Will the same self-seeking opportunists make it to parliament, or will 2013 throw up a few good men and women who seek to turn this country around?

Unless all politicians, along with the army and the intelligence agencies, sink their differences and band together to thrash out a cohesive policy to confront the menace of terrorism, we will be unable to arrest the country’s descent into anarchy.

While Malala is making a slow yet steady recovery, Pakistan continues to be tormented by her tormentors.

Should one expect to see more ministers adopt the agenda of the fundamentalist lobby henceforth, in order to save their own skin or curry favour with them?

Every shameful act, every shocking incident in Pakistan is branded a “conspiracy” and swept under the carpet.

It is Pakistan’s 65th anniversary, but what should we, the awam, be celebrating?

The judiciary and the government are caught in a tussle, but the people of Pakistan are the ones, as always, who are held hostage.

Nameless, faceless, trigger-happy thugs roam the streets, and strike at will. They rob, they encroach, they extort, they kidnap, they murder – and then they vanish into thin air without a trace.

The war of words between the PML-N and the PPP has erupted again, and the choicest abuses are being hurled back and forth.

Karachi has been turned into a graveyard of sorts while the people who preside over its destiny – the PPP, the MQM and the ANP – engage in a shameless turf war.