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“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 …

The sacrifices offered by Pakistanis before and after independence are almost unprecedented in human history. Although a state requires sacrifices during the times of crisis, natural calamities or war, the case of Pakistan is entirely different from any other as the Pakistanis, invariably and relentlessly, have been made to sacrifice. Quaid-i-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah was triumphant in creating a new …

JWT was immensely helpful for me as it provided me access to relevant topics with up-to-date information on them. Jahangir’s World Times (JWT): First of all, please tell us about your educational background? Hafiz Karim Dad Chughtai (HKDC): I belong to a Chughtai family of Rahim Yar Khan. First of all, I became a Hafiz-e-Quran at the age of seven. …

Rural development is elevating the living standard of the farmers, miners and the poor and all those living in the areas where basic amenities like education and developed physical infrastructure are not easily available. In rural areas, a dominant majority of population is engaged in primary sectors rather than the industrial or services sectors. Pakistan consists of vast rural areas …

The contemporary world is shifting its focus from hard power to soft power. All developed countries are now paying special attention towards building their soft power. Britain, USA, China and Russia; all big states are concentrating on soft power, along with hard power, since long. Pakistan also needs to spot on its soft power seriously. Since 9/11, Pakistan’s image has …

Pakistan’s Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) have long been a victim of turmoil. If on one side, the terrorists killed thousands of innocent people, the military operations too added to their woes, on the other. The generous, hospitable and hardworking people of Fata have been deprived of their basic human rights. However, a ray of hope emerged on Nov 8, …

As a new year gift to the business community the Government of Pakistan, on Jan 01, announced yet another tax amnesty scheme that will allow the taxpayers to enter into the tax net by simply paying 1% tax on their black money and turning it into white. The scheme, which will be valid from 2016 to 2018, sets three tax …

In the last two decades, the world has had a chance to see what tragedies and absurdities can be instigated by the imperial ambitions of Washington and the connivance of the international community. It was the White House’s desire to expand its political, economic and military domination that has brought chaos to many countries, resulted in the destruction of the …

Introduction The National Action Plan (NAP), consisting of twenty policy actions to fight terrorism, has got attention from all quarters due to its anecdotal, administrative and political origins. Although many analysts and experts have discussed its various facets in their writings, the aspect that has received only a little or even zero attention is the constitutional and legal status of …