Reflections

Pakistan has always had the potential to be a regional power. However, Years and years of economic and governance decadence and the lack of an independent foreign policy has brought us to a situation whereby Pakistan is completely isolated in terms of International relations and our reputation is seriously tainted as a sponsor of state terrorism. As the world is going through an oil shock, the financial muscle of Saudi Arabia has severely deflated and our great benefactor cannot help us too much anymore. On the other hand, Iran has stabbed us in the back, and is actually colluding with India to weaken Pakistan, as was evidenced by the capture of the Indian spy in balochistan who'se base was in Iran. Afghanistan has been hostile since independence and its alliance with India has been becoming stronger. In this context, the final nail in the coffin has been the joint statement in US post Modis visit that indirectly blames Pkistan for supporting terrorism and lays the foundation of jo...

 I was just watching a series of lectures on Khan's Academy on Evolution. From the very start I had somehow believed that evolution is a continuous process whereby the entire generation of a specie undergoes small incremental modifications in traits in order to be able to adapt to the environment better. However Khan explains evolution as "survival of the fittest" which leads to more reproduction of the genetic makeup of the particular specie which has a genetic edge in terms of survival.  So, if humans needed to stand upright inorder to survive, then amongst apes, due to natural variation that is present in all members of a specie, there would be an ape which due to its genetic makeup was able to survive in a slightly better way as compared to the rest of the apes. Over many generations, this ape's posterity would be growing at a faster rate as compared to the offsprings of the other apes and eventually there would be a time when these apes who stand slightly up...

There are 120,000 registered mosques in PAkistan and another 120,000 unregistered mosques. Also, there are 25,000 registered Madrassahs and perhaps as many unregistered ones. All combined, these would be having almost 100% coverage of the area of Pakistan. Now, lets imaginate a scenario. Its 2023; 10 years from now. The US after having withdrawan from Afghanistan in 2014 never looked back. Vested interests continue to channel resources into TTP so as to achieve their respective strategic objectives. The Taliban over the course of these years have increased their suicide attacks manifolds, having obliterated the State of Pakistan and having spread terror in each and every Pakistani's heart. Moreover, they have established complete hegemony over KPK running their own government. Also, over these 10 years, TTP increased their contacts with the Imaams of the mosques channeling their funding and influence to these mosques and madressahs all over Pakistan to drive their pseudo Wahabi ag...

Wow ! Just saw the 2nd last episode of the final season. This has got to be one of the most brilliant television series ever. Distinctly remember that scene in the first season with the chemistry professor Mr White saying to his students, "Chemistry: it is the study of change…It is growth, then decay, then transformation.” And thats the word that sums up this series:  transformation. Transformation of character ! “My wife is seven months pregnant with a baby we didn’t intend,” Walt explained in Season 2. “My 15-year-old son has cerebral palsy. I am an extremely overqualified high school chemistry teacher. When I can work, I make 43,700 dollars per year. I have watched all of my colleagues and friends surpass me in every way imaginable. And within 18 months, I will be dead. ” From being that loser of a chemistry teacher, who gets humiliated by his boss at what is his second job at a car wash, to becoming the methamphetamine kingpin of Uni...

Its so fascinating looking at the american economy bouncing back. It was all but done with in 2009. The subprime crisis had prompted everyone to think that the age of US led capitalism is over and the age of state capitalism is here (with state owned firms such as Petrobras, Gazprom, China Mobile, ICBC and even Emirates airlines growing the fatest). There was such intense opposition to the state bailing out the ailing automobile and financial firms with the popular slogan "private profits and public losses". Quarter after quarter unemployment data kept getting worse. But here we are again. US growth seems to have stabilised at 2% and unemployment at 7% is on a downward trend. Its really a matter of a few months when the FED would start sucking out excess money from the US economy (by stopping buying treasury bonds) the anticipation of which has already started strenthening the dollar and shaking emerging economies such as India and Turkey which had been benefiting from the i...

Dear Mr. Prime Minister Being at the helm of affairs of a country such as Pakistan will often put you under criticism for various things. However, I’d like to point out one aspect of our country which you can proudly point out in most forums. I realized this when my cooks husband had an accident and suffered multiple fractures in both legs around 2 weeks back. Incapable of affording treatment and unable to get it from any government institution, he is living a limp and painful life. It just made me realize that if there is anything such as a true capitalist state, its Pakistan ! This is a country where you are COMPLETELY on your own and where there is absolutely no government intervention in your life. If you dont somehow rigor it out and make a money, rest assured you WILL die of hunger. People will bicker about how pathetic the tax to gdp ratio of the country is, but no one really pays taxes. And in line with the true spirit of capitalism, the vanishing communal values and gro...

Just watched the Adnan Rashid Bannu jailbreak video and dont know whether to be in awe of TTP audacity in how they executed this successfully or whether to deride the gross ineptitude of our police and millitary to have let such a thing happen. They knew how important and high profiled the Talibans commanders they had in custody were and to have anyone other than the best guarding this prison was nothing but stupid. I know that the TTP fighters under the spell of their ideology are prepared to give their lives when planning such an operation but then the security forces should be capable of accepting these lives. If someone tells me that our millitary cannot fend off a couple hundred fighters having just AK 47s, rocket launchers and grenades (even mqm activists have this kind of weaponry !), id be very very concerned about our our frontiers that they are expected to protect. Its just poor management and bad planning that has allowed the 2 Kandahar prison breaks, the Bannu prison break ...