Within an hour of the assassination of the Russian ambassador to Turkey by an off-duty policeman there was speculation that the event would create a set of consequences similar to that which arose after the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand in Sarajevo. Gavrilo Princip was catalytic in the triggering of World War One. Mevlut Mert Altıntas, an officer in Ankara’s riot …

By Imtiaz Gul The writer heads the independent Centre for Research and Security Studies, Islamabad and is author of Pakistan: Pivot of Hizbut Tahrir’s Global Caliphate In a controversial move, the Sindh government has the police chief A D Khwaja home following his apparent refusal to play second fiddle to it as well as admission of failure in “good governance” …

By Harris Khalique Part – I Side-effect One’s view is primarily that of a creative writer. But since one’s interests straddle history, politics, culture and society, there is an inherent compulsion to comment on issues that surround us. At times, one feels like – to paraphrase Milan Kundera – a hedonist trapped in an intensely political world. The compulsion to comment …

By Atta-ur-Rahman Amazing innovations are transforming our world at a mind-boggling pace. They are disrupting economies as conventional technologies recede into the past and are replaced by new products and processes. I will give examples from a few fields. Biotechnology involves the application of living systems or organisms to make products. It has been used in the production of golden rice …

By Amna Shafqat Developing countries such as Pakistan are struggling with a limited amount of finances to respond to the damaging effects of climate change. The surmounting risks posed by climate change and race against time to achieve the below-two-degrees Celsius target means that our progress is subject to a considerable amount of financial aid flow from developed countries. Therefore, climate …

Anjum Altaf The result of the most recent examination for the Central Superior Services (CSS) — in which around 10,000 candidates appeared and 200 passed — has elicited much commentary. Most of it, a lament on the falling standard of education, has been predictable. A different perspective is more intriguing: it lauds the examination for being meritocratic and so rigorous …

Dr Niaz Murtaza ISLAM does not belong in Europe, says the far right there. But such views consist only of rhetoric. Rational debates must review Islamic views on specific Western ideals, eg, democracy, to see whether it is more alien to Western ideals than other faiths. Let’s begin with democracy, the finest Western ideal. As I wrote in Dawn (‘Democracy …

Shamila Mahmood LAST week, the World Bank temporarily halted the process for appointment of chairman of a court of arbitration requested by Pakistan and a neutral expert requested by India to allow the two sides to resolve issues concerning the Kishenganga and Ratle hydroelectric projects in an amicable manner. It briefly explained that the action had been taken to ‘protect’ …

By Dr Ziauddin An education policy provides guidelines for strategies to be formulated and for action to be taken in the field of education. After independence of the country, a meeting on education was held in Karachi from  November 27 to  December 1, 1947. Besides setting up educational institutions in the country, the ideological basis of education was also discussed. …

By Rizwan Asghar Authoritarian regimes in many countries often take decisions that prove to be disastrous for the political and economic well-being of millions of their citizens. In some instances, these decisions are even opposed by rational human minds, but are hardly considered baffling. This is because everyone believes that the ultimate goal for all totalitarian governments is to remain …