Pak Affairs

Issues and Challenges Pakistan and Afghanistan are interlinked in multidimensional areas, ranging from cultural relations to political ties and from religious bonds to trade links. The trade relations between the two countries are as old as their bilateral diplomatic relationship. As Afghanistan is a landlocked country, Pakistan has been providing transit route to Afghanistan under Article 5 of the General …

Always in a muddle “There can be no greater error than to expect, or calculate, upon real favours from nation to nation,” said the first President of the United States, George Washington. This very precept underpins the American foreign policy. From the vantage point of realist school of thought, to which America has fervidly subscribed in the post World War …

By: Atta Rasool Malik  There is an Arabian proverb which means that “a man’s greatness can be measured by the quality of his enemies.” Noted Urdu poet Nida Fazli (1938–2016) simplified it further: “He has a lot of enemies; the man must be good.” Assessing the Pakistani military and its premier intelligence agency, Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), using the aforesaid criterion, …

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 …

By: Mahnoor Shafaq  The subject of the holy book of Muslims i.e. the Holy Quran, is “human” and so is the focal point of social sciences in theory, and manifestation of liberal arts in practice, in a collectivity of humans termed as “society”. But, it is heartrending that today, in the very society on the “land of the pure,” children …