Author: Syed Sharfuddin
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Israel: A step closer to being declared guilty of war crimes
Syed Sharfuddin* A special session of the UN Human Rights Council was held in Geneva on 27 May 2021 to discuss the grave human rights situation in the occupied Palestinian territories, including East Jerusalem, which remains fragile after the ceasefire agreed between the two sides following the special session of the UN General Assembly on […]
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Why Israel Lost this Round in the Arab Israeli Conflict
Syed Sharfuddin* The present conflict in the Middle East involving the Zionist State of Israel on the one side and the Palestine Administration of Mahmud Abbas and Hamas on the other side, is about to end with a UN approved ceasefire, with the Palestinians emerging as deeply wounded but victorious in this round. The responsibility […]
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From Israel’s right to exist to Palestine’s right to statehood
Syed Sharfuddin* The ten-day exchange of rocket firing between Israel and Gaza came to an end in the late hours of 20 May 2021 after intense diplomatic pressure was applied by the international community, as well as by Israel’s friends to reach a ceasefire, but the mess it created both politically and on the ground […]
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TLP protests and the power of state
Syed Sharfuddin The past few days in the politics of Pakistan have been reminiscent of the sunset days of the PML-N era when suddenly a small interest group best classified as a non state actor held the government on tenterhooks leaving it undecided whether to use coercive means to end the widespread public protests or […]
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Rich Man Poor Man: A True Story.
Syed Sharfuddin In a colony of the poor there was a house whose inhabitants had a great fight one day. Their family members had bruises, broken arms and limbs and suffered damage to property as a result of the fight. The neighbours did not know what happened. Everyone thought it was a crazy family, always […]
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The Vaccine Debate
Syed Sharfuddin We live in interesting times. In our youth it was just the fear of smallpox, polio, BCG, malaria, meningitis and whooping cough that reluctantly made us visit the doctor. Then came the attack from a whole family of RNA viruses comprising flavi or dengue virus, yellow fever virus, zika virus, alpha coronaviruses, beta […]
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Why Governance by Ordinance is bad Governance
Syed Sharfuddin A government consists of three branches, the executive, legislature and judiciary. Each of these branches is supposed to be independent of each other but they also need to closely coordinate with each other. As its name indicates, the legislature is elected by the people to enact laws for their collective benefit and to […]
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Why Transparency International’s 2020 corruption ranking of Pakistan is structurally flawed?
Syed Sharfuddin On 25 January, 2021 Transparency International (TI), the Berlin based global watchdog on corruption issued its Corruption Perception Index (CPI) for 2020 in which Pakistan ranked 124 out of 180. This came as news to Pakistanis who had come to believe that the Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaaf (PTI) government of Prime Minister Imran Khan was […]
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Bounty Hunters
Syed Sharfuddin Bounty hunting is a recognised profession in the US. Universities offer Bachelors and Masters programmes in Criminology or Criminal Justice. It takes a person of sharp wit, knowledge of law and negotiation skills to become a bounty hunter. The person also needs to have good understanding of international money laundry conventions and financial […]
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A Memorable US Presidential Election: A Commonwealth Perspective
By Syed Sharfuddin, The Commonwealth does not observe elections in non-member countries. Where it does, the observation is subject to receiving an official invitation from the concerned government and the Commonwealth Secretary-General certifying that the observation will add value to the democratic practice and processes in the electing country. Democracies with strong electoral systems have […]