March 2019

Sanity must prevail With each passing day, human rights violations committed by Indian forces in Kashmir are increasing. And, there are no signs of abatement in the near future, mainly because the world powers are mere silent spectators. Use of ruthless power by Indian forces is giving rise to incidents of killings, abductions, forced disappearances and blinding and damaging of …

Tax to GDP ratio projected from 15% to 20% In the recent past, massive changes have been introduced to the taxation regime. To ensure exchange of information in tax matters so as to prevent evasion and avoidance of tax through cross-border trade and financial transactions, Pakistan signed OECD’s Multilateral Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters (MCA) on 14th …

By: Dr S Akbar Zaidi Economic reform without political consensus is impossible By now, it is abundantly clear that the Pakistani economy is not working, at least not for the overwhelming majority of the people in the country, and perhaps not even for the politically well-connected rent-seeking elite for whom the entire economic structure has been distorted in the first …

Collaborative security in the Indian Ocean “Control of the sea by maritime commerce and naval supremacy means predominant influence in the world; because, however great the wealth product of the land, nothing facilitates the necessary exchanges as does the sea.” —Alfred Thayer Mahan American Naval Strategist Pakistan Navy successfully hosted the sixth multinational maritime exercise “Aman-19” in Karachi from 8 …

The constitution is a living document; it is more so as the judiciary keeps interpreting it. On 7th January 2019, a seven-member bench of the Supreme Court of Pakistan rendered its judgement in a case titled “Civil Aviation Authority us. Supreme Appellate Court Gilgit Baltistan etc.” (Civil Aviation Case-2019) wherein the Court touched upon a multitude of subjects including the …

The year 2019 will see important and consequential elections. Some of those might come as a surprise. Rumours already abound that some parliamentary systems might call snap elections. But many elections are already on the calendar. Here are 5 to watch. 1. Ukrainian Presidential Election (March 31) The two leading contenders are familiar faces: incumbent President Petro Poroshenko and former …

The Hype and Beyond Climate change has been the buzzword around the globe during the recent years. From governments to civil society organizations to academia, everyone is talking about it, and is wary of the adverse impacts this phenomenon is going to have on terrestrial life. There is hardly any difference of opinion that climate change is occurring – difference …

By: Uzair Salman Analysing the Consequences This year marks 40 years since Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution, when 2,500 years of monarchy gave way to a Shiite Muslim-led theocracy. On Jan 16, 1979, Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi and his family left Iran. The US-allied Shah, fatally stricken with cancer, would never return. Several weeks later, on Feb 1, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini …

Capitalist Success, Not Socialist Failure Once among Latin America’s richest countries, Venezuela has been in a downward spiral for years now, with political discontent, skyrocketing inflation, power cuts and shortages of food and medicine. Since 2014, some three million Venezuelans have left the country in search of better living conditions. The situation has further deteriorated with a deep political crisis …

Can we still prevent a nuclear arms race? On February 2, President Donald Trump announced that the United States would terminate its participation in a landmark 1987 nuclear arms-control pact with Russia, asserting the Russians have violated it for years. The decision suspends American obligations under the treaty, and terminates the accord unless Russia comes into compliance within six months. …