Pak Affairs

Reforming SOEs in Pakistan Dr Omer Javed The state-owned enterprises (SOEs) are defined in Pakistan under the (Corporate Governance) Public Sectors Companies’ Rules (PSC Rules, 2013) as those companies where government exercises either direct or indirect beneficiary control or ownership, whereby the government or any agency holds 50% of voting shares or otherwise has ‘the power to elect, nominate or …

Khyber Pass Economic Corridor (KPEC) Another corridor to development Pakistan and Afghanistan continue to maintain upward trajectory of trade during last two years and has crossed US$ 2 billion mark in year 2017-18. Pakistan remains the largest export market for Afghanistan. On the other hand, Afghanistan continues to increase its imports from Pakistan, as Afghan imports increased from Pakistan by …

Is VAT always a good tax? Bilal Hassan Rapid spread of VAT (value-added tax) across the globe signifies that it may be a good tax. However, VAT can be problematic when the economy has a large informal sector. The basic concept behind the levy of this consumption tax was that the legal incidence of VAT would be on sellers, including …

Elusive India-Pakistan Peace  Shamshad Ahmad With a lingering suspicion that India had never reconciled to Subcontinent’s partition, Pakistan has been living, since independence, in the shadow of India’s hostility and belligerence. This fear was not exaggerated when Pakistan saw Sikkim, Goa, Hyderabad, Junagadh and Kashmir falling to Indian avarice. This fear is not exaggerated today as Pakistan faces India’s continued …

What’s Wrong with Pakistan’s Economy? M.H. Rehman Economy of a country has, over the years, assumed greater significance than ever before. Contrary to the historical view of military might, modern-day nations are seen through the prism of economic strength. It also follows that technological advancements in all spheres of life in general, and in arsenal, in particular, have made research, …

Slugfest about Kashmir’s ‘Special Status’ Amjed Jaaved It is eerie that our foreign office, media and the politicians have shallow understanding of the Kashmir dispute. Let us not forget the dimensions to this decades-long conflict. Pakistan is committed to the United Nations resolutions. And, these resolutions do not recognise ‘accession’ of disputed Kashmir under a resolution of the puppet Constituent …

Political Genius of Quaid-i-Azam Prof. Sharif Al-Mujahid “Few individuals significantly alter the course of history. Fewer still modify the map of the world. Hardly anyone can be credited with creating a nation state. Muhammad Ali Jinnah did all three”. — Stanley Wolpert Mohammad Ali Jinnah Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the outstanding leader and a visionary statesman created this nation state of …

Emerging Cordiality in PAK-US Relations Dialogue is an absolute solution against war! Hassaan Bin Zubair Prime Minister Imran Khan’s visit to Unites States has earned international acclaim. US President Donald Trump’s warm reception of Khan and his delegation that included the country’s Chief of Army Staff General Qamar Javed Bajwa and the head of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) Lt Gen …

Kulbhushan Jadhav Case and Investigations in Terrorism Cases Kamran Adil Introduction In a research article titled ‘Is the International Court of Justice Biased?’ (2005), Professor Eric Posner of the University of Chicago noted about the International Court of Justice (ICJ), on the strength of ‘empirical evidence’, that: judges favour the states that appoint them; judges favour states whose wealth level …

Foreign Policy Challenges of Pakistan Aftab H Wahla The formulation and implementation of a set of ideas, actions, statements and intentions that governs the behaviour of states while interacting with other states to promote, enhance and secure its national interests can loosely be defined as foreign policy. Formulation of foreign policy is actually a process whereby a state translates its …