2016

We have heard numerous times that women are the cornerstone of a progressive nation, the edifice to tolerant civilizations and a basis to everything that concentrates within an influx of virtue. But, while all this might sound too idyllic, the harsh truth is that even in today’s world where nations are empowering their female populace, Pakistan still lags for behind …

The dialogue process for bringing a long-lasting peace in Afghanistan has once again got momentum. The war-torn country, during the last nearly four decades, has suffered colossal losses in form of physical or infrastructural damages, human miseries, tortures or detentions, agonies and pains inflicted on innocent Afghans. In such an environment of cynicism and given the background of such wholesale …

The support for the Operation Zarb-e-Azb, spanning all political parties as well as the general public, with the objective of militarily dealing with terrorists continued successfully in 2015 with a visible decline in the number of terror attacks in the country. The heinous attack on Army Public School on 16th December 2014 continued to galvanize the nation in support of …

The Indian Ocean is the world’s third largest body of water and has become a growing area of competition between China and India. The two regional powers’ moves to exert influence in the ocean include deep-water port development in littoral states and military patrols. Though the probability of military conflict between China and India remains low, escalated activities (such as …

National Dec 16: The ruling PPP got passed a resolution in the Sindh Assembly ratifying the stay of the paramilitary force in the province for one year. Dec 16: President Mamnoon Hussain and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping met in Wuzhen on the sidelines of the Second World Internet Conference and discussed  bilateral relations. Dec 18: Pakistan nullified an Indian …

“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere”, said Martin Luther King Jr. The assertion goes parallel to the emerging global momentum on protecting and promoting human rights the world over. Greater emphasis on values and ideas based on justice, freedom and wider choices and opportunities available to people, hold key to the dynamics of contemporary global political and security …

“People seem to forget that Kashmir is not a commodity for sale or to be bartered. It has an individual existence and its people must be the final arbiters of their future.”   — Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru (July 6, 1951) The mountainous region of Kashmir has been a flashpoint between India and Pakistan for more than 60 years. The dispute …

The people of Pakistan and Turkey enjoy brotherly relations that are not only deep rooted  in history but also are based  on shared values and common national interests. The history of this rewarding relationship can be traced back to even before the formation of   Republic of Turkey in 1923 and Islamic Republic of Pakistan in 1947. Since the establishment of …

“Good governance” is a term that has become a part of the vernacular of a large range of development institutions and other actors within the international arena. Almost all major development institutions today promote good governance as an important part of their agendas. In a well-cited quote, former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan noted that “good governance is perhaps the single …

No state can survive or live with dignity in the comity of nations without raising sufficient revenues required for financing productive and non-productive expenditures. Pakistan’s public debt, by March 2015, was recorded at Rs16.936 billion or around 62pc of the GDP. The primary source of increase in public debt is the domestic borrowings to finance fiscal deficit. Thus the foremost …