Tag Archives: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif

Nawaz Sharif's trial is an acid test of justice, can Pakistan afford vacillation when the damning facts have been counterchecked and confirmed many times over? Having been economical with the truth, Sharif has a problem exercising his moral authority and/or credibility to govern.

The Chinese concern over emerging discord in Pakistan over the route of China-Pakistan Economic Corridor amounts to a direct rebuke of the province-centered “development visions” of Asif Ali Zardari and the Sharifs. For these leaders, initiating the CPEC meant concentrating development in their home provinces.

Pakistan has been muddling along on a “passage to nowhere” because of the self-serving agendas of both its civil and military rulers alike. It needs a diplomatic space that must enhance its foreign policy options, the core elements of which should remain constructive engagement, non-interference and advancement of economic cooperation.

Far better than (Pakistan’s former president) Asif Ali Zardari except in the one that counts in Pakistan, pragmatic common-sense politics, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif is genuinely popular among the electorate. Zardari is (and was) not, nevertheless he deftly cobbled together a coalition government and kept most of them happy most of the time.  Being subjected to blackmail by his political …

Within hours of the Islamabad court carnage on March 3, Pakistan’s chief justice Tassaduq Hussain Jillani vowed to take the culprits to task. The next day, he ordered the installation of security cameras at all court premises.   The prime minister (Nawaz Sharif) expressed his displeasure over the attack, saying “it does not augur well for peace talks.” The Tehrik-e-Taliban …

This is Davos week, the annual summit of the World Economic Forum (WEF). My first visit to Davos was in January 1993 as part of the delegation accompanying the then Pakistani prime minister, Mian Nawaz Sharif. The WEF was then not that strict about allowing non-members to take part in its events.   This year the Pakistani PM was to …