelible imprint upon global politics, society, and the human consciousness. September 11...
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September 5, 2026September 5, 2026Columns
HIV Is Treatable. Stigma Can Be Deadly.
When sonia (not her real name), a 22-year-old transgender woman in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, learned that she was living with HIV, she did not immediately seek treatment. It was not simply a question of whether medicines or healthcare services were available. She was afraid of what might happen if people around her discovered her HIV status....
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August 28, 2026August 28, 2026Columns
The PIMS Tragedy: A Trial of the State’s Moral Obligation Within the House of Healing
There are calamities which refuse to remain mere calamities. They become, rather, revelatory moments in which the concealed anatomy of an entire system is suddenly exposed, as though an unseen hand had torn away the veil from its countenance. The conflagration that erupted within the Mother and Child Health Block of the Pakistan Institute of...