Media and the armed forces
The new way of making war, the projection of “soft power,” is cynical in that it involves millions of people in the persuasion effort. The lords of this new media…
Somalia: peace prospects
After 20 years of sliding backwards, Somalia has taken a step in the right direction. Together with international efforts and adoption of a new federal constitution by the 825-member Assembly…
One who opted for change
“Human beings make their own history. They do not do it in circumstances of their own choosing. Their actions are framed by the economic, social and political structures of their…
Gilgit-Baltistan in limbo
Even after six decades, the people of GilgitBaltistan continue to suffer in constitutional limbo despite their unconditional accession to Pakistan. In spite of efforts to integrate with Pakistan, the people…
Pak-US ties in 2012
A series of crises in 2011 set the tone for US-Pakistan interaction in 2012; these included Raymond Davis’ shooting of two Pakistanis and Bin Laden’s killing. However, it was the…
Visiting Bangladesh
Shrugging off its traditional reliance for foreign-exchange earnings on jute goods and tea, Bangladesh has economically made giant strides, with home remittances and garment manufacturing giving momentum to a whole…
Trade without growth
Pakistan has a lesson to learn from its misplaced priorities. Efforts towards trade liberalisation and regional integration would be meaningless without addressing structural problems first, including prolonged energy crisis, decline in foreign investment, high inflation, weak infrastructure and precarious security issues. Else we would be another sub-saharan region which boasts many more trade agreements than Pakistan narrowed down to zero without adequate economic growth!
