ASIA-PACIFIC has been the primary venue for the US-China strategic competition. However, the competition is now spilling into other regions too, including the Middle East, where the US is gradually losing its influence. In order to bolster its standing in the Middle East, the US facilitated the process of normalisation of ties between Israel and […]

SPEAKING to the First Constituent Assembly in 1947, Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah outlined several duties for the government of Pakistan: maintain law and order, root out corruption, act against black marketeering, and not allow nepotism. Jinnah advised inclusive governments based on the rule of law, merit-based governance, religious freedom and equality of all citizens. Seven […]

THE world’s first nuclear bomb was dropped on Hiroshima on Aug 6, 1945, killing over 100,000 residents. The second bomb followed three days later, and killed nearly 80,000 in Nagasaki. The scale of destruction was so vast, so indiscriminate that no country — not even the US, which had dropped the two bombs — ever […]

POST-dinner conversations in most urban middle-class households start these days with commentaries on the unstable politics and abysmal economic situation of Pakistan and end with the concern about the youth exodus from Pakistan to the seemingly greener pastures of North America, Europe, Australia and the Gulf. However, before drawing any conclusions, it would be important […]

JARANWALA, a small town near Lahore, has shot into prominence, but for the wrong reasons. What happened there on Aug 16, 2023 represents another low in our history of communal intolerance, with local community leaders and law-enforcement authorities appearing totally helpless in preventing the mob from targeting dozens of Christian families, their houses and churches. […]

BRICS, WHICH seeks to promote cooperation amongst Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, is expanding its ambit. The recently held summit in Johannesburg (Aug 22-24) invited Argentina, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia and the UAE to join BRICS. Three questions are dominating the discourse on this development: will an expanded BRICS enable the Global […]

LIFE in developed countries pivots around the rule of law. Every citizen is subjected to the same laws, and no one is above the law. However, despite full consensus on the validity of the rule of law, there are always implementation gaps. Take the US, whose founding fathers stressed on equality of all men, freedom […]

FOR most Pakistanis, the prevailing economic conditions have unleashed unprecedented hardship. Steep power tariffs and high fuel costs have made everything expensive. Even the basic necessities are now beyond the reach of the public. Spending consistently more than earning has indebted the country to the core. We have mortgaged the future of even our grandchildren. […]

THE seeds of mistrust between Afghanistan and Pakistan were sown even before independence in 1947. By 1946, it had become clear that British India would be partitioned. The Afghan government saw an opportunity to revise the Durand Line of 1893 and lay claim to several territories that were to become part of Pakistan. When a […]

OF late, there has been a rapid growth of think tanks in Pakistan. These organisations carry out policy-related research and are a platform for dialogue to facilitate informed decision-making. The growing community of think tanks in Pakistan is linked to the larger global research community. According to the Global Go To Think Tank Report 2020, […]