Article 19 of the Constitution of Pakistan gives the guidelines under which the press is supposed to function in Pakistan. This article says: Media is the fourth pillar of state. It is the institution that disseminates information on the latest happenings across the globe. Owing to its multifarious functions, especially being an opinion maker, the media has to dig out …

Renowned scholar Stanley Wolpert paying very high tributes to Quaid-i-Azam said: ‘Few individuals significantly alter the course of history. Fewer still modify the map of the world. Hardly anyone can be credited with creating a nation-state.  Mohammad Ali Jinnah did all three. Hailed as ‘Great Leader’ (Quaid-i-Azam) of Pakistan and its first governor-general, Jinnah virtually conjured that country into statehood …

23 March, 1940 is a milestone in the political history of the Subcontinent as on this very day, the Lahore Resolution, which served as an impetus to the creation of Pakistan, was passed. This resolution gained a wide currency and importance when the Hindu press disdainfully declared it ‘Pakistan Resolution.’ The motive behind this act of Hindu-dominated press was to …

In 2008, the spot price of US-produced natural gas was $12/mmBTU. In 2012, the spot price crashed to less than $2/mmBTU before rebounding to around $4/mmBTU in 2013. According to The Economist, ‘The biggest breakthrough the energy industry has seen in decades, hydraulic fracturing combined with horizontal drilling, has released unprecedented quantities of gas from this shale.’ Over the past …

Water scarcity and energy security are the two major challenges being faced by Pakistan nowadays. There is a symbiotic relationship between water and energy as they are interdependent because the water sector uses a lot of energy while the energy sector makes the lifeline of water sector. Therefore, a ‘water policy’ does not mean only to ensure the access of …

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, in his maiden address to the nation on August 19, declared that he had always given high priority to good relations with India for the sake of durable peace in the region and the nation has endorsed this standpoint during the recent elections. The Premier went on to say that ‘it is the responsibly for the …

The year 2013 marked the transition for Pakistan in all dimensions; may it be the new leadership in Islamabad or the country’s relations with India and the US. Pakistan’s focus and concentration has always been towards its foreign relations, and the chronology of the events evidently manifests that nothing is more imperative to any Pakistani government than its agenda for …

Constitution of Pakistan binds all the provincial governments to have a local government system and hold their elections for a period as laid down by the constitution. But here the question arises whether any mode of local government system has answer to the problems of governance in Pakistan or not. There is a basic flaw in understanding what was missing …

Historically, the Balochistan region consisted of the current province of Balochistan in Pakistan, Sistan and Baluchestan province in Iran and some area in Afghanistan. Today, Balochistan is the largest province of Pakistan by occupying 43% of its total area. In 1947, Balochistan comprised four princely states namely Makran, Lasbela, Kharan and Kalat. The first three states opted to accede to …

Pakistan is back in the arms of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), having stayed out of them for just over a couple of years. By way of a letter of intent dispatched to Washington, Islamabad has formally requested the institution to come up with another programme. We need to understand this new approach to the Fund in the historical context. …