Shaukat Qadir

As a young lad, decades ago, I came across the word, “moron”; only to discover that it was another adjective for stupid; those unfortunate individuals, gifted with little or no intellect. On inquiring, I learnt that neither moron, nor idiot, improved upon stupid; which was the extreme adjective for these unfortunates. Earlier, we had been […]

Even after pouring through dictionaries, for lay-minds like mine, it is very difficult to comprehend the difference between ethics and morals. The lines dividing them are too murky. So, I am resorting to quoting the words of a better mind than mine; which says, “while ethics studies the spirit governing behavior considered to be “good” […]

As mentioned in my last piece, The French Revolution was truly a Watershed even in the history of the world. Not only did it mark the beginning of the end of monarchies and herald the hastening of attempting to establish a more equal political world order for all citizens of each state. We haven’t got […]

From the beginning of time, the stronger man held sway over the weaker and protected them. Original states were extensions of this concept. And, as influence of an individual, or family, extended to wider territories primitive forms of governance, in return for taxation emerged. As primitive political systems evolved, depending on the extent of their […]

At the outset of this study of political science, we concluded that citizens of every state, voluntarily ceded their inalienable rights [the elements of their freedom] to the state, with the guarantee that the state would protect these rights for them and that this essentially meant that the state promised equal justice to all. But, […]

A few days ago, I came across the movie “Spartacus”, starring Kirk Douglas. In the latter half of the movie, Spartacus’ wife asks him, what he prayed for. Spartacus replied, “That my son be born a Free Man”. And, at the end of the movie, Spartacus crucified but alive; is shown his son and told, […]

Among the few things that former soldiers, like myself, are familiar with, is the subject of threat analysis. I claim no expertise on the subject, but merely aver that I have been frequently called upon to analyze threats, during my years in uniform. Moreover I have also had to select, or helped in the selection […]

The BJP has long had revocation of the special constitutional status awarded to Kashmir on its agenda and Modi showed every intention of doing away with it. In his first tenure, Modi skirted this issue since he had to pacify his coalition partners. Now that his party has the majority in the congress, he can […]

Terrorism is again back at center stage. It has raised its ugly head in Baluchistan and KP and taken toll. As if that were not enough. A couple of sitting members of the national assembly led a mob of Pashtun Tahafaz Movement, PTM, and attacked a security post close to the Afghan border. At its […]