Syed Qamar Afzal Rizvi

A United Nations investigator, a former UN Human Rights Rapporteur is drafting a series of legal measures the international community could take to deter Israel from building the Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank and any means to formally annex the Palestinian territory in the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem. Michael Lynk, an independent UN researcher, said the European … [Read more...] about Int’l law and the status of OPT?

It goes certainly irrefutable to say that at present Pakistan is hemmed in by manifold policy challenges in terms of state building. Right policy direction and its implementation is the only way forward to overcome the present and future crises. Sadly, our national patience is losing its moorings. Yet viewing neutrally, there is a piece of ample evidence that the spontaneous or eruptive moves with … [Read more...] about Public policy, think tanks & state-building?

It goes certainly irrefutable to say that at present Pakistan is hemmed in by manifold policy challenges in terms of state building. Right policy direction and its implementation is the only way forward to overcome the present and future crises. Sadly, our national patience is losing its moorings. Yet viewing neutrally, there is a piece of ample evidence that the spontaneous or eruptive moves with … [Read more...] about Public policy, think tanks & state-building?

In recent years, there remains a discomfiture of the strained relationship between the White House and the 10th Downing Street.UK has been scrambling to stem the damage inflicted by the latest release of confidential diplomatic telegrams in which UK's envoy to Washington, Kim Darroch, criticised President Donald Trump's administration as "dysfunctional", "clumsy" and "inept", the UK's one of … [Read more...] about The strained US-UK ties? August 19

President of the United States has said he "would love to be a mediator "for the frozen conflict between India and Pakistan. While Pakistan said Trump had the potential to "bring the two countries together," India appeared less interested in this regard. The USA is the most powerful country in the world and it can play a very important role for peace in the subcontinent," Khan said, according to a … [Read more...] about Trump’s mediation magnum opus on Kashmir

While announcing its judicious verdict on Kulbhushan Jadhav case on July 17, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) , maintained a balance between international law (in terms of the doctrine of morality vis-à-vis human rights-the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations (VCCR) and domestic law of the state whereby, domestic court decisions could have had a profound juris-generative effect on … [Read more...] about ICJ upholds primacy of Pakistan’s national law

There can be no second opinion in the conviction being largely floated in the arena of international relations that the interstate differences provide an expedient recipe for diplomacy and that the wistful management of disagreement is the real test of bilateralism between the states. This argument is rightly applicable to the debate of US-Pakistan relations - whose chemistry albeit complex yet … [Read more...] about Restrategising Pak-US relationship

Given the developments over the last year and up to last week's G20 Osaka summit, tension in Turkish-US-Nato relations had increasingly reached a fever pitch because of brewing differences between Washington and Ankara over the issue of Turkey's purchase of Russian S-400 missile system from Moscow as Turkey refused to back down from its stand of purchasing a Russian-made surface-to-air missile … [Read more...] about The low ebbs in US-Turkey-Nato ties

Indian premier Narendra Modi and FM Subrahmanyam Jaishankar have reportedly responded to Pakistan's renewed call for dialogue, having written to their respective counterparts Imran Khan and Shah Mehmood Qureshi expressing the intent, a news report said recently. "India is ready to hold talks with Pakistan and other countries in the region for the sake of regional peace and prosperity," the report … [Read more...] about Envisaging a South Asian peace dialogue?

Recently, the government of Pakistan has not only dismissed but also documented a full-fledged academic complaint dossier that discarded the BBC story regarding HR violations in FATA by the Pakistani security forces as unjustifiable, concocted, unfounded, biased and partisan, arguing that BBC failed to articulate the respective viewpoints of all stakeholders. It also argued the said report was … [Read more...] about BBC’s FATA report: News ethics& legality?