The controversy arising out of the passengers’ protest against the late arrival of two legislators onboard an Islamabad-bound PIA flight from Karachi and the ensuing contradictory positions, the stance the national airlines official took doubtlessly symbolises only a small symptom of a malaise that Pakistan reels from; absence of or little respect for law by those supposed to uphold the law. These privileged ones willfully tear down the rules and regulations at their convenience, i.e., paying lip service to meritocracy and the rule of law for public consumption and circumventing the law in all possible ways. Thanks to Imran Khan’s reformist agenda (without agreeing to his rhetoric and the methodology) never before has the public discourse revolved so much around the rule of law and fundamental rights. His month-long sit-in has essentially turned the focus on the urgent need for reforming the political economy. The public tolerance boils over the threshold (PIA flight 370 being a case in point) makes perfect sense in the given situation. Issues such as the elites’ indifference to peoples’ fundamental rights or their insensitivity to the inconvenience they cause to the public do constitute elements of a civil war if Pakistan were to face one. In this context, Singapore’s Foreign Minister, Kasiviswanathan Shanmugam, wrote in theSingapore Journal of legal Studies in 2012: “What defined Singapore, what made us a nation, were shared ideals and shared aspirations. Equal opportunity for all, regardless of economic background or social status, race, language, or religion. Meritocracy. Equality before the law. Intolerance of corruption. A commitment to free trade and the market system. Above all, a determination to develop Singapore, give a better life to Singaporeans to survive and succeed against the odds.” Seen in this context, Singapore stands out as a model of the rule of law, which has made it one of the safest places in the world to live and work. Its government over...

One day, you see shalwar-kameez (the national dress of Pakistan) clad Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) fighters in Iraq and Syria, and the next day you hear news of their fighters infiltrating Pakistan. Is there any connection? According to the Foreign Office (FO) of Pakistan there isn’t. Obviously. The Foreign Office, on September 3’ 2014, denied reports regarding the presence and infiltration of ISIS, also known as ‘Daesh’, in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) and FATA (The Federally Administered Tribal Areas) region of Pakistan. But did this denial ring any surprising bells? After all, the same Foreign Office, along with the authorities, was oblivious to Osama bin Laden’s presence in Abbottabad for many years, leave aside the ISIS. Yet, one has to go with the Foreign Office’s inclination as the methods used by alleged ISIS members, such as the distribution of radical literature and wall-chalking, have been previously used in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa by local criminal elements. These were used to spread terror and run fake ‘militant franchises’ to execute their activities, primarily kidnapping for ransom. The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) – with their brutal methods and excommunication by al Qaeda – has already topped the list of the most feared terror outfits. A couple of their recent videos, showing the brutal beheading of two US journalists, circulating in the global media have given them their much desired hype and attention. For that sole reason, if someone in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa has been influenced by the ISIS’s ideology and its modus operandi, it should somehow worry the locals and the law enforcement agencies. Literature distributed by this group in Peshawar (provincial capital of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa), parts of The Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) - a semi-autonomous tribal region in northwestern Pakistan, and refugee camps on the outskirts of Peshawar asked for support of the ISIS; which aims to claim the greater Khorasan region, that is Iran,...

Pakistan's current political roller coaster reached new heights when Makhdoom Javed Hashmi, president of Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party, descended like an angel to save the current government with his expose of Khan as taking "dictation" from someone behind the scenes during the current anti-Nawaz protest. Although yet to be proven, Hashmi's claims were a major blow to Khan's demonstrations against the Nawaz Sharif government. But even amid these disclosures, Khan is resolute in carrying on his protest against the government, discarding Hashmi's allegations altogether. Khan launched his recent protest, the Independence March, on August 14, starting from Lahore and culminating in the ongoing sit-ins in front of the parliament house and other state buildings, also known as the Red Zone in Islamabad. Khan's PTI is also joined by Tahir ul Qadri's Revolution March. Qadri (President of Pakistan Awami League, PAT) not only seeks to bring about a revolution, but also demands the resignation of Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, whom Qadri holds guilty of killing their 14 workers. As a result of this protest, the country has already suffered a long-lasting political and economic damage. The political parties have again been exposed as amateurs, unable to solve their own issues, and have thus called upon the military to act as mediator and facilitator. On a positive note, the opposition parties, mainly the Pakistan Peoples' Party, are also backing the government in this situation of adversity to strengthen democracy. It seems as if the parties on the opposition benches have learned their lesson from the past where any leverage given to the military resulted in a prolonged periods of military rule. On the other hand, Khan's protest should not be seen as something totally negative. His protest is probably the first major instance in the country's history where poll rigging has been made a massive issue. Even if Khan sacrifices his political future in...

Pakistan's current political roller coaster reached new heights when Makhdoom Javed Hashmi, president of Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party, descended like an angel to save the current government with his expose of Khan as taking "dictation" from someone behind the scenes during the current anti-Nawaz protest. Although yet to be proven, Hashmi's claims were a major blow to Khan's demonstrations against the Nawaz Sharif government. But even amid these disclosures, Khan is resolute in carrying on his protest against the government, discarding Hashmi's allegations altogether. Khan launched his recent protest, the Independence March, on August 14, starting from Lahore and culminating in the ongoing sit-ins in front of the parliament house and other state buildings, also known as the Red Zone in Islamabad. Khan's PTI is also joined by Tahir ul Qadri's Revolution March. Qadri (President of Pakistan Awami League, PAT) not only seeks to bring about a revolution, but also demands the resignation of Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, whom Qadri holds guilty of killing their 14 workers. As a result of this protest, the country has already suffered a long-lasting political and economic damage. The political parties have again been exposed as amateurs, unable to solve their own issues, and have thus called upon the military to act as mediator and facilitator. On a positive note, the opposition parties, mainly the Pakistan Peoples' Party, are also backing the government in this situation of adversity to strengthen democracy. It seems as if the parties on the opposition benches have learned their lesson from the past where any leverage given to the military resulted in a prolonged periods of military rule. On the other hand, Khan's protest should not be seen as something totally negative. His protest is probably the first major instance in the country's history where poll rigging has been made a massive issue. Even if Khan sacrifices his political future in...

What are the biggest threats to Pakistan’s existence? Sectarian violence, target killing, intolerance, organized crime or a combination of all of them? What are the key existential challenges to Pakistan? Clean drinking water, education or rule of law (including equal citizenry) or a combination of all of them? Statistical evidence suggests that forces of status quo – the civilian and security ruling elites as well as the nexus of organized crime and religious militancy – are out to perpetuate themselves in all possible thinkable ways. This is backed up by extremely disturbing data on crime, conflict and violence that keeps overshadowing all the expressed good intent by politicians and generals. Statistics are getting worrisome with every passing day – manifest in the fact that the fatality rate in Pakistan relentless; at least 549 dead in the month of August 2014 alone – bringing the toll in the first eight months of 2014 to a whopping 4,691 across Pakistan. These casualties had peaked to nearly 953 in June, ostensibly because of the Zarb-e-Azb operation against militants holed up in Waziristan. The most worrying phenomenon, beside the TTP-mounted attacks on state and public interests, are target-killings, according to a study spread over the past eight months by the Centre for Research and Security Studies (CRSS). Target killings, a staggering 1,377 out of the 4,691 deaths (more than one fourth), in fact emerge as an over-arching tag given to termination of perceived rivals under the garb of sectarian, political, or ethnic violence, or organized crime – a convenient way of obfuscating the real cause or motive of such murders. Target killings are an overarching tag for sectarian, political, or ethnic assassinations, or organized crime – a convenient way of obfuscating the real cause or motive. And out of the 549 casualties in August, at least 214 were attributed to target killing – ie over one-third of people lost their lives for their religious, political or...