Riaz Haq's Blog (1,630)

New US NSC Impact on South Asia; US-China Trade War; Afghan Talks Offer

Why were Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and National Security Advisor General HR McMaster fired? Why is there so much turnover is US National Security Council and White House staff? How will the selection of Mike Pompeo as Secretary of State and John Bolton as National Security Advisor impact policies vis-a-vis Afghanistan, India, …

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Added by Riaz Haq on March 25, 2018 at 8:06am — No Comments

Bumper Crops And Soaring Credit Drive Pakistan's Tractor Sales Boom

First seven months of the current fiscal year have seen tractor sales soar 45% to 38,173 units, according to data of the Pakistan Automotive Manufacturers Association. It is driven by a combination of soaring credit availability and bumper harvests of Pakistan's top three crops by area: wheat, cotton and rice.…

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Added by Riaz Haq on March 24, 2018 at 12:30pm — 37 Comments

In Memory of UC Berkeley's Pakistani-American Professor Saba Mahmood (1962-2018)

Dr. Saba Mahmood, professor of anthropology at the University of California at Berkeley, passed away on March 10, 2018.  She was only 56 years old when her life was cut short by pancreatic cancer.  She is survived by her husband Professor Charles Hirschkind and son Nameer Hirschkind. Born in Lahore, Pakistan in 1962, she came to the United States in 1981. She received her PhD in anthropology…

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Added by Riaz Haq on March 19, 2018 at 11:02am — 6 Comments

World Happiness Report 2018: Pakistan Jumps 5 Places to 75 Among 156 Nations

Pakistanis are happier than all of their neighbors, according to the World Happiness Report 2018. Pakistan rose from 80th place in 2017 to 75th place this year while all of its neighbors slid from last year's happiness rankings.

Comparison With Neighbors:

Bangladesh dropped 5 spots to 115 while India slid 11 places to 133 among 156 nations…

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Added by Riaz Haq on March 14, 2018 at 7:30pm — 4 Comments

Globalization Index: How Connected is Pakistan?

Pakistan ranks 32nd in breadth and 99th overall among 140 countries in terms of globalization, according to DHL Global Connectedness Index compiled by professors at NYU Stern School of Business and IESE Business School. Pakistan ranks 137 on…

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Added by Riaz Haq on March 13, 2018 at 10:42am — 1 Comment

Is Pakistan's Global Diplomacy Working?

Diplomacy underlies all ties between nations. Diplomatic relations form the basis of travel, trade and investment between countries. The probability of armed conflict increases in the absence of diplomacy. In light of the recent failure to keep Pakistan off the terror financing watch list, the following question is being asked by political commentators and pundits: Is Pakistan's diplomacy…

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Added by Riaz Haq on March 5, 2018 at 9:30am — 15 Comments

Pakistan is the World's Fastest Growing Steel Producer

Steel production in Pakistan jumped 39.3% to 5 million tons last year, according to World Steel Association. Earlier, Pakistan steel industry ramped up its output from 2.9 million tons in 2015 to 3.6 million tons in 2016.…

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Added by Riaz Haq on March 3, 2018 at 10:00pm — 23 Comments

Hindu Dalit Woman Elected to Pakistan Senate

Krishna Kumari Kohli today made history by becoming the first-ever Hindu Dalit woman Senator in the upper house of Pakistan, according to media reports.  Her election represents a major milestone for women and minority rights in the Islamic Republic of Pakistan.…

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Added by Riaz Haq on March 3, 2018 at 10:50am — 6 Comments

The Skull of Alam Bheg: A Tale of Brutal British Raj in India

Havaldar Alam Baig (Alum Bheg), stationed in Sialkot now in Pakistan, was shot out of a cannon and blown to pieces as punishment by the British colonial rulers of India in 1857. All that was left of him was his severed head that was taken to England by a British officer as a war trophy.  A recently published book …

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Added by Riaz Haq on February 28, 2018 at 10:22am — 2 Comments

Pakistani-American Astrophysicist Dr. Nergis Mavalvala in Silicon Valley

Pakistani-American Astrophysicist Dr. Nergis Mavalvala, MIT professor and member of Nobel Prize winner LIGO team, visited Pakistani-American Community Center (PACC) in Silicon Valley on February 24, 2018. She was invited by PACC founder Mr. Mohammad Asghar Aboobaker to talk about her inspirational work and meet with the community members, particularly Pakistani-American children in the…

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Added by Riaz Haq on February 24, 2018 at 9:30pm — 7 Comments

American Bid to Put Pakistan on FATF Watch-List Fails in Paris

Financial Action Task Force (FATF), the financial watchdog group for terror financing, has delayed any decision to put Pakistan on its watch list, according to its spokesperson Alexandra Wijmenga-Daniel.  This move was sponsored by the United States and its European allies.

The FATF statement released after the…

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Added by Riaz Haq on February 23, 2018 at 10:00am — 17 Comments

Pakistan Lived Through the World's Second Deadliest Mass School Shooting

The recent mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida has brought back the horrible memory of the tragic mass shooting at Army Public School in Peshawar, Pakistan on December 16, 2014.  The Peshawar school mass shooting claimed 149 lives, making it the world's second deadliest mass shooting at Beslan school in Russia where 334 people were killed.…

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Added by Riaz Haq on February 22, 2018 at 6:18pm — 4 Comments

How Can Pakistan Reduce High Rates of Infant Mortality?

Of every 1,000 babies born in Pakistan, 45.6 die before the end of their first month – 1 in 22, the highest infant mortality rate in the world, according to a United Nations Children's Fund report titled "Every Child Alive: The urgent need to end newborn deaths".   Pakistan’s newborn mortality rate has declined by less than one quarter, from 60 in 2000 to 46 in 2016, according to UNICEF.…

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Added by Riaz Haq on February 20, 2018 at 6:00pm — 2 Comments

Rapid Growth in China-Pakistan Scientific, Educational and Cultural Ties

Pakistan-China ties are rapidly growing well beyond the economy and the military with tens of thousands of Chinese and Pakistani citizens regularly traveling between the two countries.

More Pakistanis than ever are learning the Chinese language. China with its world class educational institutions is…

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Added by Riaz Haq on February 19, 2018 at 1:30pm — 22 Comments

History of Pak-Afghan Ties; Afghan War End-Game; Asma Jahangir Tribute

Who was Asma Jahangir? What was her impact on Pakistani society? How did she influence political and legal discourse in Pakistan? How did she defend human rights and rule-of-law in Pakistan? Was she really a foreign agent? Was she serving Indian or western interests in Pakistan? How will she be remembered?…



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Added by Riaz Haq on February 17, 2018 at 5:55pm — 13 Comments

Pakistan's Saadia Zahidi Leads World Economic Forum's Gender Parity Effort

Pakistan-born, Harvard-educated economist Ms. Saadia Zahidi, author of "50 Million Rising", is currently a member of the executive committee and the head of Education, Gender and Work at the…

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Added by Riaz Haq on February 15, 2018 at 11:30am — 43 Comments

The Checkered History of Pakistan-Afghanistan Relations

Afghanistan has been governed by secular Pashtun Nationalists and their Tajik and Uzbek allies for much of the 20th century. These Afghan rulers and their secular Pashtun allies on the eastern side of the border have been hostile toward Pakistan since 1947 when it became independent. Afghanistan's was the lone vote against the admission of the newly independent state of Pakistan to the United Nations. Since then, the anti-Pakistan campaign by Pashtun Nationalists on both sides of the Durand… Continue

Added by Riaz Haq on February 13, 2018 at 7:30pm — 11 Comments

Steve Coll's "Directorate S" Demonizes Pakistan ISI

"Directorate S: The C. I. A. and America's Secret Wars in Afghanistan and Pakistan, 2001-2016" by Steve Coll holds Pakistan ISI's Directorate S primarily responsible for America's longest war.

The author does acknowledge other factors such as Washington's policy failures, Kabul government's corruption,…

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Added by Riaz Haq on February 10, 2018 at 11:55pm — 11 Comments

CPEC: Separating Facts From Fiction (Urdu)

Is China using China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) to colonize Pakistan just as the British East India company colonized India centuries earlier?

Will Pakistan be caught in a massive Chinese debt trap and eventually become China's colony? What are the terms of …

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Added by Riaz Haq on February 9, 2018 at 1:59pm — 10 Comments

Karachi's Safety Ranking Climbs Amid Declining Crime Rates

Karachi, one of world's fastest growing megacities, has seen its crime index ranking improve dramatically from 6 in 2013 to 50 in 2017, according to a survey of 327 world cities conducted by Numbeo.  Karachi was ranked 47 in 2016.  Reduction in violence is helping revive Pakistan's economy, making it the third…

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Added by Riaz Haq on February 7, 2018 at 2:30pm — 11 Comments

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    Blog Posts

    Over 1000 Pakistani Medical Grads Matched in US Residency Programs in 2026

    Over 1000 Pakistani medical graduates have been matched in the 2026 NRMP (National Residency Matching Program), according to APPNA (The Association of Physicians of Pakistani Descent of North America).  This 2026 program was the largest in history, offering 44,344 positions to 53,373 registered applicants, with over 93% of spots filled. Among Pakistani medical graduates matched, Karachi's Dow Medical University graduates led the pack with 132 matches, followed by 109 from Lahore's…

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    Posted by Riaz Haq on March 28, 2026 at 8:30pm — 2 Comments

    Economist Magazine Editors: Propagandists For the Zionist Elite?

    Right after October 7, 2023, Economist Magazine's Defense Editor Shashank Joshi posted X messages claiming that Hamas beheaded babies during the terrorist attack on Israelis. He has now deleted his posts. Instead of apologizing for joining the baseless Israeli propaganda campaign, Joshi has blamed it on "the fog of war", knowing fully well that this falsehood was used by the Israeli government to justify the Gaza genocide that has killed tens of thousands of Palestinians, most…

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    Posted by Riaz Haq on March 23, 2026 at 2:00pm — 2 Comments

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