For those graduating from the Pakistan Military Academy (PMA), the country’s primary military institution is “hallowed ground”. I entered its steel gates on 14 May 1964 as one of the 110 Gentlemen Cadets (GCs) selected for the 34th PMA Long Course. As an Army Aviation helicopter pilot I flew to PMA several times in 1969/1970,…
Piracy at sea with all its lore and literature is not new and is believed to have existed in turbulent periods as early as 14th century BC when the Sea People, as they were then called, threatened Aegean and Mediterranean voyages. It is said that the great Roman emperor Julius Caesar was also captured by…
In a paper on “The Impact of Corruption in Post Conflict Environments on Contracting Agencies”, Mark Carruthers of Centerra says that corruption prospers at all levels in our society. He defines it as (1) Systemic – as an integral part of the economy (2) Political – Corrupt interaction between high level officials and the private…
Since 1971, in Pakistan, every year in the month of December, there is a lot of ‘breast–beating’ for the loss of East Pakistan. An equally vociferous demand for an apology comes from Bangladesh, formerly East Pakistan. A Bengali demand for legitimate political, economic and social justice resulted in a political movement that degenerated into a…
The majority of the corruption cases the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) tackled when it first came into being in Oct 1999 pertained to misdemeanor in the nationalized financial institutions. About 80% of the cases involved loans and/or advances on flimsy grounds and against very little (or mostly fake) collateral. NAB’s first major successes therefore was…
Recently the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia celebrated its 85th National Day. Saudi Arabia holds an important position in the comity of nations and is well-known for its moderate policies; it always works for global peace and collective prosperity of all people living around the globe. Its shared destiny approach changed the fates of many struggling…
On the eve of Hajj, Saudi Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdul Aziz said the terrorists have gone astray and are destroying the image of Islam. He cautioned the Muslims about the menace of terrorists using the religion’s name while sabotaging peace. He urged Muslims to strive for spreading the real message of Islam— peace, love and…
This was never going to be an easy meeting between the leaders of one of the oldest democracies and the world’s largest dictatorship. The two countries have an increasingly conflicted relationship: on the one hand, they are global partners, especially but not solely in the international economic sphere, but, on the other hand, their strategic…
Dear Readers, Pakistan established relations with Afghanistan immediately after its independence in 1947 but because of issues related to the Durand Line the relations started deteriorating. Later in the 1970s due to the Soviet-Afghan war and then the Taliban insurgency after 9/11, relations soured up. In the recent past too there have been plenty of…
“He (alone) knows that which is beyond the reach of a created being’s perception, and to none does He disclose aught of the mysteries of His Own unfathomable knowledge, unless it be to an apostle whom He has been pleased to elect” (Qur’an;72:26-27) IntroductionThe concept of spirit and life hereafter exists in the revealed and…
