Others

FEMINISM FOR BEGINNERS There is no denying the fact that almost half of humanity has always comprised women. But only a few women appear on lists of ‘great people’ who have shaped the course of human history that has been, to many feminists ‘His-story’. Women, if they appear at all, do so as a support for men, or as suffering …

CLIMATE CHANGE EMERGENCY AND GLOBAL RESPONSE Climate change, in immediate future, will be an inevitable national security threat; less to the developed economies, much to the developing ones. Although debate on the subject has been overwhelming, yet the implementation of emission-reduction policies in the developed countries that contribute to the worst of climate change more than what they have been …

Urban Flooding Tackling the challenge of drowning cities M. Atif Sheikh It’s morning time and there is a lot of hustle and bustle in the house; kids have to go to school and men to work, but the street outside is looking like a canal due to the heavy rain last night. Suddenly, a mobile phone bell rings; the person …

Plato’s Cave Two important lessons for our society Mawra Raja Plato’s cave is typically familiar to three types of people: those with keen interest in philosophy, multi-discipline self-readers and readers of political philosophy. The story is typically but rightly pigeonholed as an allegory because it is fictitious and a thought-provoking experiment for those who wish to minimize the harms of …

Kicking Away the Ladder How did the rich countries really become rich? Muhammad Shahid Rafique There is currently great pressure on developing countries to adopt a set of “good policies” and “good institutions” … to foster their economic development. When some developing countries show reluctance in adopting them, the proponents of this recipe often find it difficult to understand these …

We are not makers of history, we are made by history A recently-released picture of US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo standing with Taliban’s deputy political chief, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, is reminiscent of the photo that came out on 16 June 1986 from the Oval Office in which Ronald Reagon, the then President of the United States, and freedom …

Brave New World? Dystopias in film and literature The word “dystopia’ (an unhappy country) was first uttered back in 1868 by renowned English philosopher and economist John Stuart Mill in a speech, ripping into the British government for its policies regarding the Irish land. Dystopia is an imagined community or society that is dehumanizing and frightening. It is antonym of …

  10 Horrifying Scientific Predictions What is the future of humanity? As for the accuracy of the information goes, none can beat scientific findings. They are the results of fact-finding research collected over countless person-hours and backed with evidence. Scientific predictions have for ages shaped out the outlook of the planet and the future of everything in it that is …

Perils of Unfettered Social Media A daunting challenge we must mount Qasim Dhillon In 2017, a research conducted in 33 countries revealed that Facebook-owned platforms reached 86 percent of their internet-users between the ages of 16 and 64. If not the internet itself, these platforms effectively acted as a gateway to the internet there. Today, by all means, outreach of …

Convergence or Divergence Intra-Afghan Dialogue at a Decisive Point Mairaj ul Hamid Nasri Saturday, September 12, 2020 will be considered a momentous day in the history of the world, especially that of the United States and Afghanistan, and South Asia, for that matter. It was the historic day when the Afghan government and the Taliban began peace talks in the …