His writings kindle the joy of reading “If ever we could give a name to the literary humour of our time, then the only name that comes to mind is that of Yusufi!” — Ibn-e-Insha A glorious era of Urdu literature came to an end on June 21 when Mushtaq Ahmad Yousufi, the most celebrated and acclaimed Urdu humourist and …

The higher education sector has been under serious crisis for the last several years. Over the last decade, the procedures introduced by the Higher Education Commission (HEC) have become overly bureaucratic and overly intrusive in university affairs. The HEC Ordinance clearly lays down what the commission can or cannot do. Universities must remain autonomous, governed by their own statutory bodies …

ISLAMABAD: At present, political parties are defining and refining their agendas or manifestoes. Normally before elections, they are more attentive and keen to listen and later too busy or content to listen. Hence, we would like to identify some of the most required issues and priorities for their consideration. The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) government accomplished a number of things …

“Politics is an art and not a science, and what is required for its mastery is not the rationality of the engineer but the wisdom and the moral strength of the statesman.” ― Hans J. Morgenthau In 1948, noted political scientist Hans J. Morgenthau published his famous book “Politics Among Nations: The Struggle for Power and Peace”. This classic text, …

The dispute revolves around a hydroelectric power plant on the Kishanganga River, which is a tributary of the Jhelum and is known as Neelum in Pakistan. On May 19, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the project – which includes a dam on the tributary – barely metres away from the Line of Control in the disputed Kashmir region. The …

In its 1993 report on what it called East Asia’s “miracle economies,” the World Bank identified two reasons for the remarkable economic success of these countries. The state played an important role by guiding private enterprise into the areas of manufacturing in which there was a growing global demand. The second reason was the opening of the world trade system. …

We often hear the term mainstreaming in contemporary public discourse in Pakistan. Most often the term mainstreaming is used for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata), Balochistan and other remote regions of the country and their residents. The idea and motive behind using the term mainstreaming in public discourse is to bring the above-mentioned regions and their inhabitants on a …

On May 29, the outgoing PML-N government unveiled the National Internal Security Policy (NISP) 2018-23 to address terrorism, extremism and other crimes effectively. The new policy, which is the continuation of the NISP 2014-18, has ascertained Daesh as the biggest national security threat to Pakistan by saying that “[t]he emergence of Daesh in close proximity to Pakistan has raised new …

Good governance is commonly understood to embody the characteristics of accountable, transparent, participatory, responsive, effective, and efficient; to minimize corruption; to take into account the views of minorities; and finally, and perhaps most importantly, to follow the rule of law. This paper presents and examines governance issues related to the privatization of state-owned enterprises (SOEs). JUDICIAL RESTRAINT: ACTIVISM OR ADVENTURISM? …

If Iran chooses to ramp up its nuclear capabilities quickly and provocatively, it will increase incentives for others in the region, particularly Saudi Arabia, to try to match them. Robert Einhorn An Introduction Robert Einhorn is a senior fellow in the Arms Control and Non-Proliferation Initiative and the Center for 21st Century Security and Intelligence, both housed within the Foreign …