Dr Qaisar Rashid

On August 19 and again on |August 23, Nawaz Sharif, Prime Minister of Pakistan, expressed his intention to award Gwadar a special status such as the one being enjoyed by Hong Kong and make it a free trade zone (FTZ) such as Singapore and Dubai. Sharif wants to attract foreign direct investment through the development […]

Like its neighbours, the geographical location of a country is also fixed and permanent. Attached to the location are advantages and disadvantages with which the country has to live. Attached to the location is a country’s strategic importance, which in turn hinges on the strategy of survival formulated by it. One such successful strategy makes […]

In the statements of US Secretary of State John Kerry, carrots were prominent and the stick was absent during his recent visit to Pakistan. Further, Kerry articulated implicitly the reasons why Pakistan’s expectations from the US were not being met. Generally speaking, Kerry’s visit was a success for US diplomacy. Kerry informed his Pakistani audience […]

The year was 1997. Nawaz Sharif was the prime minister (PM) of Pakistan. Aimal Kansi (or Aimal Kasi) was arrested from Dera Ghazi Khan and an American attorney, Robert F Horan, who prosecuted Kansi, uttered certain words that infuriated the Pakistani nation. In an interview to a local TV channel, Horan said that when these […]

The problem comes to a head. A group of 10 Pakistani students garnered courage and sent letters to Theresa May, British Home Secretary, at her 2 Marsham Street office (SW1P 4DF) in London with a request to launch a secret pilot study into the behaviour (and deeds) of the 15 top ranking universities of the […]

In the media, much has been debated about the harassment of women cricketers by male officials of the Multan Cricket Club. However, little has been said about the incidents of sexual harassment of women civil servants by male civil servants in the Civil Services of Pakistan. A concise definition of sexual harassment is to harm […]

Almost a week ago, Theresa May, Home Secretary of the United Kingdom (UK), announced that a pilot scheme would be launched in November this year to test the effectiveness of the policy of making it mandatory on foreigners from certain ‘high risk countries’ (Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nigeria and Ghana) to pay cash bonds […]

Launching insurgency to give vent to one’s angst and anguish on the coercive and injudicious policies of the state is one thing, but desecrating the relics of the founding father of Pakistan, Mohammad Ali Jinnah is entirely a different proposition. The Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA), which accepted the responsibility for the attack on the Ziarat […]

Violence is an act of physical aggression, provoked or unprovoked, committed by an individual who is termed an offender or violator. Violence militates against the regular tenor of society, refutes societal norms and values and undermines societal organisation. Consequently, a disorganised form called social disorder is triggered in a society. Violence may take place at […]

On June 8, 2013, the incumbent government finally lodged its first formal protest with the United States by handing over a demarche to Richard Hoagland, US Charge d’Affaires, over the drone strike, which killed seven people in North Waziristan on June 7. Hoagland was summoned to the Foreign Office on the instructions of Nawaz Sharif, […]