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By Imtiaz Hussain The transfers and postings of civil servants in Sindh have long been treated as a kind of background noise to provincial politics — a routine so entrenched that few pause to question its cost. Yet behind every notification quietly issued by the Services and General Administration Department lies a story of influence, pressure and insecurity that has shaped governance in the province for decades. In Sindh, the administrative map has never been drawn by merit alone. For generations, the movement of commissioners, deputy commissioners and police officers has been dictated not by performance or public need, but…
By Abdul Rehman Patel Socrates was never accused of raising an army, plotting a coup or shaking Athens with weapons. His supposed crime was far subtler and far more dangerous: he taught young people how to think. For every ruling order in every age, this has always been the subversion that frightens power the most. Swords threaten for a moment, but questions unsettle a society forever. When the court confronted him, it offered two exits. He could renounce his ideas, publicly apologize and accept silence as the price of safety — or he could drink the cup of poison. On…
By S.M. Inam Pakistan’s struggle to stabilize its public finances moved into a harsher and more exposed phase this week, as fresh figures revealed the depth of revenue haemorrhaging from the country’s illicit cigarette trade. Few issues better illustrate the gap between state policy and state capacity. For years, the authorities have acknowledged the existence of a vast underground market in cigarettes, yet the latest estimates — that the exchequer is losing between Rs250bn and Rs300bn every year — have reopened a familiar debate: how does a government facing chronic fiscal constraints allow an entire parallel industry to flourish beyond…
The latest wave of disclosures emerging from the unsealed archives of the Epstein files has sent ripples through political circles across several countries, and India has found itself increasingly drawn into the turbulence. The suggestion that some sitting ministers, former ministers and current MPs may be implicated in documents linked to Jeffrey Epstein has unsettled a government that has spent the past decade constructing a narrative of moral rectitude and national strength. For the first time, the possibility of an international scandal colliding directly with the Modi administration appears uncomfortably real. At the heart of the storm lies a series…
By Syed Shamim Akhtar Human rights observers are increasingly sounding the alarm over Afghanistan’s mounting social and economic crisis, warning that the country is facing a profound erosion of its intellectual and civic foundations. Once home to a vibrant academic and media landscape, Afghanistan is now grappling with a systematic suppression of thought, compounded by crippling unemployment and a collapse in educational opportunities under the Taliban’s rule. Experts say these developments are not incidental but part of a deliberate program to consolidate control, silence dissent, and reshape Afghan society in accordance with a narrowly defined ideological vision. At the heart…
By Syed Ali Mardan Shah Paulo Coelho’s The Alchemist is more than a novel; it is a timeless meditation on the pursuit of dreams, the courage to follow one’s heart, and the subtle, often mysterious forces that guide human destiny. First published in Portuguese in 1988, the book has since become one of the most translated and widely read works in literary history, speaking across cultures and generations with a deceptively simple yet deeply resonant message. Through the story of a young shepherd named Santiago, Coelho invites readers to explore the meaning of personal purpose, the language of the universe,…