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Giving Balochis a Stake in Balochistan's Mineral Wealth

The US state of Alaska has a small population of only 680,000 people and vast territory measuring 1.5 million square kilometers. The state is endowed with tremendous mineral wealth--particularly oil and gas. Alaska Permanent Fund was set up in 1976 to ensure that ordinary Alaskans get a share of this natural wealth. Currently the fund has assets of over $38 billion and each Alaskan will receive $1,174.00 in cash from it for…

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Added by Riaz Haq on November 15, 2011 at 10:30pm — 11 Comments

US Responsible For Nuclear Proliferation to India

The story of how India acquired nuclear weapons gets almost no attention in the Western media as they continue to focus on nuclear proliferation by Pakistan's AQ Khan.

The nuclear proliferation narrative in the mainstream American and European media begins with A.Q. Khan's network rather than the actors in North America and Europe as the original proliferators of nuclear weapons equipment, materials and technology to India in 1960s and 1970s. These nuclear exports from US to India…

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Added by Riaz Haq on November 12, 2011 at 10:30pm — 11 Comments

Karachi Tops Human Development Charts in Pakistan

While Pakistan's HDI of 0.504 (2011) ranks it among UNDP's low human development countries, its largest city Karachi's HDI of 0.7885 (2005) is closer to the group of nations given high human development rankings.

In a…

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Added by Riaz Haq on November 9, 2011 at 9:30pm — 4 Comments

Stanford University to Promote Innovation & Entrepreneurship in Developing Nations

A big donor is giving $50 million to Stanford to help promote innovation and entrepreneurship for alleviating poverty in the developing world. Here are some excerpts from a Mercury News story:



A Silicon Valley venture capitalist has donated $100 million to Stanford University's Graduate School of Business to establish a new institute to promote entrepreneurship in developing countries and eventually alleviate… Continue

Added by Riaz Haq on November 4, 2011 at 5:58pm — No Comments

Software Expert Helps Karachi Police Investigate Terror

Simulation software developed by Fulbright scholar Zeeshan Usmani is helping investigators analyze bombings and pursue perpetrators of terror in Pakistan. Usmani is the product of currently the world's biggest Fulbright program being offered in Pakistan, with approximately 200 scholarships for advanced degrees in 2011 alone.



Usmani collaborated with Daniel Kirk at Florida Institute of Technology to develop Usmani-Kirk model for analyzing… Continue

Added by Riaz Haq on November 4, 2011 at 9:32am — 7 Comments

Demography is Destiny

Pakistan has the world’s sixth largest population, seventh largest diaspora and the ninth largest labor force. With rapidly declining fertility and aging populations in the industrialized world, Pakistan's growing talent pool is likely to play a much bigger role to satisfy global demand for workers in the 21st century and contribute to the well-being of Pakistan as well as other…

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Added by Riaz Haq on October 27, 2011 at 8:30pm — 67 Comments

High-Speed Broadband Growth Augers Well For Business, Education and Entertainment in Pakistan

High-speed broadband expansion led by PTCL has propelled Pakistan to become the fourth fastest growing broadband market in the world and the second fastest in Asia, according to a recent industry report. Serbia leads all countries surveyed with a 68% annual growth rate from Q1 2010 to Q1 2011. Thailand (67%), Belarus (50%), Pakistan (46%), and Jordan (44%) follow Serbia. India is in 14th place worldwide with a 35% annual growth… Continue

Added by Riaz Haq on October 24, 2011 at 12:30pm — 18 Comments

The Bhutto Clan





The Bhutto family, sitting left to right in back row: Nusrat, Shahnawaz, Zulifiqar Ali, Sanam. In front, Murtaza and… Continue

Added by Riaz Haq on October 23, 2011 at 6:33pm — No Comments

More Pakistani Students Studying Abroad

Although the growth in the total number Pakistanis studying abroad has slowed since the terrorist attacks of Sept 11, 2001 in the United States, the world's sixth most populous nation continues to be among the leading sources of foreign students in America, Europe, Australia and new emerging higher education destinations in Asia.…
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Added by Riaz Haq on October 21, 2011 at 10:30pm — 56 Comments

America's High-Tech Warfare Against Pakistan?

After a reportedly successful US-Israeli stux-net cyber attack on Iranian nuclear installations last year, there is now a report in the New York Times that the Obama administration has considered deploying cyber warfare against Pakistan as well.



The New York Times quotes unnamed US… Continue

Added by Riaz Haq on October 19, 2011 at 10:57am — 12 Comments

India Lags Sub-Saharan Africa in Public Hygiene

India's rivers have been turned into open sewers by 638 million Indians without access to toilets, according to rural development minister Jairam Ramesh. He was reacting a UNICEF report that says Indians make up 58% of the world population which… Continue

Added by Riaz Haq on October 7, 2011 at 10:53am — 51 Comments

High Quality Stanford Education Via Internet

Here's a NY Times opinion piece by Bill Keller on technology disrupting the higher education model of elite brick-and-mortar universities like Stanford:



...one of Stanford’s most inventive professors, Sebastian Thrun, is making an alternative claim on the future. Thrun, a German-born and largely self-taught expert in… Continue

Added by Riaz Haq on October 3, 2011 at 5:30pm — 1 Comment

Should Pakistan Tell US Where to Shove its Aid?

"Aid only postpones the basic solutions to crucial development problems by tentatively ameliorating their manifestations without tackling their root causes. The structural, political, economic, etc. damage that it inflicts upon recipient countries is also enormous.” These words were written in a letter to UN to refuse aid by Finance Minister Berhane Abrehe of Eritrea which is the…

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Added by Riaz Haq on September 27, 2011 at 9:00pm — 31 Comments

Pakistan's Goodbye to IMF

Citing significant improvements in Pakistan's current account balance, Pakistan's Finance Minister Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh has said that his government would not waste its energy on reviving the currently suspended IMF program that began in 2008, or seek a new IMF bailout, according to a report in Pakistan's Dawn… Continue

Added by Riaz Haq on September 17, 2011 at 11:00am — 2 Comments

Managing Droughts and Floods in Pakistan

Pakistan has increasingly been suffering from cycles of severe droughts followed by massive floods in the last few years. This recurring pattern of shortage and excess of water gives us a preview of the growing challenge of climate change. This situation calls for a comprehensive water management effort to deal with a potentially existential threat to Pakistan.



Flood-Drought… Continue

Added by Riaz Haq on September 15, 2011 at 7:30am — 56 Comments

Pakistan's Wall Street Journal Ad Sept 11, 2011

 

 



Here's an Express Tribune description of the ad:



The advertisement, which includes a photograph of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto and President Asif Ali Zardari lists several statistics which… Continue

Added by Riaz Haq on September 13, 2011 at 5:34pm — 1 Comment

Working Women Leading a Social Revolution in Pakistan

While Fareed Zakaria, Nick Kristoff and other talking heads are still stuck on the old stereotypes of Muslim women, the status of women in Muslim societies is rapidly changing, and there is a silent social revolution taking place with rising number of women joining the workforce and moving up the corporate ladder in Pakistan. …



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Added by Riaz Haq on September 11, 2011 at 5:30pm — 117 Comments

Pakistan Ten Years After 911

Here are a few facts about Pakistan's role in the "war on terror" since Sept 11, 2001:



First, none of the terrorists who carried out the 911 attacks on the United States were from Pakistan.



Second, the former Pakistani President Musharraf condemned the 911 attacks and quickly allied his country with the United States in the coalition to fight the US-led "global war on terror".



Third,… Continue

Added by Riaz Haq on September 10, 2011 at 9:37am — 3 Comments

Wikileaks on The Gangs of Karachi

Here are some excerpts from Wikileaks on the "Gangs of Karachi":



US embassy cable - 09KARACHI138

SINDH - THE GANGS OF KARACHI

Identifier: 09KARACHI138

Origin: Consulate Karachi

Created: 2009-04-22 11:52:00









Summary: The police in Karachi are only one of several armed…

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Added by Riaz Haq on September 8, 2011 at 5:30pm — 40 Comments

Can Pakistani Diaspora Help in Pakistan's Development?

Nearly 5 million Pakistani emigrants make up the world's 7th largest disapora, according to the World Bank Factbook 2011. Adding the foreign-born children of these Pakistani emigres to the tally pushes the total figure up to about 7 million. The top five nations that the Pakistani diaspora calls home include the United Kingdom (1.2 million), The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (1.2 million), the… Continue

Added by Riaz Haq on September 3, 2011 at 7:03pm — 33 Comments

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    Blog Posts

    Pakistan Household Survey HIES 2024-25 Raises More Questions Than It Answers

    Recently released HIES 2024-25 household integrated economic survey by Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS)  raises more questions than it answers. For example, it shows that Pakistani households are buying lower amounts of basic food ingredients like wheat, meat and eggs in the last four years, implying that people are eating less to cover other expenses, like electricity and gas. But it doesn't explain why the households have reported significantly lower purchases of these items than…

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    Posted by Riaz Haq on January 6, 2026 at 5:00pm

    Happy New Year 2026: Pakistan's Year 2025 in Review

    As we enter the year 2026, it is time to review the year 2025 and wish you all Happy New Year 2026! May it bring peace, prosperity and happiness to all!! 

    The year 2025 saw Pakistan defeat a brazen Indian attack on its soil, while reviving its economy and…

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    Posted by Riaz Haq on December 30, 2025 at 9:30pm — 10 Comments

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