Abbas Hasan

Civil engineer columnist. The Keyboard is mightier than the pen

[Abbas Hasan @A3bbasHasan]

The website https://t.co/qxEB4cRUtf is live it is aimed at students of politics and journalists.
It captures all election data from ECP from 1988-2018 in a relational database that can be queried
Best viewed on a desktop it has three components
Election results per constituency

[Asad Ali Toor @AsadAToor]

🚨🚨MashAllah MashAllah🚨🚨
An ASI along police constables was standing in a Chowk of Rahim Yar Khan and “heard” some people on a tea hotel discussing they abused Govt officials on @Tiktok__PK, the ASI took out his mobile searched the names and found their videos and registered FIR against them 👏👏

[Abbas Hasan @A3bbasHasan]

@sajjadmustafa You are not including 4,800 MW of Rlng by Punjab during Pml-n

[Yousuf Nazar @YousufNazar]

It is time for the PPP to leave the coalition and distance itself from the PML-N—if it retains even a fraction of its past democratic conscience.

The Punjab Control of Habitual Offenders and Anti-Social Behaviour Bill, 2026, is one of the most dangerous pieces of legislation proposed in Pakistan in recent years. It gives executive committees dominated by police and intelligence officials the power to brand citizens as "habitual offenders" or "anti-social" and punish them without first securing a criminal conviction.

The powers are breathtaking. Bank accounts can be frozen. Property can be attached. Electronic devices can be seized. Electronic surveillance can be imposed. Travel documents can be restricted. Social media accounts and online content can be targeted. None of this requires the state to prove guilt beyond reasonable doubt in a court of law before these sanctions take effect.

The danger lies not only in the powers themselves but in who exercises them. The committees are empowered to decide what constitutes "anti-social behaviour." Alongside organised crime and drug offences, the bill includes vague offences such as spreading "misinformation," using abusive language in public and causing annoyance. Worse still, it allows the executive to expand these categories through subordinate legislation. Citizens can be sanctioned on the basis of intelligence reports, police records or repeated arrests—even where no court has ever found them guilty of any offence.

This is not the rule of law. It is rule by executive discretion. In plain, it is goonda raj by SHO of local police station.

The bill allows the executive not merely to investigate alleged wrongdoing but to impose severe penalties before guilt has been established by an independent court. Judicial oversight is reduced largely to reviewing executive action after the damage has already been done.

No democratic government should be asking Parliament for powers of this magnitude. They undermine the presumption of innocence, weaken due process and concentrate extraordinary authority in bodies that are neither independent nor accountable in the way courts are. The inevitable result will be selective enforcement, political abuse and the chilling of dissent.

The PPP once stood for constitutionalism, civil liberties and resistance to authoritarian rule. If those principles still mean anything, it cannot remain in a coalition advancing legislation that places such sweeping powers in the hands of the executive.

Silence would make it complicit.

[Margot Cleveland @ProfMJCleveland]

BREAKING — United Kingdom begins annual ritual of picking a Prime Minister that is worse than the last one.

[#JoySports @JoySportsGH]

England were lucky VAR went for coffee. A penalty should have been awarded to Ghana - Carlos Queiroz

#JoySports

[Lucca @Kwameaboagye_]

VAR doesn’t exist when African teams play. FIFA is so shameless

[Micky Jnr @MickyJnr__]

Miguel Almirón covered his mouth and was shown a red card, plus an additional one-match suspension. ❌🇵🇾

Meanwhile, Jude Bellingham covered his mouth against Ghana but walked away without a red. 🤔🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

Same action, different outcomes… interesting debate on consistency in decision-making at this World Cup.

#WorldCupwithMicky
#FIFAWorldCup

[Sir Norman of Nowhere. 🏴‍☠️ @Normanjam67]

A collection of clips of Labour MP's condoning genocide.
Never forget, never forget.

[Neena Jha @DrNeenaJha]

Andy Burnham…

🚩Joined Labour Friends of Israel in 2015

🚩Said the first place he’d visit as leader would be Israel

🚩Refused to call what’s happening in Gaza a genocide

🚩Opposes the BDS movement calling it “spiteful”

The players change, but the game stays the same

[Jeremy Corbyn @jeremycorbyn]

Keir Starmer could have ended child poverty, homelessness and the grotesque levels of inequality in this country.

Instead, he abandoned those in need, destroyed our civil liberties and facilitated genocide in Gaza.

That is how this Prime Minister will be remembered - and that is the legacy of moral and political bankruptcy he leaves behind.

The crises in our society are not going away. Neither are we - and we will keep fighting for a more equal, peaceful and dignified society for all.

[S.A.S @ssasb_]

Simply means more expensive energy after privatization. IPPs & capacity payments all over again.

[Abbas Hasan @A3bbasHasan]

@Real_MZubair Especially if one can't predict future power loads due to potential proliferation of solar energy and battery storage this is absurd.

[Nilofer Afridi Qazi 🇵🇰🇵🇸🇮🇪 @ninoqazi]

pakistan needs to focus inwards ( for a change and 1st time) the number of jokers and seriously incompetent at every decision making position, is beyond dangerous. 250 m half below the poverty line the other fuming and a bunch of insane dancing in ivory towers patting each other, while everything and everyone is collapsing. #unsustainable

[Samina Pasha @pasha_samina]

آئی ٹی منسٹر شزا فاطمہ نے جس قسم کا بل اسمبلی سے پاس کروایا ہے۔، اس پر نہ صرف ان سے استعفی لینا چاہئے بلکہ سب سے پہلا ٹاور ان کے گھر میں نصب کرنا چاہئے۔ ایسی بے وقوف عورتیں وزیر بنا کر مسلط کر دی ہیں!

[Yousuf Nazar @YousufNazar]

While the IT Ministry clarifies that Right of Way does not mean forced possession, the bill’s actual text tells a different story.

Section 27A explicitly covers private property, including individually owned land and housing societies. It introduces “deemed approval” if there is no response to a request. More importantly, Section 27B allows fines of up to Rs 5 crore on owners who obstruct or delay access.

This is not standard Right of Way reform. In Europe, telecom operators must negotiate fairly and pay proper compensation. They don’t get special powers backed by heavy penalties on citizens. Better connectivity is important, but it should not come by weakening citizens’ constitutional right to their private property. The cost of securing access is a normal part of doing business — it should not be shifted onto citizens through coercive legislation.
@KlasraRauf @PalwashaKhan18 @MoitOfficial

[Yousuf Nazar @YousufNazar]

The government is now offering 14-15% guaranteed base returns (up to 20% via KPIs) to buyers of Fesco, Gepco and Iesco. This risks repeating the core IPP mistake: high fixed returns that cannot be sustained.

Piecemeal privatisation will likely see private operators cherry-pick profitable urban segments while rural and high-loss networks remain neglected by the state. Fragmented ownership cannot mobilise the scale of investment or enable unified planning required for nationwide grid modernisation and system-wide loss reduction. Success demands a more integrated national approach to distribution before any transfer of ownership.

[Amir Husain @amirhusain_tx]

Honored to be in such great company, and may this list grow to a hundred!

[Profit @Profitpk]

Pakistan’s electricity costs Rs 58 per unit, more than twice the level in India and Bangladesh. The gap is weakening exports, slowing economic growth, worsening poverty, and leaving the country increasingly dependent on loans and remittances.

The roots lie in power policies that added over 10,000 megawatts of imported-fuel generation under dollar-linked take-or-pay contracts. High capacity charges and fuel prices have pushed combined power and gas circular debt to Rs 5.2 trillion.

Consumers and businesses are responding. Pakistan now has rising solar installations, with about 8,000 to 10,000 megawatts added each year. Around one in eight households has solar, while industries are investing in battery storage.

A solar-centred grid, backed by storage, indigenous energy and advanced distribution management, could cut electricity prices to 26.6 rupees per unit and save billions yearly. But the scale, cost and politics of this transition remain unresolved.
https://t.co/0bUTm0A0Rb

[Adnan Adil @adnanaadil]

پاکستان اس لیے وجود میں نہیں آیا تھا کہ کروڑوں مسلمان غیر انسانی اور ذلت آمیز حالات میں زندگی گزاریں جبکہ ایک چھوٹا سا طبقہ ملکی پیداوار اور دولت پر قابض ہو جائے اور اس کے ثمرات سے لطف اندوز ہو۔ موجودہ حالات غیر اخلاقی اور غیر اسلامی ہیں۔

[Miftah Ismail @MiftahIsmail]

Poverty in Pakistan today is higher than in a decade. Unemployment is higher than in 2 decades. Share of investment over the last three years is lower than in 6 decades. Inflation in the last 4 years has been higher than even in our history. Also the first time we have not even crossed 4% GDP growth in 4 years and first time that after four years per capita income is lower than before. This is the record of the last four years of Mian Shehbaz Sharif’s government.

This budget makes some corrections from the Dar budget of 23/24 like putting surcharge on salary income or putting super tax on all companies including exporters. But the highest bracket on salary is still 35% and because of inflation-induced salary increase people are still paying a lot more. Salaried class paid Rs 600 bn this year and after a “relief” of Rs 50 bn will pay Rs 700 bn next year. Super tax on 8% still remains.

Does this budget change our government priorities? Will it bring about growth? Will it bring more investment? Will it reduce unemployment or poverty? As a Pakistani I hope very much that happens. But as an economist, I don’t think this budget is what was needed at this time and will not bring about improvement in our economy.

What we have painfully learned from the past is that just as PPP and development in Sindh are incompatible, similarly Mian Shehbaz Sharif’s statist economic vision and economic growth are incompatible.