Herald Report Islamabad: The Forman Christain College has sacked another young progressive teacher within a week after reducing contract of Professor Pervez Hoodbhoy. The decision has prompted a strong reaction from academics, intellectuals and social media activists. “I sadly announce that I will no longer be teaching at Forman Christian College,” commented Dr Ammar Ali Jan in a message on …

Dr Asim Sajjad Akhtar   THE budget will be presented in the National Assembly today, much ado about nothing. On the surface of it, the main opposition parties will refrain from debate because of the pandemic, no more than 86 MNAs attending the budget session due to social distancing protocols. In truth, decisions about Pakistan’s economy have been made by …

by Asim Sajjad Akhtar THE dastardly attacks which took the lives of over 40 mostly Hazara civilians in Kabul and Nangarhar earlier this week barely raised an eyebrow in the Pakistani mainstream. The attack on the maternity ward of a hospital which killed and maimed newborns was especially gut-wrenching. Yet aside from a couple of perfunctory condemnations from official places, …

Poverty alleviation and development programmes are ‘faulty, inefficient, old fashioned’ and devoid of accountability, writes Amir Hussain in his latest column in The News. He advocates a complete reconstitution, institutional restructuring making them accountable.   ‘There is hardly any reason to deny that poverty alleviation programmes in Pakistan need a complete reconstitution, institutional restructuring, and most of all making them …

Herald Special Correspondent ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s top court on Tuesday put on notice the advocate general and government of Gilgit-Baltistan on a petition filed by the Federal government seeking an amendment to the election laws to hold polls in the region. The seven-judge bench, headed by Chief Justice Gulzar Ahmed, issued notice to the GB government and its top counsel for Thursday to …

‘Politics is the art of broadening possibilities and choices,’ writes Amir Hussain in his latest column in the News on Friday. He, however, questions the PTI-led government’s stance of mistaking politics for economics and diminishing returns on its political investments. If there is any law of diminishing returns in politics (as in economics), none other than our sitting government should deserve the …

Dr Muhammad Iqbal announced his resignation after a scuffle with home depart secretary over easing lockdown   Bureau Report   GILGIT: In a dramatic move Gilgit-Baltistan’s Minister for Works Dr Muhammad Iqbal announced his decision to quit his position in protest reportedly following a scuffle with a ‘babu’ over the issue of relaxing lockdown in the mountainous region. Announcing his …

By Karim Muhammad Khan   Alongside natural disasters such as earthquakes, floods, tsunami, cyclones, hurricanes and drought, studies also illustrate that the history of epidemics and plagues have also ravaged human population and disrupted the pattern of normal life. For instance, the discovery of 5000-years old houses in China filled with human skeletons revealed the lethal epidemics which infected and …

The social solidarity across the globe is the main measure to stop the episode of COVID-19 By Zahra Arshad Before the emergence of the pandemic as a global challenge, an unknown sickness was first recognized in Wuhan, China in December 2019.  It was called a Chinese novel virus. Across the globe, it was considered that this virus is a confined …

History remains the slave of victors only when people internalize the master’s version of history. History can be salvaged, retrieved and appropriated through multiple and even in mundane sources not necessarily sublime one, writes Aziz Ali Dad. By Aziz Ali Dad History is an enigmatic discipline because it deals with events of the past but its understanding tends to change …