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Vote bank of almost all the political parties in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) is fluctuating in every general election. It is believed that a significant ratio of floating voters exists in KP. These voters play a significant role as key deciders in every general election. But the basic question is "who are the floating voters and how do they influence the outcomes of the general elections in KP? This study is an attempt to test the floating voters’ hypothesis in KP. For testing this hypothesis, a four variable scale that includes, decision to vote; political awareness; satisfaction from the performance of the political party and interest in political and/or party affairs is used. Data collection is done through a closed-ended survey questionnaire and a multi-stage sampling technique is used for this purpose. Data is collected from three geographical regions of KP i.e., North, Centre, and South. The study population is total voters of KP, and a representative sample of 1200 respondents is determined through a statistical formula. Chi-Square test is used for the correlations of independent and dependent variables. The analysis of data confirmed the "floating voters’ hypothesis" and identified a significant ratio of floating voters in the KP.

Faith in any religion takes significant importance in a country where intolerance and extremism are high. Acceptance and tolerance are keys for adjustment in religious activities and are pertinent for smooth running and dynamism. In contrast to it, intolerance and non-acceptance in religious activities is a burning issue with respect to adjustment problems faced by minorities in a country. This study aims to explore the adjustment problems faced by minorities, especially by Christians and Sikhs for the performance of their religious activities in district Peshawar and Swat, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The prime aim and goal of the study is to illustrate the ways minorities are targeted (Christians and Sikhs) and have to adjust with Muslim majorities for the performance of their religious activities, along with making efforts to strengthen various modes of social interaction within themselves in the targeted area. For the measurement of variable, five-level Likert scale was used, and the chi-square test was applied to find out the association level of an independent variable with the dependent variable. Based on the Sekaran table, a total of 372 respondents were selected from the local minorities to analyse the adjustment problems faced by minorities in the performance of their religious activities. The findings of the study reveal that Christians and Sikhs usually celebrate their religious festivals and rituals publicly which highlights the strong social interaction between majorities and minorities in the target area. But still, slight issues of disturbances with their religious rituals and festivals were found in some places of the target area.

Women’s political participation strengthens their political as well as over-all empowerment. The discourse of women’s political participation is a matter of concern in the academic circles across the world. This study focuses on the effect of political reforms on women’s political participation in the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), Pakistan. Furthermore, this study focuses on the effect of political reforms on women’s public and civic engagements which further contribute to their political participation. To unearth the mentioned effect, this study uses positivist research paradigm which guides quantitative methods and procedures. A sample of 400 hundred respondents was selected through random sampling technique and data was collected through structured questionnaire. Data for the study is collected from two tehsils of Swabi and Mardan. Liberal feminist theory is used as theoretical framework in this study to examine the question of the effect of political reforms on women’s political participation. Independent sample t-test was employed to analyze the effect of political reforms on women’s political participation. The study finds positive effects of the political reforms on women, like awareness about these reforms and civic engagements. The study recommends that women political participation could be enhanced by improving their level of education.

Democracy, transition to democracy and democratic consolidation have widely been debated across the world and have prominent position in third world countries. Democracy in developing countries particularly in Pakistan is confronting long standing problem of consolidation of power by civilians. In democracy the strength of the state institutions depends on the relationship among central government with opposition and with provincial governments. Pakistan consists of a centre and four federating units having mix nationalities. This paper investigates the factors which have provoked confrontational politics both within the parliament between ruling and opposition parties and with provincial governments especially Punjab during Benazir Bhutto’s rule. The paper focuses on the question whether it was the same follies which Benazir Bhutto played with during her second term with opposition in the centre and their governments in provinces. To find answers to these questions, secondary data has been used and to supplement newspapers have been consulted for obtaining first-hand information of public officials. The relationship among the ruling party in the centre with opposition and the provincial governments often remained unpleasant and unfriendly. It is argued that personal the national considerations augmented the confrontation and conflicts among national and regional level political parties.

This paper aims to analyse the reasons of strained civil-military relations between the Army under General Pervaiz Musharraf as Chief of Army Staff and the civilian government under the premiership of Nawaz Sharif. A mixed method approach has been adopted for collection of primary and secondary data for this descriptive, theoretical, and qualitative study. The analysis shows that the relations between the two institutions i.e., the civilian government and the military were deteriorated due to an ill-fated Kargil war launched by the then Army Chief solely on his own decision. The war under the guise of Kashmiri mujahedeen movement became an unpleasant event for Pakistan in the international community. The situation compelled the elected government to declare withdrawal of the para-military forces unilaterally thus causing further damages in terms of human and material losses. The military, opposition parties and other groups in the country blamed the civilian government for this failure. Therefore, the post Kargil war developments became a major source of contention between civil and military leadership. The events and reasons leading to the removal of Army Chief, dismissal of elected government and dissolution of national and provincial assemblies have been critically analysed in this study.

This study examines the outcomes of frequent relations between juvenile and adult prisoners at the populous prisons of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan in districts Mansehra, Dera Ismail Khan, Peshawar, Swabi and Mardan. According to SPARC (2015), there were total of 199 juvenile prisoners out of them 132 were taken as a sample size through Sekaran (2010) sample size table. The primary data was collected through interview schedule, with major aim to see association of joint dwelling of adult prisoners and juvenile inmates in the selected prisons. For measuring the association between adult and juvenile inmates, a Chi-square test was applied by using Microsoft Excel. It was found that there exist a strong association of adult with juvenile inmates; which resulted in reinforcing the delinquent behaviour of juvenile by supporting them financially, providing them with various kinds of drugs and persuading them to join their networks after they were released. Such situation was directly contradictory to the well-being of juvenile inmates at jails, where they were supposed to rehabilitate their offending behaviour. The study recommends establishment of separate jails for juvenile inmates, being inclusive part of the JJSO-2000.

The aim of this study is to find the political determinants of voting behaviour in the selected districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. It is a quantitative study and aims at knowing the political factors of voting behaviour in the earlier three general elections i.e., 2002, 2008 and 2013. Its major purpose is to see the changing trend of the voters in the above-mentioned elections. It has investigated 292 respondents who had cast vote in any of the target elections. The researchers asked questions through Likert scale designed questionnaire under the purposive sampling technique. The study finds a significant association of political factors such as candidate’s affiliation, political party affiliation, party leadership affiliation and party ideology with the voting behaviour. The results of the data show changing scenario as the importance of numerous factors is replaced by others. The study recommends that local political leadership as well as the Election Commission of Pakistan should come forward to actively launch an awareness movement for women participation in elections. It should focus on the importance of vote towards increasing the ratio of participation in voting process, especially women’s voting.

The Afghan people suffered a lot from war on terror, security issues, and political and economic instability since US invasion in 2001. Pakistan being an important neighbouring country of Afghanistan can play a vital role in bringing amity and stability through facilitating peace process. Both the US administration and Afghan government demand Pakistan to influence and bring the Taliban to the table talks. In this context, this study aims to explore Pakistan’s role in the ongoing peace process that has so far created an understanding among the stakeholders that a peaceful and stable Afghanistan is in the interest of the region. The study finds that there are greater issues to be dealt with carefully e.g., the governance system of the country, the constitution, and a viable power-sharing formula to be acceptable to all the stakeholders. Any successful peace deal needs a strong commitment on the part of all the stakeholders. Peace is the need of the hour not only for Afghanistan but for the whole region as well. Pakistan needs to continue her support to the Afghanistan’s stability and play its due role in the peace negotiations in the greater regional interests.