ScratchPad

The problem confronting Pakistan runs far deeper than a standard emerging market downturn or a corporate sector stuck in a rut. The country is paralyzed because entire systems across every major sector have frozen in place simultaneously. From the informal neighborhood enterprises that employ the vast majority of the population to the high profile tech startups that briefly captured global venture capital, a profound resistance to structural change has become the defining national characteristic. The current economic stagnation is not just a temporary phase of the business cycle. It is the natural consequence of a society where leadership across public and private domains has systematically chosen institutional inertia over modernization, resulting in a severe drought of viable jobs and a massive flight of young talent. In the informal sector, which consists of small traders, artisans and family owned shops, businesses operate on a primal level of survival. These entrepreneurs practice...

In 2018, I wrote an article in Express, In which I argued that the Thar coalfields represented a strategic opportunity for Pakistan. At that time, the debate around Thar coal was largely economic. The country was importing expensive energy, while sitting on a massive domestic resource. Eight years later, the argument has become far more urgent. The earlier article can still be read here . Since then, the global energy environment has changed dramatically. Energy is no longer just a question of cost or development. It is now deeply connected with geopolitics, supply chains and national security. The recent escalation of tensions between Iran and Israel has once again highlighted how fragile global energy routes can be. The Strait of Hormuz, a narrow waterway connecting the Persian Gulf with the Gulf of Oman, carries a significant share of the world's oil shipments. Any disruption in this corridor immediately affects global oil markets.  For Pakistan, such disruptions are not distant...

The plight of AI trainers is a quiet evolution inside a Darwinian marketplace where adaptation often means compromise. Trainers navigate supply shocks and unpredictable client seeding that create feast-or-famine rhythms. When tasks vanish or surge suddenly, the burden falls on human contributors to scramble by accepting lower pay, odd hours, or poor conditions just to stay afloat. Platforms that emphasize speed over care force many to choose between meeting throughput targets and preserving the thoughtfulness required for high-quality work. Quality control becomes a moral and operational battleground. Instant alerts and race-to-claim notifications can trigger impulsive task grabbing rather than considered selection. While claiming quickly matters, the cognitive work of assessing nuance and complexity needs mental space. Rushing erodes depth and accuracy and turns skilled judgment into a volume game. Trainers who insist on careful review risk losing tasks to those willing to work faster...

What if Urdu could look like it was written on another planet?  Urdu has always flowed like poetry, shaped by Persian elegance. Its letters curve and whisper stories, familiar, yet centuries old.  But I asked a different question this time. What if Urdu could become something entirely alien? What if its letters were no longer bound by familiarity or readability and instead looked like they had fallen from another world.  This is neography, inventing new ways of writing. My latest experiment, the Shehroz Urdu Font, is a neographic journey into the unknown. The glyphs are not familiar nor readable. They twist, stretch and connect in ways that feel Martian, otherworldly, unrecognizable yet strangely alive.  This font is not meant to replace Nastaʿlīq or Naskh. It is a playground of possibilities, a space where Urdu can dream in shapes it has never worn before. Every stroke challenges expectations, every glyph invites imagination.  Take a peek, type or simply look a...

As I look back on the year 2025, it feels right to pause and take stock, not only of what I have done but of how I have gone about it. This was a year in which I learned to move at my own pace, without haste and without undue regard for the clocks and measures of others. Each experience, whether large or small, had its part to play in shaping the person I am becoming. What follows is a simple account of the moments that marked this year. One of the more notable achievements was learning to drive a car. For a long time, the very thought filled me with apprehension and overcoming that fear felt no small matter. I took it slowly and allowed myself the time to grow accustomed to the road. With each lesson, confidence replaced anxiety and the freedom of driving brought with it a welcome sense of independence. Another important step was my return to university. This decision was not taken lightly. It came from a genuine wish to deepen my knowledge and to grow as a person. Being back among st...

Private procurement is often overlooked, treated as a routine matter of contracts and invoices, yet in truth it is one of the most decisive forces shaping the fortunes of private business. The way a company chooses its suppliers, negotiates its terms and manages its relationships determines not only its costs but also its reputation and resilience. For too long many firms have clung to the narrow logic of lowest cost purchasing, assuming that the cheapest option is the most rational. The evidence shows otherwise. Short term savings often unravel into long term losses when poor quality, unreliable delivery and broken trust consume more than was saved at the start. What is needed is a shift towards pragmatic progressive procurement, a philosophy that blends commercial realism with a broader sense of responsibility. This approach does not ask businesses to abandon profit. It asks them to recognise that profit is best secured when suppliers are treated as partners rather than disposable ve...

Agricultural income taxation in Pakistan has long lingered in the shadows of fiscal policy. Agriculture contributes nearly one fifth of the national GDP and sustains millions of livelihoods, yet its contribution to direct taxation is negligible. The salaried classes, urban entrepreneurs and industrialists bear the weight of taxation, while the landed aristocracy, heirs to colonial privilege, remain largely exempt. This inequity corrodes the legitimacy of the state and perpetuates a feudal order inimical to modernity. The legal architecture is unambiguous. Agricultural income is exempt from federal taxation under Section 41 of the Income Tax Ordinance and provinces alone possess the competence to legislate and enforce such levies. Punjab, Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan have enacted Agricultural Income Tax Acts, but these statutes are skeletal, riddled with exemptions and enforced with a languor that borders on abdication. Provincial boards of revenue, heirs to colonial land r...