Considered the usual month for political madness in Pakistan, March came early this year, the turmoil complicated by election year factors. The obstacles of the Federal and Punjab Governments notwithstanding, the Tehreek-i-Minhajul Quran (TMQ) “Long March” came nowhere near the “million” mark claimed by Dr Qadri, People in small numbers kept joining those assembled in…
Dear Readers, Of the many unresolved issues that hove soured Pakistan-India relations, the core issue is that of Indian Occupied Kashmir over which three wars have been fought so for; Jammu and Kashmir has been a continuous flash point between the two countries. The lost of these conflicts was waged in the mountainous Kashmir region…
Air Marshal (Retd) Asghar Khan waited sixteen years for judgment on the petition he filed in 1996 in the Supreme Court (SC) regarding the illegal funding of politicians in the 1990 elections. Authored by Chief Justice lftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, the detailed verdict concluded the elections were rigged against the PPP and that (then) President Ghulam…
Dear Readers, Developments in this region have transformed the world into a place where peace, and the pursuit of peace, have become core issues. Pakistan, a major player has a significant role that shapes and influences events in the region and beyond. Thus, the changing security scenario at the regional and global level and the…
What a difference a week and the intervention of mother nature can make! Even after the second and third debates, both of which he dominated, the third quite convincingly, Obama was still unable to stem the “Romney-surge” that developed menacingly against him in early Oct after he had seemed to sleepwalk through the First US…
The revulsion to the anti-muslim film called ‘Innocence of Muslims’ generated widescale protests throughout the Middle East, Africa and Asia. The film being made in the US it sparked furious protests outside US diplomatic enclaves and other American symbols in many countries where one has to contend with anti-US feeling barely below the surface even…
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…
Dear Readers, With the next US presidential election to be held on November 6, 2012, the race for the White House has truly heated up. The incumbent Democratic president Barack Obama is running for a second and final term while his major challenger is former Massachusetts Governor, Republican Mitt Romney. The two have clashed over…
International Security Issues increasingly involve non-traditional factors, parameters of which “symbolize security from the threat of disease, hunger, unemployment, crime, social conflict, political repression and environmental hazards” (Ginwala, 2002), human security being defined as “protecting the vital core of all human lives in ways enhancing human freedoms, human fulfillment, and fundamental freedoms constituting the essence…
In the traditional sense security is considered as freedom from risk or danger of destruction and/or annihilation, national security being freedom of the national state from danger of destruction by war, physical violence aggression, etc from outside. Having a monopoly of power the nation state is responsible for defending its citizens deprived of the power…
