Riaz Haq's Blog (1,567)

Pakistan Economy Recovering: Car Sales Up 72%; Cement Sales Rise 16.89%

Pakistan auto industry is booming. Toyota, Suzuki and Honda factories are working around the clock in the southern port city of Karachi and eastern city of Lahore -- yet customers can still wait for up to four months for new vehicles to be delivered, according to media reports. At the…

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Added by Riaz Haq on October 18, 2015 at 5:00pm — 37 Comments

Middle Class Pakistanis Richer Than Their Indian Counterparts

Pakistan’s middle class consists of over 6.27 million adults, according to wealth criteria used by Credit Suisse in its Global Wealth Report 2015. It represents 5.7% share of Pakistan’s total adult population of 111 million, almost twice as large as India’s middle class made up of 3% of its adult population based on the same criteria.…

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Added by Riaz Haq on October 16, 2015 at 8:30pm — 4 Comments

Is Foreign Aid Good or Bad For Pakistan?

This year's Nobel Prize winning economist Angus Deaton of Princeton University considers foreign aid to developing nations a curse like the oft-mentioned resource curse of energy and mineral-rich nations of Africa and the Middle East.

Deaton has studied poverty in India and Africa and spent many decades working at the World Bank whose…

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Added by Riaz Haq on October 14, 2015 at 10:50pm — 5 Comments

Pakistan Economic History 1947-2010





Pakistani economy grew at a fairly impressive rate of 6 percent per year through the first four decades of the nation's existence. In spite of rapid population growth during this period, per capita incomes doubled, inflation remained low and poverty declined from 46% down to 18% by late 1980s, according to eminent Pakistani economist…

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Added by Riaz Haq on October 14, 2015 at 9:30am — 4 Comments

US to Propose Conditions For Civil Nuclear Deal With Pakistan

"The Pakistani establishment, as we saw in 1998 with the nuclear test, does not view assistance -- even sizable assistance to their own entities -- as a trade-off for national security vis-a-vis India". US Ambassador Anne Patterson, September 23, 2009…


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Added by Riaz Haq on October 7, 2015 at 6:30pm — 28 Comments

India's Modi's Policy Blunders and Superpower Delusions

"If you (India) want to run with the big dogs, you have to stop pissing with the puppies".

 Robert Blackwill, Ex US Ambassador to India…


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Added by Riaz Haq on October 4, 2015 at 9:00pm — 41 Comments

Islamophobia and Gun Violence in America

President Barack H. Obama finally asked the questions that many American Muslim victims of Islamophobia have been asking for a long time: How many Americans have been killed through terrorist attacks over the last decade?  And how many Americans have died in gun violence.

Here's the exact quote from…

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Added by Riaz Haq on October 2, 2015 at 5:30pm — 14 Comments

Pakistan to Launch T20 Cricket League

Pakistan will soon be starting its first professional sports league along the lines of for-profit sports leagues like Major League Baseball (MLB) or National Football League (NFL) in the United States.

 India's …

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Added by Riaz Haq on September 29, 2015 at 8:01am — 13 Comments

Silicon Valley Unwelcomes Modi

"The 21st century belongs to India', declared Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to thousands of his adoring fans at SAP Center in San Jose, California. As he spoke inside the Arena, protestors carrying anti-Modi posters condemned the presence in Silicon Valley of the person they choose to describe as the "Butcher of Gujarat".

My Invitation and Ticket:

I had received an invitation and a ticket to attend Prime Minister Modi's reception at SAP Center. I…

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Added by Riaz Haq on September 28, 2015 at 4:32pm — 14 Comments

How to Prevent Recurring Hajj Tragedies?

My friend Khan is in Makkah for Hajj yet again. He says he was in Mina for Ramy al-Jamarat (Ritual Stoning of the Devil) when a tragic stampede claimed nearly a thousand lives this year. Besides those killed, more than 800 were reported injured. It was the deadliest day for the Hajj since more than 1,400 pilgrims suffocated in a crowded tunnel near Mecca in 1990, also on the…

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Added by Riaz Haq on September 26, 2015 at 12:55pm — 3 Comments

Hinduization of India Under Modi

There have been serious questions raised about India's secularism since its independence in 1947. Such questions have gained new urgency with the rapid rise of Hindu Nationalists and the election of BJP leader Narendra Modi in 2014.

Serious doubts…

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Added by Riaz Haq on September 20, 2015 at 10:00am — 64 Comments

Silicon Valley Supports Texas Teen Ahmed Mohamad

A 14-year-old Muslim teenager Ahmed Mohammad was arrested in Texas when he showed his teacher a clock he had built at home. The teacher mistook the student's invention for a bomb and called in the police who handcuffed the Sudanese-American teen and escorted him down the hallway, out the school building and to a juvenile detention center.…



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Added by Riaz Haq on September 17, 2015 at 10:00am — 4 Comments

Pakistan Introduces Net Metering Policy For Rooftop Solar Panels

Pakistani power regulators have approved a regulatory framework for solar and wind energy for both commercial and residential installations. The framework includes feed-in tariffs for commercial power producers and net metering for …

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Added by Riaz Haq on September 14, 2015 at 10:00am — 32 Comments

NED Alumni Convention 2015 Concludes in Toronto Canada

Over 600 NEDians and their families from all over North America and other parts of the world converged on Toronto to attend the Karachi-based engineering university's 11th international alumni convention for the year 2015.  It was organized by the NED Alumni Association of Canada over the Labor Day weekend (September 4-6, 2015) at the Mississauga Hilton.  Last year, the NED Alumni convention was held in …

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Added by Riaz Haq on September 12, 2015 at 8:00am — No Comments

Top American Professors Warn Silicon Valley Against Doing Business With Modi

Leading South Asia experts at US universities have warned top tech firms to be cautious in doing business with India as India's Hindu Nationalist Prime Minister Narendra Modi prepares to visit Silicon Valley to promote "Digital India" in September 2015.…

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Added by Riaz Haq on August 29, 2015 at 11:23pm — 13 Comments

Pakistani-American Heads Top Silicon Valley Incubator Y-Combinator

33-year-old Qasar Younis, a Lala Moosa born Harvard-educated Pakistani-American, is the new Chief Operating Officer of Y-Combinator, a spawning ground for emerging tech giants Dropbox, Airbnb, and Stripe in Silicon Valley, according to Fortune Magazine.…

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Added by Riaz Haq on August 28, 2015 at 8:41am — 1 Comment

Top Global Investor Sees "Brighter Future For Pakistan"

Joseph Mark Mobius of Templeton Emerging Markets Group sees "many reasons for a brighter future for Pakistan".  Mobius, armed with B.A. and M.S. degrees in Communications from Boston University, and a Ph.D in economics from MIT,  is a top global fund manager with a good track record of investing in emerging markets.

In a blog post titled …

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Added by Riaz Haq on August 27, 2015 at 12:51pm — 13 Comments

Indian Army's Cowardice and Panic By RD Pradhan

A full-page Indian Army advertisement published in major Hindi national dailies recently says that the Indian forces responded to the Pakistan attack with fear (darkar muqabala kiya). It was later clarified as a typographical error which changed "datkar muqabla kiya" to "darkar muqabla kiya".…

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Added by Riaz Haq on August 22, 2015 at 10:16pm — 5 Comments

Time to Sell India Short and Go Long on Pakistan?

Is it time to sell India short and go long on Pakistan?

Indian shares are highly overvalued while Pakistan and Hong Kong shares are trading at very attractive valuations, according to latest data published by Bloomberg. The Indian shares listed in Mumbai are trading at nearly 22 times earnings, more than twice the price-earnings multiples of Karachi…

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Added by Riaz Haq on August 21, 2015 at 10:44am — 8 Comments

Silicon Valley Pakistani-Americans Celebrate Independence Day 2015

Pakistani-Americans in Silicon Valley and wider San Francisco Bay Area celebrated Pakistan's 69th Independence Day this year with several events in different cities and communities in the region. I was invited to speak at Pakistan Flag Raising event at Milpitas City Hall. The event was organized by Pakistani-American Cultural Center. It was attended by the city mayor, a city councilwoman and hundreds of Pakistani-Americans,… Continue

Added by Riaz Haq on August 16, 2015 at 10:00am — No Comments

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    Blog Posts

    PFX to Advance Pakistan Air Force Modernization

    Pakistan has unveiled its PFX (Pakistan Fighter Experimental) program as a significant upgrade to its JF-17 joint program with China. The new upgrade will have a number of stealth features ranging from the use of radar-absorbing composite materials and diverterless supersonic inlets (DSI) to internal weapons bay (IWB) which will significantly reduce the aircraft's radar signature. It is targeted for completion by the end of this decade. In addition, the PFX's twin-engine design will improve…

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    Posted by Riaz Haq on January 20, 2025 at 1:00pm — 1 Comment

    Pakistan to License Multiple LEO Satellite Internet Service Providers

    The Pakistan government is preparing to license three low-earth-orbit (LEO) satellite operators for space communication services in the country, according to media reports. The companies whose applications are pending include London-based OneWeb, China's Shanghai Spacecom and US headquartered Starlink.  They operate tens of thousands of small mass-produced satellites in low orbits that communicate with designated (mobile and stationary) ground stations.  Each LEO satellite circles the earth…

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    Posted by Riaz Haq on January 15, 2025 at 1:30pm — 2 Comments

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