KARACHI – Domestic policy including socio-economic and governance issues are inextricably linked with the foreign policy of a country, while the test of a country’s foreign policy is to withstand pressure in face of crises, states Ambassador (R) Shamshad Ahmad. Continue reading »
By Ansar Abbasi
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan People’s Party Co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari is bound by the pre-election deal between Benazir Bhutto and Pervez Musharraf to develop a working relationship with the president, it is learnt. Continue reading »
PPP Co-Chairman Asif Ali Zardari said that judges’ reinstatement might be in next two weeks, and it would be through a constitutional package. Continue reading »
By Hasaan Khawar and Dr Zafar Iqbal
The State Bank of Pakistan has recently released the second quarterly report for FY 2007-08, unveiling the skyrocketing inflation figures. These figures came as no surprise to the masses, who are already crippled under soaring prices and severe shortage of essential food items. Continue reading »
Industrial zones are emerging as sources of cheap electric supply to Wapda and KESC with a potential believed to be enough to meet up to 20 per cent of power shortages.
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It is simplistic to assert that population shifts are the same as structural transformation. Structural transformation in the Lewis theory of development begins with a shift of surplus rural labour to urban areas. That is, productive labour is fully employed gainfully in the rural agricultural sector and the ones with zero marginal product migrate until all surplus rural labour is absorbed in the formal urban sector. Continue reading »
MULTAN, ever the moderate and the moderator, cannot help but act as a bridge between opposites. It facilitates the spiritual bonding of people with the Maker through the saints who have overseen the city’s progress for centuries. Continue reading »
NOW that a democratically-elected government is in place in Pakistan, politics needs to be put aside as much as possible, to concentrate on what really affects Pakistanis, namely development. And in development, a major priority has to be population stabilisation.
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THE 1973 oil price increase altered the relative price structure for almost every commodity globally and within each country. Three and a half decades later, the current dramatic rise in international oil prices has delivered another shock to the world economy as a whole and to the individual national economies. Continue reading »
Orwell’s last rule in the rulebook is to break all rules, except that his condition was that it shouldn’t result in one’s saying something barbarous. Well, this last bit is a spoiler so one can ignore it in the larger interest of creating novelty, thank you Continue reading »
If militants in South Waziristan are seriously to end their violence, they must get something of a ‘feeling’ for the enemies they previously considered faceless and without minds Continue reading »
Every agreement with the tribal maliks and elders must include a provision under which every malik or elder will, in consultation with his tribesmen, be authorised to nominate 500 to 1000 youth to whom the government would offer training in vocational schools Continue reading »
Earlier this week, Pakistanis were shocked at the image of our ambassador to Afghanistan, Tariq Azizuddin, being held captive since February, as he appeared on a foreign TV channel. He looked weak and weary. His captors have made a series of demands which the Pakistani government has said it will be unable to fulfil. It is a shame that he is being held in captivity within the country and we cannot have him released. Continue reading »
Huzaima Bukhari and Dr Ikramul Haq
No country can ever think of establishing people’s rule without ensuring a free and independent judiciary. In a true democratic set-up, the electoral process ensures the dominance of the people over those who hold political offices. If electioneering lead to an anti-people rule (as was the case in 2002), it amounts to negation of democracy. Despotism, repression, fascism, racism, chauvinism, totalitarianism, oppression, intolerance, bigotry, tyranny, denial of free access to justice, curbs on media freedom — antonyms of democracy — have no place in a civilised society. Continue reading »
Ahmad Rafay Alam
Developers in the UAE have announced plans to build Masdar City, the world’s first fully sustainable, zero-carbon, zero emission city. The city is part of the Masdar Initiative and is the first time sustainable development techniques will be applied at such a scale. But there is much more here than meets the eye Continue reading »