Study Kit

DOES media coverage — frequent and favourable — make a critical difference to winning an election? Is money the pivotal factor to secure victory at the polls? Though it is tempting to answer ‘yes’ to both these questions, it is almost equally tempting to say ‘no’. And to add: ‘not by these factors alone’. Factors that influence balloting success need …

Last month, Pakistan made one of the most important political moves in its 70-year history. Parliament passed legislation, officially the 25th Constitutional Amendment Bill, which paves the way for the merger of Pakistan’s semi-autonomous Federally Administered Tribal Areas with the neighboring province of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa. On May 31, Pakistani President Mamnoon Hussain signed the bill into law. Pakistan’s tribal belt will …

During the recent G7 summit, the president of the European Council – a subsidiary of the EU – sent out the warning that Donald Trump’s trade and diplomatic initiatives may end up bolstering attempts to put in place a ‘post-West’ international order. Do such apprehensions hold water? Some recent developments have driven a wedge between the US and its Western …

A year after the start of the Saudi-led siege of Qatar, the Gulf Cooperation Council is all but dead. The GCC was created by Saudi King Khalid in May 1981 during the Iran-Iraq War to provide strength through unity for the gulf monarchies; the United States was its midwife. Never a tight union, the GCC nonetheless was a useful means …

PAKISTAN approved its first National Water Policy on April 24, 2018. Following this, a recent wave of discussions on social media seems to have brought the water crisis back to the forefront. Many believe that the construction of the Kalabagh dam will solve Pakistan’s water crisis. The active water storage capacity of the Kalabagh dam is estimated to be 6.1 …

The 2018 annual meeting of the Group of 7 was held in Canada at a resort near Quebec City. The two-day meeting concluded on June 9, with President Trump departing early to begin his journey to Singapore where he was scheduled to meet Kin Jung Un, the North Korean president. Before he took the flight, it was announced that the …

ENOUGH tears have been shed, egos and emotions shaken and obituaries written about the transatlantic relationship. Enough headlines and commentaries drafted about US President Donald Trump and his volatile ways. And enough pictures taken of the dysfunctional and dying G7 and the love-in between Trump and North Korea’s “rocket man-turned-peacenik” Kim Jong-un. Now it’s time to move on. It’s time …

Keeping democratic institutions strong Pakistan has faced major challenges in its socioeconomic situation over past seventy years. However, not all problems have been overcome. The key problems of today include: water scarcity; the lack of sustainable development projects; an increasingly unemployed youth population; the lack of focus on human development projects; a continuous reduction in the foreign exchange reserves; the …

Myth or reality? Ever since the industrial revolution, human ingenuity has allowed water, the elixir of human life, to flow even in the most arid landscapes. Ever since the 19th century, water was no longer a mystical force to be worshipped but a commodity to be exploited. The United Nations (UN) Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights declared that …

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s water crisis has become increasingly visible in recent months: levels in the largest dams are low; parched irrigation canals mean farmers in the south planted less cotton; and the commercial capital Karachi has long queues at hydrants. So there was little surprise when, on June 6, during a spell of unseasonably high temperatures, the Pakistan Meteorological Department issued …