Rohingya refugee repatriation: three years on, and still in limbo By: Mohammad Zaman on August 12, 2020This August marks three years of the Rohingya refugee crisis without any resolution. In August 2017, close to 800,000 Rohingyas crossed the border into Bangladesh in less than two months in the face of Myanmar’s military brutalities against their own people. The genocidal attacks by the Myanmar army and the forced displacement of Rohingyas from […]
Post pandemic BRI and Pakistan’s options By: Ayesha Ilyas on August 12, 2020China’s Belt and Route Initiative (BRI) is one project that has shaken the status-quo by challenging traditional concepts of power in recent years. As Covid-19 has jeopardized the world, with its vast range of implications for sectors other than health, the future of traditional development projects seems bleak. The impact of the pandemic on economies […]
Women, peace and security By: Fizza Mumtaz on August 12, 2020The UN Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security believes that gender inequality is a significant threat to global peace and security. Whenever there is a war or conflict, men and women are differently impacted. Since women and girls are more vulnerable to war-related crimes, therefore, the resolution demands UN members to implement meaningful participation […]
The 18th Amendment: Financial Autonomy and Fiscal Deficit By: Naimat Ullah Khan on August 11, 2020The announcement of the 7th NFC award in 2009 was a major step towards provincial autonomy, which assigned 56.5 per cent share of the divisible pool to provinces for the year 2010-11 and 57.7 per cent for the remaining four years of the award. The 7th NFC award is still effective as both 8th and […]
The alternative and renewable energy potential of Pakistan By: Dr Aqeel Ahmed Bazmi on August 11, 2020The Council of Common Interests (CCI), Government of Pakistan, on Thursday, August 6, 2020, approved an alternative and renewable energy policy (2020) of the government. This policy will unleash the full renewable energy potential of Pakistan. Energy plays a pivotal role in socio-economic development by raising the standard of living. It is becoming gradually accepted […]
Way Forward: Safeguarding Public Health from Hazardous Industrial Waste Exposure By: Dr Mahmood A Khwaja on August 11, 2020Waste management has long been an issue of critical concern for the health sector, environmental protection agencies and civic authorities in the country. None of these bodies has the resources, facilities or expertise to ensure environmentally sound waste management. Toxic pollution, resulting from hazardous waste sites, is rapidly on the increase; damaging the environment as […]
Fragile Democracy By: Ricardo Viveiros on August 9, 2020Those who have seen “The Threepenny Opera” by Bertold Brecht and Kurt Weill may draw a parallel between “The Weimar Republic” in the 1920s Germany and today’s Brazilian democracy: both are fragile and dominated by rebel groups. In Germany, there were monarchists, nationalists, communists, democrats and vultures on duty who, taking advantage of the turmoil […]
Overpopulation: Too Many of Us By: Afroz MJ on August 9, 2020The alarming increment in the population is among the greatest challenges that the world faces today. The rapid growth in population directly impacts every lifestyle and environment. It’s a reality that no country can ascend the stairs of prosperity without controlling the population. In mid-2019, the UN estimated that the world population had reached 7,713,468,000. […]
Do We Not Bleed? By: Zeeshan Javed on August 9, 2020One of the greatest feats of the international community in the contemporary era has been devising a universal list of humanitarian rights and freedoms that all individuals of the world are entitled to, no matter who they are or where they were born. Such rights are enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. It […]
Why Washington’s arms embargo extension on Iran at the UNSC is muddled with trouble By: Hamzah Rifaat Hussain on August 9, 2020Trump administration’s bid to extend an international arms embargo on Iran will be up for a vote at the UN Security Council next week. US Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo’s, statement, on Wednesday, hints at attempts towards preventing Tehran from conducting proxy warfare in the region or continuing with its proliferation efforts. This latest strategy, […]