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Flood management disaster
While the damage is not as severe as it was back in 2010, floods this year have also wreaked havoc on the lives of around two million people in our country, especially in Punjab and Azad Jammu and...
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The fumes we breathe
The World Health Organization (WHO) has released its 2014 report concerning global air pollution using a database of 1,600 cities across 91 countries. Alarming, the report has identified Pakistan to...
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Imperatives for regional ecological cooperation
Pakistan has experienced another ‘super flood’ this year. Indian-held Kashmir and northeast India also experienced flooding this year, Nepal suffered major flooding during the past year as well and...
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The phenomenon of Muslim foreign fighters
The handful of Canadian, American, European and Australian Muslims found to be going to conflict hotspots in Iraq and Syria is enough to have raised alarm concerning what is being described as the...
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Can Malala overcome co-option?
The announcement of the decision to award Malala Yousufzai the Nobel Peace Prize has unleashed a barrage of commentary ranging from adulation to suspicion. Internationally viewed as a youthful symbol...
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Poor farmers vital for overcoming hunger
An estimated one billion people around the world do not get enough food to eat. Why such alarmingly widespread hunger exists in our modern world is not an easy question to answer. The factors...
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China, the AIIB and development
China has just helped launched a new international development bank in order to fund infrastructure projects throughout Asia. With an authorised capital of $100 billion, and China, its largest...
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Gender gaps and the global economy
This past week, the World Economic Forum released the annual Global Gender Gap Report, which aims to quantify the magnitude of gender-based disparities and tracks their progress over time. The news...
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What is the HEC doing?
At the end of this past month, the Higher Education Commission (HEC) issued a very perturbing circular instructing all degree-awarding academic institutions to “remain vigilant and forestall any...
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Grappling with sectarian intolerance
Amidst heightened security, the commemoration of Muharram this year has passed without major incidents of violence. However, sectarian violence remains a lingering problem indicative of the religious...
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Afghanistan and us
It was encouraging seeing the newly elected Afghan president’s warm reception in Pakistan during his recent visit, and the accompanying statements by leaders of both our countries to bridge the...
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Listening to our government school teachers
Despite repeated reaffirmations to achieve universal education, Pakistan’s literacy rate continues to linger below 60 per cent. The quality of education being imparted in our schools also leaves much...
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Terrorism in Pakistan
Pakistan is reeling from perhaps its most brutal terrorist assault, and its citizenry in general is distraught by the indescribable suffering of the families of innocent schoolchildren who recently...
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Development on the back burner again
In the aftermath of the Peshawar school tragedy, the prime minister (PM) has formed a new committee tasked to work out how to divert an, as yet, unspecified amount of funds earmarked for development...
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Flawed thinking about Pakistan
As their forces are withdrawing from Afghanistan, think tanks in both the US and Europe have begun putting forth policy suggestions for dealing with Pakistan, a country considered important not only...
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Can madrassas counter extremism?
Ever since the Peshawar massacre this past month, the Pakistani civil and military leadership has expressed a resolve of tackling the underlying extremism, which is fueling the existing menace of...
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Exacerbation of Islamophobia
While the deadly attack on the French magazine, Charlie Hebdo, was widely condemned, the magazine’s subsequent decision to carry yet another illustration of the Holy Prophet (peace be upon him) on its...
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Pakistan’s urban transport needs
People living in cities across our country face mobility and transport accessibility problems. While roads become increasingly congested with vehicles, our public transit systems remain sparse,...
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Housing for the urban poor
To have an adequate shelter to house one’s family is a basic human need. However, for countless hardworking households across our country, access to adequate housing remains an elusive goal. This...
View ArticleStop ignoring small-scale farmers
Although urbanisation is on the rise, around 75 per cent of the world’s poorest people still live in rural areas, and are involved in agricultural activities, which comprise the major source of their...
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