Obed Pasha
Daily Times
Amherst, MA, United States
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Past articles by Obed:
Political consequences of the youth bulge
We are barely a month into 2018 but it almost feels like a decade has passed. It is hard to believe all that has happened in this month alone; Trump’s anti-Pakistan tweets, the joint opposition’s Lahore dharna, Dr Zafar Arif’s shocking death, the Balochistan assembly fiasco, Zainab’s heartbreaking tragedy and the perpetrator’s arrest two weeks … → Read More
The futile attempts to subjugate Nawaz
The military establishment seems to be operating under some stress these days. Internal and external events over the last decade have eroded the deep-state’s control to the extent that it depends largely on media and the judiciary to strengthen its power. There have been attempts to subjugate Nawaz Sharif, most of which have ended in … → Read More
Dear interior minister, please do your job
Vicious attacks on Ahmed Noorani last Friday have laid bare the ground realities of Pakistan, where any dissent to the military establishment’s narrative is met with brute force. This is the most recent of a slew of incidents where people critical of the establishment’s excesses were threatened, abducted, and tortured by the state apparatus. Although … → Read More
Songs of destruction
Captain (retd) Safdar’s hateful speech in the National Assembly against an already oppressed minority was one of the lowest moments in our Parliament’s history. His outburst ostensibly targeted military leadership and the judiciary via coded messages arousing prejudice against the Ahmadis and glorifying Mumtaz Qadri. This was not an isolated incident as blasphemy allegations were freely used for… → Read More
Unpacking Macron's win in France
Sanity took a sigh of relief on Sunday as the globalist Emmanuel Macron won the French presidential election, with a staggering 65 percent of votes, against the populist Marine Le Pen. Francoise Hollande had won the presidency with only 52 percent of popular vote in 2012 and Nickolas Sarkozy with only 53 percent in 2007. With the latest election outcome, the French society has rejected… → Read More
A state of perpetual instability
The last couple of weeks have been pretty rough for Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. Every passing day throws a new challenge for him with another big issue consuming media and public attention. The saga over the Panama Papers verdict was far from over when the Indian businessman Sajjan Jindal’s meeting with the prime minister made headlines, followed by the controversial tweet by DG ISPR, Army’s… → Read More
Who killed Mashal Khan?
Who killed Mashal Khan? It was a mob of over 4,000 students of Mardan’s Abdul Wali Khan University. These were members of the post Ziaul Haq generation, who were fed on hatred and an in-group morality. They grew up in an environment where opportunities for socio-economic growth were slim, injustice was the norm, and violence against the weak was legitimised. These frustrated young adults cannot… → Read More
Why the Saudis need Raheel Sharif
Trouble is slowly brewing around the Saudi dynasty as the Kingdom is increasingly confronted with multiple crises that threaten its continuity. Control over the minority Shia population of the Kingdom is getting harder to maintain, whereas ISIS and Al-Qaeda are gaining foothold within the younger generation. Moreover, the unrest in Syria has allowed Iran to play a key role in the region with the… → Read More
Pakistan’s dysfunctional tax system — who will fix it?
There is one way ensure the country’s progress and viability — make the rich start paying taxes During Fiscal Year 2016, Pakistan celebrated a tax collection of over $31 billion. Not only did the Federal Bureau of Revenue (FBR) surpass its own target, but also managed to increase revenue collection by $7 billion when compared to previous year’s figure. This is laudable, but only until we don’t… → Read More
DailyTimes | PML-N’s road ahead
Kulsoom Nawaz’s win in the NA-120 by-elections has made one thing clear: PML-N’s support-base is not only intact, it is also determined to fight for its electoral preferences. Although the NA-120 win was expected for the ruling party, it will send a message across Punjab that Nawaz Sharif’s core support is not leaving his side in his hour of crisis. This should discourage any potential… → Read More
DailyTimes | How to fail at foreign policy
Foreign policy has never been Pakistan’s strong point, but the situation seems to be particularly alarming this time around. Events since Donald Trump’s August 21 speech threatening Pakistan of dire consequences for its ‘continued support for regional terrorism’ have made two things certain: First, that the Americans are serious about using economic and military pressure on Pakistan to punish it… → Read More
DailyTimes | Anti-establishment politics
What Nawaz Sharif experienced on GT road a couple of weeks back is the solidarity of the masses towards the leaders who challenge the establishment. Time and again, the masses have put their weight behind any leader who has rebelled against the deep state throughout our history. Before Nawaz Sharif, the mantle of anti-establishment politics was with Benazir Bhutto owing to her struggle against… → Read More
DailyTimes | Is the Prime Minister running out of patience?
Khawaja Saad Rafique’s latest back-to-back tirades during PML-N worker conventions are meant to send a clear message to the powers that be: we will not take it lying down anymore. Khawaja Saad Rafique, as many would know, is probably the only major leader in PML-N with firm roots in masses, and is adored by the party’s worker cadre for his role in the anti-Musharraf movement of the 2000s. Saad… → Read More
DailyTimes | A frustrated establishment
This is a moment of deep crisis for the Pakistani establishment. Its troubles began with Nawaz Sharif’s unexpected decision to protest his disqualification by holding rallies along the GT Road as he travelled from Islamabad to his home base in Lahore. The outpouring of massive crowds in his support turned him into the most popular leader of the country almost overnight. Since then, the… → Read More
DailyTimes | Judges, military, and the urban middle class
Probably the most shocking aspect of Panama verdict is the disdain with which the judges treated an elected Prime Minister during the hearing. Far from the unbiased adjudicators that they are supposed to be, the judges showed public contempt for the entire Sharif family by equating them with the Sicilian Mafia. Such behavior forced some observers to suspect an active collusion between the… → Read More
DailyTimes | Establishment’s game of fire
You must have heard of the idiom that those who dig a pit for other will fall in it themselves. When our establishment digs a pit, it takes the entire nation down and still doesn’t learn a lesson. The latest scheme that the establishment is working on is, destroying the fragile political system of the country. This was never an awfully challenging task since political parties are at loggerheads… → Read More