Pak Affairs

Although they have made progress, South Asian countries have struggled to make the most of the opportunity urbanization provides them to transform their economies to join the ranks of richer nations in both prosperity and livability, says a World Bank report entitled Leveraging Urbanization in South Asia: Managing Spatial Transformation for Prosperity and Livability. Difficulty in dealing with the pressures …

When Chinese President Xi Jinping came to Pakistan on an official visit in April 2015, he brought a $46 billion gift that could have significant benefits for Pakistan and a major impact on the whole region. And although there remain a number of unknowns on how this massive investment package will be implemented in the coming years, it is certain …

Russia’s interest in warming up its relations with Pakistan has increased in recent years. The two countries are cosying up at a time that is of critical importance in the region as well as the whole world. This is of pivotal importance especially in the context that the world order is changing, though slowly. This resurgence of Pak-Russia cordiality has …

Pakistan’s Chief of Army Staff (COAS), General Raheel Sharif, paid an important visit to the United States on Nov 15-20, 2015. This five-day visit underscored security issues facing Islamabad and Washington in the region and it was attached “unprecedented” importance especially because of the expectations attached by the US authorities to Pakistan’s role for restoring peace in Afghanistan. The visit …

Pakistan’s best-known historian, Ayesha Jalal, is back with a new book: “The Struggle For Pakistan: A Muslim Homeland and Global Politics.” This book essentially synthesises much of Jalal’s earlier work that by all accounts is rich and comprehensive. In short, the new book presents an overview of Pakistan’s progression as a national security state, a lop-sided federation to its current …

Kashmir issue has been the cornerstone of Pakistan’s foreign policy since 1947. The region is the source of rivers flowing into Pakistan and Pakistanis have strong apprehensions that if Kashmir remains under Indian occupation, their country will be strangulated as there will be no availability of sufficient water to support Pakistan’s agricultural sector, the backbone of country’s economy. Since the …

We live in the 21st century, and technology is no hoax to this era. It, without any incertitude, is an integral part of life in every possible field, be it economic, social, political or domestic. Globally, technology plays an indispensible role in the development of life, in creation of wealth, and in real economic expansion. However, in Pakistan technology plays …

In Pakistan, tax collection as a percentage of gross domestic product (GDP) is considerably low when compared to similar economies. The ratio is low for both direct and indirect taxes. In 2012-13, tax-GDP ratio for direct and indirect taxes collected by the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) was 3.2pc and 5.3pc, respectively. Overall the ratio was 8.5pc. There are numerous …

Three important developments emanated out of Balochistan in August 2015. First, 400 Baloch nationalist-separatists surrendered and laid down their arms in a ceremony that was part of Pakistan’s Independence Day celebrations on August 14 in Quetta; second, news circulated in local dailies of the alleged death of perhaps the most hardened nationalist-separatist in Balochistan, Dr Allah Nazar Baloch, the leader …

Pakistan and Afghanistan are once again reaching the ground zero less than a year after Ghani’s first official visit to Islamabad in mid-November 2014 that raised hopes for a cordial bilateral relationship. The rift became visible recently when senior Afghan officials launched a diatribe against Pakistan after the fall of Afghan province of Kunduz to the Taliban. However, Prime Minister …