During his two-day visit to Pakistan, the UN Secretary General, Mr. Ban Ki Moon, had a busy schedule, covering diverse areas of interest ranging from disease to drones. His presence on the Independence Day ceremony has earned him immense goodwill amongst the people of Pakistan. Pakistan has traditionally supported the purposes and principles of the…
IntroductionThe politically progressive Muslim majority countries such as Indonesia, Turkey and Malaysia, ambiguous state of affairs in Pakistan and ongoing struggles with popular uprisings in the Middle East/North Africa have highlighted the need for a conceptualization of the socio political shifts and aspirations sweeping the Muslim World. These shifts are not exclusively secular or sacred…
With its waning social gauge, degenerating economy, dividing society on ethnic, sectarian bases and the government’s mislaid priorities, Pakistan is emerging as a disturbed state. Institutions like independent judiciary, strong vibrant civil society and moderate-thinking Pakistanis are delaying its fatal decline. Pakistan as a state is weakening but the Pakistani society is strengthening with every…
In the wake of continued power breaks, protests and processions the newly government at the center has succeeded to formulate the much awaited and debated national energy policy 2013-18. The same has already been approved by the Council of Common Interest (CCI). It highlights the diversified but integrated efforts of the government to overcome the…
Pakistan and Azerbaijan are two brotherly Muslim countries with unique commonalities of historical, religious and political nature and after the establishment of the formal diplomatic relations, there was no look back and the ties grew on steady pace. The Pak-Azerbaijan friendship was founded by two great leaders of the two countries, Heydar Aliyev and Benazir…
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif recently visited China and had very meaningful interactions at many levels. He met with his counterpart Li Keqiang and the Chinese President Xi Jinping and thoroughly discussed the matters of mutual interests. Pakistan and China enjoy an all-weather friendship. It is trustworthy and above all, time-tested too. Their multi-dimensional cooperation is…
Participation of overwhelming majority of the people of Balochistan in the electoral process indicates that the province is back to the flock of Pakistani nation-hood. Now it’s a matter of consolidating these political gains and converting them into a viable plan of action; indeed a task easier said than done. Political gains achieved through the…
Pakistan is writing a classic military history of the blow-by-blow fighting against insurgents. Military law enforcement operations in Waziristan, Swat, Dir, and recently in Tirah valley make an irrefutable case for where the laurels lay for the victories and where the blame lies for the retreats. Lack of Civil-military coordination and gap of communication or…
The newly formed government led by Muslim League (N) announced its first budget recently and as usual it rated it people, business and investment-friendly. On the other hand, the Opposition, business community and trades at large habitually labeled it anti-people, anti-business and anti-trade, etc. The tug of war about the merits and demerits of the…
IntroductionLove stories of army officers have often ended in tragedy but then whosoever wore the uniform he accepted the risk of being killed. Between January 1944 and March 1944, my battalion lost 8 officers (Lt Col ROUSE, Maj UWINS, Maj BURFIELD, Maj OAKES, Lt TAREEN, Lt BROWN, Lt GRAHAM and Lt TOWERS), the rest were…
