There are many reasons to believe that the people of Pakistan are undergoing their most wonderful age. They are convinced and they are confused, both at the same time. They can think of their country as heading toward ‘secure’ state – sort of – where peace prevails, where the monstrous scale of terrorism ultimately goes down and where we all …

“I face the world as it is, and cannot stand idle in the face of threats to the American people” are the words President Obama expounded in a move to reflect upon his 2009 decision of committing additional troops to Afghanistan while delivering his acceptance speech for the Nobel Peace Prize. Notwithstanding the criticism from civil society and media, the …

Einstein, once reached by Grenville Clark of Dublin and asked, “Dr Einstein, why is it that when the mind of man has stretched so far as to discover the structure of the atom we have been unable to devise the political means to keep the atom from destroying us?” The sage physicist replied: “That is simple my friend: because politics …

“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere”, said Martin Luther King Jr. The assertion goes parallel to the emerging global momentum on protecting and promoting human rights the world over. Greater emphasis on values and ideas based on justice, freedom and wider choices and opportunities available to people, hold key to the dynamics of contemporary global political and security …

Notwithstanding the degree, encountering confrontations and waging wars with varying actors involved within and without the territorial borders of states remained the most unfortunate fact in the history of international relations. While the patterns of confrontation in the Cold War era, especially during the heightened period of insecurities, were divided by the dictates and rivalry of the two power blocs; …

“I can’t, it is impossible,” said a foiled lieutenant, to Alexander. “Begone,” shouted the conquering Macedonian, “there is nothing impossible to him who will try.” Indeed, nothing is impossible before the resolute strength of the indomitable will. It is this will and tenacity of the purpose alone that help men extract freedom from subservience, accomplishments from failures, successes from misfortunes, …

The Rosa Parks for the 21st Century A Must-read for Gender Studies Students “I strongly believe that the rights bestowed on women by Islam are more than enough.” Hailing from a remote area of Muzaffargarh district of the Punjab province and belonging to a humble family background, Mukhtaran Mai is an epitome of extraordinary courage, resilience and fortitude. She became …

“We must remember that any oppression, any injustice, any hatred is a wedge designed to attack our civilization”  (Franklin D. Roosevelt) What have been the costs of war on terrorism in human and economic terms? How has the war changed the social and political landscape of the countries where it has been waged? What is likely to be the long-term …

Bigotry settled in India as nowhere else. Many of Modi’s predecessors in BJP were, in fact, as bellicose as he is. Following is the text of a letter written by A. B. Vajpayee to the then US President Bill Clinton in the aftermath of the 1998 nuclear tests upon the lines of which he combined guile with statecraft. He wrote, …

While acknowledging the fact that the impacts of colonialism, whether of positive or of negative implications, on Muslim world are, by the degree of their complexity and more importantly because of the intensity of the involved intricacy, are easy to describe and hard to measure; however, here, it would be a sheer injustice on our part if we deprive the …