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This article attempts to analyse the relationship between the Student Learning Outcomes (SLOs) and evaluation systems of two simultaneously existing examination systems in Pakistan: Secondary School Certificate (Matriculation) and Cambridge O Level system. The major concern of the paper lies in observing the targeted outcomes of the two types of examination systems in the light of the aims and objectives specified by the two systems. One paper from each testing system has been analysed and the prospective outcomes have been matched with their exclusive aims provided by their respective boards. Results show that both the systems, in their own distinct syllabi, aim at making the students proficient in the learning of English as foreign language through a system that involves skills which are incorporated into the learners and then tested so as to make them proficient in the language. The evaluation system, however, differs widely in both. Matriculation assessments are purely a test of memory and assess the students' ability on the basis of discrete implementation of skills in the questions while the Cambridge O Level system offers as process-based learning of the language by keeping in view a holistic approach of applying various modes of skills in to its question papers. Hence, a reformation in the system of evaluation as well as that of teaching needs to be promoted to meet the prescribed outcome mentioned in the syllabus of Punjab Board. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Subterranean termites cause considerable damage to a wide number of agricultural crops, tree plantations and wooden infrastructures all over the world including Pakistan. This study was aimed to evaluate the comparative efficacy of 10 commercial formulations of new-chemistry insecticides against Odontotermes obesus (Isoptera: Termitidae), one of the most economic subterranean termite species in Indo-Pak region. Label-recommended dose rates of insecticides were tested against worker termites using modified filter paper disc method according to completely randomized design. All insecticides caused significant mortality of termites as compared to control treatment. Formulations of chlorantraniliprole, chlorfenapyr and pyriproxyfen exhibited maximum termite mortality, ranging from 31.18±5.67, 28.33±7.03 and 21.67±4.01%, respectively at 3 h post-exposure to 100% at 24 h, followed by triflumuron (81.67±3.07%) and indoxacarb (63.33±5.58%). Moreover, chlorantraniliprole, chlorfenapyr, pyriproxyfen, emamectin, indoxacarb and triflumuron showed LT50 values of 15.62 h (10.66 – 20.58), 18.48 h (14.72 – 22.93), 27.34 h (22.34 – 33.97), 28.22 h (23.37 – 34.53), 31.91 h (26.68 – 38.90) and 32.82 h (28.03 – 39.11), respectively. On the contrary, spirotetramat, pymetrozine and spinosad were least effective against O. obesus termites. Conclusively, based on the results of this study, chlorantraniliprole, chlorfenapyr, pyriproxyfen, triflumuron and indoxacarb are recommended to be incorporated in future integrated pest management programs against subterranean termites. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The demand of natural fibres is increasing in the world for industrial uses to make high value products. An enormous potential of sisal fibre is present in Pakistan for making ropes, twines, paper, carpets, cloth and handicrafts, which has not been exploited so far. The aim of this study was to design and develop a small-scale portable sisal decorticator for extracting fibre from sisal leaves. A prototype of sisal decorticator was designed and fabricated at Agricultural and Biological Engineering Institute, National Agricultural Research Centre, Islamabad. The prototype machine was tested for fibre extraction. Results indicated that sisal fibre production capacity of this machine was 15.94 kg h-1 (dry fibre). Average yield of dry sisal fibre was 3.2% of green leaf weight and average fibre length was 1348.9 mm per leaf. Average power required to decorticate sisal leaves was 3.1 kW. Operating cost of sisal decorticator together with a combing machine was Rs. 507.9 h-1. The breakeven point or payback period of this technology was 233 h. Sisal fibre needs to be washed, dried and brushed after decortication process for getting good quality fibre to make domestic products. This technology has a great potential and needs to be commercialised in sisal growing areas of the country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The governance of Pakistan has gone through paradoxes in last five decades which have slanted the normal functioning of an existing government mainly because of treacherous intentions involved. Governance is answerable for administrating the country's social and economic resources. This administration in turn requires a system of accountability and adequate reliable information for placement of revenues of country efficiently. Although the 18th amendment has provided a strong foundation for deepening of administration affairs at local level, the policy has not been fully implemented. This research paper aims to strengthen devolution at local level for essential administrative delivery functions closest to the citizens which would ultimately help to reassert better governing system. In this milieu, this research has focused on analyzing the functions of two main sectors of health and education in the post 18th amendment implementation phase. Another important aspect is the evolving role of religion and sectarian issue which has created hindrances for the effective policy implementation. The paper is descriptive in nature and has attempted to examine independent variable of Pakistan's administration is being compared with dependent variable of government through an inundated governance. The paper focuses on the research question of how a Pakistan's administration will fully decentralized to manage the affairs of country at closest possible citizenship level as there is a need for government to govern the "council of common interests for stronger inter-provincial coordination platform" for forging national consensus which can accelerate the process of development of Pakistan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research paper focuses on the emergence of the Saraiki ethnolinguistic movement and the Bahawalpur Province Movement in Pakistan. The movement is getting stronger especially after the 18th amendment and it is getting more visible and discussed in the national political discourse. It is essential to understand the roots of this new ethnolinguistic movement which can create disturbing ripples for the official Pakistani nationalism project. For this purpose, this research paper utilizes an historical and descriptive approach to analyse the dynamics and origin of Saraiki movement. Saraiki is a linguistic identity, but it is becoming more of an ethnic identity with passing time. The demand of new Saraiki or South Punjab province can also end the numerical majority of Punjab province in state institutions thereby creating multiple political implications. This research paper also focuses on the socio-economic and cultural grievances of Saraiki people and other peoples of South Punjab which has led to political mobilization on ethnic or regional lines. Finally, in the concluding section, there would be a brief mention of the possible promises and challenges of the Saraiki movement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: The study was designed to provide a comprehensive view of the chemistry research publications growth (%) of fifty (50) countries after 2000/01. Scopus; the world's largest abstract and citation database and Scifinder; the subject specific database for chemistry were primarily used for the purpose. According to the Scopus, from 2001 to March 2020 total 10,013,057 chemistry documents (majorly research articles, reviews, and conference papers) were published. From 2001-2020, The United States secured the top position (2403235/ 24.00%) followed by China, (1929345/ 19.26%), Germany (727246/7.27), Japan (708947/7.08%) and UK (589025/ 5.88%). The highest growth rate was recorded for the year 2005 (9.17%), followed by 2011 (8.08%) and 2004 (7.52%). Furthermore, we also calculated the % growth rate of fifty (50) countries. As per growth rate calculations, the top three slots in the last nineteen (19) years are majorly occupied by Iran (11) Pakistan (10), China (7) Malaysia (6) and Egypt (5). Emerging economies like Brazil, Mexico, Serbia, Turkey, South Africa, Romania, Mexico, Slovenia, Slovkia and Bulgaria etc... also showed significant progress in research output. For the 1st time Pakistan has topped the relative growth rate in chemistry publications for three consecutive years (for 2017-19). The growth rate for 2017-19 was found to be 18.51, 14.17 and 17.57 %, respectively. In fact, Pakistan topped the ranking in 2006 and 2013 as well. To further extend the idea, we retrieved the per year chemistry publications data of Pakistan from 1947 to 2000. Data from World Bank, Pakistan Ministry of Finance, Pakistan Education Statistics, Pakistan Research Repository, Higher Education Commission (HEC) and Pakistan Federal Ministry of Education was also acquired to possibly explain the increase in chemistry research growth rate in Pakistan. Although the publication growth rate of Pakistan significantly improved from 2002 onwards, it still has a meager global share of 0.5 % (approximately) and highlights that concrete policy measures must be taken to improve the publication output. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper employs the Gramsci's "Theory of Cultural Hegemony" to investigate the objectives, methodology, and outcomes of theocratic political approach opted by the autocratic regime in Pakistan between 1977 to 1988. Gramsci Cultural Hegemony theory provides parameters of analysis such as "traditional intellectuals," "manufactured consent," "civil society," "political society," "organic intellectuals," and "historic bloc," which serve as concrete foundations for data analysis through the qualitative research methodology. This paper is significant as it elucidates how "political society" (authoritarian regimes), rather than choosing coercion, exercise "soft tools" over "civil society" (religious intellectuals) to manufacture the consent of the masses. This paper is unique as it has attempted to apply the Gramsci's cultural hegemony theory in its true essence to bring to light the long-term repercussions of the hegemonic policies of Zia's rule and to answer the unanswered questions regarding the foreign and internal policy challenges in today's Pakistan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Several nations, including Canada, Norway, and Sweden, are increasingly integrating gender and feminist perspectives into their foreign and security strategies. This paper examines feminist foreign policy through an ethical lens, emphasizing that prevailing studies on ethical foreign policy and international conduct often neglect gender considerations. In the late 20th century, women progressively engaged in global politics, prompting discussions about gender-based behavioral and leadership differences rooted in biological determinism. This perception is deeply ingrained in global cultural practices, leading this paper to explain the reasons behind women's marginalization in mainstream foreign policy-making in Pakistan. It delves into how cultural beliefs and practices create disadvantages for women while providing advantages for men, and the role played by primordial or constructed identities in shaping these dynamics. Furthermore, the paper explores avenues for implementing feminist foreign policy in the South Asian region specifically in Pakistan, addressing the unique challenges and opportunities within this context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Conviction rate is the primary indicator through which the efficiency of a criminal justice system can be measured. Unfortunately, Pakistan has a poor conviction rate due to the collective inefficiencies of the Police, the Prosecutors, the Judiciary, and the Lawyers. In this paper, the author has highlighted reasons behind the low conviction rate in three main categories: Crimes against person, Crimes against property, and Crimes under Anti-terrorism Act. The major reasons outlined for low conviction rate are false statements by applicants, flaws in investigation due to limited resources, weak prosecution, and the lack of timely disposal of cases by courts due to overburdened judges. To resolve this problem, holistic changes must be made rather than mere cosmetic changes as the problem is deep rooted in the system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a reading of contemporary Pakistani women's fiction with a focus on their treatment of the subjects of sex and intimacy. The textual nuances have been thematically presented to situate the argument that Pakistani women writers celebrate the intimate aspects of their lives. Without being disloyal to religious and regional sensibilities, these women are creating and nurturing breathing spaces for them. The data for the study comprises the works of two contemporary Pakistani women writers Maha Khan Phillips' Beautiful from this Angle (2010), and Saba Imtiaz's Karachi you're Killing Me (2014). For the sake of conducting narrative analysis, this study relies on postfeminism as a conceptual framework and thematic categories representative of the chick literature genre as a method. The objective of the paper is to bring forth alternative voices depicting the lived realities of Pakistani women, as opposed to the essentialist understanding of Pakistani women. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper brings forth the case of Afghan refugees living in Chaghi, Baluchistan. The refugees in Pakistan trace back their roots for last four decades. In tandem with this, it also explores the realities and impacts of refugees on the social fabric of Pakistani society in general and Chaghi in particular. The refugees in Chaghi, Baluchistan are given deadline over deadline to repatriate after giving birth to their 2nd and 3rd generation in Pakistan. This paper aims at to investigate the issues caused by repatriation initiatives, whether the refugees are ready or not to repatriate voluntarily after living in Chaghi from nearly last four decades. This research paper deals with certain questions i.e. what issues did Afghan refugees face during their stay in Chaghi? what social, political and economic impacts do Afghan refugees have upon the people/district Chaghi? what are the major impediments to the repatriation of Afghan refugees? For inferring the results, qualitative/descriptive research methods have been applied. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BACKGROUND: There is huge burden of both communicable and noncommunicable diseases in healthcare systems. Community engagement is the diverse beneficial relationship between community stakeholders, primary healthcare system and professionals over a wide variety of tasks, their role and participation in decision making for enhancing community health. OBJECTIVES: This paper focuses to present the use of Ladder of Community Participation as a framework to integrate community health problems in Pakistan. Additional focus is on local issues and the integration of the model according to socio-politico-economic structure of Pakistan. METHODS: Research articles were reviewed from PubMed, Medline, EBSCO, and CINAHL. Different key words such as "community engagement", "community participation", "communicable diseases", "Ladder framework", were used along with focus on the most recent and human based studies. After thorough review of the abstracts, selected researches were used to integrate the concept of community engagement in prevention of communicable diseases. REVIEW: Review of the literature showed that local healthcare services alone cannot make sufficient efforts to uplift the health status of the communities. Community based collaborative interventions are often cost effective, sustainable and effective in managing outbreaks and other communicable diseases. It is imperative to engage the local communities and its stakeholders for an informative, collaborative and success oriented approach. Moreover, educating the community stakeholders for on-going basis can be an asset to the public health initiatives in the community. The ladder of community participation presented in this paper guides the public health workers and community stakeholders for step-wise integration of community and its resources in different programs about communicable disease prevention. CONCLUSION: This ladder presents a continuum of different approaches, which will help in planning program management, feasibility assessment, evaluating ongoing interventions along with modification, and expanding community engagement approaches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A population of Aphelenchoides bougainvilli n. sp. was retrieved from soil sample collected around roots of paper flower (Bougainvillea spectabilis L.), thoroughly described and illustrated from village Sarai Naurang located in southern district Lakki Marwat, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. The population was identified as new species and related with Group 2 of Aphelenchoides species, distinguished via length of female's body 428-444 µm (0.42-0.44 mm), cephalic region rounded and offset. Lateral field found with three incisures. Cuticle finely annulated, about 1µm apart. Stylet 10 µm (10±0), delicate with minute basal knobs. Excretory pore located 2 µm anterior to the metacarpus and 44 µm from cephalic end. Vulva anteriad, having slight elevated anterior and posterior lips. Post urine sac (PUS) short (15-20 µm), and covering 16.6-20% of vulva-anus distance. Tail small (24-26.5 µm), conical, about 3 times long to anal diameter and with a small, single mucro (1 µm). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Baloch resistance in Pakistan has been a political struggle and ideological movement which was meant to pressurize the successive governments of Pakistan to ensure the due rights of the inhabitants of the province. The issue of Balochistan is no doubt political in nature which could have been settled via political dialogues and negotiations, however, trust deficit and rigid attitudes from both sides have taken deep roots that never allowed to be on a single page for larger interest of Balochistan. The paper investigates the fact that the persistence unjust policies and rigid attitudes of the successive federal governments towards Balochistan gave birth to sense of deprivation and sense of alienation among Baloch ethnic group. As a result, Baloch ethnic group has justified and linked their resistance with the matters of their ethnic and ideological survival in the country. The paper further finds that the resistance movement of Baloch is the result of the long-term unjust approaches of the successive federal governments of Pakistan. The paper aims to find out severe implications of the resistance on province-center-nexus on long-run. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The informal economy in Pakistan is a part that has been mostly overlooked by researchers, although it is important part of everyday life in provinces like Sindh, Pakistan. This paper seeks to examine how the street entrepreneurs contribute to the economy of country and what type of challenges they face during street vending. By reviewing the extant literature, it appears that there is an acute shortage of empirical evidence on street hawkers in Pakistan, especially in Sindh province. This paper begins to fill this gap by analyzing hawkers' contributions, and the problems they are facing. The qualitative method was followed in this research, study seeks to determine the contribution of street hawkers as well as the issues that street vendors face during vending or conduct their business. There are many hawkers in the heart province of Sindh, hence the researchers used a convenient sampling method to select 30 respondents for the interview, the thematic analysis method was used to analyze data. The study's findings may have a positive impact on street vendors, and the challenges associated with street vending may be reduced. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since 1945, cohesive Non-state actors especially Nongovernmental Organizations (NGOs) have been working in the world which has changed the face of different societies of the world. These changes were taking place in almost every aspect of the society such as politics, social fabric and economy. NGOs have become progressively tangled in providing health care, education and services to people. During the past two decades, nongovernmental organizations are working for the development of the states. These organizations primarily play the role to provide the welfare humanitarian aid and protection from the conflicts. In the recent years there is a rapid growth in the number and size of NGOs and now the working are of these organizations is also increased. These organizations through their growing influence directly intervening in the policy making and the decision making. This paper will provide an analysis of the roles that NGOs can play within the realm of social welfare/development, particularly in the field of education, women rights and alleviating poverty. This paper intends to evaluate the societal impact of these non-profit, non-governmental bodies in Pakistan, a developing country, where the majority of population still lives under the minimum wage and where the social problems have proved to be a huge impediment in the political and economic progress of the country. The paper focuses on United states Agency for International Development (USAID). Also, through descriptive investigation it has been inferred that how NGOs especially USAID affected the social fabric of Pakistani society. Moreover, it is suggested that if policy-makers on both sides move forward with trust and non-politicized behavior then significant social changes can take place. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This review paper attempts to examine the causes and its underlying consequences of unemployment in the province of Balochistan. Following a short and critical description on Balochistan and the status of employment, the paper claims that Balochistan nevertheless with a vast and resourceful landmass lags other federating units (provinces) of the country in terms of alleconomic and social development. The theme of the paper is to discuss the overall situation of unemployment in Balochistan and to provide an understanding of the failure of past and current polices of the governments in addressing it. The paper argues that compared to other provinces of Pakistan, not only unemployment is high in Balochistan but also poverty, illiteracy, disease and misery, and latter are directly related with unemployment. This has been a persistent and critical issue for the last many decades and succeeding governments at federal and provincial level have failed to address thesethem. It is hard to believe that all ruling class both at the federal and provincial levelsince creation of Pakistan have felt exactly the same about the issue of high level of unemployment inBalochistan and made the same promises to provide employment opportunities, yet without any tangible policy interventions. The paper suggests numerous areas for attention and action, through which the problem of unemployment can be resolved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The controversial murder of Governor Punjab Salman Taseer lead to many questions on the role and responsibilities of Private media with reference to the blasphemy issues in Pakistan. The basic objective of the paper was to investigate the coverage given to issues of minorities, to highlight the sensitivity of blasphemy issue and to examine the media role in this contest. Total 67 new stories from 2 leading English and 2 leading Urdu news papers were taken over a period of 1 year, of which total 18 stories out of 67 were found anti- minorities, whereas a number of 35 stories showed a positive bend and 14 news stories were found being neutral. In general this research found that very less coverage was given to minorities in the year. However, the results suggest that all the news paper gave positive coverage to the minority groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To look into the experience of undergraduate medical and health sciences students regarding perceptions of online formative assessments. Study Design: Online cross-sectional survey. Place and Duration of Study: Riphah International University, Islamabad Pakistan, from Aug to Dec 2020. Methodology: Three hundred fifty-one pre-clinical and clinical students of disciplines including MBBS, BDS, and Pharm-D participated in the study. Data was collected through a convenient sampling technique. An online questionnaire containing 22 closed-ended questions with a three-point Likert scale on five themes related to online formative assessments and one openended question was used. Results: 86 (24.5%) students agreed that online formative assessments improved their learning. The motivation for learning was increased in 120 (34.2%) students. 214 (61%) students felt that online formative assessments were stressful, and the majority were well aware of the use of technology except for connectivity and login issues highlighted by the students. Regarding the question paper, the majority were comfortable with the construct of online formatives. 158 (45%) students were not satisfied with the allotted time to complete the formative assessments. 163 (46.4%) students were satisfied with the feedback provided, yet 258 (73.5%) students recommended formal feedback provided on the same day to improve their learning by knowing their deficiencies. Conclusion: The study results support the contention that well-designed online formative assessments have considerable untapped potential to assist learning by motivating students. Their problems and challenges need to be addressed to improve the online assessments that help in the learning of undergraduate students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper made an attempt of econometric analysis of the investment situation in Pakistan for the period 1990-2017. The variables including domestic credit, national savings, lagged investment (IV), imports, and the real exchange rate were found to be the major factors affecting investment in Pakistan. Among all, the savings coefficient is positive and insignificant because of savings in Pakistan had no healthy pattern. Exchange rate has adversely affected the investment because of unidirectional causality. Specification and analytical tests supported reliability of the investment does not affect investment model from key econometric issues. The stability test shows that investment fluctuated during the 1990-2017 periods. OLS and GMM results are comparable. OLS estimation results are reliable since these variables do not suffer from Endogeneity problem. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Present study aimed to investigate Cestode fauna of avian host Little Cormorant, Microcarbo niger captured from Kamber-Shahdadkot district, Sindh province of Pakistan. Eight Little Cormorant Microcarbo niger hosts were investigated for the presence of Cestode parasites. Anesthetized birds were dissected and entire alimentary canal and associated organs were removed. A total of five specimens of Dilepidid Cestodes were recovered from the intestine of three hosts. Cestodes collected from the freshly dissected hosts were initially placed in saline solution and dehydrated in graded series of ethanol, stained with borax carmine, cleared in clove oil and xylene and finally mounted in Canada balsam permanently. Parasitic examination revealed an apparently undescribed species of genus Dilepis Weniland, 1858 from the intestine of the host, M. niger. Recovered specimens differ remarkably from other known species of genus Dilepis Weniland, 1858 in having some unique features such as, 12 rostellar hooks, long neck, four pre-ovarian testes, unilateral genital pore and spinose cirrus sac located at lower part of each segment. On the basis of the above morphometric variations, but absence of molecular study, present specimens are identified as Dilepis sp. This paper also constitutes the first record of the genus Dilepis Weinland, 1958 from Pakistan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Indus River is one of the largest river basins in the world and is a lifeline for regional economies. Owing to its essential economic value and potential, the sharing of Indus river water remained a chronic source of disputes between its users for decade. In 1947 after the partition of British India was the prelude for the water dispute between newly created India and Pakistan. It was finally mediated by the World Bank through the instrument of Indus Water Treaty in 1960. The enactment of the Indus Water Treaty brought peace and benefited two countries to expand their agriculture around areas of Indus River system. The paper analyzes the key issues and conciliation process, which led to the successful Treaty, its understanding, development in economies and political atmosphere the two countries. The paper also attempts to highlight the new issues and claims put forward by the shareholders of Indus Rivers system, which is the cause of new areas of concern. Lastly, the paper suggests ideas for resolving the dispute and relations viz-a-viz water in the light of past experience, knowledge and successful history of Indus Water Treaty. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Kargil conflict is categorised as a "staircase nuclear conflict." According to the literature, in such conflicts, the incentives for the first use of nuclear weapons are present. The Kargil conflict, along with the Cuban Missile Crisis between the US and the USSR and the 1969 Sino-Soviet border clash, are taken as the only incidents when two nuclear states fought each other since the advent of nuclear weapons. Contrary to the generally held belief, this paper argues that Kargil was not a nuclear conflict. This paper will raise some questions about the categorisation of Kargil as a nuclear conflict. Prime amongst them: what was the level of readiness and operationalisation of Pakistan's nuclear weapons at the time of the Kargil operation? The paper argues that Kargil occurred too soon after the nuclearisation of India and Pakistan and that because it occurred one-year post-Indo-Pakistan nuclear tests should not elevate it to be a nuclear conflict. The paper further argues that there is a need for more rigorous analysis to work out criteria for how, when and why a conflict should be categorised and analysed as a nuclear conflict. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rising trends of employee well-being and talent retention directed organizational attention toward human capital management. Employee motivation has remained a concern for organizations to stay competitive in a dynamic corporate environment. This paper explores employee motivational factors and strategies telecom companies used to encourage their employees' morale and performance during the pandemic (crisis). To provide theoretical support, we used Hertzberg's theoretical framework. We collected the data through in-depth semi-structured interviews with 12 working employees of the telecom sector in Pakistan using a non-probability purposive sampling approach. After achieving data saturation, we transcribed the recorded interviews and generated the themes using the guidelines of Miles et al. (2018). The results suggest that the factors that encouraged employees were financial security, health insurance, job security, teleworking options, work-life balance, supervisor support, career opportunities, recognition, and achievement. Besides, the strategies used by the companies were work-from-home options, helpline centers, and e-learning opportunities. The study is one of the few attempts to address employee well-being and motivation in the context of the telecom sector in Pakistan. The findings of this study provide insights to human resource management specialists in developing talent retention and employee well-being policies during crisis times. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The special status of Indian Occupied Kashmir has been abolished after the Bhartiya Janta Party's (BJP) government revoked Article 370 of the Constitution in 2019. The bilateral relations between India and Pakistan are marred by the Kashmir issue. Since independence, Kashmiris have been denied basic human rights including the right to choose and the right to life. India has pursued hard-lined policies to suppress Kashmiris' right to self-determination. The central argument of this paper is that Indian government has been trying to legitimize its occupation of Kashmir. In pursuit of this, it has been suppressing the voices of Kashmiris and committing human rights violations. The research investigates how Indian actions following the abrogation of Article 370 have led to grave human rights abuses in Kashmir. The study has adopted qualitative approach and used various reports and published literature on the matter. The issue has been analyzed from the lens of realism, constructivism, and balance of power theory. India has been using excessive military might and tactics like changing the demographics of the region to stabilize and legitimize its rule. It is the time when the international community should take notice of Indian belligerence and abuse of the internationally accepted Convention of 1990, the Covenant of 1966, and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948. The United Nations must intervene to stop the illtreatment of the Kashmiri people, who have been the victims of Indian defiance for decades. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The prosperity and development of any community in a nation gauges the available economic and social developmental opportunities, which are considered as a backbone of national progress. Having about seven lac Christian population, Lahore city has the largest Christian population of Pakistan. This study has attempted to answer the questions relevant to state's economic policies and the available economic opportunities for the Christians of Lahore. The getting of education by the Christians have offered them menial jobs as sweepers and labourers in the governmental sector of Pakistan particularly in Lahore job market, for which an attempt has been made to trace the answers of questions in this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the age of globalization and technology, service sector is the engine for growth as it contributes two-third to global economies. Service sector plays a vital role for economic progress, contributing 59.6 % in Pakistan's Gross domestic product (GDP). This study focuses on the factors affecting service sector's contribution to GDP in Pakistan. For this purpose, Auto-Regressive Distributed Lag method has been used for data analysis. This paper has taken time series data for dependent and independent variables for the time period of 1990-2017. Factors like, foreign direct investment, trade in services effects the service sector's contribution (% GDP) significantly and positively whereas, employment in services and population growth shows a negative effect. Household consumption and Government expenditure depicts insignificant effects for long-run. Pakistan's dependency structure has been increasing over the last few years, more and more people are getting employed for low-skilled jobs. Trade barriers and small export base is a hindrance for growth in services. Policy makers need to address issues and reform policies that could increase the contribution of service sector. There is a progressive scope for this sector to grow and bring benefits to the whole economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Development ranking is used to measure the level of development of an area. This paper analyses the measured level of development at the district level of Pakistan to show which districts are comparatively more developed and which are lagging behind. The current study has ranked all the districts of Pakistan in terms of development on multidimensional indicators by using the Pakistan Social and Living-Standard Measurement (PSLM) survey for the year 2019-20. The study has produced nineteen indicators relating to human resources and living standards and then ranked the 126 districts of Pakistan's development. The study has also used the parameters of intra-district inequality to adjust the district development indicators in order to investigate whether progress on the development indicators is distributed equitably or not. Such adjustment with inequality has significantly changed the development rank orders of districts, and many districts lost their positions on the development raking, though some of them went up and down in the ranking. The paper highlights the bottlenecks to development at the district level and identifies areas that require further exploration for the welfare of the people. Further, the paper findings will help policymakers in targeting the resources towards the areas where they are highly needed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Post-9/11 dynamic global political developments and the growing Indo-US strategic partnership has compelled Pakistan to seek strategic partnership with China and geared at maintaining the balance of power in South Asia. India is maximising its resources under the umbrella of Indo-US strategic partnership and working with the US on various sectors such as security, defence and energy to pursue its aspirations to be a regionally dominant power and to possess a blue water navy. Pakistan unaided and alone cannot counterbalance India's regional ambitions. Thus, Pakistan with China established a strategic partnership to counter India's hegemonic ambitions in the South Asian region. This paper will raise some questions about the latest contours of this partnership. Prime amongst them is: what kind of role is this partnership playing in South Asia? The paper argues that a China-Pakistan strategic partnership built around the development of Gwadar Port and the China Pakistan Economic Corridor is playing the role of a balancer against India's regional ambitions in South Asia. India has some serious security concerns about these mega development projects apprehending their geostrategic importance not only for both countries but also for the entire region. A neo-realist theoretical approach is used to describe both countries 'strategic partnership' in this paper. The paper further argues that India's claim that the corridor route passes through the disputed territory of Northern Pakistan will not stop China and Pakistan from continuing the project. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Jujube belongs to the family "Rhamnaceae" is an evergreen plant having 170 species. It is a highly nutritious fruit crop riched in phenolic, antioxidant, and flavonoids. However, in Pakistan, it is considered a neglected crop with very little work performed and is growing in the Cholistan desert of Pakistan without any evaluation. This paper describes the physical and biochemical attributes of eight jujube genotypes (Anokee, Ajoba, Bahawalpur selection, Dilbahar, Dehli white, Karela, Mahmood wali and Gola) with its three stages (Unripe, Semi ripe and Fully ripe) growing in Cholistan dry and hot climatic conditions. The results revealed that these genotypes have significant variations in fruit traits such as fruit length, fruit width, and fruit weight during the ripening stages and the maximum increase in these parameters were observed at the fully ripe stage of jujube. Similarly, in biochemical analysis, TSS, total sugars, reducing and nonreducing sugars were increased with maturity and were highest at the fully ripe stage. Whereas, titratable acidity and ascorbic acid contents were decreased with maturity and were least at the final stage. However, total phenolic and flavonoids were highest at the semi-ripe stage. In physical evaluation, the genotypes "Gola", "Mehmood wali" and "Dehli white performed better in the climatic conditions of Cholistan, Bahawalpur. While the genotypes "Dilbahar", "Anokee", "Karela" and "Bahawalpur selection" were enriched with phenolic and flavonoid contents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to examine the behavior of national and regional food consumption and purchasing power to develop food security policies. This study estimates the demand for food in Pakistan through indirect expenditure and price utility functions, using integrated household economic survey 2015-16 data and the nonlinear quadratic almost ideal demand system. The paper finding shows that demand for most commodity items except for fruit, meat, sugar and other products is less than unit elastic to expenditure elasticity at the country and regional levels. Cross price elasticity assessment demonstrates that the most nutritious food items, such as fruit, milk and meat, are complementary products as compared to wheat, pulse and vegetables in Pakistan as well as urban and rural areas. The regional analysis indicates that the gross and net substitute impacts in urban areas are somewhat more dominant than in rural areas. It implies that urban areas household makes more substitutes relative to rural areas. These findings suggest that policy makers and public organizations should reexamine the connection between consumption, price and income for food and nutrition security and social development. It also proposes that constant price of nutritious food and any rise in prices of these commodities should be supported by price subsidization or safety nets programmes for deprived groups. In addition, the state should concentrate on rural income generation activities such as agriculture, livestock and its related industries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Numerous Impulsive mine collapses induced by shallow partial mining in the Cambrian Abbottabad formation have caused fatalities, significant property loss and brought harmful results to the environment. Mining subsidence is therefore needed to be monitored on all accounts during mining operations in this area. Based on a long history of soapstone mining in Sherwan, a generic approach is presented in this paper for investigating subsidence related phenomena in the area. This paper demonstrates a time prevision for the future subsidence using an empirical modelling approach EMA. 20 underground drift and shaft mines located in the Sherwan North-West Abbottabad, Pakistan have been studied using EMA. Empirical modelling formula, validated by Distinct Element code UDEC has been used to predict the time of subsidence of these mines. This approach is a factor of width, height and depth of excavation of a mine and it can be applied to area where mines are truly restricted to one locality e.g. Sherwan. The calculated statistical data unconcealed the current state and predicts time for future subsidence of Khanda Khau, Bandi Nikra and Chellether mines within Sherwan. Mines other than these three localities are mostly safe and stable. The major causes of mine subsidence in the area includes both natural and man-made factors which are briefly described in this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Thousands of students are graduating each year, but the number of jobs in the market is much smaller. The unemployment rate is slowly and gradually increasing in Pakistan. There is a need to change people's minds by promoting the concept of entrepreneurship among them. Hence, the present paper aims to examine different perspectives through which the entrepreneurial intention of an individual can be formed. Online questionnaire was distributed among private university students. Therefore, in this study, four aspects are combined to evaluate the entrepreneurial intention in the Pakistan. The dataset was statistically analyzed using "CFA" and "SMART-PLS." Finding revealed students with a business background, i.e., family background are likely to become an entrepreneur as they possess the skills from their parents. However, students with entrepreneurial personality traits also show interest in entrepreneurship, but universities and competent authorities are required to assist students in forming an entrepreneurial intention, especially among the students whose parents are not entrepreneurs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study examines how Pakistan and China established the deep strategic ties in changing world dynamics, in which both states are fulfilling their interests. The objective of this paper is examining what is the outlook of this region of Asia, in which the global powers have already taken interests in the past and present, how Pakistan with the help of China can build the structure of geopolitical environment that can provide a plan for future endeavors, prosperity and counter the insecurity, posed by many factors. Pakistan has been an important partner for China in the South Asia in the past 70 years, and now turned into a geopolitical partnership which desires to create an environment for regional connectivity while fulfilling China’s desire to build a road under Belt and Road Initiative to cover the markets of connected regions, Pakistan is the key player for China’s big dream as it possesses the natural route and resources that have been attractive and significant for China. CPEC is the project of Geo-strategic relevance and providing opportunities for Pakistan. To reshape the structure, challenges have posed a threat but both states are determined to fulfill the task for mutual benefits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main objective of this paper is to analyze the impact of time management on university students' education and personal life. The aim of this paper is to further broaden current knowledge in the field of time management and its relationship with effectively managing personal life and study as a student. In this paper, we have used Structural Equation Model to test our hypothesis. This study concluded that time management significantly affect study and personal life of students. This research will be helpful for university students and their parents in identifying the importance of time management for successfully managing their personal and academic life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, the differences in the representation of women in male and female writers' news columns written in the Pakistani daily newspaper Dawn are studied through corpus based critical discourse analysis. For this purpose, two corpora i.e. male journalists' corpus (MJC) and female journalists' corpus (FJC) are built, each having a word length of 24774 word tokens. The freeware, Ant Conc 3.4.1, is used to analyze the data, the keyness technique is used for keywords in their contexts, and critical discourse analysis of the occurrences is done. The results show the differences that exist in male and female journalists' discourses. The male writers' representation is significantly different from that of female writers. In the male journalists' writings, women are usually shown more passive either receiving some benefits from the others or receiving some sort of violence or torture. In the male writers' discussion, active roles of women in Pakistani society are rarely found. In the female journalists' discourse, on the other hand, active roles of women are more frequent as compared to passive roles. The study focuses on only one aspect of the issue. More researches are required to establish the differences in the male and female journalists' discourses about women. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]