Author: S. M. Naseem

The challenges facing the Pakistani state, both domestic and external, continue to mount and periodically bring it to the brink of disaster. Whether by some miraculous intervention of Providence or through the rather delicate balance of forces that keep propping it back to a tenuous equilibrium, the ‘existentialist threat’ to the state, gets averted. However, each new equilibrium is not only more fragile but takes place at a lower level of existence and of the welfare of the people inhabiting it.

The last two years have been especially traumatic and have taken the nation on a roller-coaster ride of hope and dismay. Democracy by itself may not bring tangible rewards for the population in the short run, but it does rekindle the hope of future advancement of well-being for many. Read more…