Dr Qaisar Rashid

As if the list of trials for Pakistan was already not long enough, another challenge has popped up. On May 15, India successfully test fired its acclaimed, indigenous supersonic interceptor missile as Advance Air Defence, which is a product of the missile interception technology, to destroy an incoming hostile inter-continental ballistic missile in mid-air in […]

One way to delineate the contours of diplomatic relations between Pakistan and the United States (US) is that twists and turns are a fait accompli. That is understandable because no plain sailing is probable in this fast changing world. When it persists for a long time, plain sailing is cursed with banality dimming the colours […]

In politics, initiatives are important, whether taken in the right direction or the wrong one. On Sunday, during his speech at the Charing Cross, Lahore, Imran Khan, Chairperson Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) scoffed at Khawaja Muhammad Asif, Minister of Defence in the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) government, publicly by calling him names. In the post-Panama leaks […]

On April 19, 2016, during his visit to the Signal Regimental Centre in Kohat, Chief of the Army Staff (COAS) General Raheel Sharif said: The “ongoing war against terrorism and extremism being fought with the backing of entire nation cannot bring enduring peace and stability unless the menace of corruption is not uprooted. Therefore, across […]

At the societal level, the Pakistan of today is beset with two main conflicts: ethnic and sectarian. At certain places such as Karachi and Quetta the boundaries of both conflicts coalesce to engender a greater challenge for governance. The question is this: what role can democracy play to blunt the ethnic and sectarian edges of […]

It is now fashionable to trim down the role of Quaid-e-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah in the formation of Pakistan. The trend is especially conspicuous in the Urdu press of Pakistan. Many columnists writing in Urdu dailies have been found propagating that under the spell of Capitalism, Great Britain and allies laid the foundation of Pakistan […]

The state is not ready to speak to Baloch nationalists-turned-separatists but ironically, the state is ready to negotiate certain terms and conditions with the Taliban. The Baloch nationalism of today revolves around the causes of political and economic deprivation while the phenomenon of Talibanisation represented by the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) revolves around factors of the […]

By holding ongoing intra-party elections countrywide, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has moved at least one notch up on the political credibility ladder. The intra-party elections of the PTI can be considered a serious endeavour to show its rival political parties that it is a strong contender for people’s representation in the forthcoming general election this […]

By holding ongoing intra-party elections countrywide, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has moved at least one notch up on the political credibility ladder. The intra-party elections of the PTI can be considered a serious endeavour to show its rival political parties that it is a strong contender for people’s representation in the forthcoming general election this […]

What happened in Quetta with the Hazaras in January and February this year has proved one point without any doubt that militancy has taken over Pakistan, though in this case the face of militancy is sectarianism. There is another face of militancy and that is terrorism, which makes its presence felt through sabotage activities. The […]