VOL 3 NO 3

By Ayaz Wazir[1] With a population of over seven million, the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) of Pakistan form a 27,220 sq. km. arch along the country’s border with Afghanistan. The terrain is rugged and mountainous. It is a region where empires once met and it was here that the British   played out their “Great […]

By Talat Farooq[1] The Aurat Foundation’s recent report shows a sharp increase in violence against women in Pakistan. From April to June 2008 it was as high as 1,705 cases as compared to 1,321 for the previous quarter. The incidents include  murder, rape, abduction, honour killing, gang rape, custodial assault, domestic violence, burning and acid

By Toheed Ahmad[1] Abstract Ireland is the only country in the world to have completely leapfrogged from the Agricultural Age to the Information Age.  Within a generation this “last island of Europe” has progressed from being a poor, backward agrarian society to a prosperous high-tech economy. Today it is the world leader in computer software

By Shahwar Junaid[1] Abstract (The first recognizable initiative towards regional cooperation appeared in Europe during the 1880s. By the 1940s an increasing number of influential intellectuals were urging escape from a “ …theoretical and ineffective universalism into practical and workable regionalism…”[1] Consideration of this option was understandable, under the strain of war and, later, post-war reconstruction.

By Khaled Ahmed[1] Abstract. The paper traces the origins of Al Qaeda, details the thinking of its founders like the Palestinian Abdullah Azzam and the distant jurists in history like Ibn Taymiyya whose writings jibed with the jihad planned by Saudi-born Osama bin Laden and his deputy Egyptian Aiman Al Zawahiri.  It talks about the

By Niloufer Siddiqui[1] Abstract. The MQM, Pakistan’s third largest political party, was formed in the mid-1980s as the Mohajir Qaumi Mahaz to represent the interests of the Mohajir (migrant) community.  Its success in tapping into an increasing sense of Mohajir insecurity was evident upon its formation as the party gained, almost overnight, the support of

By A.G. Noorani[1] Abstract (Jinnah’s vision of Pakistan’s foreign policy had elements of both idealism (joint defence with India) and realism (the need for alliances). The policies Nehru and he pursued rendered the ideal irrelevant. Both countries turned to realpolitik in pursuit of their respective national interests. Author). “The worst kind of diplomatists are missionaries,

By Prof. Hayatullah Khan Khattak[1] Abstract. The recent abduction of the Pakistani ambassador to Afghanistan by non-sate actors has sharply brought into focus the vulnerability, and violability, of the diplomatic person. But the inviolability principle on the whole is adhered to by states because reciprocity is a powerful principle although there have been some derogations

Justice Khalil-ur-Rahman Ramday gave a three-hour interview to Criterion in Lahore on 19 July 2008 on the eve of the anniversary marking the  one year anniversary of the historical Supreme Court judgment that reinstated Chief Justice  Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry.  Justice  Ramday who  was the presiding judge of the Supreme Court bench hearing the case, was