CSS Forum

Gaza famine

DENIALS and spin cannot alter the ugly fact that Gaza is now in the midst of a manmade famine.

The UN’s Integrated Food Security Phase Classification panel announced this grim ‘milestone’ on Friday, confirming what many had already known, thanks to the harrowing images coming out of ...

Size of the pie

THE scope of work outlined for the newly constituted 11th National Finance Commission makes it clear that negotiations between the centre and the provinces over tax resource distribution will not be smooth.

The new TORs for the commission signal Islamabad’s intent to reclaim the ...

Shared future

AT a time when significant geopolitical shifts are affecting ties between nations, it is reassuring that China has expressed its desire to stand by Pakistan, and further develop their deep, multifaceted relationship.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi’s recent visit, under the ...

Lingering issue

A LONG-RUNNING controversy over the legitimacy of the 26th Amendment is back in the spotlight. A letter, authored by two of the senior-most justices serving in the Supreme Court, surfaced on Wednesday and was circulated on various social media forums. Unsurprisingly, it quickly ...

Paralysed city

MONSOON havoc has yet again brought death and suffering to Karachi, with Tuesday’s ‘unprecedented’ downpour paralysing life in this unfortunate city.

Rain-related disasters have been witnessed elsewhere in Pakistan as well, particularly KP and GB, with hundreds of deaths reported ...

Industrial policy

FOR some months now, the government has been working on a new industrial policy that, according to Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb, will encourage pro-business conditions in order to boost the pace of industrialisation.

Speaking at a workshop organised by the Securities and ...

Rebutting rumours

WHEN rumours first began circulating that a change was being considered in the top tier of the civilian component of the ruling set-up, both Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi and military spokesman Lt-Gen Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry had issued statements rubbishing them.

That ought to ...

No easy path
IN recent months, the economy has offered some welcome signs of stability: inflation has slowed sharply, reserves have climbed above $14bn, the current account is in surplus, and the fiscal deficit has been reined in.

These improvements — achieved mainly through IMF-prescribed ...

Unprepared nation

WEEKS of monsoon rains since late June have culminated in catastrophe.

In just two days, torrential downpours and cloudbursts unleashed flash floods across KP, killing more than 300 people. Entire villages have been erased from the map. A provincial rescue helicopter crashed in ...

Thin ice

THE Independence Day festivities have stirred something long thought to have been dormant within our political class.

Addressing the main event held to mark Independence Day, which, for some undisclosed reason, was organised on the eve of Aug 14, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif invited ...