News Snapshot:
On 7 November, Pakistan’s respected and sober newspaper Dawn began its editorial — evocatively entitled “Democrats, dictators & demagogues” — thus: “The system is imploding, spectacularly — collapsing under the weight of the multiple distortions created by decades of political engineering, not to mention outright military takeovers.” It went on to add: “No one seems to know how it will all end.” Concluding that “Pakistan stands on the edge of a precipice”, it expressed what can only be called a fond hope, “that all parties engaged in this conflagration” would “rein in their worst impulses”. However, as yet, no party...
