In the fractious landscape of Pakistani politics, where amendments to the Constitution often serve as proxies for deeper power struggles, the sudden emergence of plans for a 27th Amendment has set off alarms. Just months after the contentious 26th Amendment reshaped the judiciary, introducing new mechanisms for judicial appointments and establishing federal constitutional benches, the government is now pushing for further changes that could profoundly alter the balance between the center and the provinces, the military and civilians, and the executive and the judiciary.
Op-Ed
Balance restored
A US-brokered ceasefire has paused the latest clash between India and Pakistan, nuclear-armed rivals whose rivalry nearly spiraled into disaster. Yet this tenuous truce reveals a seismic shift: Pakistan, long outmatched by India’s military might, not only stood firm but gained a strategic edge, upending South Asia’s power dynamics.
Fragile recovery
By Staff Reporter
Fitch Ratings lifted Pakistan’s Long-Term Foreign-Currency Issuer Default Rating to ‘B-’ from ‘CCC+’, with a Stable Outlook, signalling cautious hope for economic stabilisation via a $7 billion IMF Extended Fund Facility and $1.3 billion Resilience Facility.
Costing billions
By Staff Reporter
A critical anti-tax evasion initiative in the tobacco sector remains stalled in the mountainous region of Azad Jammu & Kashmir (AJK) despite years of planning, multiple deadlines, and urgent warnings about the growth of illicit cigarette production costing the national exchequer over Rs 300 billion annually.
Is the bull market over?
A substantial downturn at the PSX can be attributed to escalating leverage costs and mounting political risks, compelling investors to hastily offload shares. The surge in leverage, measured by futures open interest, margin trading, and financing, hit a two-year high at Rs40 billion, a substantial increase from Rs14.3 billion in June.
Photo courtesy of @sindhicongress
Time to go beyond condemnation
Condemnation always starts pouring in right on cue – but condemnation alone is not enough. Outrages like Jaranwala will continue to visit us until we impose consequences on the perpetrators. By Ahmer Kureishi.
Pakistan’s newly appointed caretaker prime minister, Senator Anwar ul Haq Kakar. Photo courtesy of @JemalBeker1
PM Kakar: PDM’s trump card or Military’s choice?
The optics are awful – or are they? Has the military stormed back in politics – or are the top generals gritting their teeth to clean up the political mess created by their politicking predecessors? Caretaker PM Kakar’s actions in the coming days and weeks hold the answers to these and similar questions. By Ahmer Kureishi.
Former Prime Minister Imran Khan flanked by his legal counsel Naeem Haider Panjotha at a court hearing in this undated photo courtesy insaf.pk
Imran Khan: Down But Not Out
Found guilty of corruption by an Islamabad sessions court, former Prime Minister Imran Khan is finally behind bars, but it is still too soon to write him off as a potent political force. Here is why. By Ahmer Kureishi.
Nawaz Sharif (right), and Imran Khan (left). Photos courtesy of APP.
Enter Nawaz Sharif, Exit Imran Khan
Nawaz Sharif was hounded out of politics (and eventually the country) to install and keep Imran Khan in power. There is poetic justice in the idea that his return coincides with the end of Khan’s political journey. By Ahmer Kureishi.
A view of the Punjab Assembly building. Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons (Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Beautiful_view_of_Punjab_Assembly_Lahore_-_panoramio.jpg)
Punjab Assembly remains indissoluble for now
The direction taken by the court proceedings suggests that while the battle for the administrative control of the province is evenly poised, the Punjab Assembly has gained a guaranteed lease on life at least another eighteen days. By Ahmer Kureishi.