October 2020

Rise of Populism and Frightening Prospects of World War-3 After World War II, the world became bipolar, with the United States supporting liberal democracy and the USSR being the torch-bearer of communism. In their Cold War, both states were, in pursuit of power and alliances, investing in new democracies financially and diplomatically. The Cold War ended with the fall of …

Quest for Peace in Afghanistan Afghanistan is notoriously difficult to conquer, primarily due to three factors. First, it is situated at the crossroads of South Asia, East Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. It has been invaded many times and is settled by a plethora of tribes, many mutually antagonistic and hostile to each other and outsiders. Second, due …

Zaheer Ud Din Babar 2nd in Punjab, PMS 2018-19 Jahangir’s World Times (JWT): First of all, please tell us about your educational background? Zaheer Ud Din Babar (ZDB): I hail from Kasur. I completed my early studies from schools in my hometown till matriculation.  Later on, I got admission to Government College University (GCU), Lahore. Finally, I did B.A (Hons) …

India-China Geopolitical Contest The term ‘strategic stability’ is many a time used totally out of context due to which its misplaced use creates confusion and further misperceptions. For instance, a US Department of Defense 2010 report titled as ‘Nuclear Posture Review Report (2010)’used terms like ‘stable’, ‘stability’ and ‘instability’ more than 70 times. But a cautious study of the Report …

Perils of Unfettered Social Media A daunting challenge we must mount Qasim Dhillon In 2017, a research conducted in 33 countries revealed that Facebook-owned platforms reached 86 percent of their internet-users between the ages of 16 and 64. If not the internet itself, these platforms effectively acted as a gateway to the internet there. Today, by all means, outreach of …

Convergence or Divergence Intra-Afghan Dialogue at a Decisive Point Mairaj ul Hamid Nasri Saturday, September 12, 2020 will be considered a momentous day in the history of the world, especially that of the United States and Afghanistan, and South Asia, for that matter. It was the historic day when the Afghan government and the Taliban began peace talks in the …

Feudalism in Pakistan How to eradicate the menace Amjad Ali Feudal system has almost disappeared from the face of the earth, but it still exists in Pakistan. The feudal lords are the prominent members of our society. The culture in the feudal lordship system is diametrically opposed to the Islamic norms and values, and democracy. Feudalism, in the case of …

In Conversation with Muhammad Hamza Abbas (PAS) 13th in Pakistan, CSS 2019-20   Jahangir’s World Times (JWT): First of all, please tell us about your educational background? Muhammad Hamza Abbas (MHA): I did my O-levels from SICAS Lahore, A-Levels from Lahore Grammar School (LGS) and Bachelors from University of Engineering and Technology (UET), Lahore, in Environmental Engineering.   JWT: Since …