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Media, as a source of information, plays a crucial role in opinion-making and perceptionbuilding. During the Iraq War (2003), the media's role was to shape the images of war while propagating specific ideas to influence the people. As a result, the world perceived propagandistic messages that appeared to take the form of fake news. The disinformation campaign was designed to profess the threat of weapons of mass destruction and explicate Saddam Hussein's affiliation with terrorist organizations as a threat to the world. The instantly shared live images, videos, recordings, and pictures across mass media platforms elicited shock, dismay, and disbelief throughout the world. With this insight, this paper attempts to comprehend the role of media propaganda which promoted the agenda of a media spectacle of the US military victory by transforming into a presentation of anarchy that destabilizes the rationale behind the invasion. It also provides an overview of the development of the Iraq War through the lens of the Herman- Chomsky Propaganda model. This model elucidates the role of propaganda in manipulating the opinion of the Iraqi people and how it was used to achieve economic, social, and political advantages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Byline: Arshi Saleem Hashmi ABSTRACT This paper attempts to discuss the politicization of ethnic groups. Why and when different linguistic/ethnic groups become politically active? While the conventional wisdom suggests that [...]

This paper examines the rise of right-wing Hindu nationalism in Indian politics in the 1980s premised on the hatred of minorities. It qualitatively analyses the political catalysts for the rise of Hindu nationalists, rationale behind Hindutva initiative, rightwing organizational interests, internal politicking among political parties, and the role powerful individuals played to promote Hindutva ideology through the works of intellectuals and expert in the field. It takes into account the important dimensions of the strategy employed to instill anxiety against the threat amongst the masses to draw electoral support. The paper elaborates on the discourse strategies utilized to propagate the Hindutva ideology within Indian society through media and politics. It actively analyses the ramifications of Hindutva ideology on Indian domestic politics as well as regional politics and highlights the potential risks that may ensue in South Asia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Alternate Dispute Resolution (ADR) is an important tool to strengthen positive peace and it got cover in Pakistan through Alternate Dispute Resolution Act, 2017. 36 ADR Centres established by Lahore High Court at District headquarters have shown success rate of about 45%, successfully mediating 12943 references out of 28845, sent between June, 2017 and October, 2018. However, such performance of the judges appointed on mediation centres has not been considered up to the mark. This paper makes a comparison between the skill set of a mediator with that of a judge, an arbitrator or a panch and explores whether the skill set of judges suffices them to carry out successful mediation. This qualitative study has used two methods for triangulation of the findings; namely, focus group discussion and one-on-one interviews. The paper concludes with a recommendation to develop a permanent pool of mediators, comprising judicial officers trained in mediator's skill set and nonjudicial experts, who could contribute positively and diversely to make mediation as successful in Pakistan as in other parts of the world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Relations between Pakistan and India have been viewed largely from a classical realism perspective. India's government under Modi has redefined policy outlook towards Pakistan. An aggressive posturing is definitely to address domestic political gains by linking disturbance in Kashmir and internal security with Pakistan's alleged "interference". This however has serious repercussions on long term regional peace. The situation suffers due to the dilemma of different perspectives on what constitutes peace in South Asia. While Pakistan's emphasis is on cordial relations with all neighbours in the region particularly with India- with dignity and resolution of Kashmir issue. For India, peace is only possible if Pakistan accepts India's assertion that terrorism inside India is only due to Pakistan's policy of accommodating "terrorists" and facilitating their activities against India. This makes any meaningful dialogue to move towards peace simply unachievable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Voluntary compliance not only lowers the cost of law enforcement but also breeds a culture of lawfulness, where compliance becomes convenient than breach. Such a culture, is generally named as a culture of lawfulness. The voluntary compliance is adversely affected if the cultural needs and demands are not attended properly while making laws. It creates a gap between law in the book and law in action. In such situations breach and avoidance of law becomes convenient than compliance and a weak culture of lawfulness is the result. In Pakistan, the culture of lawfulness is weak which indicates that the gap between law and action needs a thorough analysis to find out where law and culture are not coinciding and what are the factors responsible for the gap, to suggest a practical remedy to minimize the gap. This article is an effort to qualitatively analyze the factors, after a detailed review of the statutory laws, Judge made laws and keen observation of the practices of people, along with other accompanying factors like religion, cultural groups and sub groups diaspora, education and economic factors etc. The outcome is a short-term resolve based on social marketing approach and a long-term solution in the form of a holistic, community based, law-making approach to plug the gap. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

People employ both violent and non-violent means to achieve political ends. Some suggest that grievances -- actual or perceived, motivate people to adopt violence, while others argue that greed and opportunity structures stimulate violence - motivation is indeterminate. A plethora of the existing work explains motivations, operational methods, targets etc. of political violence and insurgencies; however, academic inquiry into intra-movement dynamics and its effects on achievement of their strategic objectives is scant. This paper employs Movement Structure Theory to unravel intramovement behavior of militant groups by disaggregating ethnic militancy in Balochistan, to answer some of the basic questions of what constitutes success / failure for non-state violence and which factors effect variation in polarity of Baloch movement. Better understanding of intra-movement dynamics would facilitate policymakers in estimating probability of successes/failures of ethnic movements and developing focused strategies to efficiently mitigate ethnic violence. Paper concludes that presence of multiple groups in a movement undermines its ability to achieve strategic objectives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) merger with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is a significant step by the government of Pakistan to deal with the law and order situation and mainstreaming the region. This qualitative analysis is an attempt to explore the role of structural and cultural factors causing disturbance in FATA region and implications of merger to address these issues. The research findings indicate that a considerable majority of FATA inhabitants not only appreciates the decision but are also looking forward to welcome positive changes in the region. This merger will not only bring administrative and infrastructural development in FATA, but will also open up the region to new businesses, better communication, greater development, and positive social changes. However, it is important that government should involve local people in this process because without understanding the local dynamics, it would be very hard for the state to achieve the desired results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the emergence of new challenges the traditional approaches have now been taken over by the non-traditional ones. Either it is the hard power or soft power every state mobilizes it to achieve the strategic ends. This paper focuses on India's soft power capabilities and its extensive use, particularly that of mass media for projecting country's image as the world's largest successful democracy and vocals of world peace. However, the employment of this strategic tool by India is not restricted to its image building but it is geared more on tarnishing the image of other countries particularly Pakistan. The paper further examines Indian media manipulation through 'Liberal' lens, which is based on liberals view of 'free media' and 'freedom of speech' identify Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's anti-Pakistan and Hindu nationalism agenda along with their negative framing of news contents targeting Pakistan. The key findings substantiate that India uses propaganda strategy against Pakistan, utilizing Sun Tzu and Kautilya's deception and isolation concept in their foreign policy towards Pakistan. It verifies that comparing all previous governments, Modi 'sarkar' has extensively mobilized media as soft power for achieving its strategic objectives. Indian new strategy of using soft power is not effective and conducive for regional peace at the moment rather it has proved to be supplementing its already existing hard power rhetoric for its gluttony of regional supremacy. The Bharatya Janata Party's (BJP) government seems to be adapting 'Liberal' approach, however, in practical terms the essence of 'Realist' sentiments are deeply engraved that would not be easy to root out. The paper concludes that BJP's xenophobic rhetoric is pro-Hindu nationalism and anti-Pakistan. It uses media and other concepts of strategic philosophies as the soft power and employs it as a strategic weapon for attaining regional hegemony. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the inception of Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), as an organized terrorist organization, it is widely discussed among scholars, whether terrorist organizations are financed by local or international sources in Pakistan. It is argued that some locals from FATA and KP regions did provide financial and manpower assistance to TTP's objectives by assuming as defensive jihad against Pakistan Army and for the enforcement of Sharia (Islamic law) in the country. In this perspective, other local militant outfits in Pak-Afghan border-areas significantly participated in the formation of the TTP challenging the writ of the state. In FATA and KP regions, the TTP was enthusiastically supported by the local people and militant outfits, because the political vacuum created after the annulment of PATA in 1994, created socio-political grievances among people. In this campaign, regional and International players specifically provided assistance in order to promote militancy in Pakistan. With the collaboration of Tehrik-e-Nifaz-e-Sharia-Mohammedi (TNSM) and other militant outfits, the TTP strengthened its organizational and operational structure within and beyond Pakistani borders. This paper addresses the strategies adopted by the TTP to sustain financially, and maintain fundraising and administrative affairs within dominated areas of Pakistan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Falling in the most sensitive fault-lines of sectarianism, Pakistan may become an obvious future target of ISIS owing to its central proximity. Pakistan symbolizes the international sectarian divide. Afghanistan lies in its northwest and Iran in its extreme west. The local troubles will stand only to sharpen the sectarian hatred. Pakistan's close alliance with Saudi Arabia is not what neighboring Shi'ite Iran appreciates. Entrenched influence of ISIS will evaporate every prospect of reconciliation among the varying sects in Pakistan. Besides, the concerns and fears with regards to the human rights violations being committed by ISIS indicate that Pakistan could become a soft target for ISIS, given its vulnerable political situation in Baluchistan and over all human right situations vis-a-vis the minorities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main purpose of this research is to examine the prospects and limitations of the Protection of Pakistan Ordinance (PPO), besides analyzing the existing legal framework and laws in Pakistan to deal with terrorism and similar phenomenon. Pakistan needed a law, which could protect citizens from terrorism and also safeguard and guarantee their fundamental and constitutional freedom. An attempt is made to understand the need, practicality, misuse and effectiveness of the PPO. The social dynamics and socio-political environment of the country, is imperative to understand the prevailing legal system in the country. The dilemma Pakistan is facing comprises complex, multifarious and deep-rooted problems and miscalculations. Unfortunately, the previous legal framework related to terrorism was subjected to politicization and over the years did not prove to be much effective. The paper briefly analyzes the historical background of legal framework and the existing legal framework to deal with similar threats, challenges and shortcomings it faces. It also gives a comparative analysis of similar laws implemented in India and USA. The PPO is way less harsher than both the PATRIOT Act and Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA), which violate basic human and constitutional rights and the abuses still persist after years of enactment of both the laws. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]