Dr. Khalil Ahmad

The institution of government was founded to protect the life, liberty and property of citizens from the usurpers be they individuals or conutries. Or, what purpose could or does it serve? Surely, people did not and do not need somebodies to rule them? But, with the passage of time, various ambitious individuals, elites, representatives of this or that class, and organized political/religious parties, monopolized it to rule the people, to regulate their lives according to their philosophies, ideologies, visions, wishes and tastes. Thus, the institution of government started losing its rai-sons d'e-tre.

It has been 15 years since an Indian cricket team completed a tour in Pakistan. But a new spirit of reconciliation has gripped the two countries recently. The renewal of this sporting fixture is the first tangible triumph of talks between leaders of the two countries that began at January's South Asia summit in Islamabad. Make no mistake: for the people of these cricket crazy countries it is a gesture of the utmost political and diplomatic significance.
 

If you do not create a free market, a black market will emerge. This is the motto of the Lithuanian Free Market Institute. In this article, I shall try to show that the system of market economy works best to fulfil the people's quest for happiness by providing them free choice to meet their needs.

The system of market economy works best to fulfill the people's quest for happiness by providing them free choice to meet their needs.

Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA) is one of the monopolies which have made a hell of Pakistan. A few months back, a responsible official of WAPDA admitted that: power rates in Pakistan are very high. On another occasion, Secretary Federal Ministry of Water and Power stated that: pubic concern is increasing due to unaffordable electricity tariff whereas life is now dependent on cheap and reliable energy.

Had history followed this course, no economic and social progress would have been possible. For instance, if to save the jobs of the typists or say calligraphists or in like cases government had imposed duties on the new products and restrictions on their use were we able to go ahead with computers and information technology? Akbar, the great moghul emperor, was shown an early printing press by a foreigner. He rejected its use on the same pretext that our calligraphers would be rendered jobless.

This Press Briefing has been arranged in connection with the launching of Global Freedom to Trade Campaign. As we know that WTO's 5th ministerial conference is going to be held in Cancun, Mexico, from September 10 to 14, this is to remind that the driving force behind the WTO was 'free trade' but the politics of big powers and its vested interests have divided this platform into warring forces. We at Alternate Solutions Institute want to stress the importance of trying to achieve global free trade through WTO, and taking advantage of this Campaign wants to highlight the fact that free trade is the way of prosperity for the people of the world.

Pakistan’s first free-market think tank, Alternate Solutions Institute, has been launched in Lahore, a leading intellectual center of Pakistan. The motto of this new non-profit, non-political educational institute is "Welfare of the People By the People." Its mission is to seek solutions to the challenges in the areas of economics, law, education and health in accordance with the principles of classical liberalism, and to promote the implementation of these solutions.

The Kashmir conflict, like other ones such as Palestine, does have a history. Parties to it write, rewrite and exploit this history to a point where its ability to offer a solution becomes precarious. Besides, this kind of use of history complicates the conflict inextricably, and one wonders whether it would ever be possible to resolve it. So, I think, instead of delving into the history of Kashmir conflict, it's better to look forward to its possible resolutions.

The Declaration of Independence of July 4, 1776, is one of the greatest documents human history has produced. The more one reads it, the more meaningful, more insightful it becomes. Another aspect is its way of asserting certain things negatively. That is what I am interested in presenting here. Let us see whether the Declaration substantiates this sort of reading between the lines.