The Government of Pakistan is on a borrowing spree these days and the country seems to be a favourite borrower among the multilateral financial institutions too. The most recent package came from the World Bank Group which approved an assistance programme of one billion dollars on 2nd May, 2014 to support Pakistan’s economic reforms. The package consists of two Development …

Pakistan has earned quite a few unenviable distinctions. It now ranks high among the most corrupt countries, is a place where human rights are least protected and the media finds its freedom slipping from its hands. That it is also one of the three ‘the other two being Cameroon and war-torn Syria’ who ‘export’ poliovirus to other countries through their …

The BJP-led coalition, as expected, got a landslide victory mainly because of the anti-incumbency vote but the size of the victory that Narendra Modi has scored is startling, 282 seats for the BJP and 336 for the NDA ‘ the BJP-led coalition. For the first time since 1984, a single political party has secured a majority enabling it to govern without …

The UN brings together 193 countries in allegedly shared aims: ‘to maintain international security, to develop friendly relations between nations, to co-operate in solving problems and promote human rights’. In June 1945 representatives of 50 countries met to draw up a United Nations charter. The UN officially came into existence on 24 October 1945, with 51 member states. The major …

Former UK Prime Minister and current Middle East Peace Envoy, Tony Blair, recently took time out of his busy schedule as a consultant and advisor to oil corporations, financial institutions, and various governments to give a speech in London. The setting for this speech was the European headquarters of Bloomberg ‘the US business and financial news information conglomerate’ and the …

The misperceptions and misconceptions regarding the safety and security at Nuclear Power Plants (NPP) have given birth to several counter debates among the nuclear energy supporters and anti-nuclear energy lobby within Pakistan. The subject needs to shed light on the rationality of anti-nuclear activists’ concerns and anxiety that the power plants are not working under appropriately stringent security arrangement. Has …

Chinese President Xi Jinping, in his visit to Kazakhstan in September 2013, called for joint development of an ‘Economic Belt’ along the Silk Road. The proposal has been enthusiastically received both at home and abroad. The ‘Belt’ initiative is the continuation and development of the spirit of the ancient Silk Road. Over 2,000 years ago, the industrious and brave people …

The third Nuclear Security Summit was held on March 24-25, 2014, at The Hague, Netherlands, whereby 53 countries showed their commitment to effectively control illegal proliferation of nuclear and radioactive materials. This summit was in line with the previous two held in Washington DC (2010), and Seoul (2012) to safeguard the world against nuclear terrorism. Let’s analyse the objectives of …

At the League of Arab States’ (LAS) 25th summit, leaders gathered in Kuwait to address perennial concerns, ranging from the lingering Palestinian-Israeli dispute, to the more recent Arab uprisings and the devastating civil war in Syria. Inasmuch as significant differences remained, the delegates had considered not issuing a final communiqu’, although cooler heads prevailed and one was duly read out …

Ukraine, the terra incognita, once made world headlines in 1986 under Soviet rule, when the Chernobyl nuclear disaster claimed scores of dead, and thousands more suffered the long-term effects of nuclear radiation. This time, following political turmoil and the subsequent invasion and annexation of Crimea by Russian forces, Ukraine’s media infamy is part of a much larger situation. Though independent …