By: Osama Rizvi A Blueprint for Much-needed Reforms With a $313bn economy (as per the latest 2018 figures released by the State Bank of Pakistan), Pakistan is a country that has undergone a panoply of changes during the recent years. The year 2016 was the annus mirabilis as the stock market yielded a mouth-watering return of 46 percent. Besides this, …

By: Sarfraz Saroya A Quick Guide In every country around the world, fiscal or budgetary constraints have seen the governments adopt supplementary and innovative approaches to infrastructure provisioning and funding, away from the traditional role of the government as the only infrastructure service-provider, to include the expertise and finance of the private sector. One such measure is Public-Private Partnership which …

By: Ahmad Zubair The term foreign policy is defined as a set of political goals that illustrates the interaction of a country with the rest of the world. Attaining and protecting national interest, national security, ideological goals and economic prosperity constitute the primary focus of foreign policy of a state at the international level. In particular, the goal of US foreign …

By: Sina Azodi Is It Meant to Start a War? Much indicates that the likely murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi will be transformative for Saudi-US relations. But whether it will affect the one issue where Saudi pressure on the United States was the greatest – Iran – is unclear. The Iran strategy favoured by Saudi Arabia and the Netanyahu …

By: Ammara Ilyas The focus of the world’s diplomacy is on two areas. Russian President Putin’s annexation of Crimea, and his perceived ‘new’ expansionism of foreign policy – on behalf of a state that is still massively nuclear-armed. The other area is the Middle East, with the turmoil caused by the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS); and with …

By: Abdul Rasool Syed The Muslim world is currently facing a plethora of myriad internal and external challenges. As for the internal challenges, it is marked with deep social, political and sectarian cleavages and also the ever-burgeoning economic blues. Externally, the most daunting, pervasive challenge that the Islamic world is confronted with today is the mushrooming islamophobia. Anti-Islam lobbyists have …

By: Rajesh Kumar Goyal Give Peace a Chance! Afghanistan, a country often referred to as the graveyard of empires, has never been in peace. Throughout its long history, the country has always witnessed mayhem, bloodshed and chaos. The Afghan war of 1979 and the US-led global war on terror in the aftermath of 9/11 episode have virtually sent the country …

By: Rokhana Riaz Long-term consistency trumps short-term intensity Over the time, scholars, philosophers and all the great people have tried to unveil the secrets of success. It is not, therefore, astounding to know that consistency is one of the fundamental ingredients of success. It is the ability to commit yourself completely to your goals, without any distractions and interruptions. Consistency …

By: Sarfraz Saroya ‘Plant for Pakistan’ and other possible avenues While Pakistan is facing multifarious challenges like a sagging economy, depleting foreign exchange reserves and a skyrocketing trade deficit, there is another serious problem which will put Imran Khan’s cabinet in real trouble: climate change. When he unveiled his party’s 100-day plan for the country in May 2018, he showed …

By: Qurat ul Ain Aman In the Context of Pakistan Being a developing country, Pakistan is grappling with a number of issues at present. These issues are not just limited to the social sector but also include economic and political domains. Strenuous efforts are being put in, both by the government and the private sector, to bring prosperity to the …