Owais Mughal

Among other modes of Pakistani transport, Motorcycles have also got their fair share of discussion at ATP here and here. Following photo continues the trend. My question to the readers is how come the motorcycle didn’t shut down in this deep water.

Athar Osama

One of things that I’ve often said in my writings (and otherwise) about Pakistan’s sometimes messy and often uninspiring politics is that it is one dominated by personalities rather than issues. In Pakistan, personalities, in the absence of checks and balances, have often become bigger than institutions with the result that we have failed; in the 60 year old history of our country; in creating institutions, political or otherwise. This alone has caused immeasurable damage to the country over time.

With recent talk of a deal between Benazir Bhutto and Musharraf in the air, a childhood friend of mine who is a die-hard Peoples Party loyal remarked: “ab tu saray hi aik jaisay hain” (now all of them are the same!). Political analysts have also predicted doom and gloom for PPP should Benazir go ahead with the deal. These got me thinking about what are the tell-tale signs of a leader’s lack of sincerity and imminent downfall?

Adil Najam

The Economist Intelligence Unit has released a new report on the liveability of major cities around the world according to which, Karachi is ranked fourth from the bottom amongst the 132 cities ranked. Karachi was also in the bottom 10 in the 2005 installment of the index.

At the very top of the list are Vancouver, Melbourne, Vienna, Perth and Toronto, in that order, starting with the best. And at the very bottom are Kathmandu, Karachi, Lagos, Dhaka and Algiers, in that order, ending with the worst. (I have not yet been able to get hold of the full report so cannot say which other Pakistani cities are listed and at which rank; if any reader knows this, please do share). The weighted index is measured from 0 to 100 in per cent points – with 0% being exceptional quality and 100% being intolerable. Karachi’s Liveability is placed at 58.6% on this scale.