Stories by Umair Javed
Umair Javed teaches politics and sociology at Lums. Find him on Twitter @umairjav
In a world already characterised by the deskilling of labour, people rendered jobless by a machine (or the threat of a machine) won’t suddenly find alternative employment.
Updated 28 Sep, 2026 08:46am
In domains of extraction, there is an urgent need to reduce discretion and fragmentation of state authority, perhaps even with the use of automated structures in whatever form.
Updated 14 Sep, 2026 08:54am
The discourse in Pakistan needs to take cognisance of what it hopes to primarily achieve through decentralisation.
Updated 31 Aug, 2026 08:17am
The demands of newly empowered groups have been actualised due to the fragmentation of state authority.
Updated 17 Aug, 2026 07:48am
Beyond the protection of geographic boundaries, what other objectives do limits on individual liberty serve?
Updated 03 Aug, 2026 08:37am
We’re stuck in a doom-loop of low growth, recurrent stabilisation, and half-hearted attempts at poverty alleviation.
Updated 20 Jul, 2026 07:39am
A plethora of legislation is tightening or extending executive control over a range of social and governance aspects
Published 06 Jul, 2026 07:03am
Domestically, football has the potential of being a truly national sport in the country.
Updated 22 Jun, 2026 07:55am
All one can fear is a familiar accounting exercise that aims to extract a few more rupees from a narrow, weary economic base.
Updated 08 Jun, 2026 08:59am
Any serious and sustained interrogation of the Pakistani state’s cultural politics would inevitably bring the tension between projected identity and geography to the surface.
Updated 25 May, 2026 08:35am
In the current moment, emerging multipolarity is actually strengthening the status quo in both politics and economics.
Updated 11 May, 2026 08:33am
If ethnic identities were perennial status groups, such assimilation would be considerably harder.
Updated 02 Mar, 2026 09:33am
The government’s fixation on net-metering is a red herring.
Updated 16 Feb, 2026 09:52am
The government’s fixation on net-metering is a red herring.
Updated 16 Feb, 2026 09:26am
Curious about what the adoption of AI will herald, many students are concerned with their own personal futures.
Updated 02 Feb, 2026 09:27am
There is no straightforward path to growth that doesn’t see us back to square one in a year or so.
Updated 19 Jan, 2026 09:20am
Inflation may have subsided since 2024 but dynamism in the economy is still missing.
Updated 05 Jan, 2026 09:44am
Ilyas Chattha’s new book shows how formal ideals of citizenship run afoul of political exigencies and nationalist ideologies
Updated 22 Dec, 2025 08:53am
A public festival such as Basant remains an important corrective, even if it only lasts a weekend.
Updated 08 Dec, 2025 09:06am
The current configuration of governance is not too dissimilar to what the British envisioned in the early 20th century.
Updated 24 Nov, 2025 09:43am
