That most Pakistani marriages – over three-fourths – are not unions of equality for women is borne out again by a new study about perspectives and practices related to their civic registration and enforcement of rights.

Media headlines in Pakistan these days predict doomsday daily. It is not far-fetched. The Supreme Court is coming apart at the seams with its 15 members now evenly split over how to adjudicate a ballooning political crisis that itself has divided Pakistan into bitter polarization.

Politics is messy even at the best of times in Pakistan, but it is treading bitter territory these days with an alarming uptick in the number of politicians, journalists and activists charged with sedition for airing criticism against generals, politicians, judges and clerics.

This is election year in Pakistan. The battle-lines are drawn. There is a lot of noise ahead of the political showdown and even by local standards of chaos, polarization hasn’t ever been this bad.