Asim Imdad Ali

Disruption, far from being the red signboard of a hazard requiring caution, is now the zeitgeist of our times. Whether we look at technology,...

Understanding the true meaning of change with revolts and revolutions. If horizontal change merely reshuffles elite power, vertical change seeks social justice.

The generals, wielding the instruments of conquest and colonialism, laid the foundations for all the ancient expansive states. Assimilation was generously allowed for those willing to surrender their autonomy; the sword dispatched others who had resistance in their minds and tongues.

Even Lee Kuan Yew, often regarded as the global icon of "benevolent" dictatorship, was known to favor and advocate for the creation of a policestate where legal protections were set aside. “Repression…is a habit that grows,” said Lee addressing Singapore’s British chief minister David Marshall in the island’s colonial legislative assembly.

Pakistan emerged in a state of disarray as a "moth-eaten" country. Our inherited colonial state apparatus was geared only for the implementation of two central policies: the maintenance of law and order, and the extraction of surplus resources from our agrarian economy. The colonial state structure that we inherited was thus ill-suited for the formidable task of fostering comprehensive national development. Following the "transfer of power,"

East Asia's remarkable economic development has often been hailed as a miracle. Pakistan also keeps dreaming of attaining comparable levels of growth and progress. A section of our elite argues that the Asian tigers achieved their economic miracles because of the "benevolent" dictators, who steered those countries during their take-off stage.