Opinions

The shame or disgrace attached to something that is unacceptable to society can be regarded as social stigma. Erving Goffman, one of the most influential sociologists of twentieth century explains,   the phenomenon whereby an individual with an attribute which is deeply discredited by his/her society is rejected as a result …

Afrasiab Khattak-Protection of Pakistan Act (PoPA) one of the major anti-terrorist laws in Pakistan, expired yesterday. It was promulgated in July 2014 with a two year sunset clause. In this way PoPA has come to an end after completing its prescribed age. The present government has every intention of extending …

By Manish Rai-Islamic State which stormed Iraq and whole world in 2014 with its takeover of major Iraqi and Syrian cities by exploiting Sunni Arab grievances in Iraq and chaos in neighbouring Syria. But the militant group is steadily losing ground in both the countries. The so-called Caliphate is on …

By Prithwi Tilak Banerjee-Actually, it is just the tip of the iceberg. This is the start of an inevitable new cold war. Real war is not fought with weapons. It is fought financially with diplomacy as its weapon. It is not the wars that actually kill people, it is the …

By Zafar Mehdi-What starts as intermittent exchange of fire can sometimes escalate to a full-blown war with far-reaching consequences. Over the past one week, these fears were ignited when estranged neighbours Pakistan and Afghanistan resorted to brinkmanship, flexed their military muscle and fired artillery at the Torkham border, leading to …

Flare-up of Afghanistan-Pakistan border tensions signals a shift of dynamics in their historically thorny relationship. Julian Huxley once wrote that “a nation is a society united by a common error as to its origins and a common aversion to its neighbours”. If there is any truth to Huxley’s remark, the …

By Freshta Arash Faizi-Children have rights there are tens of thousands of children who have never known the carefree days of childhood in the country. Waheda, 8, works in a brick kiln. Her calloused, small hands shape the bricks under the noon-day sun. She says she is the only bread …

“Equality for women is not a threat to men. It is only a threat to sexism and good men must join the effort to making equality a reality.” By M. Nadeem Alizai-For years the Afghan policymakers have blamed insecurity for hampered development activities in the country. The picture they project …

Taking their “development partnership” to the next level, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani inaugurated the Salma Dam during an impressive ceremony in western Herat province on 4 June. It was Modi’s second official visit to Afghanistan. In December last year, he made a pit stop …

By Abbas Jan-There is a broad based agreement with in the scientific community that climate change is real. The U.S environmental protection agency, the national aeronautics and space administration, and the National oceanic and atmospheric administration concur that climate change is indeed occurring and is almost certainly due to human …