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Photoshopping the prime minister
A photograph circulated by the Press Information Department across newsrooms recently had Yousaf Raza Gilani standing in the middle, chatting with General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani and General Khalid...
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The media made a mess of Memogate
In the last couple of months our country has been plunged into a self created crisis that our media has dubbed ‘Memogate’. Everyone who is anyone has an opinion on the issue, which has become the most...
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Media matters
It seems all that the media can seem to cover is the so-called memogate case and issues related to it. For example, for the past two-three days headlines on news channels have been dominated by...
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Has the PPP learnt any lessons?
From day one, this country has seen a topsy-turvy relationship between the military and various civil administrations. The security establishment shares equal blame, if not more, for the dwindling...
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Why democracy should stay
Pakistan’s administrative setup was modeled after the British system: an elected legislative assembly was to give form to an executive government headed by the prime minister. The president was to hold...
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Judicial activism and democracy
Recently in the backdrop of the ‘memogate’ controversy, the honourable apex court hearing a petition regarding the possible removal of the ISI chief and the army chief sought “assurances” from the...
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Why the Pakistan Army makes state policies
It is difficult to assess whether the Pakistan Army is naïve or strategically calculated to step in the Supreme Court on the Memogate scandal. Obvious, however, is the fact that the critical step has...
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Husain Haqqani’s story
Perhaps no individual in Pakistan has had a rise as steep as Husain Haqqani. As an ordinary journalist, he climbed the ladder of success to become first a respected academic and then Pakistan’s envoy...
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Want more controversy? Use the word ‘gate’
Nothing speaks controversy like suffixing ‘gate’ to a word. Memogate, Mehrangate, Familygate, Mediagate, Khybergate, Gategate? Sure, the last two ‘gates’ aren’t real, but the Pakistani media has seen...
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The Supreme Court is the ‘apex’ court not the ‘only’ court!
The perception of the Supreme Court as an all-encompassing court is leading to a fundamental misunderstanding of the judicial system. Just recently, Sharmila Farooqui, a prominent politician who holds...
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