Daily Current Affairs

AFSHAN SUBOHI Pakistan’s track record on inclusive development has not been enviable. However, the endorsement of the Sustainable Development Goals by the private sector has rekindled hope of extended ownership and better performance. The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) embody the current global social contract and ends in 2030. It was launched at the UN annual meeting in Washington in 2015, …

NASIR JAMAL Punjab has spent just a fraction — 16pc — of its total development fund of Rs550bn during the first five months of the present financial year, from July through November. Experts blame the line departments’ lack of capacity to plan, design and implement projects, bureaucratic lethargy, and political interference for the slow pace of utilisation of funds meant …

MALIK ASAD With 3 million pending court cases in Pakistan to date, this huge backlog clearly indicates weakened criminal and civil justice system delivery mechanisms. Without more vigorous implementation of existing rules and procedures, say jurists, and extensive judicial reforms, the log jam is unlikely to be settled. Consider these figures. According to data collected until Nov. 15, 2016 from …

ISHAQ TANOLI | WASEEM AHMAD SHAH •    Under the Code of Criminal Procedure, the police must investigate a case within 14 days of registration and submit a charge sheet. •    The Sindh Witness Protection Act, 2013, stipulating security for witnesses is yet to be implemented.

ASAD JAMAL The consistent and apparently rising incidence of violence against women is a sign of both societal degeneration and the inability to understand the crux of the problem. In the strictly legal and criminal justice system context, there is misplaced belief that solutions to the current morass lie in simply enacting more laws and prescribing harsher punishments. The policy …

SALAUDDIN AHMED •    It takes between 20 to 30 years to eventually resolve any moderately complex civil suit through the litigation system. •    In the past 20 years, the monthly remuneration of superior court judges has increased from around Rs35,000 to more than Rs1,000,000. Some months ago, Chief Justice Anwar Zaheer Jamali declared that there is no deficiency with the …

By STEVEN LEVITSKY and DANIEL ZIBLATTDEC. 16, 2016 Donald J. Trump’s election has raised a question that few Americans ever imagined asking: Is our democracy in danger? With the possible exception of the Civil War, American democracy has never collapsed; indeed, no democracy as rich or as established as America’s ever has. Yet past stability is no guarantee of democracy’s …

By Abdul Qadir Memon HONG KONG: “Arguing against globalisation is like arguing against the laws of gravity,” said Kofi Annan, former United Nations’ Secretary General. The recent political developments in the US and the EU give an impression that this argument against globalisation seems to be gaining popular support. From the UK referendum on Brexit to the victory of Donald …

ISLAMABAD: During Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to Pakistan last year, a protocol was signed for establishing sister city relationship between Lahore and Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan province. The purpose of the agreement is to foster cultural and commercial relationship between the sister cities. Now a question arises why is Chengdu selected for this purpose? Keeping aside the government …

By Zafar Bhutta ISLAMABAD: Will Pakistan be able to sign free trade agreement (FTA) with Iran? It is a big question that is doing rounds among relevant circles as some key hurdles stand in the way of exploiting the huge potential of trade with Tehran. In an encouraging development, Iran has accepted Pakistan’s offer to join the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor …