Dear Readers, One of the most outstanding officers of the Pakistan, and certainly one of the bravest, Maj Gen (Retd) Naseerullah Khan Babar, SJ & Bar died in January 2011 after a prolonged illness. Some personalities are non-conformist but they always seem to make a positive difference, both in peace and war, to the Army…
Executive Summary Terrorist Activities in Pakistan Suicide BombingsDr. Shamsher All Khan, the Awami National Party legislator in the NWFP Assembly from Swat, was killed and 13 persons were injured on December 1 in a suicide attack in his house in the Dherai area of Kabal sub-division. According to reports a man with explosives strapped to…
AbstractWith the advent of the era of fast globalization, child labor drew equal attention from perpetrators as well as the protectors. In case of Carpet Industry in Pakistan, once highlighted by the international media, global actors impacted positively to eliminate child labor from the industry. However, this success has not been free of loopholes. The…
The theme for the Annual Meeting 2011 of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in the beautiful ski resort of Davos-Klosters, “Shared Norms for the New Reality, very aptly mirrors the topmost concern of many leaders today. The erosion of common values is growing in a world that is increasingly becoming more complex and interconnected as…
More often than not Western analysts routinely draw their perceptions from the gossip on the cocktail circuit, mostly conforming to that reported by Embassy staffers. From time to time someone will give views contrary to that which are fashionable, these are soon drowned out by contemptuous skepticism. Only when the streets come afire are the…
IntroductionThe first decade of the 21st century is nearly over and the PAF of 2010 is markedly different from the PAF that existed on the eve of 31 December 2000, the final day of the 20th century. The next two decades will witness further changes in the doctrine and composition of the service as it…
Blasphemy laws in the South Asian Sub-continent are nothing new. While there is no concept of Blasphemy in Hinduism, those in practice during the Moghul Era were repealed by British colonial rule to allow Christian missionaries to proselytize. However in 1860 the Commission chaired by Lord Macaulay made the law again part of the Indian…
Art Buchwald immortalized US President Richard Nixon’s famous “I am not a crook” phrase by making the title of his article the name of one of his books. Maybe one day President Asif Ali Zardari, who is not a hypocrite and thus never uses the word “corruption” anywhere at anytime in any of his speeches…
IntroductionWe find many events in history that can be described as curious, tragic, amusing an at times, startling. In this article I will focus upon such events about which, perhaps, some of us may not be aware of. The two occurrences are appended below. Where is Christopher Columbus buried?According to many historians Christopher Columbus was…
Air Cdre (Retd) Khalid Iqbal looks at the inconsistencies in the FMCT that seeks to ban production of fissile material without taking into account existing stocks. The high level meeting called by the UNSG on 24 September, 2010, concluded without taking any decision on resolving the deadlock being faced by ‘Conference on Disarmament’ (CD), pertaining…
