June 2013

China and India are known for their manufacturing and service Industries. The hunger to move up in the innovation cycle is seen in both. However, the lesson of the history is that you cannot get your economies right if you do not get your Politics right. Pakistan has been a serious victim of bad governance, ethnic rivalries, absence of rule …

Pakistan is mired in an acute energy crisis’ one with immense implications for both the nation’s floundering economy and its volatile security situation. According to some estimates, energy shortages have cost the country up to 4% of GDP over the past few years. They have also forced the closure of hundreds of factories including more than five hundred alone in …

Balochistan is the largest of the four provinces of Pakistan and is spread over an area of 347,190 Sq. Kms, forming 43.6 per cent of country’s total area. Though it’s the largest province In terms of area, it has clustered population and is smallest in terms of population. Geography Quetta is the capital city of Balochistan. The province is divided …

Human trafficking is a form of modern-day slavery, and involves the use of force, fraud, or coercion to exploit human beings for some type of labor or commercial sex purpose. Every year, millions of men, women, and children worldwide’ including in Pakistan’ become victims of human trafficking. Today remittances of Pakistani expatriates hover around US$ 13-14 billion which accounts for …

2013 Elections have brought to light many firsts in Pakistan. Firstly, there was an independent and impartial Election Commission that conducted the general elections. Secondly, a caretaker setup, to ensure free, fair and transparent elections, was installed through a constitutional process. We are also heading towards a first-ever civilian transition. Since the general elections 1970, seven general elections ‘1985, 1988, …

Exclusive Interview with Noam Chomsky on Pakistan Elections Professor Emeritus at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Noam Chomsky, is without doubt the most widely heard and read public intellectual alive today. Although trained in linguistics, he has written on and extensively critiqued a wide range of topics, including US foreign policy, mainstream media discourses and anarchist philosophy. Professor Chomsky, …

As the election dust settles and political landscape becomes clearer, allegations and counter allegations of rigging are cropping up. Some parties are demanding recount of votes in certain constituencies while some want fresh polls to be held in Karachi and some other parts of the country. Media spotlight on instances of rigging has further intensified the debate whether elections were …

In the United States, the dominant narrative about the use of drones in Pakistan is of a surgically precise and effective tool that makes the US safer by enabling ‘targeted killing’ of terrorists, with minimal downsides or collateral impacts. This narrative is false. Real threats to US security and to Pakistani civilians exist in the Pakistani border areas now targeted …

The latest book entitled ‘Lee Kuan Yew’, based on the interviews with the legendary Singapore leader, Lee Kuan Yew, is being widely acclaimed the world over. In this book, Lee Kuan Yew expresses his views about the law and order in Pakistan in the chapter ‘On Islamic Extremism’ in the following words: ‘We should learn to live with the Pakistan …

May 11 Elections were held in Pakistan amidst fears, apprehensions and widespread scepticism. With a hope for ‘change’ and a better future people flocked to the polling stations and exercised their democratic right. Although the election fervour attached to campaigning was lacking, especially in Karachi and Khyber Pk, Pakistan witnessed the highest voting turnout in nearly four decades. For the …