2013

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 …

The instant article is primarily exploratory in nature and aims at examining some of the core issues related to Police laws in Pakistan. INTRODUCTION The landscape of policing in Pakistan is not very healthy; two eminent personalities bear witness to this and warrant mention here verbatim. Mr Ahmer Bilal Soofi who served as Federal Minister for Law in the interim …

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 …

John Kerry’s Pakistan trip might be all smiles and handshakes, but there’s a crisis brewing beneath the surface. On July 31, following several false starts, US Secretary of State John Kerry arrived in Islamabad for meetings with Pakistan’s political and military leadership. And while the visit comes at a turbulent time for Pakistan — on the heels of a massive …

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. …