Category: Columns

In The Great Transformation, Karl Polanyi develops one of his most important arguments in the chapter often referred to as “Pauperism and Utopia,” where he examines how early industrial society produced mass poverty on one hand and an equally powerful ideological belief on the other: the idea that a self-regulating market could organize society without...

Gaza, at this grievous historical juncture, no longer merely constitutes a geographically beleaguered enclave; rather, it has assumed the form of one of those lamentable chapters in the annals of human civilisation wherein warfare is prosecuted not solely through the overt violence of artillery, missiles, and aerial devastation, but through the far more insidious instrumentation...

On 13th May 2026, we had the privilege of participating in a Study Tour to the Sewage Treatment Plant (STP), located in I-9/1, Islamabad, under the leadership of Engr. Habib Ahmad Jan, Lecturer at the Department of Civil Engineering, International Islamic University Islamabad. This tour was a mandatory field study for the 8th-semester students as...

A newly published study, Voice of Balochistan’s Youth: Identity, Development and Geopolitical Perspectives, offers a valuable window into the minds of young people in Pakistan’s largest province. Authored by researchers from institutions in Quetta and based on surveys and discussions with youth across urban and rural districts, the paper reveals a generation that is proud...

In the evolving security landscape of East Asia, Japan’s accelerating military modernisation deserves measured international attention. While framed as a necessary response to regional challenges, the speed and scope of this transformation — actively supported by the United States — warrant careful scrutiny. Washington’s strategic embrace of a more assertive Japan risks overlooking historical sensitivities...

Within the longue durée of human civilization, certain interrogatives transcend the transitory realm of curiosity and metamorphose into enduring epistemological enigmas situated at the confluence of collective consciousness, scientific rationality, military grand strategy, and metaphysical introspection. The manifestation of cryptic luminescences across celestial expanses, unidentified aerial entities executing kinetically implausible maneuvers, and indecipherable signatures imprinted...

Today, many societies suffer from problems rooted in state structures and state policies, such as injustice, corruption, economic inequality, misuse of authority, and political repression. Yet instead of directly criticizing these fundamental issues, criticism is often redirected toward religion itself. In many intellectual and political circles, criticizing religion is considered easier and safer than challenging...

American politics has now unmistakably entered an epoch in which narrative construction, symbolic projection, and the rhetorical velocity of social media increasingly supersede the restrained conventions of classical diplomacy. The recent controversial post disseminated by former and incumbent American President Donald Trump on Truth Social constitutes a conspicuous manifestation of this evolving political temperament, wherein...

May 1st is observed around the world as a day of solidarity with workers and a tribute to their struggles. Yet, within our social and economic context, its significance has been reduced to little more than a formal public holiday. On the surface, it appears to be a day when the state temporarily slows down...