Megalomaniac

General Bajwa’s original term was to end in November 2019 after serving as army chief for three years. He will remain as army chief till November 2022 Pakistan Prime Minister Office on Monday announced that Chief of Army Staff General Qamar Javed Bajwa will get a three year extension “from the date of completion of current tenure”. The announcement said the decision “has been taken in view of the regional security environment”. Gen. Bajwa’s original term was to end in November after serving as Army chief for three years. He will remain as Army chief till November 2022. Federal Minister for Science and Technology Fawad Chaudhry told The Hindu that the extension shows the seriousness of the situation on the borders. “Gen. Bajwa is considered a man of peace but at the same time, he is a no-nonsense person; his tenure and background knowledge brings a lot of substance on the table.” Mr. Chaudhry believes the history of the subcontinent “can be reshaped in these three years”. Dr. Aas

The August floods are just one of the many problems Karachi is facing. In a video that went viral recently, a young man is seen sitting on his bike outside the Karachi Mayor’s office. The road is flooded with dirty water. “You know MF? They are all MF,” he says, referring to political leaders. He was hailed “a Karachi hero” on Twitter for expressing his anger towards the city’s rulers as Karachi was battling many odds. In the latest, heavy monsoon rains have left large parts of the city, the largest in Pakistan and the capital of Sindh, under water, killing at least a dozen people. The Sindh province is ruled by the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), while the city’s local council is controlled by the Muttahida Qaumi Movement. The MQM’s Wasim Akhtar is the city Mayor. In the 2018 elections, 13 out of 21 National Assembly seats of Karachi were won by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), Imran Khan’s party. Murtaza Wahab, a spokesperson and adviser to Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali

India’s decision to revoke Article 370 and bifurcate the state of Jammu & Kashmir into two Union territories has not gone down well with Pakistan. A meeting of the National Security Committee (NSC) on Wednesday took some important decisions in response to India’s move, including downgrading diplomatic ties and suspending trade. Pakistan has also expelled the Indian envoy and decided not to send its High Commissioner-designate to India. The sharpest reaction perhaps came from Federal Minister for Science and Technology Fawad Chaudhry, who broke down during his speech on Kashmir at a joint session of Parliament and suggested that Pakistan cut off diplomatic ties with India. Ever since Prime Minister Imran Khan took oath, the government has tried its best to normalise ties with India, but “the conduct of the Indian leadership has been abhorrent”, Mr. Chaudhry told The Hindu . “We must take a strong stand... we have to fight it out if needed. This will not be a traditional war.

Pakistan on August 7 expelled the Indian High Commissioner and suspended bilateral trade in response to New Delhi’s decision to end special status to Jammu and Kashmir. “The Government of India has been told to withdraw its High Commissioner to Pakistan. The Indian government has also been informed that Pakistan will not be sending its High Commissioner-designate to India,” the Foreign Office said in a statement. Ajay Bisaria is India’s High Commissioner in Islamabad. The decisions were taken at a National Security Committee (NSC) meeting chaired by Prime Minister Imran Khan at his office in Islamabad. Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi read out the NSC decisions while addressing a joint session of Parliament. The Committee has also decided to review bilateral arrangements and take the Kashmir issue to the UN, including the Security Council, he said. Pakistan will observe August 14, its Independence Day, “in solidarity with brave Kashmiris” and August 15 as a “Black Day”.

Sadiq Sanjrani, an independent from Balochistan, survives no-confidence motion by three votes Pakistan’s Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani surprisingly survived the Opposition’s no-confidence vote on August 1 by three votes. The Opposition has 64 members in the Senate and it needed 53 votes for the motion to pass in the 104-member House, but when the votes were counted, the Opposition managed to get only 50 votes. How did this happen? Analysts see the government’s invisible hands in defeating the Opposition motion. ‘Democracy weakened’ The government has embarrassed itself and weakened democracy by illegitimately interfering with the Senate elections, said Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Senator Musadik Malik. “Such high-handed interventions weaken the spirit of democracy, and the essence of our Constitution,” he told The Hindu . The PML-N and the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) had submitted a joint resolution in the Senate in July against Chairman Sanjrani, an independent S

It’s been a year since the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) formed its government in Islamabad. Opposition parties, including the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), had alleged that the 2018 general elections had been rigged in favour of Imran Khan’s PTI. But nothing stopped Mr. Khan becoming the Prime Minister. A year later, many issues still remain the same, if not worse, according to political analysts. “What do they have to show? All they have done is to repeat the mantra of ‘ chor, daaku, luteray ’ [thieves, dacoits and looters] for the Opposition, while not doing much for the people of Pakistan, said Iftikhar Ahmad, a senior journalist. “The PTI is on a mission to eliminate the Opposition. That’s all this government is interested in.” The PTI used to accuse other parties of nepotism. “Look at all the key positions in the government organisations today — all have been given to PTI cronies. Where is the tabdeeli [change]. It’s all talk bu

While journalists in Pakistan are no strangers to threats or censorship, online bullying is yet another tool being used to muzzle the media. In April, one witnessed abusive Twitter trends against several journalists including Marvi Sirmed, Umar Cheema, Mubashir Zaidi, Saleem Safi, Arshad Waheed Chaudhry, Fakhar Durrani and Azaz Syed. Journalists are trolled for several reasons, but mainly because their views differ from those of the trolls. Journalist Azaz Syed says that for the most part, such social media trends are against those journalists who either criticise the establishment or the ruling party, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI). “On occasion, journalists speaking for the weaker segments of society, or challenging some social taboos, also come under fire,” says Syed. When asked whether social media-bashing has any impact on the individuals concerned, Syed says it depends on the lives and the personalities of the respective journalists. “Journalists who are being targeted on s