United States was one of the first countries to have established diplomatic relations with Pakistan, just a day after Pakistan’s independence. Today the relationship remains at a critical crossroads. Born out of a transactional necessity, this logic defined Pak-US engagement on many occasions despite regular estrangements on account of geo-political differences. Pakistan desperately needed friends,…

With Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Opposition Leader Raja Riaz reaching a consensus” after some “deliberations”, founder member of the Balochistan Awami Party (BAP) Senator Anwaar ul Haq Kakar, was named the Caretaker Prime Minister of Pakistan. Hailing from the Kakar tribe of Pashtun ethnicity in Balochistan, the former Senator (he immediately resigned from BAP…

For a country blessed with many rivers, the perennial scarcity of water in Pakistan is because of the shortage of storage capacity. While problematic presently, a full blown crisis is not so far in the distant future. While all provinces face shortages of water, Balochistan stands out as the most affected. This looming disaster can…

The Magna Carta, or the “Charter of Liberties”, limiting the King’s power and strengthening the rights of nobles was agreed to by King John at Runnymede near London on June 15, 1215. Brokered by the Archbishop of Canterbury and meant to rein in rebellious barons, without any sincere intent John was simply playing for time…

‘Strategic assets’ is a relatively new concept that arose in connection with the fast-forward development of economic globalization in the 20thc. and a new wave of economic cold war that has been leashed by the change in economic power centers more recently and the reorganization of economic, political and strategic alliances connected with it. By…

Sardar Akhtar Mengal believes his six point formula submitted before the Supreme Court (SC) will bring about resolution of major issues in the province. However equating his charter with Sheikh Mujeebur Rahman’s six-points is deliberately stated for shock effect, it is very misleading. Mujeeb’s six points all but demanded independence from Pakistan, and eventually did…

On the evening of Oct 22, 2017 as I was entering Quetta Club with a CPNE delegation for a dinner hosted by the Speaker of the Balochistan Provincial Assembly Ms Rahila Durrani, my son Zarrar sent me a whatsapp snapshot of my three grandchildren in Halloween costumes from New York. By some odd coincidence fully…

Pakistan has availed International Monetary Fund (IMF) loans on 22 occasions since 1950 in its very short history as an independent nation. The first IMF Agreement came in 1958 when Pakistan was struggling with its balance of payments; its most recent was in 2019 when economic conditions had so worsened that the Imran Khan government…

Macro-security being the business of the State, micro-security remains the domain of the individuals or organizations. With a citizen requiring the safety and security of his life and that of his family, property and business, etc and the State increasingly engaged in macro-security because of terrorism, private security business has become as an industry in…

A decade or so ago a joint venture foreign (JV) security company was using non-armoured vehicles (known as “soft” vehicles) to transport cash alongwith their armoured vans. Cash cannot be transported in quantity except in armoured vehicles, it is against the law but it costs 4-5 times more to operate an armoured vehicle over a…