The Global Social Network
An ongoing debate about the vision of Pakistan's founder flares up every year around Christmas time which coincides with Quaid-e-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah's birthday. It is centered on one key question: Did the Quaid want an Islamic state or a secular one?
Islamic or Secular Pakistan?…
Added by Riaz Haq on December 30, 2013 at 3:40pm — 5 Comments
Today is the 6th anniversary of the death of Pakistan Peoples Party leader and former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto. She was assassinated on December 27, 2007 after addressing an election rally at Liaquat Bagh in Rawalpindi. It is believed that her assassination was ordered by Baitullah Mehsud, the leader of the Pakistani wing of the Taliban called the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). Mehsud was later…
ContinueAdded by Riaz Haq on December 28, 2013 at 9:00am — 6 Comments
Taiwan, Singapore and South Korea experienced a dramatic rise under authoritarian regimes from 1960s through 1990s. The dictators who led these states also showed the way to…
ContinueAdded by Riaz Haq on December 14, 2013 at 10:00pm — 3 Comments
IT projects ranging from automated meter reading and computerized land records management to online education and mobile banking are now at various stages of implementation across Pakistan. In a report released today, the World Bank calls these projects "unprecedented in the public sector in developing countries". The objective of these efforts is to…
ContinueAdded by Riaz Haq on December 11, 2013 at 11:00pm — 34 Comments
Drone is now a household word in Pakistan. It outrages many Pakistanis when used by Americans to hunt militants and launch missiles in FATA. At the same time, it inspires a young generation of students to study artificial intelligence at 60 engineering colleges and universities in Pakistan. It has given rise to robotics competitions at engineering universities like…
ContinueAdded by Riaz Haq on December 3, 2013 at 11:30pm — 7 Comments
Pakistani rupee has sharply declined to 109.50 rupees to a US dollar, a loss of nearly 10% of its value in just a few months since Mr. Nawaz Sharif was sworn in as Prime Minister in June, 2013. At the same time, the foreign exchange reserves have plunged to $3.463 billion, a 12-year low since November 2001 when country had foreign reserves of $3.5…
ContinueAdded by Riaz Haq on December 2, 2013 at 8:00am — 8 Comments
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Policy-makers need data to formulate good policies. Good data produced by government agencies can be expected to lead to good policies and desirable outcomes. But data collection and statistical analyses require adequate methodologies and resources. Unfortunately, Pakistan's data quality gets a "C" grade by international agencies like the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Clearly the country faces significant data quality challenges. These challenges range from estimation of the size…
ContinuePosted by Riaz Haq on July 7, 2026 at 9:30am — 8 Comments
Pakistan is experiencing soaring demand for electricity across all of the sectors of its economy. The new demand is being met by rapidly growing deployment of distributed solar, estimated at 38 GW as of June, 2025. In 2025, 44% of solar deployment was residential, followed by industry (26%), agriculture (21%) and commercial users (9%). The expansion of distributed solar has enhanced electrification across the economy, lifting Pakistan's electrification rate to 21.7%…
ContinuePosted by Riaz Haq on June 30, 2026 at 1:30pm — 7 Comments
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