Pak Affairs

Metaphors are central in the forming of perceptions. These have greater impact on recipients. The closest in metaphor resembling Pakistan’s crisis is Shakespeare’s Hamlet. It is a problem play. When folly reaches a point, the wrongdoers eliminate each other. What in fact happens is that everyone distorts the reality to fit the circumstances. What happens to executives is that the …

Governance is generally conceived of as the exercise of economic, political and administrative authority in the public and private spheres to manage a country’s affairs at all levels in order to improve the quality of life of the people. It is a continual process where divergent opinions and desires are satisfied through compromise and tolerance in a spirit of cooperative …

After a long stalemate of more than two months over the presidential election, Afghanistan has finally seen a peaceful democratic transition of leadership — the first in four decades in this war-ravaged country. Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai and Dr Abdullah Abdullah are now at the helm as president and the first ever chief executive respectively. They both agreed to an alternative …

A Sinister Plan to Stay Put in Afghanistan? | On September 30, soon after the swearing-in of the new Afghan president, Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai, the Bilateral Security Agreement (hereinafter BSA) between Afghanistan and the United States was signed in Kabul. The US Ambassador to Afghanistan James Cunningham and Afghan National Security Advisor Hanif Atmar signed the BSA that will ensure …

In Pakistan, democracy zigzagged over time. It got overrun by the top brass and it bounced back only to be pushed aside by the establishment, time and again. It is a sad story of ambitious generals, inept politicians, docile judges, some weak-kneed civil servants, wayward youth, insufferable feudal lords, myopic clerics and an ineffectual civil society as well as international …

Quotes | Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world. (Nelson Mandela). The roots of education are bitter, but the fruit is sweet. (Aristotle). Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire. (William Butler Yeats) Definitions Oxford Dictionary The process of receiving or giving systematic instruction, especially at …

Since achieving independence from the British yoke on August 14, 1947, Pakistan had been under army rule for almost a half of the period of its life. Martial law was declared in this period for three times. These coups happened because initial years of Pakistan’s life were tumultuous to such an extent that country’s first premier, Nawabzada Liaquat Ali Khan, …

The foremost objective of Agriculture sector in Pakistan is to ensure adequate production and availability of food for the population. It is the main source of livelihood for the rural population and it also ensures food availability to rural and urban inhabitants. It is a key sector of the economy as it provides raw materials to main industrial units of …

Governance and human development are closely intertwined as sustainable human development is almost impossible without good governance. No doubt, income plays a fundamental role, as argued by Nobel laureate Amartya Sen, in facilitating the access of individuals to opportunities and capabilities. However, the relationship between income and capabilities is neither automatic nor constant, meaning good governance is a must to …

Pakistan is a consociational society where different religious groups are in conflict with each other on petty issues. There are many horizontal and vertical cleavages in Pakistan that keep people divided on the basis of religion, caste, creed, status and language along with everlasting lacuna between haves and have-nots. These cleavages are not only undermining Pakistan’s economic system but are …