A better brain By: Laila Khalid on July 15, 2021I remember a film about the ability of chimps to communicate by sign language. And the chimp saw a duck for the first time and made a sign for water and a sign for a bird. The duck was unknown to the chimp, but he still knew what it was. That gives me encouragement to […]
Power disruption in summers By: Hamna Ghias Sheikh on July 14, 2021Whether it is summer or a pleasant rainy day, we Pakistani’s cannot enjoy the perks of any season owing to interrupted electricity supply at our homes. Last night the continuous fluctuation of electricity made it difficult to have a sound sleep. Checking whether one phase of electricity in the house is coming or not was […]
Pakistan, Central Asia, US Afghan withdrawal & Taliban By: Behzad Taimur on July 11, 2021Next week, Pakistani leadership, including the Prime Minister, will be in Tashkent for the ‘Silk Route Connect’ conference. This first-of-its-kind conference is an initiative by Uzbekistan that hopes to bring together leadership of Central and South Asian countries to talk trade, investment and regional connectivity. In the run-up to the conference, a Joint Ministerial Commission […]
Lower & predictable taxes for growth By: Dr Ikramul Haq on July 11, 2021The outdated and oppressive tax structures at federal and provincial levels have created further fiscal mess and how come out of it is discussed in Towards Flat, Low-rate, Broad and Predictable Taxes (PRIME Institute, Islamabad, published in December 2020, available free at: https://primeinstitute.org/towards-flat-low-rate-broad-and-predictable-taxes/). A webinar on this book was held on July 10, 2021 hosted […]
When machine vote mandates can be managed By: Maha Raja Tareen on July 10, 2021Undoubtedly from Helsinki to Hawaii and from Macau to Moscow, nations are evolving; democratic values are flourishing and generations are embracing change. Yet, we in Pakistan do not allow our people with dual citizenship to run for public office, sit in the assemblies, contest elections or join the Countries Armed forces. In 2012, the Supreme […]
Stability in Afghanistan is an elusive concept By: Yasmeen Aftab Ali on July 9, 2021Defining the future of Afghanistan after post-exit U.S forces is a difficult proposition. The Biden government has started withdrawing its forces, and the aim is to move it to zero troops this year. “This is not condition-based. The president has judged that a conditions-based approach. . . is a recipe for staying in Afghanistan forever. He has […]
If Khyber Pakhtunkhwa can do gender responsive education budgeting, what’s stopping the others? By: Areebah Shahid on July 8, 2021Despite decades worth of advocacy and awareness raising at the highest tiers of leadership, the present enrollment of girls between 5 to 16 years (Grade 1-10) in Pakistan’s public schools stands at 7.73 million while the number of out of school girls lingers at an estimated 8.96 million. Simply put, this means that compared to […]
Financing SDGs in Pakistan By: Hamna Ghias Sheikh on July 6, 2021The year 2021 brought unprecedented challenges for Pakistan in several ways. From the rapid spread of novel coronavirus to the imposition of nationwide lockdown to curtail the risks of the virus, the year 2021 had brought tremendous challenges in all the social, political and economic dimensions. It has posed more social challenges in the form […]
Behind the confrontation between US and China: An Orientalist perspective By: Behzad Taimur on July 5, 2021In recent times, a burgeoning rivalry between the US and allies, and China has begun to intensify. In this, the common view is that the US feels threatened by an increasingly powerful China. Yet, China has no real stated objectives of challenging American world dominance. Conversely, China has been on course to avoiding a full-fledged […]
Will USA regain its lost legacy? By: Dr Ikramul Haq on July 4, 2021July 4, 1776 has special significance in American history. The great liberation movement against colonial rule was pioneered in this land and founding-fathers of this historic struggle showed the subjugated nations a novel path of hope. They started a new beginning of self-rule. It took a couple hundred years for American society to struggle on […]