June 2018

By: Maryam Iqbal Improving people-to-people contacts On several issues, ties between the United States and Pakistan have been fragile for decades. Notwithstanding that, both the states resorted to public diplomacy through various channels like cultural exchange programmes and Fulbright Scholar Program that is sponsored by the United States. The US has, however, been denounced for its hegemonic nature by different …

By: Adv. Syed Abdul Rasool Shah Democracy is the best revenge! Democracy, undoubtedly, is a brilliant concept of governance currently in practice in most parts of the world. It is, according to the best understanding and wisdom of the political scientists, the best political system that the world has ever devised for smooth governance and proper functioning of the state. …

Introduction Apropos the earlier discussion, the instant part of the series is set to examine the impact of the Eighteenth Amendment on the health sector. The task is not easy though, as the ‘health sector’ is not a singular entity; it’s a combination of many activities that may include issues that cut across many other fields of activities. For example, …

Tax measures announced to achieve tax target In its 6th budget presented on 27th of April 2018, the outgoing PML-N government assigned to the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) a tax revenue target of more than four trillion rupees for the upcoming fiscal year 2018-19. To achieve this target, the government has also proposed new tax measures aimed at generating …

It’s quite enigmatic On April 27th, the outgoing PML-N government unveiled its sixth and the last budget which is characterized by relief measures in taxes, higher spending on subsides and increase in salaries for government employees. In his budget speech, the federal finance minister Miftah Ismail announced an expenditure of Rs5.246 trillion for the next fiscal year – 8 percent …

A ray of hope for a water-scarce Pakistan The 37th meeting of the Council of Common Interest (CCI), held at the Prime Minister Office on 24th of April, brought good news for the water-scarce country of Pakistan. It was the unanimous approval of the country’s first-ever National Water Policy (NWP) that was signed by the prime minister and the four …

Preparing for the diplomatic détente with Washington On Tuesday, March 27, a mysterious armoured train made a round trip from North Korea to Beijing without revealing its key secret: Was Kim Jong-un on board? Speculations were rife after some media reports said that the train transported a number of high-level North Korean officials, including North Korea’s leader Kim Jong-un, to …

Whither US-Pakistan Relations? If I were running the policy right now, I would say that there should be some high level of engagement between the two countries. The dialogue should be private and discreet. A distinguished career diplomat, Ambassador Richard Olson, retired from the US Foreign Service in November 2016 with the rank of Career Minister. He is currently an …

Reaching a deal on the Korean Peninsula Soon after the 2018 Winter Olympics, South Korea is once again in the international spotlight. On 27 April, it hosted a long-anticipated inter-Korean summit on its territory for the first time in history. The highly choreographed meeting was held between the two lead actors almost exactly as scripted. Nonetheless, many impromptu moments of …

The fading hopes for peace in the Middle East  Israel frequently claims its ‘right’ to exist. In fact, states do not exist by right and neither do they have a right to exist. They continue to exist because they have a strong army, capable of taking land and imposing their rule on the native population. They exist because they have …