More often than not Western analysts routinely draw their perceptions from the gossip on the cocktail circuit, mostly conforming to that reported by Embassy staffers. From time to time someone will give views contrary to that which are fashionable, these are soon drowned out by contemptuous skepticism. Only when the streets come afire are the…
IntroductionThe first decade of the 21st century is nearly over and the PAF of 2010 is markedly different from the PAF that existed on the eve of 31 December 2000, the final day of the 20th century. The next two decades will witness further changes in the doctrine and composition of the service as it…
Blasphemy laws in the South Asian Sub-continent are nothing new. While there is no concept of Blasphemy in Hinduism, those in practice during the Moghul Era were repealed by British colonial rule to allow Christian missionaries to proselytize. However in 1860 the Commission chaired by Lord Macaulay made the law again part of the Indian…
Art Buchwald immortalized US President Richard Nixon’s famous “I am not a crook” phrase by making the title of his article the name of one of his books. Maybe one day President Asif Ali Zardari, who is not a hypocrite and thus never uses the word “corruption” anywhere at anytime in any of his speeches…
IntroductionWe find many events in history that can be described as curious, tragic, amusing an at times, startling. In this article I will focus upon such events about which, perhaps, some of us may not be aware of. The two occurrences are appended below. Where is Christopher Columbus buried?According to many historians Christopher Columbus was…
“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible, make violent revolution inevitable.” John.F. Kennedy, 35th US President (1917-63) Conceptual FrameworkFor good or for worse, human society changes constantly; sometimes it evolves through processes such as globalization but sometimes it decays through civil wars, insurgencies or even breaks down leading to creation of new states and societies. Therefore,…
IntroductionIn the previous issue, three objections raised by the opponents of Islam as part of their mischievous propaganda campaign against Islam were answered. This article provides rebuttal to eight more objections, mostly related with militant aspects, a popular theme of the extremists of West. Objection # 4: Islam commands its followers to create a government…
Very bad health, my son’s wedding and shifting of my place of residence took a lot out of me physically and mentally and this in turn forced me to take on as light a role as one can have, whilst spending most of the day either sleeping or generally acting like a vegetable. As my…
‘Victory in the true sense implies that the state of peace, and of one’s people, is better after the war than before.’ Liddelhart Conflict in Afghanistan is now three decades old with short periods of relative calm and long periods of violent conflict among Afghans. The cast of external actors changed with changing times while…
What have been the contributions of the government of China to flood relief activities so far? As Pakistan’s close neighbor and all-weather friend, China empathizes with Pakistan for its great loss of life and property inflicted by the severe natural disaster. To help the Pakistani government and people to tide over the difficulties, the Chinese…
