Dawn: Judicial appointment process under fire By Cyril Almeida
ISLAMABAD: As the appointment of superior court judges proposed in the 18th Amendment came under harsh scrutiny from the Supreme Court all week, legal experts believe the outcome of the hearings, which began in the last week of May, is beginning to take shape. Over the course of the last three months, and particularly in the last week, comments and questions from the bench indicate marked ...
Dawn: Questions, questions, questions By Cyril Almeida
AS the carnage and destruction, both manmade and nature’s wrath, around us continue, it’s hard to figure out what to do. Or even what to figure out.
Curl up in the foetal position and hope that this too shall pass? Attempt somehow, anyhow to understand why this is happening to us? If the latter, there are so many strands, where do you begin? Militants, the economy, politics? If militants, then ...
Dawn: Rumour, rumour, everywhere By Cyril Almeida
WHEN gossip is your oxygen, expect all sorts of silly rumours to proliferate. And when politics is your national sport, the silliness tends to grow exponentially. Like the monster hiding in the cupboard that parents use to scare their children, the government is being warned, ‘Shape up or Kayani will come and eat your dinner.’
Dawn: Coming full circle: Violence in Karachi By Cyril Almeida
KARACHI, Aug 24: The spate of ‘target killings’ in the city is a political problem that shows every sign of worsening in the weeks and months ahead. In the first two weeks of August alone, over 140 people were killed in tit-for-tat violence following the killing of an MQM MPA and an ANP politician.
In a series of conversations with Dawn, politicians, senior security officials and analysts ...
Dawn: Coming full circle: Violence in Karachi By Cyril Almeida
KARACHI, Aug 23: The spate of ‘target killings’ in the city is a political problem that shows every sign of worsening, not abating, in the weeks and months ahead.
In a series of conversations with Dawn, politicians, senior security officials and analysts attempted to explain why, in their view, violence and unrest has spiked in Karachi this year. Given the nature of the issue, most requested ...
Dawn: The tide of failure By Cyril Almeida
IT didn’t register immediately. That the flood coverage is really about two catastrophes, not one. There is of course the damage caused by the flooding itself, the one Pakistan will take years to recover from. Then there’s the damage of the last 63 years that the floods have uncovered.
By now everyone’s seen them on television screens, the miles-long processions of barely recognisable ...
Dawn: Economic collapse By Cyril Almeida
WHAT could be worse than floods that have displaced millions, killed thousands and destroyed huge swathes of farmland, a catastrophe the country will take years to recover from? Some people think they know, and the answer terrifies them. Away from the political mishegoss in Islamabad, calculators are anxiously being pulled out and back-of-the-envelope calculations are furiously being made by ...
Dawn: Transit trade: a benign opportunity for Afghanistan By Cyril Almeida
KABUL: Expressing surprise at the reaction in Pakistan to a new Afghan Transit Trade Agreement, Afghan Commerce Minister Anwarul Haq Ahadi has revealed that the text of the updated ATTA is likely to be finalised in the next week and a formal signing ceremony between the two countries will be held at the end of the month, or possibly early September.
Dawn: Notes from Paktika By Cyril Almeida
FOB TILLMAN (PAKTIKA), Aug 6: Improved coordination with the Pakistan Army and a determined push against insurgents in the eastern Afghan provinces of Paktika, Paktia and Khost is causing “something to turn” in the battle against the Haqqani-led insurgency in the area, according to Col Viet Luong, brigade commander of the approximately 6,000 American troops in the three Afghan provinces.
Dawn: Chasing shadows By Cyril Almeida
THE gods must really hate us.
There is no other explanation for the tough few days Pakistan and Pakistanis have suffered. Floods, rains, plane crash, another indispensable in uniform, WikiLeaks, Americans wondering yet again whether we are friend or foe, Cameron suggesting we are foe after all — and all the while the usual tamasha continuing in the background, what with fake degrees still ...
