A Predictable Manifesto Launch No surprises at Thursday’s manifesto launch, no rabbits, no hats. Some in the audience are getting restless. Reporters yawn, or laugh, when the Labour leader says, for the millionth time, that his father was a toolmaker who worked in a factory. A voter at Wednesday’s Sky News debate told him to … Read more
The Digital Divide in Pakistan: A Reflection of Societal Barriers The latest GSMA Mobile Gender Gap report (using 2023 data) shows some positive global developments regarding women’s access to mobile phones and internet usage through these phones. According to the survey (conducted annually), 66 percent of women from low and middle-income countries now use mobile … Read more
HEAVY and rising debt has emerged as one of the toughest hurdles for developing nations to address climate change, alleviate poverty, and seek economic development. The total external debt of 118 low- and middle-income countries doubled to $3.1 trillion in 2022 from $1.5tr in 2010, rising to about 15 per cent of their GDP. The … Read more
Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK) has seen a shocking pattern of atrocity crimes and human rights abuses during the past thirty years. India’s terrible cycle of persecution, violence, and impunity has destroyed and ruined countless innocent lives. The “Dark Days, Deadly Nights” Report Recently, the Institute of Kashmir Studies (IKS) in Srinagar published … Read more
Historical Context: A Legacy of Unresolved Partition Indian Illegal Occupied Jammu & Kashmir is part of the unfinished agenda of the 1947 sub-continent partition. Instead of acting upon the will of the people, India forcefully entered its forces and occupied the valley. Since then, there has been no end to the brutalities of Indian occupational … Read more
Elevated ISIS/ISKP Threat Warnings Top US security officials, including Centcom chief General Erik Kurilla, FBI Director Christopher Wray, US Attorney General Merrick Garland, and outgoing director of the National Counterterrorism Center Christine Abizaid, alongside the German intelligence chief, are all raising alarms about an “elevated ISIS/ISKP threat to the United States.” This chorus of warnings … Read more
The Rise of Far-Right Appropriation Where globalization of thought on the internet has made the evolution of ideas easier, the nature of reality has also repeatedly come under trial. One sad development in recent years is the appropriation of big names and works by the far right. Take alt-right’s Richard Spencer’s love for Nietzsche, for … Read more
A recent Supreme Court judgment has advocated for the establishment of child-friendly courts, having specially trained judges. The Supreme Court has emphasized that the welfare of minors should be “the foundational principle” in custody decisions. Justice Athar Minallah in his landmark ruling asserted that the courts must assess and determine a course that would serve … Read more
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif recently visited China to further strengthen the ‘Pakistan-China All-Weather Strategic Cooperative Partnership’. Besides a three-hour meeting with President Xi Jinping and another one with Premier Li Qiang, dozens of MoUs and agreements were signed. A joint statement described the bilateral relationship as “as unshakable as a mountain”, “solid as a rock”, … Read more
The British Ban on Hizb ut-Tahrir – In January 2024, the British government labeled Hizb ut-Tahrir (HuT) as the 80th proscribed terrorist organization, raising significant questions about balancing the protection of democratic institutions against subversive ideologies and preserving freedoms of speech, assembly, and association. Since the 1980s, HuT has engaged in radical but peaceful activism … Read more