EDITORIAL (March 19, 2010): The Senate Standing Committee on Finance was informed by the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) that the imposition of the broad-based value added tax, scheduled to be imposed at the start of the fiscal year 2010-2011 as per Pakistan's commitment to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) as an integral component of the Fund programme, would imply the withdrawal of all the Board's discretionary powers with respect to the grant of exemptions to any sector or product.

EDITORIAL (March 19, 2010): A report tells of COAS Kayani having presided over a meeting of five federal secretaries at the GHQ. The meeting was apparently related to the forthcoming US-Pakistan strategic dialogue and the deliberations would have been important.

EDITORIAL (March 19, 2010): Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani says that his biggest mistake was not having restored the judiciary in the very beginning of his term. But Prime Minister Gilani has no reason to feel guilty, because in this drama he was more of a spectator than an actor on stage.

EDITORIAL (March 18, 2010): The Prime Minister, while on a visit to the Planning Commission, which he committed to undertaking on a quarterly basis, stated that he had directed the Ministry of Finance to release 300 billion rupees for the Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) within the current fiscal year.

EDITORIAL (March 18, 2010): After a relative lull in terrorist activity inside the major cities of the country during the last two months, there is suddenly an outburst of suicide attacks in the country. In the latest event of the series, two suicide bombers struck R.A. Bazaar area in Lahore cantonment on Friday turning it into a killing field.

EDITORIAL (March 18, 2010): Americans leave nothing to chance when they fight their enemies, or so it seems. If required - and that is not once in a blue moon, but a regular practice - they use napalm bombs and hellfire missiles to attack and destroy their enemies, and in the process, very often, take lives of innocent non-combatant civilians. And as they openly rain fire, they send in hired assassins to take care of their adversaries' leadership.

EDITORIAL (March 17, 2010): What Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif said on Sunday does not behove a politician aspiring to be a national leader. Pointing out what he considered to be a common cause between the Taliban and his own party, he said both had opposed Musharraf. And since the party is in the driving seat in Punjab, the Taliban should desist from targeting the province.

EDITORIAL (March 17, 2010): During the first ten months of the current fiscal year, the federal government was able to release only 38 percent of its budgetary commitment to the Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda) for power projects.

EDITORIAL (March 17, 2010): Monday was the World Consumer Rights Day; its theme for this year, "Our Money, Our Rights". Except for some small NGO generated activity the day passed quietly. The newspapers did not carry special supplements nor did the government ministers address special meetings to mark the day, as is customary on so many other occasions.

EDITORIAL (March 16, 2010): The government and the State Bank of Pakistan have been taking a number of measures to increase the flow of home remittances in the country through banking channels. This is deemed necessary to improve the balance of payments of the country and discourage the use of informal channels for the purpose. Thankfully, such efforts have yielded handsome gains in the form of a substantial rise in home remittances in the recent period.