Daily Current Affairs

There is an impression that if the stock market is booming (with price earnings ratio and dividend yields of our market comparing quite favourably with those of other emerging markets) the economy must also be doing well, and vice versa. In other words, the stock exchange index is a good barometer of the state of the economy. The argument proceeds …

China’s strategic ambition to extend its maritime power across the Indian Ocean is hitting severe obstacles in the giant, volatile Pakistani province of Balochistan. Beijing’s priority is to develop the sleepy Baloch fishing port of Gwadar, 300 miles west of Karachi, to project its commercial and naval influence further west. But kidnappings, drive-by shootings and bomb attacks in the past …

WHILE celebrating the nation’s 70th independence anniversary, we cannot forget that the ‘K’ in Pakistan’s name — Kashmir — is not (yet) part of our country. The men, women and children of India-held Kashmir (IHK) are even now engaged in a heroic David and Goliath struggle for freedom from India’s brutal occupation and oppression. Pakistan has done very little to …

‘Domestic policy can only defeat us; foreign policy can kill us’ The concept of nation states stems from the Peace of Westphalia, 1648 – the convention which came into effect after the thirty-year war among the Central European powers, and introduced territoriality, sovereignty and autonomy. However, the etiology of international diplomacy, world politics and foreign policy dates back to the …

In our contemporary global society, socialism has become a cliché that denotes a vast array of political approaches and ideologies that purportedly defy the political, economic and cultural status quo. It is in vogue to refer to a person as a socialist if he or she has an intellectual bent that advocates vague notions of religious freedom, economic equity, cultural …

Southern Asia’s evolving geopolitics are leading to the intensification of the China-Pakistan nexus, a development that has been greeted in Pakistan with exuberance. Although the China-Pakistan “all-weather” friendship goes back decades, there appears to be in recent years a greater willingness in Islamabad to air frustrations with the United States while embracing China as the “cornerstone” of Pakistan’s foreign policy. …

KARACHI: Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) have proved to be the engine of growth in several successful economies. These economies include Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and India. But Pakistan’s economy has largely ignored the sector, although the country has a very strong case for boosting SME growth. SMEs are critical as they are an efficient vehicle for transferring the fruits …

ISLAMABAD: The world’s geographical history shows that climate change is not a new phenomenon as scientists have tracked historical changes in the drivers of climate change such as greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and continental drift. Currently, due to anthropogenic activities, the pace of climate change is high compared to changes in the past. It is essential, therefore, to find ways …

AS people in Pakistan and India celebrate the 70th anniversary of their independence, they should spare a moment for introspection. The story of their relations is largely a history of conflict, war and acrimony. The traumatic circumstances of their independence still live in memory as does, paradoxically, the resonance of shared culture and centuries of common experience. There have been …

It was October 2015. With winter approaching and no end in sight to the flow of migrants seeking refuge from the Syrian civil war, Germany needed a solution — fast. Processing centres for refugees had exceeded capacity. Asylum claims were backlogged. Temporary tent cities would not survive the punishing winter months. So Germany did what governments increasingly do when facing …