Pakistan: case for external debts write-off
Huzaima Bukhari “Good debt accrues assets that generate positive returns and externalities”—Anthony Scaramucci—American political consultant Any logical person would advise someone looking for a break-through to “strike when the iron is hot”—the right (or rather ripe) time to realize an…
Relief & stimulus package
When challenges offer opportunities Huzaima Bukhari & Dr. Ikramul Haq “It is a narrow mind which cannot look at a subject from various points of view”— George Eliot, Middlemarch “Five percent of the people think; ten percent of the people…
Decades of (in)dependence
Huzaima Bukhari & Dr. Ikramul Haq After seven decades of independence, the rulers in Pakistan want to celebrate liberation from colonial rule having pushed the country into a chronic debt trap at the hands of neo-colonial forces. This paradox depicts…
NFC & fiscal consolidation
Huzaima Bukhari & Dr. Ikramul Haq In these columns, we have been repeatedly pleading for an urgent action to review the existing taxation rights under the Constitution of Islamic Republic of Pakistan [“the Constitution”] as presently, all broad-based and buoyant…
Helplessness—a human tragedy?
Huzaima Bukhari “Ultimately what I end up writing about is helplessness and the flipside of that, empowerment”—Joss Whedon When a crisis hits one with no immediate solution at hand, when one is struck by a calamity with no hope of…
Forgotten suo motu case
Dr. Ikramul Haq “It has been common knowledge for years that a large number of Pakistani citizens, who are residents of Pakistan and are maintaining accounts in foreign countries without disclosing the same to the authorities competent under the laws…
Need for all-out reforms
Huzaima Bukhari & Dr. Ikramul Haq Every now and then, we keep on hearing from higher judicial echelons that the federal and provincial governments must run the affairs according to the Constitution of Islamic Republic of Pakistan [“the Constitution] and…
Faulty policies, weak enforcement
Dr. Ikramul Haq While speaking at the one-day conference, ‘Doing Taxes Better: Shifting the Paradigm of Tax Policy and Administration’, organised by Pakistan Institute of Development Economics (PIDE) on March 11, 2020, Ms. Teresa Daban Sanchez, the Resident Chief of…
Tribute to selflessness!
Huzaima Bukhari “A hero is somebody who is selfless, who is generous in spirit, who just tries to give back as much as possible and help people. A hero to me is someone who saves people and who really deeply…