August

As Pakistan turns 76, it is time to recognise the resilience of the country’s political forces and the parliament that have played a role in strengthening democracy and parliamentary systems.

The five-year term of the National Assembly was completed in August under the Pakistan Muslim League (N) led ruling coalition. Legislative changes recently carried out have given additional power to the interim government and led to concerns that elections will be delayed and any polls under the ‘empowered’ caretaker government may not be an answer to Pakistan’s chronic political instability. The writer reflects on the challenges that lie ahead for the country.

Distressed by economic meltdown and political crisis, Pakistan entered into its 23rd programme with IMF in July 2023. The article analyses how the country’s reluctance to undertake policy actions for macroeconomic stabilisation – an IMF prescription – keeps pushing it back into a never ending cycle of dependency on external creditors.

Due to rising temperatures, glaciers in Pakistan’s northern mountain ranges are melting rapidly. Pakistan’s GLOF-I and II projects have sought to address the risks associated with the hazardous glacial lake outburst flooding. The writer analyses the projects and policies targeting climate change risk reduction.

Religious extremism is a complex phenomenon and the elements that go in to making a person/group adopt extremist ideology can be diverse and difficult to untangle. In the backdrop of the recent mob vigilante violence against the Christian community, the writer analyses factors that have led to religious discrimination against the minorities in Pakistan.