Pak Affairs

The Road to a stable Democracy in Pakistan “Fundamental problems remain with the legal framework and the implementation of certain provisions, leaving future processes vulnerable to malpractice and Pakistan not fully meeting its obligations to provide citizens the right and opportunity to stand as candidates and to vote.” (General Elections 2013 Report: The European Union Election Observer Mission) Elections reflect …

Trend lines on the subcontinent have become more pronounced after President Obama’s visit as chief guest at the Republic Day parade and reports of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s upcoming visit for Republic Day celebrations in Pakistan. The juxtaposition of Obama’s visit in New Delhi with a near-total power blackout in Pakistan was brutally stark. While Obama and Prime Minister Narendra …

An antithesis of ‘live and let live’ policy Speaking to an audience at the School of International Service (SIS), American University Washington DC in 2013, Pakistan’s former Ambassador to the US, Mr Husain Haqqani, presented an interesting analogy of a divorced couple to delineate Pakistan-India bilateral relations. In the context this relationship, he said, “Just imagine a worst case of …

The tone for the US President’s much-talked-about visit to India was set well before he set off to New Delhi. As is the norm in high-profile foreign visits, President Obama spoke to India Today, an Indian publication, on a subject that touched the right chord with his Indian hosts. While expressing his country’s resolve to continue working with Pakistan in …

 Pakistan is the second biggest country in South Asia in terms of human capital. It is also an active member of Saarc and other regional organizations but how ironic is the fact that while other nations in the region are making progress by leaps and bounds and are achieving the cherished goals of development, Pakistan is fast becoming a country …

The word ‘civil’ refers to the civil government as an entity, of which the military itself is a significant part. The civil government is decidedly the superior of the two and the only relationship between them should be that of a superior and a subordinate. But, in Pakistan’s case, the subordinate entity has, time and again, toppled the superior entity’s …

How to deal with terror Barely has one month passed since the heart-rending and soul-piercing Peshawar tragedy took place that much hyped political consensus against terrorism has started developing cracks. The first blow to the nascent national unity was dealt by the JUI-F chief, Maulana Fazal-ur-Rehman, who opted out to support the 21st amendment to the Constitution of Pakistan, objecting …

Pakistan is relatively a young nation with 69% of its total population falling below 29 years of age and almost 53% below 19 years. Therefore, ameliorating the situation in Pakistan for better future of our youngsters is of vital importance. Unfortunately, at present, Pakistan lags far behind other developing countries in terms of education, health social safety nets particularly for …

The year 2014 began in Pakistan with business as usual but closed rather dramatically with a paradigm shift in our way of politics, state governance and split of society into those struggling for a change and the ones adamant to maintain status quo. In between were happenings much of which never witnessed before.

The Most Effective Way to Combat Terrorism On the way towards fighting militancy with force, it seems Pakistan has finally realized that terrorism cannot be defeated by employing kinetic measures only. It’s a highly complicated phenomenon, and the increased degree of its complexity makes it next to impossible for any ‘single-step’ strategy to succeed. Ideology may not be the only …