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Current Affairs Pakistani Newspapers

What ails Pakistan | (Pakistan’s Domestic Affairs) | CSS Current Affairs

What ails Pakistan (Pakistan's Domestic Affairs) CSS Current Affairs

By: Yasser Latif Hamdani

While the powers that be and politicians fight for the control of the state, there are festering wounds in our body politic that remain unaddressed. Real issues are persistently ignored and swept under the carpet with devastating results.

On October 25, 2019 yet another Ahmadi “place of worship” was desecrated by the state in Bahawalpur. Countless individuals remain behind bars on blasphemy charges including the young professor Junaid Hafeez. Countless young women from minority communities will continue to converted forcibly to Islam in Sindh. The Federal Capital will see yet another Dharna where inevitably religion will be misused. Fundamental rights such as freedom of religion and freedom of expression will continue be trampled for political expediency and freedom of press will continue to be denied. Meanwhile the economy continues to nosedive. By February 2020, we may even be on the FATF blacklist. Our brightest minds continue to flee the country. Such is the state of affairs in Pakistan in the closing months of 2019.

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Articles Current Affairs Pakistani Newspapers

Kashmir Issue and The Dynamics of International Relations (Sheraz Zaka)

Kashmir Issue and The Dynamics of International Relations

Imran Khan has urged Pakistanis to come out of their homes, offices and workplaces every week for half an hour to show solidarity with the Kashmiri people fighting Indian occupation. One expected him to tell the nation about his government’s latest initiatives on the diplomatic and political fronts to mobilise international support for the Kashmiri struggle for the right of self-determination. More importantly, what are the options for Pakistan to deal with the worsening crisis? We cannot move the international community into action by raising the spectre of a possible nuclear conflagration.

Undoubtedly there has been unprecedented coverage in the western media of Indian brutalities and human rights violations that exposes Modi’s claim of normality returning to the occupied territory. But that is not sufficient to compel other countries to stand with the Kashmiri people. The international community’s silence over the lockdown of more than eight million people and the suppression of their fundamental democratic rights may be driven by geopolitical and economic considerations, but it also reflects our diplomatic failure.

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Articles Pakistani Newspapers

Article 6: democracy’s guarantor (Selected Current Affairs Article)

Article 6: democracy’s guarantor

Pakistan’s 1973 constitution is, indeed, the most sacred one of all other documents that the lawmakers of this country have ever penned or will pen down. But it is to say with great pain and anguish that this sacred document has been violated many a time by military dictators and civilian leaders alike. While dictators overrode it by abrogating or subverting or suspending it, civilian leaders being unable to implement its provisions also damaged its sanctity. As a result, the likes of Musharaf took courage to call it a piece of paper.

Among other characteristics that the constitution of Pakistan has, Article 25 makes everyone equal before the law and emphasises on indiscriminate treatment. And Article 10 A, included through the 18th Amendment, ensures that the state deprives no one of the due process of law in the civil and criminal matters. The constitution obliges the state to protect these rights of the people, which constitute its Fundamental Rights chapter. However, Article 5 obligates the citizens to obey the law of the land and the constitution itself. And Article 6 is the protection wall to discourage any kind of adventurism against the constitution. However, the intent of the Article aforementioned does end with protecting the basic law. It also seeks to discourage those who want to roll the democratic process back.

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General Pakistani Newspapers

2019 in review: Who made news in Pakistan? (Dawn Report)

2019 in review Who made news in Pakistan
More often than not, it was the people at the centre of the stories who garnered interest.

If one was to go by Dawn.com’s readership, there was no bigger story in 2019 than the aerial dogfight between India and Pakistan in the aftermath of the Pulwama attack. But on the national front, there were other stories that gripped the nation, divided the nation and some which caught the nation off guard.
But more often that not, it was the people at the centre of these stories who garnered such strong reactions.
Here, we shortlist some of those newsmakers to give our readers a recap of the year that was 2019 in Pakistan.

Bajwa: The extension that nearly wasn’t

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General World General Knowledge

Justice Gulzar Ahmed — the 27th Chief Justice of Pakistan | Profile

Justice Gulzar Ahmed

Justice Gulzar Ahmed, who was sworn in as the 27th chief justice of Pakistan on December 21, 2019, was born on February 2, 1957, in Karachi.

His father, Noor Muhammad, was a renowned lawyer in Karachi. Justice Gulzar Ahmed completed his elementary schooling from the city’s Gulistan School, according to the Supreme Court’s website.

He then went on to earn a Bachelor of Arts degree from the Government National College, Karachi, after which he obtained his law degree from SM Law College, Karachi.

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CSS Tips General

The CSS Companion: 200 Concepts Every Aspirant Should Know

The CSS Companion Book by Folio Books Pakistan

“An invaluable volume for the candidates for public service examinations and post graduate degrees. One of the major requirements for success in CSS and other such competitive examinations is clarity on essential concepts related to social sciences and humanities. This book caters to this imperative and hence a must read.”
Raza Ahmad Rumi (1st position CSS 1994)

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Articles Pakistani Newspapers

Pakistan makes it to first place on ‘best holiday destinations for 2020’ list

Pakistan makes it to first place on ‘best holiday destinations for 2020’ list
  • Boosting some of the tallest mountains in the world, the magazine said Pakistan is ‘an almost magnetic spot for adventure travellers and intrepid hikers.’
  • Inbound tourism in the country witnessed a marked increase of over 70pc during 2018 compared to corresponding year.

The UK-based travel magazine Conde Traveller has listed Pakistan as the top holiday destination for 2020, owing to beautiful landscapes and improved law and order situation.

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Articles

How Donald Trump’s use of Twitter has changed Diplomacy

How Donald Trump’s use of Twitter has changed Diplomacy

When Donald Trump was elected U.S. president on November 9, 2016, the world was stunned and world leaders were baffled by his unorthodox use of Twitter to bypass traditional media channels. Many chancelleries had hoped he would use the official @POTUS Twitter account rather than his personal campaign Twitter account (@realDonaldTrump) once he was inaugurated.

When he took office, the @realDonaldTrump account was followed by 97 world leaders on Twitter while 226 world leaders were following the @POTUS account. Today, heads of state and government realize that the @realDonaldTrump account is not going away and, as a result, the @realDonaldTrump handle is now followed by 185 of the 951 world leader accounts and it occupies the fifth position among the most followed accounts by world leaders behind the @WhiteHouse (290), @POTUS (250) the @StateDept (210) and @10DowningStreet (194).

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Articles Pakistani Newspapers

Heroics and act of valour by PNS/M Hangor in 1971 War (By: Captain Aamir Iqbal)

Heroics and act of valour by PNSM Hangor in 1971 War (By Captain Aamir Iqbal)

9th Dec known as Hangor Day is celebrated with fervor and zeal in order to pay tribute to the brave war veterans who struck terror in the hearts of the enemy by sinking the Indian Navy ASW Frigate INS KHUKRI and crippling INS KIRPAN during the 1971 war.

The spectacular war action took place 30 miles South East off ‘Diu Head’. The event is distinguished in naval history as being the first ever kill by a conventional submarine after World War-II. In recognition of their courage, the valiant crew of PNS/M Hangor was decorated with 04 x Sitara-e-Jurrats, 06 x Tamgha-e-Jurrats and 14 x Imtiazi Asnad.

On 9th December 1971, the UK build Indian Anti-Submarine frigate INS KHUKRI was sunk and INS KIRPAN was badly damaged by the Pakistani Submarine PNS/M Hangor. The significance of this encounter increases manifold when viewed in retrospect that it was only the first occasion after world War-II, that a War ship was sunk by a conventional S/M in a live encounter at sea. Although the sinking of Argentinean Cruiser Gen Belgrano by RN nuclear S/M HMS Conqueror in 1982 Falklands war is only the second such action/occasion in the present history; nevertheless, PNS/M Hangor till to date remains on the honour list as the only conventional submarine in the world to have achieved such a distinction.

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Articles Foreign Articles General Pakistani Newspapers

How World Bank Arbitrators Mugged Pakistan

How World Bank Arbitrators Mugged Pakistan

NEW YORK: Wall Street hedge funds and lawyers have turned an arcane procedure of international treaties into a money machine, at the cost of the world`s poorest people. The latest shakedown is a $5.9 billion award against Pakistan`s government in favour of two global mining companies Antofagasta PLC of Chile and Barrick Gold Corporation of Canada for a project that was never approved by Pakistan and never carried out.

Here are the facts.

In 1993, a US-incorporated mining company, BHP, entered into a joint venture (JV) with the Balochistan Development Authority (BDA), a public corporation in Pakistan`s impoverished Balochistan province. The JV was set up to prospect for gold and copper, and in the event of favourable discoveries, to seek a mining license. BHP was not optimistic about the project`s prontabihty and dragged its feet on exploration. In the early 2000s, it assigned the prospecting rights to an Australian company, which created Tethyan Copper Company (TCC) for the project.

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