PAKISTAN MINERALS INVESTMENT FORUM OPENS WITH
PTI seeks more time from ECP for argument in intra-par t y
S TA F F R E P O R T Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman Barrister Gohar on Tuesday sought more time for arguments from the Election commission of Pakistan (ECP) in the intra-party election case A five-member
Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Rana Sanaullah
tions
(PTI) has
04
COMMENT
Heading for depression?
BA C K in 1929 the Great Depression was heralded by a crash on the New York Stock Exchange, which was followed by other exchanges However there were not so many then Now, not only have US and European markets tanked, but so have Asian, showing that the malaise is worldwide True, the 1929 crash was followed by a run on the banks which has not happened Besides it is a very different banking system now In 1929, the Gold Standard was universal; now all currency is fiat Another major difference is that then President Herbert Hoover had nothing to do with the crisis, though his inability to steer the country out of it cost him re-election in 1932 Mr Trump on the other hand, has caused the current crash, by the tariffs he imposed on all countries last week
As feared, the tariff hikes are an ill-concealed attempt to engage China in a trade war Despite loud protestations that it was not interested in a trade war, China met the US imposition of a 34 percent tariff in addition to the 20 percent imposed for alleged fentanyl trafficking, by imposing its own percent 34 tariff on the USA The USA responded with a 50 percent tariff imposed because of the Chinese tariff China accused the USA of trying blackmail, and it is being turned into a centre of opposition, by countries which, like Pakistan, dare not stand up to the USA by imposing tariffs of their own The total US tariffs on China have reached 104 percent, and China has not yet responded China was already willing to talk with the USA which may be what Trump wants it to do It should not be forgotten that some of the illeffects of the Great Depression have already manifested themselves, such s the rise of the farright Apart from that, the Depression only ended with World War II Is that what it will take this time to bring it to an end? Even if the world avoids major disaster, it should be clear that things have changed, perhaps as much as it changed during the Greats Depression (and World War II) It is not possible to discern whether there will be renewals in small areas, or bold new innovations to meet this challenge as well as that of climate change
Dedicated to the legac y of late Hameed Nizami Arif Nizami (Late) Founding Editor
M A Niazi Editor Pakistan Today Babar Nizami Editor Profit
TH E USA has opted for a strategic trade policy over free trade by prioritizing security industrial and economic policy over market liberalization President Donald Trump initiated this policy in 2017 by imposing tariffs on steel, aluminum, and Chinese imports, aiming to protect domestic industries and correct trade imbalances Now extending the state-driven trade strategy the USA has imposed reciprocal tariffs on goods from several countries including Pakistan According to the new plan President Trump has announced baseline tariffs of at least 10 percent on all imports to the USA, with rates rising as high as 60 percent for trading partners with trade surpluses These proposed rates are comparable to those seen during the Great Depression of the 1930s Consequently Pakistan will have to face a 29 percent tariff on its products to the USA as the President emphasized that Pakistan has imposed a 58 percent tariff on US goods This raises a fundamental question: How severely will these tariffs affect Pakistan’s exports to the US market? Historically Pakistan has not been a major trading partner of the USA with its exports accounting for merely 0 16 percent of the total US imports of $3 36 trillion in 2024 However from Pakistan s standpoint,
It
Concepts count
obscured by shiny GDP numbers, the state-sponsored terror, because it s convenient By staying silent, by continuing business as usual, they send a loud, clear message to Modi’s government: “Your brutality is acceptable Your assault on your own people won t cost you
This silence is a roar of complicity It emboldens the oppressors It abandons millions of Indians to fear and violence It tells Kashmiris under siege Muslims targeted by mobs Christians attacked at prayer Dalits denied justice and the millions struggling in poverty, that their lives don t register on the global Richter scale Let’s cut through the spin The world is actively enabling India’s descent into authoritarianism Global leaders cozy up to New Delhi hypnotized not by genuine prosperity but by a $3 7 trillion GDP figure that looks impressive on paper but masks the grinding poverty engulfing hundreds of millions For these world leaders, India is less a country of people and more a useful square on their global game board They’ve done the cold math and decided that strategic advantage is worth more than the actual lived agony of people in Kashmir or minority families fearing for their safety Don t pretend this is just ignorance; it s a calculated, cynical choice to be partners in silence, and it s utterly shameful It’s a profound moral failure, a stain on the conscience of every government that chooses expediency over humanity The writer is a freelance columnist
Engaging education
Rewrite roles
Is the world rever ting to a Pre-Westphalian order?
Sthe international system and unitary actors in the world s political and security landscape Ever since the medieval ages the global States system has undergone significant transformations adapting to the evolving trends in international structure and fulfilling the fundamental needs and aspirations of its citizens
The Peace Treaty of Westphalia, concluded in 1648, is one of the most pivotal moments in world political history that laid the foundation for the modern State Besides marking the end of the Thirty Years War in Europe the Westphalian Peace established the fundamental principles of State s territorial integrity, sovereignty, and exclusive authority to formulate laws, administer justice, and conduct foreign policy
These principles have since been serving as norms of the international structure However with the rise of globalization the increasing importance of non-state actors, and the growing challenges to national sovereignty, some scholars and policymakers have begun to wonder: is the world reverting to a pre-Westphalian order?
In order to reach some logical conclusion it is imperative to make a comparison of the prevailing strategic security environment with that existing before the Westphalian Peace
The pre-Westphalian political structure was characterized by a complex web of overlapping jurisdictions and authorities
Followings were the major political orders in Europe: (1) The Holy Roman Empire– a loose confederation of German states and cities with the Holy Roman Emperor as its head; (2) Habsburg Dynasty– comprising vast territory including Spain, Austria and Hungary; (3) the Catholic Church- with a central role in European life influencing education politics and culture; (4) various monarchs feudal lords and vassals–all exercising power and influence over dif-
ferent territories and populations In Muslim world the Ottoman Empire continued to expand into Eastern Europe posing a threat to European powers
The system was often chaotic and violent, with frequent conflicts and power struggles among various actors The following two major wars impended the peace and stability of the European theatre: (1) the Eighty-Years War (1568-1648) for Dutch independence from Spain; and (2) the devastating ThirtyYears War (1618-1648) involving many European powers Furthermore, the Catholic-Protestant divide had also created a deep split between Catholic and Protestant States The concept of sovereignty as we understand today did not exist and States were not recognized as having supreme authority within their territories In many ways, the world security situation today bears some striking similarities to those of the pre-Westphalian era A few key parallels include the followings: All the political analysts widely accept anarchy as the basic element of the world order which demands individual states to ruthlessly be self-seeking as regards to ensuring their security and survival Anarchy prevailed both in pre-Westphalian and present eras with a difference in “intensity” and not in “nature” The pre-Westphalian anarchy was characterized by overlapping jurisdictions and authorities challenging the concept of national sovereignty Today, globalization, international institutions, and non-state actors (NSAs) are all challenging the traditional notion of national sovereignty Furthermore the possession of deadliest weapons especially the nuclear arsenals the unending arms race amongst states disrespect of international laws especially the humanitarian laws and prevailing turbulence in States external and domestic dynamics, are a few indicators of the anarchic world order
Although there are no more traditional empires and monarchs ruling vast territories and playing central roles in states domestic and international affairs, this role has been assumed by the great powers States myth of independence has become neo-colonial reality today, hence seriously compromising their sovereignty States– especially weak powers– are bound to respond to the dictates of the international system great power politics and stringent conditions imposed by global financial institutions
In the pre-Westphalian era, NSAs such as the Catholic Church and feudal lords played important roles in international relations Today NSAs such as terrorist organizations multinational corporations and NGOs are increasingly influential in global affairs It was a small group of NSAs which conducted 9/1 – severely altering the security dynamics of every State on Earth Similarly, NSAs with military capabilities have compromised the predominance of the States conceptual and practical authority in conducting foreign policy The signs of such collapses of States structures are quite pronounced in the Middle East in the post-Arab Spring scenario and other states like Afghanistan in recent decades
The pre-Westphalian era was marked by complex webs of alliances rivalries and power struggles Today the world is more interconnected than ever before with complex global supply chains, international institutions, and social media networks
There are, however, some significant differences between the two eras The modern international system is characterized by a robust framework of international law institutions and norms which did not exist in the pre-Westphalian era Additionally the world today is more interconnected and interdependent than ever before, which creates both opportunities and challenges
A critical analysis of both eras reveals
What is emerging is a hybrid order: a mix of medieval-like pluralism, transnational loyalties, and modern state structures, shaped by globalization, conflict, and ideology. Whether this trend represents a temporary aberration or a new long-term paradigm remains to be seen.
reject the legitimacy of modern nation-
that during the pre-Westphalian period, the whole of Europe was in turmoil whereas the Islamic world was relatively stable Today, the case is rather opposite where Europe and the Western states are fairly balanced and the Islamic world is witnessing a reversion to this older model amid rising sectarianism transnational ideologies, and weakened sate structures Most modern Muslim-majority states possess colonial legacies and have failed to reflect cohesive ethnic tribal or religious identities in the post-colonial nationbuilding processes This dissonance has produced chronic instability authoritarianism, and, in some cases, state failure Some of the key trends of the Islamic World which emerged during the past few decades include the following: Firstly the onset of the 2011 Uprisings–the Arab Spring– led to the extraordinary proliferation of armed NSAs in Iraq Syria Yemen and Libya Same is the case in Afghanistan which has become the hub of scores of armed factions since: firstly, Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979; and, secondly the US adventure and withdrawal in 2001 and 2021 respectively Later these scattered groups evolved themselves into established identities with an extensive regional network, such as Syrian Kurds, al-Qaeda in Afghanistan, the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), Jaysh al-Islam in Syria, and Houthis in Yemen In addition, hundreds of small militant groups emerged in Libya and Syria either operating independently or in the shadow of larger identities As a result states like Syria Libya Yemen, and Iraq have experienced severe fragmentation where multiple NSAs are in control of swathes of territory Furthermore, foreign powers interventions with impunity has eroded and undermined the traditional notions of sovereignty
Secondly movements like al-Qaeda ISIS, and various Islamist revivalist groups,
The writer has a PhD in International Relations and can be reached at arshadmahmood74@hotmail com
Francis Fukuyama warns Trump is not a realist
He has managed to insult and offend vir tually ever ybody in the world, both friends and enemies alike
If you look at the people on Januar y 6th that assaulted the Capitol, the vast majority of them had comfor table jobs and middle - class lives
Trump was ac tually quite surprising because I, and I think many other people, had assumed he was an isolationist
Charlie Barnett: You famously wrote in The End of History that liberalism normatively satisfies the most basic human longings and, therefore, can be expected to be more universal and durable than other principles Is this still a fair characterisation of your position today?
Professor Francis Fukuyama: Just to state the obvious, we’re in a very different period than when my original article and book came out Democracy at that point was expanding very rapidly and it s been in retreat over the last I would say almost 20 years now; really since about 2008 I think that this retreat has been accelerating, especially with Donald Trump taking office in the United States I would say, of all the unexpected things that have happened the fact that you could get this much regression and that Americans could vote for a demagogue like Trump is something I really wouldn t have anticipated The concept of the end of history was not mine It was really the philosopher Georg Hegel who articulated it, and it was used then by Karl Marx Both of them believed that history was directional that there was progress and that societies evolved and changed over time The question of the end of history was: To what sort of society were they progressing? Hegel s was basically a liberal society coming out of the French Revolution, and Karl Marx’s answer was a communist utopia My point back in 1989 was that the Marxist version of the end of history did not look like it was going to happen If anything we were going to end up with a liberal state I think there s still a lot to be said for this because you need to step back a little bit from current events Since the Hegelian declaration, we’ve had a lot of things happening in the world but over the past couple of hundred years since the French and American revolutions the fundamental idea that a modern society needs to be based on an equality of recognition has really been accepted by you know, virtually everybody There are very few people that say systematically
with eco-
nomics that liberal societies tend to be the richest societies in the world Even China today which is not a liberal political order has adopted important parts of economic liberalism and that has a lot to do with why they re as rich as they are today And so the question that I was trying to address is whether there’s an alternative form of social organisation that is higher than a liberal democracy connected to a market economy And to this point I haven t seen it
In the Financial Times, you wrote that Trump’s election represents a decisive rejection by American voters of liberalism, and they voted with “full knowledge of who Trump was and what he represented ” If the normative defence of liberalism is in large part what people prefer but they are rejecting liberalism en masse how do we ground its defence?
I don’t think that I said that the American voters were rejecting liberalism as a matter of principle I think that Americans remain deeply liberal They actually don t think about these things in terms of ideas or doctrines I think that they remain fundamentally liberal Nobody wants to abolish the Bill of Rights or have an authoritarian government And, in fact, I believe what I was referring to when I said that they knew what they were voting for was that they wanted a leader that promised them all sorts of good things in the short run
They didn t care that much about his bad character, and they should, therefore, not have been surprised when that bad character became evident once he was elected to a second term But that’s very different from saying, “Yeah we actually don’t like our freedoms
We really wish that we had a dictator running or if not a dictator a Viktor Orban type
Some, like John Gray, have argued that problems like inflation, stagnating wages, and de-industrialization are inherent to the structure of liberalism itself What would you say to a critique like that?
Well you have to decompose it into different elements We didn t have simple economic liberalism over the past 40 to 50 years, we had something that is sometimes labelled neoliberalism, meaning it was an extreme version of market economics It was pushed very strongly by Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher back in the 1980s in which the state was demonised a lot was deregulated (especially in financial markets) and that led to both the rise in inequality and a destabilisation of the global financial system, and that is not the same thing as liberalism Fundamental classical liberalism really has to do with things like property rights and freedom of commerce but it doesn t imply this kind of libertarian approach to economic policy The other thing is that the real complaint about lib-
eralism these days which motivated a lot of Trump voters was not about economics fundamentally If you look at the people on January 6th that assaulted the Capitol the vast majority of them had comfortable jobs and middle-class lives They were more upset by a certain kind of social and cultural liberalism that I would put under the banner of woke liberalism in which issues like race gender ethnicity and sexual orientation are prioritised
I want to talk about international relations a little bit more generally Some might say that we are seeing a surge in a realist interpretation of global politics, namely the idea that there’s no higher power in international politics and that great powers behave to protect their own interests rather than adhering to a set of moral or political values You used to be very critical of this school of thought Are you still critical now?
Well, I would make a distinction in the different types of realism There’s a realism of ends and then there s a realism of means And I ve always been a believer in the realism of means That is to say you can pursue non-realist goals, but you need to do that realistically with an appreciation for the importance of power and, occasionally, for the importance of military power The realism of ends is something different like John Mearsheimer asserting that it doesn t matter what kind of regime you have that all countries want to maximise their power And that, I think, is simply empirically wrong, and it s normatively wrong because countries do pursue very different types of foreign policies based on their domestic orders
You outlined your critique of realism in international affairs earlier but you ve also said that Trump’s behaving like an imperialist in many ways, with what he’s saying about Greenland, Canada and Gaza Do you think the future is one where Trump or the US or great powers behave imperialistically and retreat into their spheres of influence?
Russia and China never abandoned the spheres of influence type of thinking, especially Russia Putin has a very 19th-century view of Russia’s mission It is based on territory and physical extent China has had territorial ambitions for the last several decades The militarization that it s undertaken of the South China Sea is not isolationism It s making a huge assertion about the territorial extent of the country So these countries haven t changed over the recent years They simply saw that the balance of power in the world had shifted away from the United States and that they could take advantage of it What is different is the position of the United States and there, Trump was actually quite surprising be-
cause I, and I think many other people, had assumed he was an isolationist He had criticized America’s forever wars, the fact that we’d gotten involved in all these hopeless conflicts in the Middle East and that we weren t going to do that anymore And then all of a sudden he wants to remake Gaza into a luxury resort It s a very old understanding of national interest, and one that we had thought had largely disappeared in the thinking of most people in modern liberal democracies
If Trump withdraws decisively from European security what is the future of Europe?
Well, it depends on choices that the Europeans will have to make I think that the French have been insisting on the need for a separate European defence capacity They’ve never backed that up sufficiently with the kinds of military investments that you would need to make that credible But this is increasingly going to be on the agenda Within NATO, there was a division in recent years between the French and other Western Europeans that thought maybe it would be better to have an independent capability We’re going through a very interesting period right now where a lot of Eastern Europe is now beginning to recognise that that strategy isn t going to work because the United States isn t reliable and that Europe has to take care of itself It certainly has the economic wherewithal to do that So the question is whether you can get the political agreement to reorganise things Both the EU and NATO have very defective decision-making systems where, on a lot of critical issues, you need unanimity between 31 countries or 27 And I think if the Europeans don’t fix some of those decision-making systems they’re also going to suffer from that kind of weakness
As you say many assumed Trump was an isolationist at first, but now his policies don’t always seem to reflect this ideology Could it be that Trump is motivated by a realist frame of thought when it comes to power and that his tariffs and foreign policy are ways of legitimizing that power?
Francis Fukuyama is an American political scientist, political economist, and international relations scholar
Dr arshaD MahMooD
CORPORATE CORNER
CHANGPENG ZHAO MEETS NAWA Z SHARIF, MARYAM TO ADVANCE PAKISTAN’S DIGITAL FRONTIER
g NAWAZ SHARIF WELCOMES ZHAO’S APPOINTMENT A S STRATEGIC ADVISOR TO PAKISTAN CRYPTO COUNCIL
NFL employees can access a portion of their earned salary in real-time via the ABHI mobile app or SMS, within 30 seconds, anytime, anywhere This initiative eliminates the stress of waiting for payday reducing reliance on high-interest loans and fostering greater financial security
Pakistan offers
lowest Hajj
costs in region: Minister
ISLAMABAD S TA F F R E P O R T
Federal Minister for Religious Affairs and Interfaith Harmony, Sardar Muhammad Yousaf on Tuesday said Hajj expenses in Pakistan are lower compared to other countries in the region, while comprehensive and high-quality arrangements have been made for the pilgrims Pakistani travel guidesAddressing a Hajj training workshop Haji camp Islamabad the minister said the government is committed to providing maximum facilitation to the pilgrims We have reviewed the arrangements in Saudi Arabia ourselves, and every effort will be made to ensure that no pilgrim faces any difficulty,” he emphasized He informed participants that this marks the second phase of the Hajj training sessions and that the vaccination of pilgrims will begin on the 20th of this month The minister also urged all Pakistani pilgrims to strictly adhere to the laws and regulations of Saudi Arabia during their stay Speaking on the occasion
NRL discovers significant Copper-Gold
mineralization in Chagai
Chairman National Resources Limited and CEO Lucky Cement Limited while addressing the participants at Pakistan Minerals Investment Forum 2025 today NRL, a 100% Pakistani privately owned company and a subsidiary of Fatima Fertilizer, Liberty Mills Limited, and Lucky Cement was awarded a lease in October 2023 The licensed area
GUJRAT S TA F F R E P O R T
The three-day interdepartmental contest Kirdar 25 saw a grand opening at Hafiz Hayat Campus, University of Gujrat here the other day Organized by the university’s Character Building Society (CBS), the event aims to foster high moral conduct ethical values integrity and patriotism among students to contribute towards a stronger and more prosperous Pakistan Students from various departments are competing in diverse activities including poster design essay writing sports, photography, stage comedy, and filmmaking, showcasing their talents and creativity
CBS coordinator Mubashar Hussain inaugurated the event alongside Dr Faiza Bajwa,
Referring to the Holy Quran, he encouraged students to
that Pakistan and Azerbaijan enjoy longstanding brotherly relations based on shared faith, culture, mutual respect, and fraternity Reviewing the progress on the Memorandums of Understanding and bilateral agreements signed during his visit the prime minister invited Azerbaijan to take advantage of the vast investment opportunities available in Pakistan in the fields of oil exploration, mining, renewable energy, and regional infrastructure development PTI calls detention of Khan’s sisters, par t y leaders, workers
‘shameful, intolerable’
ISLAMABAD
S TA F F R E P O R T Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) vehemently denounced the government for deliberately denying PTI founding Chairman Imran Khan s sisters a meeting with their unlawfully incarcerated brother blatantly violating Islamabad High Court (IHC) orders The party called the unlawful detention of his sisters, PTI leaders and workers, shameful and intolerable PTI Central Information Secretary Sheikh Waqas, in a strongly-worded statement on Tuesday condemned the ‘imposed rulers’ for their brazen constitutional violations systematic dismantling of judicial independence and flagrant disregard for the rule of law, warning that such authoritarian actions were rapidly reducing Pakistan to a state of lawlessness He strongly condemned both the use of force against peaceful protesters showing solidarity with Imran Khan’s family and detention of Imran Khan’s sisters Aleema Khan and Uzma Khan and PTI leader Aliya Hamza and the party workers and leaders lawyers and journalists outside Adiala Jail
ISLAMABAD S TA F F R E P O R T
Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi on Tuesday directed newly-appointed Director-General of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), Riffat Mukhtar Raja to initiate strict and effective measures against human smuggling and illegal immigration across the country
Presiding over a high-level meeting, Naqvi emphasized the need for coordinated action across all provinces, asserting that individuals involved in human smuggling must be dealt with an “iron hand ” Minister of State for Interior Talal Chaudhary Federal Interior Secretary Mohammad Khurram Agha, and newly-appointed Director-General of the National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency (NCCA) Waqaruddin Syed were also present at the meeting
The interior minister condemned the exploitative tactics used by human traffickers, saying such individuals prey on the hopes of innocent people by luring them with false promises
Clash erupts between PTI supporters and police near Adiala Jail, multiple arrests made
In a related development police also detained
Aleema Khan and Uzma Khan along with PTI leader Aliya Hamza They had arrived at Adiala Jail to visit Imran Khan but were prevented from entering the premises PTI Chairman Barrister Gohar condemned the detentions highlighting that a court order explicitly allowed the family to meet Imran Khan He criticized the arrests as illegal and unconstitutional and clarified that PTI had neither instigated stone-throwing nor organized the
in the National Assembly who assured police of cooperation from the party
However sources said that the detained individuals, including the Khan sisters and Aliya Hamza, refused to leave, insisting they be taken to a police station if they were to be detained
