2011

China’s place in the global economy is such that other nations must adapt to this situation. China’s triumph in overtaking Japan as the world’s number two economy masks a worrisome over-reliance on exports and investment, and lagging social development, analysts said. Japan lost its 42-year hold on the second spot behind the United States in 2010, according to full-year data …

Ben Ali was only the second ruler the Tunisians had known in 53 years of independence from France. The word Tunisia is derived from Tunis, known to the Ancient Greeks as Tynes, the capital city of modern-day Tunisia. The name Tunis can be attributed to different origins. It may be associated with the Phoenician goddess Tanith, or to the Berber …

An interview with Dr. Farooq Hasnat, a scholar and an expert on ME affairs Uprising is not a usual thing to happen in the Middle East. People of this region have been seldom seen coming out on the streets to protest against the government or any institution. Egypt saw this happening. In the span of only 18 days the power …

History bears witness to the fact that in case of most of the revolutions, those poor and middle class people, who made these revolutions possible by their sweat and blood, were marginalized and the revolutions were highjacked by some other opportunists and power seekers. By the time Nelson Mandela finally came out of prison, after more than a quarter of …

Could it be that the uprising in Tunisia is the harbinger of an alternative for other Arab countries? It is extremely difficult to write about an ongoing event such as the Tunisian uprising (now called a revolution) since struggles of these kind tear asunder the certainties of the past and split open a future pregnant with several possibilities. While it …

Diplomatic immunity is not meant to benefit individuals personally; it is meant to ensure that foreign officials can do their jobs. As if we did not have enough problems at hand, here we are sunk in yet another self-made crisis over a former US special forces soldier ‘on contract’ with Department of Defence sent on a ‘special mission’ to Pakistan …

NATIONAL January 19 The Supreme Court releases the detailed judgment on petitions against the National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO). 21  Overcoming conservative opposition for years, the National Assembly unanimously passed a landmark bill to punish harassment of women at workplaces, though last-minute amendments extended the protection also to men as an apparent compromise. 23    The second Chinese-built F-22P frigate commissioned in Shanghai …

At Cancun the process of international negotiations to tackle the challenge of climate change was brought back on track. It salvaged the talks between developed and developing countries from total failure. The Conference started with low expectations and it delivered more than expected. Although, the harder questions like future of Kyoto Protocol, Term of Reference for the Adaptation Committee, mechanism …

Current Pakistan National Affairs Agreement reached on Tapi gas pipeline: The leaders of Pakistan, Afghanistan, India and Turkmenistan agreed on December 11 to move forward with a complicated and risky plan to build a natural gas pipeline across rugged territory plagued by war and terrorism.     The pipeline, which would terminate in India, would bring huge amounts of gas …

Being Muslim, it is obligatory for us to accept wholeheartedly all the tenets/laws of Islam. Islam has ordained three kinds of punishments namely Hadd, Qisas and Tazir for different offences and crimes subject to fulfillment of certain prerequisites. Hadd is an Arabic word which literally means limit and its plural is Hudood. According to Islamic law, Hadd means those punishments …